Brook Farm Group (BFG) is a small collaborative practice founded by Kathleen Bakewell in January 2009. The firm’s philosophy is grounded in ecological principles translated into human environments through a transdisciplinary practice involving landscape architecture, architecture, civil engineering, ecology, and the visual arts. The firm’s design approach originates in a deep and thorough investigation of a project’s region context, biotic and abiotic conditions, cultural values, ecological challenges and possibilities and economic realities.

BFG’s landscape architectural expressions are grounded in ecological principles with recognition that humans are central agents in the regeneration of healthy environments. The practice draws on multiple sources – green infrastructure, sustainable sites, ecological restoration, cultural and historic heritages, and social structures to form designs that reflect the complexity and dynamic processes of living systems.

BFG forms partnerships in direct response to a project’s specific circumstances, reaching past traditional boundaries. Our specialty is forming unusual alliances to transcend conventional approaches to landscape architecture and planning. Founding Principal Kathleen Bakewell created the core team that included Majora Carter, an environmental justice activist and 2005 MacArthur Award Grantee, and Joyce Rosenthal, a climate and public health expert, to launch the Sustainable South Bronx Smart Roofs Project, starting in 2002. The project merged environmental justice, green and cool roof research and ecological goals and was key to catalyzing community revitalization though green collar jobs and public health improvements.

For Cacique Costa Rica, a Hart Howerton project, Kathleen Bakewell was instrumental in forming a sustainability team that created the guidelines for a zero carbon resort in the Guanacaste Province of Costa Rica. The guidelines set forth strict measures for all areas of development including site-wide water balances, innovative energy and architectural strategies, ecological restoration techniques to regenerate local habitats and reconnect to the region’s rare tropical dry forest. Through a team structure that blended Costa Rican and American professionals in planning, architecture, landscape architecture, engineering, she reached out to tropical dry forest specialists, community activists, local foresters, ecological researchers, and ecological tourism specialists to conceive and design a new standard for resort development that plays a role as an agent in ecological and com- munity revitalization on local and regional scales.

At Brook Farm Group, we work to create productive landscapes that form positive contributions to lives. We are strongly committed to finding design solutions that arise from specific project conditions, local/regional /global trends and demands, and inspired insights.