The redevelopment plan for the waterfront and port facilities adjacent to downtown San Diego included translating community and economic requirements into a specific planning program. Emphasis was placed on urban design, circulation and parking, landscaping, environmental planning, and engineering considerations with a set of comprehensive implementation guidelines. The plan introduced a continuous greenway and boardwalk traversing the waterfront. SWA led an interdisciplinary team through the following: · An intensive environmental review · A community workshop process · Development of a space utilization program with the economic consultant · Coordination with local agencies, U.S. Navy, state agencies, the new California Coastal Commission, and community groups · Development of transportation alternatives · Development of land and space use alternatives · Preparations of a phased Master Plan, including detailed shoreline plans · Preparation of an Environmental Impact Report Initial Study · Preparation of Development Guidelines · Audiovisual presentation for the approval process Perhaps most importantly, the designers were responsible for formulating and directing a comprehensive, forthright approach to the planning process. They directed a series of public workshops that determined goals and evaluated alternatives. A complete environmental analysis and Environmental Impact Report addressed additional concerns. Finally, the plan mitigated much of the concern of the Coastal Commission, state agencies and citizen groups by conceptualizing and communicating a vision for the waterfront that was, as stated in the plan, “in human terms, viable and contemporary in the dynamic San Diego metropolitan environment . . . The Embarcadero is the place where San Diego meets the Sea”. The plan, its guidelines and the subsequent implementation over three decades have given the citizens of San Diego and through tourism, the state and country, access to the magnificent shoreline of San Diego Bay for public enjoyment, economic renewal and community revitalization. The citizens of this culturally diverse region have been able to celebrate the water’s edge as a place to visit, enjoy and experience their family and community life. The plan set the course for this and future efforts of the Port to re-use their lands and reclaim their franchise for the people of California.
Guangzhou Shipyard Waterfront Park
On the west bank of the Pearl River, the historic Guangzhou Shipyard has been transformed into a waterfront park that reconnects residents with the water while honoring over a century of industrial heritage. Once a Qing Dynasty fortress, the site became a shipyard in 1914 and grew into an almost 50-hectare complex—one of the earliest and most renowned in China...
Downtown Jebel Ali Landscape Master Plan, UAE
Downtown Jebel Ali is a new development located 35 kilometers southwest of Dubai, along an 11 km stretch of Sheikh Zayed Road. Representing the first phase of a major mixed-use development on the outskirts of Dubai, the project includes two high-rise office buildings and two high-rise apartment buildings with access to Sheik Zayed Road. Mixed-use buildings and...
Rio 2016 Olympic Park Competition
SWA was awarded 2nd place in the 2016 Olympic Park Competition in Rio de Janeiro for their master plan and landscape architecture proposal. The Olympics will be located on a 118-hectare site in the neighborhood of Barra da Tijuca. The underlying concept of ‘Embrace’ weaves through the design in a grand planning gesture, which both defines the Olympic Games and...
Downtown Cairo Planning & Revitalization
The Khedive’s Cairo is often referred to as the heart of modern Cairo. Laid out by Ismail Pacha in the late 19th century, the Khedive’s Cairo was a physical manifestation of the governmental and societal evolution that the Khedive envisioned for Egypt. Like many American and European cities, time and intense pressures of popul...