MASTER OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA '17 phone: (615) 479-2291 email: clcasstevens@gmail.com website: www.clairecasstevens.com
CL AIRE CASSTEVENS PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
EDUCATION University of Virginia | Charlottesville, VA Master of Landscape Architecture, 2017
07/2017 — present
Vassar College | Poughkeepsie, NY B.A. Anthropology and Art History, 2012
AWARDS Benjamin C. Howland Traveling Fellowship (awarded to a team of five students), 2017 University of Virginia School of Architecture
07/2016 – 08/2016
William R. Kenan Fellowship, 2014 – 2017 University of Virginia School of Architecture
01/2016
Kapp Fellowship, 2016 — 2017 University of Virginia School of Architecture
06/2015 – 09/2016
Co-President of Student Association of Landscape Architecture, 2015 – 2016 University of Virginia School of Architecture Tananbaum Family Leadership Program for Work and Development Fellow, 2011 – 2012 Vassar College
01/2015
09/2013 – 05/2014
ASSOCIATIONS Graduate Admissions Committee, 2017 University of Virginia School of Architecture Copy Editor for LUNCH 11 Journal, 2016 University of Virginia School of Architecture
06/2013 – 08/2013
ASLA Student Member, 2015 – 2017 Phi Beta Kappa, 2012 – present
PROJECTS Dakota Access Mobile Studio, Exhibition of collective research project funded by Howland Traveling Fellowship, April 2018 LUNCH 11: Domestication, “Beyond Human Publics” essay (co-authored with Bonnie-Kate Walker), Spring 2016 Mount Vernon Regional GIS Symposium for Historic Resources, “Documenting and Sharing Monticello’s Landscape History” presentation, September 2015
06/2011 – 07/2011
Arctic Design Group | Charlottesville, VA Research Associate / Project Manager Researching the effects of design and planning on sustainable development in Arctic cities for "Promoting Urban Sustainability in the Arctic," a funded National Science Foundation PIRE project bringing together researchers in several disciplines from international universities. Michael Vergason Landscape Architects | Alexandria, VA Landscape Architecture Intern Created plans, sections, plant palettes, and construction drawings for a range of project types, from public to residential spaces. Gustafson Guthrie Nichol | Seattle, WA Landscape Architecture Extern Monticello (Thomas Jefferson Foundation) | Charlottesville, VA Garden GIS Intern Mapped 1,400 plants with Trimble Geo7x and migrated plant management database to new system. Presented work at Mount Vernon Regional GIS Symposium for Historic Resources. Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architecture | Charlottesville, VA Landscape Architecture Extern Inspired Teaching Demonstration Public Charter School | Washington, DC Early Childhood Paraprofessional Assisted with classroom management and engaged in small group instruction with diverse learners, including those with special needs. Metropolitan Museum of Art | New York, NY Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas Solow Foundation Intern Developed and led weekly Highlights and Special Topics tours. Drafted and edited copy for object labels, wall text panels and scholarly articles. National Museum of African Art | Washington, DC Curatorial Intern Drafted object labels and collected bibliographic information on contemporary African artists for existing and developing exhibitions.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE ARCH 1010: Lessons of the Lawn | Spring 2014 + Spring 2015 LAR 6221: Plant Form and Function I | Fall 2016
SKILLS Language | French (rusty but revivable) Technical | AutoCAD, Rhino, Grasshopper, ArcGIS, Civil3D, Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Office; and Good Old-Fashioned Hand Drawing
OTHER INTERESTS Gardener, food enthusiast, self-instructed and very novice fiddler
Museum of Burial and Unearthing D E W T R AV E L I N G S T U D I O: B I O P H O B I A / FA L L 2 0 1 6 / P R O F. S H I Q I AO L I Burial is an act both literal and metaphorical: just as we construct the ground beneath our feet with the trash of landfills, messy infrastructural networks, and the deceased, so too we construct the ideological grounds of culture based on that which we choose to remember and that which we choose to bury and forget. This museum, located on a currently undeveloped parcel on the northeastern corner of the National Mall, exposes these various burial practices—some detrimental, others beautiful. In addition to human-centric exhibitions on industrial waste and disposal operations and the theories of figures like Freud, Heidegger, and Foucault, the museum highlights the seasonal burials and excavations of nonhuman agents such as wind, water, and plants. CULTURAL ATTITUDES DIAGRAM | Attitudes toward the actions of burial and excavation shift depending on whether the active agent is human or nonhuman AGENT
BURIED HUMAN
HUM AN
NO N HUM AN
EXCAVATED NONHUMAN
HUMAN
N O N H U MAN
INTERMENT (CEMETERIES)
DISPOSAL (LANDFILL) OR ENGINEERING (FILL)
ARCHAEOLOGY OR PSYCHOANALYSIS
SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH OR EXPLOITATION (MINING)
CATASTROPHE (LANDSLIDE)
NATURAL PROCESS (DEPOSITION)
HMMM...
NATURAL PROCESS (EROSION)
THE DRAINED + FILLED LANDSCAPE OF WASHINGTON, D.C. | Cut and especially fill operations were integral to the city's development
SITE FILLED MARSHLAND
From a 1995 geological survey: "Artificial fill—Heterogeneous composition and texture. Largest areas of low-lying land filled for building purposes, determined from examination of historical topographic maps and a report and map by Froelich and Hack (1975)."
COMPONENTS DIAGRAM | Diagram breaking down the proposed site and museum into its component parts
SKY CEILING Sunken courtyards are open to the sky.
BURIAL MOUNDS Material from building excavation is piled up as growing medium for opportunistic plants such as sumac species and grasses.
SUNKEN COURTYARDS Courtyards descend 14' below grade; most can be entered, but three are reserved for the collection and display of burial material, like autumn leaves.
MUSEUM + SITE
BUILDING: INTERIOR EXHIBITION SPACE Massing and organizational layout of the subterranean structure, which houses exhibitions, offices, a theater, a café, a gift shop, etc.
COURTYARD: EXTERIOR EXHIBITION SPACE The "living" exhibition space, where trees and weather are the agents of seasonal exhibitions displaying burial practices.
PLAN (TOP) + DOUBLE SECTION-PERSPECTIVE (BOTTOM) | Left to right: foundation, building, paving material, and composite plans; foundation is located 14' below groun
FLOOR PLAN -14'
FLOOR PLAN 0'
nd level
PAVING
COMPOSITE
1
MOMENTS OF INTERACTION | Sloped walls, gravel berms, and opaque vs. transparent materials create spaces with variable degrees of isolation and sociality GRAVEL BERMS ON ADJACENT COURTYARD WALLS LIMIT VISIBILITY AND CREATE A SENSE OF ISOLATION
3/16” = 1’
Scenario 1. Gravel berms on adjacent courtyard walls limit visibility and create a sense of isolation.
LONG SECTION | Section revealing the underground highway that runs beneath the western portion of the site
2
3
OPEN COURTYARDS WITH SLOPED WALLS PROVIDE VISUAL CONNECTIVITY BETWEEN LEVELS
STAIRS CONNECT UPPER AND LOWER LEVELS OF COURTYARD, BUILDING, AND LANDSCAPE
3/16” 3/16” = = 1’ 1’
3/16” = 1’
Scenario 2. Open courtyards with sloped walls provide visual connectivity between levels.
4
Scenario 3. Stairs connect upper and lower levels of courtyard, building, and landscape.
5
SHARED CONCRETE WALLS BETWEEN COURTYARDS AND BUILDING CREATE UNACKNOWLEDGED PROXIMITY
GLASS “COLLECTION” ROOMS VISUALLY CONNECT VISITORS BUT MAINTAIN THEIR PHYSICAL DISTANCE
3/16” 3/16” = = 1’ 1’
Scenario 4. Shared concrete walls between courtyard and building create unacknowledged proximity.
3/16” = 1’
Scenario 5. Glass 'collection' rooms visually connect visitors but maintain their physical distance.
PROCESS | Collages exploring spatial and cultural interpretations of burial and excavation by shuffling landscape imagery and built projects
SPRING
SUMMER
AUTUMN
WINTER
What Is a Garden in Darkness?
This redesign for the hillt
OPINIONATED GARDENS STUDIO / SPRING 2017 / PROF. JULIE BARGMANN
between ground, canopy
embraces darkness, its d
SECTION-PERSPECTIVE | Trees on the slopes are limbed low—to 7'—and lend a sense of compression in contrast to the hilltop clearing; variations in tree species and configuratio
H I LLTO P C Star-gazer GROVE Mischevious darkness
PRECEDENTS + HISTORIC RESEARCH The longstanding relationship between gardens and darkness has manifested through scientific studies (Darwin's observations of plants during day vs. night) and built projects: the moon-viewing platform at Ginkaku, Versailles as a site for firework displays, and the Sissinghurst Moon Garden, full of white blooms. The rightmost image is from Maya Deren's film, In the Very Eye of Night, an exploration of movement through darkness.
top site of Love Circle in my hometown of Nashville, TN, is a garden meant to be experienced by night: a garden that
distortion of space, and its tonal ambiguities. Through planting and paving schemes, the garden accentuates the relationship
y, and sky, as well as the murky bodies of people, animals, and trees that navigate the space in between.
on also contribute different qualities and densities of darkness on the hill slopes
C L E A R ING darkness SU MAC OV E RLOOK Entangled darkness
PLAN + PLANT SELECTION | Three species of trees, spaced irregularly, register concentric circles (dashed in red) emanating from the hilltop clearing
Staghorn sumac Rhus typhina
Skyline Honey Locust Gleditsia triacanthos var. inermis 'Skyline'
P L AN T PAL E T T E E LL
VI
SH
A TO N E N IN W TL TO H G N SI OW D
VIN ES
WOODL AND GROU ND PL ANE
Du tc hma n’ s p i p e Aristolochia macrophylla
W hite wood aste r Aster divaricatus ‘Eastern Star’
Swe e t woodruff Gallium odoratum
Ja p a nese hy d r a nge a v ine Schizophragma hydrangeoides ‘Moonlight’
Appalachian se dge Carex appalachia
Christm as rose Helleborus niger ‘Joseph Lemper’
O ak se dge Carex pennsylvanica
Dwarf-cre ste d iris Iris cristata ‘Tennessee White’
Starry grasswort Cerastium tomentosum ‘Silver Carpet’
Corsican m int Mentha requienii
CL EAR IN G G RO U ND PL ANE Ya r row Achillea millifolium Bu ffa logr a ss Bouteloua dactyloides Dwa r f c ha momi le Chamaemelum nobile ‘Treneague’ Kentucky coffeetree Gymnocladus dioicus
Whi te c lover Trifolium repens
L ily of the v alle y Convallaria majalis Bishop’s hat Epimedium x youngianum ‘Niveum’ Fle abane Erigeron pulchellus ‘Lynnhaven Carpet’ Snowdrop Galanthus nivalis
W ild swe e t W illiam Phlox divaricata ‘May Breeze’ Cre e ping Jacob’s la dde r Polemonium reptans ‘Stairway to Heaven’ Gre ate r stitchwo r t Stellaria holostea L arge -flowe re d t r illiu m Trillium grandiflorum ‘Quicksilver’
PAVING CONFIGURATIONS + SEASONALITY | Four configurations of slate paving stones—dispersed, abutting, overlapping, and stacked—correspond to slope
er Car pet’
ATMOSPHERIC IDEOGRAM | Mixed media drawing (charcoal, conte crayon, collage) of view from grove into the clearing at the top of the hill
B is h o p ’s h at
Sweet woo dr u ff Gallium odoratum
C o r s ican min t
G r ea ter s titchwor t
Epimedium x youngianum ‘Niveum’
Fleab an e
Chri stm a s r o s e
W ild s weet W illiam
Phlox divaricata ‘May Breeze’
L ar g e-f lower ed tr illium
Erigeron pulchellus ‘Lynnhaven Car pet’
Helleborus niger ‘Joseph Lemper’
S n owd r o p
D wa rf -cres ted ir is
C r ee p in g Jaco b ’s ladder
Galanthus nivalis
Iris cristata ‘Tennessee White’
Mentha requienii
Polemonium reptans ‘Stairway to Heaven’
Stellaria holostea
Trillium grandiflorum ‘Quicksilver’
OTHER MATERIA LS B l a ck s late s l ab p aver Ten n es s ee f i eld s to n e Fi n e g r ave l + m ica s ha rd s Recycl ed g las s
Garden of Protest: Hortus in Silentium OPINIONATED GARDENS STUDIO / SPRING 2017 / PROF. JULIE BARGMANN This is an entry for a mock-competition calling for a "garden of protest" on the National Mall. Responding in part to the Women's March of early 2017, the garden meditates on issues of free speech and women's rights as it grapples with longstanding associations between flowers and femininity. A fifteen-foot tall hedge separates the densely planted garden interior from the broader landscape of Washington, creating an inaccessible sanctuary of silence. Perennial flowers and grasses hem in the mute statues of classical female figures but call out through vibrant colors, scents, and forms, nonverbally catching the attention of passers-by.
ISOMETRIC | Low hedges encircling classical statues loop through drifts of perennial plants
Prunus x cistena Redleaf Plum
Muhlenbergia capillaris Muhly Grass Hylotelephium 'Herbstfreude' Autumn Joy Stonecrop
Echinacea pallida Pale Coneflower
Thymus praecox Creeping Thyme Taxus baccata English Yew Lychnis coronaria Rose Campion
Perovskia atriplicifolia Russian Sage
Schizachyrium scoparium 'Blue Heaven' Blue Heaven Bluestem
Eragrostis spectabilis Purple Lovegrass
LOCATION | This garden was assigned a 200' x 300' (1.5 acre) plot between the National Gallery to the north and the Air & Space Museum to the south
NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART
SITE
AIR & SPACE MUSEUM
Sporobolous heterolepis 'Tara' Prairie Dropseed
Papaver somniferum 'Lauren's Grape' Poppy
Allium 'Purple Sensation' Ornamental Onion
Monarda didyma Scarlet Beebalm
x 'Purple Carpet' e Molinia caerulea 'Transparent' Purple Moor Grass
Sanguisorba officinalis 'Red Thunder' Burnet Echinacea purpurea 'Vintage Wine' Vintage Wine Coneflower
OUTSIDE THE GARDEN | Just outside the garden, with a glimpse into the colorful interior
Here is a garden for other voices: the ones lost in the cacophony. Here is a moment of suspension, where silence interrupts the noise. It forces a pause. It snatches your words. How does it feel to be suddenly speechless? We speak through color, our voices carried by the wind. In echoes, our words will stick to your clothes and to the bottom of your shoes. In time, they will illuminate your footsteps.
INSIDE THE GARDEN | A lush, sensual, and silent world exists within the boundary of the garden's double hedge perimeter
Plant(ed) Form and Function PLANT FORM + FUNCTION II / SPRING 2015 / PROF. JULIE BARGMANN The theme of this planting plan was the path of the sun over the course of a day. Plants near the garden’s entry to the east reflect, in name and color, the break of dawn. The central wetland area displays a vibrant herringbone thicket of red- and yellow-twig dogwood to represent a fiery afternoon. The shady western woodland includes a night garden full of fragrance and reflective bark and flowers. PLANT PALETTE | Species information organized by garden rooms, growing conditions ranging open Rooms of vegetation among an open field, wetwith meadowdifferent and woodland form habitat for birds, bees and butterflies. Screens offrom tall grasses hide as field well as to wetland to woodland
FLOCK/FEED/MIGRATE
reveal. Fragrant blossoms assert their presence before they come into view. Follow fauna as they flock, feed and migrate through the landscape.
OPEN FIELD Mosaic: swath of tall, mixed grasses sprinkled with blue and pink wildflowers
Feather Reed Grass Calamagrostis × acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’ • 4-6’ height, 1-3’ spread; clumping; medium growth rate; long-lived • Full sun or partial shade; humusy, moist but well-drained soil; can tolerate heavy clay soils; drought tolerant • Green foliage with medium blade width • Purplish-green feathery plumes • Winter interest: turns golden straw color that lasts well into winter • Attracts birds
Tufted Hairgrass Deschampsia cespitosa • 2-4’ height, 1-2’ spread; clumping; medium growth rate • Part shade; moist, organically rich, well-drained soils; some salt tolerance • Low, dense tussock of arching dark green blades • Multiple stems bear wide, airy panicles with tiny flowers in tones of gold, silver, purple, and green • Winter interest: panicles turn yellowish-tan after bloom • Attracts songbirds
Common Milkweed Asclepias syriaca
Globe Thistle Echinops ritro
• 2-3’ (sometimes 6’) height, 8-12” spread; rhizomatous • Full sun; dry to medium, well-drained soil • Stout, upright stems with thick, broad-oblong, reddish-veined, lightgreen leaves to 8” long • Domed, slightly drooping umbels of fragrant, pinkish-purple flowers; long bloom period from late spring well into summer • Flowers give way to prominent, warty seed pods (2-4” long) that split open when ripe and release silky-tailed seeds for dispersal by wind • Flowers attract butterflies; leaves are a food source for monarch butterfly caterpillars
• 2-4” height, 1-3’ spread • Full sun; dry to medium well-drained soil; tolerates hot and humid summers • Deep, shiny green leaves are lobed and covered with prickly hairs; roughly toothed margins; coarsely textured • Purple-blue, golf-ball sized spherical flowerheads rise above foliage on thick stems • Attracts painted lady butterflies and bees; tolerates rabbits
Big Garden Room // translucent corridor walls: translucent clouds of grasses and blossoms punctuated by round-coned wildflowers, among others
Muhly Grass Muhlenbergia capillaris • 2-3’ height, 2-3’ spread; clumping • Full sun or partial shade; moist but well-drained soil; tolerates poorly drained soil, drought, and heat; frequently occurs in acidic soils • Glossy, wiry, thread-like dark green leaves and stems form an attractive basal clump to 2’ tall • Distinctive inflorecences around 12” long are composed of massed, vibrant pink, airy flowers on 4’ stem; billowy clouds of flowers lend textural drama and are enhanced by deeply colored flowers in fall • Winter interest: tan seed plumes remain attractive • Attracts ladybug beetles; excellent wildlife cover
Wallich Milk Parsley Selinum wallichianum • • • • •
3-6’ height, 1-2’ spread; clumping Full sun or partial shade; humusy, moist but well-drained soil Basal leaves form slender, thin, fern-like foliage Large umbels with thousands of tiny five-stellate white flowers Fall interest: flowers last through early autumn
Purple Coneflower Echinacea purpurea ‘Amado’
Knautia Knautia macedonica
• • • •
2-3’ height, 18-24” spread; clumping Full sun or partial shade; well-drained dry to medium soil Medium green arrow-ovate leaves up to 6” long Downward-arching, white rays encircle a large greenish-orange-brown center cone; bloom from late spring into late summer • Winter interest: dead flower stems remain erect with blackened cones • Cones attract goldfinches and other feeding birds during winter, as well as bees and butterflies in other seasons
Conceptual Design Plant Palette | CLAIRE CASSTEVENS SECTION | Section sketch from the conceptual phase of the project exploring plant layers and relation to human body height
Knautia macedonica Knautia Molinia litoralis 'Transparent' Moor grass
• 18-24” height, 18-24” spread; clumping • Full sun; well-drained, neutral to alkaline soils with medium moisture; sometimes struggle in conditions of persistent heat and humidity • Deep green leaves lightly lobed at base and divided higher up • Deep burgundy domed flowerheads atop slender, branching stems • Fall interest: long early summer to fall bloom period
UVA LAR 6222 | Planted Form + Function II S15 | 02.03.2015
Porteranthus trifoliata Fawn's breath Eragrostis spectabilis Purple lovegrass
Sporobol Prairie dro
lus heterolepis opseed
• Stately foliage; mound of narrow, stiff green leaves that turn yellow-beige in fall • Pink-tinged, feathery flower plumes rise well above foliage and mature to light tan • Winter interest • Bold vertical accent
of soils, including dry ones; prefers sandy or clay soils; will grow in part shade but may fall over • Foliage emerges bluish-green but turns burgundy by late June • Finely-textured, reddish-pink flower panicles hover over foliage like an airy cloud; turn beige as seeds mature • Winter interest: turns beige in fall
• Full sun to partial shade; medium to wet well-drained loam or clay; appreciates light shade in drier soils and in hot, humid conditions • Large, arrow-shaped, stem-clasping dark green leaves • Dense, bottle-brush-like, erect flower spikes (to 6” long) of tiny crimson flowers; extremely long bloom period of early summer to fall • Fall interest: bright yellow foliage • FaFaAttracts birds and butterflies
Additional Suggested Plants: Common Name / Scientific name, Common Name / Scientific name, Common Name / Scientific name, Common Name / Scientific name.
Small Garden Room // flowering fringe: colorful array of unusual-looking wetland flowers
Bloodroot - can also go in deciduous woodland Sanguinaria canadensis • 3-12” height, 3-6” spread; stemless; rhizomatous; will form large colonies over the ground plane • Partial to full sun; moist, rich, well-drained, loamy soil • One sheath-like, grayish-green, basal multi-lobed leaf up to 5” across • Short-lived, white or pink flowers to 1.5” diameter (March to May) • All parts of the plant exude a bright reddish-orange sap when cut
Masterwort Astrantia major
Pink Turtlehead - can also go in woodland Chelone lyonii
• • • •
1-3’ height, 1-3’ spread; clumping; medium growth rate Full sun to part shade; rich, medium to wet soil Loose mound of foliage Small, ivory flowers flushed pink bloom continously throughout summer and fall; fragrant; umbel framed by collar of papery bracts • Spring interest (flowers) and fall interest (burgundy leaves)
Cardinal Flower Lobelia cardinalis
• 2-4’ height, 18-30” spread; clumping; rhizomatous; slow spreading • Full sun to part shade (best); tolerates close to full shade; rich, humusy medium to wet soil • Ovate, coarsely-toothed green leaves (3-6” long) have slender petioles, rounded bases, and pointed tips • Hooded, shapdragon-like, two-lipped pink flowers to 1” long bloom in tight, spike-like racemes; flowers have puffy pink corollas with lower lips bearded with yellow hairs • Attracts butterflies
• 2-4’ height, 1-2’ spread; somewhat short-lived, clumping perennial • Full sun to part shade; rich, humusy, medium to wet soils; needs constant moisture; appreciates part shade • Unbranched, alternate-leafed stalks; finely-toothed, lance-shaped dark green leaves • Terminal racemes of large, cardinal red flowers • Flowers very attractive to butterflies and hummingbirds
Additional Suggested Plants: Common Name / Scientific name, Common Name / Scientific name, Common Name / Scientific name, Common Name / Scientific name.
WOODLAND Matrix: cushion of fragrant ferns with vertical accents offered by grasses and flower spires
Conceptual Design Plant Palette | CLAIRE CASSTEVENS
UVA LAR 6222 | Planted Form + Function II S15 | 02.03.2015
Silky Wild Rye - UPDATE INFORMATION BELOW Elymus villosus • 18-24” height; 2-3’ spread; spreads aggressively by rhizomes • Part shade to full shade; tolerates full sun with consistent moisture; tolerate wide range of soils, including rocky and dry, once well established; best grown in moist, rich, humusy, acidic, medium-moisture loams • Lacy, narrow-triangular, erect to arching, green fronds to 30” long; when brushed, crushed or bruised, fronds release fragrance reminescent of fresh mown hay • Tolerates rabbits
Hay-Scented Fern Dennstaedtia punctilobula
Foam Flower Tiarella ‘Spring Symphony’
• 18-24” height; 2-3’ spread; spreads aggressively by rhizomes • Part shade to full shade; tolerates full sun with consistent moisture; tolerate wide range of soils, including rocky and dry, once well established; best grown in moist, rich, humusy, acidic, medium-moisture loams • Lacy, narrow-triangular, erect to arching, green fronds to 30” long; when brushed, crushed or bruised, fronds release fragrance reminescent of fresh mown hay • Tolerates rabbits
• • • • •
6-12” height, 6-12” spread; clumping; moderate growth rate Part shade to full sun; cool, moist, humus-rich soil Deeply cut, compact foliage with black markings along midrib Densely packed pink blossoms form spires growing to 15” Spring interest (flowers) and fall interest (burgundy leaves)
Additional Suggested Plants: Common Name / Scientific name, Common Name / Scientific name, Common Name / Scientific name, Common Name / Scientific name.
Medium Garden Room // carpet: shifting texture of ground plane lent by juxtaposition of large, bold foliage with intricate flowers
Wild Sweet William Phlox divaricata ‘Clouds of Perfume’ • • • •
9-15” height, 9-12” spread; matting Partial to full shade; humusy, medium moisture, well-drained soil Lance-shaped to elliptic, semi-evergreen leaves to 2” long Loose clusters of fragrant, tubular, lilac to rose to blue flowers with five flat, notched, petal-like lobes appearing in spring; stems are hairy and sticky • Attracts hummingbirds and butterflies
Fringed Bleedingheart Dicentra eximia ‘Alba’
Wild Strawberry Fragaria vesca
• • • •
1-3’ height, 1-3’ spread; slow growth rate Partial shade; moist but well-drained sandy or clay soil Lush, light-green, fern-like foliage White locket-shaped flowers on arching stems from mid-spring; flowers hang downward • Attracts hummingbirds
Wild Ginger Asarum canadense
• 3-8” height, 8-12” spread; will spread by runners and may self-seed unless harvested • Full sun to part shade; fertile, medium moisture, well-drained soil • Trifoliate, coarsely-toothed, green leaves • Small, five-petaled white flowers with yellow centers throughout summer; followed by edible, bright red strawberries (1/2” long)
• 6-12” height; 12-18’ spread; spreads slowly by rhizomes • Partial to full shade; rich, well-drained soil of medium moisture levels • Stemless plant with two downy, heart-shaped, handsomely veined, dark green basal leaves (to 6” wide) • Cup-shaped, rownish-purple flowers from April to May; flowers attractive on close inspection, but bloom singly on or near ground and are usually hidden • Roots produce a scent reminescent of culinary ginger
Additional Suggested Plants: Common Name / Scientific name, Common Name / Scientific name, Common Name / Scientific name, Common Name / Scientific name.
Conceptual Design Plant Palette | CLAIRE CASSTEVENS
UVA LAR 6222 | Planted Form + Function II S15 | 02.03.2015
Echinacea atropurpurea Purple coneflower
Calamagrostis x acutiflora 'Karl Foerster' Feather reed grass
Muhlenbergia capillaris Muhly grass
Garden and Climate PLANT FORM + FUNCTION IV / SPRING 2016 / PROF. TERESA GALI-IZARD These drawings are from a comparative study of gardens in temperate, tropical, and Mediterranean climates. I first compared the garden designs of Roberto Burle Marx, Piet Oudolf, and Gertrude Jekyll. In this analysis of the rooftop garden at the Ministry of Health and Education in Rio de Janeiro (1938), I considered how Burle Marx varied plant species and density to acheive his characteristic swathes of color, texture, and form.
3 Yellow Daylily is grouped behind Bulbine, carrying the garden's yellow accents into mid- to late-summer. But the blooms are ephemeral, lasting only a few days.
2 Imperial Bromeliad serves as a specimen here; it punctuates the garden with its broad rosette of light blue-green leaves and towering red bloom in early spring to summer.
1 Blushing Bromeliad looks like a miniature version of Imperial Bromeliad and reveals Burle-Marx's practice of stamping similarly shaped but differently sized plants. It functions here as coarse ground cover.
4 A group of Spider Lily plants creates a voluminous zone. In summer, its stalks of fragrant white flowers add structure and scent to the garden.
5 Bulbine is best placed where its winterblooming spikes of star-shaped yellow flowers can be seen close up; Burle-Marx puts a swath of this clumping plant along the path.
PLANT LIST 1 Neoregelia compacta | Blushing Bromeliad 2 Vrisea imperialis | Imperial Bromeliad 3 Hemerocallis lilioasphoedius | Yellow Daylily 4 Crinum asiaticum | Spider Lily 5 Bulbine frutescens | Bulbine
MEDITERRANEAN CLIMATE | Design for a planting combination that highlights Mediterranean plant adaptations
1 Dens
Shrubb
sun fro
has ste reflect
provide
5 Red Yucca has long, thin leaves that function like a gutter, channeling water to the central base of the plant; it forms a screen that helps shade the Geranium.
se, voluminous plants such as
by Germander help block the
om the south. Teucrium also
ems covered in small hairs that sunlight, trap moisture, and
2 Rosemary has lanceolate leaves that fold under at the edges to reduce surface area exposed to sun.
e tiny windbreaks. 3 Greek Spiny Spurge drops its leaves in the summer, exposing spiny branches.
4 Big-root Geranium has the largest leaves in this palette, but its rhizome below ground helps it to survive in a dry, sunny mediterranean climate.
PLANT LIST 1 Teucrium fruticans | Shrubby Germander 2 Rosmarinus officinalis | Rosemary 3 Euphorbia acanthothamnos | Greek Spiny Spurge 4 Geranium macrorrhizum | Big-root Geranium 5 Hespseraloe parviflora | Red Yucca
Vall d'en Joan Landfill Restoration ECOTECH IV / SPRING 2017 / PROF. TERESA GALI-IZARD I developed grading, planting, and soil remediation strategies for the unconstructed Phase III of Vall d'en Joan Landfill in Barcelona, an ongoing project by Teresa Gali-Izard in collaboration with Battle i Roig Arquitectes. The ground is composed of trash rather than soil, so I had to rely on filling alone (no cutting) to reshape the site. My proposal was to extend the form of the mountain on the landfill's east side and channel water to reservoirs on terraces along the landfill's west side. I used AutoCAD Civil 3D for the grading portion of this task.
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20
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60
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METERS
SITE PROPOSAL DIAGRAMS | Cut/fill analysis (top) + drainage scheme (middle) + planting strategy (bottom)
PLANTING STRATEGY DETAIL | Plant species and location, including rotation schedule for cover crops used for soil remediation
TREES LINING RESERVOIRS
SHRUBS ON SLOPES
ROTATING CROPS ON TERRACES
ALFALFA 5 YEARS
Quercus ilex
Rhamnus lycioides | Black hawthorn
Medicago sativa | Alfalfa
CLOVER 1 YEAR
Rosmarinus officinalis | Rosemary
Trifolium repens | Clover
VETCH 1 YEAR
Westringa fruiticosa | Coastal westringa
Vicia sativa | Vetch
BROME 1 YEAR Santolina benthamiana | Santolina
Brachypodium distachyon | Brome
Macrographia, a Gigantic Book of Tiny Worlds D E W T R AV E L I N G S T U D I O: B I O P H O B I A / FA L L 2 0 1 6 / P R O F. S H I Q I AO L I This large book manipulates the presentation of the “new Worlds and Terra-Incognitas” that Robert Hooke described in his 1665 publication Micrographia. An atlas, it places Hooke’s drawings in a context reserved for geographical maps at regional or continental scales. My version includes an original narrative and modifications to Hooke's imagery through the addition of topographic and hydrologic systems based on real-world places. The microscopic becomes territorial, subverting notions of scale and calling into question the distinctions between fact and fiction, observation and interpretation, truth and imagination.
BOOK AS A ROOM | A book this big creates a space of its own!
MICROSCOPIC TO MACROSCOPIC | Hooke's original images (left) and the real places they evoked (center) combined to create territories transcending scale
+ Petrified wood
Sonoran Desert, Arizona
+ Silk
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Cacapon River, West Virginia
+ Cork
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Afar Depression, Ethiopia
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NARRATIVE | Hooke hears a small voice calling his name and climbs into the microscope to investigate
natural” organs of observation. As a bearer of the microscope, an optical prosthesis, Hooke had access to an enhanced mode of vision that allowed him to expose new
P R EFA C E .
MACROGRAPHIA: OR SOME
In 1665, the English scientist Robert Hooke (1635 – 1703) published Micrographia,
Physiological Descriptions
a landmark text that chronicled his observations of the minute world made through the lens of the compound microscope, his own retrofit of the traditional, single-lens
OF
TERRITORIAL BODIES MADE BY
device. Hooke’s microscope had the capacity to magnify objects 25 to 250 times their original size—the greatest degree of magnification that had yet been achieved. In addition to marking that moment in time, what makes Hooke’s publication especially
MICROSCOP Y IMAGES
remarkable is its use of images, as Hooke paired his text with a generous number of illustrations of the various “bodies” he observed under the microscope, from surfaces
SUBJECTED TO THE
to seeds and even living insects. In doing so, he shared his literal visions with the
I M AG I N AT I O N
worlds. And he did indeed describe them as such. “In every little particle of [the Earth’s] matter,” he wrote, “we now behold almost as great a variety of Creatures, as we were able before to reckon up on the whole Universe it self.”
This book manipulates the presentation of the “new Worlds and Terra-Incognitas” that Hooke described and illustrated in Micrographia. As an atlas, it places Hooke’s drawings in a context generally reserved for geographical maps at a regional or continental scale. The microscopic thus becomes territorial, dislodging expectations of what these images actually represent. The accompanying text, written in narrative form, continues to obfuscate the nature of the images by juxtaposing fact and fiction, observation and interpretation, truth and imagination. The book in its entirety aims to raise questions on the following concepts:
eliminating the need for others to call upon the imagination when interpreting his
By C. CASSTEVENS, Fellow of the rOyal sOciety.
text.
Hooke argues in his Preface, after all, that our senses, our memories, and our reason—the three components that allow humans to possess knowledge—are fundamentally flawed. Scientific instruments like the microscope can rectify our “imperfections” by functioning as prostheses, or “artificial Organs” that augment “the
human nature. That which we can view through the microscope is that which we can control. The microscope revealed new worlds, yes, but these worlds were so small that they fit into the much larger environment in which we—people— exist. This is to say that Hooke described worlds that we subsume, rather than worlds that subsume us. A shift in context and scale transforms things that are “near and within our power” into places far larger than ourselves; we are swallowed by their immensity. How does this alter the power dynamic between humans and non-human nature?
3. The production of scientific “fact” through “precision” instruments. The
validity
of precision instruments, though not completely unchecked in Hooke’s text, is generally celebrated. While devices like the microscope and telescope did allow for unprecedented observations of the small and
rest of the scientific community, revealing exactly what it was that he observed and
WITH
O b s e r v a t i O n s and i n q u i r i e s thereupon.
2. Relations of power between humans and non-human entities. Hooke’s Preface
refers repeatedly to a power dynamic in which people have ownership over non-
1. Analogies between Hooke’s scientific practice and voyages made during the Age
the distant, however, they also gave rise to a certain scientific myopia.
of Exploration. Throughout the seventeenth century, powerful European nations
Looking through the lens, the scientist enters a space of abstraction.
including England set out to discover, conquer, and claim vast territories across the
Only a fragment of a whole is visible. And moreover, it is a fragment of
world. Perhaps the microscope could be conceived as another vehicle or instrument,
unknown size. Hooke’s microscope had no measure of scale; without
like the ship or the sextant, that opened up microscopic “worlds” to be likewise
certain landmarks, even the sharpest magnification could only reveal
explored and ultimately claimed, albeit through knowledge more than physical
how one thing appeared relative to its surroundings, which themselves
possession and settlement.
were confined to the circular extent of the lens. To peer into such a world would have been spectacular, but it also would have been
is whistling at me. My ears have grown attuned, and I hear it clearly: a small voice, calling out, “Robert! Robert, over here!”
I scramble to the microscope and tilt the candle just so, to cast the right light on the bit of cork that I had prepared earlier to examine, and peer through the lens. There she is—a tiny metallic figure jumping up and down, waving at me with two long arms. She clearly wants my attention. “Robert, Robert! Come on in. The water’s fine!” I rub my eyes and look again. There is only one way to know if I am seeing
MACROGR A PH I A, O R S OM E P H Y S I OLOG I C A L D E S C R I P T I ON S OF T ER R I TOR I A L B OD I E S M A D E B Y M I C R OS COP Y I M AG E S
this correctly. I take a deep breath and climb into the eyepiece, first one leg, then the other, my shoulders, my head. I shimmy myself down the long chamber, toward the bright light glowing at the other end. When I get there, I emerge from the microscope and find myself suspended a great distance above an unfamiliar but quite majestic landscape. My silvery friend still remains distant, though well in focus; my vision seems to have improved dramatically since arriving here—and so have my ears. I can hear her clear as a bell.
“Welcome,” she says, as she sambas on three fin feet. “I was wondering when you might finally pay us a visit. We see your big eye day in and day out, and yet we’ve never really met.”
SU BJ E CT ED TO T H E I M AG I N AT I ON WI T H OB S ER VAT I ON S A N D I N QU I R I E S T H ER EU P ON.
Observ. 1. Of the islands that produce fresh salt. I survey the scene below me and note that she is stationed on one of two islands separated by a very narrow strait. The outline of the land itself isn’t unusual; what catches my eye are its wild colors. Bright oranges and yellows, deep burgundy, neon green. One of the islands seems to glisten—how curious that is! I look closer and discover that this is not a mere illusion, not a trick of the light; the ground, in fact, is rugged from a thousand little peaks, each no more than a few feet tall and ornamented with a shimmering cap of dry salt. These peaks line the edges of several hundred round pools, where the water is nearly still, filtering ever so slowly from one sink into another, toward the shallows and eventually the sea. It is a perforated and porous landscape, much like a Honey-comb. From above, the margin where water meets land appears crisp and clear.
To begin.
“You must be hungry. Salt or pepper?” she asks, interrupting my thought. She paws at the ground that I have been scrutinizing and reveals a flake of some kind of mineral.
I find myself stirring through the night. There is a persistent, though barely audible,
“Salt,” I reply. What she offers me is not what I expect—like salt, the mineral is translucent and brittle. But it has the tinge of a grapefruit, and it crumbles instantly in her hand. It releases the most intoxicating fragrance of black tea with a touch of
sound in my left ear. It is a buzzing so soft that, at first, I question whether it is really
vanilla as it rains to her feet.
there. But the sound remains, and it nags me. I shake my head and wave my hands
mysterious, sweet-smelling minerals have formed a firm pan. “Over there, that is
She takes a step toward me, and the ground crunches, revealing a spot where the
where we make the pepper.” She points in the direction the other island, the one
about my ears to shoo what must be an errant fly. Agh, leave me be, you scoundrel! The noise ceases, and my attention shifts to another distraction: the gentle thudding of a moth against my window pane. Mother Nature, won’t you put your insects to bed? Won’t you let me rest? The flame of my candle jumps athletically atop its wick. I sigh and feel hypnotized watching it, perhaps enough to finally sleep. But then it begins again— that high-pitched buzzing. It has a rhythm that I had not noticed before, and I suddenly realize that it is not a buzzing after all. It is, curiously, a whistle. Something
where the pools are rectangular rather than round. They pattern the island in a way
Observ. II. Of the shallow ocean in the desert.
But these buried bits mean that the water once flowed beyond the streams, that
disorienting. The microscope allowed scientists to look deeply but narrowly. What kind of fact does this produce? The same question can be asked of Hooke’s representations. These were translations of what Hooke observed, and they were filtered through an imperfect hand, if not an imperfect eye. Again, scale poses a challenge of interpretation: whether Hooke’s flea is that same black speck found in the dog’s matted hair or a separate creature as large as this very tome is up for debate. Without references to scale, Hooke’s seemingly objective and “factual” images actually invoke the imagination rather than suppress it. They raise the possibility of an oversized world in addition to a microscopic one, and the depicted possesses agency beyond scientific control.
In closing, Hooke asserted that it is our prerogative, as the powerful and technicallyenhanced rulers of the globe, to manipulate nature, to improve upon it and adjust it to fit our needs. I have subversively taken his words to heart in the creation of this atlas. Read on, if you so desire. Read on, explorer, and conquer new worlds!
To end.
that recalls the armored back of an alligator hovering just below the surface of the
There she is, moving slowly, her feet skimming the surface of the washed out
there has been an occasion or two when the water flowed forth from the piled-up
She reaches her long arm toward me, allowing me to grasp her hand. It is cold to
water, or the trunk of a felled persimmon tree tossed into a lake.
streambed. This place is different; I can feel the desiccating air from all the way up
mountains and jumped its route, spreading over the entire place. It is a kind of ocean
the touch but somehow familiar. I gaze toward the hole in the sky and strain to lift
here. And I can see it in the way she moves. She is a water creature, not built for an
in the desert. A very shallow ocean, an unbroken sheet of water.
both of us toward it. This time, I enter headfirst. Arm, arm, shoulder, hips, feet. She is
She quickly skips to the edge of a pool, where the ground there is much softer and
arid landscape. There are plants about, nonetheless. Scrubby ones that must be well-
spongier, liable to melt under the slightest pressure. But she springs off before it can
suited to such an environment. When I look closer, their forms become more distinct,
sway under her weight. With the lightest splash, she dives into the pool. I follow
and I see that among the scraggly shrubs are a handful of wondrous topiaries. They’re
It is not that quiet whistle anymore, that nagging sound that first kept me from sleep.
the ripples that emerge as she passes through other pools, all connected through
stationary characters, the cacti with arms. They can move just enough to look up at
The harder I tug on her arms, the louder it grows. By the time her left antenna has
a network of subterranean caves. I glimpse the silhouettes of other odd creatures
me and smile their spikey grins. They follow the valleys and line the stream beds,
started to emerge from the microscope, the whistle-song is deafening. Inch by inch,
that stir below. The land must be some kind of karst. My host pokes her head above
markers of the path. Most of these beds, like the one my long-armed friend has
she manifests. The room begins to shake from the sound of her voice. The table bows
the water just past the island’s disintegrating edge, scoured day and and day out
chosen to trail, are currently empty of water. From above, they look like the bright
under the weight of the microscope that contains her. Inches turn into feet as she
by the tides of tannic liquid, and then continues into the strait, which I now see is
trail of a dry paintbrush. They form the most remarkable lacework.
clambers out gracelessly. Feet turn into yards, and yards into miles. Her eye searches
not a strait but the narrowest part of a very wide river that links these and many
whistling merrily, her voice echoing through the chamber.
for me through the skylight. “I’m here, I’m here! Do you see me?” I call out. Her
other islands. The water travels through and around, like a ribbon tied into bows, a
When the water does flow, it brings an entourage. It comes from small channels
reflective scales are nearly blinding when they catch the first rays of sunlight shooting
network of rivers curving and curling back on themselves. I think she is heading to
in the mountains, where little scratches in the rock widen and deepen and funnel
over the horizon. I hear her yawn—a roar—and call out again for her. Agh, leave me
the neighboring island to offer me a taste of pepper—would it smell of lavender? or
water down into the sand. The streams combine and recombine, separate and braid
be, you scoundrel! she roars as she swats at her ears. Won’t you let me rest?
would it sing a tune?—but she is moving toward the horizon, nearly vanishing from
themselves into each other, creating a complex cascade of sinuous little marks. They
my sight.
carry with them little bits of rock and sand and leaves from the mountains and deposit these wherever they see fit. My friend has been quiet but I see her scanning the ground for treasures. She picks up stones of different kinds, amassing a collection of specimens based on shape, color, grain, texture, and hardness. Some of them are brown, others red. Some are black and Flint-like, others soft like Slate. You have to dig for it where the sand is thicker between the stream beds.
Noguchi Playground, Reinterpreted HISTORY OF LANDSCAPE DESIGN II / SPRING 2015 / PROF. MICHAEL LEE This re-imagining of Isamu Noguchi’s playgrounds highlights central threads found throughout the artist’s work. The model engages the viewer in the act of learning through self-directed play. Noguchi’s designs did not dictate activities; instead, they allowed people to uncover Noguchi’s abstracted worlds through their own inquiry. This model likewise challenges the viewer to develop their own mode of creative engagement.
More models of various sorts STUDIO + ECOTECH COURSES / SPRING 2015 — SPRING 2016
Funded Fieldwork: Dakota Access Pipeline SUMMER 2017 / WITH B. ABBAS, L. HARRIS, C. TURETT, B.K. WALKER Supported by the Howland Traveling Fellowship awarded by the UVA Dept. of Landscape Architecture, four classmates and I embarked on a month-long research trip along the Dakota Access Pipeline. We wore the hats of anthropologists, ecologists, and artists while using the frameworks and tools of landscape architecture to better understand the material realities and socio-ecological implications of this contentious 1,172-mile site. We saw oil rigs in North Dakota, heard Lakota histories in the Standing Rock Reservation, and learned about eminent domain from farmers in Iowa. While testing the limits of a mobile studio, we gained perspective on the complexity of relationships between people and land throughout the midwest. An exhibition of our work is scheduled at the UVA School of Architecture in April 2018.
Drawing: Analysis and Abstraction FA L L 2 0 14 - P R E S E N T Drawing is my practice of active observation. Apart from serving as a mode of analysis, communication, and expression, analysis, however, drawing has also fed into my explorations in landscape architecture by reinforcing the importance of medium: selecting the right tools and representational approach shapes a drawing in the same way that developing material details lends texture, atmosphere, and specificity to a designed landscape. The following drawing samples are from a variety of endeavors, including site visits, drawing classes, and studio courses.
VIRGINIA LANDFORM + GEOLOGY | Interpretation of the topographic variety and geological mosaic (next page) of the Piedmont