Next C Water City is a new, fully self-contained sustainable city planned for 500,000 residents. Water was central to the Next C planning concept, supplied by two adjacent rivers and monsoon rains. The city is a system of wetlands, rivers, lakes, and canals, cleansing the water from up-river communities and managing floods during the monsoon season. Working with SOM’s urban design team, Thomas Balsley Associates strategized an open space plan that consisted of seven primary landscape typologies: Central Parks, Civic Squares, Urban Promenades, Water Edge Parks, Canal Parks, Neighborhood Parks, and Wetland Parks filtering and polishing poor quality water from the Chaobai River prior to discharging into the new city’s extensive waterways and eventually into the Yongding River. Each open space typology collectively provides green links throughout the city, and open space programming relates directly to adjacent land uses. Parks along waterways were designed with each season’s environmental extremes in mind, from dry to flooded, creating unique parks for every season.
Almaza Bay Beach Town
Located on the tranquil and pristine Mediterranean coastline in northwest Egypt, Almaza Bay Beach Town redefines the concept of a resort town. Seamlessly integrating the intimate and relaxed feel of a beach community with the entertainment and excitement of a walkable retail district, this mixed-use development offers an exceptional lifestyle that enriches the...
Shady Canyon
Shady Canyon is a 1,070-acre residential community and land preservation project in the heart of bustling, master-planned Orange County. The project carefully integrates the natural environment into every aspect of the community which consists of 400 custom and builder homes, a golf course that preserves important biological resources, swim center, recreation ...
Park WellState Nishiazabu Tower
With over a third of its population above the age of 65, Japan has the oldest population of any country in the world. To meet the growing needs of seniors, innovative companies across the country have created elder-focused developments and programs that center core values of dignified, social, and active aging—including Park Wellstate, the senior division of h...
Kunming Eco-Communities
The concept for the Kunming Eco-Town is based on an understanding of the historical natural processes of the location. The masterplan restores balance in the landscape through sensitive development. In using a watershed planning approach to determine the most sensitive lands and subsequently, where development is appropriate, the issues of a healthy, functioni...