Balmori Associates is an urban and landscape design firm in New York City founded by Diana Balmori in 1990. Balmori Associates is recognized for their interfacing between landscape and architecture. Through research, collaboration and innovation, Balmori Associates is looking to explore and expand the boundaries between nature and structure.
Their approach to developing public spaces is rooted in design ideas, coupled with an understanding of environmental, social and physical needs. Their application of innovative designs to the study of the social functions of green roofs, floating islands and temporary landscapes has created a signature and functional aesthetic establishing them as leaders in the field of urban design and the creation of new forms of public space.
In 1998, Balmori Associates' Master Plan won the international competition for the waterfront development of the Abandoibarra district of Bilbao, Spain. Their concept was to create a graceful, fluid aesthetic while weaving a landscape among the buildings in the industrialized city of Bilbao. Specifically, their design concept for the Plaza Euskadi, now under construction, was to create a public space that would blur the boundary lines between landscape and the buildings, linking the Old City with the new developing Bilbao. In August 2007, Balmori Associates won a design competition with their proposal for Campa de los Ingleses. Scheduled to be completed in 2010, the site will serve as a fluid link between landscape and structure by integrating the public space adjacent to the Guggenheim Bilbao. The final piece of their Master Plan, The Riverfront Park, provides access to the Duesto Bridge and runs along the Nervion River.
Balmori Associates were the design team behind the greenroof at Silvercup Studios in Queens, New York, which is the largest scientifically monitored green roof in the United States. Another project in New York City is Winter Garden at the World Financial Center, first completed in 1998 then restored in 2002, while in South Korea they are currently in the first design phase of Sejong Administrative Town, a zero-waste urban plan.
The office has recently won first prizes in several design competitions, including the Museum of the Mammoth in Yakustk, Russia and the aforementioned Campa de los Ingleses in Spain. The office has also garnered numerous awards for its work including: the 2004 AIA/COTE Top Ten Green Projects for the Solaire Greenroof, the 2004 Green Roofs for Healthy Cities Award, and the 2004 Environmental Design & Construction Magazine Excellence in Design Awards; the Staten Island 2012 Olympic Equestrian Facility received an AIA New York Design Award in 2005; the Bilbao Abandoibarra waterfront won the 2004 Fifth European Urban and Regional Planning Awards by the European Council of Town Planners as well as the Special Award "Citta d'Aqua" of the Biennale di Venezia for the Best Project.
