Discover, Create,
Implement

Established in 1999, Bartsch Landscape Architecture is a professional site planning and design firm, working from Mason, Boston, and Nantucket.

Our comprehensive approach brings elegant and cost effective design solutions to residential and commercial property owners, public agencies, developers, and allied professionals.

In partnership with our clients and team members, we help owners Discover the potential of their property, Create beautiful solutions, and Implement them with care and precision.

Through the art and science of landscape architecture, we create and manage innovative change for the better to enhance long-term function, increase value, and heighten appearance in environmentally sustainable ways, transforming average spaces to extraordinary places.

Our range of clients include:

We create and manage change to form engaging places where you can truly feel at home, with expert material selection, innovative layout, and dynamic use of space, form, light, symmetry, and rhythm. We craft outdoors to be enjoyed.

Our objectives are ease of maintenance, simplified operations, and timeless appeal. We collaborate with stakeholders to maximize limited space and budgets with innovative design solutions, attentive project management, and efficient control of implementation.

Our clear and proven process brings durable solutions to reflect your professional culture and mission, resulting in functional, beautiful, and enjoyable settings for staff and visitors.

We exploit planning and zoning bylaws and tax initiatives to design sites that respect the local context and enhance the livability of multi-family and subdivision communities. We help overcome entitlement and abutters’ resistance through integrated greenspaces, naturalized retention basins, safe and easily navigated parking and ways, vegetative buffer screens, and other effective devices.

The best decision we made was to hire David's company.
H. Segalas
Director of factory development for worldwide consumer products corporation, retired
Very difficult project. David was creative, reliable, and technically expert. We did not get a second quote, David was it.
S. Matarese
Business Administrator for a private medical/surgical practice
Good Listener. The firm is knowledgeable and trustworthy, understood our needs.
D. Knise
President and CEO of a national insurance company
Very good design emerged... it was on schedule and within expected expenditures. To implement the aesthetic qualities of the design, it was important that the designer oversee the construction crew. Environmentally conscious and innovative.
D. Brown
Senior Vice President/Public Policy and General Counsel of a national media association, retired
Excellent and timely. Works to save the client' s money, and balanced the design with realistic costs. Followed up after the job was completed.
C. L. Huston III
Philanthropist and Community Advisor, Vice President for Community Relations, and Director of Operations for family foundation
D. Bartsch exceeded my expectations in terms of creativity and 'ownership'. Very professional.
T. Young
Executive with a national boutique management consulting firm

Our Approach

Establishment of trusting partnerships is fundamental to the success of our projects. Through close work with our clients, consultants, and contractors, we deliver excellent design and cost-effective results. This approach allows close attention to detail through each stage of your project from discovery and creation through implementation.

Sustainability informs all of our work. Landscape architects have been a leading force for sustainability and environmental enhancement and protection since the late nineteenth century, and we are proud to continue that tradition of stewardship. No matter the scale or scope of a project, we equip owners and decision makers with the right information to help ensure a successful project.

Bartsch Landscape Architecture provides full-service design and project management from exploring opportunities through to the end of construction. We help to bring out the full potential of your property according to a guiding, individualized program developed with each of our clients.

We coordinate the work of

  • surveyors
  • civil engineers
  • horticultural and wetland consultants
  • contractors, and
  • other team members that contribute to a project’s success

We work in collaboration with

  • building architects,
  • attorneys, and
  • municipal agencies.

Through our comprehensive site design process, we ensure that diverse elements will coalesce into a unified, beautiful, and functional composition that lasts for generations. We develop site designs and plans through scaled drawings to specify the location, arrangement, and integration of:

  • Ground surfaces shaped for effective slopes and terrain,
  • Sport courts, physical training, and recreation
  • Outdoor kitchens, dining, and entertainment areas
  • Retaining walls, patios, walkways
  • Pergolas, arbors, decks, fences, and other wood or metal structures
  • Parking areas and drives
  • Gardens and open spaces
  • Grading and drainage design
  • Exterior site lighting
  • Ornamental and functional planting design,
  • Water features such as fountains, pools, and spas, and
  • Management of myriad constraints and opportunities.

Drawing on decades of experience, we quickly research and assess what is allowed on a site from the state and local government perspective. We also weigh the existing values and the natural potential a property has and what they could become. This gives our clients a clear start to understand their site’s capacity early in the visioning process. Our feasibility studies often include evaluations of:

  • Zoning and regulatory constraints
  • The site’s context – both physical and cultural
  • Existing and proposed utilities and structures
  • Resource protection such as wetlands or riverways
  • Vehicular and pedestrian circulation and accessibility
  • Property values and appropriate budgets
  • Visual sightlines, impacts, and opportunities
  • Sun angles and prevailing winds
  • Soil types, topography, vegetation, and other existing site conditions

Long-term land planning for phased projects not only provides a compelling vision for a property’s future, it also aligns project scope and budget with build-out sequence. Illustrative master plan drawings are our primary deliverables for this work. They aid in graphically depicting:

  • Concept-level planning and design
  • The overlay process which effectively integrates diverse project factors such as existing and proposed topography, building structures, landscape structures, circulation, vegetation, views, etc.
  • Project segment budgets and rating of importance
  • The order of phased build-out of project parts or areas

We represent projects independently and in collaboration with local experts.

Our coordination typically includes permit acquisition from

  • Planning boards
  • Zoning administrators,
  • Conservation commissions

We assist with project entitlement by meeting general guidelines for more complex projects or when an agency applies a more subjective interpretation of bylaws, such as

  • Historic district commissions
  • Design review boards and
  • Accessibility agencies.

As an owner’s representative, we help facilitate potential issues that might arise, and we help ensure the design intent is faithfully executed by observing:

  • Site preparation for construction,
  • Safeguarding of existing elements to be protected,
  • Layout of structures, plantings, and grading prior to installation
  • Installation of improvements including quantity and quality of materials and the methods by which they’re implemented,
  • Builders’ contracts, insurance, requisitions, and invoices to ensure alignment of project expectations and final results
  • Close-out procedures and ongoing tasks to ensure establishment of plantings and other sensitive elements

Firm Leadership

David Bartsch established Bartsch Landscape Architecture in 1999. His work is known for its creativity, sustainability, and exceptional execution: Creativity in his ability to find new and unique interpretations of space and form; Sustainability for its light environmental impact, durability, and ease of maintenance; Execution through close attention to detail resulting in exceptional construction.

David leads projects from program development through design and construction to operations. He manages effective teams with a supportive, collaborative approach. His close involvement results in high-quality projects, excellent customer service, and measurable cost savings.

Prior to establishing Bartsch Landscape Architecture, David spent a decade working with other leading firms on projects in Boston, Seattle, and Paris, including public parks, regional high schools, assisted living facilities, garden-cemeteries, and custom private homes.

See CV

Your Landscape: Let's make it all it can be.

We welcome questions about our process and how we might help you to achieve your goals for your home, business, school, or institution.

Contact us via the form below… or call us: (508) 410-7979

David Bartsch

David is a Registered Landscape Architect in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. He holds certification by the Council of Landscape Architectural Registration Boards. He has held the Construction Supervisor License in Massachusetts and has been a certified USGBC LEED Green Associate, and certified in Wetland Delineation from the Nantucket Conservation Commission.

Education:

  • Master of Landscape Architecture degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Design
  • Bachelor of Science degree from UMass-Amherst in Environmental Design.
  • Selected first in class in the Landscape Architecture program at École Municipale Supérieure des Arts et Techniques in Paris.

Professional Affiliations (current and former):

  • Urban Land Institute (ULI) – Member of the Sustainability Council, the Resiliency Committee, and the Program Oversight Committee
  • Council of Landscape Architectural Registration Boards
  • Board of Trustees – Nantucket Landscape Association
  • Governing Board – South Church Preservation Fund (Nantucket)
  • President, Board of Trustees, Old South Church (Unitarian, Nantucket)
  • Boston Society of Architects (BSA)
  • American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) and the Boston Chapter (BSLA)
  • U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)
  • Association of Pool and Spa Professionals (APSP)
  • Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD)

Workshops and Seminars:

“Sustainable Practices in Site Planning, Design and Construction” seminar presented at the ABX Conferences on Residential Design and Construction, Boston Society of Architects, April 2009 and 2010.

“The Urban Implications of Living with Water” – Contributing author of the Urban Land Institute report funded by the Kresge Foundation and ULI Boston / New England District Council. Published in September 2014.