Peter Graves MLA Portfolio (p)

design in a changed landscape the work of PETER GRAVES, MLA

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SITE DESIGN halophyte barrier island sculptural wetland park desoto riverfront park hong kong harbourfront promenade vallepietra pilgrimage path wetland datum park

CONCEPT STUDIES sound mapping: pantheon object + terrain transforming the edge : hong kong darkroom techniques: land and water

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PETER GRAVES

4-7 8-13 14-17 18-19 20-23 24-29

30-31 32-33 34-35 36-39 40-41

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20

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HALOPHYTE BARRIER ISLAND AQUA

agricultural displacement in the open ocean

additional incentives

Halophytes, plants that are saltwatertolerant, play an important role in ENVIRONMENTAL coastal and deltaic systems around the world.

Preventing reduce erosionland loss through erosion control, these plants thrive in alternate agriculture harsh environments without natural lower storm surge competitors. New uses for these plants as biofuel and livestock feed have reECONOMIC cently been discovered. A team project eco-tourism has envisioned the Louisiana coast as anhospitality optimal site industry to combine the prouctive properties of halophyte plants and life zones the protective properties of a barrier transfer of property island to create HaloHex- a system of modular hexagonal bed, floating together in the Gulf of Mexico.

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halophyte barrier island

The system includes two parts: HaloHex, a halophyte module using aquaponic techniques using saltwater, and HaloHex Aqua, a contained greenhouse module that purifies saltwater to allow a myriad of freshwater crops to grow. Together, these two modules not only provide a model for agricultural productivity but also protect the coastline from destructive wind and wave action.

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halophyte barrier island

crop yield per acre dwarf saltwort

300 lbs Spartina alterniflora

350 lbs corn

150 bushels sugarcane

4,000 lbs cotton

750 lbs

The HaloHex modules can produce approximately one acre of crops each, with HaloHex Aqua focused on halophytes such as cordgrass and dwarf saltwort.

The greenhouse module can grow any typical Louisiana crop such as cotton, soybeans, sugarcane, and corn.

soybeans

40 bushels

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halophyte barrier island

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SCULPTURAL WETLAND PARK protecting wetlands through sculpture Louisiana’s wetland coastal zone is disappearing. Land subsidence, exacerbated by canal dredging, oil field construction, and levee building, initiates a vicious cycle of land loss and infrastructural construction that shows no signs of slowing down.

Marsh terraces, earthen berms constructed in a grid, have been built to alleviate land loss and have mixed results. In order to sustain a system of marsh rebuilding and human settlement, a wetland sculpture park is proposed within the lake.

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sculptural wetland park

high tide 2005

2007

2009

2010

The study site is called Belle Isle Lake, in Vermillion Parish, which is situated at the heart of the vanishing wetland. The proposed sculpture park is both a destination for ecological tourism and for recreation.

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low tide

sculptural wetland park

Placed in a semi-aquatic environment, the sculptural concrete forms act as areas for exploration, recreation, and even habitation such as overnight camping. In an area where the tide often fluctuates more than 18� vertically every day, it is important that the forms themselves are able to be changed, whether as occupiable rooms or as concrete sculptures.

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sculptural wetland park

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sculptural wetland park

marsh grasses

grasses planted in grooves in the concrete structure help create edge habitat and stabilize sediment

high tide

ft

low tide

structure phasing

initial sediment accretion

Wind and wave action are main contributors to land loss and erosion.

Study models guided the placement of the concrete forms, which would be used to protect existing marsh.

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secondary structure is added after sediment accretion is reaches terminal value on the initial structure

secon

sculptural wetland park

The overall design for the sculpture park allows for flexibility in future placement of the concrete forms. The forms are designed to protect existing marsh as well as accrete sediment, and the phasing plan calls for recognition of the most successful placement strategies to be continued throughout the life of the lake.

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DESOTO RIVERFRONT PARK utilizing stormwater as public space mechanism Bordering the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, there is an abandoned parcel of land called Desoto Park. Its trees and grasses are in a constant state of recovery due to annual flooding that overwhelms the entire site. A pair of ponds have formed in deep gashes where borrow pits were once excavated.

As a team, Xueyao Wei and I envisioned a potential connection between the downtown area and the river. The many stormwater management challenges facing the park as an occupied space can be turned into a unique opportunity to enhance the city’s relationship with the river while also providing an area for recreation, education, and transportation.

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desoto riverfront park {10’ elevated boardwalk} edge: park

edge: road flood stage 4 stage 3

stage 2 stage 1

Analysis of site forces, using terrain modeling, site observation, and sketchbook studies, enabled the design to respond appropriately to site conditions.

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desoto riverfront park

Through various methods of filtration, stormwater from the downtown area is brought through the park, creating a visual and structural connection from the park’s edge and the river’s edge. The park is divided into two main sections: the plaza level, elevated above the maximum flood level of 58 ft; and the batture zone, which exists within the framework of cyclical flooding.

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desoto riverfront park

The multiple topographical levels of the park are connected in various ways,allowing for a varied but carefully organized experience of the place. Pedestrian connections to the river’s edge include both direct linkages, such as footpaths through the batture, and indirect connections such as the elevated deck.

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HONG KONG HARBOURFRONT reimagining iconic Hong Kong The Wanchai District 2 waterfront, a narrow strip of promenade just west of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC), is a relatively small open space with a great deal of potential as an important connector in the city’s waterfront network.

The design for the WD2 waterfront is an inviting, comfortable space, easily traveled and easily accessed, usable at all hours of the day or night. Shade is the essential component for waterfront use during most of the year, so iconic shade structures evoking the imagery of Hong Kong’s historic junk boat sails are erected along the waterfront, allowing for maximum views of the harbor as well as for optimum shade. The long, flowing ribbon of interconnected sail structures is easily visible from across the harbour.

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hong kong harbourfront

The main pedestrian circulation is between the sail structures and the water, allowing for maximum visibility as well as optimum shade direction during the hottest months of the year.

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VALLEPIETRA PILGRIMAGE PATH rehabilitating a historic experience Located about 70 km outside of Rome, Italy, Monti Simbruini Regional Park is a vast wilderness area comprised of mountain ranges, fertile valleys, and a loose network of hill towns spread throughout the park. Along with eco-tourism and farming, the park is well known for its many religious pilgrimages, the largest of which terminates at the Sanctuary of the Holy Trinity, near the town of Vallepietra. The pilgrimage currently included passing through a large parking lot, a cluster of crowded vendors, and the path to the Sanctuary is cramped and crowded, making it very unsafe for the pigrims.

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vallepietra pilgrimage path REGION

PARK

CONSUMED BY REGION

SANCTUARY

CONSUMED BY PARK CONSUMED BY SITES TRUCK/CAR

MILL

MOPED/ BICYCLE PEDESTRIAN

SUMMER

REGION REGION PARK

PACKAGED GOODS

PARK

Peak Ski Season

AMOUNT CONSUMED

SPRING

PACKAGED GOODS

REGION

PARK

PILGRIMAGE

PACKAGED GOODS

PEAK GRAPE HARVEST

WINTER

local demand exceeds local supply: demand for regional products increases

SITE

SITE

SUPPLY

FALL

DEMAND

SUPPLY

DEMAND

SUPPLY

DEMAND

A composited supply and demand chart helps identify and track the flow of material goods and services throughout the park and the region over the course of a typical year. One of the main issues with the pilgrimage site is the availability of goods and services to the pilgrmage itself, either sourced locally or regionally.

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vallepietra pilgrimage path N

1.0

0.5

expand

km

circulate

prospect

embed

1

2

3

The different areas within the pilgrimage destination sequence were explored: The parking lot and staging area ( 1 ), the path entry area ( 2 ), and the walking path itself ( 3 ) were investigated in regards to specific design actions (expand, circulate, prospect, and embed).

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vallepietra pilgrimage path

The path entry area ( area 2 ) was redesigned to accomodate expansion of the path, traffic slowing, safety walls, and terracing to take advantage of dramatic views of the mountainous landscape.

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WETLAND DATUM PARK measuring land loss using public amenities The question of how to protect Louisiana’s cities and culture stems mostly from a single issue: the coastline is receding, and quickly. With a team of Geology, Environmental Management, and Renewable Natural Resources students providing valuable insght into the nuances of Louisiana’s coastal ecologies, fellow Landscape Architecture student Justine Holzman and I tackled the issue on a site-specific scale.

The site, at particular risk of land loss, is converted into Wetland Datum Park, a resource to help us understand coastal erosion and wetland loss more deeply.

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wetland datum park

1

INHABIT

SECURE

000-005

A. Access-road improvement, parking, access points B. Boardwalks with Accessible Nodes C. Rock formations (holds in sediment, keeps in freshwater, protects against saltwater intrusion, creates habitat, oyster reefs) D. Sediment redistribution from Bayou LaFourche: Sand pit Fill

Chenier Caminada is a land formation of multiple bands of former beach ridges, highlighting the fact that the coastline is continuously changing. The chenier, A situated on private property protecting one of the largest-volume oil pilelines in the country, is dangerously close to becoming an open-water property.

B

C

D

A. B. C. D.

Access-road improvement, parking, access points Boardwalks with Accessible Nodes Rock formations Sediment redistribution Bayou LaFourche: Sand pit Fill Anticipated Shoreline Pipeline

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rock formation brackish marsh

oyster beds

salt water high tide

wetland datum park

1

INHABIT secure

000-005

2

RECONSTRUCT land building 005-025

3

POLARIZE maintain 025-100

The three-stage plan calls for partial protection of the chenier and partial deference to natural forces.

1

INHABIT secure

000-005

2

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C

wetland datum park

D

A. B. C. D.

Access-road improvement, parking, access points Boardwalks with Accessible Nodes Rock formations Sediment redistribution Bayou LaFourche: Sand pit Fill Anticipated Shoreline Pipeline Bayou Moreau

rock formation brackish marsh

oyster beds

salt water high tide low tide

sediment from Bayou Lafourche

sand pit fill

water level

prioritize density sand pit

water level increased by displacement

In the first phase of the project ( from 000-005 years ), the goal is to secure the site and set up the necessary infrastructure for the datum. Boardwalks extend through the beach ridges into open water, acting as a tool to measure how many of those formations disappear beneath the walkways over the years.

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B. C. D. E. F. G. H.

2

Breakwall-tetrapods Bayou Moreau Freshwater Diversion Lake Lourier Culverts Sediment redistribution of dredged material from Bayou LaFourche Marsh Terracing Mangrove Restoration Terminal Node Islands

wetland datum park

0

cubic yards sediment every 2 yrs

0.8716m

area that can be built up

1/2

LANDBUILDING

SEDIMENT REDISTRIBUTION 600,000

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526311m^2 area that can be built up 2 [1/2 ridges] restored every 2 years

Phase two of the project ( 005-025 years ) involves targeted reconstruction and marsh land terracingbuilding pattern of the coastal wetland. 600,000 cu yds of suspended sediment loads from the adjacent Bayou Moreau will be redirected into the site over a period of two years, building up the existing chenier formations.

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1

2 mi

DATUM

wetland datum park

Allowing the beach line to erode and the coastline to recede while protecting the necessary infrastructure enables the site to act as a barometer of wetland loss for coastal Louisiana. The interplay between the tightly controlled elements and untethered natural systems act as a tool for environmental awareness for visitors to the site’s any boardwalks, boat launches, and open-water pavilions.

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SOUND MAPPING: PANTHEON mapping unseen variables of urban spaces Every urban space is in a constant state of change, caused by fluctuations in variables such as the number of people occupying the place, the weather, the time of year, or based on events that may be taking place within that space.

All of these variables change the place, which is investigated in this project using the Pantheon as an example of a busy public place, and using sound as the variable. Multiple audio recordings were taken from various places on the site and composited throughout the day, with the final product a sound map of the space, showing both inside the structure and in the plaza outside it.

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sound mapping: pantheon sound emission grouping of people

plan view

artificial sounds

field data

noise level (plan view)

decibel recording 60 30 0

under oculus

portico

entry

n. fountain

dB 60 30 0

NE of pantheon

NW of pantheon

on city bus #64

amplitude

pantheon interior

section view

portico

fountain

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OBJECT+TERRAIN measuring the object as a terrain variable Understanding time-scale conditions, such as seasonal flooding or wind erosion over the course of 100 years, is critical when approaching site-specific design. Given the site of Arches National Park, famous for its sandstone formations near Moab, Utah, I investigated the effect of sandstone erosion over the period of millenia. To accomplish this, a scale model was constructed (right) and then sited in the landscape made up of vertical sandstone fins (far right). Over the period of thousands of years, the series of interconnected wooden boxes would beslowly eroded in step with the surrounding landscape.

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object+terrain

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+

TRANSIT

GATHERING

RECLAIMING THE EDGE: HONG KONG TO KAW WAN

KENNEDY TOWN

WAN CHAI

CATALOGUE OF OPEN SPACES IN HONG KONG

reorienting the super-city toward the water As an island supercity, Hong Kong’s development both historically and in the future relies on the water. Specifically, Victoria Harbour has served over centuries as the lifeblood of Hong Kong’s economic success through shipping, fishing, and tourism. It’s surprising, then, to find that waterfront as an unimaginative concrete edge, walling off the water from the land. The purpose of this study is to imagine alternate + scenarios for reclaiming that edge for the people of Hong Kong as a space to be utilized rather than disregarded, and the potential for the boundary between land and water to create space.

RECLAMATION, LAND USE AND OPENSPACE

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+ TO KWA WAN

+ Commercial

Commercial/residential Residential

Country Park Government/institution Institutional

1925 - 2000

Open Space

1906 - 1924

Other Use

1841 - 1905

reclaiming the edge: hong kong

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DARKROOM: LAND AND WATER seeing the built and decayed Photography in many ways is the antithesis to the time-construct in which the “outside world� exists. By freezing a single moment in time, the life cycle of a constructed or natural element can be paused and measured.

Using photography as the medium of measurement, I will study the relationship between the built environment and the natural ecologies that exist without, particularly focusing on the relationship between water and the built environment. Specifically in Louisiana, this relationship is often tumultuous.

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darkroom: land and water

WHARF (top) - Mississippi River, Baton Rouge SOFT EDGE (bottom) - Baton Rouge, Louisiana

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darkroom: land and water

TIED BARGES - Mississippi River, Baton Rouge

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darkroom:land and water

WHARF DECONSTRUCTED - Baton Rouge, Louisiana

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P G M R L

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