Masters of Urban Design - Progress Portfolio by Walls_UNCCMUD

KBW Masters of Urban Design 2019 Progress Portfolio

K E L LY B . WA L L S DESIGNER

As a graduate urban design student, I’m seeking the opportunity to establish a career that will continue to challenge me as a designer, while utilizing my professional experience in client relations and business development. EDUCATION MASTERS OF URBAN DESIGN University of North Carolina - Charlotte ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN  ARCHITECTURE

SKILLS PROFESSIONAL Business Development Strategic Planning

University of Colorado - Boulder

WORK EXPERIENCE TERRITORY DEVELOPMENT

20162019

Account Management

ANOVA FURNISHINGS  CHARLOT TE, NC

Customer Service

As a territory development representative with Anova Furnishings, I was tasked with opening and establishing a new region of service for the company. Since Anova had no previous experience in the Carolinas, my primary responsibilities included creating and developing new relationships, generating and managing accounts, and assisting clients from specification to fulfillment.

Problem Solving PROGRAMS Adobe Creative Suite Sketch Up Vray AutoCAD Rhino

New Territory Year One Sales Record 2017 / NCASLA Certificate of Appreciation 2018 / Fastest Nationwide Year over Year Growth 2018 PROJECT ACCOUNT MANAGER

20142016

METAL DIRECT  DENVER, CO

ULI - Charlotte

My primary responsibility at Metal Direct was to help a newly founded architectural metal fabrication company grow and develop their clientele base in the Colorado market. As opportunities and projects grew, I balanced my time between customer relations and production design / manufacturing to ensure our clients’ needs and expectations were met while working to expand our presence in the region.

Sustain Charlotte

Sales Growth from 250,000 in 2014 to 3 million in 2016

ORGANIZATIONS ASLA - NC + SC

K E L LY B . WA L L S Thank you for considering my application, and taking the time to review my application. I’m sure you’ll be reviewing several potential candidates, so before you begin I’d like to briefly introduce myself. I grew up in the once small town of Murfreesboro, TN and have always had a passion for design. Originally this took shape in the form of Fine Arts - especially drawing and painting. Upon high school graduation, I received a scholarship to study Fine Arts Painting and Illustration at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design in Denver. Though I enjoyed my studies and being surrounded by like-minded creators, I felt there was a disconnect between the artistic community and the outside world. I began to question whether my passion could be concentrated in a way that had greater influence on those around me. After two years at RMCAD, I transferred to the University of Colorado at Boulder to study architecture at the School of Environmental Design. The blending of artistic practice and spatial analysis to create meaningful environments was ideal, but upon graduation (during the recession) I struggled to integrate into the profession. Due to my education, I was quickly recruited into sales and business development for the Architectural and Engineering Industry where I’ve spent the majority of my career. The opportunity to discuss projects, problem solve with architects, and connect with passionate designers has kept me sustained through the years, but I was tired of working from the sidelines. My hope is that completing my Masters of Urban Design degree at UNC Charlotte will serve as a catalyst, allowing me to build off of my undergraduate education and jump-start a new career in the design industry.

Kelly B Walls

DESIGNER

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Spatial Thinking

Environmental GIS

North Pc

SPATIAL THINKING Introduction to Urban Design During this intensive introductory summer studio students explored new ways of conceptualizing space. We began by projecting points within two and three dimensional planes to create an uncontrolled abstract compisition. Using Gestalt principals, students then extracted formsbased on proximity, similarity, continuity, closure, and the balance of figure ground relationships. These basic forms were then transformed into dynamic inhabitable structures focused on defining a strong entrance, path of circulation, and area of stasis.

ENVIRONMENTAL GIS Biddleville + Camp Greene In Ming Chun Lee’s, GIS and Urban Mapping course student’s partnered with Levine Museum of the New South as part of their #HomeCLT: Making a Life in Charlotte project. HomeCLT explores Charlotte’s historic neighborhoods through the voices of its original residents and current community members to inform the many new residents moving to the Charlotte area and paying homage to the neighborhood’s culture and heritage. During the course, students were given specific communities to study and map through the lens of social, environmental, and economic factors. My responsibility was to capture the existing environmental conditions affecting Biddleville and Camp Greene.

CAMP GREENE

ENVIRONMENT

COUNTY LAND MECKLENBURG COUNTY PARK LAND FUTURE PROPOSED GREENWAY RIVERS + STREAMS

IMPERVIOUS SURFACE IMPERVIOUS SURFACING BUILDING STRUCTURES

TREE CANOPY TREE CANOPY GREEN SPACE

BASE MAP

Francis Miramon + Kelly Walls + Charles Trowell

Environmental

GIS_Fall_2018

NORTHPARK Transit Oriented Development The first semester Urban Design studio addressed the proposed redevelopment of a dilapidated strip shopping center along Old Concord Road in North Charlotte. The site was located directly adjacent to the newly established Blue Line Light Rail system stretching from Uptown to UNC Charlotteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s main campus. Based on feedback compiled from public and private entities associated with the redevelopment including the City of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, University City Partners, and LandDesign, an alternative plan was envisioned based on community needs and the recently revised transit-oriented development guidelines.

NORTHPARK - MARKET STREET

As with much of the Urban Design program at UNC, the studio was formatted as a group project with each individual responsible for developing a selected zone within the site. I was tasked with Phase 1, which included Mecklenburg County’s - Eastway Regional Recreation Center (already under construction) and Library Storage Facility attached to the existing Kimbrell’s in design development at LandDesign. Keeping these projects intact, I explored opportunities to provide additional resources and amenities to build density and revitalize NorthPark shopping center. My proposal would eventually leverage the large surface parking lot required by Mecklenburg County to provide access to a new Arts & Culture Center and a grocery store currently lacking in the community. We received consistent feedback explaining the need for an activated neighborhood center that brings the residents together and provides access to shopping, entertainment, and employment opportunities. Based on this feedback, defining Market Street – Hidden Valley’s new pedestrian oriented retail corridor became my goal for the course. Concept 1

Concept 2

Concept 3

Final Phase I Plan

Mixed-Use Retail

Section B-B’ Market Street Scale 1” = 10’ 0”

Pedestrian 20’

Planting 8’

Park 8’

Drive Lane 20’

Park 8’

Pedestrian 20’

Mixed-Use Retail

LUMBERTON Resilient Design Studio During the Urban Open Space and Infrastructure Design Studio studentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s concentrated on environmental conditions along North Carolinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Coastal Plain. Lumberton, NC has suffered severe flooding in the aftermath of both Hurricane Florence and Matthew despite being over 50 miles inland from the Atlantic Coast. Students worked with community residents and government offices to develop a plan that goes beyond reconstruction efforts to address changing environmental conditions and provide a framework for long-term sustainability and vitality for the city.

PHASE I : RESEARCH + MAPPING During Phase I of the Lumberton Project students were broken out into teams to compile historic and demographic information to better understand the city’s current and historic conditions. I was responsible for collecting and presenting information on the “At-Risk” population for Robeson County and the City of Lumberton. Following initial research South Lumberton, a community largely neglected by government support agencies, was selected as the area of focus for the semester. Since very little public geographic information was available, student’s digitally constructed each individual structure and street network in GIS for the South Lumberton area and overlaid topographical and flood layers to illustrate present environmental conditions. An initial water control network and catalyst sites were then proposed based on existing canal systems to improve stormwater management throughout the city.

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SOUTH LUMBERTON PLAN 1

2 5 3

Legend BioSwale Network Retention Basin Canal Greenway Culvert Levee Proposed Mainstreet

Catalyst Projects 1. River Front 2. Neighborhood Center 3. Mainstreet Extension 4. Flood Lines 5. Outdoor Recreation Center 6. Residential Tactics

PHASE II : SCALED TACTICS Phase II of the project focused on creating a system of strategies that could be implemented on the neighborhood and individual plot scale. For the block scale, a network of bioswale street infrastructure would alleviate the pressure on the limited stormwater system and help filter and remove water from residential areas. On the household level, a variety of green residential tactics congruent with traditional FEMA guidelines were provided to assist with water mitigation and improved flood resiliency.

PHASE III : LEVEE PARK In Phase III of the project, students developed a selected catalyst site following the principles and practices outlined in previous sections. For my parcel, I proposed creating a resilient park design on the west side of South Lumberton where two major canals intersect and feed into the Lumber River through a culvert in the existing levee. The 26-acre site is located adjacent to residential zones and becomes severely flooded in storm conditions due to the bottle necking effect from Gum and Cotton Mill canal branches converging on the site. The proposal goes beyond creating a typical retention basin and attempts to offer a community amenity in addition to stormwater mitigation benefits. The park is anchored on the south end by a Blackwater River Research Facility and Museum located in the low-lying swamp ecosystem. The majority of the programmed public space is on the north end, outside of the 100-year flood plan, in the form of inclusive multigeneration play spaces, community shelters, and vast open space which can serve as an emergency response site in the event of an environmental disaster. By sketching several trace overlay iterations on Google + GIS Maps, I was eventually able to define a plan which best responded to the existing site conditions, allowed for substantial flood retention, and contained all of the programmatic elements required for the concept.

SKETCHBOOK STUDIES Thank you again for taking the time to review my portfolio. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve dedicated the last couple pages to hand sketches and renderings Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve completed throughout my graduate studies at UNCC. This is a skill I hope to continue to hone and develop in my next design position.

KBW