Huamao Center adds a major civic destination to the edge of Suzhou’s old town. Occupying 23.5 acres along the historic Shantang Canal, the project layers retail, office, and hospitality space into a human-scaled district rooted in the area’s history of water-based commerce, known for its classic Jiangnan water-town architectural style, with narrow lanes and stone-arch bridges. Completed over eight years with a phased opening, the project opened in December 2025.
The public realm—designed by SWA in collaboration with KPF and The Oval Partnership, with the CRLand MixC retail outdoor spaces designed by Lab D+H—guides visitors through a series of diagonal alleys framed by elevated walkways, floating light installations, and pitched rooflines. Throughout, over half of the brands represented are first-to-market, flagship, or concept stores catering to a range of tastes. Along Guangjinan Road, SWA also designed the forecourt and interior gardens for a new Ritz-Carlton location, with architecture by KPF, featuring a compact courtyard inspired by Suzhou’s classical gardens and an arrival sequence that preserves a centuries-old gingko in place.
The project also directly connects to the new H+ Art Museum by Tadao Ando and is within walking distance of Lion Grove Garden, a UNESCO World Heritage site dating to the Ming Dynasty, as well as many other destinations across the Gusu District. Functioning less as a standalone complex than as an extension of the city, Huamao Center aims to bring new construction closer to Suzhou’s established patterns of public space, movement, and everyday life.
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
This office building’s roof garden celebrates a potent image of the native Texas landscape: the level, grass-covered plains emerging from a wooded riparian area. A design vocabulary of native, drought-tolerant plant materials, especially selected to react to light and air movement, reinforces this design approach. The project serves as a two-acre rooftop garde...
Beijing Finance Street
Awarded after an international competition, the Beijing Finance Center Master Plan creates an international destination in West Beijing. The project, which includes a mix of uses—housing, retail, hotel office, and cultural facilities—is focused in terms of the landscape design of a central park known as “The Heart” of western Beijing. SWA’s w...
Nangang Trainyard Urban Regeneration Landscape
This urban regeneration plan transforms a long-abandoned trainyard site into a highly mixed-used development with retail, commercial, preschool, and public services on the podium floors. One hotel, four office, and three residential towers sit atop of the podium; and the southeast corner is occupied by a standalone administration headquarters for the Tai...
Tian’An Cyber Park
Established in 1990, Tian’An Cyber Park is the biggest industrial real estate investment company in China, providing flexible and affordable office space that allows hundreds of entrepreneurs to grow and thrive. The strategically placed park in Longgang is a multi-functional development with retail and office space, an I-MAX cinema, and headquarters for multip...