Nestled between two hills in Shenzhen’s Luohu District, Honggang Park is a green corridor bringing over 80 acres of open space through the city’s dense fabric. Celebrating the site’s stark topography, SWA’s design carefully threads hiking trails along the slopes to minimize ecological disturbance, with stairs providing shortcuts along switchbacks. Altogether, the plan adds or preserves over 5,000 trees.
At either end of the park, sweeping views of the city and mountains can be seen from elevated plazas, with irrigation and security systems discreetly tucked out of view. At the eastern terminus, a “hillside lounge” incorporates sky bridges with a 360-degree lookout terrace from which visitors can see the King Building, KK100 skyscraper, and clusters of new high-rises. At the western end, a multi-tiered, all-weather viewing platform offers views of the surrounding peaks, including Weiling and Yinhu Mountains, and the lush canopy swathing the surrounding park. Outfitted with broad overhanging eaves and spacious wood decks, the platform is configured for flexible, cross-season uses—from fitness and recreation to secluded cultural programs and daily activity.
Embracing the park’s elevation and infrastructure constraints while balancing its dual roles as a high-traffic public park and nature preserve, Honggang Park supports the rapidly growing population of Luohu while offering a sense of retreat and natural immersion.
Peanut Plaza
Reclaiming private land for public use, one of Washington D.C.’s most dangerous intersections has been targeted for vast improvements. The project kicked off with the demolition of a Wendy’s restaurant on site and implemented new road alignments to ease traffic congestion. SWA worked with NoMa community groups and the Department of Transportation on the new vi...
Martin Luther King Jr. Square Water Quality Demonstration Park
The City of Conway received local and federal grants to create a water quality demonstration park in a flood-prone, one-block area of its downtown to educate the public about Low Impact Development (LID) and Green Infrastructure (GI) methods and how they can enhance water quality. The project transformed a remediated brownfield site, ...
Nickerson Gardens Playground
Originally designed in 1955 by architect Paul Revere Williams, Nickerson Gardens is a 1,066-unit apartment complex in Watts, South Los Angeles — the largest social housing project west of the Mississippi. Core to Williams’ vision was an emphasis on shared open space, but its central playground, neglected for years, fell into a state of disrepair. In collaborat...
Guthrie Green Park
Guthrie Green transforms a 2.6-acre truck yard into a lively urban park in the heart of downtown Tulsa’s emerging arts district. Opened in September 2012, Guthrie Green has become the area’s leading destination, drawing 3,000 plus people weekly to activities that have enriched the urban experience and spurred district-wide revitalization. The high-performance ...