VASILISA KARP LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE
EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON september 2021 - 2025
Landscape Architecture Professional Degree
• UWASLA Secretary/Treasurer (2023-24)
• Student Mentor (2023-24)
Urban Design Certificate
KLINE GALLAND DESIGN BUILD january - june 2024
LOCATION: SEATTLE, WA, USA
FOCUS: designing and building a theraputic courtyard for skilled nursing patients
ROME STUDY ABROAD september 26 - dec 6 2023
LOCATION: ROME, ITALY
FOCUS: a UW hosted program in rome focused on the relationship between history, water, and the people of rome.
NORWAY DESIGN BUILD june 15 - july 9 2023
LOCATION: TRAENA ISLAND, NORWAY
FOCUS: developing structures to support a beach-side park. featured a kiosk, changing room, a fire-raft, and different seating options.
• created and led activities of community engagement with local children
• participated 3 day design charet in teams of 5 to ideate and synthesize designs
• constructed footings, foundations, and supports for a spiral bench meant to withstand harsh arctic elements
contact vasilisaakarp@gmail.com / (206)-661-8208
SOFTWARE ADOBE SUITE
RHINO GRASSHOPPER LANDKIT
OTHER SKILLS PHYSICAL MODELING HAND DRAFTING SKETCHING
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/ 10 PROFICIENT
8 / 10 CONFIDENT
6 / 10 COMFORTABLE
/ 10 COMFORTABLE
/ 10 CONFIDENT
/ 10 ATTEMPTED
5 / 10 ATTEMPTED
6 / 10 COMFORTABLE
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/ 10 CONFIDENT
HOBBIES
HAND CRAFTING | COMIC ILLUSTRATION | WRITING COOKING + BAKING | PET-SITTING | SET DESIGN
O1. THE FLOWERING GALLERY AKA KLINE GALLAND DESIGN BUILD
In this design, we aim to have various areas filled with different sensory experiences and engagements so that visitors could pick and choose what they wanted to enjoy. Just like a gallery, you can take a look at all of its features, or just immerse yourself in front of your favorite subject.
PHASE 1
Phase 1 describes my team’s initial approach to the site based on our client interviews and site analysis. The scheme we developed (above) depicts different ‘rooms’, each with its own sensory features. Our forms solidified and became more and more formal as time passed while still maintaining the initial concept of flow.
THE GALLERY: A HOME
Our gallery is home to many human, non-human, and more than human inhabitants. We made sure to accomodate all users ability level and comfort within our courtyard proposal.
HOME: THE BACK PORCH
A half-pergola with a plastic roof which acts as a small shelter for those who may not be able to navigate the whole site but would like a breath of air.
A PLACE FOR STAFF
Facility staff were a strong interest group for our design and one we felt vital to adress. These included more private resting areas to de-stress as well as ample room for event space.
RESIDENTS
Most of the site visitors will be wheelchair users, something which we made sure to accomodate in every part of the design.
FURNITURE WITH PURPOSE
All the furniture modeled in our design was created with construction in mind and was modeled as it’s meant to look in real life.
PHASE 2 Phase 2 was the synthesis aspect of our design process where we condensed aspects from five different proposalsinto one cohesive design for our final proposal.
photoshop
SYNTHESIS PROCESS
I took on the challenge of developing the final master plan of our synthesized design including the layout, massing, dimensioning, and site narrative.
This site is able to support activities above and below. On the surface, it is both a threshold and a destination. In good weather or on certain occasions it’s boundaries may extend beyond it’s percieved edges to include Firehouse Alley.
O2. PIONEER SQUARE REVIVAL
This site is constructed out of the very pavement it is replacing. it’s been broken once, but as time passes and it’s pieces begin to weather the elements alone, they will begin to break down and give openings for life to come and fill in the cracks.
DEEP HISTORY
Responding to the rich history of arts in the area as well as the layered section of the site motivated a design radical in it’s principals with space to support it’s past and present connections by stepping from street level to the long burried underground city beneath.
yr 0
FRAGMENTATION AS PROCESS
Processes such as erosion and bioerosion will gradually break down the site until it is able to flourish along the edges.
yr 15
yr 25
ISOMETRIC PLAN
Displays the cascade into the underground and the breakdown of materials.
ENTRANCE TO UNDERGROUD
Asphault at the deepest point of the park degrades quicker as a result of water pooling, creating a softness to the landscape as one reaches the underground.
SITE AS THRESHOLD
Due to all the connections surrounding the site, it was important to maintain throughways and ease of access to surrounding areas. Along the side is a steady ramp which brings one around the perrimeter to permit external flow.
PROJECT TOOLS
Concept was developed from the concept of breaking slate tiles with a hammer, then modeling similar forms using grasshopper plugins in order to generate random but cohesive fragments as a base of design. Custom texturers were created in Adobe Illustrator and model renders were done in Lumion before being edited in PhotoShop.
O3. NORWAY DESIGN BUILD
CHANGING ROOM, KIOSK, AND FIRE RAFT
we constructed three large structures: a changing room (left), a kiosk (top), and a floating raft with a fire pit in the center (bottom).
Traena, Norway, is a small island located in the arctic circle. It has a population of around 300 and a deep history with the Hawaiian islands. Here we designed a park to welcome visitors to the island.
A SHELL & A NEST
I took a conceptual design and built the foundations (literally) for it to take shape in reality, the design progressed as it was shaped by it’s environment, losing it’s soft, shell-motif in favor of found material and a wind-swept screen.
• fire pit (designed by me)
• retaining wall and permenant steps in place of a desire path and wraps around beach
• ragged decking edge allowing for seating towards the water
O4. TRESTEVERE STATION RETIREMENT PARK
On the grounds of an abandoned train station in the heart of Rome’s Trestevere neighborhood, a park emerges. It’s demographic? Elderly residents in the area searching for community.
A PLACE OF REFLECTION
Design centers a large reflection pool meant to highlight the historic train station and add a contemplative space along its borders.
NEEDS MET
The different needs of the community including green space, circulation, access to water and comfortable gathering space, were addressed throughout the site.
BENCH REALIZED
Construction documents showing how the long-running bench would be constructed.
O1. We Flooded Union Bay Natural Area
FOCUS: Responding to climate change; wetland area now having to treat 10x the amount of water it currently does
RESPONSE: Channelizing Ravenna Creek through the site and directing water to existing depressions in order to develop greater wetland habitat as well as catching, storing, and treating stormwater run off.
PLAN
Plan view describing how the site would look 25 years post initial channelization and flooding. Describes different wetland development areas along with the re-routing of trails to best enhance the human experience.
A New Creek
A vignette describing how a new stream would change the appearance of the northern part of union bay natrual area.
SUBMERGED MOUNDS
Isometric drawings which describe how seasonal water-level changes would effect the user experience across one portion of the site which featured sculptural mounding.
PRECEDENT STUDY
this poster was a hand drawn perspective of our precedent site, a mangrove park from turenscape, and was used as a model for some of the water treatment systems we hoped to implement.
SKETCHES
A select few from my time in Italy.
THANK YOU!