Kathleen Neely Adams Master of Landscape Architecture University of Virginia
Getrude Jekyll Color in the Garden
Selected Works Projects 1. Delicate Hands Get Dirty 2. Fitting Access 3. The Rules of the City of New York Field Notes 4. Exploring the Veneto 5. Woodland Transect Technical Drawing 6. Lean 7. Practicing Maintenance 8. Printmaking: Cut and Fill
Delicate Hands Get Dirty
Scope: a garden no more than 2 acres Prompt: a contrary garden for your hometown Site: St. James High School, Montgomery Alabama
A garden is the production of space, culture, things. Each should be gentle but jarring, accommodating but unusual, contemporary but lasting, surprising but familiar, peaceful but other. The garden is empathic. The garden acknowledges and questions the relentlessly brutish divisions of daily life. The garden displays the labor that makes leisure possible. The garden make place for the laborer, the student, the athlete, the teacher, the dĂŠbutante. The garden makes place for aggregate identities. Allowing for momentary revelations of the other, of each other in this space where outside and inside are indistinguishable. This garden is contrary but considerate.
Manifesto Studio: Contrary Gardens/Julie Bargmann/Spring 2017
Abstract experiential drawings helped develop the garden concept using tape, marker, pen, china marker and colored pencil. The play of light and shadow, the glowing pink of azaleas against dark unrelenting tree trunks and other elements are explored and explained. Kathleen Neely Adams, MLA 2017
The existing condition is barren with almost treeless turf that is easily saturated by regular rain and high humidity.
A dense new canopy protects students from the sun and absorbs moisture in the air and from rain. This humid subtropical climate is oppressively hot and wet in the summer and mild and wet in winters. Farms and pine forests have been a vital part of the economy of the region while the bright pink and white of azaleas and crepe myrtles along with the British green of boxwoods are common in the domestic landscapes where an orientalized aesthetic is popular.
Sketches, plan iterations and a rhino model were used to develop and test design ideas.
Trunk and Canopy {jarring but gentle} A 10’x10’ grid of loblolly (Pinus taeda) pine trees is relentlessly imposed on the entire grounds of the high school and cleared only in spaces of overlapping furrows and/or azaleas
Furrows {accomodating but unusual} Formed using stabilized soil and walls of concrete with soil aggregate that arch from ground level up 18”, creating multiple spaces for sitting and lounging
Azalea Beds {surprising but familiar} Including Karume, Indica and Satsuki Hybrids Azaleas growing from 3’ to 7’ Each plant is chosen to extend the bloom time from early season through late season
Interstitial Ground {contemporary but lasting} Stone dust covers the ground plane in a space where paths are undefined Others {peaceful but other} Where forms overlap a clearing is created A hybrid character works between the masculine furrow and the feminine azalea beds forming a place for rest, privacy, study, lunch, etc
N Kathleen Neely Adams, MLA 2017
A physical model brings to life a 3D digital exploration of the gardens elements. Cast furrows were built using Rhino, routed into foam and cast in Rockite.
A manifesto project explored through multiple media: writing, drawing digitally and by hand, model making digital and physical. Each contributes to the conceptual development in its own way, fast and slow.
Kathleen Neely Adams, MLA 2017
A section perspective is drawn from a rendered rhino model. Clarifying spatial relationships and emphasizing the effect of clearings.
Kathleen Neely Adams, MLA 2017
Fitting Access
in collaboration with Peter Russell Scope: multi-scale with an urban emphasis Prompt: using arctic phenomena as a tool design space that suit the very specific conditions of life in Svalbard Site: Longyearbyen, Svalbard City and City Center Svalbard’s location north of Europe makes it an archipelago of great geopolitical significance. People living here are required to be self sufficient and able bodied. For many years life in Svalbard has been supported by coal mining, but resource depletion and growing environmental concerns are requiring the development of new industries. Today, cruise ships drop off thousands of tourists who descend suddenly on Longyearbyen and disappear just as quickly. Additionally there is an influx of more adventurous tourists and scientists doing environmental research. This new industry brings a need for the accommodation of broader range of physical ability. Fitting Access responds to this need by prioritizing accessibility in a reconfiguration of the urban plan and in the design of a string of public spaces. The currently convoluted urban scale flow from residences and hotels to the city center and fjord coast, is made clear through physical and visual cues utilizing the light, warmth and traction necessary in this environment of extremes.
The Arctic Design Group: Svalbard/Leena Cho and Matthew Jull/Fall 2016
Drawings in plan and section of grounds conditions seen in Svalbard.
Notes taken about the landscape and from many meetings with local experts and civil servants in Svalbard October 2015.
Back in the studio using post-its to imagine a new urban plan
Early conceptual models imagine using steel grating to create access areas with across low topography and lights for way finding
A more precise conceptual model proposes a long gently sloping public space bridging two disconnected parts of Longyearbyen. Kathleen Neely Adams, MLA 2017
DIFFICULT
Access in Longyearbyen:
0 ACCESS BY AGE DESIRED
ACCESS IN LONGYEARBYEN EXISTING
AGE
100
Network:
EXISTING CONDITION Intervention:
ACCESS BY AGE IN LONGYEARBYEN
EASY
EASY
PROPOSED
LONGYEARBYEN
DIFFICULT
DIFFICULT
EASE OF MOVEMENT
EASE OF MOVEMENT
LONGYEARBYEN
0 ACCESS BY AGE DESIRED
AGE
100
ACCESS BY AGE IN LONGYEARBYEN
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100
AGE
EASY
PROPOSED
A common path
Entrance, city center, and the fjord
Define the entrance Create common space
Existing Condition
DIFFICULT
EASE OF MOVEMENT
LONGYEARBYEN
0
100
AGE
Diagrams define the urban intervention explain the role of a public space, shown in section, created in an effort to reconnect the city to the fjord by bridging the existing topography and lighting the way.
LIGHT DISTRIBUTION
HEAT ADDITIONS
SNOW ACCUMULATION/WIND REDIRECTION
Phenomena:
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SNOW REGULATED BY LIGHT USAGE LIGHT OFF
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MELT WATER
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LIGHT DATUM
ENHANCE SLOPE VARIATION
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Light Distribution
Heat Additions
Snow Accumulation and Wind Redirection
Program and Circulation
DRAINAGE
Kathleen Neely Adams, MLA 2017
The Rules of the City of New York Scope: multi-scale with an urban emphasis Prompt: Use Walter Benjamin’s Arcade Project as an influence for an urban design in Paris or New York after an extensive study of the hedonistic histories of these cities Site: Lower Manhattan, The Bowery The city belongs to those citizens who use the city. The citizen of New York might be a worker traveling constantly between places, a homeless person sent out from the shelter, a tourist seeking out destinations, a commuter... Among these citizens two patterns of daily life prevail. That of the commuter is the pattern of the placed, where travel occurs between the home and the office with significant amounts of time spent in each place. The other citizens are placeless, their days are spent between places without access to the necessities provided by homes and offices.How can design provide place for these people who are placeless? What needs do places provide to citizens who live and work in them? Utilizing a selection the approved materials of the street, employed in a variety of unexpected configurations, the street emerges as places for rest and relief. This program is continuously available as place for the care and maintenance of the placeless body revealing both unexplored possibility and unacknowledged publics.
Project Paris: Cities of Hedonism/Alessandra Ciancetta/Fall 2016
Vacancy is common but public services such as restrooms are rare. Starbucks serves as a poor stand-in. Kathleen Neely Adams, MLA 2017
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aterways
water
BAR GOER urine
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Public Relief
Tourist rain Baker IT worker feces Lawyer CONSTRUCTION WORKER urine Banker ST. Waste Collector Homeless Person combined SEWER trash Dog Stormwater Street Sweeper landfill runnoff Bus Driver Skateboarder Student water Bar Goer supply Shopper water Theater Goer Commuter Shop Owner waterways Bar Tender Furniture Maker Architect Doctor Street Vendor Donald Trump Designer Model Photographer Actor Barista Babysitter Teacher Curator Art Handler Artist Scientist Researcher Entrepreneur Poet Journalist Editor water supply Fabricator Scaffold Erector water BARISTA
Stormwater runnoff
trash
landfill
rain water supply feces water
ARCHITECT urine
rain combined SEWER
waterways feces HOMELESS PERSON urine
Stormwater runnoff
ST. rain
combined SEWER Stormwater runnoff
water supply
trash
IT SPECIALIST
water
landfill
feces
urine
combined SEWER
waterways Stormwater runnoff rain
rain
water supply
water supply
feces water
feces
TAXI DRIVER urine
combined SEWER
waterways Stormwater runnoff
rain
feces
A map of the ‘flows’ of variously identified citizensurine is revealing. waterways
combined SEWER
waterways
combined SEWER
landfill
water ST.
trash
ST.
DOG urine
combined SEWER
waterways Stormwater runnoff
landfill
trash
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The Existing Rules of the Sidewalks of New York 1. Sidewalks are 5 feet to 25 feet wide depending on the location 2. The minimum clear path ranges from 7 to 9.5 feet(2.13 to 2.89m) or half of the width of the sidewalk, whichever is greater 3.Corners must remain clear to 35 feet(10.67m) from the edge of the curb 4. Doorways must remain clear to the street 5. Do not interfere with utility lines or covers
Interventions Existing street components and possible additions to the street are regulated by spatial restrictions. The placement of interventions is between these many invisible consumers of sidewalk and street space. Some options are created from materials suggested by the city for the design of the Right of Way. Each material has its place in the city. Granite slabs are for historical neighborhoods, granite cobble stones signal furnishing zones, and a tinted concrete is the default. Kathleen Neely Adams, MLA 2017
Mobile Sink -connects to fire hydrants -provides opportunity for face and hand washing, tooth brushing -creates feeling of autonomy -mobile
See elevation enlargement
The New Museum
Granite Bench -made of typical street material -provides seat -flexible design for many fits
Cobble table and seats -made of typical street material -provides seat -flexible design for many fits -creates feeling of autonomy
The Bowery Mission
Berm Seat -creates barrier -provides seat -allows sight lines creating the feeling of space
future boutique hotel
See plan enlargement
The spatial rules of the city are mapped onto the cities streets revealing available space for intervention.
Cobble Stones carried by Forklift
Mobile Sink
Elevation enlargement
Berm Seat
Plan enlargement
Kathleen Neely Adams, MLA 2017
Field Studies
Vicenza and the Veneto Vicenza Summer Drawing Program, Su 2016 Charlie Menefee and Teresa Gali-Izard
Drawing in the Veneto region of Italy requires attention and presence. A precise knowledge of the design and character of a place can be gained through the practice of recording the shape and order of spaces and the life that happens in them.
Brion Cemetery is explored by walking and recording the plan. A perspective drawing articulates the relationship of Scarpa’s design to the surrounding cemetery and agricultural fields.
Kathleen Neely Adams, MLA 2017
What is a transect? Planted form and Function I, F 2014 Cole Burrell
Field notes map the changes in vegetation along the sloping terrain. These notes are translated into a transect drawing with special attention to the form of each tree and shrub. The complex systems of plant species, terrain, light, and the flow and collection of water are understood through the acts of recording and translating.
Site Inventory 1. Hornbeam | Carpinus betulus 2. Beech | Fagus granifolia 3. Mountain Laurel | Kalmia latifolia 4. Mockernut Hickory | Carya tomentosa 5. Pinxterbloom Azalea | Rhododendron periclymenoides 6. Log 7. Dogwood | Cornus florida 8. Red Maple | Acer rubrum 9. White Oak | Quercus alba 10. Virginia Pine | Pinus virginiana
Kathleen Neely Adams, MLA 2017
Technical Drawing
LEAN
Ecotech III, F 2015 Brian Osborn
A leaning rubber berm is the product of an exploration where constraints are pushed to their minimum and maximum extents. This leaning berm rises out of a love of rubber as a playful, tactile material that engages sight and touch, in contrast to the color and feel of many landscape materials. A pre-constructed rubber covered form fits into the landscape, extending over a pool of rubber mulch allowing visitors to be feel a kind of carefree risk.
1 Ground
2 Compacted Gravel
3 Concrete
4 Geo-Textile
5 Re-bar 1’ length
6 Compression Layer coarse texture
7 Pour in Place Rubber medium texture
8 Pre-Cast Rubber fine texture
9 Rubber Mulch coarse texture
3/16”=1’ Kathleen Neely Adams, MLA 2017
Year old Morus alba
Morus Alba Raked and Pruned Planted form and Function III, S 2016 Teresa Gali izard
Maintenance practices consider the form and leafing of trees when pruned and unpruned. The fallen leaves are collected and systematically piled allowing them to be eaten by livestock and to break down into fertile organic material.
30 year old Morus alba Thinned and pruned
30 year old Morus alba
30 year old Morus alba Thinned and 50% pruned Fall
Morus Alba recently planted
Mature Morus Alba, Untended Growth
Mature Morus Alba, Pruned
Kathleen Neely Adams, MLA 2017
Printmaking C u t
a n d
F i l l
Intaglio Printmaking, 2006 -2008 Gesine Janzen
Intaglio prints are the product of chemical and physical processes and systems of etching, engraving, burnishing, covering and uncovering. Abrasions and cuts are a violent but delicate form of image making; it is not unlike the design practices that form the built landscape.
Kathleen Neely Adams, MLA 2017
All text and images by Kathleen Adams unless otherwise noted
Thank You! Kathleen Adams