SWT Design

05/28/2026

Our St. Louis office roof garden is in full bloom.

What looks like a rooftop retreat is also a working test bed. We use this space to trial different soil depths, plant species, and tray systems for less intensive green roof installations, so we can bring that hands-on knowledge to future projects.

Prickly pear, fame flower, and lead plant are among the species currently thriving up here, supporting pollinators, slowing stormwater, and making it a pretty great place to take a lunch break.

05/21/2026

Ted Spaid, SWT Founding Partner, still feels the loss from trees destroyed in last year's tornado. So do a lot of St. Louisans. In a new piece for the St. Louis Business Journal, he makes the case that what we lost wasn't just beautiful. It was infrastructure.

Ted is calling for a regional Urban Forestry Alliance, modeled on Great Rivers Greenway, with a goal of 40% tree canopy coverage across the St. Louis region by 2040.

Read the full piece at the link below. (St. Louis Business Journal subscription required.)

The proposal comes a year after a tornado reshaped neighborhoods and created voids where mature trees once stood. Research shows trees return $1.89 for every $1 invested.

05/19/2026

This morning, SWT Design hosted a ULI St. Louis 60 Minute Mentorship conversation with Managing Partners Ted Spaid and Bonnie Roy. They shared their career journeys, lessons learned, and perspectives on leadership and collaboration with a small group of professionals and emerging talent.

Mentorship goes both ways. Glad we could open our doors for that conversation.

05/15/2026

Our St. Louis office got moving for Bike to Work (or Wherever) Day. Whether you rode to work or not, we hope you're able to get outside today. Maybe even on a trail or greenway we've worked on.

Thanks to Trailnet for organizing. See you out there.

05/13/2026

Meet Galen, our newest intern!

We’re thrilled to welcome Galen Kohlbrecher to the SWT Team! Studying both Environmental planning and Landscape Architecture, Galen brings an inquisitive mind focused on how human design and nature can work together to improve and restore the world around us.

Originally from Highland, Illinois, Galen’s interest in nature started early. He first learned of the field by stumbling across the Landscape Architecture studios during a high school campus tour of Utah State University. Ever since, he’s wanted to practice Landscape Architecture.

Galen is driven by learning how things tick, and how small details can come together to solve bigger issues. His current passions in the field are for low impact construction, process-based habitat reconstruction, and the impact of beavers on an ecosystem. When he’s not in the studio, you can find him rock climbing, working on an organic garden, and bird watching.

05/07/2026

With a children's bike playground, pump track, and 10 miles of mountain biking trails, MOmentum Bike Park in Joplin has something for everyone.

MOmentum Bike park hosted over 800 visitors during its grand opening last week. It's already a favorite amenity for many Joplin residents, as well as drawing over 12,000 visitors from across the country. This project shows how thoughtful design can support a local community, boost tourism, and create new experiences for visitors of all types.

Thank you to our partners IMBA Trail Solutions, American Ramp Company, Crossland Construction Company, Inc., Crawford, Murphy & Tilly, Civil & Survey, Palmerton & Parrish, and Joplin Parks and Recreation that made this dream destination for bikers a reality.

05/04/2026

SWT Design was excited to participate in the Annual Forest Park Forever Golf Tournament last Friday! Our team consisted of our own Bonnie Roy and Lauren Helmer, as well as Jacque Knight and Sydney McDermott. A perfect day spent supporting an organization very close to all of our hearts!

04/30/2026

Southwest Boulevard has long been the spine of Kansas City’s Westside, a historic Mexican American neighborhood rich in culture, community, and connection. However, the corridor has also been a barrier. Fast-moving traffic, difficult crossings, and limited pedestrian space made it feel like a road to pass through, rather than a place to be.

Through community engagement, one message came through clearly: Southwest Boulevard should serve the Westside, not divide it.

Julian treated these challenges as one connected system with one connected solution. By putting the road on a “diet” and reducing four lanes to two with a center turn lane the design team was able to rebalance the street. A new shared-use path now creates space for people: safer crossings, better connectivity, and a more comfortable experience for walking and biking.

But the impact goes beyond mobility. The design opens the door for community life to spill into the street, creating new restaurant patios, shaded sidewalks, and spaces where the community can gather and grow. What was once dominated by traffic is being reshaped into a corridor defined by people.

Now under construction, Southwest Boulevard is beginning to transform, and the Westside is already making it its own.

04/28/2026

Kiener Plaza is one of the most recognizable public spaces in St. Louis, where material, pattern, and memory are tightly intertwined. Introducing a new composition at its center required a strategy that could extend that legacy while establishing a distinct spatial experience, one that operates across scales, from the logic of individual units to the experience of the collective field.

Working within that framework, Will developed a parametric design methodology to calibrate a gradient paving system that is both responsive and intentional. The pattern draws from the existing paving palette and pixelated geometry, translating them into a new spatial identity within the plaza’s larger composition.

This approach reflects our belief that design operates as a living system, connecting material decisions to broader urban experience. The result is a landscape that mediates continuity and change, reinforcing Kiener Plaza as an evolving civic space.

04/23/2026

Our team took some time yesterday to get their hands dirty for Earth Day, removing trash and invasive plants from River Forest Park in Kansas City, and Forest Park in St. Louis.

It's something special to volunteer on projects we've designed, helping these parks stay beautiful and ecologically active.

04/21/2026

Last week, our team had a wonderful time at the Central States ASLA conference.

We were able to share our experiences on several exciting recently constructed projects: Brentwood Bound, Forest Park Waterways, and MOmentum Bike Park.

A highlight was the bike tour of the "River Returns" project in Forest Park, led by our very own Ted Spaid.