Warm Springs BART West Access Bridge and Plaza
Fremont, CA
The Warm Springs BART West Access Bridge and Plaza connect new neighborhoods, workplaces, and transit within Fremont’s growing Innovation District. Designed as an active urban gateway, the one-acre plaza functions as a flexible outdoor room with bold paving patterns, integrated seating, architectural lighting, and public art. It serves as a community gathering space and as a seamless extension of the daily commute, anchoring the district with a strong sense of place.
Gates Studio’s landscape design for the plaza emphasizes functionality and placemaking, balancing safe multimodal circulation with engaging public amenities. Solar charging stations, bike racks, amphitheater seating, and vibrant orange acrylic panels create a lively, people-first environment that reflects the district’s innovation-driven character. Together, the bridge and plaza showcase how thoughtful landscape design can shape a connected, sustainable, and memorable public realm.
This project was completed in 2022 in partnership with: Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), the City of Fremont, Alameda County Transportation Commission, Union Pacific Railroad, Biggs Cardosa Associates (structural engineer), HNTB Corporation (bridge architect), and Shimmick Construction (construction contractor).
An Innovative Urban Plaza Linking People and Places
From Ideas to Realization
The design employed "woonerf" principles to create safe and engaging multi-modal access to the BART station, the residential communities, and the surrounding area.
Project Details
Acrylic panels create a striking edge between the planted area and track space.
The design employed "woonerf" principles to create safe and engaging multi-modal access to the BART station, the residential communities, and the surrounding area.
Orange acrylic panels along the track edge play with light and provide a decorative backdrop to soft landscaping and concrete seat walls, while still allowing safe visibility of the station and trains.
A wide pathway extends over a stormwater area and facilitates circulation through the plaza, which can be used to host community events.
Concrete seat walls and solar charging stations are thoughtfully spaced near vegetation to create a forward-thinking and sustainable "outdoor living room."