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News Archive
Roundabout Key to Success at Key Highway and Light Street
The intersection of Key Highway and Light Street has been confusing motorists and pedestrians for years. But as recently profiled in the Baltimore Sun, city traffic engineers are working on the final design for a $7 million roundabout that will replace the traffic lights and improve motorist and pedestrian safety at the intersection.
As the team’s landscape architect, FTLA is pleased to be participating in this important Baltimore transportation project. Working closely with the project engineer, STV Incorporated, FTLA will be responsible for the landscape design, planting and streetscape design for the roundabout.
The roundabout will slow traffic for increased pedestrian safety and help eliminate the confusion of how to travel to Federal Hill or stay on Key Highway. Located adjacent to the Inner Harbor and near the Maryland Science Center, the intersection connects the Inner Harbor to South Baltimore and is critical to the surrounding neighborhoods as well as for access to nearby I-95.
Stay tuned for more details on the Key Highway roundabout once designs are finalized later this year.
Designs Submitted for Landmark Baltimore City School Project
Late last week, FTLA submitted 50% CD’s for the East Baltimore Community School (EBCS) project. EBCS is a new K-8 school being developed as part of a larger East Baltimore redevelopment project. Earlier this year, FTLA’s team, spearheaded by Roger Marvel Architects, was selected by East Baltimore Development Initiative (EBDI) for the project.
The new school will feature two distinct areas: an early childhood learning center and a K-8 grade school. The school will become the permanent home for 540 students who have been housed in a temporary facility since September 2009. In addition to academic space, the EBCS will house a 30,000 square-foot Family Support Center, auditorium, library, gymnasium and sports field.
FTLA plays a significant role in this landmark project. As the team’s landscape architect, FTLA is responsible for ensuring that the exterior spaces of the 103,000 square-foot building are as inspiring and functional as the interior. Learning courtyards will seamlessly tie back into interior learning commons spaces through a blend of paving, planting, seating walls and amphitheaters. Sustainable rain gardens are employed throughout the site to reduce rainwater discharge from the site and provide learning environments for the children.
The project is expected to be completed in 2014. Check back as work on the EBCS begins to unfold and to learn more about FTLA’s involvement with this significant project.
Design to Move Forward on Renaissance Gardens Senior Living Community
Thanks to a recent HUD funding award, design is now underway on Renaissance Gardens, a new 60-unit senior living community being developed by CHAI Baltimore and Park Heights Renaissance.
Renaissance Gardens is part of Baltimore City’s Park Heights Urban Renewal Plan designed for the revitalization of the Park Heights community and implemented by The Park Heights Renaissance Group, whose mission is to make “land and economic development, alongside human development, transformative influences in the revival of a thriving and sustainable community.”
CHAI Baltimore awarded the design team of FTLA, Grimm + Parker Architects and Colbert Matz Rosenfelt along with the general contractor Southway Builders the Renaissance Gardens project in the spring of 2011. As landscape architect for the project, FTLA is responsible for all landscape planting as well as hardscape design and site furnishings. FTLA will also be “greening” the alley adjacent to the project site.
For construction updates and more information about Renaissance Gardens, be sure to check our Facebook page or follow us on Twitter.