Poly International Plaza is an innovative office, retail, and exhibition center development located in the Guangzhou trade district. Sited along the Pearl River and adjacent to historic Pazhou Temple Park, the project presents a precedent toward integrating development with its site and context, embracing the place of garden and sustainability in the society’s rapid move toward modernization. The site plan forms a series of gardens and plazas. A major North-South promenade along the west boundary provides connections to an offsite hotel development and convention hall and a diagonal spatial arrangement enhances visual connections to the Pagoda Park south of the site and the Pearl River north of the site. The complete design seeks to integrate the southern Chinese landscape traditions with a modern sensitivity toward local context, climate, flora and SOM’s modern architecture. Tall, continuous tree canopies in combination with water features help to moderate the climate in providing shade and capturing cooling breezes for exterior spaces.
Lake Park Business Center
The site design is charged with a strong geometric pattern formed through large swaths of native planting, decking, and sunken courts. A rectangular grid is enhanced by intersecting materials, textures, light, and shade. Subtle grade changes create opportunities for seat walls and sunken gardens. The intimate spaces that result provide for gathering, conversa...
Poly Future City
As the first phase of a large development along a new subway line in Beijing, Poly Future City suggests what’s to come. A sleek sales center features an interactive landscape with water features punctuating its pavilions, which boast WiFi, heated seating, and power outlets, all solar-powered. For this temporary building and landscape, SWA took care to invest i...
North Texas Corporate Campus
Facing arduous competition to attract and retain top employee talent, companies are distinguishing themselves through the design of their workplaces. SWA worked with the client to reimagine and reinvigorate an outdated campus into a stimulating and rewarding work environment with quality amenities. To undertake the challenge of this campus transformation, the ...
Google Headquarters
As a winner of the ASLA’s Centennial Medallion, this project is recognized as one of the most significant landscapes of the last century. The former SGI campus, acquired by Google in 2004, and the adjacent Charleston Park, comprise a 26-acre brownfield site. The design creates a strong identity for the campus and provides a much-needed civic space, blurring di...