The 26th Street Green is a street block turned pedestrian plaza on East 26th Street in Baltimore’s Charles Village neighborhood. The half-block long public space features semi-custom integrated seating, planters, a stage, and a vibrant street mural installed by Graham Projects. Local residents began developing their vision for this street-turned-community space through a community-led visioning process in 2016. After the 200 block of East 26th Street partially collapsed into the adjacent below grade train tracks in November 2018 residents proposed reconfiguring the street “block to be fun and safe for all ages”, including “more lights, more greenery, more art, and slower cars.”

Baltimore-based engineering firm RK&K’s Healthy Communities division designed the plaza for the Baltimore City Department of Transportation and the Friends of 26th Street Green. In designing the project, Landscape Architect Melissa Miklus listened to resident needs and took inspiration from the concentric lines and bright colors in Graham Projects’ Reverberations Crosswalks located on the western end of the block. Rendered in bright shades of teal, the pavement mural features angular, concentric bands that abstractly evoking a topographic map.

Production Team: Graham Coreil-Allen, Melvin Jadulang, Zoe Roane-Hopkins, Q Batts, Mar Braxton, Hugh Clarke, Heidi Thomas

Client: Baltimore City Department of Transportation & Friends of 26th Street Green

Designer: Melissa Miklus, PLA, ALSA, Healthy Communities Team Leader at RK&K

General Contractor: P. Flanigan & Sons

Learn more about the 26th Street Green: www.26thstgreen.org