Nelle Ward (RLA): Portfolio

Licensure & Education

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Master of Landscape Architecture; 4.0 GPA

Conway School of Landscape Design

Master of Science in Ecological Design; GPA N/A

University of Utah

BS Political Science; BA Environmental Studies; Cum Laude 3.9 GPA

Experience

NELLE WARD

09/2021

Offshoots, Inc. - Landscape Architect (RLA)

Landscape Architect - SD, DD, and CD set production assistance, Construction Administration, planting design, award application management, presentations, client communications, cost estimating, Quickbooks, social media, website.

Ground Reconsidered - Landscape Architect (RLA)

Landscape Architect - SD, DD, and CD set production assistance, Construction Administration, community engagement, graphics production, client communications, site visits and analysis, cost estimating, public meetings and presentations.

Pennsylvania Horticultural Society - Temporary Project Manager of Urban Design

Project Manager (6 mos) - Pop up garden design, planting installation, pre-bid meetings, community engagement event design and facilitation, public meetings and presentations, PHS Tree Tender certification, PHS Flower Show Staff.

nellekward@gmail.com

Studio Bryan Hanes - Landscape Designer

Landscape Designer and Co-Project Manager - SD, DD, and CD set production assistance, community engagement event, graphics production, site visits and analysis, client communications, cost estimating, intern manager.

NV5 (Formerly RBA Group)

Landscape Designer - SD, DD, and CD set production assistance, public presentations, client meetings and communications, cost estimating, graphics production.

UMass Teaching Associate - Landscape Contracting Course Instructor - lab/lecture presentations, management of grades and attendance.

UMass Teaching Assistant - Landscape Ecology: Pattern & Process

Lab Instructor - GIS tutorial instructor; grades/attendance; field lab instructor for Geomorphology of Streams, Sustainable Stormwater, Soil Horizons, and Forest Ecology.

Dodson & Flinker Associates (Intern)

Landscape Designer - plan set production, ArcMap GIS analysis, conceptual design, Sketchup modeling, research, client communications, technical support, office inventory.

Volunteer Work

Boston Food Forest Coalition

Steward - Garden Manager at Egelston Community Orchard

COG Design

Project Manager - Archdale Playground

Bartram’s Garden Plant Recorder

Volunteer, historic plan review, field verification of botanical inventory

2017-2021 (Seasonal summer position)

Public Speaking

Holyoke Community College

Guest Lecturer - “Urban Green Infrastructure”

Massachusetts Sustainable Campuses & Communities Conference

Speaker

Society for Ecological Restoration Conference

Charrette Co-Facilitator

Awards & Scholarships

PA-DE ASLA Honor Award: Analysis & Planning

Studio Bryan Hanes - South Side Park Master Plan - Project Manager

University Olmsted Scholar

University of Massachusetts Amherst

ASLA Merit Award

University of Massachusetts Amherst

BSLA Student Scholarship

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Paul Whitney Roades and Carolina Pree Scholarship

University of Massachusetts Amherst

BSLA Student Merit Award

The Conway School - Green Streets Guidebook

Honors

Phi Beta Kappa

National Academic Honor Society

Sigma Gamma Delta

Honor Society of Agriculture

Sigma Lambda Alpha

Honor Society of Landscape Architecture

Skills & Interests

Software Proficiency

Autocad

Vectorworks

Adobe Suite (InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator)

Rhino

Quickbooks

ArcMap

Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint)

Language Proficiency

Spanish (fluent)

French (conversational)

Musicianship

Distant Voices: Lead singer/song-writer

self-published 2020

Black Sky: Lead vocalist, lead guitar, song-writer, flute | self-published 2014

STAGHARE: Co-vocalist, percussion | Bezoar

Formations 2009

Hobbies

Muay Thai, meditation, camping, soccer, painting, photography

*References available upon request.

Contents

New England Biolabs Childcare Center - Offshoots, Inc.

Hood Bike Park - Offshoots, Inc.

6 Elkins St - Offshoots, Inc.

Doyle Park - Offshoots, Inc.

Sora West - Ground Reconsidered

1201 Normandy Place - The Navy Yard - Ground Reconsidered

Harrington Pond - Ground Reconsidered

South Side Park Master Plan - Studio Bryan Hanes

The Poplar - Studio Bryan Hanes

Smith Memorial Playhouse - Studio Bryan Hanes

Centennial Commons Youth Area - Studio Bryan Hanes

Delaware River Trail - NV5 (formerly RBA Group)

Gold Star Park - NV5

Rivera Recreation & Mann Older Adult Center - NV5

Hand Sketches

Photography

Amphitheater model by Nelle Ward; Rendering by Elkus Manfredi

New England Biolabs Child Care Center

Offshoots, Inc - Ipswich, MA (2021 - Ongoing)

As a subconsultant to ARC Architects, Offshoots designed the landscape for New England Biolabs’ proposed Day Care Center. The proposed program includes an outdoor classroom, Pre-K and Toddler Nature Play Areas, an extensive planting and vegetative management plan, and a trail network that ties into the existing landscape. Drawing on the opportunites provided by the surrounding flora and fauna communities, Offshoots worked with Studio MLA to design play areas with bird nest inspired play structures. The play areas and proposed garden areas are tied together by a central outdoor classroom featuring an amphitheater with views over the wet meadow below. The planting plan and landscape design were shaped by the adjacent wetland buffers and existing topography. Principle responsibilities: Collaborative design and documentation of SD, DD, and CD sets, modeling, amphitheater design and documentation, existing vegetation identification and inventory, site analysis, graphics production.

Hood Bike Park

Offshoots, Inc - Boston, MA (2019-2022)

Offshoots designed this .5 acre public park as a part of the revitalization of the historic Hood Park into a contemporary mixed-use community. Open space is maximized with a tilted lawn and connected public roof deck above a new bike pavilion designed by Elkus Manfredi Architects. The streetscape doubles as green stormwater infrastructure, capturing and treating all rainfall on site. The tilted lawn area accommodates stormwater storage and infiltration below (through clean soils) sized for future roof runoff that will be generated from surrounding buildings. The topography overall is an innovation for climate resiliency in a wet and warming coastal city vulnerable to sea level rise. The key design driver for planting was ecological management; plant communities are designed to evolve and spread native seeds not only within the planting beds, but in the acres of marginalized industrial lands, rail and highway gaps surrounding the site. Primary responsibilties: ASLA + BSLA Award graphics production (shown).

Rendering by Nelle Ward, Jack Beresford, and Terry Kinsler

As a subconsultant to Elkmus Manfredi Architects, Offshoots was tasked with designing a complete streets streetscape and a roof deck that will provide amenities to office workers and residents for a new Related Beal office park in the South Boston. Offshoots coordinated with the civil engineering team to design a streetscape that would prioritize pedestrian and bicyclist circulation and comfort. In keeping with Boston Planning and Development Agency’s green infrastructure and urban ecological goals and constraints, the design team developed a series of design options in plan and sections to graphically illustrate the benefits and limitations of allocating the ROW for different uses. Primary responsibilities: Graphics and presentations production.

Doyle Park

Offshoots, Inc - Boston, MA (2021 - Ongoing)

In 2021, DCR hired Offshoots to develop construction documents for Doyle Park. The schematic design had been previously determined as a result of an intensive community engagement effort, driven by the ultimate goal of providing additional public open space to the underserved Hyde Park neighborhood and reconnecting the community with the river’s edge and the surrounding natural ecosystems. The new design includes a performance space, river overlook, accessible paths, benches, picnic tables, game stations, lighting, and an upper and lower lawn areas that will function as flexible open spaces. The design also pays particular attention to stormwater management and landscape restoration with native plants. Scheduled for completion in the fall of 2023, Doyle Park will provide a space for informal gathering, community events, and opportunities to engage with the nature in the city. Primary responsibilies: schematic desgin, graphic production, presentation preparation, consultant file coordination, site visits, plant inventory, field checking proposed design. Primary responsibilities: Design, graphics production, construction documentation.

URBAN RIPARIAN WOODLAND RESTORATION

WOODLAND EDGE OVERLOOK

NEPONSET RIVER

SITE PLAN

Sora West

Ground Reconsidered - Philadelphia, PA (2017-2021)

Ground Reconsidered was the landscape architect for SORA West, a largescale, multi-faceted office park nestled in a block-wide development project led by Keystone Property Ground. This public/private space provides critical amenities in a town center in the process of becoming more vibant and walkable. Strategically situated amid a public transportation network, this mixed-use development will become a primary gateway into the city and a destination for workers and the public at large. The focus of the site design is a vibrant new plaza that will be an outdoor extension of the surrounding buildings and will be used for community events and public gatherings. The central lawn is flanked by stepped seating and an amphitheater. The paving and planting palettes and site furnishings extend from the plaza to the Fayette Street sidewalk, establishing a connection to Conshohocken’s commercial corridor and the adjacent neighborhood. Primary responsibilities: design of amphitheater seating, construction documentation, Construction Administration.

1201 Normany Place - Navy Yard

Ground Reconsidered - Philadelphia, PA (2019 - Ongoing)

Ground Reconsidered was the landscape architect for Ensemble Real Estate’s new mixed use building and parking garage at 1201 Normandy Place in the Navy Yard in South Philadelphia. Led by DIGSAU, the landscape and architectural teams collaborated to design a building and landscape that seamlessly weaves pedestrian-scale amentiies and walkways into the larger scale parking garage and other vehicular service needs. Informed by careful study of the required flood zone constraints and Universal Accesibilty, the design provides a tapered large scale sloped walkway that connects the upper pedestrian terrace with the street corner, tying a cafe and plaza into the fabric of the existing network of landscape architectural works at the Navy Yard. Primary responsibilities: design, graphic production (shown), presentations.

Harrington Stormwater Detention Basin

Ground Reconsidered - University of Delaware (2018-2021)

The developing Univeristy of Delaware campus dictated the need for an upgrade and expansion to the campus stormwater detention basin. Ground Reconsidered collaborated with the civil engineering team to ensure that the improved pond would meet future campus the stormwater requirements, and that the pond would naturalized and develop into a functional amenity. Overgrown with invasive species prior to renovation, the re-design aimed to restore and increase bio-diversity, re-establish a native habitat, and strengthen ecological relationships within the site. Harrington Pond now attracts a multitude of flora and fauna and has become an accessible amenity for the campus community to enjoy. Primary responsibilities: planting plan design, Construction Administration.

South Side Park Master Plan

The South Side Park Master Plan took shape as a result of the City’s Comprehensive Plan, which identified South Side Park as an underutilized resource with the potential to serve as a “signature” park in Pittsburgh’s open space system. In collaboration with the South Side Park Advisory Committee and the City of Pittsburgh, Studio Bryan Hanes facilitated a series of intensive community engagement events and online surveys to collect input. The South Side Park Master Plan showcases the park’s unique topography, hydrology, and history, while also prioritizing the social and recreational needs of the surrounding residents. The proposed plan for this 65 acre park with roughly 400 feet of elevation change showcases wetlands, falls, and a network of green infrastructure systems, provides unique adventure recreation opportunities, and features a multi-use amphitheater and event space, all of which help to fulfill the park’s role as a City signature park amenity. Primary responsibilities: Co-Project Manager, South Side Park book deliverable management, community charrette facilitation and design, design, graphics production.

Studio Bryan Hanes - Pittsburgh, PA (2017-2019)

MASTER PLAN

COMMUNITY EVENTS START

TIME: 5:00 - 8:00 PM; drop in when you can!

LOCATION: Arlington Rec Center, 2201 Salisbury Street (next to Henry Kaufmann Neighborhood House)

Questions? Comments? Contact Project Manager Josh Lippert, Department of City Planning: 412-255-2516 | joshua.lippert@pittsburghpa.gov

EVENT 1 JAN 18 th

Community event fliers and questionnaires designed in collaboration with Rebekah Armstrong

South Side Park Program

1. New parcel added to park

2. Renovated parking (30 spots)

3. Drive

4. ADA-accessible boardwalk

5. Parking (60 spots)

6. Shared-use (bike) path

7. Community event area

8. Open-air pavilion over small building + bathrooms

9. Amphitheater

10. Multi-use lawn

11. Paved push-ramp for cyclists and water detention cells

12. Renovated entrance with parking (5 spots)

13. Children’s discovery garden

14. Basketball court + marble rings

15. Resurfaced rectangular field with subsurface detention

16. Embankment bleachers

17. Renovated bathrooms, concessions, scoreboard

18. Parking (30 spots)

19. Public art opportunity

20. BMX pump track (third-party operator)

21. Trail for BMX access

22. Embankment slides

23. Ropes course (third-party operator)

24. Embankment bleachers and new scoreboard

25. Sculptural overlook + parking (9 spots)

26. Basketball court and play area renovations

27. Renovate Arlington Rec Center

28. Manage invasive species with native planting 29. Seating at Jurassic Valley Overlook

30. 1040 Trail and interpretive art 31. East/West Connector Trail

32. Revealed seeps + seating

33. Tombstone Trail made ADA-accessible trail 34. Trail through plateau and wetlands +picnic platforms

35. Sierra Street entrance, steps + Sierra Connector Trail 36. Canopy overlook

37. Boardwalk and wetlands

38. Mission Street Connector Trail

39. Renovated parking and entrance area with seating 40. Drive gated (vehicle access for garden members)

As a sub-consultant to Coscia Moos Architecture, Post Brothers hired Studio Bryan Hanes to produce Design-Build construction documents for a 25,000 square foot rooftop amenity deck. This adaptive reuse project features approximately 200 proposed residential units and a few commercial storefronts at street level. Post Brothers instructed SBH to feature swimming pools, and hot tubs, and other outdoor residential amenities, guided by a “Baja Escape” theme, while working within the structural constraints of the existing building. Primary responsibilities: Project Management including weekly presentations Post Brothers headquarters, design assistance, pool and site furnishing manufacturer coorespondence and coordination, Design-Build construction documents.

Studio Bryan Hanes - Philadelphia, PA (2017-2019)

The Poplar

Photo source: Post Brothers

Portfolio

Flex/yoga deck Living room View point lounge

Hot tub Lounge nooks

Outdoor kitchen and pergola

Tiled showcase staircase Elevator, bathrooms + outdoor shower

Astroturf game lawn

Dog run 10’ Green roof

Waterfall Cabana swing beds

Waterfall

play pool

lounge pool lap pool

Photo of pool tile design mock

Photo source (all): Post Brothers Nelle Ward | LA & Ecological Design Portfolio

Smith Memorial Playhouse

When Smith opened to the public in 1899, it stood at the forefront of a national playground movement. Offering one of the region’s first major resources for play, Smith opened its doors to the region’s children and families. Today, Smith’s legacy as an inclusive, one-of-a-kind world of play for kids and families lives on.

A component of Smith’s ongoing “Preserving Play Campaign”, Studio Bryan Hanes was hired by the Smith Building Committee to produce a schematic design for the 2.5 acre central lawn panel and vehicular drop off loop. The design plays off the absurdist paradox established by the playhouse itself - a large Victorian era house built for kids: a wild natural play area encompassed by an intentionally unkempt native hedge, surrounding a Victorianesque ovular lawn. The new play space takes advantage of Smith’s surrounding resources in Fairmount Park, utilizing natural rocks, logs, and wood chips. The design offers passive and active zones with natural play features, natural construction opportunities, interactive water play, and relaxation spaces.

Studio Bryan Hanes - Philadelphia, PA (2015-2018)

In order to make Smith’s welcoming nature more apparent to passing traffic, the Committee requested that Studio Bryan Hanes explore an iconic Smith Gateway sculpture that would clearly convey this important civic resource’s presence.

The Smith family was famous for Richard’s contribution to the typesetting industry. The play sculptures utilize one of Richard’s Smith’s patented fonts. Integrating the absurdism of oversized letters intended for play with the site’s historic context, these Gateway play icons capture help to capture Smith’s essence, while also serving as an eye-catching, welcoming invitation to play. Primary responsibilities: play area design, Gateway design and graphics production, public meetings, SD documentation.

3D model and design of play area: Nelle Ward; rendering: Marshall Secord

Centennial Commons | Youth Area

In collaboration with the Fairmount Park Conservancy, Studio Bryan Hanes developed the Centennial Commons Plan to bring new life to a historically and culturally significant part of Fairmount Park. The Youth Area is an important part of that plan, striving to invite surrounding neighbors who have historically not felt like the park is meant for their use. The Youth Area project encompasses a food truck plaza, play area, cafe, and ice rink adjacent to Kelly Pool, aiming to create a year-round activity hub for all ages. The play area exhibits playful elements inspired by historic artifacts, creating interest for adults and unique, sensory provoking features for kids. Primary responsibilities: play area and plaza space design, modeling, historic research of park and 1876 World’s Fair and Centennial Exhibition, graphics production.

Studio Bryan Hanes - Philadelphia, PA (2012-2019)

Above: Historic elements are reflected in the play space Plan rendering: Marshall Secord

3D model and design of hill top play area: Nelle Ward; rendering: Marshall Secord

Delaware River Trail

NV5 (RBA Group) - Philadelphia, PA (2015-2018)

Building upon the Master Plan for the Central Delaware, the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation (DRWC) hired NV5 to design the 6 mile stretch of the Delaware River Trail, a continuous recreational and commuter trail along the city’s waterfront. Integrating other existing plans, NV5 has worked on site specific designs for various sections of the trail. Building upon the work of Bryan Hanes, NV5 was contracted to develop the connection between the Sugarhouse Casino to Penn Treaty Park. Primary responsibilities: section and planting palette graphics for Philadelphia’s Historical Commission review and Philadelphia’s Art Commission review, planting design.

16’ Bicycle & pedestrian trail Irregular stone paving and planting Existing shoreline rip-rap

buffer

Top of river bank

Sugarhouse Casino

Casino trail by others

Delaware River

Penn Treaty Park

Future Trail Connection

Trees

Service Berry

River Birch

Paper Birch

American Hornbeam

Red Ash

Tulip Poplar

Shrubs

Drooping Laurel

Black Chokeberry

Virginia Sweetspire

Bayberry

Red Chokeberry

Summersweet

Winterberry

Redosier Dogwood

Staghorn Sumac

Perrennials & Grasses

Rough Goldenrod

Broomsedge Bluestem

Aster

Tufted Hairgrass

Purple Coneflower

Purple Lovegrass

New England Blazing Star

Black-eyed Susan

Little Bluestem

Gold Star Park

Department of Public Property Term Agreement

NV5 - Philadelphia, PA (2016-2019)

In coordination with Friends of Gold Star Park and Fairmount Park Conservancy, DPP hired NV5 to rehabilitate Gold Star Park, a small park east of Passayunk Square in a residential neighborhood. Because funding for the project is limited, the Friends requested a “Long Term Vision Plan” which could be used for raising more money in the future, as well as an “Interim Plan”, a scaled back version of the plan would meet some of the park improvement goals more immediately. Constraints included minimizing the disturbance footprint and maintaining: existing entrances, an 11’ drivable asphalt path, and all existing mature trees. Goals include: an expanded play area, a “kidonly” (dog-free) grass play space, a multi-functional event space, and nature-inspired play. Primary responsibilities: public presentations, client communications, design, play equipment manufacturer coordination, cost estimating, stormwater requirement adherence, and construction documentation.

INTERIM PLAN

Marshall St.

Sheridon St.

Wharton St.

Manton St.

NV5 - Philadelphia, PA (2016-2020)

As a sub-consultant to CICADA Architecture, DPP hired NV5 to produce designs and contract documents for the rehabilitation of the existing older adult center, recreation buildings, and park that surrounds them. In collaboration with Councilwoman QuiñonesSánchez’s office and CICADA, the design team facilitated a charrette (photo above) to elicit community feedback. The team also participated in numerous presentations and meetings with DPP and the Councilwoman’s staff. Due to complications with funding and time-line, the landscape design and building renovations will be phased. In accordance with DPP’s request for an expedited stormwater review, site design and grading reflects the prerequisites necessary for the Philadelphia Water Department’s Disconnection Green Review. Primary responsibilities: charrette design and facilitation, presentation graphics, client communications, public presentations, construction documentation.

Mann Rivera Recreation Center

NFHS Baseball Field

NFHS Football & Soccer Field

Rivera Recreation Center & Mann Older Adult Center

Viola sororia - Common Blue Violet

Geranium maculatum - Wild Geranium

Rubus hispidus - Swamp Dewberry

Photography