Directly across the Hudson River from Lower Manhattan, Jersey City is an important growth hub for new housing. As it has grown denser, transportation options have improved in tandem. But one of its most central and densely developed neighborhoods, Journal Square, has lacked a central public space for years.
Located on a 3.4-acre site one block from the Journal Square PATH station, Courthouse Park replaces a decommissioned administrative building and surface parking lot with a high-performance green space positioned to become the civic heart of one of the most park-deficient and rapidly densifying neighborhoods in the Tri-State Area. Adjacent to the historic Brennan Courthouse and the forthcoming Guarini Justice Complex designed by Rafael Viñoly Architects, the park layers programming and ecology into a vibrant focal point for the diverse Journal Square neighborhood and the city at large.
Capitalizing on the site’s 10-foot grade change, SWA’s design organizes the park into two distinct but connected areas: an active lower park anchored by a sculptural shade pavilion, multi-generational play spaces, interactive water features, terraced seating, and a café housed in the repurposed Brennan Powerhouse; and a verdant upper park featuring an urban forest, picnic lawns, universally accessible pathways, and a dog run. Pollinator gardens and tree groves weave throughout, softening the noise and heat of the city while providing a point of respite in this bustling district. The result is a cultural crossroads where Journal Square’s layered history and dynamic future meet.
Aitken Place Park
Aitken Place Park will be at the heart of Toronto’s East Bayfront Community – currently being transformed from an underutilized industrial brownfield into a vibrant waterfront neighborhood. Flanked by the residential development to the west and the commercial buildings to the north, the park’s water’s edge location presents a unique opportunity to create...
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...
Nelson Mandela Park Master Plan
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 l...
Ferry Point Waterfront Park
Since the closing of a city-owned landfill in 1963, the site’s transformation into Ferry Point Waterfront Park has been a long, complex process. The new Ferry Point Waterfront Park will be a long linear eastern ecological extension of the previously built and conventionally programmed western Ferry Point Park. Part of a Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course, this...