Identified by the City as one of its “Big Five” open space projects, the conceptual master plan for Nelson Mandela Park will create a much-needed central open space for the city’s south district, an industrial area along the waterfront that is home to a growing and increasingly diverse population. Here the city seeks to transcend its current park paradigm of landscape art and environmental performance to also embrace a multi-cultural milieu. An active community engagement process will inform the design of the new park, resulting in a place that is attractive and responsive to its heterogeneous stakeholders, and that will provide a catalyst for future development in this urban district.
Inspired by the natural hydrology and tidal vegetation systems of the river, park celebrates the maritime heritage of Rotterdam, while harnessing the coast for the benefit of the future. The community- and ecology-driven approach give the park a unique identity within Rotterdam’s park system and waterfront.
Main Street Garden Park
Thomas Balsley Associates was selected from an outreach to international design firms to design the first new park for the Dallas Central Business District in 50 years. A key component in the downtown revitalization strategy, Main Street Garden Park required the razing of two city blocks of buildings and garages making way for its transformation into a vibrant...
Park 101
Description: SWA and John Kaliski Architects are providing landscape architectural and urban design services and advice to the Park 101 Phase 3 study, led by ELP Advisors. The study’s goal is to advance the project from the planning phase to the project implementation phase. SWA is an advisor on programming, design options, development, density, and managing t...
St. Louis Arch Grounds
Spanning three city blocks and linking two vibrant city attractions, the Grounds Connector is an integral but unfinished component of Eero Saarinen’s vision for the St. Louis Arch. This missing link can be partially blamed for the disconnect between a stressed downtown and a popular monument that draws four million visitors per year.
Following an intern...
Skyline Park
After an extensive public dialogue on its original design and performance, the City of Denver decided on a redesign of Skyline Park, downtown Denver’s only public open spaces. The three-block-long, three-acre, linear park is at the center of downtown Denver and is bisected by the 16th Street Mall, a lively pedestrian space that connects many of Denver’s attrac...