The Gateway Mall runs 18 blocks through the center of downtown St. Louis, terminating at the famous Eero Saarinen Arch, and provides a green spine in which the downtown’s workers, residents, and visitors can relax and celebrate urban living.
The mall never fully lived up to the potential envisioned by the civic leaders at the time of its inception. Thomas Balsley Associates was commissioned to prepare a design master plan and guidelines that will reimagine the mall as the city’s “front lawn” and defining public space. The new mall will vibrate with the beat of urban living for the businesses and homeowners returning to downtown. Each block has been carefully programmed, and is being redesigned with activities ranging from urban performance plazas and sculpture gardens to grand civic spaces, water parks, and recreational areas.
Dubai Hills Boulevard and Public Realm
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/Bals...
Rijskaya District Master Plan
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...
East Riverfront Visions Plan
What is now three miles of underutilized and neglected waterfront property is envisioned as a vibrant new mixed-use community, with a dramatic ribbon of riverfront parks and walkways that are intertwined with small neighborhoods and upland connections. A new open space system was conceived and given form as a critical component of the vision plan in which Tho...