Ho-Ting Liu Application Portfolio for MLA I

H O -T I N G

L IU

portfolio

Bachelor of Arts | Macalester College | Applying for MLA I Email: hoting.j.liu@gmail.com Phone: +86 512 68255815

I graduated from Macalester College in 2013, with a major in Biology and a minor in Geography.

I am interested in applying ecological solutions to remediate our fractured landscape, transforming spaces into sustainable and meaningful places for all beings.

In this portfolio, the first three projects focus on the ecological principles of networks and nested systems.

Each space is a system within a larger system; each space serves as a node for connecting all networks, whether it be social interactions or urban wilds. The last project emphasizes on the metaphysical concept of landscape: everything can be a form of landscape or a product of landscape processes.

CO NT E NT S COURTYARD DESIGN OPERATIONAL MODELING: CONTOUR + VEGETATION REMOTE SENSING: STUDY OF LANDSCAPE OTHER WORKS

Hualian | Taiwan | 2011

CO U RT Y A RD D ESIG N Academic Introduction to Landscape Architecture Drawing University of Minnesota Spring 2013 To explore landscape and architectural design creativity while refine and display drawing skills

Water sustains all lives on Earth. With more than two third of the Earth’s surface covered by ocean, water appears to be plenty. Yet, unsustainable use of water has depleted this precious resource at an alarming rate.

As the world becomes more urbanized, how to capture water and reuse it in urban built environment becomes a hot topic. Think globally, act locally. Every single backyard has the potential to become a wet pond for stormwater management and a “hydrophilic” playground that will dissolve any social and cutural differences.

Baha’i Temple | Evanston, Illinois | 2011 01

It may sound surprising that many urban areas with high population density has minimal social interactions. Limited amount of green space makes people reluctant to step outside of their densely-packed dwellings and interact with others.

The main idea is to create a “green� space that will cultivate community spirit in the neighborhood.

The building is a restaurant that promotes Slow Food, and the courtyard is open to the public, acting as a node of social interactions.

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A pond takes up one third of the courtyard space in the middle, linking building entrance and sidewalk with a glass walkway. On its left-hand side is an urban farm that utilizes water from the pond, and on its right-hand side is an elevated wooden platform with tables where visitors can socialize.

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Water is a major element in this landscape.

The building is surrounded by a pond that collects rainwater from rooftop. With elevation change, the rainwater then cascades down and fills up the whole pond. Visitors can easily and safely interact with shallow water pond by going down the steps.

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O P E RA T IO NA L M ODE LING

C O NTOUR + V EGETA TION Academic Career Discovery 2013 Harvard Graduate School of Design To explore basic operations of landscape construction through study of precedent project and series of models To investigate how topography interacts with and informs circulation

Soil is perhaps the most amazing natural body on Earth. Soil has been documenting all the dynamic processes in its physical properties, and these properties have transformed the very landforms we see, shaping our experiences with the landscape. How to further enhance these experiences through manipulation of topography, it remains an interesting question for me to explore.

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This project is meant to be exploratory through several iterations: Change in elevation in the land can play alongside the change in the direction of the sight lines, revealing part of the landscape at different points.

[A] SUBTRACTION material: clay Operations such as cut, smooth/push, and shear/excavate were applied to create a topography that is characterized by minimal grading. Similar to the precedent, as one moves down the gentle slope, the "wall" in his/her immediate surrounding becomes taller, creating an illusion of going deeper.

Vietnam Veterans Memorial Maya Lin

shadow studies

topography study

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The study of serial sections reveals that the topography of this landscape consists of both enclosed and open spaces.

The elevation change also enhances unique one-on-one experience; the sight/view is different when one moves through the space at different points.

Visitor Circulation

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Water Flow

[B] ADDITION

material: bristol

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2

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ITERATION I

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Iteration 1 is chosen for further modification of the clay model; it uses cut and bend as operations, and emphasizes the "connectivity" and "connectedness" of visitor circulation and water flow. Although Iteration 2 has the same emphasis, it lacks enclosed space.

Visitor Circulation

Water Flow

Like Maya Lin’s, the twin peaks (highest spot elevations) in Iteration 1 evoke a feeling that the two worlds will never touch.

“We can’t enter the world. We have to turn around and go back to the light.”

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[C] COMPOSITE material: museum board, foamcore, string and pins

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Inspired by zen garden, bamboos, Japanese maple, and white sand are the main programmatic elements in this landscape.

I hope to create a place for people who are tired of inhabiting in concrete forest to meditate, contemplate the philisophical message about life and seek inspiration from nature.

Like the contour of this landscape, life is full of ups and downs.

Like the bamboo forest, life seems to be a labyrinth.

Yet, life also offers many directions.

Open our eyes, see that bright white sand guiding us through the darkness. Be out and be open, enjoy the beauty of that crimson maple.

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R E MO T E S E NSING

ST UDY OF LA NDS CA PE Academic Remote Sensing Macalester College Fall 2012 To correct raw Landsat and IKONOS images (geometric and radiometric) and employ supervised classification to composite images, and use IDRISI Taiga and ArcGIS to compose maps.

My specific role is Landsat image processing and map making.

Acknowledgement Thanks to Brendan Pierce and Hannah Wiesner for all the effort and hard work as a team. Thanks to Dr. Sanchayeeta Adhikari for all the kind help and advice.

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Accurate land cover classification using appropriate sensor data is important to the fields of conservation biology and environmental planning. This method-based research project explores IKONOS and Landsat effectiveness for land cover classification in the Crex Meadows Wildlife Area, which is Wisconsin’s largest remaining portion of Pine Barrens a globally endangered ecosystem*.

*270 bird speciess, 86 butterfly speciess, 720 plant speciess

WRS Path: 026 WRS Row: 028 Source: USGS GloVis 15

Using the Crex Meadows Wildlife Area in Wisconsin as our case study, we classified water, forest, grass, wetland and agricultural features of the landscape in both IKONOS and Landsat images. We then ran accuracy assessments for both images, and found that the Landsat image more accurately classified the landscape than the IKONOS image.

Landsat Spatial Resolution: 30 m

IKONOS Spatial Resolution: 0.5 m 16

O T H E R WO RKS Academic/Personal

Landscape is never static.

Landscape has been constantly evolved due to either natural or anthropogenic forces. Since the birth of human civilization, humans have modified landscape at a much faster pace to satisfy needs. Daily objects, buildings and even the whole urban space can be seen as a product of many landscape processes as well as agents and forces that drive changes in landscape. Reciprocally, this landscape modification has also impacted us to a great extent.

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Still life is never still. These inanimate objects are the products of many biological, chemical and physical processes. Our dependence on these objects make them the catalysts for driving these processes. Production? Waste?

They are changing our landscape significantly.

Therapeutic Landscaping (Left) Ho-Ting Liu 14” x 17” | Pencil Drawing Academic 2013

Landscape: Organic + Inorganic (Right) Ho-Ting Liu 14” x 17” | Acrylic Painting Personal 2009

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For both human and non-human beings, the need for survival has driven the need for shelters. The need for shelters has led to competition of resources, which in turn has changed our landscape.

Concrete Forest x1 (Left)

Ho-Ting Liu 14” x 17” | Collage of Pencil Drawing and Still Photograph Academic 2013

Concrete Forest x2 (Right)

Ho-Ting Liu 14” x 17” | Collage of Pencil Drawing and Still Photograph Academic 2013

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Migrant workers play an important role in transforming China’s rural and urban landscape.

Their hard work and harsh life have also imprinted marks on their faces.

They have changed the landscape.

Landscape has also changed them.

Portrait of Human Landscape

Ho-Ting Liu 14” x 17” | Collage of Pencil Drawing and Still Photograph Personal 2009

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dichotomy, nature = {mankind} an anthropogenic biome a landscape manufactured by anthropocentrism wilderness, the last piece of pristine reminant not without contaminant of civilization human and natural systems highly intertwined in a complex web of interactions landscape architecture-a paradigm shift

Ho-Ting Liu | Portfolio Email: hoting.j.liu@gmail.com Phone: +86 512 68255815

Taipei 101 | Taiwan | 2011