Redefining the Downtown Edge

The ULI/Hines design competition is an annual interdisciplinary competition for graduate students primarily in architecture, landscape architecture, city and regional planning, as well as business.  The competition from winter of 2012 was set in Houston, TX along the edge of downtown, isolated by the Buffalo Bayou and two major highways.  Site program had minimal requirements to increase low income housing, revitalize the existing land, and to be an overall well designed area.

I participated in this particular competition with an architecture student and a city and regional planning student.  Our design was based on the overarching idea to create a defined boundary to the downtown and a gateway to the residential communities just beyond the site.  The primary objectives for the site were to enhance the natural environment and processes within the city, to create new points of access to the site from across the bayou for vehicles and pedestrians, increase urban living opportunities, and to provide an atmosphere conducive for socializing and entertaining.

My specific tasks were: board layout, diagrams, wetland design, and the site section.  The architecture student and myself worked out the overall site design while she focused on producing the master plan and renderings.  Project pro forma was completed by the city and regional planning student.

Final board layout

Districts in relation to pedestrian, vehicular, and light rail connections

Existing and proposed roadways

On site circulation

Site section

Wetland Section

Wetland plan

Enhance - Emphasize - Energize

This project addresses the toxic algal blooms that have flourished in Grand Lake St. Marys and how to creatively slow the progression of these blooms through landscape architecture.  Grand Lake St. Marys is a man made lake built for the Miami/Erie canal system in the early 1800's and has since transformed into a recreational destination.The primary causes of the toxic algae are due to the shallow depth of the lake, lack of movement in the water, and the large agricultural community increasing the amount of nitrogen and phosphorous entering the lake through runoff.

My specific visionary plan focuses on emphasizing the culture of the surrounding area, dredging and enhancing infrastructures, as well as energy production through water flow.  Culture is emphasized through creating more trails and pathways connecting regional sites, as well as updating the lighthouses around the lake to provide for additional recreational activities.  Dredging will allow for the proper depth to support healthy ecosystems, decreasing the algal blooms as well as provide material for improving shoreline conditions.  Energy will be collected at the existing spillway by adding turbines and generators to provide lighting for the promenade.

Hydro Electric

This project was one of my most interesting so far as a graduate student.  We began the quarter picking out an infrastructure that we would like to work with then redeveloped an element of it.  I chose electric transmission lines and narrowed in on distribution substations.  Something I noticed is the excess of land at most substations and the potential that land could have within the city.  My project is very theoretical and I had a lot of freedom to be creative with it, so I took that opportunity to the fullest.
The design is to use the excess space at substations and create a park that would increase activity of local residents as well as create energy going directly into the grid.  Energy would be created by: when people used the exercise equipment, water would be pumped to the top of this 'water tower', once the tower reached a certain capacity, the water would drop, creating electricity through hydro power.

1st Year Design Studio

As one of my first projects in the architecture program at Kent State University, we worked mostly in model. The project was to create a museum within certain parameters of a section of a city block.

2nd Year Design Project

This project is from my 2nd year studio, sited in Cleveland Ohio.  The program is set primarily for SRO housing and market space, designed so that people living within the facility are able to work in the market to establish a steady income.

Building Axonometric

Exploded Axonometric of housing units

Model - Roof Plan

Model Images

3rd Year Design Project

This project is from the Fall of my 3rd year of architecture at Kent State University.  The site consists of 30 acres, set in Willoughby Hills, OH. and has a Frank Lloyd Wright Usonian home on the property.  The Chagrin River runs through the site which led to a lot of research of watershed conditions and site typologies I had never dealt with.  These are just a few images I have of the project, renderings are done with PrismaColor Markers.  This was my first project working with these markers. This project definitely got me hooked on landscape architecture and marker renderings!

Frank Lloyd Wright Penfield house

Entrance/Spa Pavilion Plan

Private Spa Pavilion Plan

Iteration of Educational Amphitheater Plan

Educational Amphitheater Plan

Educational Market - Senior Year Architecture

This is a project from Fall quarter of my senior year of architecture at Kent State University.  The site is an existing parking lot in the Strip District of Pittsburgh, PA.  Program elements are market(yellow), agricultural garden(blue), and educational facilities(purple + pink).  My section and perspectives are definitely over activated with people which I have learned to tone down over the past few years. Great site and project for one of my final architecture studios!

Programmatic Axonometric

Building Section

Entrance Perspective

Agricultural Garden Perspective

Sketches from Italy

Calatrava Bridge - Venice

Duomo - Florence

Cathedral - Milan

San Miniato - Florence

Florence

Graffiti Park

This is a perspective image and some sections from my first studio in graduate school.  My design was to create a graffiti park where artists could come and display their art freely.

Getting Started

I want to use this blog to showcase projects from both school and my free time.  Any feedback would be great to help me improve designs and other skills.
My design background is in architecture, having a bachelors of science from Kent State University and presently, I am attending The Ohio State University for a masters in landscape architecture.