306 W. Franklin St Suite 103 Baltimore, MD 21201 410 528 8395 
Uncategorized Archive
FTLA Attends Intercounty Connector Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
Joan with Community Outreach Manager Carla Julian
Yesterday, FTLA team members Joan Floura, Aaron Teeter, Nicole Reedy and Scott Huot braved the rain and cold to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the first segment of the Intercounty Connector (ICC)/MD 200 project.
As a key participant in the “Intercounty Constructors” design/build team for the project, it was exciting for our team to see the first phase successfully completed and ready to open to the public on Wednesday, February 23 (a day later than planned thanks to some unexpected winter weather!).
Unlike any highway project ever attempted, the ICC/MD 200 all-electronic toll road was designed to increase community mobility and safety in Montgomery and Prince George’s County Maryland and is ultimately projected to create 14,000 jobs in addition to the 4,500 construction jobs associated with the project.
Following what Governor O’Malley called “best practices in environmental engineering,” FTLA worked with an interdisciplinary team of biologists, environmentalists, and engineers to produce a landscape design that would not only protect wildlife but also recreate wetlands disturbed during construction.
The official ribbon-cutting
In addition to FTLA’s landscape design role, firm principal Joan Floura was heavily involved in community outreach. Joan worked closely with Intercounty Constructors Community Outreach Manager Carla Julian, going door to door to respond to residents’ concerns about the impact of the ICC on their home and incorporating trees and sound barriers into the final design.
Speakers at yesterday’s ribbon cutting included Governor Martin O’Malley, Lt. Governor Anthony Brown, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Montgomery County Executive “Ike” Leggett, Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker, Maryland Senator Jennie Forehand and Maryland Delegate Kumar Barve. The event was also attended by numerous other state and local politicians including former Governor Robert Ehrlich.
FTLA to Participate in Global PARK(ing) Day Event on September 17
For the second straight year, FTLA will participate in the global PARK(ing) Day initiative taking place in locations worldwide on Friday, September 17. Locally, FTLA’s PARK(ing) Day installation will take root in three metered parking spaces in front of Floura Teeter’s downtown office at 306 W. Franklin Street from 9:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. FTLA staffers will transform three normal blacktop metered parking spaces into a temporary urban oasis with grass, trees and plants. FTLA’s installation is open to the public and will offer snacks and lawn games in addition to ongoing tours of a simulated living roof.
PARK(ing) Day began five years ago when San Francisco art collective Rebar converted a single metered parking space into a temporary public park. The project has since grown into an annual worldwide phenomenon that creates playful activism to share values and concerns about the use of urban space. Last year, 700 green spaces were installed in 140 cities, 21 countries and on 6 continents making PARK(ing) Day 2009 the biggest year in the history of the event.
For more information regarding the global movement, visit the official PARK(ing) day site.
A New Chapter for the Hummelstown Library
This week, the former Hummelstown Library celebrated its grand opening as the William H. & Marion C. Alexander Family Library with a dedication ceremony held at the new facility located in Hummelstown, PA.
As landscape architect for the project, FTLA partner Aaron Teeter attended the July 27 event which featured notable guests such as Michele Ridge, former First Lady of Pennsylvania, and other dignitaries. After the library met its $1.5 million fund-raising goal for a new facility in the spring of 2009 it began plans for a 13,000-square-foot library to accommodate its growing number of books. The new library has four times the space of the old building, includes 27 public computers, an expanded kids’ area with adjacent areas for “tweens” and young adults, public meeting rooms, reading courtyards and a 50-car parking lot.
FTLA transformed the library’s outdoor space into a functional area designed for a community amphitheater and children’s outdoor reading area. FTLA was also responsible for a rooftop garden that covers more than a third of the building’s roof and features drought-tolerant plants for minimal maintenance.
