University of Pennsylvania: Landscape Architecture Portfolio

AUDREY GENEST DESIGN PORTFOLIO

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL OF DESIGN

MLA I 2023

One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds. Much of the damage inflicted on land is quite invisible to laymen. An ecologist must either harden his shell and make believe that the consequences of science are none of his business, or he must be the doctor who sees the marks of death in a community that believes itself well and does not want to be told otherwise.

Aldo Leopold A Sand County Almanac

EDUCATION

University of Pennsylvania , Philadelphia, PA

Master of Landscape Architecture

University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 2020

Bachelor of Science, Wildlife Ecology & Conservation (Focus: Urban Ecology) Minor, Landscape Architecture

EXPERIENCE

MNLA (Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects) , New York, NY Landscape Design Intern

University of Pennsylvania , Philadelphia, PA Bird Strikes Research Assistant (Lead: Karen M’Closkey)

Residential Landscape Ecology Lab , Gainesville, FL Research Technician (Lead: Dr. Basil Iannone)

University of Florida IFAS Extension , Gainesville, FL Research Intern

HONORS + AWARDS

June 2022-September 2022

January 2022-September 2022

June 2019- July 2019

June 2019- July 2019

MNLA (Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects) Externship University of Pennsylvania March

Stuart Weitzman School of Design Landscape Fellowship University of Pennsylvania

SKILLS

Programs| Adobe Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Premier, After-Effects) ArcGis Pro, Rhinoceros, Grasshopper, VRay, RStudio

REFERENCES

Karen M’Closkey

Stuart Weitzman School of Design

PEG Office of Landscape+Architecture mcloskey@design.upenn.edu

Technical| Sketching, Laser-Cutting, CNC, Paper Modeling, Clay Modeling, 3-D Modeling, Print-making

Noriko Maeda

Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects Senior Associate nmaeda@mnlandscape.com

Molly Bourne

Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects Principal mbourne@mnlandscape.com

ROOTED IN AGRICULTURE

Seeds & Weeds (702)| Instructor|

Washington D.C.

Karen M’Closkey

Since the creation of the United States, there has been a desire to establish a national Botanical Garden. The original goals of the United States Botanical Garden were based on the promotion of utilitarian plants, primarily those of agricultural interest. Historic plant expeditions sponsored by the USDA sparked the beginning of the agricultural revolution and the road for the US as an industrial agricultural nation. Yet overtime, as people have shifted from work away from the land, they have become disconnected from the plants and the diverse cultural significance of the agricultural landscape. Rooted in Agriculture counteracts this by imagining an agricultural extension of the US Botanical Garden located at the base of the Washington Monument; adjacent to the USDA and the National Museum of African American History & Culture; and mirrored from the original USBG. With agricultural land representing the most rapidly expanding ecosystem, and greatest driver of biodiversity loss, botanical gardens play a valuable role in educating the public on agriculture. Likewise, they can culturally contextualize plants, allowing for people to understand their relationships to plants present and historically.

3 AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH IN WASHINGTON D.C.

Sites of Germplasm Accession Existing | No longer Existing

Plant Research & Experimental Plots

PLANT BLINDNESS: THE DECLINE OF THE AMERICAN FARMER

One only needs to examine the background of the four biggest global cash crops to understand the global advancement of the United States as an industrial agricultural nation. While these four crops are the contemporary face of agriculture, they represent a narrow part of US agricultural history. Analyzing these crops sparked a desire to break them down as more than a commodity, and to dig into their symbolic and contentious nature to reveal an alternative narrative of agricultural legacy on the National Mall

GLOBAL CASH CROPS: FEEDING THE WORLD

EXPERIMENTAL EXPLORATIONS: BLEED | FLOW | GROWTH

Working abstractly and iteratively through ink studies revealed the qualitative nature of bleed, flow, and growth and the organizations that arise from them. Running the ink studies through computational techniques such as grasshopper allowed for these qualitative characteristics to be pushed further. While still holding a semblance of their ink origins, more liminal characteristics were produced through the overlapping and densification of lines and points. These studies were influential in thinking of how plants, specifically fruit trees, could be organized to emphasize viewsheds and desire lines.

INK STUDIES | PAPER FOLDING, INK, & WATER

Plaster of Paris

GEOMETRIC STUDIES | GROWTH CORRELATED TO GRAY-SCALE VALUE

Garden of Crop Wild Relatives & Agricultural Futures

National Museum of African American History & Culture

Crop Planting Strategy

The Smithsonian Demonstration Garden is the heart of the USBG Agricultural Extension. Paths, hardscape, and trees are the guiding organizers. The garden ebbs & flows season to season, and year to year as new Smithsonian Institutions adopt the space. Trees are planted on a grid of distinct densities to simulate different agroforestry conditions, create enclosure, and frame views.

Study models exploring crop and tree organization.

Parti diagram showing the density of tree plantings.

Forest Farming

Alley Cropping Multi-Story Forest Farming

The Smithsonian Demonstration Garden serves as an extension of four Smithsonian Museums; the Museums African American History and Culture, the National Museum of the American Latino, the National Museum of the American Indian, and the Asian American History Museum. The snapshot here captures the Smithsonian Demonstration Garden under management by the National Museum of African American History and Culture. By giving space for these museums to curate the landscape, it allows for a story of agriculture to be told that is often excluded in U.S. agricultural representation.

Caught on camera. Imagining the movement of the Red Fox at night

INTO THE WOODS

501 Studio|

Chaumonix Woods is a 10-acre urban forest located in the southeastern portion of Fairmount Park. On its surface, the site seems relatively uncharacteristic, covered in invasive species and cut through by bike trails and service roads. All it takes is slowing down, to reveal the inherent qualities of the site that are overlooked in haste. Through extensive site exploration, mapping, and measurement I encapsulated the beauty of this winter landscape that is oftentimes unseeable unless we take a moment to slow down.

Faye Nixon

Chaumonix Wood, Philadalpehia, PA Instructor|

Moving through the transect ... I can’t help but be drawn to the unseeen

Utilizing the transect as a measurement tool I unearthed the characteristics hidden to the untrained eye. By walking the transect, I gained a deeper understanding of the understory’s role in inhibiting the east-to-west flow of movement.

TOP: Section BOTTOM: Aerial view

IT’S ONLY WHEN YOU PUT YOURSELF

WITHIN THE LANDSCAPE

YOU EXPERIENCE WHAT IS

Winter is often seen as a transitionary period of stillness. Yet, there is beauty in the winter landscape. All it takes is digging deeper to reveal this. Through exploratory methods, I captured different portrayals of winter through the lens of time. These included trapping a split second in time, freezing the life that arises from death, and projecting into the future.

RECLAIMING AN ANCHOR

601 Studio| Instructor|

Coatesville, PA Molly Bourne

Coatesville, PA is a town rich in history and pride. It once was home to Lukens Steel, one of the oldest steel plants in the nation. Ever since the closure of the Luken’s Steel Plant in 1998, Coatesville has lost the former anchor that once held the town together. Since then, Coatesville has followed a similar trajectory to many former steel towns. As one of the last strongholds of affordable housing, and the largest Black population in Chester County, Coatesville is at risk of gentrification. Development pressures such as a new Amtrak station, and a velodrome have already begun to reveal themselves in the landscape. I believe Coatesville’s biggest asset against gentrifying forces has been there all along: their youth. The revitalization of Coatesville does not begin with economic & commercial investment, it begins with youth investment. Despite significant challenges, there is a strong community desire and resilience to shift the narrative of Coatesville. The key to this revitalization resides in uplifting the youth base. As the former heart of Coatesville, the Lukens Steel Site has the opportunity to be reimagined as a youth hub. By celebrating and breathing new life into the steel plant, the Coatesville community can reclaim a historical anchor to carry the city’s past into its future.

Analysis of public space utilized by kids based on a youth mapping activity done by the Coatesville Growing Greater Organization. Having spaces for youth in a community helps to foster empowerment and social capital, ultimately strengthening communities in the long run. Through mapping, the necessity for the creation of these spaces was revealed.

PHASE ONE

1. SAFE PLACES TO WALK

2. SAFE PLACES TO BIKE

ADD BIKE LANES TEACH KIDS TO BIKE

INCREASE STREET LIGHTS

PHASE TWO

STORMWATER GARDENS

STREET TREE PLANTINGS

3. IMPROVE & MAINTAIN PARKS

4. IMPROVE REC PROGRAMS

POP-UP YOUTH EVENTS

PROMOTE SPORT PROGRAMS

STORMWATER GARDENS

NATURAL SPACES/ ECOLOGY ZONES

IMPROVED MAINTENANCE

SIDEWALK EXPANSION

COMMUNITY WORK DAYS

ESTABLISH GATHERING SPACES

Barriers of accessibility from Ash Park to Lukens Steel Plant.

Buildings at Lukens Steel are repurposed in a variety of ways to support Coatesville youth population. These include, tinker spaces, community centers, basketball courts, gardens, and flex spaces. Plantings break down the scale of the structures and filter in creating outdoor porches. Additionally, the Brandywine Inlet allows for residents to engage with the Brandywine, one of only two places to do this within Coatesville.

BRANDYWINE INLET EDGE CONDITIONS

Entrance to Lukens Park

Brandywine Inlet: Process Sketches

Section A

Section B

Section C

Clearview Park: from landfill to community asset

REIMAGINING

COBB’S CREEK

602 Studio| Instructor|

Southwest Philadelphia, PA Christopher Marcinkoski

Collaborators| Audrey Genest, Zoe Goldman, Matthew Lake

Reimagining Cobb’s Creek is framed in the year 2050, after a series of largescale storm events prompt the City of Philadelphia and Registered Community Organizations to begin the Cobbs Creek Expansion Initiative. The initiative expands the Cobb’s Creek Park system, mitigates increased flooding, and creates valuable public realm spaces centralized around Cobb’s Creek. Design interventions strengthen the identity of the creek, making it the beginning of the city rather than the end. The Cobbs Creek Expansion operates in Southwest Philadelphia at a district scale, zeroing in on two specific sites of intervention: the Eastwick Inlet and Passyunk Extension. The Eastwick Inlets are a set of streetscape moves in a larger stormwater and urban design intervention framework in the neighborhood of Eastwick. Eastwick is a community that faces challenging environmental justice issues that stem from racist urban renewal policies. These challenges are exacerbated by the former Clearview Landfill. The scale of the former landfill creates a pinch point at the confluence of Darby and Cobb’s Creek, amplifying large-scale flooding into Eastwick. Through careful examination of hydrologic patterns, design interventions create a new urban framework and public realm that celebrates living with Cobb’s Creek, rather than against it.

Surface Redirection Below Grade Redirection

MAKING ROOM FOR COBB’S CREEK

2022 2050

The confluence of Darby & Cobb’s Creek creates a pinchpoint that is amplified by the former Clearview landfill

Water from Darby Creek took priority during large storm events, resulting in flooding in Eastwick.

The Cobb’s Creek Inlet was created by the US Army Corp of Engineers to mitigate flooding in Eastwick.

Banks of Darby & Cobb’s Creek are expanded to further support high levels of stormwater.

FEMA 100 yr floodplain

Water Redirection Strategy

ESTABLISHING BLUE-GREEN CONNECTIONS IN EASTWICK

F B

Clearview Park E

Eastwick Inlet

Lindbergh Blvd. Green St.

New Residential Housing

The Eastwick Inlets enhance connection to the Cobb’s Creek Channel and the Clearview Park. Former cul-de-sacs are turned into a series of swales that can hold up to 3’ of rainwater. During nonrain events the swales can be entered, adding another layer of program to the inlets. Existing homes face inward, establishing a new residential experience and amenity for residents.

Isonometric of one of the Eastwick Inlets.

Filtration Garden

OUTSIDE THE BOUNDS

502 Studio| Instructor|

Delaware Waterfront, Philadelphia, PA

Karen M’Closkey

Located on the Delaware Riverfront in Fishtown, Philadelphia, this 30-acre site is situated along a rapidly developing waterfront that is already seeing the effects of climate change. The focus of the studio was on the transformation of a former industrial site into a public park. Outside the Bounds is focused on pushing environmental education outside the walls of a building and into the landscape. The park works to fill a gap in environmental education centers along the Delaware River, while also serving as flood control for the adjacent Fishtown neighborhood. The education center is the locus point of the site, highlighted by a large stormwater garden. The creation of spaces and program is guided by the three principles of environmental education: relation to the daily environment, foster active learning, and demonstrate how systems function.

AN INDUSTRIAL PAST’S MANIFESTATION ON THE LANDSCAPE

DESIGN DEVELOPMENT: STUDY MODELS

STRUCTURE FIELDS

MONOLITH VENTS

paper score & cut cut & divide

clay

Working from an abstracted, siteless and scaleless image, I interpreted its figure to ground organization through three different models. Differing materials and modeling techniques revealed structures otherwise not seen in the original 2-D image. I extended these characteristic structures forward through iterative study models, reflecting on their relationship to hydrology and site organization.

Existing site conditions section

RESTORING CONNECTIONS TO THE DELAWARE RIVER WATERFRONT

Stormwater and flood analysis

Site model with organization and water levels

EXTENDING ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION INTO THE LANDSCAPE

Nature-Based Playscape

Tide Channels

1.

2.

3.

Relate to daily environment

PRINCIPLES OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION IN DESIGN Foster ‘active learning’

Demonstrate ecological systems in one’s daily environment

upper tidal marsh

BLUE-FLAG IRIS Iris versicolor buttonbush Cephalanthus occidentalis

threesqaure Schoenoplectus pungens

Features of the site such as the Wetland Walk (left) and Tide Channel are designed to highlight the dynamism of the site. The tide channel has step-like risers that reveal the incremental daily rise in water. Materials along the side register changes in water through oxidization.

HIGH TIDE | +3.2’ LOW TIDE | -3.1’

MNLA |MATHEWS NIELSEN

Landscape Design Intern, Summer 2022 | As an intern I assisted in the creation of graphics using Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Lumion, and AutoCad. Projects I worked on included designing graphics for a historic assessment for Radburn, New Jersey; 3D modeling and Lumion fly-throughs for a NYC POP’s Plaza (NDA); graphic work for RFP’s; a plant maintenance manual for Hudson Streetscape; and renderings for the Pier 42 presentation at the 2022 ASLA Conference in San Francisco. Additional project details available upon request.

RADBURN, NEW JERSEY HISTORIC TUNNEL ASSESSMENT

The Radburn, New Jersey Historic Tunnel Assessment stemmed from a Masterplan done by MNLA. Working alongside my Project Manager, I created graphics, 3D modeled, and rendered in Lumion for the Historic Assessment document.

Schematic Design Plan

Planting Design Strategy

Utilized Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop to render a concept plan for the Niagara Falls Heritage Gateways. Gateways bookended the Downtown Niagara Fall Heritage Path.

GOVERNOR’S ISLAND GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE GRANT PROPOSAL

Assisted in the creation of conceptual graphics and preliminary background research for a Green Infrastructure proposal for Governor’s Island.

NIAGARA FALLS GATEWAY RFP

PIER 42 | ASLA 2022 CONFERENCE

Working in Adobe Photoshop, and Illustrator, I rendered a birds eye and ground level view (opening page) for the 2022 ASLA Conference. The graphics I created were shown in the presentation Paths to Collective Resilience and Environmental Justice: Charting Pier 42 led by Noriko Maeda.

BIRD FRIENDLY DESIGN

Research Assistant, Spring-Summer 2022 |

Lead : Karen M’Closkey

Bird Friendly Penn & Disrupt the Reflection. As a research assistant under Karen M’Closkey, myself and my colleague Ling Zhang created outreach materials to promote awareness for Spring Migration Week and assisted in the development of a graphic design competition on bird friendly window films.

DISRUPT THE REFLECTION WEBSITE

LEFT: Sample graphic from Disrupt the Reflection website. Website and competition materials designed by Audrey Genest & Ling Zhang on Cargo Collective.

RIGHT: Lawn Sign for Spring Migration Week

LEFT: Spring Migration Brochure Excerpts (Ling Zhang & Audrey Genest)

Page designed by Ling Zhang

Page designed by Ling Zhang

WILDLIFE WORK

Undegraduate Work, 2016-202 |

Project details available upon request

Snapshots from my time spent amongst wildlife in Florida in various field and research assistant positions. Species include (from left to right) the Florida manatee ( Trichechus manatus ), white-eyed vireo ( Vireo griseus ), hickory horned devil caterpillar ( Citheronia regalis ), evening bat ( Nycticeius humeralis ), barred owl ( Strix varia ), brown anole ( Anolis sagrei ), and sandhill cranes ( Grus canadensis ).Handling of wildlife was solely for educational and research purposes.

STAGGERED TRANSPARENCIES

Larry Robbins House Grasshopper Audrey Genest & Andrew Reichenbach Disrupt the Reflection Competition| Skills | Second Place Winner|

Highlight of window decal.

The Disrupt the Reflection Competition asked designers to design bird-friendly window graphics for select building’s on Penn’s Campus. Myself and my colleague selected the Larry Robbins House because of its strong relationship to the exterior courtyard. The inspiration for our design stemmed from the intricate manganese iron-spot brickwork on the rear facade. Working through Photoshop and Grasshopper, we abstracted the pattern. The final product came together to form an organic structure, mimicking the handmade texture of the brickwork.

max width between frits

Grasshopper Script

Original Brick Texture

Manipulated Brick Texture

Grading and Site Analysis Skills |

Grading work for a museum located in Valley Forge, PA as a part of Workshop III: Site Engineering and Water Management. Work included siting the museum and paths; grading the site; tree planting; and incorporating drainage and stormwater management.

Cercis canadensis Eastern Redbud

Flowering dogwood

Liquidambar styraciflua Sweetgum

Pinus strobus Eastern White Pine

Cornus florida

Highlights of the steps in the creation of a sketch landscape utilizing Rhino and Grasshopper. An abstracted exercise beginning with points to create curves to inform and manipulate a terrain.

MY FRIEND ACE

Sketching Skills |

Highlights from a collection of drawings of the Japanese maple (Acer palmatum) outside my window from January to May 2021. Sketches focused on practicing different drawing techniques such as drawing the subject upside down, utilizing the picture plane and incorporating the eraser as a drawing tool.

DYNAMIC DIAGRAMS

A sample of the workflow used in the delineation of sub-sites for a proposed tree nursery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Tree nurseries would act as ‘seed banks’, aiding in the natural regeneration of the urban tree canopy on vacant parcels. Site analysis, weighted overlays, and weighted sums were created in ArcGis.

WEIGHTED OVERLAY

SITE ANALYSIS

ASPECT: 10%

SLOPE: 25%

SOIL: 20%

LAND COVER: 40%

ASPECT: 10%

SLOPE: 5%

SOIL: 5%

LAND COVER: 20%

.20 .25 .15

ASPECT: 25%

SLOPE: 16%

SOIL: 17%

LAND COVER: 25%

ArcGis

Model Builder

RED-LINED AREAS

VACANT LAND PARCELS