SWA worked closely with the client and architect in siting the house to maximize views and preserve opportunities in which to develop the landscape. The varied program for the landscape included a small family vineyard, a multi-use field, flower gardens, fountains, terraces, a koi pond, swimming pool and spa, tennis courts, courtyards, a heli-pad and guest parking. The landscape design incorporates these program elements into a formal framework of connected open spaces and paths. The landscape maintains a dialogue with the building plan to foster interesting opportunities in which the interior functions of the building can extend outdoors. The design also condenses the program within an efficient area to minimize impact on the natural landscape. Native grasses, trees, and the natural landforms are used extensively to integrate these new interventions.
South Waterfront Greenway
A bold new plan for the area along the Willamette River includes a 1-1/2 mile extension of the City’s downtown’s parks and the reclamation of the river’s edge for public recreation. Working closely with the City of Portland, developers, and natural resource advocates, the design team devised a rational plan that places access and activity in targeted nodes wit...
SunCity Tachikawa Showa Kinen Koen
SunCity Showa Kinen Koen takes its name from the beloved Koen National Park that borders the development to the east and south. Built to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Emperor Showa’s reign, the park offers an ideal setting for Half Century More’s flagship continuum-of-care retirement community, with 518 independent living units and 82 nursing...
Kingold Century Centre
This new mixed-use development features a complex program that includes a hotel, rental space for other companies, eateries, service apartments, and retail facilities. SWA’s design challenge was to create a common space that can be enjoyed by the disparate users on-site at any given time. A common plaza includes multiple restaurants on a terraced platform that...
SunCity Takatsuki
Located in a bedroom community midway between Osaka and Kyoto, this facility has both Assisted Living and Skilled Nursing levels of care. The landscape design, complementing the modernist architecture, is organic and fluid with meandering paths traversing various gardens on the south side of the building connecting feature terraces located at each end of the b...