The Houston Warehouse District is home to numerous cultural attractions and has established itself as an arts community over the past 40 years. Its diversity and distinct character make it a valuable cultural asset to downtown and to the City of Houston. The district’s fabric includes light industry, residences, mixed-use development, and higher education.
The district’s dynamics are also evolving, with major infrastructure projects underway across a five- to 30-year horizon. This creates an urgency to explore planning scenarios that secure a thriving district and support downtown’s continued success. The project conducts a series of planning studies, proposing urban design strategies that improve connectivity and identify development opportunities tied to the assessment and upgrade of transportation and infrastructure systems.
King Harbor Public Amenities Plan
SWA’s work on the King Harbor Public Amenities Plan manages the site’s vulnerability to severe ocean conditions by updating existing infrastructure, providing new programming, and creating a plan for sea-level rise and King Tides. The Amenities Plan serves as a powerful tool to guide growth both for the waterfront’s immediate future and its long-term success. ...
Lewis Avenue
In a city renowned for fantasy, the design of Las Vegas’ Lewis Avenue celebrates the local desert landscape and affirms the street as part of a real-world working district. It was one of the first projects to be implemented in Mayor Oscar B. Goodman’s 2000 Las Vegas Downtown Centennial Plan, aimed at revitalizing the historic downtown core. The City asked SWA,...
Shekou Promenade
A gateway for China’s open-door policy, Shekou has revitalized its fragmented and hazardous coastline into a dynamic six-kilometer promenade that masterfully captures the area’s cultural and natural essence.
The promenade repurposes the disconnected former industrial waterfront into a celebrated open space system with new recreation programs...
Beaumont Downtown Plan
Beaumont sits at the heart of Texas’s “Golden Triangle” and has recently been named a top travel destination and the “Cajun Capital of Texas,” with billions of dollars in new energy investment now flowing into the city. Yet despite this momentum and its historic architecture, downtown Beaumont has struggled to sustain vitality, at...