EAST LAKE CITY ECOLOGICAL PARK

HANOI, VIETNAM

East Lake City Ecological Park

SIZE 36ha, 89 acres / STATUS Completed, 2022 / DESIGN TEAM Balmori Associates, CAL, ARUP, Thornton Tomasetti

In 2021 Balmori Associates was commissioned to design the central park of a mixed-use development in the southwest suburb of Hanoi, Vietnam. The architectural scope integrated into the park includes a hotel associated with an École Hôtelière, a commercial pedestrian street, and a multipurpose center.

The park’s master plan is generated by a system of three loops that circles around and across the 20-hectare-lake. The paths’ width and material selection emphasize the character of each loop. The active, cultural, and nature loops create multiple ways of experiencing the park and provide activities for all users. The active loop includes jogging, cycling, athletic tracks, sports fields, picnics, playground, dog park, kayaking, and climbing among others; the culture loop, a sculpture walk, cooking and barbecue areas, viewpoints, a square dedicated to natural evolution and an Iris Collection; and the nature loop, a walk through a forest ecosystem, wetland and swamp areas, bird watching, floating islands, and lotus gardens, among others.

When combining the loops, the experiences of the park are multiplied and make each visit different and exciting. Additionally, the planting strategy highlights the character of the spaces around the lake with distinct blooming period, thus creating a new layer of experiences that varies at the rhythm of the seasons.

Madrid Nuevo Norte

MADRID, SPAIN

Madrid Nuevo Norte

CLIENT Distrito Castellana Norte / SIZE 560 ha, 1,400 acres / STATUS Under Design / DESIGN TEAM Balmori Associates / ARUP / Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects

Madrid Nuevo Norte is the largest urban regeneration project in Europe. It will transform the north of Madrid and bring new opportunities to the Spanish capital. The area of the intervention spans from Plaza de Castilla to Monte el Pardo (one of the best-preserved Mediterranean forest in Europe).  It is 6 km (3.5 miles) in length and up to 1 km (0.6 miles) in width, an area of 329 hectares (813 acres.)

The project will develop the urban void created by Chamartín Station railyard by covering the tracks south of the M-30 ring road with a park. This old industrial wasteland and brownfield splits the north of Madrid in two creating a physical barrier between Plaza de Castilla and Avenida de Burgos. The intervention aims to stitch neighborhoods, reconnect green systems, create public spaces and improve mobility. Distrito Castellana Norte has registered the project to achieve BREEAM and LEED certifications. The team in charge of the design guidelines for all public spaces, streetscapes, and urban landscapes is led by Balmori Associates, with PCPA and Arup.

Madrid Nuevo Norte will not only be a dynamic hyper-connected urban center, but also has the potential of becoming an environmental corridor bringing the enormously rich biodiversity of Monte El Pardo forest to the center of Madrid. Guided by natural processes the design of the public realm will restore natural resources to create flexible environments that support novel ways to showcase local culture, celebrate communities’ identities, and sustain economic businesses.

With more than 400,000 m2 of green spaces MNN will form an extensive green network centered around two unique spaces: Parque Central built on the structure above Chamartín Station railyard, and the north-south linear park or spine that connects the proposed network of parks with existing ones.

Three key factors will contribute to the development’s success: (1) a continuous linear park that promotes a common and continuous sense of identity;  (2) its sizeable offer of recreation and services for the rest of Madrid; (3) and its capacity to create value through the improvement in sustainability, accessibility, and public space quality for the project itself as well as its surrounding neighborhoods.

The design strategies through digital tools will allow a precise diagnosis of the sensory and perceptual properties of each environment and to experience them in real-time. This allows the designers to enhance these environment’s performance on a global or specific scale, anticipating problems, and providing solutions from the initial phase of the landscape project. Through an iterative and cyclical process, calculations and analyzes can be carried out, facilitating an informed and multisensory decision-making process that allows the introduction of modifications until the desired result is achieved.

The new concept of urban development for Madrid Nuevo Norte is rooted in its capacity of adaptation and its commitment to mitigation of climate change. As a permeable city with a novel concept of water management and energy efficiency, the development is based on distinct sustainable strategies. This will be achieved by engineering systems that function like natural systems do and deriving form from them. Madrid Nuevo Norte will be “a city in nature.”

Lola Mora Cultural Center

2018 - JUJUY, ARGENTINA

LOLA MORA CULTURAL CENTER

JUJUY, ARGENTINA
CLIENT Local government of Jujuy / SIZE 5 ha, 37 acres / STATUS Under construction, 2022 / DESIGN TEAM Balmori Associates / Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects / BuroHappold Engineering

Lola Mora (1866-1936) was the first Argentinian and South American sculptor. She is author of innumerable monuments across Argentina and the world. The Centro Lola Mora is composed of a museum dedicated to the work of the artist, a convention center and administrative offices. The 15 hectare landscaped site, which will include a sculpture park, and exterior amphitheater, parking and gardens sits on the bank of the Rio Grande and encompasses some of its riparian buffer.

The two biggest challenges of the projects are the site’s topography and climate. To mediate a 70m difference between the northern and southern edges of the property, Balmori Associates proposes implementing a cable railway and sideway elevator, canopy walks, and landscaped terraces. Some of the architectural programs will be tucked underneath existing landform; others will be covered with green roofs.  The intention is to minimize the impact on the site that offers an incredible variety of established plants from the time it was a botanical garden.

The landscape design incorporates sustainable water management practices to address the drought period and torrential flash flood events. This includes the selection of native plants to the design of the embankment of the creek that traverses the site and retention ponds. The idea is to celebrate water and its absence.

Capitol Crossing

Washington, DC, USA

Capitol Crossing

Washington, DC, USA

CLIENT Property Group Partners / SIZE 55,500 sq ft / STATUS Under Design / DESIGN TEAM Balmori Associates / KPF / One Lux Studio

Balmori Associates is designing the outdoor spaces associated with one of the three buildings that form the lid over the freeway. The edges between the building and the landscape are feathered. The pavers become stepping stones and disappear in the planting. Plants and hardscape define distinct spaces: a secret garden with a prairie, an amphitheater with views of the Capitol and the Washington Monument, a shaded green room with ferns and other under canopy planting.

Abandoibarra Masterplan

2012 - BILBAO, SPAIN

ABANDOIBARRA MASTERPLAN

BILBAO, SPAIN

CLIENT Sociedad Bilbao Ria 2000 / SIZE 74 acres / 300,000 m2 STATUS Design Completed 1996 / Construction Completed 2012 DESIGN TEAM Balmori Associates / Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects / Eugenio Aguinaga PHOTO CREDIT Bilbao Ria 2000 / Efrain Mendez, archframe.net

2012 marks the completion of Balmori Associates’ Master Plan for Abandoibarra. For the past twenty years, Bilbao has reinvented itself by regenerating important sections of the city affected by the industrial crisis of the 1980’s.  One of those former industrial areas is a derelict harbor in the center of Bilbao called Abandoibarra.

The Abandoibarra Master Plan was drawn by Balmori Associates, Cesar Pelli and Eugenio Aguinaga in 1998 (winner of an international competition). Balmori Associates created park guidelines and designed all open space, streets, sidewalks and plazas, placing emphasis on expanding the amount of green space in the city and incorporating sustainable design practices. Two-thirds of the Master Plan area are dedicated to parks and open space.

Today, what was once a high-speed roadway, has been turned into a boulevard with multiple pedestrian crossings and a light rail now connects the two main cultural centers of the development: Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum and the city’s opera house. Running on wide swaths of green lawn, this rail line gives continuity to green space. For the river edge, Balmori proposed a linear park, Parque de la Ribera. This new promenade, no less than thirty meters in width, is treated as a longitudinal space at two levels. The half nearest to the water proposes the pier’s rehabilitation, maintaining the existing dialogue between both shores. The inside half, which is located at the 6m level, concurs with the exterior of the Guggenheim Museum. In 2005 this section of the Master Plan received the Special Award ‘Città d’Acqua’ of the Biennale di Venezia for Best Project. In 2003, Balmori Associates was commissioned the designed of Plaza Euskadi and in 2007, together with RTN Architect, won an international competition to design Campa de los Ingleses Park also located in Abandoibarra.

Puerto Triana Development Sevilla

SEVILLE, SPAIN

PUERTO TRIANA DEVELOPMENT SEVILLA

SEVILLE, SPAIN

SIZE 40,000 m2 / STATUS Competition Winner 2007 / Completed 2016 / DESIGN TEAM Balmori Associates / Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects / AYESA

The project is located across Guadalquivir River from Seville, on a site that was previously part of the Expo '92. It is composed of a tower flanked by two podiums that run north-south. The tower’s program is offices and a 5-star hotel, the podiums’ is shops, cafes, and restaurants.

The dynamic public space defined by the podiums concentrates pedestrian flow through an active “street” with spaces for cultural, recreational, and commercial activities that leads to Caixaforum Madrid, a museum and cultural center.

The podiums create a pedestrian-scale urban environment; they open like arms to welcome people who arrive from different parts of the city, and then get closer to create a more intimate space protected from the sun.

The top of the podiums are parks accessible to the public, offering a space for walking and recreation. 

Balmori Associates has designed two modular concrete benches for Escofet for the project.

Taksim Square

ISTANBUL, TURKEY

Taksim Square

CLIENT Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality / SIZE 180,000 m², 44.5 acres / STATUS Competition finalist, 2020 / DESIGN TEAM Balmori Associates / SOUR

The importance of urban green in uniting people, place and memory.
Urban Commons designed by Balmori Associates in collaboration with SOUR, Cana Bilsel, and Sara Belge has been shortlisted among 20 finalists to design Taksim Square and Gezi Park in Istanbul, in an international urban design competition held by Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality via Istanbul Planning Agency (IPA). Our proposal for Istanbul’s most important public space envisions a square that brings people together and focuses on revitalizing the neglected historic site and the park through architectural interventions around Access, Action, and Arts.

Through access to its history and nature, improved mobility, and public space that is safe and friendly for all, Taksim Square and Gezi Park will become Istanbul’s urban commons, the green heart of the concrete city center.

Taksim Square and Gezi Park sit at the center of distinctive neighborhoods of creatives, makers, students, academics, entrepreneurs, and more. This introduces a unique urban moment to create a sense of place and strengthen the connection between people and the places they share.

Art is part of the site’s identity and is essential to position Taksim Square and Gezi Park as a lively, memorable and inspirational destination. Through the variety of proposed arts interventions the site becomes a stage for all.

The Museum of Urban Memory, designed around the symbolic trees of the Gezi Park, aims to further repair the disconnection between Taksim and its neglected history. Placed on the site of important past democratic manifestations such as the May Day gathering of 1977 and the Gezi manifestations of 2013, a new museum is proposed on the place where the citizens of Istanbul from various backgrounds claimed their “right on the decision making processes of the city they live”, where they aimed to protect the city’s environment for future generations. Therefore, a museum devoted to urban memory would be ideal for such a monumental location.

808 Pavonia Avenue

Jersey City, NJ, USA

808 Pavonia Avenue

Jersey City, NJ, USA

CLIENT Harwood Properties LLC / SIZE 2.215 acres / STATUS Schematic Design, 2017 / DESIGN TEAM Balmori Associates / Studio V

The new mixed-use transit-oriented complex integrates the existing street grid, creating a walkable pedestrian neighborhood with arts and cultural facilities and small-scale retail to complement the adjacent Loew’s theater. Gardens and plazas are articulated along a main pedestrian spine parallel to the PATH train tracks.

Busan Lotte Tower

BUSAN, SOUTH KOREA

Busan Lotte Tower

CLIENT Lotte / SIZE 3.3 ha, 8 acres / STATUS Under Design / DESIGN TEAM Balmori Associates / Samoo Architects

The Busan Lotte Town Tower (also known as Busan Lotte World Tower) is a 500m supertall skyscraper in Busan, South Korea. The tower is planned on a site next to Nampo-dong subway station and transportation hub. The first phase included a department store with a market and a cinema and it was completed in 2014. This current phase includes an observation deck, offices, and cultural facilities in a 107-story arboretum skyscraper designed by Samoo Architects. The tower’s underground parking space for over 2,400 cars will be covered by a landscaped plaza.

The landscape at Busan Lotte Tower represents an incredible opportunity to integrate landscape to this superb vertical structure. Balmori’s landscape intervention in the project includes the entry plaza and the observation deck. The central idea behind this landscape is generated by an urgent need for programmatic flexibility in a limited outdoor plaza space. This landscape is designed to be experienced and frame multiple viewpoints towards the bay.

Hermas Development

DOHA, QATAR

Hermas Development

CLIENT Hermas Development Company / SIZE 10. 000 m2 / STATUS Under Construction / DESIGN TEAM Balmori Associates / Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates / One Lux Studio

The Hermas Development will feature four office buildings organized around a central courtyard. Each building has retail on the ground floor, nine office floors, and a tenth roof level amenities connecting all four buildings. The roof level amenities house the Al Kamal headquarters, a Spa, Gymnasium and a restaurant for fine dining. Sitting on a site area of 15,220 m2 and rising 47 meters in height Hermas Development will be LEED Certified and have a 5 star QSAS rating.  

An Islamic pattern is reinterpreted through the site.  Modified, scaled, simplified, the pattern becomes at times the layout of the courtyard, at others, a paving pattern, the edge of the water feature, and benches.

The shade, the sound of the water, the vegetation and the color palette will provide a sense respite and freshness as soon as one enters the courtyard. Materials with warm colors are selected for the streetscape and cool color ones such as greens and greys for the courtyard.

The planting palette for the courtyard showcases native tall vertical palms and acacias well-known for their horizontal canopy. The sun study of the courtyard maps areas of sun exposure suitable for planting trees, and consequently where the earth berms up to allow for planting depth.

The terraces on the 4th and 10th floors feature pixel like planters allowing for more intimate spaces where one can sit alone or in a small gathering. The terraces of the 4th floor have a white, a red, a blue and a yellow garden; the ones on the 10th floor have a scent garden, an edible garden and an orange grove. The vegetated roof of the 9th floor displays arabesques of sedums.

New Government City

Sejong, South Korea

New Government City

Sejong, South Korea

CLIENT Multi-functional Administrative City Construction Agency of Korea / SIZE 667 acres / 2,700,000 m2 /STATUS Competition - 1st Place 2007, 1st Phase Completed 2012, 2nd Phase Completed 2014  / DESIGN TEAM Balmori Associates / H Associates / Haeahn Architecture / PHOTO CREDIT Efrain Mendez, archframe.net

This is a project that took a modest idea, that of green roofs as a public spaces and converted them into the generating idea for shaping a whole city. The four kilometer continuous connecting surface uniting ministries transforms the understanding of public space which here becomes the generator of the architectural form and is completely integrated into the architecture.

The design of the Master Plan for South Korea’s new administrative city. Sejong City, some 90 miles south of Seoul, will be home to 36 ministries currently located in or near Seoul. This project was won in an international competition and is now under construction. 

Three concepts ruled its overall definition:

FLAT CITY: The iconic plane--the physical and conceptual datum of aligned building rooftops--symbolizes the interconnected unity and democratic nature of the people and the government.

LINK CITY: Physical and visual linkages are created between the government and the people, the urban and the natural, the ground and the sky.

ZERO WASTE CITY: We created a strategy for the model city development that is based on zero waste principles. All waste from one system becomes the food for another. The third, Zero Waste City was not carried out.

New Asian Cities Pursue Sustainable Design, Architectural Record
Asian Cities Go Green, Bloomberg Businessweek
City’s Evolution Offers Lessons in Korean Politics, New York Times

SEJONG, KOREA, MPPAT (Masterplan for Public Administration Town)

Campa de los Ingleses Park

2012 - BILBAO, SPAIN

CAMPA DE LOS INGLESES PARK

BILBAO, SPAIN

CLIENT Sociedad Bilbao Ria 2000 / SIZE 25,000 sq. m2 / 6.17 acres / STATUS Completed 2012 / DESIGN TEAM Balmori Associates / Lantec (Local Partner) / RTN Architects / PHOTO CREDIT Iwan Baan / Efrain Mendez / Borja Gomez

Campa de los Ingleses Park designed by Balmori Associates with RTN Architect is the results of an international design competition (2007). 

The park flows from the Guggenheim Bilbao Museum, unifying the Abandoibarra area of Bilbao and the Nervión River. The Park's design was based on gracefully mediating for pedestrians a ten meter (33 feet) elevation difference between the city above and the Nervión River below. This was achieved with ramps, terraces, and topography, earthforms serving to control vistas and to allow for a café to be tucked under.

Instead of an “Industrial Lawn”, a “Freedom Lawn” was planted by introducing various grass species, clover and wildflowers that fixes nitrogen and reduces the need for pesticides. The paving designed by Balmori contains an additive called GeoSilex® which absorbs CO2; the paving was developed with the University of Granada and made entirely from industrial waste. The local newspaper referred to the park as “a new lung for the city.”

St. Patrick's Island

2011 - CALGARY, CANADA

ST. PATRICK'S ISLAND

CALGARY, CANADA

CLIENT Calgary Municipal Land Corporation / SIZE 12.5 Ha. / 31.0 Ac. / STATUS Competition finalist, 2011 / DESIGN TEAM Balmori Associates / Allied Works Architecture / David Skelley / NIP / Creative Concern / Knippers  Helbig / Sherwood / Design Engineers / Trans Solar / Hanscomb / Anne Georg / Terry Bullick

Balmori Associates’ entry for St. Patrick’s Island competition revisits and modernizes the eternal idea of Eden and the foundation of a new era. We propose attracting and supporting wildlife on their terms, not ours. In doing so, we offer a powerful point of comparison with the adjacent Calgary Zoo and create a model for our future relations with other living things.

An assemblage of habitats as an ecological mosaic allows local fauna and flora to thrive.  Diversified vegetation cover, enhanced topographical features and integrated water-based ecosystems are relevant to the site’s situation within the Bow River floodplain. Known as “edge effect”, the overlap zones between habitats (ecotones) are privileged as they typically present increased variety of plants.

Smithson Floating Island

2005 - NEW YORK, NY, USA

SMITHSON FLOATING ISLAND

NEW YORK, NY, USA

CLIENT Produced by Minetta Brook in collaboration with the Whitney Museum of American Art, with the assistance of the Hudson River Park Trust, and the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation / SIZE 2,700 ft2 / 250 m2 / STATUS Completed in 2005 / DESIGN TEAM Balmori Associates / Official LLC / Diana Shamash / Minetta Brook / Nancy Holt / James Cohan Gallery / Estate of Robert Smithson / John Rubin / Floating Cinema PHOTO CREDIT Andrew Cross / John Bartelstone

Never realized during the artist Robert Smithson’s lifetime, Floating Island is a 30 x 90-foot barge landscaped with earth, rocks, and native trees and shrubs, towed by a tugboat around the island of Manhattan. The fabricated “island” on view from September 17 to 25, 2005 was visible to millions of residents, commuters, and visitors along the Hudson and East Rivers. 

Robert Smithson developed the concept for Floating Island in 1970—the same year he created his best-known work, the ambitious earthwork Spiral Jetty at Utah’s Great Salt Lake.  Balmori Associates interpreted his 1970 sketch and consulted with his widow the artist Nancy Holt. According to her, Smithson's project was intended as an homage to Central Park. Floating Island offers a displacement of the park—itself a man-made creation from its natural habitat.

TBD: Grow With the Flow

2018 - Pittsburgh, PA

TBD: Grow With the Flow

Pittsburgh, PA, USA

CLIENT Riverlife PA / SIZE 0.17 acres / 697m2 / STATUS 2018 Finalist / DESIGN TEAM Balmori Associates

 

OCCUPY FORT DUQUESNE       How can this urban void located under the Ft. Duquesne Bridge overpass become a public space? Shaping the space to balance flexibility while giving an identity and sense of place stipulated the reinvention of a new design language.

1,000 to 3,000 milk crates turned up to be the perfect tool: They are modular and offer many layout configurations. They are comfortable: one can sit on it, lounge on it. They are flexible: they become furniture, construction blocks. They are stackable, easy to put away. They are light and can be moved around easily.  They are inexpensive.  They are playful and interactive. They are durable. They are desirable. We propose a ‘Second Life’ program that encourages the community to take this highly coveted module and transform it according to their needs... And they are yellow and refer to the iconic Aztec gold color that defines Pittsburgh.

CELEBRATE THE RIVERS       2018 marks the 260 year anniversary of Pittsburgh. This summer, let’s celebrate the rivers! Our scheme responds to the fluctuations of the river and uses flood as leverage for design. 
When the site floods the crates equipped with flotation devices lifts up and stays dry until the water recedes leaving a trace of the river. This presents a playful spectacle on site while keeping the maintenance after flood to a minimum. Grow With The Flow memorializes the floods with the tallest bridge column bearing the marks of the past 100 years floods – from the 46ft mark of the Great St. Patrick Day flood of 1936 to the 2005 flood. 

REVEAL NATURE’S FORCE       The bathymetric map reveals the topography of the riverbed invisible to us at the water edge. We propose to extend theses contours onto TBD site, softening the hard edge of the river while reminding users that the river occupies the site occasionally. 
The 2-dimensional representation of topography is traced with blue temperature sensitive paint that transitions into yellow at a specific temperature threshold. The thermochromic paint’s immediate and interactive process captures nature’s lack of fixity. The contour lines render the concept of landscape as part of an interconnected system, which extends and connects to other systems around it. Grow With The Flow aims to reestablish our relationship with nature.

 

This project included a public engagement stage. Our main objective was to understand better the relationship between people and the Allegheny River to advocate for a better relationship between people, other living things, cities and larger natural systems.

GrowOnUs

2015 - Brooklyn, NY, USA

GROWONUS

BROOKLYN, NY, USA

SIZE 125.7 square feet / STATUS Completed 2015 / DESIGN TEAM Balmori Associates

GrowOnUs Floating Landscape in the Gowanus Canal

An experiment to clean water through phytoremediation, desalination and rainwater collection to irrigate productive floating gardens.

Balmori Associates has designed, fabricated and is launching a floating landscape in Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal, one of the most polluted bodies of water in the United States. The floating infrastructure is one in a series of projects Balmori has designed to act as sponges that filter and clean water and provide wildlife habitats in the city. Floating infrastructures can adapt to and address rising seas.

GrowOnUs, an experiment in floating infrastructure was launched on Friday September 18 at 11am at the Third Street Bridge in Brooklyn, NY.

The project was funded through a $20,000 grant Balmori Associates and the Gowanus Canal Conservancy received from the Cornelia & Michael Bessie Foundation to research and create a floating productive garden in the Gowanus Canal. Once a hub for maritime and commercial activity, the Gowanus Canal has captured industrial waste products from factories located along its banks; and during heavy storms, combined sewer overflows (CSOs) bring not only stormwater to the canal but also untreated human and industrial waste, toxic materials, and debris.

GrowOnUs transforms metal culvert pipe into planters. These are the same pipes used to bring the polluted runoff and sewage waste to the canal. Each of the 54 test tubes isolate different experiments in plants (over 30 plants selected for phytoremediation and natural dye production), various watering conditions (clean water through phytoremediation, desalinate canal brackish water through evaporation and condensation and collect rainwater), as well as a variety of buoyant construction materials (coconut fibers, bamboo, mycelium, and matrix of recycled plastic.)

GrowOnUs will be monitored to study the viability of producing large scale edible floating landscapes in cities with polluted rivers. It will also further explore other functions with urban potential as a multi-functional green infrastructure: shoreline protection, biodiverse habitats, energy production, and public space.

Diana Balmori, discussing the project commented: ‘We have pioneered floating landscapes, we now want to learn what can make these floating structures financially sustainable. Dr Michael Balick at the New York Botanical Garden suggested we grow herbs, low maintenance crops that can give a financial return given their price per volume. In a few years NYC restaurants may be serving meals and drinks infused with herbs grown on one of these islands.’

Similar to green roofs or linear parks in place of traffic medians, floating landscapes exist on the edges and underutilized spaces within cities. Whereas green roofs exist as an intersection between landscape and architecture, floating islands are a model of the interface and transitions between the river, the landscape and the city. 

Wall Street Journal
Next City
The Architect's Newspaper
News 12 Brooklyn
Inhabitat
Fox 5 News
shift on MSNBC
 

GrowOnUs press release
GrowOnUs brochure

Grand Connection

2017 - Bellevue, WA, USA

Grand Connection

Bellevue, WA, USA

CLIENT City of Bellevue / SIZE 1.5 miles / STATUS 2017 / DESIGN TEAM Balmori Associates / Mobility in Chain / Herrera / Knippers Helbig

The Grand Connection will provide a sweeping new vision for Bellevue. Envisioned as a signature urban experience and means of connectivity, the Grand Connection will become an identifiable element of Bellevue’s urban landscape.

Improved connectivity, urban amenities, and experiences will enhance Bellevue’s existing infrastructure within Downtown, while a signature and dynamic crossing over Interstate I-405 will usher in a new era and vision for Bellevue’s Wilburton Commercial Area.

As a long-term project, the Grand Connection will also incorporate smaller placemaking improvements that will “claim the corridor” and begin to establish the overall vision. In addition to improving aesthetics and placemaking, the Grand Connection will improve overall connectivity and safety for non-motorized transportation. Building upon the framework of the Pedestrian Corridor plan, the Grand Connection will sculpt and frame a new pedestrian and cyclist environment that embraces the urbanity of Downtown Bellevue.

While the visioning process assisted in establishing an exciting and transformational vision, it also sought to remain pragmatic, understanding the constraints of many places along the route. The visioning process was tasked with developing solutions for both the near and the long-term, creating goals and opportunities as Bellevue grows, while capitalizing on early wins and implementable strategies that are budget and time conscious.

The Grand Connection Visioning Framework Report contains a wide range of improvements for both the near and long term. It considers issues regarding mobility, public space, connectivity, and programming. These major ideas include:

• Distinct and unifying identity for the route
• Cohesive design strategies
• Improved connectivity and mobility
• Improved quality and experience of existing and future public spaces
• Pursuit of innovative and creative means of placemaking to create a unique urban experience
• A signature crossing to reconnect Downtown and the Wilburton Commercial Area
• Successful interfacing of the Interstate 405 crossing with the Eastside Rail Corridor
• Create a shared vision by stakeholders and the public
• Early Implementation Strategies

Hoboken: resist, delay, store, discharge

2015 - HOBOKEN, NJ, USA

Hoboken: resist, delay, store, discharge

HOBOKEN, NJ, USA

CLIENT US Department of Housing and Urban Development / Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force / Rebuild by Design / City of Hoboken / SIZE 735 acres / 300 ha / STATUS Competition Winner 2015 / DESIGN TEAM OMA / Balmori Associates / Royal Haskoning /  HR&A

Organized by Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force, Rebuild by Design was a multistage regional design competition aimed at developing innovative projects to protect and enhance Sandy-affected communities. The OMA, Balmori Associates, Royal Haskoning, HR & A proposal Resist, Delay, Store, Discharge for Jersey City, Hoboken and Weehawken was awarded $230 million.

Jersey City, Hoboken and Weehawken are susceptible to both flash flood and storm surge. As integrated urban environments, discreet one-house-at-a-time solutions do not make sense. What is required is a comprehensive approach that acknowledges the density and complexity of the context, galvanizes a diverse community of beneficiaries, and defends the entire city. Our comprehensive urban water strategy deploys programmed hard infrastructure and soft landscape for coastal defense (resist); policy recommendations, guidelines, and urban infrastructure to slow rainwater runoff (delay); a circuit of interconnected green infrastructure to store and direct excess rainwater (store); and water pumps and alternative routes to support drainage (discharge).

Our approach is framed by a desire to understand and quantify flood risk. In doing so, we are better positioned to identify those opportunities that present the greatest impact, the best value, and the highest potential — our areas of focus. Our objectives are to manage water for both disaster and for long-term growth; enable reasonable flood insurance premiums through the potential redrawing of the FEMA flood zone; and deliver co-benefits that enhance our cities. These are replicable innovations that can help guide our communities on a sustainable path to living with water.

For the landscape team the project galvanized the ideas of the importance of the size of the unit to be protected, in this case the whole town of Hoboken, a small town, and let to the conclusion that units of a similar size were ideal sizes in which work, leading to rather less costly solutions.

Community Member's Outline Hoboken's Rebuild by Design Initiative
Promoting Resilience Through Innovative Planning and Design
Rebuild by Design Team
Final Proposal

Creation From Catastrophe: How Architecture Rebuilds Communities

New York Police Academy

2017 - NEW YORK, NY, USA

NEW YORK POLICE ACADEMY

NEW YORK, NY, USA

CLIENT NYC Department of Design and Construction / New York Police Academy / SIZE 35 acres / 14 ha / 1st Phase: 200,000 sq ft / STATUS Under Construction / DESIGN TEAM Balmori Associates / Perkins+Will / Michael Fieldman Architects

Three landscape systems define the organization of the NYPA: the muster courtyard, the drainage ditch and the perimeter landscape.  Each system is defined by specific programmatic attributes, but has been designed to tie the campus together as a whole.

The muster courtyard at the heart of the campus is defined by two elements in a field of decomposed granite: the muster and the garden. Framed by stately trees and light poles, the muster is also a flexible event space. At the main entrance to the campus is a regimented entry grove of 36 Tulip trees symbolizing a company (36 recruits). Formed by a series of linear sunken planters the grove allows for east west circulation. The badly named drainage ditch is an unusual feature for this type of project but praiseworthy in its achievements.

As a linear canal it bisects the Academy, serving as both an interface between the campus program and an innovative natural drainage infrastructure. The canal, a unique condition of both freshwater and tidal ecologies, is a richly planted landscape of native and wetland species working to scrub the water clean through displacement, aeration and filtration. The planted edges and terraces accommodate the fluctuating water levels- designed within the parameters of LEED and 100-year flood models. But its great contribution is its use as visual and physical contrast to the necessarily strict layouts of the rest of the spaces.

The perimeter landscape responds to the nature of the project phasing. Since much of the perimeter and parking areas will be developed in later phases of the project, the planting strategy is to surround the academy with a native meadow and trees planted outside of future building footprints.

The Garden That Climbs The Stairs

2009 - BILBAO, SPAIN

THE GARDEN THAT CLIMBS THE STAIRS

BILBAO, SPAIN

CLIENT Bilbao Jardin / 2009 / Fundación Bilbao 700 / SIZE 80 m2 / 860 ft2 / STATUS Completed 2009 / DESIGN TEAM Balmori Associates / PHOTO CREDIT Iwan Baan

As a member of the jury for the second edition of an International Competition of urban gardens in the city of Bilbao called “Bilbao Jardín 2009”, Diana Balmori was invited to create a temporary garden. Balmori, like each of the twenty-five selected participants, was assigned a ten meter by ten meter square in which to design a garden. The site was located at the landing of a large staircase between two Arata Isozaki towers leading to Santiago Calatrava’s footbridge over the Nervión River.

Instead of remaining at the landing of the stairs Balmori stretched the same hundred square meter surface into a narrow band and shifted the site in order for the garden to climb the stairs. In one broad stroke the garden performed a narrative of landscape which transformed the way this public corridor was perceived by users.  In form, the garden engages the horizontal plaza with the rising vertical plane of the steps and the upright gesture of Eduardo Chillida’s sculpture. Like the famous ‘Spanish Steps’ in Rome, the garden is not only designed for visitors to ascend and descend, but for them to linger.

“The Garden That Climbs the Stairs” transformed a space in an unexpected way. It transformed the stairs and the space around them.