Reclaiming the charm of a Sonoran pueblo 2 Community pride through sculptural monumentation 3 Bringing barren drainages back to life through public activation 4 Story-telling and planning at a historic cultural crossroads 5 Researching, analyzing, and illustrating planning policy 6 Low Impact Development in urban plazas 7 Conceptual design and adaptive reuse at a Texas civic center 8 Framing new perspectives at a public lands visitor center 9 Landscape drafting and photorealistic simulation 10 Front Range landscape design and construction 11
landscape/planning portfolio
PLACITAS
My design goal for the dilapidated pueblo of Fronteras, MX, was to break up the wall-like boundaries of the town’s axial main street, and create desert oases from the town’s existing waters. Removal of select run-down buildings creates pedestrian-scale, commercial plazas, oriented perpendicular to the street. Within these, a more intimate sense of place can be felt, and views are opened towards the town’s lush fields and rugged mountains. From these plazas, residents and visitors are drawn to a network of pathways paralleling soothing, historic earthen canals; these, in turn, connect to a proposed equestrian center and eco-lodge along the Rio Fronteras. Utilizing GIS, CAD, Sketchup, PS, and IL, I modeled the terrain of the valley, laid out the town’s existing and proposed form in plan and in 3D, and rendered presentation graphics. This design was awarded the ASLA-AZ Student Group Award of Excellence (2009), and today serves as the pueblo’s master plan.
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My primary contributions to a master plan for a hospital expansion were the design of a children’s garden and site monumentation (above and left; University of Arizona Design Excellence Group Award, 2010). By day, children are delighted by vibrant animal sculptures, and by night, lamps inspired by the graceful sideoats grama grass illuminate and transform this place of healing. I mocked up this concept on trace and in wire and beads, modeled it in Sketchup, and rendered scenes using Illustrator and Photoshop. Working pro-bono on another project, I designed a sculptural abstraction of the flamenco dress train (Sketchup) set within a traffic circle rain garden (AutoCAD), ushered its approval through the City’s DOT, and oversaw its construction in a Tucson neighborhood.
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Building upon my professional expertise in riverside planning, I focused my master’s thesis on the reclamation of urban stormwater systems as public open-spaces. One product of this research was the creation of municipal design guidelines (Pima County, AZ) for multi-use Green Infrastructure BMPs. Using AutoCAD, PS, IL, and ID, I created a methodical manual illustrating multidisciplinary concepts and a recommended design process. I also applied these principles to the conceptual design of a 17-acre open space park, which was constructed in 2011. This research and design gained the Desert Studies Award (Garden Club of America, 2009), as well as the University of Arizona’s Dept. of L.A.’s Outstanding Thesis Award (2010); in 2011, I presented this research to chapters of CO-ASLA, along with Axel Bishop, FASLA.
Planting, 2011
Grading, 2011
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As-Built, 2012
Tumacacori National Historical Park’s 2005 acquisition of an adjacent ranch property necessitated a cultural landscape inventory. As lead researcher and author, I analyzed historic photos, land records, and site drawings; described changes to the mission and park’s buildings and structures over several archtiectural eras; interviewed stakeholders; and compared evidence to known technological and environmental changes. Organized both chronologically and thematically through prose, tables, maps, and illustrations, this document has been referred to as an “encyclopedia” of the park’s built form by the park’s chief of resources. Since its completion, it has opened new opportunities for visitor interpretation, structural preservation, and historic landscape restoration at the park. Mission layout analysis per historic drawing, 1853
Mission growth and circulation patterns, 1771-1828
Garden design conceptual development, 1936-1938
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I have conducted planning research as both a government employee (BLM and Valley Metro Rail), and for three planning firms (Transcon Environmental; Environmental Planning Group; and Winter and Company). This work has included illustrating a flow chart of the design review approval process for Roswell, GA (right, Illustrator); illustrating the electric grid for a project in Kingman, AZ (below, Illustrator), reviewing and suggesting improvements to the municipal zoning code of Chandler, AZ, to promote adaptive reuse (next below, Excel); and analysis of visual resource impacts caused by a powerline proposal on Scottsdale, AZ (furthest below, GIS).
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As a student, I used Sketchup to conceptualize and produce presentation graphics of urban plazas and streetscapes (left). I have since applied these skills to model urban design guidelines for professional design offices (Design Collaborations; Winter and Company). Recently, with your company, I modeled typologies of positive open spaces and building massing strategies within suburban commercial centers for Chandler, AZ (directly below), and mocked-up Low-Impact Development infrastrucuture designs for office parks in Roswell, GA (furthest below).
Pedestrian entry plaza
Building articulation
Positive open space basin
Street
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Stormwater Planter
Bioswale
Rain Garden
In 2014, I worked for your company to conceptually design, model, and render a civic plaza for Georgetown, TX. This design realizes stakeholder preferences through the use of vernacular forms, contemporary architectural materials, traditional plantings, and a circulatory framework that enhances buildings and outdoor places. The design includes an amphitheatre, axial promenade, tensile shade structures, multi-use plaza, elevated reading gardens, expanded sculpture garden, pick-up/drop-off, a children’s splash pad, and a destination bar and grill via adaptive reuse of a historic power plant.
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Outdoor cafe seating
K
St.
Shade corridor
Reading gardens
Expanded sculpture garden
9th S treet
Children’s play area
St st re Fo
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Amphitheater
Large plaza behind library
In collaboration with architecture student Youngsoo Kim, I designed a visitor center for Madera Canyon in the Coronado National Forest. Formal plantings along a shaded entry ramp lead to powerfully-framed views from an observation tower, and pensive and private places within a contour-hugging arboretum of locally and regionally native plants.
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Soils/hardscape section detail (NTS)
STEEL-REINFORCED CONCRETE SEATWALL WITH 1 " CHAMFERED EDGES 2 6" AGGREGATE SUBBASE 2'-0"
5" AGGREGATE SUBBASE PREPARED SUBGRADE 5" CONCRETE BASE REINF. AS REQUIRED 1/2" MORTAR SETTING BED
1/8" CONTROL JOINT
712"
1" SAND BED
412"
SLOPE 4" THICK CONCRETE CAST IN PLACE (TYP.)
PLANT BED PLANTING SOIL MIX AS SPECIFIED
3"
CAST IRON GRATE & FRAME (SEE DETAIL 1)
2'-918"
3'-93 8"
2'-65 8"
2'-65 8"
4'-412"
3 " 4
1/2" MORTAR JOINTS
CONCRETE FOOTING, REINF. AS REQUIRED, DEPTH VARIES WITH FROSTLINE, 12" MIN.
COMPACTED SUBGRADE
Irrigation control/pump detail (NTS)
PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT
Irrigation Zoning/Sidewalk Layout (NTS)
I am proficient drafting with AutoCAD and Revit for the production of construction documents. Shown here are a ground section (top; student), irrigation and hardscape plan (above left; EPG, LLC), and irrigation detail (above right; EPG, LLC). I am also skilled at using AutoCAD 3D and Civil 3D, in conjunction with 3ds Max and Photoshop, to create photorealistic simulations of transmission tower, power-line, building pad, and ROW clearance proposals (below, EPG, LLC). Civil 3D: draping project features
Simulated Conditions
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3ds Max: Matching the scene & rendering
Photoshop: stitching & blending
Recently, I have focused my attention on residential landscapes as both a designer (Refuge Land Design) and a foreman (Ecoscape Environmental Design). In these projects, I have designed and/or built: drainage and water retention systems; flagstone and concrete walks, patios, and walls; rock retaining walls, firepits, and rock gardens; irrigation systems (drip and spray); lighting and wiring; paver surfaces; a pollinator garden and a Colorado ecosystems garden. In this work, I have produced construction estimates, selected and arranged delivery of materials, overseen work crews, practiced many crafts, and translated plans to construction process. In combination with my work as a gardener at Denver Botanic Gardens (top), these experiences have also helped me form an excellent foundation of landscape design practices suitable for the Front Range.
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