This project includes a new ballpark for Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, the surrounding landscape, and surrounding future development parcels, in Hokkaido, Japan. Inspired by the stadium’s architecture, which responded to a building type original to Hokkaido, the design incorporates indigenous landscape features, including a 100-year forest and a ravine, while accommodating programs and developments that contribute to the local economy. SWA also provided site design of key landscapes, such as a ravine forest park where fans and locals can enjoy “glamping,” ice skating, kayaking, and restaurants on the water. The two main plazas address the Fighters’ character and celebrate original landscapes with signature paving reminiscent of historic farm fields, and soaring, sensitively grouped trees.
Houston Green Loop
With the coming expansion and realignment of the highways around Downtown Houston, SWA identified the opportunity to enact a bold vision: a multi-use branded connectivity system that will leverage the immense reconstruction investment. SWA’s concept creates a continuous pedestrian loop over, under, and around the downtown highway system, thus redirecting the u...
Miwok Aquatic and Fitness Center
Nestled in Novato’s rolling Oak woodlands, the College of Marin’s Miwok Aquatic and Fitness Center provides Northern California with a new destination for aquatic training and competitions. Part of the College’s Indian Valley Campus, the center neighbors over 1,400 acres of open space preserves. ELS and SWA worked closely to lay out the site ...
Minute Maid Park
The much-anticipated ballpark for the Houston Astros, which opened in 2000, includes approximately 42,000 seats, a retractable roof, an attached micro-brewery, and tour bus drop off. SWA, along with Rey de la Reza Architects, designed the entire ballpark site from the building to the curb, including the remodeling of historic Union Station, now part of the sta...
Hennepin Avenue
Hennepin Avenue is the oldest street in Downtown Minneapolis, and has gone through multiple transformations over time. The street is undergoing a major reconstruction, and SWA is leading the effort to enhance the character of Hennepin for years to come. The conceptual approach was developed through a robust public engagement process, and touches on the three m...