In the heart of Astoria, Queens, Innovation QNS transforms an underperforming light industrial district into a mixed-use neighborhood. Envisioned as a “15-Minute City,” the development blends affordable and market-rate housing, office space, hotels, retail, entertainment, and community facilities, served by multiple subway and bus lines providing access to Midtown Manhattan and other major city hubs.
Over two acres of publicly accessible open spaces stitch together the five-block development. Plazas serve as midblock connections, providing relief from long city blocks and alleviating a prior severe parks shortage in the neighborhood. Each space functions individually with focused programming, but together, they form a complete network with engaging attractions for all ages. The amenities include contemplative gardens, athletic facilities, technology plazas, covered markets, multi-age play spaces, and a civic park that promises to become a landmark community gathering space and common ground for all of Astoria.
SWA/Balsley collaborated with ODA, Silverstein Properties, Bedrock LLC, and Kaufman Astoria Studios to guide the project through conceptual design and public approvals. This included extensive community and stakeholder engagement and technical review through the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), which governs land use and zoning changes in New York City. The highly contentious public review process received widespread media attention and concluded in November 2022 with City Council approval. It is the largest rezoning in the history of Queens.
Faria Lima
A new office tower, theater and café pavilion known as Alameda is being built in the high end district of downtown Sao Paulo; the centerpiece of the site design is the Alameda civic plaza. Lifted gently above the street level, four generous steps invite visitors to enter and explore the plaza while branded light pylons at all major entrances serve as place mar...
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...
Shanghai International Dance Center
Inspired by the idea of movement, this collaboration with Studios Architecture achieves an artful harmony of building with landscape, program with site. The image of a dancer in grand jete kindled the designers’ imaginations and served as the project’s organizing idea. Asia’s first professional dance complex is tucked between a freeway, a subway station...
Grand Candela Memorial
The “Grand Candela” commemorates the victims and survivors of the August 2019 mass shooting tragedy at Walmart’s Cielo Vista store. Inspired by the motif of an everlasting candle and set in a plaza within the store’s parking lot, the memorial offers a dedicated place of healing and remembrance. Twenty-two columns of perforated metal, one for each life lost, ar...