Project Highlight:
Going Green
There is a lot of buzz about being 'Green' these days, in our households and particularly in our field of work with new roadway infrastructure and urban infill. Not only is it important to be a green office, go paperless, recycle, etc., but in what we create through our work. Being green, in terms of engineering, landscape architecture, and streetscape design has an abundance of meaning, especially to a landscape designer. Green design means: 1) creating projects that impart sustainable design by reducing stormwater runoff volume to keep the Bay clean so we will have rockfish, crabs and oysters; 2) using recyclable materials and labor; and 3) reducing the use of resources.
SWA has worked on several Green Street projects and our Civil and Traffic groups have incorporated Green design into the Robinwood corridor and Key Hwy at Light St by using Filterra boxes. Currently, we are designing traffic calming concepts for Baltimore City and implementing curb 
extensions and center medians for bio-retention cells to increase permeability of an otherwise impermeable environment, ultimately enhancing watershed health. Recently SWA also completed traffic calming concepts in Takoma Park in compliance with green streets and sustainable design initiatives. Using low impact development (LID) and best management practices (BMP) we utilized a variety of water quality and water efficient methods to improve the environment 
instead of degrade it. And after all, aren't we the environmental stewards responsible for the evolution of our environment in the years to come? For our pedestrian friendly streetscape concept we included rain gardens within bio-retention curb extensions to control SWM runoff, native plant material (encouraging plants that require less water), permeable paving options including pervious pavers, permeable concrete and permeable asphalt. In compliance with the new Maryland Stormwater Manual (Reduce Heat Island) we specified light colored pavement and increased the tree canopy. Designed by engineers and landscape architects, the new MD SWM manual includes mandates for reducing stormwater runoff, erosion, and heat island effect.
Sustainable design starts with each of us becoming knowledgeable of current initiatives and contributing environmental ideas to our designs no matter how out of the box they may seem. For
more info you can reference the City of Baltimore Environmental Site Design (ESD) manual, Sustainable Sites Initiative, Low Impact Development or simply search for sustainable design.
