Client: Town of Brunswick

Overview

The Brunswick Arch celebrates Brunswick, MD’s heritage as a key railway town. It is is a steel and stone gateway arch located at the entrance to South Maple Avenue welcoming train commuters, C&O Canal towpath hikers and cyclists to the City of Brunswick.

The Brunswick Archway’s motif is adapted from the camelback truss structure of the 1893 Potomac bridge constructed by the Youngstown Bridge Company. The steel structure is stylized, and designed with a thin, “translucent” profile to trace the bridge truss form while framing the view of Maple Avenue’s rise into the heart of the Brunswick Historic District. Large capital letters arcing subtly across the truss structure spell out the town’s name in a classic gateway arch fashion.

Tapering native stone foundations surround and provide street level buttressing for steel support posts and reference the 8 stone piers of the original Potomac River bridge finished in 1858. The arch stands a total of 28′ high and 54′ across.

Goals

Our goals for integrating commissioned artwork into the design were to bring a tasteful, creative, and historic flavor to a landmark arch that would delineate the entry to Brunswick's historic district. We worked with an architectural design studio (Verdant Studios) with extensive expertise in designing functional, aesthetically elevated structures that are highly responsive to place. We wanted to place a public artwork that felt very germane and organic to the landscape of the Town while also making creative use of these native aesthetic features.

Additional Information

The project is expected for final completion by October of 2023.