North Bund Riverside Park, located on a prominent 2.1 km waterfront along Shanghai’s Huangpu River, is the first project of its kind in Shanghai to address contiguous waterfront open space. The goal of the associated international competition was to find innovative solutions to transform a post-industrial waterfront with historic elements into a viable active place for the city’s residents. SWA’s winning proposal for the park is concentrated on the concept of ‘fluidity’, referring to the fluid movements of the tidal river, transportation systems and people within a complex waterfront site. The concept seeks to understand the various circulation requirements of landscape and architecture and merge them into a set of graceful, flowing system of pathways, roadways and interconnected spaces. By allowing ongoing uses of passive and active recreation, the design orients itself toward accommodating the flooding condition of the river. Additionally, open plazas and small parks are integrated into the landscape to allow for places of respite for visitors, playing off of the ‘borrowed landscape’ of buildings, ramps and platforms in order to heighten user experience. Embedded vestiges of the past are incorporated into the plan, including design elements such as light poles, bollards, graphics, rails and cranes, and are now used to enhance and connect the past to the present and future. Through an understanding and sensitivity to tidal changes, historic architectural elements, and transportation networks, SWA has created a master plan designed to provide a seamless and integrated landscape that embeds itself in and ultimately enhances the waterfront of Shanghai.
Golden Shoal Riverfront Park
Located along Chongqing’s Jialing River, this new linear public park offered unique challenges: a 30-meter annual river fluctuation, steep topography, and low-impact maintenance of a continuous riparian corridor. Adjacent new urban development, with attendant needs for green space, called for a flexible and resilient approach to the park’s landscape and infras...
Hunter's Point South Waterfront Park
Hunter’s Point South Waterfront Park was envisioned as an international model of urban ecology and a world laboratory for innovative sustainable thinking. The project is a collaboration between Thomas Balsley Associates and WEISS/MANFREDI for the open space and park design with ARUP as the prime consultant and infrastructure designer.
What was once a ba...
Amber Bay
The Amber Bay residential development is located on a beautiful rocky promontory that is among the last available parcels along the Dalian shoreline, southeast of the city center. The project features high-end low density modern style residential development including single family villas, townhouses, and low-rise condominiums; shops and seafood restaurants on...
Aitken Place Park
Aitken Place Park is at the heart of Toronto’s East Bayfront Community – an area transformed from an underutilized industrial brownfield into a vibrant waterfront neighborhood. Flanked by the residential development to the west and the commercial buildings to the north, the park’s water’s edge location creates a unique destination that invites residents, touri...