Landscape Design for the Avenue Suites at Georgetown

During the last week of August through Labor Day, Eric D. Groft, Principal at Oehme, van Sweden, traveled to Bath and London, England.

Last week, Oehme, van Sweden and Brickman Group laid out several trees and hundreds of grasses to complete the planting for Avenue Suites at Georgetown. For the project, a newly renovated boutique-style hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue, owner Conrad Cafritz had a vision of a simple planting palette to complement the warm modernism of the interiors designed by McInturff Architects. OvS Principal Sheila Brady and Senior Associate Marisa Scalera selected a grove of textural Betula nigra ‘Heritage’ to soften the façade. The trees’ exfoliating cinnamon-colored trunks emerge from a monolithic field of Hakonechloa macra. The palette is unique along the bustling, well-trafficked pedestrian corridor, and the team received several complements from curious passersby during layout.