Alexandra Mei_Portfolio 2017

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Alexandra Mei Harvard Graduate School of Design Master in Landscape Architecture Washington University in St. Louis Bachelor of Design in Architecture


Alexandra Mei www.alexandra-mei.com amei@gsd.harvard.edu 650 . 430 . 8862


01 resume + references 03 narrate

Landform / Perform | Fall 2015 | GSD Landscape Representation | Bradley Cantrell

09 choreograph

Dance-scape | Fall 2016 | GSD Inherent Vice Option Studio | Ken Smith

19 time

Fire, Water and the Strawberry | Spring 2016 | GSD Landscape Core Studio IV | Bobby Pietrusko, Pierre Belanger

29 listen

Bridge Instrument | Fall 2013 | WashU Architecture Core 311 | Sung Ho Kim

37 remember

Tomorrow’s Past | Spring 2017 | GSD MLA Thesis | Bobby Pietrusko, Charles Waldheim

43 draw

Landscape Design Internship | Summer 2016 | Surfacedesign Inc.

47 exhibit

Undefined | Oct 2016 | fortyk gallery more at www.alexandra-mei.com


Alexandra Mei Education Harvard Graduate School of Design Class of 2017 Candidate Master of Landscape Architecture, Advanced Placement Washington University in St. Louis Class of 2015, Summa Cum Laude Bachelor of Design in Architecture Double Minor in Communication Design, Writing

Experience Surfacedesign Inc. Landscape Design Intern | Summer 2016 | San Francisco, CA Design development, construction drawings and material specifications. Harvard Graduate School of Design Teaching Assistant | Present | Cambridge, MA Fabrication, representation and software support for second-year core studios. Harvard Graduate School of Education Learning Environments for Tomorrow Facilitator | May 2016 | Cambridge, MA Aid for educators and administrators designing their learning spaces. WashU Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts Research Assistant for College Prep | Spring 2015 | St. Louis, MO Curriculum development for program for first-generation college students. WashU Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts Teaching Assistant | Fall 2014 | St. Louis, MO Design guidance for freshman architecture students, with Igor Marjanovic. LeadDog Marketing Group Environmental Creative Intern | Summer 2014 | New York, NY Brand event renderings, product display, wayfinding and program. Gensler Marketing Design Intern | Summer 2013 | Seattle, WA Marketing graphics and tools development, RFQ proposals. Kwan Henmi Architecture and Planning Marketing Design Intern | Summer 2012 | San Francisco, CA Presentations, RFQ proposals and firm project pages.

Skills Photoshop Illustrator InDesign After Effects

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Rhino Grasshopper ArcMAP, GIS Sketchup

AutoCAD RealFlow 3DS Max Mandarin Chinese

Alexandra Mei


Leadership GSD Women in Design Co-Chair | Present | Cambridge, MA Guiding organization to promote gender equity in the design field. WashU Design for America Co-Founder | 2013 —2015 | St. Louis, MO Founded human-centered design studio to address issues in local community. WashU Women in Architecture and Design Founding Member | 2013 — 2014 | St. Louis, MO Member of gender equity organization, the first in 40 years at WashU. Slaughter Project Dancer | 2012 — 2015 | St. Louis, MO Performed in contemporary ballet company led by Cecil Slaughter.

Publications & Awards fortyK gallery Collaborative Exhibition | October 2016 | Cambridge, MA UNDEFINED: Two Chinese-American Narratives Featured in: Platform 9: Still Life GSD Student Work Publication | 2016 Landscape Core IV Project Open Letters, Issue #40 GSD Publication | October 7, 2016 Research Assistance on letter by Pierre Belanger and team Dean's Merit Award Dean Mohsen Mostafavi, Harvard GSD | 2015-2017 Joseph Murphy & Philip Shepley Scholarship Dean Bruce Lindsey, WashU in St. Louis | 2013-2015

References Sonja Duempelmann Harvard Graduate School of Design | Associate Professor in Landscape Architecture Professor, Advisor to Women in Design | sduempelmann@gsd.harvard.edu | 617-496-5975 Robert Pietrusko Harvard Graduate School of Design | Assistant Professor in Landscape Architecture Studio Professor, Thesis Advisor | rpietr1@gsd.harvard.edu Roderick Wiley Surfacedesign Inc. | Founding Principal Principal Manager for Summer Internship | rwyllie@sdisf.com | 415-621-5522 Igor Marjanovic Washington University in St. Louis | Chair, College of Architecture Undergraduate Programs Professor | marjanovic@wustl.edu | 314-935-6210

amei@gsd.harvard.edu

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narrate L a nd f o rm / Per f o rm

Fall 2015 | GSD Landscape Representation III | Bradley Cantrell

Through representation, a landform becomes performative. Viewed through vertical section lines, the landform’s curvature is evermore intentional, each move becoming part of a narrative. A fictional narrative evoked in the representational drawing forms an event-based perception of the landscape, contrasting the organic network of the landform’s vertical sections.

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Alexandra Mei


amei@gsd.harvard.edu

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Alexandra Mei


Wire Model : The model uses wire's malleability to focus less on the solid nature of the landscape, instead on its structural quality. The model base is reflective to double the perceived volume of the landform. However, because the base is also black, depending on the viewer's position to the model, the thin wires appear to dissolve into the surface.

amei@gsd.harvard.edu

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amei@gsd.harvard.edu

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ch ore ograp h Dan ce- scap e

Fall 2016 | GSD Inherent Vice Option Studio| Ken Smith

An investigation into landscape for its ability to choreograph human movement and landform maintenance. Dance choreography maintains two principles: the multi-tasking of direction, pace, and interaction with others; and the oppositional movement of these elements and the body. The project explores these principles in landscape design. The literal translation of ballet steps to the transformation and maintenance of landform manifests into strategies of erosion and deposition. Then, looking to the Bushwick Inlet in New York, the site's history of oil tanks and pollution is remembered through the choreography of direction, pace, and interaction.

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Alexandra Mei


amei@gsd.harvard.edu

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Film Strip + Footprints : Placing charcoal on my feet, I recorded different ballet steps on paper. These experiments and the resulting charcoal traces led to questions of our own traces in the landscape and how ground can record movement, suggesting a history embedded within. The maintenance of landscape therefore functions as a documentation of what was once there, essentially allowing movement to produce something material, such as our traces in the ground.

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Alexandra Mei


ĂŠchappĂŠ

promenade

glissade

amei@gsd.harvard.edu

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Vignettes + Clay Models : Both drawing and model further explored the tracing of movement in the landscape. These mediums served to formalize and translate fundamental ballet movements, such as twisting and splitting, into strategies of erosion and deposition that move the ground plane in the same manner. In each strategy, the continuous paths of human visitors form the site's ground over time. Gradually, the landscape dances.

amei@gsd.harvard.edu

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choreographed movement

oil tank history

1997 : Bayside Fuel Depot

Section + Plan : Moving to the Bushwick Inlet site in New York, section and plan were used as general outlines for a more detailed landscape design that was explored in the following drawings. The plan drawings outline the historical placements of the large oil tanks on site, once again tracing movement, which manifested above ground into a tree grid that framed the design. The section drawing illustrates the horizontal human movement through this tree grid.

Bushwick Inlet, New York trace of historical tank placements

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Alexandra Mei


1867 : Astor Oil Works

1874 : Standard Oil Company

resulting tree grid and tank program

amei@gsd.harvard.edu

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Detail Sketches : These sketches zoomed into selected moments throughout the site would de brought together the visitors' pace, direction and of experiences. These sketches then informed a r what was discovered

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Alexandra Mei


the plan and section drawings to design how evelop and feel. The photoshopped renderings d interaction with others to choreograph a variety return to the plan and section drawings to reflect d at the smaller scale.

amei@gsd.harvard.edu

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time Wa t e r, Fire an d t he St rawb err y Spring 2016| GSD Landscape Core IV | Bobby Pietrusko, Pierre Belanger Collaboration with Xun Liu + Siobhan Feehan Featured in GSD Platform 9: Still Life

Focusing on land use in terms of water rights, wildfire management and agricultural production, this team project sought to optimize the existing conditions and strategies on the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California to create opportunities for community participation and resilient ecologies. Water, fire and agriculture currently operate independently from one another, drawing boundaries and intensifying the ecological effects they have on each other, yet they all function on the same annual time schedule. The project explored what would happen if these worked together on the same site, in order to gain the benefits each can have on one another as part of the same system.

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Alexandra Mei


amei@gsd.harvard.edu

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Alexandra Mei


Plan + Section + Calendar : Informed by the larger Vandenberg AFB site plan, my team chose to zoom into three places where water, fire and agriculture intersected. These three sites were explored through plan and section to design how each system could work in tandem spatially, outlining their overlaps and proximities. Then through the annual calendar shown on the right, each system was given a schedule on each site. This way, on the same location and using the same infrastructures, the wildfire maintenance, strawberry agriculture, and water systems could regulate each other and cross the boundaries currently in place.

amei@gsd.harvard.edu

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Diagram + Model : My team used diagram and three-dimensional modeling to study in depth the three systems of water, fire and the strawberry. In the diagram and models above, we studied the accumulation patterns of fire and how wildfires accelerate and spread above and below ground.

amei@gsd.harvard.edu

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Tools Section : This closeup diagram section, printed on a one-to-one scale, illustrated the variety of processes on the Vandenberg site. The drawing aimed to explain how human involvement and the tools we use directly affect the site. Placing all of them togther on the same drawing, we see the scale of each influence on the ground.

Systems Section : This group drawing was created by six people, each contributing a layer of research to a combined Illustrator file. The drawing, printed at 21 feet long, presented the variety of systems currently at play on the Vandenberg AFB site, including the state water transport, real estate valuation, oil drilling, and fish and bird ecologies. This drawing was an exercise both in graphic illustration of a site's metabolism and in large group research.

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Alexandra Mei


amei@gsd.harvard.edu

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Final Review Presentation : This core studio culminated in an exhibition-style final review, where each section designed and curated the final display. Our section built a table on which a model of the Vandenberg AFB site sat. Projected onto the model were various LIDAR satellite images of the site. This projection could only be viewed from above or through the computer screen besides the table, thus replicating the process of data collection from space.

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Alexandra Mei



liste n Brid ge In st r u m en t Fall 2013|WashU Architecture Core 311 | Sung Ho Kim Featured in WashU Undergraduate Approach

A study of acoustic architecture on the Chain of Rocks Bridge on the Mississippi River. The project began conceptually with the study of a bubble, which maintains its spherical shape through surface tension. Both interior and exterior forces pull on the bubble's membrane, reaching a state of equilibrium, similar to the site's acoustics. Because of Interstate-270 and the Chain of Rocks nearby, tension between the variety of sounds on site creates the environment, maintaining a visitor’s acoustic experience. The project demonstrates this equilibrium by highlighting the contributing sounds through panels that envelope the viewer. This is thus a structure of acoustic observation, an instrument.

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Alexandra Mei


amei@gsd.harvard.edu

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acoustic tension on the Chain of Rocks Bridge

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Alexandra Mei


Bubble Vector Diagrams + Site Plan : Studying the surface tension on a bubble as a precedent for the tensile relationship of sound on the site, I drew vector diagrams of the forces acting on the bubble both inside and out. Looking to the site, the plan drawing revealed the same pattern of tension between the acoustics of Interstate-270 and the Chain of Rocks. This led to the programmatic design of the observatory.

amei@gsd.harvard.edu

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Plan + Elevation : The plan drawing for this project was created to understand the many structural elements both within the Chain of Rocks Bridge and my design on the bridge. Cut in section, the plan combines solid and dotted lines to illustrate what is above and below, detailing each of the structural pieces necessary for the design's support. The elevation supplements the plan with an illustration of how all of these elements come together.

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Alexandra Mei


amei@gsd.harvard.edu

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Model : This quarter scale model was built by hand to further explore how the observatory design would intersect with the Chain of Rocks Bridge. Difficult to solve on the computer, the physical model allowed me to interact with each piece of the design.

amei@gsd.harvard.edu

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re me mbe r To m o rrow’s Past Act i va t i ng L a ndsc a pe s of Colle c tive Me mor y Spring 2017|GSD MLA Thesis | Advisors: Bobby Pietrusko, Charles Waldheim

The project will be completed in May 2017. My thesis argues that memory is tied to place and is our agent for our own histories and identities, especially for the Native American communities whose practices and livelihoods depend on the natural resources around them. Studying Louisiana’s Isle de Jean Charles’ past, present and future, the project seeks to make memory operational as a validation for the continuance of local ownership of coastal landscapes, even as they leave for a land farther inland due to sea level rise. The growing impermanence of the land/water border challenges the lifespan of island communities like the Biloxi Chitimacha Choctaw, particularly as their land becomes state-owned. Thus the act of design here is an acceptance of the rising sea, but also the responding claim to ownership of the island and the memories embedded within it.

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Alexandra Mei


amei@gsd.harvard.edu

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Isle de Jean Charles, 1963

Isle de Jean Charles, 2016

Water Boundary Studies : The island immediately becomes a stateowned water bottom once the land is submerged in high tide. The property line as it submerges is called the Ordinary High Water Mark. In studying the physical characteristics of this mark, I am devising landscape strategies to keep the OHWM from completely submerging the island. Thus, the tribe maintains their ownership and their relationship to the island even after they move. Maintaining the island's existence for the Biloxi-Chitimacha Choctaw activates the route from their future relocation site back to the island. They have something to visit. So, the project considers both the island and future journeys back to it.

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Alexandra Mei


amei@gsd.harvard.edu

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amei@gsd.harvard.edu

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draw Su r f aced esign In c.

Summer 2016 | Landscape Design Internship | San Francsico, CA

Reference: Roderick Wyllie, Founding Principal During a summer internship at Surfacedesign Inc. I aided both construction and design development. Projects included a high-rise residential tower in Hawaii and the new Uber campus in the SF Mission Bay. I was responsible for concept sketches, 3D modeling, material specifications, perspective renderings, and final CAD sections and layouts.

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Alexandra Mei


E

D

E

Landscape Architectural Materials Notes

Lot 34 Property Line

Lot 22 Property Line

CP

L-P-906

SP

1

Stone Blocks, Type 2

1

1

Bike Rack

D

Matchline

CO

Matchline

1. The Contractor shall refer any questions on materials, finishes, labor and/or products not specified herein to the Landscape Architect, prior to ordering materials or starting work. 2. All lines and dimensions are parallel or perpendicular to the lines from which they are measured unless otherwise shown. 3. Field Measurements: Take accurate field measurements before preparation of Shop Drawings and/or fabrication. Do not delay job progress. 4. The Landscape Architect may make reasonable adjustments to the layout without incurring additional costs to the project. The Contractor shall stake out proposed tree locations to aid in the review of the final layout of site elements. 5. See Electrical Site Light Plan for Landscape Lighting.

Lot 22 Property Line

Lot 22 Property Line Lot 34 Property Line

CP

OWNER

UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC. ALEXANDRIA REAL ESTATE EQUITIES, INC 1700 OWENS ST., SUITE 590 SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94158 415.554.8844

TEL

L-P-902

L-P-702

SP

1 L-P-903

Existing Paving to Remain

CP

LOW

Limit of Work Property Line

2 L-P-702

Landscape Architectural Materials Legend

Stone Feature

SP

Pier 33 North The Embarca San Francisc 415.621.5522

Centerline Match Line

Vehicle Pavem

ent Zone

CP

Egress SP

CO

Planted Area

DESIGN ARCHITECT SHoP ARCHITECTS

3

Stone Block, Type 3

CP

L-P-902

1

Concrete Pavers

L-P-901

233 BROADWAY 11TH FL. NEW YORK, NY 10279 TEL

212.889.9005

CIVIL ENGINEER FREYER & LAURETA, INC. 144 NORTH SAN MATEO DRIVE SAN MATEO, CALIFORNIA 94401

SP CP Movable Tables and Chairs

5

Stone Pavers

L-P-901

CO

CP

2

650 CALIFORNIA ST. SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108

1

L-P-906 L-P-906

L-P-902

SSP

Stone Block, Type 1

4

Stone Slab Pavers

L-P-901

1

Bike Rack

SSP

L-P-906

CP 2 L-P-902

2

Trash Receptacle

Stone Block, Type 2

L-P-906

3

Recycling Bin

L-P-906

SSP

415.365.6900

MEP ENGINEER ALFATECH ONE POST ST., STE 2200 SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94104 TEL

415.403.3000

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT SURFACE DESIGN, INC. PIER 33 NORTH, THE EMBARCADERO, SUITE 200 SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111 TEL

415.914.7450

INTERIOR DESIGN ASSEMBLY 1045 SANSOME STREET, SUITE 201 SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111 TEL

3 L-P-702

2

Bridge Above, See Architecture Drawings

L-P-906

3 L-P-906

Trash Receptical

Recycling Bin

415.994.4605

SP

CO

Lot 34 Property Line

D

Stone Blocks, Type 3

CO

3

THORNTON TOMASETTI

TEL

4

SP

L-P-902

650.344.9901

TEL

STRUCTURAL ENGINEER

1 L-P-701

Lot 34 Property Line

Stone Block, Type1

4

UBER

L-P-902

Planted Area

MISSION BAY PIERPOINT LANE, SAN

3

MISSION BAY BLVD SOUTH

L-P-701

4 L-P-902

Stone Blocks, Type 4

4

Existing Parking Structure

4

L-P-906 L-P-906

THIR

P

CP

L-P-702

Bridge Above, See Architecture Drawings

5

CO

Movable Tables and Chairs

E

CO

Existing Lot Line to Be Relocated

E

4 L-P-902

Lot 33 Property Line

Stone Blocks, Type 4

SP

BRIDG OPEN SPACE

Planted Area CP

1455 (LOT 33)

SSP

Planted Area

2 L-P-701

CO SP

SP

4' Public Sidewalk Easement, Existing Paving to Remain

Stone Block, Type 1

REV

08.01.2013 DATE

10 IS

ARE-SAN FRANCISCO NO. 50, LLC LLC, AS THE CASE MAY BE, SHAL THIS INSTRUMENT OF SERVICE A STATUTORY AND OTHER RESERV THE INFORMATION CONTAINED H AND HAS BEEN MADE AVAILABLE ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IM FOR THE PURPOSE OF OBTAININ AND TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PE FRANCISCO, NO. 50, LLC, ARE-SA ALEXANDRIA REAL ESTATE EQUIT TECHNOLOGIES, INC., SHoP ARC AFFILIATES OF THE FOREGOING S CONNECTION WITH THE USE OF T

CP

FH

COPYRIGHT © 2016 SHoP ARCHIT COPYRIGHT © 2016 QUEZADA INC

NOT FOR CONSTRUCTIO

Matchline

SL

D

U

IRR

1 L-P-903

SL

W

SP

CO

Back Flow Preventer, See Civil Drawings

Lot 22 Property Line

CP

Lot 22 Property Line

Vehicle

Pavement Zone

1

Matchline

Stone Blocks, Type 2

DRAWING TITLE

1

Mater

L-P-902

L-P-702

SP Scale: 1/8"=1'-0"

Plan

2

Materials Plan

Plan

Scale: 1/8"=1'-0"

DA

PR DR

CH

16

0

16

32 N

1

Materials Plan

SCALE: 1/16"=1'-0"

amei@gsd.harvard.edu

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DB DR


Uber campus concept sketches

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Alexandra Mei


amei@gsd.harvard.edu

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e xh ibit UN D EFIN ED Tw o C h i ne se -Ame r ic an Nar ra tive s Oct 2016| fortyk gallery exhibition | Cambridge, MA Collaboration with Diana Tao

Diana and I are two Chinese-Americans. Simultaneously, we belong to two races and none at all. Our exhibition images an effort to belong as immigrants, as firstgeneration citizens, as the model minority; and how this has influenced our design identities. Through anecdote, collection and dialogue, we open a conversation on the notion of multi-race, specifically Chinese-American, in hopes of reaching those who also straddle two different identities. We distinguish Chinese-Americans from Chinese and American by illustrating the journeys we have each undertaken to both challenge and celebrate the cultures that claim us as their own. This exhibition is an invitation into the intimate and private worlds of two Chinese-Americans. Images provided by Keith Scott.

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Alexandra Mei


amei@gsd.harvard.edu

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amei@gsd.harvard.edu

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Alexandra Mei Harvard Graduate School of Design Master in Landscape Architecture Washington University in St. Louis Bachelor of Design in Architecture


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