BLADIMIR HERNANDEZ
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO
Education: May 2015
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Amherst, MA
Bachelors of Science, Landscape Architecture GPA: 3.4 • •
Graduated from a comprehensive Landscape Architecture program accredited by the American Society of Landscape Architects. The curriculum included strong focus on interactive studio, which involved site analysis, design, sustainablilty, ecological processes, construction technologies, and construction detailing Gained experience in public speaking in order to present ideas and designs
Work Experience:
Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation Forest and Park Supervisor I/ Forest and Park Supervisor II May 2014- Sept 2015 (Seasonal) • • • •
Objective:
Supervised select staff and managed daily operations that included the maintenance of public parks and beaches Ensured the steady flow of traffic and safety of patrons by maintaining high standards of communication between all departments Responsible for the preparation and quality of daily sales reports Provided excellent customer service
May 2013- Sept 2013
Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation
To use all my skills learned through the culmination of all my experiences Laborer I • Responsible for the maintenance of select parks and facilities professional and educational to obtain • Operated a variety of small and heavy equipment necessary for the care of parks and facilities an entry level position at an organization to let me design aesthetic landscapes that apply sustainable methods not Sept 2008- Mar 2013 New England Aquarium only to stimulate the existing diverse population of human and wild life alike, Host/ Cashier • Provided excellent customer service in ticketing and customer relations but to also ensure that these resources • Assisted with the training and development of new personnel will sustain all future generations • Responsibilities as a cashier included handling of cash, processing transactions, and daily reconciling
Interests: I have always enjoyed creating art, it started with drawing, then it moved to music. I love art in general, creating it or just simply experiencing it. I became passionate about nature during my time at the New England Aquarium. I became interested in alternate methods of generating energy and methods of transportation. That passion combined with my other interests led me to become a landscape architect.
Nahant, MA
Nahant, MA
Boston, MA
Skills: • • • •
Experienced with Adobe Photoshop, InDesign & Illustrator, Auto CAD, Microsoft Office, Sketchup Strong customer service skills Strong work ethic and team player mentality Bilingual English/ Spanish
Additional Interest: • • •
Bicycling Hiking Drumming
Awards: •
Robert Livingston Craig Scholarship Fund Award: For achievement in design, site planning and scholastic accomplishments
References: •
Available upon request
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I strive to create sustainable and aesthetically pleasing landscapes by applying the skills and ideas learned through my experiences. It’s important to integrate social, environmental, and economic values in every design to ensure people can and will interact with the environment. The balance lies within low impact design methods that are also cost effective in order to stimulate the diverse population. My personal design style is inspired by patterns and processes found in nature. Mimicking natural patterns incorporates aesthetic values based on nature, and mimicking the natural processes incorporates sustainable values to restore and heal our environment.
“Let us green the earth, restore the earth, heal the earth...� Ian McHarg
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CONCEPTUAL DESIGN: Hillside Park
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PUBLIC SPACE DESIGN: Kendrick Park
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CAMPUS DESIGN: Fine Arts Center
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URBAN DESIGN: Springfield, MA
11 - 14
GREENWAY DESIGN: Framingham, MA
15 - 18
MULTI-FAMILY HOUSING: Rolling Hills, Amherst, MA
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AUTO CAD: Construction Details
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Hillside Park
Conceptual Design
Landscape architecture not only helps enrich the user experience but it also helps designers understand the user experience. This conceptual hillside design helped me further understand the experience, scale and media that will shape my designs. This conceptual handcrafted model is based on a design with several hypothetical factors; its location is on a hillside, the site has unpleasant views 270째 around the site, it has to be ADA accessible at an 8% slope or lower, and also had to design with water runoff management in mind.
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The bio swales direct water runoff into rain gardens. These rain gardens not only add aesthetic value to the design, it also serves as a functional element that helps retain water and reintroduce it to the ground water while filtering out any harmful pollutants. Using a diverse plant palette, I was able to make the rain gardens a focal point within the park, i was also able to block 270째 of unsightly view by creating screens using trees and shrubs.
Photo on the left is a shows an eye level perspective within the Hillside Park model.
Photoshop rendering of handcrafted model at eye-level perspective .This perspective is taken from the highest tier and looks out in to the only view that would be worth looking at. The photograph to the right has been rendered from the original model to give an idea of a pleasing view provided by the framing of the trees and shrubs.
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Kendrick Park
Designed and built with Mark Gullifer
Public Space
Landscapes are constantly changing, this impermanence is caused by multiple factors which include but not limited to cultural milieu, biological community and the physical base. Kendrick Park is currently a grass covered lot which was once a residential block. This is an example of change within the landscape caused by cultural factors.
Site Analysis
Kendrick Park is located in the town of Amherst, MA. It’s in close proximity to a few central hubs. The nearest hub is Amherst Center which has several shops, bars and restaurants which are within a 10-minute walk. This would give the opportunity for the site to become a destination for every visitors of the town. The site is also located in between 2 college campuses; UMass Amherst and Amherst College. This can ensure that through proper design, the park will be visited frequently and will serve as a sanctuary for college students. The location of the park provides a wide range of opportunities to transform this site into a central hub for recreation.
Kendrick Park
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UMASS Amherst
Amherst Center
Amherst College
Pedestrian/Cycling/ Vehicular Circulation The site is easily accessible by public sidewalks and bike lanes, but it lacks circulation within the park. The site can easily be accessed through vehicular transportation and public transportation with 2 bus stops in close proximity.
Pedestrian
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Vehicular
Today the parcel of land known as Kendrick Park has no defined spaces and ambiguous tree planting scattered throughout the area. Rows of trees still stand which once marked property lines for the houses that used to stand within the park. http://onlyintherepublicofamherst.blogspot.com/2014_12_01_archive.html
View from South Entrance
The Design Process
This particular design we were encouraged to design off of the model. We were allowed to use some tracing paper to get some ideas down, but we spent most of the time cutting and filling. We also met with town officials and spoke with multiple residents of Amherst to see what the town wanted from our designs. One of the most important variables for the design was that the park needed to be easily accessible to any and all visitors. Requirements: • ADA Compliant • Open lawn space • Performance space • Space for Farmer’s Market • Playground • Resting areas/ social gathering • Storm water management
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Master Plan
A. Rain Gardens B. Great Lawn C. Seating D. Playscape E. Amphitheater F. Outdoor Patio
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The concept or “big idea” that moved this design forward was based on a floor plan layout of a house due to the residential history of the site. The design consists of multiple spaces with various spatial experiences which have been defined with landform and planting schemes. The different spatial experiences can be compared to the different rooms of a house. The pathways are the equivalent to hallways of a house, and the open areas and secluded spaces can be the equivalent to the dens, living rooms, or bedrooms of a home.
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In order to get a better handle on storm water runoff, the water has been redirected to rain gardens located at the north and south entrances (Figure A). The rain gardens not only provide the specific function of phytoremediation and retaining water runoff, it also acts as aesthetic focal point that greets people as the walk through the gateway. As a visitor travels through the park they get a variety of different spatial experiences, this spatial experiences explain the idea of the different “rooms” of the design. The front yard of the park would be the great lawn (Figure B). The open space can be used for social gatherings and recreation. The contrast to the open space, the secluded spatial experience provided by the urban planter inspired seating areas (Figure C) these areas would be the bedrooms of the design.
It is essential to have an area for entertainment in any house, whether it is a living area/ television room, or a child’s play room. The design also allows for these factors. As a public park, it was important to include areas that would be used by the entire public. The play scape (Figure D) is based on the natural landscape where a mound of land acts as a climbing area and also contains slide. The amphitheater (Figure E) is the multipurpose space which includes a performance stage, and amphitheater style seating, with a smaller open lawn for people to use for entertainment. This space can be transformed into an ice skating rink during the winter season. It can also be utilized as the space for the weekly farmers’ market. Kendrick Park ‘s location is very close to Amherst Center, which has a variety of restaurants and shops. The outdoor patio (Figure F) gives patrons a place to sit back, take a break from visiting the shops, and it provides a place to bring food from neighboring restaurants, eat outdoors under tree canopy, which lets light trickle though.
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Fine Arts Center Plaza
Campus Design
Designing landscape can facilitate a wide range of purposes. Design can also transform a landscape that is not utilized to its full potential into a successful frequently visited landscape, this is especially true in college campuses. There can be a high rate of turnover when it comes to land use purposes, landscapes that were used as parking lots can be used to create new dorms, lecture hall, or even recreational spaces.
Site Analysis
The Fine Arts Center Plaza is located on the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus. Located near the center of campus, surrounded by dorms, lecture halls and bus stops. The plaza is traversed by commuting students, on campus students, professors, and visitors of the university. The site has no real defining features, which gives the opportunity of transforming this space into something interesting. It is prominently paved with concrete and there is one preexisting sculpture the sits right in the middle of the space. The sculpture is important because of the artistic focal point it creates within the plaza.
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Sun/ Shade Analysis
Site area
Summer 11am-4pm
Summer 6pm-7pm
Winter 9am- 2pm
Winter 4pm- 6pm
Sun/Shade Analysis
Wind Analysis
User Analysis
Activity Analysis
Due to the location of the plaza, it is mainly used as an ambiguous corridor, getting people across campus. The concrete paving also makes this a destination for bikers and skateboarders.
Master Plan
The concept which developed the design was based on utilizing a material that can be re-purposed for a sustainable design. Landscape pipes can be manipulated to create functional amenities, they can create aesthetic value, and could be used as an interactive element within a landscape design. Pipes are also very common and available at industrial disposal sites, thrift stores and some could sometimes be found in garage sales, which is why it was chosen for this particular design. The Fine Arts Center is the home of music halls, performance stages, and classrooms for the arts. The design reflects on the uses for the Fine Art Center, the pipes are used as light fixtures and benches, pipes of different diameters can also be hit by people to create percussion instruments that sit within the plaza, all these functional and interactive elements also stand out sculpturally as a pipeline system rising out of the concrete
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Section A-A: Section cut facing northern direction, the Fine Arts Center in the background. The pipes are be colored maroon to represent the UMass color, also replacing the existing sculpture with a sculptural landscape that is functional. Created with Auto CAD and rendered with Photoshop.
Section B-B: Section cut looking west shows new bus stop and how pipes create benches and interactive elements . Tall grasses create visual interest when the wind blows, the site has a good amount of wind current . Created using Auto CAD rendered with Photoshop.
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This perspective was taken within the plaza looking at the Fine Arts Center’s main entrance. Due to the multiple uses of the FAC the plaza would also be utilized for multiple purposes. Either as an outdoor classroom or a stage area for performances. Some pipes would be interchangeable to leave space for possible galleries for artwork created by students. The planters to right serve as a break from all the concrete to allow for water filtration.
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Springfield’s Waterfront Connection
Designed with Valerie Degroote and Chris Johnston
Urban Design
The city scape is composed of several different land uses, which means that certain zones are categorized for certain purposes. Some of the most common land uses are residential, commercial, industrial, institutional, recreational and transportation. It’s important for the urban fabric to have a logical connective flow. Change is a constant, new thing are added some things are removed, but connectivity will always be necessary.
Site Analysis
Springfield
Springfield is a city located in western Massachusetts. It is home to a diverse community. Interstate 91 runs from Boston to Springfield. MGM has planned to build a casino that will transform Springfield into a destination to people from different parts of the state and the country. Requirement: Design within the urban grain and place I-91 on grade while connecting the community to the waterfront.
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Interstate 91 is a useful corridor for vehicular transportation, but its location disconnects the city of Springfield to the Connecticut River waterfront. Currently I-91 runs on a overpass that causes multiple conflicts with pedestrian circulation heading towards Riverfront Park. 100
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Created with Adobe Illustrator
Master Plan
The team master plan was developed after we conceived our concept. We split Springfield in three sections and used a unified style to make a comprehensive design. We each had liberties for each sections layout but we had to keep similar biomorphic form and planting schemes. Due to our requirement we had to design pedestrian bridges to bring people up and over into the park. We also decided to add a sculptural deck park over the interstate for added interest and open space.
MGM Casino
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Focus Area Plan
A Sculptural Endeavor: In order to have people explore the city of Springfield ,the idea was to have markers that would signify the path that would lead them to the Riverfront. In this case the markers are a sculptural element that would also serve as a light fixtures to light the way at night (Figure A). The light fixture is a 6�x 6� post than can vary in height, each of them have a stream like gap carved out all the way through each face of the post. The light will illuminate through and create interesting shadows on the ground. These markers start southwest of Court Plaza in downtown Springfield and will become more prominent the closer visitors gets to Riverfront Park. A
Section A-A: Shown here is the experience heading from the underpass to the Riverfront Park Plaza. Above the ground plane is another functioning sculpture which is the riverfront Deck Park. The deck passes over the interstate and the railroad then tiers down into Riverfront Park. The purple posts represent the markers leading people to river front Park.
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Underpass before
These perspectives were created and rendered using a combination of Auto CAD, Sketch Up and Photoshop These perspective provide a better understanding in how the sculptural amenities lead people to discover Riverfront Park. The light fixture located at the underpass attract attention as the light reflects off of the metallic facade of the underpass, making the walls, pillars and ceiling sculptural as well (Figure B). The entrance located on State Street leads you to the grand staircase into the park (Figure C). The Riverfront Plaza (Figure D) opens up Springfield to the Connecticut River. A grand stair-case is located on the river bank to bring visitors down to the waters edge.
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Sudbury River Walk: Scenic Restoration
Greenway Design
Greenway Designs are used for encouraging communities to use less vehicular transportation and more public transportation by making bus stops more available and making the walk-ability of an area more aesthetic and convenient. Greenways also help increase permeable surfaces to filter water back in to the ground. They are also good for restoration projects and making these areas accessible to the public with little to no impact.
Site Analysis
The Sudbury River is approximately a 33-mile-long tributary of the Concord River that runs through the Middlesex County in Massachusetts. The Sudbury runs through Framingham, MA for about 6 miles. It runs alongside residential areas, major vehicular corridors, secondary vehicular corridors and parking lots. The pollution of the Sudbury River is due to water runoff of the urban development of Framingham which include; roads, lots and personal lawns. The Sudbury River is also heavily polluted by mercury.
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The Nyanza Color & Chemical Company was identified as a hazard in 1971 when pollution was found in the nearby Sudbury River, the site was put on the Superfund National Priority List. Groundwater was contaminated with heavy metals and chlorinated organics. Liquid wastes fouled nearby brooks and wetlands. Mercury-laden particles may have been blown into the air from exposed sludge.
3d Model created using Arc GIS and Arc Scene. These diagrammatic blue arrows show the sheet flow of the storm water runoff of Framingham. Not only does the surface runoff flow into the Sudbury River, but sewer runoff leads into the Sudbury River. Water from the Mass Pike I-90 also flows of the asphalt and into the Sudbury.
Master Plan
Central Street The design of the River Walk will focus on restoring the health of the river banks and cleaning as much of the polluted water through phytoremediation. The design includes a low impact boardwalk on the edge of the riverbank so that residents and visitors will enjoy the views of the Sudbury River, it also serves as a educational experience of rehabilitation of water fronts. The addition of bike lanes on Central Street are also important to promote alternate methods of transportation and they also increase permeable surfaces.
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Central Street sits on a long steep slope with impervious surfaces
Simpson Park is an ambiguously defined park with asphalt paving and is rarely visited
The Sudbury River bank is eroded and contaminate by mercury
Central Street will have bio swales and permeable paving to reduce the amount of pollutants from getting into the river.
Section A-A: This section shows how to collect as much of water runoff flowing off of the I-90. Where ever the slope allows, a set of terraced retention basins would collect and hold the water until it has a chance to travel back down to the ground. If the basin begins to overflow then it would flow into the next basin after it. These basins would be heavily planted to make it possible for any toxin in the soil to be extracted by plants.
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Simpson Park will have all pavement removed replaced with gravel paths to increase permeable surfaces.
The River Walk boardwalk will take visitors to the banks where they will witness the restoration process .
The low impact boardwalk sits on grade, whenever the water elevation rises the boardwalk is designed to float with the water elevation, it would be anchored in place by the pillars that would give it 10 feet of elevation if needed. The rain garden at the river bank would be able to collect water runoff and river water when the elevation rises, as the elevation decreases river water would be retained and filtered by plants.
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Rolling Hills Multi-Family Housing
Multifamily housing developments are a cost effective way of designing communities. They are affordable for anyone looking for a home. This specific design is set in a parcel of open land neighboring a small stream referred to as a dingle, located in Amherst, Massachusetts. The design for these units followed a specific pattern U.O.P.U.O which stands for Unit, Open space, Parking, Unit. This way everyone who lives within this community has available parking and an open recreational space near their home. In order not to ruin the integrity of the dingle, retention rain gardens were set at the bottom of every open space as well as the end of every parking lot. The parcel of land is composed of ridges and valleys, so this design needed to be as low impact as possible, managing specific cut and fill. The Plan and the section perspective were both done only in Auto CAD, this was a requirement to test the skill level of Auto CAD the purpose was make a presentation legible by only using black and white. The section perspective was taken from the lowest possible point facing up hill.
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Construction Details
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Thank you for your time.
Bladimir Hernandez •
Cell: (617) 319-5604 •
E-mail: bladmhernandez@gmail.com