portfolio
Nancy Gandarilla Valenzuela Bachelor of Landscape Architecture 2020
Nancy Gandarilla Valenzuela Texas A&M University Bachelor of Landscape Architecture
Contact: nancygpvalens@gmail.com 806.440.1105
Connect: linkedin.com/in/nancygpvalens instagram.com/latierrafirme
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During my internship, I wore the color yellow everyday for the first week. It was completely accidental, and I didn’t realize until someone told me. Yellow isn’t even my favorite color; it’s emerald green. Still, I was subconsciously drawn to the vibrant and lively color. When I think about what I want to do with my career, yellow is the color that best represents it. My goal is to create vibrant-lively places that draw people in while positively impacting them and the surrounding community.
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Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Austin Texas
Table of Contents Regenerating Love Creek
6-9
Ecological Stewardship & Education
Engaged
Downtown Revitalization
18 - 21
University Greenscape
10 - 13
Inclusive Plaza Design
Old Town Texas
Aggie Park
Nolanville Community Park
22 - 25
Urban Agriculture & Resilience
14 - 17
Garden Mix
26 - 27
Sketchbook Excerpts
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Regenerating Love Creek
collaborative project with Sara Prybutok and Ray Wooten 2018 studio under direction of Michael Teal and Russel Reid Design Development: Markers and Sharpies on Trace At the heart of Love Creek Preserve, there is a leveled parcel where a ranch home and pecan grove once stood. It is on this barren plot that the new management envisions the future of Love Creek. While the rest of the preserve is slated for conservation, this barren plot is to be transformed into something equally as important: an educational headquarter for the region. As crucial as it is to protect the habitat of threatened bird and reptilian species, without educating the public, the fragile ecosystem will continually be diminished.
Design Development: Markers and Pens on Trace
In this collaborative project, my team sought to transform the site into a series of environmentally rich gardens and outdoor classrooms. By implementing a variety of learning activities and reintroducing nature to the razed portion of the site, the nature preserve could open their doors to a wide range of users and create a community to support the educational headquarter and conservation of the preserve.
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Design Development: Pen and Markers on Trace
1 headquarters
6 desert garden
11 landmark windmill
16 hill country meadow
2 welcome entry
7 restrooms
12 arbor
17 firefly outlook
3 sunflower garden
8 storage
13 ranching demonstration
18 trailhead
4 open lawn
9 amphitheater
14 bird habitat
5 homestead remains
10 pollinator garden
15 native wildflowers
9 8 7
18 10
6 5
16 11 1
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17
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15
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Original Conceptual Site Plan Done in Illustator
My role in the project was masterplan design and graphic leader. In this role, I worked to create a cohesive design strategy that would integrate my partner’s ideas and balance our goals (as illustrated in the various iterations on page 6 and 8). One of the strategies I used was creating a series of gardens that would morph from spaces that focused on the site’s history and built amenities to the ecological benefits of the preserve. Through research and collaboration with site managers and my partners, the design achieves both human and wildlife needs and conservation goals. ▝My other contribution was designing the lush entry garden; a demarcation welcoming visitors to the educational gardens (as illustrated to the right). 8
Welcome Entry Garden 9
Engaged
individual project & Excellence in Diversity Award 2018 studio under direction of Michael Teal and Russel Reid Texas A&M has a student body slightly over 68,000. Students of different religions, nationalities, colors, abilities, and preferences all call Aggieland home. The diversity is heightened by the faculty, staff, and visitors on campus each and every day.
Initial Design Concept
The vision of Engaged was to create an inclusive environment for everyone on campus to gather. Central to the design is a plaza that would not only function pragmatically but symbolically. The plaza is built off the symbology of helping and accompanying one another; that unity that is found in a neighbor lending a hand. The initial design concept can be seen to the right; here, two hands are bonded together. As I abstracted the concept for the design, I was determined to make the center of the bond a prominent and engaging design feature.
Design Abstraction into Plaza 10
increased circulation community gathering hammocking opportunity
Rodin inspired landmark sculpture
calming seating alcove
open lawn
shaded walkways
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Illustrating Spatial Breakup
Programming Diagram
Still, a landmark at the center of a plaza would not achieve the inclusive environment I wanted. As seen above, in both the spatial and programming diagrams, I was working to create a unique and inviting space on campus that catered to individual preferences. While the landmark plaza, as illustrated to the right, would attract and represent the entirety of the A&M community, it was the pocket atmospheres and entry experiences that would create spaces for the variety of different activities needed on campus, such as the calming alcove and hammocking yard. 12
Diversity Plaza Landmark 13
Old Town Texas
collaborative project with Lexi Brandt, Sara Prybutok, Jorge Toriz 2018 studio under direction of Michael Teal and Russel Reid La Grange is a small town that embodies the spirit of Texas. At its core sits its historic downtown; a parcel of land that has morphed greatly since the town’s incorporation in 1850. While this small storied downtown still draws residents and visitors, its current state is a lackluster car-centric square. For this collaborative project, my team was tasked to reimagine the downtown as a lively city center.
Design Development: Sharpie and Trace
My role in the project was team leader. In this role, I bound together my teams’ ideas, led graphic representation, and primarily spent my time designing the streetscapes. Together with Lexi Brandt, Sara Prybutok, and Jorge Toriz, I worked to achieve the goal of integrating sustainable infrastructure and increasing greenspace, all while adhering to the character that distinguished the community.
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Design Development: Hand and Digital
Historic Smart Kiosk
Murals Gardens
Parking City Hall Pop-Up Parks
Photograph in SMU archives: circa 1908 A
In my role, I was looking at the big picture in order to create a unified design. To ensure that this design would fit into the community, I researched the historic aesthetic of the town and uncovered photos as shown above. These photos ultimately inspired the graphic representation style and interventions for the team.
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Design Development: Hand Sketches
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Raised Pedestrian Walkways safer routes to expand connectivity
Shade Trees improved air quality and cooler microclimate
Biking System introduction of new safe mode of transportation to the city
Planting Strip
Bioswale
plants stimulating sense of sight
water filtration system to mitigate flooding during storm events and protecting the city
and smell and attracting pollinators
Permeable Paver Systems increase water infiltration; use different textures and colors to establish boundaries
Expanded Walkway Space allowing businesses to display outside and attract visitors
Complete Streetscape for Major Road 17
Aggie Park
MLPD class award collaborative project with Blaire Ferrel, Paige Kolupski, Madison Wavra,and Ray Wooten 2019 studio under direction of Ken Hurst and Ryun Jung Lee
contribution by Ray Wooten and Madison Wavra Design Developement: Graphite on Trace
Aggie Park is full of life 7 days a year. Those 7 days are home game days during which a community of Aggie enthusiast join together for the tradition of tailgating. Crowds fill the parkland across from Kyle Field from early morning into the late afternoon to support and celebrate the Spirit of the 12th Man. Apart from this very important use, Aggie Park remains unused the remainder of the year. My team was tasked to provide a design that would transform the much eroded and underused 20 acres into a park that attracted daily use while simultaneously serving as a large retention basin for Texas A&M University.
Design Development: Illustrator
Together my team worked to transform the remnant piece of greens into a point of connection on campus. Our mission was to thread together the community’s traditions and its future while increasing the access to natures plentiful benefits.
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Design Development: Digital Mixed Media
event center
presidents house
great lawn
tree grove
hammocking grove
extention of Military Walk
central plaza
mural
Aggie Spirit Walk
terracing
infinity bridge
lake
iconic bridge tailgating lawns
waterfall pond
amphitheater
Aggie Ring Plaza
PLAN RENDERING BY RAY WOOTEN 19
e
jog gin gp at h
viteis heal i t t c
ts safety a en
y
MICROCLI M A TE tailgating
wi
nature e x h
ar
even t c en te r
es ac p s
land ma rks t
CONNECTIVIT Y mmocking fi ha
water
TIVE AP ition AD trad
ayfindi n g ces w l igh ting iren pe ex stu ry d nt
Design Goals
ds tlan we
riences ev pe
metered jogging path, gathering spaces, event varied views, different center, proposed cafe, natural exper seating options, tailgating, iences, wildlife attraction, hammocking, relaxing white semi prinoise vate from setwatertings, fall, disevent verse plantcenter, ings, eletailvation gaitng, changes public wetlands attracriver, stormtion, water detention center student attraction
Design Program
Apart from designing with my partners (as seen in the design development on page 18 and in the above diagrams), my role in the project was to lead the design development of the entry corridors, integrate art within the parkland, and calculate the stormwater capacity within our design. For the design of the entry corridors, the idea was driven by the desire to extend existing spaces into the parkland. The team’s desire to have the park serve the surrounding communities meant that the entry corridors took both symbolic cues, such as the extension of Military Walk, and physical cues, such as the creation of the Aggie Spirit Walk that drew from Kyle Field’s entry. Integrating art into the parkland included more than the Mural Experience (illustrated to the right), but also informed design features such as the central reflection water features and infinity bridge. Arguably, my most important contribution was to calculate the designs ability to capture water. Our requirement was to retain a minimum 4 million gallons of water, which we surpassed by over a little over a million. 20
Parkland Mural Experience 21
Nolanville Community Park
Winner of ENDEAVR Pinnacle Award & ENDEAVR Spirit Award collaborative project; individual design 2020 under the direction of Chanam Lee and Amaryllis Park Nolanville Community Park is the final project of my undergraduate career. During this project, I was partnered with a multidisciplinary team consisting of computer science, engineering, landscape architecture, and urban planning students. What follows is my contribution which fits into a larger scale answer to problems faced by the town of Nolanville.
location of site intervention
floodways
street W Avenue
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FM 439
9th Street
W Avenue
Nolanville is a town with approximately 5,000 residents and is quickly growing. Large portions of countryside are being converted into suburban areas, exasperating the existing flooding issues of the community. The most vulnerable community members face such flooding on top of added challenges such as not having a local grocery store. To address the flooding and lack of a fresh food source within the community, I proposed the creation of a community agriculture-based park that enhances the water detention capacities within Nolanville.
neighborhoods
ureland native Past
Nolanville pro
et
5th Stre
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brookside estates
perties city of nolanville
Twin oa ks mobile
home park
site
Site Inventory and Analysis
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intuitive gardening plot
nature play yard
active yard
pavilion
terracing
formal gardening mini orchard entry allĂŠe
retention basin
community new traffic parking pattern
rehabilitated creek
community yard
police depot
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As seen on page 22, in the site inventory and analysis, Nolanville Properties is a neighborhood primarily composed of trailer homes. The multiple families living in these homes face flooding and erosion undercutting the single paved road into the community; a road which poses a hazard through high speeds and lack of safe pedestrian crossings.
Community Pavilion
Formal Gardening Center 24
The proposed park aims to create a healthier safer neighborhood for Nolanville Properties residents and members of the surrounding communities. Through the creation of a retention basin, on the existing degraded ephemeral creeks location, flooding events would no longer threaten the community. A well-designed retention basin would capture and clean the water and provide a scenic outlook for community members instead. The majority of the parkland surrounding this basin would be agriculturally focused. This focus would provide members not only with a fresh food source, but also with the extended benefits of being in nature, like decreased blood pressure and reduced stress. While parents and guardians tended to garden (as shown bottom left), young family members and children could enjoy the nature play and active yard areas (seen to the right). Likewise, a relaxing gathering could take place in the community pavilion central to the design (top left).
A Nourishing and Protecting Landscape 25
Garden Mix Sketchbook Excerpts
No matter the size, every project starts in my journal. I have one for each semester full of notes, scribbles, and my process. The following is a mix of excerpts from quick sketches to notes on contracts. The mix represents my thought process, how I interpret the world, and how I inform my design process.
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Sketchbook Pages 27
Let’s connect! Nancy Gandarilla Valenzuela nancygpvalens@gmail.com 806.440.1105