$1.35 Million Investment in Sandtown-Winchester Neighborhood

Sarah’s Hope Family Shelter celebrates the completion of $1.35 million in outdoor improvements with a ceremonial ribbon-cutting on May 18th at 11:00 AM. This completes the $8 million renovation and expansion of Sarah’s Hope family shelter in the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood of Baltimore City. Murphy & Dittenhafer Architects hired Mahan Rykiel Associates (MRA) as the landscape architect for the project. St. Vincent de Paul of Baltimore (SVDP), the owner-operator of the building, uses the site to run the largest homeless shelter designated for families in Baltimore City. The site improvements aim to afford both the residents of Sarah’s Hope and the surrounding Sandtown-Winchester community visual and physical access to the new 16,200 square feet of open green space and 4,350 square feet of fully equipped community playspace.

INVITING PEOPLE OUTSIDE

“Walking into a home should be a welcoming experience; our goal was to transform concrete and asphalt into a green oasis that enhances St. Vincent De Paul of Baltimore’s mission by giving families a place to decompress, enjoy each other’s company, experience nature and most importantly – a place outside for children to play and be kids,” MRA President Richard Jones explains.

Key features of the design are an expanded entrance the designers coined the ‘front porch,’ stepped seat walls for lounging overlooking the ‘front lawn’, new children’s ‘side yard’ play spaces with age-appropriate play equipment, an outdoor dining terrace, open lawn areas for free play, better access for service vehicles, and on-site parking.

WHERE CHILDREN PLAY AND LEARN

The MRA design team partnered with the PACT organization’s daycare program (Parents and Children Together, Inc.) and KABOOM in developing the age specific play areas. For infants and toddlers, the design team aligned PACT’s mission of utilizing innovative techniques for helping children with complex needs by installing a shade-covered playground featuring sensory play elements, water play, and horticultural therapy. KABOOM was an integral partner in developing a community-based playground for 3-12 year olds, providing resources and facilitating a community design/build process. The playground was built with the help of volunteers and community members last fall.

Various native plantings throughout the site offer a tranquil setting with the added environmental benefit of attracting pollinators – a stark contrast to the previously concrete-and asphalt-dominatedenvironment. The bioretention area includes an educational placard explaining how it functions to protect the environment and help prevent flooding. This enhanced stormwater treatment qualified the project for the Chesapeake Bay Trust’s Green Streets, Green Jobs, Green Towns Grant Program (G3), obtained with through the efforts of partnership with the Parks & People Foundation, which greatly contributed to fully realizing the environmental stewardship desires of SVDP.

Lauren Myatt of Murphy &Dittenhafer Architects comments, “The site improvements at Sarah’s Hope-Mount Street truly transformed the existing unworkable concrete site into an inspiring extension of the recently fully renovated building interior. Through this project, the exterior has become a usable, engaging, and safe environment for the children and families of the facility to enjoy during a transitional period in their lives, as well as an important place for outdoor play for the surrounding community, which was missing in the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood.”

The ribbon cutting will take place at Sarah’s Hope at 1114 N. Mount Street, Baltimore, MD 21217.

The MRA design team members included JoAnn Trach Tongson, Cherisse Otis and Amy Sametshaw.

Mahan Rykiel Associates is a full service landscape architecture firm located in Baltimore, Maryland with a staff of 45, serving clients on five continents. Mahan Rykiel’s mission is to make places more sustainable, equitable and ecological through creative collaboration and design. Visit our website at www.mahanrykiel.com.

The G3 grant program is funded by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region III (EPA), Chesapeake Bay Trust (Trust), and the City of Baltimore Office of Sustainability with support from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.