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 collaboration with NBBJ and the musician Flea, SWA’s Los Angeles studio provided pro-bono advisory services to design the landscape for an entirely refurbished playground — including slides, swings, misting features, shade structures, and an adult exercise facility. Complete with water-efficient plantings, the playground brings 17,656 square feet of vibrant new community space to the heart of Nickerson Gardens, designed with durability, heat resistance, and multi-generational use in mind.
Xingfa Quarry Park
Just north of Beijing, between the Great Wall and Yanqi Lake, the Xingfa Cement Plant once fueled China’s construction boom, operating for over two decades before its 2015 closure under the National Air Quality Action Plan. Today, an adjacent quarry that once provided raw materials has been remediated as a 107.5-hectare terraced park that anchors an accompanyi...
Canvas Park
Canvas Park is an activity-packed recreation center at the heart of Regions North, the latest addition to the growing New Haven community in Ontario. Centering on sports, family play, and social activities, the park offers a 5,000-square-foot lap pool, flexible lawn spaces, sport courts, and reservable outdoor spaces that residents can use for private gatherin...
Perk Park
Originally completed in 1972, this vestige of IM Pei’s urban renewal plan was built when the street was seen as a menace and parks turned inward. Rolling berms surrounded the edges and the sunken middle areas were filled with concrete retaining walls. After years of decline, Thomas Balsley Associates’ designed a plan to reunite the community with its park. The...
Shanghai EXPO UBPA (Urban Best Practice Area)
Shanghai EXPO’s Urban Best Practice Area surrounds the Plein Air Museum Park, which chronicles the unique and rich history of the site through objects of art, artifacts, and architecture. The landscape component of the museum park is expressed physically in the form of a Central Park: a gathering space and activity center for the community. The landscape was a...