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swa

Home Tag swa
landscape architecture firm swa completes buffalo bayou park.

landscape architecture firm swa completes buffalo bayou park.

Oct 13, 2015

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October 2015 will mark the conclusion of construction on the $58 million Buffalo Bayou Park project, master planned and designed by the Houston studio of SWA, the international landscape architecture, planning, and urban design firm. This thoroughly renovated, 160-acre, 2.3-mile public space, sometimes described as “Houston’s Central Park,” not only features beloved destinations old and new, but also deploys a vigorous agenda of urban ecological services and improved pedestrian accessibility. The more extensive Buffalo Bayou remediation project, of which Buffalo Bayou Park is a part, has transformed a polluted urban eyesore into a nationally significant, naturalized amenity for central Houston.

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Buffalo Bayou Park lies just west of downtown Houston, on either side of Buffalo Bayou and between two busy arterials, Memorial Drive and Allen Parkway. The completed park transforms an overlooked space into a city centerpiece. Existing destinations such as Eleanor Tinsley Park and the Wortham Foundation Grove have been re-envisioned, while new features were added, including the Johnny Steele Dog Park, Lost Lake and The Dunlavy event space, The Water Works and Wortham Insurance Visitor Center, and the Barbara Fish Daniel Nature Play Area.

Before the renovation, “Hardcore users found their way in, but it was relatively unsafe and mostly underutilized because the area is flanked by big roadways,” said SWA principal Scott McCready. “Our client, Buffalo Bayou Partnership, wanted to broaden the opportunity for the park’s enjoyment. Now anyone can just drop into the park. You might have a child with you, or be elderly; it’s not just for the young and athletic.”

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Connectivity within the park and to surrounding neighborhoods is enhanced with two new pedestrian bridges designed by SWA. These new bridges join the existing pedestrian network, including the Rosemont and Shepherd Drive bridges, to increase connectivity and offer greater mobility within the park to a larger population.

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The landscape strategies developed by SWA in concert with the Harris County Flood Control District provide critical environmental services both within the park and downstream. The design utilizes channel stabilization techniques through enhancement of the bayou’s natural meanders, offering increased resiliency against floodwaters. This method represents a sharp break from the midcentury style of straightening and channelizing the bayou. Landscape-based flood control also preserves the beauty of this culturally significant waterway. Additionally, SWA’s planting strategy reduced mowed turf by half, replacing it with riparian woodlands and naturalized meadows featuring native species. This further stabilizes the landscape, provides habitat, and uses characteristic Texan species to return a sense of place to the city.

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[ buffalo bayou partnership ] created in 1986, is the 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization transforming and revitalizing Buffalo Bayou, Houston’s most significant natural resource.

The Buffalo Bayou Park project is a public-private partnership led by Buffalo Bayou Partnership, the City of Houston through the Houston Parks and Recreation Department, the Harris County Flood Control District, and the Kinder Foundation. The Kinder Foundation provided catalyst funding of $30 million in 2010, an unprecedented gift to Houston’s park system. Buffalo Bayou Partnership will maintain and operate the park with funding of $2 million per year provided by the Downtown Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) #3.

[ harris county flood control district ] provides flood damage reduction projects that work, with appropriate regard for community and natural values. With more than 1,500 bayous and creeks totaling approximately 2,500 miles in length, the Flood Control District accomplishes its mission by devising and implementing flood damage reduction plans and maintaining the infrastructure.

[ swa ] is an international landscape architecture, planning, and urban design firm established in 1957. SWA has studios in Sausalito, Los Angeles, Laguna Beach, San Francisco, Dallas, Houston, Shanghai, and the United Arab Emirates. Since its inception, SWA has worked in over 60 countries, and its design-driven projects have garnered more than 800 awards.

swa helps to create nation’s largest planned net-zero energy community.

swa helps to create nation’s largest planned net-zero energy community.

Sep 11, 2015

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International landscape architecture, planning and urban design firm SWA provided key planning and landscape strategies for the nation’s largest planned Zero-Net Energy (ZNE) community for the University of California, Davis (UC Davis). A unique public-private partnership between UC Davis and developer West Village Community Partnership (WVCP) made the project possible.

Initially conceived as an “environmentally responsible campus housing project,” the 225-acre neighborhood West Village project ultimately transformed into a ZNE community, which uses “zero net electricity from the grid, measured on an annual basis.” SWA provided master planning, site planning, and landscape strategies to help realize the ambitious vision.

SWA’s sustainable initiatives support the project’s core principles of housing affordability, environmental responsiveness, and quality of place. The new campus neighborhood will provide housing for 3,000 students and 500 staff/faculty families within a network of parks, storm water ponds and corridors, bicycle and pedestrian trails, a community college, and retail and recreational services.

UC Davis launched the West Village Energy Initiative (WVEI) in cooperation with WVCP in 2003, to study energy efficiency measures, with an initial target of 50 percent reduction in consumption compared to the California Energy Efficiency Building Code. By 2008, the WVEI proposed that West Village could become a ZNE community without sacrificing quality, and at no increased cost to developer or consumer.

Phase 1A of the West Village development is now complete, housing 1,944 students at 99 percent occupancy. Phase 1A also comprises 42,500 square feet of retail/office space and a leasing/recreation center, centered on Village Square, an open, communal space. The ground floors of mixed-use Village Square buildings comprise the university’s first “uHub,” or innovation center, which includes the Plug-In Hybrid & Electric Vehicle Research Center and the Western Cooling Efficiency Center.

Robert Segar, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Campus Planning and Community Resources at UC Davis, states: “All parties saw tremendous value in reaching the goals. If one path toward Zero Net Energy didn’t work, we were willing to try another path. The phrase ‘Zero Net Energy’ was central to this; its absolute clarity became our guiding principle.”

SWA’s site planning and landscape strategies for the West Village development encompassed three major areas: Energy Systems, Community-wide Connectivity, and High-performance Landscape.

Zero-net energy dwellings at same cost as conventional housing. Met 87 percent of zero-net energy goals in the first year. Mixed-use development achieved with public-private partnership. Compact design for bike, pedestrian access to campus.

Within Energy Systems, SWA worked to integrate energy conservation and on-site energy generation in a functional and aesthetic manner, in harmony with local environmental conditions. SWA conducted analyses at regional, site, and building/garden scales in order to maximize opportunities for passive cooling, proposing to arrange buildings in loose clusters that allow breezes from the Bay Delta to filter through the site. SWA also proposed the planting of shade-giving deciduous trees, reducing the need for air conditioning.

In considering Community-wide Connectivity, SWA posited the bicycle as the site’s primary mode of transportation, based on the well-established bike culture of Davis, in combination with the site’s flat topography. SWA developed a five-mile network of bicycle trails, offering access to both community destinations and the main campus. This network also connects to other transit, fulfilling the objective of locating each residence no more than a quarter mile from the campus bus line.

To achieve a High-Performance Landscape, SWA integrated drainage into the site’s system of parks, sports fields, trails, and gardens. Storm water drains to the site’s large northern ponds, where it is purified by native wetland planting in a series of basins. The slopes of the site’s ponds incorporate native shrubs and trees, selected in cooperation with UC Davis’ horticulturists, botanical garden curators, and ground and maintenance pewrsonnel, to provide a sustainable habitat for migratory birds, while also providing a visually appealing natural landscape for residents year-round.

Robert Segar adds: “SWA was the one point of continuity in the design and implementation process. They met both the university’s goals of working successfully across scales, from community-scale natural drainage and landscape strategies to plant selection and coordination with our horticulture experts, as well as big-picture ZNE goals.”

Zero-net energy dwellings at same cost as conventional housing. Met 87 percent of zero-net energy goals in the first year. Mixed-use development achieved with public-private partnership. Compact design for bike, pedestrian access to campus.

UC Davis’ internal monitoring shows that the West Village ZNE community achieved an exceptional 87 percent of initial ZNE goals in its first year. In 2013, West Village received the ULI Global Award of Excellence, which honors outstanding development in both the private and public sectors, with an emphasis on responsible land use.

[ swa ] images courtesy of swa / photo credits > david llyod/swa & jonnu singleton

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