audrey cropp
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landscape architecture portfolio 2013
audrey m cropp
t: 515 803 6884 e: audreymcropp@gmail.com w: audreymcropp.com
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table of contents: about the designer
resume design process contact
freret street bus shelter
new orleans, la community engagement design build
desoto ecological park
baton rouge, la urban fluvial connection deluge design
front porch park
a conditional preservation
community design tool kit
lower 9th ward, NOLA cultural landscape design community participation fort proctor, shell beach historic landscape preservation digital modeling and animation community empowerment frame work for strategic engagement development of public space
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Audrey Marie Cropp, B.F.A. 1000 Park Blvd. Baton Rouge, LA 70806 515 803 6884 | audreymcropp@gmail.com http://audreymcropp.com
Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA Master of Landscape Architecture, expected graduation May 2013
University of Iowa School of Art and Art History Iowa City, IA 2008 Bachelor of Fine Arts in 3-D design and minor in Drawing with Honors
Digital skills: proficient at both operation and integration of software x x
Autodesk’s AutoCAD Autodesk’s 3ds MAX
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Arc GIS Adobe Design Suite
x x
Adobe After Effects Google’s Sketch Up
Experience Graduate Teaching Assistant, Advanced Digital Representation I, II Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA x x x x
Developed and lead class instruction on fundamental to intermediate topics (3D Studio MAX) Creation of introductory workshops and tutorials for 3D Studio MAX, Arc GIS, & Adobe After Effects Grading, documenting, and showing students work Individual tutoring sessions
Leadership Team Member, Southwest Parks and Recreation Training Institute, Current Communications/Internet committee, current TOMA award holder 2013
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Active in recruiting and managing social media site, documentation, photography 2013 Online Tools instructor, presenter
x x x
Adapted/Edited existing 3D Models Corrected and organized construction documents Created perspectives based on 3D models for bidding
x x x x
Developed marketing and branding for new residential development Prepared construction documents for modeling process Created 3D animated fly-throughs for campus housing projects Built 3D mock up models for sports facility
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Development/management of GIS database, synthesis of costal master plan information Digital representation of coastal restoration projects (GIS maps, 2D/3D renderings, video) Creation of materials for outreach, engagement, and resiliency planning
Digital Modeling/Construction Documents, Spackman, Mossop, Michaels LLC. Current New Orleans, LA
Design Creative, Stantec’s Digital Visualization Services June 2011 – August 2011 Boston, MA
Graduate Research Assistant, Coastal Sustainability Studio August 2010 – May 2011 Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA
Digital Rendering/Animation Internship, Coastal Sustainability Studio May 2010 – August 2010 Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA
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Developed final production of ‘The Delta Floods’ commissioned video Use of historical information, current event footage and GIS data to produce original animation Design solutions and 3D perspectives of future project visions
Graphic Designer June 2010
“City of Eufaula” Risinger Design, Vero Beach, FL x
Copy editing city planning document and final layout production and preparation for digital presentation
Community Development Coordinator – AmeriCorps July 2009 – July 2010
“HandsOn New Orleans”, United Way for the Greater New Orleans Area, New Orleans, LA x x x
Coordinator of community outreach programs, design build, housing fairs, public forums, and planning Facilitated community revitalization initiatives between 26 communities Developed system of organizing and making available planning documents and information
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Produced , organized research and construction documents for the City of New Orleans Public Safety and Zoning and budgeted project funds
Design/Build, Freret Street Corridor Project, Design Corps, New Orleans, LA May 2008 – July 2008
Awards
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2013 Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture – Design Challenge Honorable mention for digital anima 2012 Charles E. Peterson Prize NPS, The Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) Historic construction drawings 2012 TOMA Award for Innovation – Southwest Parks & Recreation Training Institute Innovation in the use of technology 2013Professional Service Grant – Southwest Parks & Recreation Training Institute Dedication and investment in the advancement of the Parks & Rec Industry,Professional Tutorials and Applications of Online tools & Resources 2010 Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture, Leadership Award
about me
“There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot. These essays are the delights and dilemmas of one who cannot.” Aldo Leopold’s forward to A Sand County Almanac
Being a landscape architect is to recognize and then solve tough problems through good design, delighting in the dilemmas in front of you and having the tools to meet those challenges head on. The conclusion of my graduate education in the field of landscape architecture is merely the close of the first phase of a long journey of continued learning, and the beginning of a career in enhancing the world, one project at a time. A variety of experiences prior to earning my masters made it very clear how people’s lives are enriched by the natural environment and how important it is to be both a steward of our most precious resource and a leader in connecting people to that resource. Being a landscape architect is to be able to see the invisible solutions and design, communicate, and realize those visions.
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freret street bus shelter new orleans, la community engagement/design build The community bus shelter constructed by the DesignCorps team, a national non-profit technical service organization, was part of a neighborhoodwide effort to improve the Freret Street corridor. The collaborative design process included the local neighborhood association, Neighborhood Housing Service of New Orleans, support from Tulane University’s School of Architecture, and local businesses. Through a series of community and neighborhood association meetings, the concerns of the Freret community were discussed and a specific need for a neighborhood bus shelter emerged. The resulting community transit shelter acts primarily as a bus shelter but also includes many of the amenities requested in the stakeholder meetings.
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These amenities include a children’s play wall behind the shelter, a public bulletin board, and a community planter. Those using the bus stop have direct sight lines up the street and an ADA accessible wheelchair space. Thus, the transit shelter materialized as a “swiss army knife shelter�, or a relatively small space in which many activities and uses are condensed.
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In addition to fulfilling the needs of the community, it was also important to the stakeholders that the shelter embodied the community and also utilized local businesses and local products. In response to this, he roof is comprised of aluminum and polycarbonate plastic and is patterned with the neighborhood’s symbol – the sunflower. The shelter is also painted with bright colors, a reference to the surrounding homes and buildings. The steel and aluminum components of the bus shelter were all fabricated in or close to the city of New Orleans. Most of the wood was also collected locally from various salvage yards around the city.
project completed in collaboration with: DesignCorps team author’s responsibilities: community engagment, design, development and orgainization of CD’s, construction
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desoto ecological park baton rouge, louisiana urban fluvial connection, deluge design
The design of Desoto Park focused on responding to the dynamic nature of the landscape while reinforcing and creating connections between the park, city, and community. The park’s location and size provides great potential for use as an iconic civic space. Within easy walking distance of downtown Baton Rouge’s major commercial and small scale political and civic campuses, the park’s location provides opportunities to act not just as a civic space but as a link spaces together. The size of the park allows for a variety of uses from major event space, didactic landscape, to offering more discreet experiences.
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Design development focused on responding to existing site elements and incorporating landforms that would integrate cyclical and linear changes in the landscape. This was achieved by using graded landforms to create division of the park into three distinct zones, each working with the temporal changes in environment to define use. North to south, the zones include an open field, a pond, and batture land. Enclosing the design is walking and cycling path that connects from the existing levee path at the southern end of the park. The eastern edge being above the 100 year flood line, it can sustain visitors at any time of the year. As the path sinks into the park and is directed towards the rivers edge, access will be limited at certain times during annual flooding, further reinforcing the way the park interacts with the river.
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The open field acts as a recreation and large scale gathering space, it is sparsely and formally planted with minimal grading for an uninterrupted visual connection from the city to the river. A raised crescent of land on the northern edge provides a place for a cafe and parking accessible during most flood events while also providing sloped seating for the field. The pond and bird rookery start the transition into more undulating land, raised and lowered areas provide open and closed experiences for the visitor. The subtle changes in the land open the pond to yearly flooding that is essential to the health of the ecosystem and provides opportunity to view the changing landscape. Planting here begins to lose its formality and responds directly to a central axis of view through the center of the park running north/south. The zone south of the pond maximizes grading to create a dynamic space that supports thick batture ecology. The grading is most emphasized during flood seasons when the water enters the landscape and reshapes the landforms redefining their uses. Systems of informal paths connect the raised small gathering spaces and wind through successional vegetation. The landforms and successional growth rhythmically open and obstructed views of the gathering areas, park, and river walk.
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project completed in collaboration with: C. Brett Davis II
Dividing park is a raised observation platform accessed through the visitors center entrance that visually connects city, park, and community. To the north are views of the pond to the recreation field and to the south the pond into the batture land. To the east is a view the capitol campus and visitors center, and to the southwest the dramatic rise of the downtown Baton Rouge skyline and the Horace Wilkinson Bridge. Directly west of the visitors center the observer has a panoramic view of the Mississippi River, Port Allen, and the setting sun.
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front porch park lower 9th ward, new orleans, louisiana cultural landscape design community participation
In New Orleans, the front porch has become an iconic symbol of communities that thrive on interpersonal relationships, neighborly interaction, and a sense of watching over the neighborhood. The dominant architecture in the Lower Ninth Ward was built for efficiency, with 58 percent of the homes built in the shotgun style. The traditional New Orleans shotgun-style homes and businesses all faced the street, maximizing efficiency of airflow creating community front porch spaces as a by-product. To this day, shotgun style homes and their multiple variations are extremely popular both because of their historic significance and their quintessential sense of place in New Orleans.
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The front porch as a community space has largely been recovered in the Holy Cross area of the Lower Ninth Ward, where 55 percent of the population has come back. In lakeside lower ninth, however, only a quarter of the previous residents have returned, leaving the neighborhood with more vacant lots than inhabited homes. Houses stand alone on entire city blocks, and clustering of structures together is rare. The park has taken aspects of the front porch typology, such as views out to the street and places for gathering, and has transformed the porch into a large public space. In this way, the park takes a discrete, private condition and alters its appearance, scale and ownership to incorporate public and community use.
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front porch park The largest and most prominent feature of the proposed park is the community front porch structure. It is envisioned that the structure will consist of a series of oversized steps inset from each other in a semicircular pattern, providing views of the neighborhood, relaxation and recreation space, and access to the rooftop terrace and garden. In New Orleans, slight topographic changes have a disproportionately large impact on the way that the space is used and perceived. A mere rise in a few feet can mean the difference between floodplain and dry land, wetland and street, and can provide a vantage point over the surrounding terrain. A twelve foot terraced porch structure at the entrance to Front Porch Park would catch the eye, as well, and draws users to the park from all around the city via St. Claude Avenue.
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The porch structure itself is composed of medium-texture concrete and planted throughout with grasses, which gently slope in between the concrete steps, providing for a soft place to sit, recline, or have a picnic. Programmatically, the porch fulfills a wide variety of roles. Its semi-circular shape provides a 180-degree option for views both towards busy St. Claude Avenue and back towards the basketball court and the Village community center. By creating a space that provides for prospect-refuge and “eyes on the street�, the park embodies the spirit of a safe and welcoming place for people of all ages and outlooks to gather and participate in a wide range of activities.
project completed in collaboration with: Peter Graves
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a conditional preservation
fort proctor, shell beach, louisiana historic landscape preservation, digital modeling and animation Fort Proctor was one of several military structures strategically placed to protect the major water bodies surrounding the Port of New Orleans. Located on the coast of Lake Borgne the for was designed in 1856 and construction halted in 1859. The collaborative study of the site included NPS sponsored Historic American Building Survey (HABS) drawings, historical research an analysis, engineering tests, and field documentation. It became clear that such a wide range of data was disjointed and did not accurately reflect the condition environment of the fluctuating landscape against the structure. In response multiple three-dimensional models were created of both the fort and the landscape.
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This measure visual data was informed by the structural analysis: a numerical dataset produced from investigation of the materials’ strength, decay, and rate of decay relative to time, storm effect, and salinity exposure. All of the data was combined into multiple digital models built in AutoCAD, Revit, Revit Structure, 3D Studio MAX, and the Adobe Creative Suite. Protection, rehabilitation, reconstruction, restoration, or stabilization treatments were deemed not only cost-prohibitive but also impossible. For any of those methods to have any preserving effect would require modifying the global environment.
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Other preservation methodologies outside of the stated historic building and landscape treatments were then observed. Libraries, archives, and museums are all concerned with maintaining or restoring access to artifacts, documents and records through the study, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of decay and damage. Besides preservation they also practice conservation which refers to the treatment and repair of individual items to slow decay or restore them to a usable state.
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Fort Proctor is an unstable media with little chance of being preserved so the use of a digital surrogate was employed in the form of animations to represent building, landscape, time, and space. Project completed in collaboration with: CSS Fort Proctor Team, Author’s responsibilities included all digital representation and animation
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community design tool kit
community empowerment frame work for strategic engagement development of public space The Design Toolkit: Creating Recreation Spaces with a Sense of Community is a guide developed while attending Louisiana State University’s Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture in LA 7003’s Fall 2011 graduate studio, Re-Imagining Spaces and Strategies for Public Recreation in post-K New Orleans instructed by Lake Douglas. The project was completed in collaboration with research acquired during my time as a Community Development Coordinator for United Way for the Greater New Orleans Area, an AmeriCorps Direct position with HandsOn New Orleans, and experience in participation planning with DesignCorps. New Orleans Recreation Development Commission is in the process of reinventing itself, but the agency, at present, lacks a framework to acquire or include structured and consistent community input in its recreation design development process.
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Having had a year of in-service work with recovering communities of New Orleans, I know first-hand the value of such grass-roots input and the benefits it can bring to the design process. I seized on the opportunity to develop a strategy to engage active citizen participation in order to identify community’s recreation needs/desires and communicate them effectively through design resolution. The Community Engagement Design Toolkit is a duplicable framework to help new design-oriented NORDC staff capitalize on the agency’s momentum and set a standard for community participation to aid in the design and successful development of recreation spaces.
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The Design Toolkit includes a guide to using the kit with communities, how to prepare for community interaction in a meaningful way, and activites to facilitate community particiaption. Diagrams, activities, and hints and tips are
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