Brenton Landscape Architecture

01/06/2018

Have fun scrolling through these really fun images!

From elegant hospitality venues to cutting-edge office environments around the world, Metropolis selects the top 10 interiors of 2017.

11/29/2017

Upgraded patio at Bernard Mason Apartments. Our design included a new fountain, grilling area, and pergolas.

10/12/2017

Groundcovers at the La Salle Bioretention Basin. Penstemon is prominent in the bioretention basin's groundcover layer in June. Pennsylvania smartweed, Lobelia, and Eupatorium blossom in October

10/12/2017

View of La Salle University bioretention basin 2 years after construction. In November, Dennis Shelly and I will be leading a tour of the project for Philadelphia's Sustainable Business Network. The tour will be part of their Green Stormwater Infrastructure Operations & Maintenance course.

10/01/2017

Just because it is getting cooler outside doesn't mean there are fewer organisms to search for. In Maryland, autumn is bursting with fields of blooming goldenrods, white eupatoriums at peak flower, and all of those amazing fall pollinators! On a sunny October day, find a patch of goldenrod and you will be amazed at how many creatures you will see - Locust Borers, Goldenrod Soldier Beetles, untold numbers of wasps and hornets, bumble bees, butterflies, day-flying moths, mantises and spiders stalking prey, and the list never ends!

Plants like Canada and Gray Goldenrods, Late-flowering Thoroughwort, Common Sneezeweed, and the many species of fall blooming asters all draw in the last big wave of insect pollinators before the first frost hits. We still need many county and quad records for most of our fall pollinators so the next time you go for a walk check out your local goldenrod patch and see if you can snap a photo of a pollinator in your neighborhood!

Here is a link to the quad map for the Goldenrod Soldier Beetle. Do we have a record from the quad where you live?

https://www.marylandbiodiversity.com/viewSpeciesQuadMap.php?species=11734

Photo of Goldenrod Soldier Beetle by Shannon Schade: Kent County, MD 9/5/15

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Shannon Schade, Bill Hubick, Barbara Thurlow, Jim Brighton, Scotty Astro

09/28/2017

Ribbon cutting today for Bernard Mason Apartments. Funding for dramatic improvements to this subsidized housing project came from the Federal government's Rental Assistance Demonstration Program. Baltimore Housing is using this program to bring in sources of private capital. BrentonLA designed renovation of the courtyard including new fountain, grilling island, pergolas, and plantings.

09/11/2017

Construction is underway on a new patio, fountain, and grilling area for Bernard Mason Senior Housing in Baltimore. The new patio has been poured. The contractor is busy digging the foundation for the grilling area.

09/07/2017

At Franklin Square Park, skateboarders were attracted to the iron safety rails on our planters. Our contractor, 1st Impressions, fabricated these simple iron L-bars as a deterrent. They are welded every 5 feet on the sidewalk side of the planter. I am pleased that they are not detracting from the profile of the rail.

09/06/2017

Do we want to get unstuck from Colonial revival? Little Williamsburgs and Mount Vernons? Plenty of red brick in Baltimore and Philadelphia.

In architecture as in politics, debates about identity — regional, national, international — are fraught.

08/31/2017

The empty pedestals in our parks provide a once in a life time opportunity for a civic conversation for creating a new Baltimore. I am concerned that the resources that the mayor has devoted to this process are insufficient to the opportunity. This civic conversation must necessarily precede and underlie the selection of any specific art interventions. The historian, Mathew Crenson said that the way Baltimore deals with its racial issues is to sweep them under the rug. Now is the time for creating a possibility for a new Baltimore.

08/30/2017

The removal of Baltimore’s Confederate monuments has captured the attention of the public and inspired artists and others to propose ideas for what might happen next at the four sites left behind. In response, the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts has created an online portal, “Monumental Sites,” to serve as a central repository for the public’s suggestions and ideas. Take a look at the Monumental Sites section on our Public Art page for more information: http://bit.ly/BOPAPublicArt