What if we transformed one of L.A.’s least used freeways into one of the county’s largest urban parks—reconnecting a historically divided community and drastically expanding affordable housing in an underserved district?
Marina Central Park, a vision co-developed by SWA and the nonprofit Streets for All, proposes a transformation of three miles of the unfinished Marina Freeway (CA-90) into a 128-acre linear park including almost 4,000 new units of affordable housing, a network of new multimodal trails, dedicated lanes for a future Bus Rapid Transit line between Lincoln and Sepulveda Boulevard, expanded retail frontage, and enhanced access to the Ballona Creek Trail and Ecological Reserve.
Altogether, the vision addresses a suite of problems shared by Angelenos citywide: declining air quality, stormwater flooding, a critical housing shortage, and Black and Brown neighborhoods rent apart by 1960s-era highway infrastructure fueled by racist planning policies—reimagining the corridor as a model for sustainability, walkability, and improved quality of life.
Learn more:
Read about it in Urbanize LA.
Haden Park
Tucked into a corner of Houston’s Spring Branch district, Haden Park has been reimagined as a shaded, amenity-rich landscape shaped by over a decade of community input. The transformation of the 12-acre site, long overlooked despite its central location, unifies the fragmented layout into a connected civic space, introducing a forest-themed play area, a dog pa...
Bensonhurst Park
Bensonhurst Park is part of the larger Shore Parkway, an 816.1-acre collection of parks that stretches across Brooklyn and Queens. Today, the site provides a series of pathways, passive seating areas, recreational fields and a playground.
SWA/Balsley created a master plan for the redesign of the north end of the park and final design and construction doc...
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...
Elk Grove Civic Center
SWA’s design for this community resource improves upon part of a 56-acre master plan with a civic center campus set within a beautiful park, and an added public outdoor commons. The pedestrian-friendly commons weaves new buildings together with mature trees and an outdoor living space linking together a community center, an aquatics center, and a future librar...