SHIMON ZIMBOVSKY
DESIGN PORTFOLIO
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE
SITE DESIGN
CHAMPAIGN, ILLINOIS: PARKS AND RECREATION PROJECT The Champaign business district is characterized by well intentioned public spaces as well as forgotten areas.
The design focuses on transforming the forgotten spaces into vital amenities by fostering public engagement. The primary emphasis is on creating inviting public space which provides opportunities for passive recreation and
community gardening. The concept operates under the premise that public investment and engagement are the best assurance of a public amenity’s success.
Current conditions
RESIDENTIAL / COMMERCIAL PROPERTIES
B A G
RESIDENTIAL / COMMERCIAL PROPERTIES
DENSE TREE CANOPY
(TO BE REMOVED)
PROJECT SITE
C PRIVATE PROPERTY
D
E
F G
A. B. C. D. E. F. G.
Staging area Community tool shed Private property Urban agriculture plot South First Street Barber Shop Community planter boxes Entry gate
In its present condition, the site is C-shaped and constrained by a commercial structure on its south side.
View from south entrance.
View from east entrance.
View facing northwest near south entrance.
View facing northeast from agriculture plot.
View facing east from west side of site.
View facing south from north side of site.
SITE DESIGN
RESTORATIVE PUBLIC SPACE CONCEPT FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS The project seeks to give tangible shape to a seminal theory exploring the built environment’s capacity to impact physical and cognitive wellbeing.
Using the Attention Restoration Theory as a framework, the objective is to create a space on campus, which will give students, faculty and staff the opportunity to rest their directed attention, measurably improving their wellbeing as well as thinking and decision making capacity.
The space is elevated 42” above grade and is defined by four 50’ x 50’ and two 50’ x 30’ outdoor rooms with a central inner courtyard. As visitors stroll through the space, they are offered multiple softly fascinating features, which contribute to improvements in attentional capacity.
SIXTH STREET
MAIN LIBRARY
A
B C
GREGORY DRIVE SURVEYING BUILDING
A. Outdoor room B. Promenade C. Interior courtyard
WOHLERS HALL
DAVID KINLEY HALL
ARCHITECTURE BUILDING
Diagrammatic section illustrating the relationship between ground plane and project surface. Trees are grown on grade and emerge through the surface, accentuating project elevation and give the effect of strolling through a canopy.
ARCHITECTURE BUILDING
OUTDOOR ROOM
PROMENADE
INTERIOR COURTYARD
Whole-site section facing south with Architecture Building in background.
Below: view of project site facing south from the Main Library. Right: view of site facing south from western-most entrance point. Bottom right: view of interior courtyard facing east.
OUTDOOR ROOM
PROMENADE
ENTRY ROOM
MASTER PLANNING
BUSAN, SOUTH KOREA: URBAN REVITALIZATION CONCEPT Busan, once a vibrant urban center, now struggles to recapture and build upon its rich cultural identity.
Residential infill in plan and perspective.
The project site is situated along Gwangbok Street, a one-way thoroughfare in the City’s primary commercial district. The objective is to revive the district and enhance its public appeal.
The design seeks to establish the quality of a scenic public park, by closing the street to motor traffic and introducing a network of pocket plazas.
Whole site facing east.
Plaza view facing west.
Shade structure facing east.
Interior view facing west.
MASTER PLANNING
URBANA, ILLINOIS: EAST WINDSOR INFILL PROJECT The project site is a mixed-use community that contributes to the developmental objectives of the city of Urbana.
Woonerfs, pedestrian paths and skinny streets define the built structure of the site. The grid pattern, with multiple intersection points, allows for greater social and physical connections between people and places.
Commercial zone
Southbound traffic
Northbound traffic
Residential areas are designed at a high density with shared open spaces, which connect to larger public open space networks within the site.
Open space buffer
Residential zone
Section of site demarcated by red line on plan.
Gray water from residential and commercial buildings is drained into a 450,000 square foot subsurface constructed wetland (far west side of master plan). Remediated water is used for on-site irrigation.
Project circulation network.
Building to open space ratio.
Typical woonerf detail
Typical woonerf images
URBAN DESIGN CONCEPT ALGAE BIO-REACTOR SCREEN PROTOTYPE
Oil has fueled our productive capacity for over a century, providing energy to support vast industrial potential.
In a world where energy demand may soon surpass supply, our challenge will be to develop reliable renewable sources. This project explores the potential for a dual purpose algae production concept for the built environment seeking to:
1. Provide a sculptural screening element, separating pedestrians and cyclists from motor traffic. 2. Recycle gray water from local buildings for use in algae bio-reactor tubes.
Images of constructed algae bio-reactor prototype on display at the University of Illinois Stock Pavilion.
BUILDINGS`
GRAYWATER PHOTO-BIO-REACTOR
Section drawing of algae bio-reactor prototype.
SUN + 5 DAY RETENTION ALGAE REFINERY
LOCAL HATCHERY GAS STATION
The built environment’s contribution to algae production.
If our cities become the settings for algae bio-fuel production, what would that look like?
A sense of wonder.
A functional screen.
An urban art spectacle.
TECHNICAL DRAWING AND CRAFT PAVILION CONCEPT FOR UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS QUAD
Pavilion front
Pavilion side
Pavilion isometric
Roof isometric
CONSTRUCTION DRAWINGS
EAST ST. LOUIS, ILLINOIS: PLAN FOR HOMELESS VETERANS SHELTER
SPECULATIVE DRAWINGS
IMAGINATIVE / IMAGINARY SOLUTIONS TO SUSTAINABILITY CHALLENGES Water resources are intrinsically linked to human sustainability.
What is the nature of our relationship with clean water? In a world with depleted or limited water resources, what are the limits of our ingenuity?
These drawings explore our potential to harvest and utilize water by defying conventional limitations.
BUILDING = LIVING MACHINE is an exploration of building potential. Walls capture and harvest rainwater, which is then filtered through vegetative structural components. LIFE ON WATER is an imaginary utopia, which seeks congruity between built form, adaptive ecology and water. Vegetative pontoons provide platforms for human habitation. [WATER]PARK explores an alternative reality. In a world without trees, people enjoy a day in the park. In the foreground, large harvesting towers capture and filtrate polluted water.
INSTALLATION ART VARNISHED CORRUGATED CARDBOARD
Influenced by past US wars, the rigid and robotic forms march into the ground.
With each successive conflict - Vietnam and both Gulf wars - the soldiers sink into the snow as they march in formation.
Not an anti-war piece, the installation illustrates that, however abstracted, loss of life is inevitable in armed conflict. Exhibited on University of Illinois’ main quad.