Comprised of six buildings on two adjacent parcels in the Umyeon neighborhood of Seoul, South Korea, the Samsung R+D design delivers on a complex program requiring a low maintenance landscape that provides restorative outdoor spaces at a variety of scales, visually unity for the campus and an enhancement of safety and security.
Site design focused on the concept of sustainability and abstracted ecological form expressed through “Successional Snapshots,” an interpretation of nature represented at one particular stage in succession and composes them across the site. Strong orthogonal relationships harmonize with the architecture and suggest the cluster of ideas through the network of people and data creating technological advancement. Remnants of early rural settlement are expressed as low walls that negotiate the site topography and serves as the barrier walls. Native grasses and shrubs blanket the site in monoculture plantings much like their natural phenomenon, representing the earliest stages of succession, while colonizing groves of sapling trees punctuate the ground plane, reminiscent of intermediate successional stages.
Sunken Courtyards, each composed with its unique interpretation of the site’s natural history vary between visual or occupiable gardens, depending on adjacent architectural uses. Sapling bosques extend architectural lines into the landscape while providing screening and drawing the eye to the mountains beyond the site. Sculptural landforms are inspired by escarpments of rock and natural cliffs found in the area. A sapling grove is lifted and celebrated atop a moss-covered earthen landform as an abstraction of trees on the adjacent mountains. The green-roof and roof terraces design concept views nature through a digitized technological filter that pixilates the landscape through the use of cells that contain one of three types of low contrasting ground cover or one of three paver tones. These precise and provocative visual gardens strike a harmonious dialogue with technological advances within the campus.
Lanchi Aqua Garden Hotel
Thomas Balsley Associates was invited to design one of six hotel villa sites near the ancient city of Xi’an. Collaborating with Joel Sanders Architect, the design draws inspiration from the lifestyle and design principles of traditional Chinese gardens. Like these ancient private retreats, this hotel site is also organized around a series of landscaped courtya...
Osaka World Trade Center
The World Trade Center Building, also known as Cosmos Tower, is the centerpiece of Cosmos City, a mixed-use development along Osaka’s harborfront. The tower’s base is dedicated to public spaces, including a major retail center that, together with the adjoining Asian Trading Center, attracts visitors, office workers and shoppers. The public open spaces consist ...
One Uptown
Bringing a singular landscape design expression to a site featuring two buildings designed by different architects, the SWA/Balsley team worked to seamlessly integrate a variety of outdoor spaces to accommodate the mixed-use One Uptown. At the ground level, tree-lined streetscapes and bike lanes lead visitors to a coworking and dining courtyard along Burnet Ro...
Progressive Design Center
This corporate campus is sited in a natural woodland, punctuated with ravines, dry streambeds, and the companion beech and birch stands found in this area. The facility’s size, one million square feet, is deconstructed into smaller programmatic components that are expressed in two linear building forms connected by enclosed walkways at two locations and divide...