Thomas BALSLEY

Thomas Balsley is the founder and lead designer at his NYC studio SWA/Balsley. For over 40 years, his commitment to innovative design has connected people with place, each other, and the current culture of recreation, urbanism, and sustainability. Working in the post-industrial city’s margins, his transformative and provocative urban landscapes are socially, culturally, and environmentally significant to the resilient and livable cities vision. Balsley’s unique design acumen has sparked the public’s imagination and boldly exposed the possibilities of urban landscape architecture to touch daily lives and steward the urban environment. In an unexpected gesture of recognition for Mr. Balsley’s contribution to New York City’s public realm, a park he designed on 57th Street was renamed Balsley Park. He has taught and lectured at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, CUNY, and University of Pennsylvania. He is the recipient of the coveted National ASLA Design Medal and ASLA-NY’s President’s Award for Excellence. Two monographs of his work have been published, the latter “Thomas Balsley Uncommon Ground”, found at MoMa.