Kristen Allen Landscape Architecture Portfolio

With this portfolio, I intend to demonstrate my experience and personal approach working with projects ranging in type, scale, and professional collaboration. Showcasing projects in various stages of completion, from concept sketches to finished site plans and renderings, gives insight into my workflow and graphic style. Each one of these projects is approached with the same level of attentiveness to detail, contextual framing, and cohesive design, whether it’s an entry landscape or an agricultural research campus. It is my hope that this portfolio opens the door to more opportunities to shape the neighborhoods and public sector of the greater Charlotte area.

Located in Mint Hill, NC, the Oak Creek development is an 88 acre property consisting of 166 single family homes. I worked closely with my boss to develop a hand sketched yield plan that evolved into a sketch plan and rezoning submittal. My responsibilities included being the point of contact for the Town of Mint Hill to guide this project through the rezoning process, conducting a community input meeting to gather feedback from neighbors, and creating the supporting materials for the community meeting (renderings, PowerPoint presentation, and comment response memo).

Courtyards at New Hope

Located in Cramerton, NC, Courtyards at New Hope is an age targeted community containing 35 lots on 13 acres. I worked on many iterations of sketch plans, including designing a concept that includes a retail area and surface parking. Other duties include guiding this project through the rezoning process and creating a rendered plan for the community meeting. As the project neared completion, I aided in the design of the entry monument and landscaping.

Stoneridge Hills

Stoneridge Hills consists of 322 single family lots on over 200 acres of land in Rock Hill, SC. It features an abundance of common open space, buffer planting, and conservation areas. My responsibilities included creating a rendering that reflects the intent of providing and maintaining as much greenery as possible, as well as working on the ordinance planting plan.

Preliminary hand sketch plan

Neighborhoods

Illustrative site plan for community input meeting

Our team was contracted to design all amenity areas in this subdivision, including the entrances, pocket park, open space with pickleball courts and a pavilion, and a community gardening area. I created the plan view and elevation sketches of the primary entry monument (right top and bottom), as well as the pocket park design (far right). These concepts were later developed into construction documents, where I refined and drafted the sketches in CAD and created the construction details.

Blaize Ridge

Our scope of work for Blaize Ridge amenities included the entry monumentation and streetscape. The project area extends beyond the entrance, around to screen the BMP, and culminates at the bridge separating the townhome and singlefamily housing in the neighborhood. I drafted the concept plans showing the entry monument elevation and the overall plan showing how the entrance design can flow and transition as it proceeds through the site.

Plan view of entry landscaping and monumentation

Moss Creek

The amenity design of Moss Creek included entry monumentation and landscaping, a pocket park with playground equipment, streetscape buffer planting, and a landscaped CBU area with BMP screening. My responsibilities included creating hand sketch concepts for the park and entry monument and landscaping, and creating planting and staking plans for each area. I drafted the drawings on page 8 as part of the final construction document set.

menity 3/16/2021

Entrance Planting and Monumentation

Entry Monument and Seat Wall Elevation

Section A: Elevation of entry monument and landscaping

Project Number: 0678-01

Olive Tea Lane at E. Broad Street Entrance

Plan view and descriptions of pocket park

Category: Quantity

Trees (12 pts): 2 Ornamental Trees (6 pts): 4

Shrubs (3 pts): 9 Medium Shrubs (2 pts): 14 Total: 103 pts (1.03 pts/LF)

Req. Buffer Score: 0.9 pts/LF (Class D with berm) Provided Buffer Score: 1.0 pts/LF

Working internally with our architects, structural, mechanical, lighting, and civil engineering groups, we helped design an interfaith chapel for the Lackland Airforce Base outside of San Antonio, TX. Our scope of work included the plaza and streetscape areas, as well as coordinating with the civils and architects to meet the programatic needs within the plaza space. In my professional experience, this is the most collaborative project I’ve been involved with, my primary roles included creating and drafting details, researching materials and vendors, and laying out the pavement pattern.

Working with outside civil engineering consultants and internal architects, the scope of this project is the conceptual and schematic design of an agricultural research block located in Ottawa, Canada. I’ve worked on refining various concept plans and parking lot design/calculations, creating planning documents and diagrams that illustrate basic site programming and circulation, and using 3D modeling software to generate imagery and massing models to include in client reports.

Lumion rendered site plan with perspective view call-outs

Lackland Air Force Base

Labs Canada

D B 9

C

A. View of the upper promenade between the buildings

C. View of the water feature and tiered landscape beds along the steps into the upper promenade area

B. View of the ramped planting beds rising to meet the facade of the buildings, central water feature, and stairs separating the plaza from the upper promenade

D. View of lower plaza area from marshalling entrance where cadets will proceed through the site for ceremonies

Lackland Air Force Base

Plan view of the

Labs Canada campus

Aerial view of massing study done of the main lab building

Front entrance drop-off area for main lab building

Isometric view of the Labs Canada campus with Google Earth imagery stitched in

email: kristen.allen0200@gmail.com phone: 614-563-2013