Environmental Design and GIS Portfolio

LEILA BAHRAMI

URBAN ECOLOGY & ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN

PORTFOLIO 2021

RESEARCH

LANDSCAPE RESTORATION, NJ

SEAGRASS RESTORATION IN KELP FORESTS

DESIGN

REVOLUTIONARY INDUSTRIES

GROWING TOGETHER

1st Place Winner, EPA Competiton

THE CAP

GREEN NEW DEAL

ECOLOGICL EXPERIMENT

PREDICTED FLOOD INUNDATION IN CALGARY

PREDICTION OF 2020 DEVELOPMENT

DEMAND IN DVR

ENVIRNMENTAL JUSTICE

SOIL INFILTRATION CALCULATION

Tell: +1(215)866-7997

lbahrami@design.upenn.edu

lbahrami69@gmail.com

Linkdin.com/in/profile

Philadelphia, PA, USA

GREEN X BLUE REDEFINERY

THE FARMTOWN IN CITY

VANDERBILT RESIDENTIAL COMPLEX

BRIDESBURG PARK

Award of Excellence, ASLA

Leila Bahrami

Leila Bahrami

Urban Ecology and Environmental Planning professional

I am a Ecological Researcher and Environmental Planner with +5 years of higher education spanning environmental analytics, ecological restoration, GIS mapping, and visual communication, as well as hands-on experience in Urban Design and Resillient Landscape. In the past three years, I have collaborated with multiple research and design teams with diverse background on very different projects from remote sensing analysis to ecological restoration implementation and resillient landscape to solve environmental, ecological and socio-economic dilemmas in a fast-paced, enthusiastic environment.

I always have curiosity, passion and collaborative spirit to work in an innovative field and contribute my skills to improve ecology in natural and built environment and preserve the environmental balance for future generations.

EDUCATION & CERTIFICATION

University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

Dec 2020

• Master of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning

(Merit based Scholarship)

• Certificate in GIS and Spatial Analysis

University of ETH Zurich

• Online Certificate in Smart Cities

Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

• Master of Landscape Architecture

University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

• Bachelor of Architecture

SKILLS

Aug 2018

May 2017

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Environmental Modeling Lab, University of Pennsylvania

Ecological & Remote Sensing Analyst

Sep 2020- Now

• Landcover Classification for non-classified wetland areas derived from remotely sensed images

• Created a series of maps to analyze the factors associated with deteriorating coastal wetlands in New Jersey using ArcGIS.

•Vegetation analysis through remote sensing techniques to locate and calculate the amount of endangered marsh species for future protect ion ans restoration.

Resillience Youth Network

Educatuional Chair, Founding memebr

May 2014

• Ecological skills: Environmental Restoration, LandUse and Environmental Planning, Hydrology, Climate Resilince,Sustainability

• Spatial Analysis& Cartography: ESRI ArcGIS Software Suite (Vector, Raster, ModelBuilder, ArcGIS Online) , Google Earth Engine, Environmental Modeling, QGIS

• Satellite Imagery, Remote Sensing: ArcGIS Spatial Analytics Toolbox, Image Processing ( ENVI, ArcGIS, Python)

• Programming Languages: JavaScript, Python, R Studio

• Graphic Design: Adobe Suite, Adobe Creative Cloud, Rhino, Grasshopper, Autocad, Google Sketchup, 3DSMax, Vray,Lumion

HONORS

• First Place winner in 2020 Campus RainWorks Challenge Results in Demonstration Project Category

Growing Together, A community food forest for stormwater management at Andrew Hamilton School at Philadelphia, PA

• ASLA Student Award - Award of Excellence in Student Collaboration

Designing a Green New Deal

• Winner of the ISF Graduate Scholarship based on excellent qualification

• Winner of the merit-based scholarship of the University of Pennsylvania, Weitzman School of Design based on excellent qualification

•National full Scholarship for graduate studies

•National full Scholarship for undergraduate studies

Aug 2021 - Now

• Promote action to plan for natural risks to improve climate resilience in communities and the built environment.

• Raise awareness of built environment disasters though connecting with expets in climate resillience.

• Research and work on climate adoptation scenarios in urban design projects.

University of Pennsylvania

Teaching Assitant

Aug 2019- June 2021

• Co-taught Natural Systems with Prof. Sally Willing for 60+ students with non-environmental background through practical experiments.

• Organized outdoor workshops for 40+ students with non-ecology background to teach built environment and ecology as well as native plants.

• Taught 60 students in collaboration with Dr. Dana Tomlin, the founder of Map Algebra, in Google Earth Engine JavaScripts API, Python in ArcGIS(Arcpy Module) and ArcGIS API for Python.

Julia Watson Studio

Junior Urban Designer

March 2021- June 2021

• Develope nature-based technologies to bring creative and interdisciplinary thinking to urban projects and create resilient landscapes.

• Prepared proposals and site analysis regarding LO-TEK technologies for incorporated companies intrested in systematic and sustainable changes.

Viridian Landscape Studio

Landscape Architecture Intern

June 2019- Aug 2019

• Assisted in Educational Design Projects through converting final drafted plan into 3model using Rhino and SkethUp.

Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation / Drexel University

Volunteer Urban Planner

Oct 2017- Dec 2017

• Designed and developed planning framework for urban projects implementation.

May. 2021

LANDSCAPE RESTORATION

Provide landcover classification for non-classified wetland areas to identify and protect endangered species

Land cover data derived from remotely sensed images are an important feature of environmental impact studies, policy formulations, and flood and watershed management and modeling. Landscape architects frequently use thematic data such as that provided by the National Land Cover Database (NLCD); however, this data comes prepackaged after it has undergone many levels of interpretation and decision-making. Knowing more about these datasets allows to develop literacy about the environmental information that they often take for granted.

Mentor: Keith Vandersys

“Finding” water is a key step in most land cover datasets. Making material distinctions using multispectral imagery involves a great deal of interpretation as it is dependent on the detection index, satellite schedule, and tidal variation. This series of images shows different boundary locations between land and water depending on which classification method is used.

Regional Context

Multispectral imagery set within New Jersey coastal context.

Land

Locating Land

The position and area of land/ water changes depending on the water detection method. This image compares the outcomes of three of the most widely used indices: mNDWI; TCW; and NDVI.

Existing wetland datasets are woefully insufficient for accurate modeling of vulnerable coastal conditions. This set of images shows the difference in a model created with NLCD (Right) and site-collected data (Left).

TWI Wetland Classing

Image comparing existing landcover data (NLCD) and custom high-resolution wetland landcover data created by using UAV multispectral imaging.

INTERNATIONAL LANDCOVER CLASSIFICATION

NLUD Land Cover Classification (1000 m)

EU Land Cover Classification (500 m)

India Land Cover Classification (100 m)

International Classifications

The application of different international landcover classification standards to the same image clearly demonstrates how the spatial and thematic structure of various classification systems frame our understanding of the landscape. A comparison among the legends shows similarities and differences in how land cover themes are defined.

Multi year / Season Classifications

The application of different international landcover classification standards to the same image clearly demonstrates how the spatial and thematic structure of various classification systems frame our understanding of the landscape.

A comparison among the legends shows similarities and differences in how land cover themes are defined.

China Land Cover Classification (1000 m)

UAV Mapping

Coastlines are migrating upland faster than at any point in recorded history. As dunes and coastal marshes disappear, the need for littoral adaptation increases. In recognition of this, the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has placed an increasing importance on developing sediment placement strategies for restoring deteriorating coastal wetlands. These strategies, however, are still experimental and need to be monitored to track their performance. This project’s goal is monitoring and analyzing a recent sediment placement on Sturgeon Island in the Great Sound Bay of New Jersey.

Locating Land

Composite image comparing the land/ water boundaries of five different water detection indices.

SEAGRASS RESTORATION

CALIFORNIA KELP FORESTS

Seagrasses are all being lost globally, contributing to fewer carbon stocks on bed and in turn blue carbon emissions. Seagrass restoration has become a common management tool for recovering the ecological functions and services lost due to habitat fragmentation and degradation. The intervention phase is divided into two parts. Firstly, to avoid seagrass loss by improving water quality. Specific methods include reducing eutrophication, managing urban water systems by adding treating ditches and ponds, and supervising the industrial infrastructure applied on the site in order to formulate a protected water shoreline. Secondly, it comes the phase of restoring the disappearing seagrass. It’s important to improve sediment instability caused by excessive bioturbation before planting.

Soil De-eutrophication

Sediment Modification Manual Transplanting

Urban Sewage Treat Systam

Seagrass Restoration Strategies

Data Calculation : Carbon Sequested / yr

Total site area: 5.96 km x 3.15 km = 18.774km/2 = 18775000 m*2

Restored Shoreline Kelp Bed: 3.4% x Site area = 635000 m2 = 63.5 Ha (Sediment Modification Area+ Mechanical Micropropagation Area)

Carbon intake = Total C sequestration = The hectares of patches transplanted x 0.89 Mg C Ha-1 yr-1 = 56.5 Mg C / yr

Relocated Inland Seagrass Marsh: 0.9% x Site area = 179000 m2 = 17.9 Ha (Goleta Slough Manual Transplanted Area + Urban Water Purified Area)

Carbon intake = Total C sequestration = The hectares of patches transplanted x 0.89 Mg C Ha-1 yr-1 = 15.9 Mg C / yr

Mitigation Potential: 72.4 Mg C / yr

Uncertainty: standard error of seagrass decline rate, unstable emission rate of kelp

Other Impacts

The intervention is expected to imrove the long-term water quality, air conditions and biodiversity. When seagrass is successfully propagated, the amount of sea urchins decline which will in turn attract sea otters. The return of otters and other native animals will further contribute to the revival of seagrass meadow ecological system.

Moreover, the anti-trawler actions along some parts of the shore and lucid water will make more regional natural resources alive. Residents and students nearby acquire a better living environment and a space for ecological education. The carbon export to adjacent ecosystems through direct transport of seagrass detritus and through the spread of faecal matter takes energy to fisheries, stimulating their productivity.

Unintened consequences include excessive sediment management, sulfide concentration as well as huge cost.

177,044 gallons of gasoline consumed = 1,733,660 Pounds of coal burned

= 26016 trees seedlings grown for 10 years

Important Farmlands

Goleta Slough Goleta Estuary

ASLA Award of

Excellence

DESIGNING A GREEN NEW DEAL

Delta Region

The Delta region’s legacy of dispossession and natural resource extraction is the starting point for our vision of the Green New Deal in the Delta, which builds upon the strong foundation of organizing and resistance in the South.

A massive public investment in housing offers people liv ing in vulnerable areas the opportunity to live in safe and connected communities. A restored coast gives rebirth to a once-thriving fishing industry and reinvigorates the re

Virtual Exhibition

Proposed Interventions in the Delta

Restored coastal marshes sequester carbon from the atmosphere. Oil rigs are decommissioned and replaced by wind turbines, which support new coral reef growth. These remediation efforts create opportunities for high-wage jobs while building ecological buffers against future storms.

Urban Ecology

ECOLOGICAL EXPERIMENTS

Long-term changes in manged and unmanaged forests in Coweeta Hydrologic Lab

Dec. 2020

The experiment site located in southern Appalachian forests. Coweeta Hydrologic lab is part of the Coweeta LTER dedicated to developing process understanding of ecological dynamics in mountain deciduous forests. In this study, the experiment explored the influences of large-scale disturbances and vegetation responses on ecosystem processes.

The study question focuses on changes in vegatation patterns influenced by natural and managed disturbances and then described the linkages between long-term vegetation measurements and water yields and quality responses.

Mentor: Nick Pevzner

1842-1900

Indigenous settlements; livestock grazing, Harvesting large trees

1925 -1985-1988

Canopy Gap formation from drought ;

1963

Clearcutting & Agriculture; change in forest composition

1970-2000

Invasive species and disease; eliminate individual species from forest:

conversion of hardwoods to grasslands

Conversion of hardwood trees to pinus strobus or grasses

Forest cutting experiment Species conversion studies

Landuse demonstration

Sampling Plots

Human Disturbed Plots Reference Plots Reference Plots

• plot size:

• numbers:

• suitable sites: human-populated

- within Yellowstone National Park

- near Yellowstone Lake

- near roads

- near trails

- near rangelands / pasture lands

- near lakes or rivers

• Plot size: 8 hectares

• Numbers: 5 plots

• Suitable sites: less human presence

- where there is little human disturbance

- dense forested areas

Naturally Disturbed Plot

• Plot size: 8 hectares

• Number: 10 plots

• Suitable sites:

- higher elevation areas

- near hotsprings

- near animal habitats

- near grasslands/shrublands

• Plot size: 8 hectares

• Number: 10 plots

• Suitable sites:

- less natural disturbance

- protected areas as soil, water..

- less animal accessiblends

Treatments Timeline

Usually, a combination of these treatements needs to be applied at a given site for removal to be effective.

These methods are recommended to be applied at different times across the span of 10 years to truly see effects. This timeline would indicate how this experimental study would apply a cocktail of these methods to the Reference Plots to eradicate invasive species.

Measure & Time: Disturbed Plots

Human Disturbed Plots

Installation of sampling plots are

Recordings of existing on-site invasives native species and wildlifes are taken Invasive

Naturally Disturbed Plots

rapid

some non-native animal species are already present due to the existing nvasive species as ood source

already present due to the existing nvasive species as ood source

spread of some invasive species some native plants are displaced by invasives

invasives appear along roads some invasives can become more palatable or wildlife this stresses plants that are not adapted to grazing

more invasives appear along roads not adapted to grazing

with no known competition plants more invasives colonize the site invasives change the soil condition this in turn, changes the plant community and growth of native plant species

no known competition plants more invasives colonize the site

native species convert to eed on invasive species

some

Observation of influecne of vegetation change on wildlife, nutrients,soil and the other function of ecosystem Year 0 Observation and selection of sample plots in higher elevation and upland of yellowstone headwater watershed observation of invasive species and native plants

Year 3 Year 5 Year 10

Observation of the pattern and rate of spreading of invasive species in the site and it’s short-term effects of on native plants plant community

more non-native animals appear on site Study the long-term effects of invasive plants on ecosystem as reduce bio diversity, Increased frequency of wildfires Water shortages

some native wildlife species are orced out due to lack of ood source

Data Visualization

Arc GIS R

Calgary, CA

PREDICTING FLOOD INUNDATION IN CALGARY USING LOGISTIC REGRESSION

Flooding is a common type of natural disaster which could cause huge economic and social damages. In this project, we built a model using logistic regression to predict the flooding inundation of Calgary.

In the feature engineering phase, we took three different categories of variables, including Geographical and census data, spatial, and hydrological data as predictive variables to capture the characters of flooding locations. For instance, we included Flow Accumulation,, Flow Length, Basins, and Distance to water bodies to represent the hydrological condition of Calgary. These variables then, have been put on fishnet to determine their association with flood in 2013.

March. 2020 Group Work with Haitian Wang

CPLN675

Mentor: Ken Steif

Hydrological

Flow Accumulation Flow length Basin Distance to water bodies

The next step for our model process is split data randomly into 70% training set and 30% test set and then build the model on training set and validate the model on test set. The dependent variable for our regression model is flood inundation ranges from 0 to 1. 0 for non inundation areas and 1 for inundation areas.

As the result of logistic regression, we can see that “The variables are statistically significant in our model at a 90% confidence interval except for four variables: tree density, flow accumulation,basin, and flow length. After modeling the logistic regression. Our AUC was 0.9617, which indicates that our model is very good at discriminating between flooded and non-flooded.

We also performed a Cross validation presenting a 0.9650 accuracy, which means our model is quite solid in prediction. As observed, the predicted flooding area fits in the trend of actual flooding area while presenting a larger coverage with both severely and mildly affected areas. This is because our model is based on many hydrological variables .

Logistic Regression

Model Validation - Class Probability

Model Validation - AUC Curve

Cross- Validation

Data Visualization

Arc

PREDICTION OF 2020 DEVELOPMENT DEMAND IN DELAWARE VALLEY REGION

2. Data

The study adopted a quantitative approach, along with regression analysis to predict future development.

2.1.Land Cover Change as Development Indicators

The change of land cover from 2001 to 2011 indicates major developments in the decade.

1. Background

Delaware, USA

May. 2020 Group Work with Haitian Wang CPLN675

Mentor: Ken Steif

The DVR as core urban clusters of the Greater Philadelphia Region connects five adjacent states. While population grew from 5.1 million to 5.6 million, the developed area expanded by 1.5 times, signaling significant urban sprawl. The DVR region is forecasted to receive over 658,000 residents and more than 372,000 job opportunities from 2015 to 2045. (DVRPC, 2017) The region will face severe environmental damage if urban clusters continue sprawling at the preceding speed. Therefore, a projection study of future development demand will help observe development patterns and strategically alleviate sprawl through formulation of policy instruments.

2.2 Population Growth as a major Development Engines

Population is the foremost driving factor in development since an increase in population will bring about growth of density and employment. Intensive population growth has been observed in the north of Philadelphia.

2.1.3 Road network as a major Development Engines

In view of the high level of auto-dependency and consequently highway-oriented development patterns, our assumption is that development demand is likely to occur near highways to access better connection to destinations.

Landcover change 2001-2011

DVR Population 2001

DVR Population 2011

DVR Population change 2001-2011

3. Method

To achieve a level of accuracy, the study used the roughly one-acre grids as units of analysis. By spatial join data including land cover change, population distribution and distance to highway to the grids of both 2000 and 2010, we used logic regression analysis to study the development patterns. Based on the hypothesis that future development demand shares continuity of current development, the patterns learned from the previous decade would serve as the model of development demands in the upcoming decades.

4. Exploratory Analysis

The spatial lag (i.e. the calculation of spatial weighted average) to 2001 development illustrates development probabilities. Higher chance of development occurs in the periphery of the region and close to certain sections of the highway networks. Land cover change also indicated positive correlation with population change from 2000 to 2001. Among different types of land cover, farmland has the highest conversion rate, follow by developed land and forests, at 1.16%, 1.07%, and 0.67% respectively.

4.1 2010 Prediction and evaluation

2010 prediction was based on analysis of six logic regression models. As observed, most developments have been predicted with probabilities of lower than 20%. The model failed to provide robust results. For example, 5% threshold correctly predicts a lower number of new development areas (Sensitivity) whereas incorrectly predicts a higher number of not changed areas (Specificity). Similarly, all counties demonstrate higher numbers of incorrect 5 predictions of not

Land Use and Envirnmental Modeling

ARC GIS + HECGEOHMS

Soil Infiltration Calculation

calculate runoff potential using soil and land use data with ArcGIS and HEC-GeoHMS extensions

In this study it has been tried to use ArcGIS to wrangle the land use data and then relate it to the soil database and calculate curves using a specialized extension.

Soil Data:

HYDGRP – stands for soil hydrologic group. Ranges from A,B,C,D. Based on grouping of soil types that have the same run off potential.

A are soils having high infiltration rates; chiefly sands or gravel.

B moderate infiltration.

C slow infiltration.

D very low infiltration like clay

May. 2020

CPLN675

Mentor:

Ken Steif

Using HEC-GeoHMS extension in ArcGIS for taking land cover and soil type as inputs and creating a curve number (CN) based on a set of assumptions about how the two inputs interact to produce a certain amount of runoff given a certain volume of rainfall. The HEC-GeoHMS extension essentially relates these categories of information in ArcGIS and calculates CN figures using a database called “ssurgo” (a national soil survey) and an algorithm that is used to estimate runoff.

This curve number can be used as a parameter in other models to understand how much of a landscape in a given watershed will drain overland into a water body or into a sewer system. This is important for understanding the degree to which runoff may cause risk of flooding.

In the last step union the soil data shapefile data to landuse polygons and get rid of geographic artifacts and then creating a table with data related to Curve Numbers to understand the relationship between landuse and soil type with respect to run off.

Add the Soil Data and associate each geometry a measure of soil typ.

Classify the polygons based on the percentage of soil type by adding 4 percent fields.

Generating CN Grid using HEC-GeoHMS extension and then comapre it in the table left.

LandUse Reclassifies LandUse polygons

Landscape Planning

REVOLUTIONARY INDUSTRIES

NEW PROPOSAL FOR RESILLIENCY BY CREATING NEW JOB OPPORTUNITIES THROUGH ATTRACTING ART-BASED INDUSTRIES IN ATLANTIC CITY

Atlantic City NJ, USA

New Jersey’s Urbanism relies alot on coastal’s industries. In recent decades, coatal areas suffered severely from sea level rise and storm surge during rapid climate change. The inequalities of climte change has affected these industries drasrically and therefore has created strong social and economic divides along these coastal communities.

Dec. 2018

Individual Work

LARP 601

This proposal sets up a strategic framework on smart landuse and focusing investement and development on new industries in Atlantic city as the cultural capital of New Jersey state with the emphasis on creating new job opportunites for the indigenous people as well as strengthening the tourism attraction and making money.

Mentor: Ellen Neises

In this propsal, Landscape is the bridge to tie tourists, local residents and industries back to the envirnment. It provieds opportunities for a resillient and sustainable development framework.

Population Vulnerability in New Jersey New Jersey Coast in History Sub Sites Comparisons

Atlan�c

Great

: Median Income, Low Poverty rate, Stable Economy, High Flood Risk

Toms River : High Income, Low Poverty rate, Strong Economy, High Flood Risk

Potentials and Issues in Atlantic City

Physical Vulnerability

Sea level rise 2050

With 3ft SLR the coast and lower central parts sink under water

Sea level rise 2100

with 6ft SLR about 90% of the city sink under water

Construction history

old housing in high risk areas in vulnerable to climate change.

ISSUES

wide range of ameni�es and entertainment within the city

The rich history within the urban context of the city

poten�al of developing new indus�es in vacant lands within a�rac�ons

poten�al of flood protec�on wi�hin natural features Tourism a�rac�on

Boradwalk limita�on

limited access to water

less liveliness

Not enough tourism a�rac�on within in the city

phusical and social vulnerability

severe damages all over the city due to frequesnt floods

Renewable Enrgies

Mangroves

Boardwalk

Historical a�rac�on Vacant Lands Mangroves

+ + + +

offshore wind farm project

Developing Design Strategy

In order to save the city from bankrupcy and unwanted commiunity migration, the new propsal refers to developing revolutionary industries, art-based industries, as a new tourism attraction which help not only to improve stagnant tourism industry in the city but also to highlight cultural values of AC and help to flourish the city.

tourism attraction

new as artbase industries portable structure for holding temporary events

redesign the vacant lots to fit new industries

Find opportunities for Adoptive reuse of vacant hotels and vacant lands for developing new industries

survive the city from bankruphighlight cultural and historical values of the city making money through new industries

Highlights in Atlantic City

mangrove as flood protection buffer wind power energy very old and vulnerable housing

large amount of vacant lands casino and hotels gambling as one of the main industry gambling as one of the main industry

redesign vacant lands holding events on roof tops

reuse of vacant hotels for events

reuse of lower floors for events

coast line

Selected

vacant

historical/cultural landmarks proposed open space for event

Existing green space

Proposed Section Design

potential of holding events

different quality of space

Functional open space in different time

shading pathway extended boarwalk event venue amphitheater

1st place Winner

Rainwork Challenge

Competition Philadelphia, PA Dec.2020 Team work

GROWING TOGETHER

A COMMUNITY FOOD FOREST FOR STORMWATER MANAGEMENT AT ANDREW HAMILTON

With a lack of green space, access to fresh and healthy foods, and stormwater management systems, Andrew Hamilton School is in need of sustainable and food-producing green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) that would benefit both the students and the community of West Philadelphia. Our design will lower the school’s stormwater fee, mitigate flooding in the community, alleviate the urban heat island effect, and provide access to fresh healthy food for students and the surrounding community.

Mentor: John Miller

We propose a plan that will incorporate a green roof, rain gardens, raised beds, a food forest, and permeable pavers. To improve students’ engagement with GSI, our project will also incorporate educational signage, the development and implementation of both hands-on watershed-focused and nutrition-oriented curricula, and a mural created by the school’s students depicting the role of water in urban sustainability and resilience.

The school had to pay $13,000 every year in stormwater fees. After redesigning, the school will save $10,560/yr

Total Investment: $120,166

Net Present Value: $131, 698

Investment Return: 8.798 %

Green Spaces Signage

Reduction in Overall Impervious Area: 20,020 sq. ft

Reduction in Directly connected impervious area: 12,455 sq. ft

Percentage increase in CO2 Sequestered (lbs CO2/yr): 873%

Area of Protected/restored native species: 25,675 sq. ft

Annual Groundwater recharge: 29,339 gallons

Roof Area Shaded by Vegetation: 15, 500 sq ft.

Surface Run-Off Rainwater Garden

THE CAP

A CONNECTIVE PATHWAY FOR BRIDGING AND CAPPING THE PIECES AND COMMUNITIES BACK TOGETHER

Urban Design

New York, NY, USA May. 2019 Group Work with Zipping Zheng LARP 602

The concept of Tri-boro line was introduced by RPA as the infrastructure investment that directly links the the east borough with the Manhattan-centric subway system. Based on the study of the Tri-boro line, the studio elaborates the dirct impacts of this potential on the neighborhood adjacant to the propsed station stops.

The selected site is in Queens, New York City. It Lies next to St. Michael Cemetery and close to La Guardia Airport and M, R Train Northern Blvd Station. Because of its location within the regional context, our site has great potential to be developed in the future which provide new housing, new working space, new business, and new connections through Tri-Boro line and subway.

Mentor: Nicholas Pevzner

This is a sustainable urban design project that emphasize on greater mobulity, better access to jobs, and opportunities for transit oriented development.

It reconnects the isolated districts and establishes a continues network of public realm and amenities and change it into a destination for both New York city and surrounding neighborhood.

Brooklyn queen expressway as Barrier Grand central Parkway as Barrier

Grand Central Parkway Capping Park - Mixed Use Residential District Development

Cap park connecting isolated neighborhoods by highway.

Cap park creating central public ralm in middle at the heart of the walking system at top of the highway

Plaza Daily use

Mixed Use Development on top of BQE Capping - New Gateway of St.Michael Cemetery

Bridging Park - Auto Industry Cluster - Mixed Use Development - Commercial District

Bridge park over haighway connecting neighborhoods

Plaza Event Time

Typology of Open Space

flexible open space for big events

corridor +green area corridor+entrance Outdoor seating area stairs+seating area

Central Public Realm and different activity

briding park over the highway

flexible open space for big events seating area

dedicated bike lane continues pathwalk

corridor toward the cemetary station big plaza mix-use station buiding

Year 1

Remove solid pavement; excavate wetland; refill peatland; build solid riverbank sow grass and legume sow forest (too small in the begining)

Year 5

Mature wetland; mature peatland; mature grassland; half matured forest to clean air pollution

Year 15

Expanded wetland; richer peatland; shrunk grassland with trees

GREEN X BLUE REDEFINERY

Philadelphia Energy Solutions’ Refinery Complex Competition

Philadelphia, PA

Given the 1300-acre Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) Refinery site located along the Schuylkill River in southwest Philadelphia, we reinvisioned the site as a GreenXBlue hub to bring livability to the city as well as creating resiliency in this highly polluted site.

Dec.2020 Team work

The design elements are as follows: Preserve Philadelphia’s post-industrial character through industrial-to-park adaptive reuse approach to transfer NIMBY use into public accessible open space, and interactive wetland parks. Enhance community involvement in the planning procedure of post-industrial transition, bring equity and transparency to the public in the nearby neighborhoods.

Establish an urban framework and transportation network to better connect to nearby neighborhoods and enhance inter-neighborhood circulation. Provide building space for value-added industries, manufacturing and logistics that will enhance Philadelphia’s comparative advantages, boost economy and provide job opportunities for refinery workers and other Philadelphia’s essential workers.

THE FARMTOWN IN CITY

BUILD DYNAMIC, HOLISTIC SYSTEMS OF GREEN

SPACES AND CREATE A DEEP BOND BETWEEN THE PLACE AND COMMUNITY

Urban Design

San Jose, CA, USA

May. 2020

Individual Work

LARP 702

Mentor:

Marcel Wilson

Ryan Buckley

Katy Martin

Historically known as the valley of Heart Deligent, San Jose produced a significant amount of fruits and vegetables for nearly two centries until 1960s. The emergence of tech companies accelerated the urbanization and contributed to the rapid decrease of farmlands. Today, City of San Jose is faced with many social and envirnmental problems that came along with rapid urbanization, such as food insecurity, lack of public open spaces and homeless issues. The proposal transforms the 238-acer neglected green space into a vibrant urban park through promoting a wide range of recreataional and agicultural activitesin the park. The proposal includes a framework to revitalize the neighborhood and enhance the connection between the park and its surrounding neighborhoods. The new park circulation is defined to make a continiues connection among the three main activity zones in the park as well as connection with the city.

Regional Context Analysis Socio-Economic Background

22% 18%

employment population growth median Age

11% 82%

Much of the land today has been transferred to urban footprint, though it is the most productive and high-quality land for food production.

Before the arrival of computers and information technology, San Jose hada200-yearhistory of prosperous agricultural output.

Creating different quality of space in the park for different groups of users from daily office workers to family and young childrens to have fit their needs in different time

Entrance Plaza View

Riverside View

Multi-Purpose Amphitheater View

Native Vegetated Mounds

Dedicated Boarwalk

Vegetated Terraced Riverside

purifying Plants Along the River

Professional experience

SO LLC

NewYork City, NY

May.2021

Individual work

During my experience in Julia Watson LLC, I had the chance to practice collaborative work in real context and become skillful and experienced enough to prioritize and manage design and research projects with proficiency. Venderbilt project is a residential complex which a wide range of variety in landscape naming as Rood terraces, Courtyards, Circulation gardens... We collaborated with architecs to design the most suitable landscape for the places. I worked on preparing detailed sections introcing ecotones, plant species and quality of spaces and then prepared rendering in Rhino and Vary for some areas. In Julia Watson studio, I had the chance to research and work with Julia Watson, a leading expert of Lo—TEK nature-based technologies for climate-resilience, to develop creative and conceptual, interdisciplinary thinking to urban projects and corporate clients interested in systemic and sustainable change.

07 Workshop

BRIDESBURG PARK ADVANCED CONSTRUCTION DETAIL

Philadelphia, PA

Dec.2019 Team work

The riverfront community park located in Philadelphia has been selected to practice design and provide construction detail for implementaion over the course adavanced workshop. The main points are as follows: Work on technical aspects of site design, with an emphasis on site grading, site engineering, and landscape performance. Functional consideration related to landscape and associated systems were explored as vital and integral components of landscape design, from concept to execution.

Grading Plan

Planter Section Scale 3/4” = 1’

Plarking Lot Section Scale 3/16” = 1’

Enlargement Planting Plan

Enlargement Planting Plan

Enlargement Material Plan