The park design includes a one-mile hike and bike trail system, a pedestrian underpass linking the park to an existing trail system, bridges over the creek, and automobile parking. Gabions were used as an environmentally friendly means of slope retention in a floodway and as a tool for creating places for people to enjoy the wooded environment. Sinuous banks and vegetation masses soften the edges and a trail meandering through stands of pine and oak replaces the former service road. Meadow areas for passive recreation are found in the center of the site while edges are allowed to grow up in shrubs and trees. The project required coordination and approval of Harris County Flood Control District, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Houston Lighting and Power, the City of Houston, and three pipeline interests.
Milton Street Park
Milton Street Park is a 1.2-acre linear urban park alongside the Ballona Creek Bike Trail in Los Angeles, California. The plan incorporates numerous green-design elements, including the use of recycled materials, native planting, flow-through planters and treatment alongside the 1,000-foot-long, 45-foot-wide stretch of land. A variety of special elements such...
Alief Park and Neighborhood Center
In the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, Houston was compelled to reassess community preparedness. The 37-acre Alief Center, situated in one of the city’s most culturally diverse areas, addresses longstanding issues of disinvestment and environmental injustice while fostering physical and social resilience.
Elevated above the 100-year floodplain, the...
Halperin Park
In the 1950s, I-35E was routed through the South Dallas community of Oak Cliff, demolishing a thriving Black commercial corridor and one of the first Freedmen’s towns established after the Civil War. In the decades that followed, as in so many cities across the U.S., freeway construction severed long-standing social and economic ties and set in motion decades ...
Temple City Playgrounds
Ten miles east of Los Angeles at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains, Temple City sought to upgrade its aging parks and existing playgrounds into safe and welcoming spaces for community members of all ages. SWA worked with the city to host a community engagement workshop focused on renovating two city playgrounds: Live Oak Park, the city’s largest park, span...