Reclaiming private land for public use, one of Washington D.C.’s most dangerous intersections has been targeted for vast improvements. The project kicked off with the demolition of a Wendy’s restaurant on site and implemented new road alignments to ease traffic congestion. SWA worked with NoMa community groups and the Department of Transportation on the new vision for the intersection.
For Mamie “Peanut” Johnson Plaza, named in a public vote after the first female pitcher in the Negro Leagues, the team drew inspiration from the surrounding context to develop concepts that protect pedestrians and provide sheltered areas to sit, eat, and play. Softly sloping berms are used as multi-functional elements buffering traffic, collecting stormwater, and providing sculptural seat-walls. The new design adds 75 shade trees, pollinator plantings, play elements, and protected bike lanes, reestablishing the intersection as a multimodal gateway rather than a hazard zone. In the first five months of 2025, crash numbers were already down 40% from pre-construction conditions.
Today, NoMa is one of the city’s most densely populated and transit-connected communities, home to nearly 13,000 residents navigating its streets daily. The new plaza, delivered through a partnership between DDOT, NoMa BID, and the NoMa Parks Foundation, creates safer connections between Eckington and the core of NoMa—turning a deadly knot into a safer public commons.
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...
Naftzger Park
Naftzger Park offers a contemporary and communal gathering space in downtown Wichita with enough variety to appeal to everyone. Designed to activate an area of town between Old Town and a burgeoning new entertainment district, the park is at once an urban foyer and outdoor recreation room. A contemporary pavilion can accommodate picnic tables by day and perf...
Great Park
One of the world’s largest municipal parks, the 1,300-acre Great Park in Irvine, California, is currently under construction with phased openings continuing through 2029. The conceptual framework encompasses redesign and implementation of near- and longer-term uses, with the intent to “put the park back into the park.” The vast site, which was once the Marine ...
SIPG Harbor City Parks
This new riverfront development is located on the Yangtze River in the Baoshan District of Shanghai. This area boasts some of the highest shipping activity in the world. However, in recent years this single-function industrial zone has given way, allowing for waterfront parks to develop. Within this historically layered water front the Baoshan Park and Open Sp...