PORTFOLIO LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AND BEYOND SELECTED WORKS 2017 - 2023 luis.bendezu@mail.utoronto.ca | +1 (647) 512 4434 LUIS FELIPE BENDEZU
landscape is everywhere
The following pages exemplify some of the work I have produced over the past 6 years in academic and professional settings. These showcase my most relevant and multidisciplinary explorations within landscape, urbanism, research and architecture.
TOSHORELINES PARK
Retrieving memory for the regeneration of public space
Instructors: Robert Wright, Liz Wreford
Individual project
MLA Option Studio - University of Toronto
2022
BLURRINGEDGES
Co-habitation between neighbourhood and ravine
Instructors: Alissa North, Todd Douglas, Rui Felix
Team project w/ May Chiang
MLA Studio IV: Comprehensive Design - University of Toronto
2022
VOICE OF THE FOREST
Shifting the Center of West Campus
Instructors: Liat Margolis, Elise Shelley, Terence Radford.
Team project w/ Benson Zou
MLA Studio II - University of Toronto
2021
LIBERATION AT THE DON
Setting free Riverdale Park’s history through public memory
Instructors: Behnaz Assadi, Peter North, Elnaz Sanati
Individual project
MLA Studio - University of Toronto
2020
ARRIVING + LIVING AT THORNCLIFFE PARK
Urban renewal towards a self-sustaining community
Instructors: Fadi Masoud, Megan Esopenko, Rob Wright
Team project w/ Yue Wang, Benson Zou
MLA Studio III: Integrated Urbanism - University of Toronto
2021
INFRAPAISAJE
New landscape infrastructure for San Juan de Marcona, Ica - Peru
Instructors: Luis Rodriguez, Cesar Tarazona, Elisa Gusti
Individual project
B.Arch Thesis - PUCP
2017
TOWERS IN THE PARK
A Prospective for Equitable Resilience
Supervisor: Fadi Masoud
Team research project
Centre for Landscape Architecture (CLR)
2021-2023
MAKINGSPACEFORDEMOCRACY
A coordinated public space for demonstration and memory in Lima
Advisor: Alissa North
Individual project
MLA Thesis - University of Toronto
2022 - 2023 (in progress)
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TOSHORELINES PARK
Retrieving memory for the regeneration of public space
Scale: 8000 sqm Type: individual / academic Date: 2022
Before the existing Toronto waterfront was created over 150 years ago through infilling of Lake Ontario. This transformation has shaped the land with layers of infrastructure and dirt dredged from the bottom of Lake Ontario and placed on top of old, abandoned piers, ships and industrial waste south of Front Street.
My proposal for the site is a different kind of reclamation. A historic one for a place that did not exist 150 years ago. This historic reclamation will materialize in a habitable monument: a public space that narrates the urban evolution of Toronto’s waterfront by re-establishing the material qualities of past shorelines.
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1.
4.
2.
5.
3.
Emerging past shorelines into current site:
6.
Rees Street Parking Lot
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BLURRING EDGES
Co-habitation between neighbourhood and ravine
Scale: 20 ha Type: group / academic Date: Winter 2022
Smythe Park is part of a fragmented ravine corridor located throughout the city of Toronto. Fragmentation has made the area vulnerable to chronic flood events due to the overflow of the Black Creek.
By blurring the edges in and out the park, the project proposes the establishment of a co-habitation policy, where portions of the backyards will be retrofitted as a trade-off. This way, the newly programmed floodfriendly park, provides infrastructural and social connection between the right of way, property, and parkland.
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16 | Luis Felipe Bendezu | Selected Works Ravine property owners “What happens on your ravine property can affect neighbours beside you” Current condition Potential condition Planting strategy 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 Water management Waste disposal Tree Health Monitoring Riparian buffer Rainwater garden Tree trench Permeable Pavement Coir Logs (biologs) Ravine property owners “What happens on your ravine property can affect neighbours beside you” Current condition Potential condition Planting strategy 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 Water management Waste disposal Tree Health Monitoring Riparian buffer Rainwater garden Tree trench Permeable Pavement Coir Logs (biologs) current TRCA’s requirements for Ravine property owners co-habitation framework’s shared potential a vulnerable border City owned or operated parks Smythe Park Chronic flooding events 8,000 m 4,000 1,000 flood mitigation corridor Green spaces Fragmenting roads 10 min walk radius Smythe Park Black Creek Park West Black Creek Site East Lavender Creek Trail Regulated floodplain area Library Recreation Center Community Hub School Walking Jogging Dog Walking Snow play Bird feeding Ice Skating Sports Playground Swimming Splash pad SCARLETRD JANEST BLACK CREEK BLVD HANEYAVE EDINBOROUGHCT Existing conditions vs. Flooding Zones by Impact degree of flooding >5 m Depth in meters Seasonal Use Summer Winter Typology A Typology B Typology C Typology D 5 m high 4 m 3 m 2 m 1 m medium low
events create vulnerable borders Flood mitigation corridor as suture Flooding impact on existing physical and social condition.
Flooding
Multifunctional tidal pools and interventions
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PROGRAMATIC SHELTERS PROGRAMATIC SURFACES PATHS & WALKWAYS HYDROLOGY 01. Sports facility: Changing rooms, cafeteria, storage 02. Bleachers Pavilion 03. Central Pavilion 04. Harvesting Pavilion 05. Canoeing pavilion 06. Swimming pool Ice skating rink 07. Race track 08. Basketball courts 10. Grassy auditorium 11. Sweetgrass garden 12. Playground 13. Dock 14. Path at grade 15. Metal elevated pathway 16. Undulating bench Intertidal marshes with increasing depth. Creates 3 areas defined by water flow. PROGRAMATIC SHELTERS PROGRAMATIC SURFACES PATHS & WALKWAYS HYDROLOGY 01. Sports facility: Changing rooms, cafeteria, storage 02. Bleachers Pavilion 03. Central Pavilion 04. Harvesting Pavilion 05. Canoeing pavilion 06. Swimming pool Ice skating rink 07. Race track 08. Basketball courts 10. Grassy auditorium 11. Sweetgrass garden 12. Playground 13. Dock 14. Path at grade 15. Metal elevated pathway 16. Undulating bench Intertidal marshes with increasing depth. Creates 3 areas defined by water flow. Proposal condition: Flooding + Community Fencing removal Raingardens Gabion walls Fencing removal Raingardens Gabion walls Porthole viewpoint Coirlogs Fencing removal Raingardens Coirlogs Typology A Typology B Typology C 02. 03. 04. 05. 06. 07. 08. 10. 11. 11. 11. 13. 12. 09. 09. 09. 14. 15. 16. Sports tidal marsh Water-engagement tidal marsh Ecological tidal marsh Rain drainage Stormwater as a resource PROPERTY BOUNDARY RIGHT OF WAY Traditional water system PARKLAND Rainwater garden Cistern storage infiltration infiltration evotranspiration infiltration evotranspiration Sewer system Bioswale Vegetated buffer Marshes Black Creek Pervious pavement Playground Sweetgrass garden Canoeing Swimming Stormwater as a resource
20 | Luis Felipe Bendezu | Selected Works 21 SITE PLAN - DESIGN DEVELOPMENT 1:1000 BLURRING EDGES 0 1 10 20 30 40 100 m A A B B C C -4.00 -3.00 -2.00 -1.00 -4.00 -3.00 -2.00 -1.00 Sports facility Swimming pool Ice skating rink Existing Baseball diamonds Race track l=200m Basketball court 30x15 m Wet woodland Wet woodland Wet woodland Existing woodland Wet woodland Grassy auditorium Grassy auditorium Grassy auditorium Pavilion Pavilion Pavilion Pavilion Wet woodland -4.00 -2.00 -3.00 -1.00 -4.00 -2.00 -2.00 -1.00 -2.00 -1.00 -3.00 -1.00 Existing woodland Enhanced woodland Black Creek Channel Playground Sweetgrass garden Sweetgrass garden Sweetgrass garden PP-3 PP-1 PP-2 SITE PLAN - DESIGN DEVELOPMENT 1:1000 BLURRING EDGES 0 1 10 20 30 40 100 m A B B C C -4.00 -3.00 -2.00 -1.00 -4.00 -3.00 -2.00 -1.00 Sports facility Swimming pool Ice skating rink Existing Baseball diamonds Race track l=200m Basketball court 30x15 m Wet woodland Wet woodland Wet woodland Existing woodland Wet woodland Grassy auditorium Grassy auditorium Grassy auditorium Pavilion Pavilion Pavilion Pavilion Wet woodland -4.00 -2.00 -3.00 -1.00 -4.00 -2.00 -2.00 -1.00 -2.00 -1.00 -3.00 -1.00 Existing woodland Enhanced woodland Black Creek Channel Playground Sweetgrass garden Sweetgrass garden Sweetgrass garden PP-3 PP-1 PP-2
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VOICE OF THE FOREST
Shifting the Center of West Campus
Scale: 9000 sqm Type: group / academic Date: winter 2021
The current design of the west campus is a reflection of our current paradigm: lack of gathering spaces, while paved surfaces dominate the land. With limited space for landscape, there are mainly manicured lawns and stand-alone trees.
This is not only a rigid and divisive idea but a statement of control over nature. To decolonize the site, and reconnect ourselves to the land we live in. We propose to reconfigure the space on the west campus by reconnecting, reclaiming, and reconciling under the perspective where the landscape is the ordering voice of the community.
By shifting the center of West Campus, the number of opportunities for engagement multiply, guided by the voice of the forest.
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1 | Existing condition: three isolated courtyards.
2 | Removal of facades and reuse resulting material.
4 | New community-oriented program
3 | New native plantings
28 | Luis Felipe Bendezu | Selected Works 29 Site Plan | Hidden courtyards are connected to create a collective green corridor VOICE OF THE FOREST
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LIBERATION AT THE DON
Setting free Riverdale Park’s history through public memory
Scale: 50 ha Type: individual / academic Date: Fall 2020
The Don Watershed is a hub of heritage features, especially in its lower section. While not all the existing ones are recognized and enlisted, they have the potential to illustrate the impact of 19th century man in the site’s transformation for urban development: the river channeling, the draining of wetlands, landfilling and the construction of vehicular infrastructure such as Don Valley Parkway. These have translated in strains for nature, stablishing its reading as an impervious border and creating continuous degradation such as the loss of the riverbed’s natural morpho dynamics.
The proposal aims to deepen the visitors’ connection to the site through public memory: a new interface is proposed where memory, knowledge, proximity, and experience are main tools in this layered intervention.
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36 | Luis Felipe Bendezu | Selected Works 37 LIBERATION AT THE DON Layered
Scattered
connections Strategies towards place attachment through public memory.
memory | Hidden layers of heritage have the potential to narrate the site’s history.
Interpretative path | Path adapts alongs the site’s heritage, unveiling a new reading and understanding.
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Urban promenade High viewpoint Channel viewpoint 01 03 05 LIBERATION AT THE DON
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6. 1. 2. 4.
Lower trail along railtracks Viewpoint over naturalized channel High viewpoint Path and lower trail intersection From lower trail to wet meadows Urban promenade
6. 3. 5.
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Interpretative Path over Wet Meadows | View from the bridge that overlooks to the re-naturalized channel
Elevated viewpoint over Don Valley | A space to contemplate the reframed riverbed and its heritage.
ARRIVING + LIVING AT THORNCLIFFE PARK
Urban renewal towards a self-sustaining community
Scale: 260 ha Type: group / academic Date: fall 2021
Thorncliffe Park is the earliest high-rise apartment neighborhood in Canada. It represents the modernist ambition to address the growing middle-class population in the outer boroughs of Toronto and was designed to become a self-sufficient New Town.
Currently, this “arrival city” has a population that consists of mostly new immigrants who are prone to struggle due to its built environment. The discrepancy between a thriving community and a declining neighbourhood drives us to propose a shift of paradigm.
This vision encompasses hydrology, green infrastructure, and productivity. This vision aims to empower the community by effectively reutilizing their infrastructural and natural resources on-site, and transform Thorncliffe Park from a neighbourhood of fragmentation into a community of growth.
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46 | Luis Felipe Bendezu | Selected Works 47 Identified Design Action Zone
renewal plan Basement flooding Surface temperature
of recent immigrants
density Median income
Tower
Population
Population
Thorncliffe Park
‘’Depending on how you view it, inmigrant neighborhoods are either a successful antechamber to urban life or a place of dangerous isolation and poverty’’
- Doug Saunders, Canadian Journalist
Thorncliffe Park through the eyes of a newly arrived immigrant from South Asia.
Her life begins in one of these high-rise towers. Originally designed to accommodate 12,500 people, now has 30,000 residents.
Her neighborhood is fragmented by the infrastructure onsite including the Canadian Pacific railway and the hydro corridor.
In a total area of 4 square km, only 1.1 % of the land is designated as public parks and playgrounds.
Daily shores like shopping is an inconvenience for the ones who don’t have a vehicle, while 40% of the land is covered by parking lots.
The ravine is within walking distance but many residents come from countries where they are not used to the forest life.
The residents in Thorncliffe park created a strong sense of community through gardening and food production.
Even more challenges are coming. The proposed railway service station would further marginalize the already impoverished community.
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1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
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4 | Water management
2 | Land swap 5 | Mobility network 3 | Densification 6 | Energy Network and Hub
restoration
system
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Before Experience of the existing elements within this isolated, urban “island”.
After | Proposed condition that includes a cyclical economy of resources.
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INFRAPAISAJE
New landscape infrastructure for a mining town
Scale: 30 ha Type: individual / thesis Date: 2016-2017
In 1953, the city of “San Juan de Marcona” was born as a mining camp on the only iron mine in Peru. While the country’s economy is built on a great degree of the profits generated by its mineral richness, little attention has been put on the spaces where miner families live, usually with limited resources and extreme environmental conditions.
The proposal includes a series of technical devices which embrace and employ natural resources to accomplish the transformation of an urbanized territory that currently neglects its coastal environment, missing nature based solutions (nbs) for growth and facing an on-going process of decay.
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Master Plan | Infrastructural system that sutures urban fabric with environment
Interconnected network | Nature based solutions that feed urban activity and resources
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INFRA-PAISAJE shelters + pathways wind turbines biofilters xerophytic patches artificial dunes
Business as Usual Diagram | Urban decay in progress
Existing elevations allow for cohesive treatment of water
Energy harvesting becomes visibilized in daily life
A more livable space is created by restoring vegetation
62 | Luis Felipe Bendezu Selected Works 63 RESOURCES ECONOMY S OCIAL USUAR OS JAHU Y RIVER (20 km) LOCAL WIND FARM SOLD TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES COMMON WINDS: 33 km/h WATER WASTED BY FILTRATION OR RETURNED TO SEA MINING EXECUTIVES MINING MIGRANTS NOT MIGRANTS TOT L POPULATION: 13 630 24 hs 70% 13% 7% 20% MEMBERS/ 15 SSOC ARTISAN FISHERMEN TURN TO SEAWEED FARMING 500 0-10hs CLERK LABOURER EXECUTIVES CLERKS LABOURERS EVERYDAY LIFE IS ORGANIZED AROUND LABOR CLASSIFICATION VIDA COTIDIANA MAIN PROVIDER OF BASIC SERVICES FOR THE CITY MINING INDUSTRY COMMERCE ARTISAN FISHERMEN AFFECTS NEGATIVELY DEVELOPMENT OF AN ALTERNATIVE BUSINESS IN RESPONSE TO CRISIS HOUSES OF MINERS BAY POLLUTION 24 hs 10 hs
greywater greywater optimal grid for the site’s prevailing irregular winds: HORIZONTAL AXIS WIND TURBINE Lower costs Occupancy is compatible with other uses Optimal for prevailing multidirectional winds Various sizes available for better adaptability. S/M/L Minor maintenance Less noisier VS. VERTICAL AXIS WIND TURBINE Prevailing winds (m/s) 9 6.4 cleaned water to be reused in houses water for revegetation reused water reused water grease trap biofilter reuse revegetation
integration Diagram | symbiotic relationships wind turbines biofilters Totora El calato v. cactuses Achupallas Huarango
HUMAN ACTIVITY INFRASTRUCTURE NATURE JAHUAY RIVER (20km) REUSE OF WATER BIOFIL ER DIVERSIFICATION OF USES REVEGETATION XEROPHYTIC VEGETATION SEAWEED NATURAL ABUNDANCY WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE IMPROVED FOR THE SITE’S PROJECTED OCCUPATION VERTICAL AXIS WIND TURBINES + + + + GREYWATER NEW USES URBAN RENEWAL MORE USERS + + HOUSES OF MINERS ARTIFICIAL DUNES PUBLIC BUILT SPACES EDUCATIONAL SPACES SPORT SPACES COLLETIVE USE SPACES COASTAL SPACES TOURISTS CITIZENS FISHERMEN INTERVENTION MINING PRODUCTION INDEPENDENT GRID COMMON WINDS AT 33 km/h WARM AND DRY WEATHER 18-30 C + + +
Technological
xerophytic patches
64 | Luis Felipe Bendezu | Selected Works 65 10.00 10.00 10.00 00 00 50 ÁREA DE EJERCICIO CALISTENIA DESDE EL INTERIOR NIVELES APERTURA DE LA FACHADA CAÑAS DE ÁREA DESDE EL INTERIOR NIVELES APERTURA DE LA FACHADA CAÑAS DE 10.00 10.00 10.00 00 00 EXPO PERMANENTE MIRADOR EXPANSIÓN DESDE EL INTERIOR NIVELES APERTURA DE LA FACHADA DESDE EL INTERIOR NIVELES APERTURA DE LA FACHADA CAÑAS DE DESDE EL INTERIOR NIVELES APERTURA DE LA FACHADA CAÑAS DE
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“Traditional landscape presupposes a dangerous detachment (…). A symbiotic relationship is necessary. The beautiful defined by its utility.’’
– Roger Alain, french philosopher
TOWERS IN THE PARK
A Prospective for Equitable Resilience
Scale: city-wide Type: group / workstudy Date: 2021-2023
This project looks at the untapped potential of the “parks” in “Towers in the Park”. Built between 1950-80’s based on universal modernist principles.
Led by the CLR, it aims to evaluate, measure, assess, and quantify the social and environmental value of public and private open space assets as they relate to the city’s overall resilience goals. It also explores the potential for integrating adaptation and mitigation strategies in these tower neighbourhoods to pursue overall socio-environmental sustainability strategies.
The project engages multidisciplinary faculty and industry, community groups and city government.
Sample of Design Action Cards | Strategies for promoting equitable resilience.
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Existing condition | identifying spaces for resilience within the Tower Communities.
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Proposed condition | Blue and green infrastructure as means to future-proof the Tower Communities.
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MAKINGSPACEFORDEMOCRACY
A coordinated public space for demonstration and memory in Lima.
Scale: 4200 linear m Type: individual / thesis Date: 2022 - 2023 (in progress)
In recent years there has been a sustained spike in demonstrations around the world. In cities, demonstrations take different forms, but protesters always aim to occupy, disrupt, and make themselves seen and heard as means to show resistance.
This thesis explores the way civic expression takes public space as a material and immaterial resource to decrease the distance between government and citizens in the Historic Centre of Lima in Peru, a contested site where heritage buildings, power institutions and growing social discontent coexist.
By creating a coordinated public space that formalizes the
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Anniversary of Lima Lent / Holy Week Fiesta de Amancaes Independence Day Pride March Tearcher’s Strike 4 Suyos March Pro-democracy march Women’s March Saint Rosa of Lima Senor de los Milagros Christmas New Year’s Carnival of Lima March summer fall winter spring summer April May June July August September October November December January February
to respond to the multifunctionality of the Historic Centre of Lima?
How
|
a
public space
Materials of memory
Inventory towards
democratic, coordinated
Proposed Condition | Formalizing the historic, popular route of
demonstration
+1 (647) 512 4434 luis.bendezu@mail.utoronto.ca www.linkedin.com/in/luisfelipebendezu/ LUIS FELIPE BENDEZU
