Erik Schmahl Landscape Architecture Portfolio - MLA 2016

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CONTACT:

407 N Rampart Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90026 979 324 4130 erikschmahl@gmail.com www.erikschmahl.com

EDUCATION:

MLA – Master of Landscape Architecture, 2016 College of Architecture + Planning + Landscape Architecture The University of Arizona – Tucson, AZ BS – Environmental Studies, 2009 Department of Geography Florida State University – Tallahassee, FL

SKILLS:

Landscape & Urban Design • Conceptual Development • Research & Analysis • Diagramming • Mapping • Placemaking • Hand Graphics • Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Muse) • SketchUp • AutoCAD • GIS (ArcMap, QGis) • Website development • Multimedia & Graphic Communication • Desert Adapted Plants • Rainwater Harvesting • Trail Construction & Maintenance • Written Communication • Teamwork & Group Decision Making • Creative Pondering & Problem Solving

I have recently completed my Master of Landscape Architecture degree and am now seeking to continue my education by transitioning into the practice-oriented realm of the profession. I am hungry to grow my skill set and knowledge base to include the professional practice, with hopes of combining my academic pursuits with the mechanisms of the profession to build better, more engaging, and environmentally sensible landscapes. I am new to Los Angeles, but having studied landscape architecture in the arid southwest am very familiar with issues of water sensitive planting and infrastructure. I’m captivated by the social and ecological complexity of this city and am eager to contribute to the landscape architectural discourse of such a compelling urban condition. I’m drawn to the profession due to my propensity to creative problem solving and place-based design. My academic career began in the fine arts, transitioned to geography and environmental studies, and culminated with a merging of the two in Landscape Architecture. My thesis focused on the concept of “place” and I am a firm believer that architects, landscape architects, and urban planners have the power to shape inspiring settings for the betterment of humanity.

I am seeking an inspirational and progressive setting in which to collaborate, contribute, and most importantly learn. I view learning as a mutual act, with the roles of “teacher” and “student” to be constantly revolving, encouraging discovery and growth in the spin. I’m a respectful and hard worker who knows the value of diverse experiences and hands-on skill development. I’m a diligent designer open to any opportunity to progress my craft, expand my mind, and create meaningful professional connections and friendships through hard work and experimentation.

Please consider the following pages of this portfolio as a sample of my work. If you would like to discuss any project in further detail please feel free to contact me. Professional and academic references are available upon request. Thank you for your time!

Sincerely, Erik

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N ION CTTIO SSEEC CAPLA CREATIVE PHOTO HARVILL SPEECH + HEARING CIVIL ENG. ELECT. / COMP. ENG. ART DRAMA MUSIC PATHWAYS SEATING ART INSTALLATIONS CAR PARKING (ADA) GATHERING SPACE BIKE PARKING WATER FEATURE

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PAX plaza is a multipurpose public space with builtin functionality to encourage and promote innovative design through practical experimentation. Through the use of modular elements and a “pegboard” infrastructure, students from the surrounding design and engineering colleges will manipulate the urban plaza to suit the needs of the users, dissolving the duality of designer and user since in this plaza they are one and the same. Tree covered corridors, showcasing desert adapted vegetation, attract pedestrians into the site where walkways converge into a large central plaza where innovative design and channeled creativity are evident in the modular shade structures and exhibition pop-up galleries (housed in movable and stackable re-purposed shipping containers) created, curated and arranged by students. PAX Plaza is a flexible urban plaza that showcases functionality as well as form providing an engaging space for students and visitors alike.

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Project team: Erik Schmahl & Vivian Liu

ARK]Prague P [ L A I R T ial 7: INDUS ost-industr

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Industrial complexes are necessary for a functioning urban fabric. These productive areas stimulate local economies while providing products and services for the community at large. While industry is needed, the environments which are occupied by industry pose several inconsistencies with a culturally and environmentally sustainable urban situation. This focus area re-envisions a traditional industrial district heating facility into a more diverse and modern industrial park. Clean energy research and manufacturing facilities are introduced, live/work housing for industrious local manufacturers and artists are added, and accommodations for Prague’s growing tech industry are incorporated to create a thriving hub for production and innovation that can position Prague 7 as the cities leader into a more sustainable future. The site relocates all on street parking into a parking garage in order to provide ample space for a lush and accommodating landscape, hence Industrial [PARK].

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Tech Incubator

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District Heating Market Plaza

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Cottage Industry

Live + Work Space

Maker Space

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Admin Office

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existing urban fabric is re-utilized while new structures are added to increase the density of the industrial complex

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1] Shows the natural “Heath” which provides a natural area for residents and workers to picnic and realx.

2] The “Market Plaza” is a re-purposed parking lot which serves as a venue for craft fairs, art installations and performances. A public gathering space to engage in cultural activities. 3] Smokestacks have been symbolicly toppled to illustrate the transition to sustainable energy sources.

the surrounding landscape is connected to the interior green spaces via walkways and plazas, creating a large industrial park punctuated by built structures.

PEDESTRIAN + VEHICLE multimodal circulation connects the complex with access points and garage parking catering towards industry and service vehicles.

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This design envisions rural walk-ability back into a vehicle dominated road in the Rillito Bend Neighborhood.

Allen Road currently offers little vegetation or shade for pedestrians and suffers from high speed traffic.

This design encourages pedestrian use of Allen Road for walkers and joggers by incorporating a diverse mix of desert adapted vegetation, shade trees, and traffic calming elements that provide a suitable environment for community activity and interaction, while resisting the more urban vernacular of sidewalks. Pedestrians are encouraged to walk in the street or on unpaved pedestrian paths alongside the road, preserving the neighborhood’s rustic and rural history.

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GOALS:

• Slow vehicular traffic • Encourage pedestrian use of Allen Road • Provide shade and wildlife habitat • Preserve rural essence of the community

OBJECTIVES:

• Employ ‘chicanes’ to disrupt linearity of street to calm traffic and provide areas for shade trees • Use desert adapted plant palette to provide shade for pedestrians, habitat for wildlife, and to narrow the roadway • Design with stones and natural materials in conjunction with impervious surfaces instead of concrete sidewalks to honor the desired historical rural aesthetic

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Blue Palo Verde Desert Willow Parkinsonia florida Chilopsis Arizona Native Mesquite linearis Prosopis juliflora

Creosote Larrea tridentada

Red Yucca Hesperaloe parviflora

Green Desert Spoon Dasylirion acrotriche

D)) DEERREED ND E N R ( E R N ( A INAALL PPLLAN FFIN

Texas Ranger Leucophyllum frutescens Bear Grass Nolina microcarpa Project team: Erik Schmahl & Sun Young Roh

E PARy K R U T y A N A T nit amenit S u I m V m o c O I a R rt as embracing

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DIY aerial photographs were taken using a digital camera RIV rig mounted to a large kite.

ER RD This is a popular technique R in “citizen science” that RIVE ITO RILL was adapted to obtain the TUCSON RIO VISTA TUCSON vegetative texture of the RACQUET NATURAL VILLAGE FARM CLUB RESOUCE existing natural areas on the PARK site. These photos where mapped and used to create re-vegetation swatches for ALLEN RD the final plan. This method PRINCE TUCSON 1] Multi-modal trails are shared by horses and NEIGHBORHOOD was an experiment in site dog walkers. Flowering native flora lines the trails. analysis and proved insightful PRINCE RD during the design process.

N A L N P A L L INAAL P The final plan uses a less FFIN formal sampling method to graphically represent natural HEESS CH KEETTC S K T areas, which in reality would S P E T C P E NC ON CO C be planted by spreading seed sporadically – making a traditional planting plan 1 relatively useless. Graphically it conveys the informal tendency of natural vegetation distribution.

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2] Artificial raptor perches are added throughout the park in order to provided hunting vantage points for the resident birds of prey. The Interpretive Center serves as an educational venue for the community as well as a viewing area for the wildlife which occupies the park alongside the neighborhood residents. The park is situated next to a prominent dry wash, which serves as a wildlife corridor between the surrounding mountain ranges.

2 Multiple concepts were developed to incorporate the requests of the surrounding community. Natural recreation areas, walking trails, and native vegetation were favored over the more artificial sports complexes popular in most suburban neighborhoods.

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Raptor Perch Mesquite Bosque (Recreation + Habitat)

Interpretive Center w/ Wildlife Viewing Deck

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PLACEaking as a public act LOSTraItiN m zing place democ

CEEPPTT NC ON CO C The concept of place, defined as space endowed with the value of experiential perspective, helps to explain the uncanny relationship we have with our landscape.

To go out and experience one’s surroundings is critical for transforming the abstract into the discrete. This begs the question, with whom does the power of placemaking reside? The architect or urban designer can facilitate desired uses, and the best do this splendidly, but to claim placemaking as a billable deliverable is not only arrogant, but rather ignorant for superseding the pivotal role of the user. To bat away the lingering fog of trite jargon and address the issue of placemaking with modest honesty might simply require a passing of the torch. Lost in Place hopes to bring placemaking to everyday life and consequently foster a greater appreciation of underutilized and undervalued public spaces. Sidewalks, alleys, medians, vacant lots, drainage ditches — the vague spaces that are truly found between most buildings. Places are all around us and it is up to us to make them. It is not a prescribed spatial distinction, bestowed upon a space by those with the power of placemaking. It is simply a way of thinking about our environment and perceiving one’s experiences within it. Lost in Place provides resources, activities, and technologies to encourage placemaking as a part of everyday life. The beauty is in the streets, especially the ugly ones, you just have know how to look for it. Go on now, and get lost!

WEBSITE:

www.lostinplace.info

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A placemaking activity book in the format of a small zine, which prompts users to observe their surroundings and seek meaning in the mundane. Suggested activities encourage users to create modest rituals in public places, these in turn will promote experiential perceptions of space: place creation.

Posters were designed to promote the concept of public placemaking out in the physical world. In the 21st century, ideas are commonly spread online, but these propaganda style posters bring ideas to public space. Interaction with these ideas in public space is meant to encourage public placemaking - sporadic and unexpected.

The project’s web presence serves as a digital HQ to connect the physical artifacts and propaganda posters back to the central thesis of the project. Resources and information on the website inform curious users about the project as well as promote the concept of placemaking. A commentary on the perceived duality of our digital and physical lives.

A custom Java Script coded website gives users directions. Since places can be found everywhere the direction prompts are arbitrary and random in order to promote exploration and wandering.

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The concept of Cut & Paste plaza is to use the Henri Matisse collage “The Snail” to inform the layout of a usable and intriguing urban plaza in the contemporary Swiss tradition. The plaza will provide shade and benches for downtown visitors as well as an elevated turf patch for the occasional mid afternoon nap. The hardscape and built forms serve as the restraint, where the plant material will then be allowed to go wild providing a playful juxtaposition between artificial and organic. The goals are to provide a comfortable resting place for pedestrians, showcase desert vegetation in an urban context, and to channel the artistic expression of Matisse and the Swiss modern landscape architects.

Shade and seating, natural planters in standard urban materials, and the sites overall layout should help achieve these goals. Benches and turf provide a range of seating opportunities, native plants in addition to the colorful Pistacia chinensis mimic the use of color by Matisse, and the site materials and composition create an aesthetically stimulating yet functional urban plaza.

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“The Snail” - H. Matisse

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Dieter Kienast plaza

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Chilopsis linearis

Prosopis juliflora

Pistacia chinensis

Mariosousa willardiana

Leucophyllum laevigatum

Justicia californica

Hesperaloe parviflora

Leucophyllum frutescens

Muhlenbergia capillaris

Agave vilmoriniana

1] looking west from the sidewalk at the Chinese Pistache grove and the umbrella covered tables

2] a close up look at the transition up 3’ to the raised turf patch, with a usable ledge for informal play and seating

UGHTderelict campus park O H T R O F to an FOOD griculture

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Food For Thought is a innovate and practical design that addresses the important role food plays in creating a thriving community. The design uses the preexisting community garden project as a springboard to begin a more comprehensive discussion about the local food networks – from food production, to preparation, to retail, to consumption, and disposal.

Shaded Gathering Space

Bike + Pedestrian Circulation

Garden Plots

Section A

Neighborhood Homes

East Mable Street

Gateway Sculpture

North Mountain Avenue

Section A a1

Parking Garage

Refrigeration and Cooling Facility

Outdoor Market Space A space for farmers markets and food trucks to setup and provide the university students and surrounding community with healthy and local food options. Serves as a service vehicle and drop o point when not in use.

Comfort Station w/ composting toilets

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Playground A neglected existing playground has been repurposed and improved to create a multi-use park with amenities for all ages.

Community Garden An existing community garden is expanded and infrastructure is added to provide water and tool storage for participatory agriculture

IGN techniques S E D G N I T phic PLAN ntative gra prese

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This planting design for a west facing patio in Tucson, Arizona is meant to showcase the colorful flowers and unique forms of native and nearnative flora, while providing a calming place for respite in the often harsh Sonoran desert.

Four different representations are displayed here to illustrate a competency in both planting design as well as graphic communication.