DETAILS
Envisioned as a “Garden Oasis” strategically situated where city meets desert, Dubai Hills is a vibrant yet elegant mixed-use community for 21st-century living. The key public realm element of this massive 1,000-hectare development is a 5.6-kilometer urban boulevard lined with shops, residences, and offices – the district’s central spine. For Phase 1, SWA/Balsley designed the southern half of the boulevard, three gateways, and seven open spaces, ranging from intimate pedestrian passages to bustling plazas to lush green neighborhood parks. The proposed landscape character is urbane and cultivated, with a particular emphasis on subtle and refined paving details, monocultural style planting featuring culturally significant native trees, and accent features in the form of sculptural landforms, follies, shade and shelter elements, and public art.
Riverside Park South
On the West Side of Manhattan, on the scenic Hudson River shoreline, Riverside Park South is a massive, multi-phase project of sweeping ambition and historic scope. Combining new greenspace, new infrastructure, and the renovation of landmark industrial buildings, the plan—originally devised by Thomas Balsley Associates in 1991—is an extension of Frederick Law ...
Dubai Opera District
The new Opera District celebrates the adjacent spectacle of the world’s tallest building, while embracing the rhythm of everyday life. For three distinct mixed-use areas within the nearly 100,000-square-meter District anchored by the namesake opera house, SWA’s layered landscape architecture provides visual and experiential coherence using the concept of a mus...
Guiyang CBD
In the heart of Guizhou province lies China’s Forest City: Guiyang. Nestled on the banks of the Nanming River, today’s Guiyang is a vibrant metropolis poised to play a significant role in the rapid development of inland China. The Nanming Riverfront Cultural Central Business District Master Plan, led by SOM, leverages this potential and proposes Guiyang as the...
Dubai Expo 2020
From October 2021 to April 2022, the City of Dubai will host the World Expo: a large-scale International Registered Exhibition that will bring nations together with universal themes and immersive experiences. It will comprise an entire new city, built on a 1,083-acre site between Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The Expo site is organized around a central plaza linked to ...