The site design is charged with a strong geometric pattern formed through large swaths of native planting, decking, and sunken courts. A rectangular grid is enhanced by intersecting materials, textures, light, and shade. Subtle grade changes create opportunities for seat walls and sunken gardens. The intimate spaces that result provide for gathering, conversation, and recreation; together, they produce a large and flexible outdoor space with a single identity. The former planting scheme was an amalgamation of discordant plant species that required different maintenance and watering regimes and also conveyed an inconsistent character. Our transformation highlights drought-tolerant and native species in three defined planting blocks that create visual continuity across the site. An existing pond divided the interior courtyard with a spatial vacuum, leaving small residual spaces ill-suited to outdoor gathering or recreation. With its removal, the new design enables connection across the courtyard and the addition of a café pavilion, wood deck, two bocce ball courts, a break-out lawn, and ample seating. A deck allowed leveling the grade across the former pond without using imported soil.
Ichigaya Forest
“Ichigaya Forest” is the privately owned, publicly accessible, major open space on Dai Nippon Printing Company’s 5.4-hectare new world headquarters in the Shinjuku Ward. Vertical development and production modernization that extends underground was made possible the creation of this 3.2-hectare open space. Over half the site is now planted wi...
Giant Interactive Headquarters
SWA collaborated with Morphosis Architects on a new ecological park and living laboratory for Giant Interactive Headquarters, a 45-acre corporate campus in Shanghai, China. The design concept blurs the distinction between the ground plane and the structure, weaving water and wetland habitats together with the folded green roof of the main building design. The ...
Xingfa Cement Plant Renovation
Located next to a public rural quarry park, Xingfa Cement Plant is set to be transformed into a national advance science research facility, contributing to the establishment of Huairou Science City. The team of landscape architects and architects worked in close collaboration to preserve valuable cement factory buildings, production structures, existing trees,...
100 Altair
As an office infill project in San Francisco’s South Bay region, 100 Altair reflects the shift in framing workplace landscapes. The roof deck functions primarily as outdoor workspaces, sized for large team meetings and private one-on-one conversations, amidst a modern, high-design aesthetic. The project design aims to reach out into its surrounding context, wh...