Landscape Architecture Professional Works
2021-2024 Look Book
Landscape Architecture Professional Works
2021-2024 Look Book
Pg. 06-09
Pg. 10-13
Pg. 14-17
OSMOND DOWNTOWN REVITALIZATION
Pg. 18-21
TECHNOLOGY CENTER
Pg. 22-25
Pg. 26-29
Waterfront | Recreation | 2023 ASLA Nebraska Dakotas Chapter Award of Merit | 2024 ASLA Central States Conference Award of Merit
Location: Crofton, Nebraska
Client: Nebraska Game and Parks Commission
Year: 2022 - Ongoing
Project Size: 52 Acres
Project Team: Confluence, AMI Consulting Engineers, Schemmer, Houston Engineering
The redesign and expansion of Weigand Marina aims to grow and improve marina facilities at Lewis and Clark Lake, a regional destination for boaters, campers, and families. The increased popularity and use of the park showed the need for improved facilities both in lake and on shore. New features include a headquarters building, amenity plaza, shower house, boat ramp, kayak launch, new boat slips for various sizes and uses, as well as new trails and parking areas to improve accessibility and connectivity. The vision for this project is to create a place that people can enjoy whether spending time on or off the water.
Confluence, leading a team of consultants, prepared this master plan based on input from the client, design team, and public stakeholders at both in-person and online public input events. The final design was successful as it minimized environmental disturbances such as shoreline excavation and revetment while creating the most impact for the park with connected natural systems, improved recreation zones, consolidated circulation paths, and expanded aquatic activities.
The marina plaza, which acts as the marina’s social heart, serves the users in different months of the year and hours of the day while maximizing the marina’s economic viability through the integration of commercial spaces such as waterfront restaurants and cafes. The fire pit is central to the plaza, drawing inspiration from Lewis and Clark’s keelboat, and supported by a wave motif within the pavement. An event lawn, hammock grove, nature playground, enclosed patio bar, and waterfront seating offer activities for all users to enjoy.
The 526 slip marina accommodates a matrix of sizes and types of vessels based on user-demand studies, including sailboats, powerboats, yachts, and personal watercraft. Dredging and in-lake improvements will provide depth and protection for boaters. The new marina design allows for efficient movement and protection of boats, pedestrians, and vehicles within the marina. This efficiency can be seen with the new boat ramp circulation and parking which provides easy access to the four-lane boat ramp, tie-down area, fishing tournament space, and the boat and fish cleaning stations. Special challenges for this project include endangered species monitoring, “no-disturbance” dates, and keeping the existing marina operational through most of construction, create large variables in schedule projection.
Waterfront | Recreation
Location: Ogallala, Nebraska
Client: Nebraska Game and Parks Commission
Year: 2024
Project Size: 250+ Acres
Project Team: Confluence, AMI Consulting Engineers, Schemmer, Houston Engineering
In response to growing interest at Nebraska’s largest reservoir, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission engaged the design team to develop a vision for marina facilities that can conform to this challenging site. After undergoing a significant site analysis phase, the team selected the Diver’s Bay site to house the 110 slip marina, with a service elevation ranging from 3220 to 3270 feet ensuring continous functionality and accessibility. Gangways and platforms arranged in a switchback style, optimize ADA compliance and utility access as visitors traverse from the visitor’s building and parking lot to the marina.
The Lake McConaughy Marina Project possesses a suite of challenges that have been witnessed by NGPC staff in maintaining recreational areas at the lake. Some of these challenges include water level fluctuation, climate variability, wind fetch, elevation differentials, the remote location of the lake, FERC regulations, and budget. Lake levels cannot be predicted at Lake McConaughy solely on a storm frequency basis like many reservoirs as they are controlled by Central for irrigation purposes and the annual “starting” reservoir level varies widely - historically ranging 72 feet. This water level change paired with the site’s steep slopes and remote location creates challenges for construction, accessibility, and maintenance.
A comprehensive assessment was conducted to evaluate potential sites for a new marina in Lake McConaughy. Key factors considered included wave exposure, in-water traffic flow, impacts on neighboring developments and existing boat launches, dredging requirements, and overall feasibility. This study led to locating the marina in Diver’s Bay Cove due to lower anticipated costs for wave attenuation and minimal dredging requirements at a minimum service elevation of 3220 feet. The in-lake marina design comprises 110 slips along with 6 concessionaire slips, providing space for boaters while integrating essential amenities and services at the dock. An 80’ service dock offers fuel, a concessionaire stand, and two HDPE vault toilets.
Upland amenities to support the marina include a 100-stall parking lot, visitor building, small entry plaza, vault restrooms, and universally accessible pathways to navigate the site. With four upland locations studied, the final site was selected due to it’s proximity to the main road & marina facilities. The site’s elevated inland location also reduced risk of erosion and provided good views out to the lake. In order to achieve consistent marina access with the lake’s water level fluctuations, four transition routes were evaluated for feasibility, user experience, and maintenance / operations. Gangways and platforms are used in the final design as a costefficient, low-maintenance, and universally accessible alternative.
Planning | Civic & Cultural
Location: Gretna, Nebraska
Client: City of Gretna
Year: 2022
Project Size: 2150+ Acres
Project Team: Confluence, Felsburg Holt & Ullevig, Leland Consulting Group, Marvin Planning Consulting
The purpose of The Crossings Corridor Master Plan is to identify a unified vision and a plan for the future growth and development of the Highway 31 and I-80 corridor area. The Crossings Corridor represents a rare opportunity for the City of Gretna to create a unique and vibrant addition to the community - providing new housing, businesses, retail, and recreational amenities for not only Gretna residents but for the entire Omaha metro. The resulting master plan details the desired mix of land uses, design criteria, and infrastructure needs to achieve the community’s unified vision for this corridor, and outlines recommendations to help seek funding for improvements identified.
Leverage the proximity of Interstate I-80 and the community’s position between Omaha and Lincoln to help ensure the long-term fiscal health of Gretna.
The area north of the interstate and south of the Buffalo Creek Greenway is reserved for regional retail and office placemaking destinations and the south side of the interstate is reserved for land uses that require more truck traffic. This reservation of land for the highest and best land uses will ensure that Gretna takes full advantage of their geographical position within the region.
Create a unique identity for Gretna Crossings that is welcoming to all, by being respectful of Old Town Gretna while looking to the future.
This plan proposes a new civic center paired with downtown scaled buildings and businesses at the heart of the new development. The Civic Center may include a city hall, library, community meeting spaces, and town square. The Civic Center is also surrounded by higher density residential areas, providing the needed energy to keep a Civic Center strong. These development patterns promote unintentional personal intersections of neighbor to neighbor and there is no better way to enhance the sense of community citizens of Gretna all know and love.
Enhance Gretna’s quality of life by promoting walkability and bikeability through a diverse mix of commercial and residential development within Gretna Crossings that is for residents, workers, and visitors.
This plan demonstrates a fine-grained fabric of mixed land uses connected by frequent streets and trails ensuring The Crossings Corridor will be walkable and bikeable as citizens make their daily trips from home to work to entertainment and shopping. Continuous, connected through streets provide convenient access throughout. This plan asks that major barrier streets include walkways, trails and signalized crossings that accommodate pedestrians as a priority.
Enhance the recent park and recreation investment to connect the surrounding Gretna community through recreation and trail systems, allowing this to be the core of the community’s fabric. Parkways, Greenways and curvilinear streets follow the contours of the area, protecting the streams and connecting Gretna Crossing Park to a new civic center just north of the Buffalo Creek Greenway and south to the existing NEX shopping center and future office and retail destination. The Buffalo Creek Greenway is proposed as a place to store stormwater and provide a 2 mile long looping trail, a rather magical length for recreationalist to get a great, little walk. It also provides a place for nature to permeate our built environment.
Planning | Civic & Cultural | 2024 Planning Excellence Award from American Planning Association’s Nebraska Chapter
Location: Osmond, Nebraska
Client: City of Osmond
Year: 2023
Project Size: 75 Acres
Project Team: Confluence, Historic Resources Group
This Downtown Revitalization Plan serves as a framework for enhancing the downtown in Osmond, Nebraska through tailored recommendations that will help guide city funding decisions and property investments by individual business owners. These recommendations include implementing design development guidelines for properties, creating a sense of entry into downtown, improving pedestrian safety & access, and beautifying downtown’s streetscape through coordinated site furnishings. These strategies all work to enrich the look and feel of the downtown corridor, establish a cohesive identity for Osmond, and create a safe and welcoming environment that residents and visitors want to spend time in.
Throughout the planning process a stakeholder group of community leaders, city staff, council members, and property owners met to establish a vision for downtown Osmond. This stakeholder committee, as well as the public, collaborated on a series of engagement opportunities to learn, share, and assist in moving the design and plan forward into implementation. While these public meetings were advertised online, in handouts, and through the local newspaper, the scope of participation was expanded with the use of an interactive website. To further support implementation efforts in this rural community, a list of contractors and suppliers, including those with specialized skillsets, was provided for this area of Nebraska.
Known as an industry hub in rural Nebraska, Osmond’s core business district was seeking ways to enhance the downtown’s identity and aesthetics to strengthen tourism and the local economy. After extensive flooding in 2019, new construction sprung up to replace damaged buildings along the eastern edge of downtown and many of the historic properties to the west were left in need of repair. This created a need for building specific guidance on renovations and repairs as well as design development guidelines to ensure proposed improvements are consistent with the community’s goals of creating safe buildings, maintaining architectural character, and enhancing the aesthetic appeal of Osmond’s downtown district.
The vision outlined in this downtown revitalization plan centers on place-making. These reinvestment strategies aim to increase livability, tourism, and future economic growth. Rural communities are often aging communities, and this plan offers solutions for improving accessibility to downtown businesses and enhancing walkability and safety throughout the corridor. The preservation of historic and cultural resources reinforces the area’s unique identity and character. With the addition of other place-making strategies like signage, monuments, and art this plan aims to invite new, young residents to live and stay in Osmond.
Educational
Location: Lincoln, Nebraska
Client: Southeast Community College
Year: 2024
Project Size: 3 Acres
Project Team: Confluence, BWBR, Alvine Engineering
In the pursuit of expanding the campus, SCC commissioned a multi-disciplinary team of design and construction experts to devise a nationally recognized science and technology center to not only offer innovative, hands-on learning but act as an integral piece of its social, economic, and ecological fabric. Initiating a new framework for the campus, the siting and design of the Sandhills Global Technology Center sets the stage for reimagining the car-oriented campus as a universally accessible, pedestrian-oriented campus linked to its prairie and wetland ecosystem. With the introduction of biodiverse greenspaces, the site supports outdoor learning and student activities while setting a precedent for the continued expansion of the campus.
Initiating the design process, the architects and landscape architects held a multi-day workshop with an ownership design team to develop a holistic vision for the campus. These preliminary site planning discussions later led to a full-scale master planning effort led by the landscape architects. Sustainability, resiliency, and connection were at the forefront of these conversations as the siting of this facility accounted for building energy performance, habitat preservation, and accessible connections between facilities. This connectivity is further framed by holistic site planning that identifies future connections to and around the site.
As design progressed, stakeholder meetings with students and faculty were held to develop an outdoor environment that would support the curriculum of the new STEM building and adjacent Health Sciences facility. The central plaza was designed as an outdoor classroom offering study tables, open lawn seating, power stations, and Wi-Fi access so students can stay connected outdoors. A network of physical learning spaces were designed to support the training of physical therapists and EMTs, integrating obstacles of slope, curbs, and textured surfacing into the plaza while dedicating space for an ambulatory service drive and for beds of medicinal prairie plants.
The building and its landscape take inspiration from the saline wetlands of Lancaster County in both form and function. Rounded landscape forms intersperse the hardscape of the site allowing the permeable surfacing to recharge the aquifer while the landscape helps to recharge students and staff. This project re-establishes natural prairie habitat, setting a standard on campus for replacing large swatch of imperious hardscape with natural, low-maintenance, and minimally irrigated landscape that will improve the health of the watershed within and beyond the campus. Supporting a comfortable outdoor environment for the college, this project begins to develop a campus forest that will mitigate heat and provide further habitat on campus for years to come.
Educational | Civic & Cultural
Location: Omaha, Nebraska
Client: Creighton University
Year: 2024
Project Size: 19,000 SF
Project Team: Confluence, Ehrhart Griffin & Associates, Hydro Dramatics
The reconstruction of the plaza aims to revitalize the public realm in front of the historic church. Completing the redesign of California Mall and serving as a grand entry onto campus, this functional pedestrian and ceremonial plaza speaks to the existing character of its environment and can be activated year-round.
This project is unique as it works to communicate a deep connection to place and to design with historic sensitivity. These design intentions came with many challenges, from preserving the existing 15 foot tall “Eternal Flame” sculpture as the central art piece in the fountain to evoking classic architectural details with modern construction. Through research into materiality, ideation with modeling, and collaboration between disciplines, many of these design details were able to come to life, supporting the vision for a grand entry plaza and fountain that speaks to the existing character and architectural details of its environment and context while supporting long-term, year-round use by the parish and the university.
