The Shops at Waterloo Town Square is a redevelopment of a two city block, 25,548-square-meter (275,000-sq. ft.) enclosed shopping mall into a mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly district. The project reestablishes a strong street presence in Waterloo’s uptown district, with two new mixed-use buildings comprising 17,744 square meters (191,000 sq. ft.) of shops and restaurants and 9,290 square meters (100,000 sq. ft.) of office space. A new retail street bisects the 2.9-hectare (7.2-acre) site, breaking apart the superblock and bringing a human scale to the project.
Buffalo Bayou Park is a 160-acre linear park stretching for 2.3 miles west of downtown Houston, along the region’s primary river. A $58 million capital campaign transformed the park from a neglected drainage ditch into a citywide showpiece. Its ten acres of trails wind past seven major public art installations, three gardens of native flora, and over four pedestrian bridges; two festival lawns, a dog park, a skate park, a nature play area, a restaurant, and an art exhibit hall draw visitors from afar. Structures were carefully sited above the path of potential floods, while park elements within the valley were designed and built to be submerged during future floods—requiring cleanup, rather than reconstruction, after the inevitable floods.
The nonprofit Buffalo Bayou Partnership orchestrated a joint effort between public sector partners and private donors: private donors funded the park, in tandem with public sector improvements to the river channel and adjacent streets, and with a plan for ongoing maintenance. The park’s completion was a milestone that launched a broader effort to reimagine the possibilities of streams across the region.
The Denizen is a 119-unit condominium and townhouse community that includes 105 condo flats in ten separate three-story buildings, 14 townhouses built as duplexes, and three separate open-space/amenity areas. The project is located on an 8.5-acre infill site near downtown Austin, Texas, and was developed as an affordable option for homebuyers desiring an intown location. The plan features a community garden, numerous rain gardens throughout the site, a central amenity area with a swimming pool and a lawn, and a retention basin that also serves as an amphitheater for special events. All units offer either yards or balconies facing an amenity area and views of the downtown Austin skyline.
Melbourne has always felt the need for a grand civic square, which was promised—but never delivered—in the 1837 plan for the new town on the River Yarra. Federation Square finally meets this need, creates a new gateway to the heart of the city, and completes the family of welcoming institutions—the Flinders Street train station and St. Paul’s cathedral—that occupy the intersection of Flinders and Swanston Streets. On the southeast corner of this intersection, Federation Square replaces the Jolimont railyard that served Flinders Street station and an offensive eyesore, the “Gas and Fuel” towers—land uses that additionally created a barrier between the center of the city and the Yarra.
The Levent district—the financial heart of downtown Istanbul—had become disjointed and isolated, the result of rapid growth, the lack of a viable urban plan, and little collaboration among public agencies and developers. New development had put the needs of automobiles ahead of more pressing urban needs. The approximately 50,000 people who worked in the district had few places to socialize, entertain, or even walk along the street.
Namba Parks is an urban lifestyle center fitted onto a 3.37-hectare (8.33-acre) underutilized parcel in the heart of Osaka’s central business district (CBD). The site is part of a narrow strip of land owned by Nankai Electric, which has been progressively developing it over the course of half a century, starting from the densest end. Surrounded by raised railroad tracks to the east and an urban boulevard and elevated viaduct to the west, Namba Parks offers green space atop an eight-level assemblage of 108 shops and restaurants arranged to form an indoor-outdoor urban retail and entertainment complex visually anchored by a 30-floor office tower.
