This project regenerates a spectacular, historic cliff-side waterfront site by activating it with new purpose. Working carefully to interweave layers of preservation and natural beauty, the building and landscape work together to leave a light footprint. Today, a distinctive global campus honors the history of its earlier occupation while providing inspiration for the future. Located at Hong Kong’s urban fringe, on a heavily wooded and rocky hillside overlooking the Lamma Channels, this challenging, unhospitable location was perfectly suited to its history as the site of a former military fortress and prison. Designed to recall a difficult past, but also to inspire with new purpose and order, the creation of the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business Academic Complex at the Francis and Rose Yuen Campus has successfully transformed the landscape into a special environment that is open, safe, informative, and inspiring.
Work attributed to SWA/Balsley principal John Wong and his team with SWA Group.
Tampa Museum of Art
The new Tampa Museum of Art by Stanley Saitowitz is set within the city’s arts district whose master plan was prepared by Thomas Balsley Associates and also includes Performing Arts Center, Children’s Museum, Riverwalk, and the centerpiece Curtis Hixon Park. The museum is dramatically sited on a plinth overlooking its companion park and the Hillsborough River....
Stanford University Campus Planning and Projects
Over the past 20 plus years SWA has been working with Stanford University to reclaim the 100-year-old master plan vision of Leland Stanford and Frederick Law Olmsted for the campus. This series of campus improvement projects has restored the historic axis, open spaces, and landscape patterns. With Stanford Management Company, SWA designed the Sand Hill corrido...
Medgar Evers College Campus Quad
Since its founding in the 1960s, Medgar Evers College has been a central figure and source of pride for Brooklyn’s Bedford Stuyvesant community. Its reinvigoration, spurred by a rapidly expanding student body, began ten years ago with a campus master plan, prepared by Ennead Architects and Thomas Balsley Associates. In addition to new facilities, the plan fore...
Montclair State University Student Center and Quad
SWA/Balsley collaborated with DIG Architects and Montclair State University to reimagine the campus student center, adjacent quad, and connections to the surrounding campus. Through site analysis and project stakeholder meetings, key pedestrian and vehicular circulation routes were identified for resident students, daily commuters, and University staff. The st...