the portfolio of
sandra charlotte meulners
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m a s t e r o f l a n d s c a p e a rc h i t e c t u re
I
g o t o n at u r e t o b e s o o t h e d a n d h e a l e d , a n d t o h av e m y s e n s e s p u t i n o r d e r .
John Burroughs
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Sandra Charlotte Meulners s.meulners@gmail.com meuln001@umn.edu 763.218.6999
327 4th St NE Minneapolis, MN 55413
Site Design
Master’s Capstone Walker Art Center Warner Nature Center Lowertown St. Paul Sacca San Mattia
Designed Sites Consulted Sites
Freelance
Site Analysis Westergasfabriek
Walker Art Center
Artwork, detailing, model study
Site Design Master’s Capstone Project North by Northeast - engendering a new era of riverfront development in Minneapolis
My master’s capstone project encapsulated over a year’s worth of thinking and studying about community based design on priority projects. How to avoid polarity between the space and the community while meeting the goals of all stakeholders was the overriding concept, but I quickly learned that this project challenged me more to learn how to negotiate a civic space between stakeholders rather than take a traditional designer approach. The outcome is a park that serves the communities adjacent to it directly, while still meeting the goals of the city in a next generation manner. opposite left: master plan of Sheridan Memorial Park illustrator, photoshop, AutoCAD opposite upper right: perspective of the memorial light field in the late afternoon. rail walk, prairie restoration, and memorial lights are highlighted photoshop opposite lower right: view looking south down the rail walk. procession of art cars parade down to Scherer Park photoshop
to BNSF bridge and northern connections
memorial light field rail walk loading dock SIP coffeehouse extension
river walk entrance
outdoor artisan workspace natural playground
pool barge
Herbaceous/Vegetable
Shrub Layer
Low Dwarf Trees
Large Canopy Trees Vertical Climbers
The Forest Garden: A Five Layer Guild
Black Walnuts
Butternut Nuts
La Crescent Grape Frontenac Grape Hazen Apple
Cherry Blueberries
Asparagus
above: master plan of Scherer Park illustrator, photoshop, AutoCAD below: section through Scherer Park illustrator, photoshop, AutoCAD
Spring
Herbs
Honeycrisp Apple Red Baron Apple Macoun Apple
Beacon Apple
Melons
Summer
Raspberries Corn
Carrots
Currants Beets
Fall
Squashes
Potatoes
Winter
above: diagram illustrating structure and function of food forest illustrator, photoshop, AutoCAD
wa tch ing ic din g m e th ma aki scu in t e r he ive ki ng lpt r i riv ng sn ng er ow sn o for w t me s n
comp
ost
ing pur cha sing sor fis ting hin wa g
local art
clapping compet ing
t rotational ar
tea ning l e a rpark art re park sculptu
pa ulp g sc rnin bu hing g c et hin tc ske wing dra ching
g n ti ec g ll rin g co olo tin ng c in ti
e sl
g in ng dd ishi
g in g do e a ic alk hin w atc ing w alk g w llin ing rocycl g in bi nn ng spi i
f
% under 21 years of age
Hawthorne % below poverty
g
city-affiliated stakeholders
h ng skippi cing balan
landscape architect as designer
city groups and councils city agencies concern for funding concern for revenue concern for image
identify concerns identify desires identify needs attend and host meetings balance and negotiate steer people in the right direction help people think in new ways design a resiliant space and place
community stakeholders concerned citizens residents property owners community groups private groups business owners
Near North
Saint Anthony West
g in ing w o tl g bl his din g w a in w th ba
crossing manipulating pushing pulling swingin runn g jogg ing cra ing skip wling co ping co upl p mm e o s ui c n i c u n i t n a y wa p n k lk i ee ba ing art s de rin thi t me nt g ng he ou ll ifyi ar ch in ng in ing g g
Sheridan
non-white
p jum ing opp
building
% black population
above: program diagram for site illustrator, photoshop
throwing a footba ll vo l l e y hack ing a volle yball uni- ey sac tri cyclin -cy g c t l a i n g st nde w ro m-c fa alkilling yclin g mi ng f a f rie ly o ba p ar nd re ubl mer s o n a by cy ic ’s n wa cl fo ma a w lk in o r al k e d g k fo t re st
throwing a frisbee
nt me ru st ay in pl fe g y ca ren in an or ng g t a hild hist c ut si ayin g a m pl tin hing abo u s e u ea atc ing a m w arn ng le siti ting vi ebra ng i c e lp l a u d ap ening list ng eati g playin ll john ba acting throwing a baseball
below series: illustrations indicating different ways to experience the river hand drawing, photoshop
above: diagram illustrating process of the project showing the designer as a negotiator illustrator, photoshop
above: diagram showing the demographic disparity around the site illustrator
Site Design
Walker Art Center
Design for the south lawn of the Walker Art Center. My charge was to create a back yard for the culturally forward iconic art center. A design began to emerge that created an interplay between interior and exterior spaces with use of material, pattern, and spatial relation. Imperative to this project was to produce experiential images. This was accomplished by adhering to the minimal yet modern aesthetic flowing throughout both the Walker and my vision of the project.
top row: process development of digitally enhancing hand drawn perspectives graphite, micron, photoshop bottom row: topographic model and site plan for walker south lawn chipboard, clay, wire, micron, prismacolor marke r
Site Design Warner Nature Center Design for the Warner Nature Center in St. Croix, MN. With over 600 acres of undeveloped native land, my charge was to create a design to accommodate a variety of outdoor programmed activities as well as multiple campuses for research and teaching. The largest challenge when designing for the Warner was understanding physical elements of the site that limited, inhibited, or promoted certain types of development across all areas of the land. When trying to convey a design and feel for this project, it was imperative to display the richness and tone of one’s experience in this preserved space.
right: full site plan of the warner nature center micron, prismacolor marker, prismacolor pencil far right: detail of lower left quarter of the full site plan
experiencing the yurt shelter site at sunset photoshop
shoreline and campfire site at dusk photoshop
Site Design Lowertown St. Paul In a third year collaborative studio with same-year architecture students, my team had the opportunity to propose a new design for a site adjacent to Lowertown in St. Paul, MN. This site has significant historical and cultural significance, and our goal was to highlight these important features of the site without being obvious about it. The outcome was a sensitive design that took a light effect all over the site, and relied heavily on a great understanding of ecological processes that facilitate natural change. opposite: diagram outlining the process and phasing of different types of reforestation that can occur according to the design - includes data about the impact the dense forest can have on habitat and carbon sequestering illustrator, indesign
R E F O R E S TAT I O N P L A N Region 1 15 acres Oak savanna
Region 2 23 acres Maple Basswood forest
Region 3 34 acres Oak Woodland
THERE ARE MANY REASONS WHY WE WANT TO INTRODUCE
A REFORESTATION PLAN ACROSS
THIS
INCREASED
INCREASED
SITE...
CANOPY
LANDSCAPE
Region 4 9 acres Floodplain forest
COVER
CONNECTIVITY
I N C R E A S E D H A B I TAT F O R M I G R AT O RY FA U N A I N C R E A S E D H A B I TAT F O R R E S I D E N T FA U N A INCREASED SPECIES DIVERSITY INCREASED STRUCTURAL H A B I TAT INCREASED ON-SITE NUTRIENT CYCLING
DECREASED CHANCE OF INVASIVE ESTABLISHMENT
Initial Planting
MOST
I M P O R T A N T LY :
V E G E T A T I O N CO2 ABSORPTION S E Q U E S T E R S C A R B O N non-cumulative measurements AND HELPS TO R E D U C E T H E C A R B O N CARBONSEQUESTERED FOOTPRINT OF CITIES cumulative measurements
Successional Planting Year 5
Year 10
Year 20
3.77 tons of CO 2
4.04 tons of CO 2
6.79 tons of CO 2
10,000 lbs of carbon
22,000 lbs of carbon
74,000 lbs of carbon
walking under the rail bridge next to maple grove photoshop
rail walk perspective at night photoshop
new way to experience wakan tipi (carver’s cave) photoshop
snag forest at maturity in the winter photoshop
Site Design Venice, Italy - Sacca San Mattia During my study abroad trip to Venice, Italy, our studio was challenged to form a group consisting of two architecture graduate students and one landscape architecture graduate student. As the landscape architect, my charge was to lead my team and develop a large park on a newly created island within the Venetian Lagoon. As another brownfield site with deeply embedded cultural history, this project was one of the most challenging I have worked on thus far. right: topography of site design autocad, illustrator opposite- right: fully rendered plan of site design autocad, photoshop, illustrator
opposite left: perspective of an experiential walk through an outdoor garden room photoshop right: section/elevation cuts through parts of the site photoshop, illustrator
Freelance Designed Sites
After finding that a perpetual damp basement was due to poor drainage near the foundation of this house, a low budget solution was necessary. The homeowners had plans to pour a new concrete walkway, which allowed for precipitation falling on the rooftop to be directed through a pipe underneath the walkway and into a shallow infiltration swale. Design elements include river rock, stones, flagstone pathways, flagstone bridging over the swale, utility concealing, and moveable planting elements. Maple Grove, Minnesota
Freelance Designed Sites
A challenging steep backyard garden faced erosion issues. As phase one toward resolving the problem, a vision for a redesigned hill garden began to take form. A staircase rebuilt through the center of the garden and a retaining wall at the base of the hill stabalize the garden until further stabalization at the top of the hill can be installed. Maple Grove, Minnesota
Freelance Designed Sites
One of the most rewarding projects I have had the pleasure of working on was in collaboration with a studiomate to assist a local garden club with designing and planting a challenging rooftop system. The garden rests atop a parking structure and is the centerpiece of a central courtyard for a tall loft building downtown. Issues addressed were aesthetics, drainage, and heat/ sun patterns. A lovely design and successful first growing season render this area a gem in their community. Minneapolis, Minnesota
Sonoma County is mostly known for beautiful vineyards and costal drives, but this small self-sustaining intentional community named La Tierra in Sebastopol has been around for decades. Desiring a bit more structure in the paths between statues, temples, and gardens, assistance in capturing borrowed scenery and private spaces was provided. Sebastopol, California, USA
Freelance Consulted Sites Selva del Mar is situated atop a small mountain in a nature preserve along the Pacific Ocean in a sleepy surf town less than an hour northwest of Puerto Vallarta. Minimal and natural design was sought to finish the landscape around this beautiful eastern-philosophically designed palapa and its outdoor kitchen. Aside from being located in a tropical paradise, one of the best features is the amazing capture of the view over the Pacific Ocean. photos of selva del mar courtesy of owners
Sayulita, Riviera Nayarit, Mexico
Site Analysis
Westergasfabriek
Complete site analysis on the design and physical qualities that characterize the Westergasfabriek Culture Park in Amsterdam.
remastered gustafson-porter image scanned, photoshop, illustrator
6m
5m
1m 4m 3m
2m
0m
N N
top right: axon of exaggerated topography sketchup, illustrator above: axon of built form on site illustrator right: axon of landscaping on site photoshop, illustrator
Site Analysis Walker Art Center
Material analysis of the Walker Art Center and surrounding built form. Partnered with one other student, our goal was to explore the hardscape materials involved with the experience of walking around the Art Center without using words. The process of creating 360 degree panoramic diagrams was challenging and rewarding, resulting in a unique diagram. opposite top: sculpture garden 360 0 graphite, photoshop opposite center: looking east over hennepin 360 0 graphite, photoshop opposite bottom: looking northwest from top of hill graphite, photoshop left-before/right-after
Artwork freelance artwork and project artwork mixed medias
Model Study transformation of original model (directly below) using different metaphors museum board
Detailing technical detailing of a proposed fence and of nicollet mall autocad, illustrator
sandra meulners graduated in may 2012 with a degree title of master of landscape architecture at the university of minnesota in the twin cities. passions in the field of landscape architecture include reclamation and remediation of outdated urban infrastructure and land, community based design, as well as reintegration of cultural significance within the landscape of the city and region.
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