anne hayner, portfolio by anniehayner

anne hayner portfolio, spring 2021

anne hayner MLA 2021 harvard graduate school of design

location: ann arbor, MI In landscape architecture, vegetation, water, history—the social, the geologic— land alongside one another in ways which are both disarmingly specific and experientially elusive. I am interested in both this specificity— the tools, materials, and methods by which landscapes are formed – and in the human experiences which landscapes create—the evocative, poetic, and culturally specific qualities which make for significant places.

In the following projects, I offer a series of explorations. Two take on the challenge of designing in the nation’s capitol, a symbollically potent place which faces imminent sea level rise. Two make interventions within the city of Boston, addressing climate concerns while adding delight to the public realm. I hope that each represents the beginning of questions which I will pursue as I enter the profession. Please enjoy.

contents estuarine axis................................................................ pg 5 a porch for franklin park............................................ pg 19 wetland plaza................................................. ...............pg 29 mlk, inverted................................................................... pg 39

estuarine axis course: an unmonumental core for our capitol city instructor: Gary Hilderbrand

location: Washington, D.C. At the inception of the United States, the executive branch had an ambiguous role. Much like DC itself, presidential powers were unformed. Washington and Jefferson, who were critical in siting and developing D.C. along the Potomac River, were also formative in defining the role of the President. Over time, however, the office, and the city, have simultaneously evolved; executive power has dramatically increased, and Washington D.C. has seen a number of iterations, the next of which will be the impending changes that sea level rise will bring.

The prompt for this studio challenged students to prepare a scheme that would protect the National Mall from the projected 10-feet of sea level rise. The space generated for protection, however, was also to be a new realm for free speech. In taking on a design for these joint challenges, I framed my intervention around the question of executive power. What space could be created in D.C. to orient the people towards their President? How could this space connect back to the natural and ecological systems of the Potomac River?

plan with 2120 sea level

Lincoln Memorial

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial

N 0

400’

800’

WWII Veteran’s Memorial

Washington Memorial

Holocaust Memorial Museum

FDR Memorial

Thomas Jefferson Memorial 8

concept

WWII Ve Mem

Today, the mall is primarily oriented along the W-E axis. Protests on the mall confront, on the one side, key historic figures, and on the other, the legislative branch. However, the opportunity to face the executive branch does already exist on the axis between the White House and the Jefferson Memorial. This scheme proposes a causeway which articulates this existing visual relationship. The form of the causeway orients, on its eastern side, to the executive branch; on its western side, responds to the form of the Tidal Basin.

eteran’s morial

Washington Memorial

Holocaust Memorial Museum

Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial, relocated

Thomas Jefferson Memorial

the proposed axis illuminates new resonances, including connections between WWII memorials 10

form development

grading plan

The grading of the landform accounts for flood surge conditions with 10-feet of sea level rise. The causeway itself slopes down into the tidal basin. It is crisscrossed by two accessible paths which lead visitors down towards the water. By 2120, the lower of these two paths will experience tidal flux, making it inaccessible at certain times of day and keeping a changing climate in full and present view of the user.

sections, causeway

proposed path network as it merges with existing

detail grading, causeway

high tide

perspective towards Jefferson Memorial showing tidal flux expected in 2120

low tide

By 2120, West and East Potomac Parks, built from fill, will be flooded; the new shoreline, defined by protective earthwork, opens the city towards the Potomac River, acknowledging its place in the system of natural, as well as political orders

aerial view from the National Mall towards the causeway

a porch for franklin park course: Franklin Park: Landscape as Dynamic Threshold instructor: Paola Sturla

location: boston, MA Franklin Park, which was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, is the 500-acre crown jewel of the Boston park system. The city has developed around the park since its inception; today, the green space is striking in its immensity next to densly packed neighborhoods. In some ways, the two systems city and park - present as antithetical to one another. Franklin Park is open and spacious where the city is dense and built; it is green and expansive where the city is full of facades and facets.

The brief for this studio prompted students to “explore and engage the process of design through the lens of threshold.” Addressing the liminal space between park and city, this project strategically focuses on a single entry point. I reimagine Franklin Park as a continuation of the city, rather than its antithesis, creating a dense and lively natural system which welcomes the visitor into the experiences beyond.

mapping

a sensory mapping project combined quantitative and qualitiative features of Franklin Park 21

FRANKLIN PARK | PEOPLE | PRESENT DAY

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FRANKLIN PARK | PEOPLE | 1885 - 1910

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FRANKLIN PARK | PEOPLE | 1940

;EVRMRK 8,-7 -7 ')2797 86%'8 (%8% 033/-2+ %8 838%0 43490%8-32 (3 238 86978 8,)7) 1%47 8,)6) -7 73 19', '3140)<-8= 83 8,) ,91%2 0-*) -2 8,)7) 2)-+,&36,33(7 40)%7) 8%/) 8,-7 %7 % 78%68-2+ 40%') \S\S EPERE ERRMI

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$5000

$8000

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*92'8-32%0 % &

TYPE OF USE

$8000

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$8000

150

*92'8-32%0 % &

TYPE OF USE INVESTMENT

INVESTMENT

CAPACITY 3000

$5000

TYPE OF USE

INVESTMENT $5000

CAPACITY

7000

3000

7000

SCALE: 1” = 250’

SCALE: 1” = 250’ 0

Alana Godner-Abravanel & Annie Hayner

125

250

500

Alana Godner-Abravanel & Annie Hayner

125

250

SCALE: 1” = 250’ 0

Alana Godner-Abravanel & Annie Hayner

125

250

500

URBANIZATION | BOSTON’S EXPANSION 1800 - 1912 1893

OLDEST DEVELOPMENT

1903

1912 - 2019

MOST RECENT DEVELOPMENT

1804

1855

1869

1873

1885

1912 - 2019

*Franklin Park General Plan completed

MAJOR ARTERIES, DEVELOPED BY THE 1940S

125

250

site analysis: with a partner, I developed a map of how the neighborhoods surrounding Franklin Park have changed over time

500

plan

view into site model

In response to my initial analysis, I proposed to create a “porch” for Franklin Park, that is, a sort of public plaza which should mirror, mimics, and accommodate the complexity of social and natural systems found alongside it. I sited this intervention at an existing, but neglected entrance into Franklin Park. In its existing condition, this site hosts only a small sign announcing the entrance. Any view into the park is blocked by the mounded earth on either side of the entrance dense, and overgrown vegetation in both the canopy and the understory. The new plan offers an open ended, but curated park entrance. Overlapping systems of groundcover, vibrant vegetation, and legible earthwork create a space that

is both destination and entrance. The planting plan weaves together existing canopy with a new scheme for the vegetation. Each tree species was selected for its vibrant color, as well as its ability to thrive in the site conditions, and was laid out according to its own geometry. When woven together, however, the underlying patterns becomes invisible. Instead, the separate sytems combine to create an experience of maximal complexity, a bower of color which welcomes visitors past the park boundary. A site which is safe and secluded from the street, yet open and public, the new space acts as part of the park while allowing visitors to look out towards the city: it is, in other words, a porch.

wetland plaza

course: Below and Beyond: Imagining the future of underground infrastructure at Harvard Square instructor: Jungyoon Kim

location: washington, D.C. Hidden beneath the surface of Harvard Square, a bustling retail and commerical environment next to the university, is a piece of long-forgotten infrastructure. The Brattle Tunnel, the former end of Boston’s red line subway, has been abandoned since the 1980s, when the subway was extended to neighborhing towns. Taking the Brattle Tunnel both as a local piece of history, as well as a site emblematic of the potential of underground spaces in growing cities, the goal of this studio was to imagine its reuse.

Students were challenged to, first, find a lens through which to connect the tunnel to larger systems beyond and above the ground. Secondly, they were asked to consider the role of underground structures in tackling climate change. And lastly, in imagining future urban environments, they proposed scenarios of “alternative nature” for public enjoyment.

long section

this drawing is best viewed animated; please input QR code for youtube link

concept

infrastructure

public space

catalyst

“The assertion that cities and floods cannot coexist shows a lack of imagination... With a shift in perception and creative planning and design, cities can... live with floods by retrofitting the built environment and adding redundancy, diversity, and flexibility into every subsystem.” - Kuei-Hsien Liao, “A Theory on Urban Resilience to Floods” I reimagine Brattle Tunnel as an underground wetland. As such, it will become part of a system for the capture, storage, and treatment of stormwater from the city of Cambridge. But even more, the tunnel will act as a public space, a below-ground plaza where water, vegetation, and light provide a unique experience within the tunnel and beyond, as it generates an experience above ground.

Mapping studies demonstrate the larger hydrology surrounding the site. Brattle Tunnel is found within the Charles River watershed; a drop of water falling anywhere within this region would either infiltrate into the groundwater or drain to the Charles River. Historically, the condition surrounding the site was that of a flooplain extending outwards from the Charles. This natural wetland would likewise have absorbed excess water from precipitation or high river levels.

Today, the city is further divided into catchment areas, within which water is collected based on the underlying pipe network. For the purpose of this project, I tested the capacity of the Brattle Tunnel system against the runoff from two of these catchment areas, a total of about 130 acres.

hydrology

overland water movement

Cambridge catchment areas, with those catchment areas used for design in blue 34

site plans

below ground plan.

above ground plan; two major openings shed light into the tunnel. 35

below ground plan detail

The tunnel site, which connects to the MBTA system, becomes a kind of machine, intercepting the municipal water system and channeling it into the underground wetland. Yet the below ground is highly dependent on the above.

existing traffic

A new traffic plan allow for light to access the tunnel through a traffic median and a large opening, which also serves as a pedestrian entrace to the platforms below. This scheme likewise reclaims streetspace for public use. The new plaza includes fountains supplied by purified water, reflecting the stormwater function of the tunnel.

proposed traffic 36

the experience in cross section a

a’

a a’

The mechanism of the tunnel - its function as a wetland - becomes a unique public space where the experience changes based on shifting light, water, and vegetation.The infrastructural purposes—the treatment of stormwater—now double as a means of creating atmosphere. Not only does this space provide a mitigating effect for the challenge of flooding, but it also generates an environment which is not static, but reflects the conditions of the surrounding environment.

within the tunnel, the quality of light varies throughout the day 37

b’ b’ b

while the volume of water likewise changes the experience over time 38

mlk, inverted

course: martin luther king, jr., upended instructor: Gary Hilderbrand

location: washington, D.C. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, completed in 2011, is one of the most recent additions to the monuments on the National Mall. The form of the sculpture was inspired by MLK’s own words and is made up of two parts: the “mountain of despair,” a gateway through which visitors enter the memorial plaza, and the “stone of hope,” a rough-hewn figure of MLK, emerging out of the mountain and symbolically overcoming despair. From its inception, however, the monument has been criticized for perpetuating the myth of a post-racial America.

Most significantly, the form of the monument itself suggests that “the mountain” of racial equality is behind us: that this work was fulfilled by MLK, rather than being a matter of ongoing importance. Meanwhile, the monument itself abuts the Tidal Basin, and is already subject to flooding which is only expected to increase as sea level rises. This studio prompted students to consider how a design intervention might therefore challenge a benign interpretation of the memorial while mitigating its climate risk.

site plan My proposal was motivated by a single gesture: invert the existing memorial so that the “moutain of despair” lies offshore from the figure of King. A glass walkway between the forms then allows for visitors to look back towards shore and to be put directly within King’s gaze. In support of this moment, I proposed an approach to newly placed “mountain of despir” through a choreographed sequence from the street to the monument.

concept and development

I reinterpret the MLK Memorial through a simple gesture.

The form of the monument is inverted.The “mountain of despair,” which receded behind the figure of King, now faces him.Visitors cross over the Tidal Basin via a glass footbridge, walking in the balance betwen hope and despair.

In its current form, visitors appraoch the monument from behind.We are only able to gaze up at King from far below.

When the monument is inverted, however, the culminating experience is a face to face encounter with King.

sectional studies of the angle of view informed the placement of the mountain form

detail of bridge structure

grading plan A new conceptual relationship between the visitor and the monument is generated by a sensitive rereading of the site. Earthwork guides the sequence from the street, while the “memorial walls” which surround today’s plaza are compressed to maintain a sense of entrance. The minimal footbridge construction, built high enough to accomodate high tides in 2120, leads visitors over the water and towards the culminating view.

My proposal was motivated by a single gesture: an inversion of the existing memorial so that the “moutain of despair” lies offshore from the figure of King. A glass walkway between the forms then allows visitors to journey over the water towards this mountain. Looking back to towards shore, they are put directly within King’s gaze.

process pages

viewshed sequence 1

from the street 2

approaching inscription wall 3

entering inscription wall 49

between inscription walls 5

entering plaza 6

looking towards the mountain 50

crossing the water 8

passing through the mountain 9

The original design of the MLK memorial put the “moutain of despair” behind the “stone of hope,” both literally and metaphorically. By simply inverting them, this new configuration offers a powerful new reading. Instead of a figure which towers over the human form, MLK is now at nearly eye level. He is no longer a mythical hero, but is rather a significant man with an ongoing legacy. He is no longer a lofty and removed figure, but is one who encouters us with a steady gaze. This new relationship with the King memorial forces us to face a confrontational reckoning. If we are the future towards which King gazes, where do we find ourselves?

facing MLK 51