Green Infrastructure

Beginning with an analysis of the site, corridor and watersheds, Offshoots develops green infrastructure design solutions that strive to enhance ecological systems and promote a self-sustaining, balanced, and healthy natural environment. Green infrastructure systems can not only benefit water and air cleansing, but can be designed as layered multi-functional aesthetic landscapes that enhance the built environment. Landscapes can be considered to provide ancillary benefits such as mitigating urban heat island effect and creating ecological connectivity through increased native habitat.  Additional productive landscape layers can be planned to both create function and enhanced aesthetics.

Offshoots recent green infrastructure works include several highly-visible and innovative projects including Boston’s Longfellow Bridge and retrofits and five Boston Public Schoolyards in partnership with Boston Water and Sewer Commission (BWSC).  The sites are often marginalized landscapes; some former brownfields that have no other productive use. Typically, contaminated sites are not utilized for stormwater projects. Offshoots has developed a green planting strategies to clean up soils while treating stormwater runoff with a series of natural water cleansing systems to remove excessive levels of phosphorus, nitrogen and heavy metals. Our green infrastructure work always seeks to include an educational component that engages the local community.