“A major victory, if not some kind of civic miracle… Dallas has un-paved a parking lot to put in a paradise — 3.74 acres of it, if you want to be precise.”
– Mark Lamster, architecture critic, Dallas Morning News
The latest step in the renaissance of Downtown Dallas has arrived with Pacific Plaza, a 3.89-acre public park that serves the central business district’s burgeoning population and contributes substantially to the city’s outdoor experience. The first of an ambitious four-park initiative, Pacific Plaza complements adjacent urban greenspace with a varied program designed for intergenerational appeal, nods to local history, and sophisticated, lyrical detail. The design involved the integration of an existing stand of mature Live Oaks (Aston Grove) by way of closure of a bisecting street. The design also elevates a busy corner away from street traffic and noise, orienting users toward a one-acre, multi-purpose central lawn. The park’s 95-by-138-foot pavilion subtly recalls the area’s history with steel panels perforated in Morse Code signatures for every local stop along the Texas and Pacific Railroad between New Orleans and El Paso. “The Thread” (a solid, 611-foot-long seatwall that traverses the entire plaza) unifies the park into a cohesive whole, offering expansive, restorative spaces for residents and visitors alike.
Burlingame Town Square
Since its founding in the early 1900s, Burlingame lacked a signature downtown open space. In 2009, the mayor and council kicked off an initiative to make downtown more pedestrian-friendly, including enhancing the Burlingame Avenue retail main street. The capstone of that initiative is the transformation of a one-acre parking lot between Park Road and Lorton Av...
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...
San Antonio Spirit Reach
San Antonio’s river trail system has long stood incomplete, its northern reach at Brackenridge Park abruptly halted by a patchwork of private lands. Recognizing the waterway’s cultural significance, landowners forged an unprecedented partnership, opening sections of their properties for public benefit. The 162-acre Spirit Reach Vision Plan allows v...