Current Works

.2015

Selected Work Mark Simonin

Mark Simonin 8844 Soule Rd Holland Patent, NY 13354 mark.a.simonin@gmail.com phone. 315.525.9342

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.Community Change

Rivers to Ridges Heritage Trail.

Putnam and Mason County. West Virginia AmeriCorps VISTA Partnership The Rivers to Ridges Heritage Trail is a 501C-3 nonprofit organization founded in July 2006 through a cooperative agreement between the Mason and Putnam County Commissions and the Greater Kanawha Resource Conservation and Development Area, Inc. The coalition was created to support projects that encourage heritage education and tourism throughout the communities of the lower Kanawha River Valley.

0.02

Preserving the Memory of Virgil Lewis Feasability Study

PO Box 874 Scott Depot, WV 25560 www.riverstoridges.com

Prepared for the Mason County Commission and the Town of Mason by Rivers to Ridges Heritage Trail

The mission of Rivers to Ridges is to enhance and promote economic activities, through technical and financial assistance, for the development of an education and tourism corridor which follows the Kanawha River from Nitro, WV, to Point Pleasant, WV. The intention is to preserve the physical and cultural remains of the unique heritage of Putnam and Mason County, and the overall promotion of the lower Kanawha River Valley as a destination site to foster economic development in the area.

September 2012

The Corridor Management Plan is a comprehensive planning document the outlines current conditions along the entire region encompased by Rivers to Ridges (see map), as well as envisions potential projects and opportunities for the future.

The Virgil Lewis Feasability Study looked into various options for the future of the historic Virgil Lewis House in Mason, West Virginia. This included several park design schemes that were evaluated and and later approved to move forward with.

This is a selection of projects that I worked on during my two and a half year time with Rivers to Ridges/AmeriCorps.

Right.

Corridor map of the complete region Rivers to Ridges operates in, created for the 2012 Corridor Management Plan and general promotion of the area.

Supervising trail building work at the Norman Walter Nature Area in Redhouse, West Virginia with AmeriCorps NCCC volunteers. The trail is a 1.5 mile loop for school groups and public access.

A small park space that overlooks the Kanawha River and Locks in Winfield, WV. Four signs were installed that tell about the history and workings of the locks and the changes to the river.

1.00

.Historical Reinterpretation

Water Then | Water Now. Copenhagen. Denmark

Below.

Copenhagen is a city tied directly to the water that surrounds it. Since its founding and rise to the capital of Denmark and the Scandinavian region, the use of the adjoining water has been vital to the city’s success. The uses of the water have shifted over time, socially as well as physically, and make for a unique evolution; city and water together.

This project aims to present a cohesive look at how the landscape’s form and function have changed over time, beginning with Copenhagen as a small village, called Havn, up to the present condition. This knowledge is very important in relation to design because a built project is physically and socially adding to the history of a place and culture. Knowing the past landscape creates a stronger and more meaningful reading of the present.

1.02

Documenting and representing change over time was the primary challenge in clearly conveying information in this project. How can an ever-changing city be understood at given points and still seem dynamic? The first obvious solution was to create a series of maps that very simply show the form of the city at a set scale. Changes over time are seen formally, white the landform, gray the city, and black the ocean. A second solution was to create a personal viewpoint from each period, insights into daily lives and interactions with the landscape. Letters served as the best platform for this, and, though fictional, all are based on actual events during the given period and the landscape at that time. To summarize major concepts, maps representing the metaphorical meaning of the water were made to visually show differences within the city. Each representation brings out information differently to clearly show the changes that have occurred.

Created from historic documents and several Danish references, the mass space scaled maps show the changes of the Copenhagen waterfront. Obvious jumps in development occurred most between 1600 and 1800 and 1800 and the present. In comparing the maps collectively, traces of past forms can be seen in later periods and make sense of land masses of the current city. (using adobe illustrator)

context

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Kobenhavn 1200

Kobenhavn 1400

Kobenhavn 1600

Kobenhavn 1800

Kobenhavn 2010

Following pages.

1.04

As a way of personalizing the historical research of Copenhagen, facts of the city’s history are presented through fictional characters in the format of written letters. The goal was to write a truthful narrative that told about the landscape of Copenhagen at the given period. The writing style is contemporary and is in no way of the period, but actual locations, events and names are used.

Four letters were composed for five seperate time periods, and later translated to Danish. Excerpts are presented here.

An infographic style map for each time period (1200, 1400, 1600, 1800, 2010) aims to convey the overall attitude toward the water and the metaphoric value it had to those living in the region.

flows.

spring run of atlantic salmon

water as | foodshed 1200 fall run of atlantic herring

Dear Mother and Father,

local population of flounder and cod

...the herring are everywhere this time of year...Camilla and Ingrid will be working in salting

and packing the fish while Axel and I will be pulling nets...We

hope for good catches

late summer early fall movement from mainland europe to københavn for atlantic herring fishing

...hope to be returning in the late fall...

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movement.

depths. water as | amenity 2010

water as | global connector 1800

Dear Georg,

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.africa .south america .asia .north america

shipping channels

4m

Dear Christina, ...Traffic is mainly other recreational boats...leisure pace...

There are ‘harbor pools’ where swimming is allowed right in the harbor

...How is your new life in America?...

Love, Father Love, Father

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royal naval shipyards of gammelholm and nyholm

...It seems very quaint and tour boats come and go under the low bridges...

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2.00

.Movement Through Time

Hanover Square. Syracuse. New York In use from 1825, the Erie Canal was a key shipping route between the Great Lakes and New York City and the Atlantic Ocean. The state of New York benefitted greatly from the canal, and the city of Syracuse was a large stopping point along the route. The canal passed through the downtown area, and many goods were brought off from the canal boats and distributed or sold.

The site of Hanover Square was only a block off from the canal and became a main unloading area and temporal marketplace before the goods were taken away. In the early 20th century the canal route was shifted and Syracuse filled in the canal through the entire city. This left much of the downtown landscape, including Hanover Square, to reinvent itself with new use.

2.02

This new design references the movement of goods that took place on the site with large undulation planters that also serve as buffers on the east edge. A small stage protrudes out from the forms and the main space of the site is a sunken lawn area. It may be used as a viewing area for performance as well as an informal area for gathering and relaxing.

Site collage Early sketches (graphite) and site plan (ink)

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North

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.Between Flows

Moss Island. Little Falls. NY On the south edge of Little Falls, a former industrial town, runs the Erie Canal and Mohawk River. The waters join for much of the time, but split here because of a grouping of rapids that are impassible for any boater. Moss Island lays between these two flows of water and is wooded with steep topography on much of the land. To the south the elevation drops 20 to 30 feet to a small service road and than the canal. On the north side the Mohawk River flows past cliffs that run right up to the edge of the water and have sink holes that pierce through to the waterline below.

3.02

The proposed design seeks to improve access to the site in a safe manor. Walkways sit above the uneven surface of the rocks and viewing platforms are placed at high points overlooking the water. The stone’s hard geometries are referenced in the pathway layout, and also reference the blocky forms of the warehouses across the water to the north. In the thinnest section of the island play structures keep younger walkers interest and also provide seating by the canalway.

North

Moss Island Plan (graphite. watercolor)

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400

1200 ft.

Train Forest trail section (graphite. watercolor)

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Connecting corridor section (graphite. watercolor) Above.

Overlook perspective (graphite. watercolor)

Play field on corridor (graphite. watercolor)

Structure sketch (graphite)

4.00

.Reconciling Community

Design/Build Croatia. Ucenicki Dom “Podmurvice.�

Rijeka. Croatia Team Project. Professor Daniel Winterbottom

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60 ft.

Lead designer for the corridor landscape.

Originally a facility for a catholic monastery, the current building on site is used as a high school dormitory for teenagers to come to Rijeka from their hometowns, where they would not have the opportunity to attend high school.

The dormitory provides housing for the students, who then attend various schools in the city. The dormitory is their home.

4.02

Still adjoined to a Catholic Church, the dormitory has two outdoor courtyards that were underutilized and a degraded outdoor landscape largely overgrown. The goal of this project was to create a more suitable outdoor environment for high school age children to use. Ideas of therapeutic gardens were studied because of the regions physiological traumas after the Yugoslavian War. Youth are very closed to discussing the issues surrounding the conflict, so in part the goal of the project was to create spaces for dialog and openness for users. Improvements on drainage and access were also greatly needed.

The project encompassed four different spaces all surrounding the dormitory and all of which were constructed by the end of the design/build program. Croatian students helped in the design process as well as construction, and staff at the dormitory provided critique and suggestions for the proposed landscapes. Traditional building techniques were used where applicable and native plants were largely saved and replanted where changes were made.

North

Photographs.

Above.

Early site photographs Corridor site plan (graphite. colored pencil)

4.04

Completed corridor landscape detail and construction drawings for pathway

Photographs of completed work around the dormitory.

Mark A Simonin 8844 Soule Rd. Holland Patent, NY 13354 mark.a.simonin@gmail.com phone. 315.525.9342