“[Riverside Park South] is a massive, multi-phase project of sweeping ambition and historic scope. Combining new greenspace, new infrastructure, and the renovation of landmark industrial buildings, the ….bold scheme calls for the elevated Miller Highway, long a barrier between the city and its waterfront, to be dropped to grade and covered with a park, affording unimpeded access from upland neighborhoods to their riverfront.
– Damian Holmes, World Landscape Architect
Located on the West Side of Manhattan on the scenic Hudson River shoreline, Riverside Park South is a massive, multiphase project of sweeping ambition and historic scope. Combining new green space, new infrastructure, and the renovation of landmark industrial buildings, the plan – originally devised by Thomas Balsley Associates in 1991 – is an extension of Frederick Law Olmsted’s famed Riverside Park, carrying it a further 13 blocks beyond its traditional southern boundary. At the same time, the scheme calls for the elevated Miller Highway (long a barrier between the city and its waterfront) to be replaced by an underground tunnel topped by lawns and surface streets, affording unimpeded access from new high-rise apartment buildings and upland neighborhoods to the parks and paths along the river.
Fernwood Avenue Park
The Fernwood Avenue Park represents a significant opportunity for the city to enhance the water quality and availability of groundwater for residents, while also offering public amenities. Equipped with four detention basins that capture water onsite and from the street, the project plays an important role in the community as a stormwater infiltration site. Th...
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...
Long Beach Shoreline
SWA prepared a land use and urban design plan for six miles of waterfront adjacent to downtown Long Beach. Through a series of meetings with local community stakeholders, we were able to determine the different needs of each district in the plan: of critical importance was the need to preserve valuable open space inland, and to maintain an ecological corridor ...
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...