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Converting empty or underutilized strip malls and shopping centers into mixed-use residential and retail developments could help solve California’s housing shortage crisis and allow stores to stay afloat amid the shift to online shopping, said housing experts and industry leaders during a panel at the Urban Land Institute’s spring meeting last week in San Diego. However, that transformation will require cities to change their land-use policies. — Smart Cities Dive
Greyfield land may be the most underutilized resource in the state’s harried attempt to create the more than 2.5 million housing units required to meet demands set forth by the Department of Housing and Community Development in March. A bill introduced last week by state rep Buffy Wicks would... View full entry
New York-based Laguarda.Low Architects has designed a sprawling 128-acre, mixed-use park in Shenzhen that aims to restore the city’s Bao’an district “to its former high level of livability.” The OCT OH Bay Waterfront Retail Park, which opened in February of this year, joins the new... View full entry
A new memorial to victims of the Sandy Hook shooting has been approved following a referendum vote in Connecticut that finalized the project after nearly three years of cost-related delays. View of fountain. Image courtesy SWA Group. The memorial is adjacent to the new Sandy Hook Elementary... View full entry
Through its master planning effort for Atlanta’s Freedom Park, SWA Group is participating in "Flowering Forest – A Tree Tribute to Civil Rights Leader John Lewis," a collaborative, living memorial to the late Congressman and Civil Rights leader, to be located in the park. John Lewis... View full entry
Landscape architecture firm SWA Group has completed all of the ground level work including several sculptural pieces for Jianhua Plaza in Guangzhou, China. The Plaza's 1.4-hectare landscape was developed as part of the Baiyun New City Plan. SWA's landscape concept focused on developing a robust... View full entry
“The themes of nature, rebirth and regrowth made it perfect for a landscape memorial,” said Affleck. They aimed to incorporate plants and materials that fit seamlessly into Connecticut’s natural environment, like the sycamore tree.
The designers also spent time discussing grief with people in their own lives who have experienced it. They came to the conclusion that everyone heals differently.
— Hartford Courant
A proposal created by Ben Waldo and Dan Affleck of SWA Group in San Francisco has been selected as the winning design for the Sandy Hook memorial in Connecticut. The memorial design features a circular reflecting pool at the center surrounded by peaceful gardens and meandering pathways that will... View full entry
However, the open-ended zoning agreement the city and Weyerhaeuser Company signed 22 years ago allows new development to be governed by codes from that era, which would permit up to 70 percent of the campus to be covered with impervious surfaces and gives a city department director the power to determine what unlisted uses can be allowed. — The Cultural Landscape Foundation
Weyerhaeuser Corporate Headquarters, Federal Way, WA - Photo courtesy of SWA ICYMI, last month TCLF announced their latest Landslide: for a Northwestern Modernist Gem. The concern? Weyerhaeuser Corporate Headquarters designed by Sasaki, Walker & Associates, sold earlier this year, to... View full entry
The Foundry Square, a four-part mixed-use complex in San Francisco's South of Market (SoMa) district, is currently in its final phase with the construction of Foundry III, which developer Tishman Speyer purchased in 2012. The target LEED Gold building will have 265,000 square feet of office space... View full entry
