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First Place Win in FIU Charrette: Public Art on Campus

January 25, 2017 by jread Leave a Comment

Three days, four (contributing) team members, and a cash prize for winning first place! See the story here.
We were assigned to groups, and collaborated with art and architecture students.

A brainstorming session was followed by an entire-group crit; the second day some more brainstorming and group work followed by a more private and quite useful critique; we didn’t get much sleep that night, knowing we were onto something good.

The idea was to rearrange public art on campus in a way that draws more people to notice and appreciate it. The art students thought about the art itself. The landscape students thought about what surrounds the art, bringing people to it or sending them away. The architecture students were basically useless, as usual.

I proposed hills – I felt that these are much more inviting than the existing flat lawn. Nobody wants a soggy ass.

Day three was presentation day; thank goodness we presented second and not last.

 

Filed Under: Blog, Landscape

Grad Design 3: Permaculture in the Bahamas

December 19, 2016 by jread 3 Comments

This semester’s project site is New Providence island, commonly known as Nassau, in the Bahamas. We had two weeks to learn everything the internet could tell us about our project site, and then all thirteen of us would take a week-long field trip to see it in real life.

Prior to our arrival, we split up the tasks and did a thorough inventory and analysis of the island, so we’d know what to look for during our field trip.

data and diagram by Maidy.

Two weeks was not enough time to anticipate everything we would need to snap photos of, and one week onsite was not enough to explore the possibilities.

count on me to snap those hard-to-reach photos

Finding data, especially GIS data turned out nearly impossible for some things. One classmate traced every single bus route on the island because no map existed, then joked (in all seriousness) about selling it to the Bahamian government.

We studied the topography, geology, and hydrology to create a transect model through the island. We found a porous limestone layer beneath the thin layer of soil, and a freshwater lens that’s becoming brackish due to saltwater intrusion.

modeled from GIS layers by Maidy

It’s this proximity to limestone, with so little fertile soil on top, that makes large-scale farming difficult (… can’t we just build more soil? … maybe farming shouldn’t be so large scale?).

Issues we noticed onsite were lots of trash, little recreational space, and very expensive food. There was also limited public trasportation, a mess of Haitian refugee camps in the middle of the island, critiques of the educational system, and the threat of rising seas.

research by Jana. layout by Maidy.

Me being me, my ears perked up at food. My prior research had revealed that Bahamian food production is low and imports are high and my in-person experience proved that costs of nutrient-dense real food were exorbitant. I would dig deeper into this food situation.

research and diagram by Jana. layout by Maidy.

Apparently food production isn’t keeping up with population growth. That’s a problem. Not just here, but everywhere, in one way or another.

So they have a ton of fish. They’re exploiting the seas, exporting most of it and creating an overfishing problem. They export almost no meat, dairy or poultry, or maybe they’re just not producing it in the first place. Something to look into.

My initial thoughts (and preliminary sketches): let’s grow more food! In schoolyards, churchyards, and everywhere in between!

multi-media sketch by Jana

In theory it sounds peachy. But let’s get to the bottom of this — there must be a reason they haven’t thought of it already.

I put an agricultural focus to my historical analysis and I find that cultivation has failed repeatedly since the arrival of Columbus and the introduction of monocropping. Who knew?

research & sections by Jana. layout by Maidy.

The ancient Arawak and Lucayan civilizations practiced what was known as pothole farming, where they used organic matter to create rich productive fertile soil. The pothole or conuco method of cultivation guaranteed them a dependable food source. They created rich soil despite the salt water and limestone down below.

This was my confirmation that it’s time we get back to basics and introduce a not-so-new form of agriculture to the island.

After the trip we got back to work. We had the option to pair up or go it alone. After a few weeks of working alone, Maidy and I realize we have similar projects and might benefit from teaming up and sharing the workload. Regenerative Farmscapes is born.

The goal of this project is to enhance quality of life through environmental awareness, food security, and a means for economic empowerment. Bringing agriculture down to the human scale will encourage the Bahamian people to become involved in their food production.

small-scale residential implementation rendering by Jana

Working models that demonstrate viable and sustainable methods of planting, production and harvesting are interwoven into varying scales of everyday life, including educational centers, market places and recreational amenities.

Maidy had already dug into the traditional agricultural situation.

And she’d mapped out a soil analysis for New Providence. Silly me, I figured we could just build soil everywhere!

diagram by Maidy thanks to her awesome GIS mapping skills

I argued my point about the permaculture concept and made a simple diagram for my audience, evaluators, and stakeholders to understand.

diagrams by Jana

Why permaculture in the Bahamas? This way we could sustainably provide the community with fresh food, and it would indeed be more effective than larger-scale mechanical farming. Additionally, it provides work and learning opportunities for a struggling economy.

I dug up some case studies, including another one in the Bahamas. The Island School, on the neighboring island of Eleuthera, is a self-sustaining educational site which faces the same challenges as New Providence. Indeed this keeps the community busy and fed. If they can do it, so can we!

Additionally, while we’re implementing our regenerative and biodynamic practices and waiting for those lush and loamy layers of soil to build up, other ways to increase food production include:

  • Aquaculture
  • Livestock
  • Aquaponics
  • Greenhouses
  • Fisheries
  • Ancient methods (pothole farming, chinampas)

Where to implement all this:

  • Wetlands
  • Coastlines
  • Backyards
  • Right-of-ways
  • Recreational paths

Recreational orchard trails would be a product of community involvement. These trails are intended for recreational use throughout the island and connecting to various farm concepts including the island’s production hub or Farm Park.

community involvement in recreational orchard trail rendering by Jana

A Farm Park would serve as a hub for the small- to large-scale farming activities around the island. Here would be educational centers, accomodation for workers, demonstration gardens, a food forest, and sheer abundance of love, learning, and resources.

Farm Park master plan by Jana
boardwalk through the Farm Park food forest

Orchard trails serve as a network connecting to various production centers and recreational activities, including Lake Killarney. This unique site is home of the “chinampas” where fertile soil from the lake bed is built into islands growing tomatoes, kale, and other essential crops. Recreation is encouraged and made possible by boardwalks on and connecting to these islands and kayak launching areas.

recreation and productive chinampas in Lake Killarney rendering by Jana

The real deal:

official project narrative by Maidy
I managed to sketch in the meantime

Filed Under: Landscape, Portfolio

Analysis Methods – Summer 2016

August 19, 2016 by jread Leave a Comment

presence
solvency
movement
inference1
legibility1
dimension
texture

A study of bees in North America, aimed at comprehending the importance of bees in our society and their vital role in the production of food crops worldwide. Under its current course, bees may lose their critical mass needed to be able to sustain current agricultural practices.

The goal of this project was to learn the causes of bee decline, where decline is most prevalent, and what solutions may be available.
Homogenous farming practices, urbanization and pollution are among the many factors contributing to decline bee populations, and through research and analysis mapping, strong correlations between habitat loss locations of deleterious practices become blatantly apparent.
This course looked at theories and methods of the organization, analysis and interpretation of cartographic data using geographic information systems. Research and investigational study of architecturally relevant topics enabled students to
understand the importance of analytical processes in the resolution and formulation of design processes and strategies.

 

Filed Under: Landscape, Portfolio

Design II Spring 2016: Brickell Bay Drive

May 14, 2016 by jread Leave a Comment

Semester two, and the project is Brickell Bay Drive and surrounding streetscapes and alleyways. Things are awfully dead along the waterfront, and awfully dark and dreary in the streets due to all these tall buildings. My goal: bring the vibe down to the human scale and engage people through to the waterfront.

Analysisanalysis

Design

Title Page
Title Page
Statement
Statement
Location
Location
Master Plan
Master Plan
Waterfront, Existing
Waterfront, Existing
Waterfront, Proposed
Waterfront, Proposed
Waterfront, Plan
Waterfront, Plan
Proposed Access to Waterfront
Proposed Access to Waterfront
Proposed Activated Laneways
Proposed Activated Laneways
Existing Bay Access
Existing Bay Access
Proposed Bay Access
Proposed Bay Access
Proposed Bay Access
Proposed Bay Access
Proposed Parking Structure, Top
Proposed Parking Structure, Top
Proposed Parking Structure
Proposed Parking Structure
Parking Structure, Groundfloor
Parking Structure, Groundfloor

Filed Under: Landscape, Portfolio

Grad Design I: Fall 2015

May 14, 2016 by jread Leave a Comment

The design strategy focuses on creating a more enjoyable urban experience by attracting pedestrian activity and enhancing walkability along an overloaded, vehicle-dominated arterial highway.

By transforming underutilized green space and reviving empty buildings and their abandoned parking lots, new destination nodes are created. with a shift in circulation patterns and the addition of northbound and southbound bike lanes, destinations are safely reached by all modes of transportation.

The lack of any connected pedestrian network is addressed with wider sidewalks, safer crosswalks, the addition of bridges, and the removal of fences and other barriers.

With the creation of easily accessible activity nodes along a well-connected pedestrian-friendly corridor, a sense of community is restored to surrounding neighborhoods along the South Dixie Highway.

Title Page
Title Page
Statement
Statement
Precedents
Precedents
Traffic Patterns
Traffic Patterns
Proposed Traffic Patterns
Proposed Traffic Patterns
Existing Condition
Existing Condition
Existing & Proposed
Existing & Proposed
Proposed Condition
Proposed Condition
Plan, Elevation, Proposed
Plan, Elevation, Proposed
Proposed Condition
Proposed Condition
Sections, Linear Park
Sections, Linear Park
Zoom: Street Plan
Zoom: Street Plan
Zoom: Perspective
Zoom: Perspective
Zoom: Perspective
Zoom: Perspective
Zoom: Crosswalk Perspective
Zoom: Crosswalk Perspective

Filed Under: Landscape, Portfolio

Sketches

May 14, 2016 by jread Leave a Comment

A collection of sketches, sketched over the last decade. Some of these were used in my grad program application portfolio.

sketching workshop
sketching workshop
gaby in graphite
gaby in graphite
watercolor workshop
watercolor workshop
post bird, pencil
post bird, pencil
colored pencil sunset
colored pencil sunset
screamin' graphite
screamin’ graphite
lemon with an audience
lemon with an audience
pastel neon
pastel neon
dramatic acrylic
dramatic acrylic
watercolor stack
watercolor stack
left hands, pencil
left hands, pencil

Filed Under: Portfolio, Sketches

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