The natural landscape of western North America is being destroyed in the search for mineral resources. There is an opportunity for Landscape Architecture to play a role in the remediation of these sites, in which alternate reclamation plans can be proposed. This project is an exploration of industrial design in the early stages of a mine proposal. By analyzing the site as it sits prior to production, careful consideration of existing landscape elements can aid in better placement of waste material. Communication between the mining industry and affected communities allows for contributions to the final site design and the potential for an alternative end land use. Throughout this project I have explored layering the numerous industrial, social and environmental factors involved, and creating a design where these layers are represented in partnership with each other.

This practicum is a collection of ideas intended as a framework for an alternative approach to understanding creativity and process in landscape architecture. An exploration of the values that guide our thinking is a critical ongoing activity that weaves into creativity and decision making in design process. Relationships exist that when examined provide not a method but an approach. A re-interpretation of landscape architecture and a bento box resulted. Writing took on the first person in the present tense as a way to work through both writer’s block and designer’s block. The blocks provided many moments for critical thinking. Food and cooking are a passion. Connections and networks exist in our personal environments but are most often not noticed and certainly unexamined. The relationship between food and cooking, and the environment and designing revealed a similar process of creativity. This was used as a metaphor to act as an alternative approach to aid in moving through doubt and block. Through an explicit, conscious consideration of passions and values, a deeper understanding of the process and product of landscape architecture emerged.

Overwhelming urbanization processes continue to threaten huge amounts of Shanghai’s adjacent fertile land. The city has become unable to feed its population in a sustainable way. Moreover, Shanghai occupies low-lying land and agricultural yields are affected by the rising sea-levels and land subsidence. Urbanization has come with massive population shifts from the countryside to the city. This has resulted in grave tensions between Shanghai’s residents and migrant population and between urban and rural lifestyles. This practicum addresses these related food, land, and social issues through landscape architecture. While other contemporary urban food-growing landscapes are investigated, what is most important is the introduction of a new development paradigm based on Ji Tang (dyke-pond-field). A productive landscape infrastructure along the Suzhou River in Shanghai is proposed and re-establishment of productive land at a site scale is explored in a landscape design for Moganshan, an urban patch.

No description available.

<p> Green roofs are an emerging technology promoted primarily for stormwater management but little has been published about their potential for biodiversity performance. This is the first study to explore the potential for creating prairie-like, non-succulent, native plant communities on unirrigated extensive green roofs in the southeastern United States. Ten experimental green roof platforms were used to: 1) identify native species and methods of establishment appropriate for green roof applications in the southeastern United States; 2) examine the effects of introducing natural soil into a commercially available green roof soil media mixture on the survival and establishment of native prairie species; and 3) examine the composition of early successional green roof plant communities. Eleven planted species were successfully established and 46 colonizing species were identified. It was found that the addition of native prairie soil did not significantly affect survival, overall cover, or biodiversity in terms of species richness and evenness.</p>

No description available.

The natural landscape of western North America is being destroyed in the search for mineral resources. There is an opportunity for Landscape Architecture to play a role in the remediation of these sites, in which alternate reclamation plans can be proposed. This project is an exploration of industrial design in the early stages of a mine proposal. By analyzing the site as it sits prior to production, careful consideration of existing landscape elements can aid in better placement of waste material. Communication between the mining industry and affected communities allows for contributions to the final site design and the potential for an alternative end land use. Throughout this project I have explored layering the numerous industrial, social and environmental factors involved, and creating a design where these layers are represented in partnership with each other.

The goal of this practicum is to promote urban integration through the design of a ballpark development in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. The project focuses on baseball’s wide appeal and status in American culture as a catalyst to provide new development and meaningful places in the downtown. The new ballpark and supporting new development are then tested in an urban and site design scheme. The methodology for this project takes place in two stages: creating a conceptual framework followed by planning and design. The conceptual framework looks at the city and its corresponding spatial components to derive the key tools needed to promote urban integration. These include continuous built form, mixed and intensive land use and sustained and diversified activity. The conceptual framework also seeks to understand the game’s stature in America and its influence in American culture. The next phase is to look at the characteristics of the game and at how they could influence the design and development of a downtown through urban and site design. The design uses these characteristics to generate meaningful places in the downtown. The planning and design section of the practicum takes place in three stages. The first is the selection of the site and to pursue an inventory and analysis of its immediate context. The second stage is to create an urban design masterplan that addresses the opportunities and constraints revealed in the analysis. The masterplan uses a new ballpark together with new built form, land uses and activity to strengthen the urban integration of downtown Minneapolis. The final stage is an illustrative site design of the ballpark, public open space and a lighting element that displays the influence of baseball upon making new places in the downtown. The site selection examines actual potential ballpark sites identified by the Minnesota Twins. The objective is to choose a site where a ballpark would have the greatest positive impact on the downtown. The site selection process evaluates three sites in Minneapolis. The sites are judged based on their proximity to the downtown core, their surrounding building ensities, and the pedestrian and vehicular activity. The process leads to the selection of a site on the northwest edge of the downtown in an area with high built density. The project uses a framework based on Lynch’s (1960) spatial components (districts, paths, nodes, landmarks and edges)to reveal and understand the spatial fabric of downtown Minneapolis. The major obstacle that is addressed in the design is the lack of connectivity between the ballpark site and the downtown. The study area is composed of 4 different districts; each with their own set of land uses, building densities, and character. The 3 major paths in the downtown with the heaviest pedestrian and vehicular traffic do not connect to the site of the new ballpark. The transit systems (bus and light rail) are extensive but do not run to the new ballpark site. Baseball laid the conceptual framework for an urban design concept that promoted urban integration...

This practicum is a collection of ideas intended as a framework for an alternative approach to understanding creativity and process in landscape architecture. An exploration of the values that guide our thinking is a critical ongoing activity that weaves into creativity and decision making in design process. Relationships exist that when examined provide not a method but an approach. A re-interpretation of landscape architecture and a bento box resulted. Writing took on the first person in the present tense as a way to work through both writer’s block and designer’s block. The blocks provided many moments for critical thinking. Food and cooking are a passion. Connections and networks exist in our personal environments but are most often not noticed and certainly unexamined. The relationship between food and cooking, and the environment and designing revealed a similar process of creativity. This was used as a metaphor to act as an alternative approach to aid in moving through doubt and block. Through an explicit, conscious consideration of passions and values, a deeper understanding of the process and product of landscape architecture emerged.

Overwhelming urbanization processes continue to threaten huge amounts of Shanghai’s adjacent fertile land. The city has become unable to feed its population in a sustainable way. Moreover, Shanghai occupies low-lying land and agricultural yields are affected by the rising sea-levels and land subsidence. Urbanization has come with massive population shifts from the countryside to the city. This has resulted in grave tensions between Shanghai’s residents and migrant population and between urban and rural lifestyles. This practicum addresses these related food, land, and social issues through landscape architecture. While other contemporary urban food-growing landscapes are investigated, what is most important is the introduction of a new development paradigm based on Ji Tang (dyke-pond-field). A productive landscape infrastructure along the Suzhou River in Shanghai is proposed and re-establishment of productive land at a site scale is explored in a landscape design for Moganshan, an urban patch.