Groundswell Design Group

Groundswell’s approach to place-making is 100% holistic and hands-on. Each project begins with inspiration, precedent study, and a conceptual plan, which serves as a guideline throughout. The process is entirely organic and unique in that each site evolves through adding and editing until just the right balance of hard and soft elements are established. The […]

River Garden is a vibrant destination for connection, relaxation, and play. As part of the Riverwalk, the 2-acre revitalized park is poised to become a key social hub on the Memphis waterfront. Previously known as Mississippi River Park, it sat for years as underutilized public space – an empty sea of lawn, existing only as […]

Cherry Street Pier Narrative:
Cherry Street Pier (CSP) is an adaptive reuse project along the Delaware River Waterfront that sought to transform a disused shipping and transportation hub into a world-class waterfront amenity for the city of Philadelphia and beyond.  The design pulls inspiration not only from the pier’s industrial architecture, but also from Philadelphia’s historic […]

Strategic Property Partners approached Groundswell Design Group with an opportunity to reinvent a struggling retail development into a thriving outdoor food hall and public space. The existing site located along the Garrison Channel in downtown Tampa, FL, turned its back on the waterfront, leaving the existing public space surrounded and concealed by two existing commercial […]

The site conditions at the outset of the design process consisted of four primary elements. These included large existing Locust, Silver Maple, Apple and Fir trees; expansive areas of lawn; rolling changes in topography; and the contemporarily designed residence. The client’s basic desire for the design of their landscape was to create an extension of […]

Background In the last decade, Philadelphia has reversed a 60-year depopulation trend, with much of this growth focused in downtown; Greater Center City alone gained 17,000 residents since 2004, and now tops 180,000 people. Spruce Street Harbor Park (SSHP) is part of a citywide movement to increase and improve Philadelphians’ access to public space, in […]