From its mountainside perch overlooking Seoul, the Samsung Museum of Art Complex boasts museums by three of the world’s most sought-after architects: Rem Koolhaas, Jean Nouvel and Mario Botta. Uniting these remarkable yet divergent works is an elegant, understated landscape. Complementing rather than competing with its muscular surroundings, the landscape is designed to provide the visitor with a rich visual palette. A visitor might rest on the long seat occupying the central platform; pause to admire the views from a series of terraced platforms leading down the slope; or enjoy the native plantings of azaleas, pine trees, and densely-planted birch trees.
A directional paving pattern, identity graphics, and LED art installations help guide movement through the site. This dynamic, architectural landscape takes full advantage of its extraordinary setting, mediating between the fixed structures of the buildings and artworks and the sensory surprises of the urban garden in constant flux.
Dallas Arboretum: A Tasteful Place
A year-round “food oasis” awaits visitors at A Tasteful Place, a new edible/display garden within the Dallas Arboretum. A continuation of SWA’s Arboretum work (which includes Red Maple Rill and the Children’s Garden), A Tasteful Place provides visual and hands-on education about plants and herbs that can be used in visitors’ daily cooking and explored in...
Fort Worth Museum of Modern Art
SWA was selected to provide design services for the new Modem Art Museum of Fort Worth located across the street from the renowned Kimbell Art Museum designed by architect Louis Kahn. The direction for the landscape concept here evolved from the vision of Japanese architect Tadao Ando, whose design was selected as the winning entry in an international invitati...
California Academy of Sciences
One of San Francisco’s first sustainable building projects, the California Academy of Sciences supports a stunning 2.5-acre green roof. Emphasizing habitat quality and connectivity, the project has received two LEED Platinum certifications.
The building’s architectural team, the Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW), invited SWA Group and horticultural c...
CSCEC Steel Headquarters Office and Museum
CSCEC Steel is a division of the world’s largest construction company, China State Construction Engineering Corporation Limited. CSCEC Steel is recognized as a leading global steel structure manufacturer; their projects include the CCTV Headquarters in Beijing, the Shanghai IFC, the new Abu Dhabi International Airport, and the 26th Universiade Main Stadium. To...