Located on the east bank of Jingji Lake and on the east-west axis of Suzhou city, the new Suzhou Industrial Park Administrative Center (SIP) is the primary work area for government management departments in Suzhou, China. SWA’s landscape master plan and design create a strong identity for the civic campus, which is located in a setting that integrates traditional Suzhou culture with modern amenities. The program includes a civic plaza, fountains, central green, canal waterfront, and streetscape, incorporating landscape elements such as trees, water features, and new landforms to provide inviting amenities while linking the site to its context. Water plays a central role in this “city of canals,” and drives the design by integrating water into citizens’ modern daily life both physically and metaphorically. The existing central canal and linear waterfront park connect the site to Suzhou City, while the main building, civic plaza, reflecting pool, and water platform form a new north-south axis that directs views and provides orientation. SIP’s administrative center connects residents to the city’s past, while creating an environment that is both aesthetically and functionally rich.
Work attributed to SWA/Balsley principal John Wong and his team with SWA Group.
Giant Interactive Headquarters
We collaborated with Morphosis Architects on a new ecological park and living laboratory for Giant Interactive Headquarters, a 45-acre corporate campus in Shanghai, China. The design concept blurs the distinction between the ground plane and the structure, weaving water and wetland habitats together with the folded green roof of the main building design. The s...
Alipay Headquarters
The new the Hangzhou Alipay Headquarters is located between the Xi Xi wetlands and downtown Hangzhou, a city renowned for its rich culture and beautiful landscapes. Hills and small mountains surround the headquarters building in three directions, and in the fourth lies downtown Hangzhou. Three landscape “movements” derived from openings in the building direct ...
Ballpark Village 200
SWA/Balsley has been contracted for full district-wide landscape services for this exciting new urban redevelopment, located directly across the street from Busch Stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team.
This downtown revitalization effort includes creating an iconic, unified district identity, strengthening pedestrian connection to the d...
3151 Market Street
Market Street has been one of Philadelphia’s most important thoroughfares since William Penn’s original plan for the city in the 17th century. Today, 3151 Market occupies a pivotal position at the edge of Schuylkill Yards, where the layered urban neighborhood meets the campuses of Drexel and UPenn to form a new nexus of knowledge and innovation. De...