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landscape portfolio

Reclaiming the charm of a Sonoran pueblo Community pride through sculptural monumentation

Bringing barren drainages back to life through public activationStory-telling and planning at a historic cultural crossroads

Illustrating a river’s energy in open space landsLow Impact Development in urban plazas

Conceptual design and adaptive reuse at a Texas civic centerFraming new perspectives at a public lands visitor center

Landscape drafting and photorealistic simulationFront Range landscape design and construction

My design goal for the dilapidated pueblo of Fronteras, MX, was to break up the wall-like boundaries of the town’s axial main street, and create desert oases from the town’s existing waters. Removal of select run-down buildings creates pedestrian-scale, commercial plazas, oriented perpendicular to the street. Within these, a more intimate sense of place can be felt, and views are opened towards the town’s lush fields and rugged mountains. From these plazas, residents and visitors are drawn to a network of pathways paralleling soothing, historic earthen canals; these, in turn, connect to a proposed equestrian center and eco-lodge along the Rio Fronteras. Utilizing GIS, CAD, Sketchup, PS, and IL, I modeled the terrain of the valley, laid out the town’s existing and proposed form in plan and in 3D, and rendered presentation graphics. This design was awarded the ASLA-AZ Student Group Award of Excellence (2009), and today serves as the pueblo’s master plan.

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PLACITAS

My primary contributions to a master plan for a hospital expansion were the design of a children’s garden and site monumentation (above and left; University of Arizona Design Excellence Group Award, 2010). By day, children are delighted by vibrant animal sculptures, and by night, lamps inspired by the graceful sideoats grama grass illuminate and transform this place of healing. I mocked up this concept on trace and in wire and beads, modeled it in Sketchup, and rendered scenes using Illustrator and Photoshop. Working pro-bono on another project, I designed a sculptural abstraction of the flamenco dress train (Sketchup) set within a traffic circle rain garden (AutoCAD), ushered its approval through the City’s DOT, and oversaw its construction in a Tucson neighborhood.

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Building upon my professional expertise in riverside planning, I focused my master’s thesis on the reclamation of urban stormwater systems as public open-spaces. One product of this research was the creation of municipal design guidelines (Pima County, AZ) for multi-use Green Infrastructure BMPs. Using AutoCAD, PS, IL, and ID, I created a methodical manual illustrating multidisciplinary concepts and a recommended design process. I also applied these principles to the conceptual design of a 17-acre open space park, which was constructed in 2011. This research and design gained the Desert Studies Award (Garden Club of America, 2009), as well as the University of Arizona’s Dept. of L.A.’s Outstanding Thesis Award (2010); in 2011, I presented this research to chapters of CO-ASLA, along with Axel Bishop, FASLA.

Planting, 2011

As-Built, 2012Grading, 2011

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Tumacacori National Historical Park’s 2005 acquisition of an adjacent ranch property necessitated a cultural landscape inventory. As lead researcher and author, I analyzed historic photos, land records, and site drawings; delineated changes to the river’s floodplain through different eras; interviewed stakeholders; and compared evidence to known technological and environmental changes. Organized both chronologically and thematically through prose, tables, maps, and illustrations, this document has been referred to as an “encyclopedia” of the park’s history by the park’s chief of resources. Since its completion, it has opened new opportunities for visitor interpretation and historic floodplain restoration at the park.

Garden designconceptual

development,1936-1938

Vegetative change,

1853-2010

Mission growth and circulation

patterns,1771-1828

Tumacacori-Tubac spatial organization, Franciscan mission era

inlet

narrows

back-water

basin

apron

flight

snag

air-space

My submittal for a design competition for the Albuquerque Open Space Visitor Center was a conceptual master-plan celebrating the survival of the Rio Grande. Re-directed river flows and a procession of land-art installations interpret the “control” and “flow” of the riverine system. Utilizing on-site materials, including jetty-jacks, these sculptures and earthworks tell a story of both the harnessed and unrestrained power of this life-giving river. In order to keep the design of individual installations open to interpretation, I hand-sketched a master plan and installation vignettes, rendered these with marker, Photoshop, and InDesign to form a consistent visual language, and organized them in the form of a “walking tour” map.

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As a student, I used Sketchup to conceptualize and produce presentation graphics of urban plazas and streetscapes (left). I have since applied these skills to model urban design guidelines for professional design offices (Design Collaborations; Winter and Company). Recently, with Winter and Company, I modeled typologies of positive open spaces and building massing strategies within suburban commercial centers for Goodyear, AZ (directly below), and mocked-up Low-Impact Development infrastrucuture designs for office parks in Roswell, GA (furthest below).

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Stormwater Planter Bioswale Rain Garden

Street 7

Pedestrian entry plaza

Positive open space basin

Building articulation

Amphitheater Large plaza behind library

Shade corridor

Children’s play area

Reading gardens

Expanded sculpture garden

Outdoor cafe seating

9th Street

Fore

st St

.

MLK St.

In 2014, I worked for Winter and Company to conceptually design, model, and render a civic plaza for Georgetown, TX. This design realizes stakeholder preferences through the use of vernacular forms, contemporary architectural materials, traditional plantings, and a circulatory framework that enhances buildings and outdoor places. The design includes an amphitheatre, axial promenade, tensile shade structures, multi-use plaza, elevated reading gardens, expanded sculpture garden, pick-up/drop-off, a children’s splash pad, and a destination bar and grill via adaptive reuse of a historic power plant.

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9(NOTE: Not to scale)

In collaboration with architecture student Youngsoo Kim, I designed a visitor center for Madera Canyon in the Coronado National Forest. Formal plantings along a shaded entry ramp lead to powerfully-framed views from an observation tower, and pensive and private places within a contour-hugging arboretum of locally and regionally native plants.

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Civil 3D: draping project features 3ds Max: Matching the scene & rendering Photoshop: stitching & blending

Simulated Conditions

I am proficient drafting with AutoCAD and Revit for the production of construction documents. Shown here are a ground section (top; student), irrigation and hardscape plan (above left; EPG, LLC), and irrigation detail (above right; EPG, LLC). I am also skilled at using AutoCAD 3D and Civil 3D, in conjunction with 3ds Max and Photoshop, to create photorealistic simulations of transmission tower, power-line, building pad, and ROW clearance proposals (below, EPG, LLC).

CONCRETE FOOTING, REINF. AS REQUIRED,DEPTH VARIES WITH FROSTLINE, 12" MIN.

5" AGGREGATE SUBBASE PREPARED SUBGRADE

PLANT BEDPLANTING SOIL MIX AS SPECIFIED

2'-918"

412"

2'-0"

3"

4'-412"2'-658" 2'-65

8"

TransectScale 12"=1'-0"

34"3'-93

8"

712"

CAST IRON GRATE & FRAME(SEE DETAIL 1)

1/8" CONTROL JOINT

4" THICK CONCRETECAST IN PLACE (TYP.)

6" AGGREGATE SUBBASE

STEEL-REINFORCEDCONCRETE SEATWALL WITH

12" CHAMFERED EDGES

1/2" MORTAR JOINTS

1/2" MORTAR SETTING BED

5" CONCRETE BASE REINF. AS REQUIRED1" SAND BED

COMPACTED SUBGRADE

SLOPE

111116"

33

8"

7/1

6" c

aulk

7 1

/2" t

yp

1'-0

"

6'-0"

3'-8

11 1

6"

EXPOSED AGGREGATE CONCRETE BLOCK

STEEL REINFORCED CONCRETE FOOTING

CONCRETE CAP

REINFORCING AS NEEDED

GRANULAR FILLBRICK (2 316" X 3 58" X 8")

PVCUNDERDRAIND = 4"

RIPRAP

2" ASPHALT CORK SURFACE COURSE

4" ASPHALT CONCRETE BASE COURSE

2'-918"

112"

CAST IRON GRATE AND FRAME

SMOOTH ALL SHARP CORNERS

CAST IRON GRATESUPPORTS NOT SHOWN FOR CLARITY

1/4" CAST IRON FRAME

1/16" GAP

2'-812"

1 1/2" L BRACKETBOLTED INTO FRAME

1 1/2 " CAST IRON GRATE

3/4" CAST IRON SUPPORTS X 7

PRO

DU

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BY

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TOD

ESK

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PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRO

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DESK

EDU

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PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

Irrigation control/pump detail (NTS)

Soils/hardscape section detail (NTS)

Irrigation Zoning/Sidewalk Layout (NTS)

Recently, I have focused my attention on residential landscapes as both a designer (Refuge Land Design) and a foreman (Ecoscape Environmental Design). In these projects, I have designed and/or built: drainage and water retention systems; flagstone and concrete walks, patios, and walls; rock retaining walls, firepits, and rock gardens; irrigation systems (drip and spray); lighting and wiring; paver surfaces; a pollinator garden and a Colorado ecosystems garden. In this work, I have produced construction estimates, selected and arranged delivery of materials, overseen work crews, practiced many crafts, and translated plans to construction process. In combination with my work as a gardener at Denver Botanic Gardens (top), these experiences have also helped me form an excellent foundation of landscape design practices suitable for the Front Range.

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