SWA Group

09/04/2026

For decades, site meant a physical location — a parcel of land. But as our commitment to monitoring emissions and reaching carbon neutrality has grown, so has our understanding of what a site actually is: a convergence of ecological processes, cultural histories, hydrologic systems, and material supply chains that stretch well beyond the property line.

As landscape architects account for embodied carbon, the project boundary starts to dissolve. A concrete plaza becomes limestone pulled from a quarry, clinker fired in a kiln, steel rolled in a mill. A timber bench begins in a forest; a granite wall begins in a mountainside. Carbon becomes a portal into the hidden life of materials — the labor, energy, and infrastructure behind every surface we design.

Our latest blog post, "Where Landscapes Begin," traces what it means to follow materials upstream toward their source — and downstream toward their eventual reuse, repair, or disassembly. The result is a new way of seeing: landscapes that begin much earlier, and last much longer, than we ever imagined.

🔗 Read the full story on our website: https://www.swagroup.com/stories/where-landscapes-begin/

09/03/2026

09/02/2026

Along the Huangpu River, at the estuary of the Yangtze, Pudong has grown into one of China's leading hubs for foreign investment since its special economic designation in the 1990s. The project's mixed-use parcels — where commercial and office buildings meet urban green space — reflect that same growth, and SWA's landscape design took inspiration from the pixel.

Drawing from the architectural concept of a "floating cube," the landscape builds on three pillars: recreation, reconnection, and resilience. Around the buildings, the landscape unfolds with a cubic language that echoes the architecture above and grounds it in a lush atmosphere.

In the park, that same pixel logic loosens. Spaces shift in scale, plant palettes change with the seasons, and the geometry softens underfoot. Carrying through from tower to treeline, the commercial parcels and urban park work as a single, continuous landscape.

08/31/2026

Holcomb Family YMCA sits within a forest preserve on Lake Holcomb, a 102-acre man-made lake converted from a sand and gravel quarry that operated from the 1980s until the early 2000s. SWA worked with Holcomb Properties Company to transform the site into a detention facility and recreational lake in the mid-2010s.

As the site falls within the 100-year floodplain, the design team raised the YMCA facility on an artificial hill. Gensler's architecture spans thirteen repurposed shipping containers, offering flexible program space that can adjust and expand as member needs change, alongside an awning-covered outdoor fitness center.

SWA's landscape additions include an arrival plaza for food trucks, a lakeside seating terrace, an early childhood play area, a shaded lawn built around existing trees, terraced canopy seating facing the athletic field, and a nature playground designed for a range of abilities. Improved boardwalks extend lake access, and a network of trails ties the site into the surrounding lake path system.

08/25/2026

We're proud to share that SWA Group received three Honor Awards in the American Society of Landscape Architects' 2026 Professional Awards.✨

🏆Guangming Dadingling Mountain Forest Greenway: Bridging City and Canopy (General Design) — The greenway, designed by the Shanghai studio, stitches Shenzhen's urban edge to its forested mountains, giving residents new access to the canopy while protecting the ecology it depends on.

🏆Restoring a River, Reconnecting a City: Longgang River Blueway (Urban Design) — Designed by SWA Houston, in collaboration with Shenzhen BLY Landscape, Architecture and Planning Design Institute, HASSELL, and Shenzhen Urban Planning & Design Institute. The design reimagines the Longgang River as a connective spine for Shenzhen, weaving ecological restoration with new civic life along the water's edge.

🏆Houston Resilience Hub Network Master Plan (Analysis & Planning) — SWA Houston's plan for the City of Houston establishes a citywide network of resilience hubs, embedding climate preparedness and community support into the everyday landscape.

Congratulations to our fellow awardees — we look forward to celebrating next month at the Conference on Landscape Architecture in Los Angeles.

Learn more: https://www.asla.org/news-insights/press-releases/american-society-of-landscape-architects-announces-its-2026-professional-awards

08/24/2026

As the school year begins, we're reminded that learning is not confined to classrooms. It extends beyond school walls, into gardens, and across landscapes. A lesson may take place on a boulder used as a bench, in a garden bed tended during a science unit, or on a lawn where a game becomes its own form of instruction.

Some outdoor classrooms are purpose-built: amphitheater seating designed for teachers and students, living labs integrated directly into the curriculum, and shaded gathering spaces intended for independent learning. Others are defined less by design intent than by use — a landform meant for climbing becomes a stage, a grove of trees becomes a refuge, a plaza becomes a playground for students' imagination. Others serve a quieter purpose: a secluded bench or a courtyard corner to sit with one friend rather than a full class.

The more a campus is designed to support learning through all forms, the more effectively it serves the students who move through it. Tap through to see outdoor classrooms and campus landscapes across SWA's portfolio.

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In sequence: Westmark School (Encino, CA; 📷: Ty Cole), Ricardo Lara Linear Park (Lynwood, CA), Nanhu New Country Village (Jiaxing, China), Stanford Center for Advanced Studies in Behavioral Sciences (Stanford, CA), CSU Long Beach Liberal Arts Courtyards (Los Beach, CA), Bel Aire School Outdoor Classroom (Tiburon, CA), UCSD Future College Theater District Living and Learning Neighborhood (San Diego, CA), Kathrine G. McGovern Canopy Walk at Smith Oaks Bird Sanctuary (High Island, TX), Stanford University Terman Park (Stanford, CA), College of Marin Library and Student Center (Kentfield, CA)

08/21/2026

Next month, SWA is headed to Los Angeles for the American Society of Landscape Architects' annual conference. Swipe through for our sessions and mark your calendars.

Hope to see you there! 🌴🌊

Let's Talk About Sequestration
📅 Wednesday, September 16 | 10:45 AM – 12 PM
📍 Room 502B
SWA's Jonah Susskind joins Chris Hardy (Sasaki) and Nicholas Pevzner (University of Pennsylvania) to discuss how frameworks like SITES v2 create a pathway to maximize carbon sequestration potential.

Once Upon a Time: Narrative, Storytelling, and Finding Through-lines in Landscape Architecture
📅 Wednesday, September 16 | 10:45 AM – 12 PM
📍 Room 151
SWA's René Bihan joins Charles A. Birnbaum (TCLF) and John A. King (writer) to explore how narrative thinking helps designers transform complex sites into coherent, meaningful places.

Beyond the Blueprint: Climate Action Planning Across Practice Scales
📅 Thursday, September 17 | 8:30 – 9:45 AM
📍 Room 502B
SWA's Jonah Susskind joins Chelsea Gieryic (Livable Cities Studio) and Aida M. Curtis (Curtis + Rogers Design Studio) to share how scale and culture shape CAPs, offering practical insights attendees can adapt to their own practice.

Breadth and Depth: Building Organizational Capacity from Emerging Practices to Legacy Firms
📅 Friday, September 18 | 9 – 10:45 AM
📍 Room 408A
SWA's Steven Lee joins William DiBernardo (Sit—Still Landscape Architecture) and Grace E. Prem (SCAPE) to compare how organizational scale shapes specialist depth versus generalist breadth and builds adaptive capacity for change.

Cultivating the Active Archive: Translating Design Memory into Future Practice
📅 Friday, September 18 | 10:45 AM – 12 PM
📍 Room 403B
SWA's Jennifer Hung joins Hannah Hardenbergh (Klopfer Martin Design Group) and David C. Malda (GGN) to examine how a living project archive can carry ideas, relationships, and knowledge across generations.

Actions Behind the Actions: Getting to Work on LA 2040
📅 Friday, September 18 | 3 – 4:15 PM
📍 Center Stage—Room 411 Theatre
SWA's Mariana Ricker joins Amy C. Syverson (Landscape Forms) and Jordan Clark (TBG Partners) to share lessons learned putting LA 2040 targets to work within their own organizations.

08/18/2026

Throughout its rich history dating back to the mid-19th century, Rancho Cucamonga has been crossed by six major trade routes, including the El Camino Real (connecting two missions by a day's travel), the Santa Ynez Trail (linking the Colorado River to settlements out west), and Route 66 (the major vehicular thoroughfare that carried westward migration during the Dust Bowl and post-WWII).

Victoria Gardens, a 147-acre lifestyle center, echoes the city's prominent position along these trade routes, combining the best traditions of Western American town centers with the social and planning demands of the early 21st century. A formal date palm grove evokes the region's agrarian roots while protecting the project from the nearby I-15 freeway. The orchard effect is enhanced by linear planters filled with Bradford pears along the parking lots. A decade after completing the open-air mall, the owner worked with SWA to refresh a three-block streetscape and plaza along Monet Avenue to maintain desirability.

Highlighting the social landscape and blurring the line between retail and recreation, SWA introduced art interventions, site furnishings, and fountains to update the site. Drought-sensitive plantings, high-efficiency irrigation, and stormwater treatment systems tie into the greater network of native shrubs and groundcovers, enhancing the garden heritage of the project.

08/13/2026

There are several ways to build lighting into a landscape from the start, rather than bolt it on at the end. Fountains and water features are lit from within, turning a daytime plaza into an entirely different space after dark. Fixtures are embedded directly into grade changes and retaining walls to illuminate paths. Canopies, pergolas, and shade structures are fitted with integrated lighting, so the same form that blocks sun at noon sheds light at 9 PM.

Achieving this takes close collaboration with lighting designers from the outset, so fixtures and structure are resolved together rather than retrofitted.

The effect isn't just aesthetic; a well-lit landscape extends its own hours. A park built for daytime use and a park built to be safe, legible, and worth visiting at night require different design decisions. The earlier lighting is considered, the more the two can work together, resulting in a landscape that performs at any hour.

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In sequence: Eucalyptus Society Garden (Guangzhou, China), OCT Bao'an Waterfront Cultural Park (Shenzhen, China), Xingfa Quarry Park (Beijing, China), Hill at Sims Park (Houston, TX), Avenida Houston (Houston, TX), Shekou Promenade (Shenzhen, China), Burlingame Town Square (Burlingame, CA), Pazhou South Waterfront Park (Guangzhou, China), Hunter's Point South Park (Queens, NY), Culver Steps (Culver City, CA), Guangming OCT Trail (Shenzhen, China), Chengdu Magic Cube (Chengdu, China), Dubai Creek Harbour (Dubai, UAE), Sava Promenada (Belgrade, Serbia), Williams Square (Irving, TX), The Camellias Garden (Gurgaon, India), Guangzhou Vanke Centre (Guangzhou, China)

08/06/2026

What was once a stretch of former industrial shoreline in Shekou is now Prince Bay's public front door to Shenzhen Bay. The promenade's design links key nodes — including Shekou Port — with cultural and commercial corridors, a skate park, play structures, and interactive water features. The result is a denser, greener stretch of coastline built for everyday use.

The promenade anchors Prince Bay's shift into a mixed-use waterfront district, most visibly at K11 ECOAST, a retail and cultural complex that opened in 2025. An interactive fountain marks the transition from bay to development, drawing visitors from the water's edge — with views of Hong Kong — into the promenade landscape. Nearby, a play feature with sand and climbing nets invites families to linger.