Baltimore Peninsula

Hoerr Schaudt led the first phase of programming of all public spaces as well as a wide array of additional design projects, including public streetscapes, public parks, public plazas, and private plaza, amenity, and rooftop designs.  Streetscape materiality was selected to compliment the development’s architectural aesthetic, with extensive massings of native plant selections providing verdant enhancement to the streetscape. 

Rye Street Park serves as the cental gathering locus for the new development, with a grove of hackberry trees shading a large open plaza for the community’s farmers markets and holiday festivals. The publicly-owned park is sited on one side by the development’s highly recognizable Sagamore Distillery water tower, a characteristic point of interest at the center of the development, and a universally accessible frontage along BalPen’s primary route of circulation on Cromwell Street. This access, interest, and centrality make it an active and inviting gathering place for the development’s residents and visitors. 

Rye Street Market is a privately owned mixed-use development, surrounding a large courtyard plaza where visitors may gather beneath the shade of towering honey locust trees. The rooftop amenity garden hosts spaces for numerous seating opportunities for small groups, as well as a turf area accommodating a tent for weddings and parties. 

Elijah’s Park, named for the late U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings, serves as a unifying center for families and visitors alike. A large Blue Crab play structure crawls in aquatic surroundings blending marine play features with undulating landforms dense with native plantings. The park honors the late U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings, civil rights leader and social justice advocator, whose contributions uplifted the City of Baltimore and the youths of its city. 

This publicly-owned park culturally unifies the community of BalPen today with seasonal markets below its towering tree-like shade structures and movies in the park in its grassy lawn, where all are welcome to enjoy this multi-programmed space.