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Landscape Architecture Masters Theses Collection

Theses from 2022 2022.

The Eudaimonic Tree Pilot: A Study of Public Engagement in Participatory Art at Three Sites , Olivia A. James, Landscape Architecture

Theses from 2021 2021

River Tapi Rejuvenation: Elevating the Ecological Corridor of Surat City , Kinjal Desai, Landscape Architecture

Theses from 2018 2018

Curating Place: Using Interpretive Design to Metabolize Change in the Rural, Post-Industrial Landscape of Woronoco Massachusetts , Clark G. Piers-Gamble, Landscape Architecture

Theses from 2017 2017

An Incremental Intervention in Jakarta: An Empowering Infrastructural Approach for Upgrading Informal Settelments , Christopher H. Counihan

The Use of Public Plazas in China and the United States: Measuring the Differences Using Direct Observation in Boston and Chongqing , Maozhu Mao, Landscape Architecture

Theses from 2016 2016

Restoration: Bridging the Gaps A Graphic Translation of Ecological Restoration , Alyssandra Black, Landscape Architecture

The Role of the Landscape in the Socialization of Cohousing Communities: A Study in Western Massachusetts , Emilie Marques Jordao, Landscape Architecture

Theses from 2013 2013

Forms, Transitions, and Design Approaches: Women as Creators of Built Landscapes , Tai-hsiang Cheng, Landscape Architecture

Reconnecting to Landscape: An Evaluation of the Post Hurricane Communities of Biloxi, Mississippi and Galveston, Texas , Elizabeth A. Englebretson, Landscape Architecture

Negotiating Postwar Landscape Architecture: The Practice of Sidney Nichols Shurcliff , Jeffrey Scott Fulford M.D., M.P.H., M.L.A., Landscape Architecture

The Lovely and the Wild: Considering Naumkeag , Carol Waag, Landscape Architecture

Theses from 2012 2012

Public Art - Purpose and Benefits: Exploring Strategy in the New England City of Pittsfield, Ma , Pamela Jo Landi, Landscape Architecture

Environmental Design Research and the Design of Urban Open Space: A Study of Current Practice in Landscape Architecture , Jennifer Masters, Landscape Architecture

Culture, Community Development, and Sustainability in a Post-Freeway City , Bryan Obara, Landscape Architecture

Elements of Sustainable Urbanism and Strategies for Landscape Development: Design of Green City , Jie Su, Landscape Architecture

Theses from 2011 2011

Bioretention: Evaluating their Effectiveness for Improving Water Quality in New England Urban Environments , Mary Dehais, Landscape Architecture

Landscapes of Compassion: A Guatemalan Experience , Travis W. Shultz, Landscape Architecture

Schoolyard Renovations in the Context of Urban Greening: Insight from the Boston Schoolyard Initiative, Boston, Massachusetts , Katherine A. Tooke, Landscape Architecture

Retrofitting Suburbs: Prioritizing Bmp Implementation to Reduce Phosphorus Runoff , Emily S. Wright, Landscape Architecture

Theses from 2010 2010

Strengthening Urban Green: Using Green Infrastructure for Biodiversity Improvement in Boston's Highly Fragmented Urban Environments , Christopher L. Mantle, Landscape Architecture

Communicating Landscape Design Intent to the Non-expert: Small Experiments Using Collage , Deborah Zervas, Landscape Architecture

Theses from 2009 2009

The Community Garden as a Tool for Community Empowerment: A Study of Community Gardens in Hampden County , Shanon C. Kearney, Landscape Architecture

Theses from 2008 2008

Alleys: Negotiating Identity in Traditional, Urban, And New Urban Communities , Sara A. Hage, Landscape Architecture

Rural Character in the Hilltowns: Understanding Attitudes About Planning in the Context of Attachment to Place , Anna J. Sadler, Landscape Architecture

Testing the New Suburbanism: Exploring Attitudes of Local Residents in Metropolitan Boston toward Residential Neighborhoods and Sustainable Development , Nicole A. West, Landscape Architecture

Theses from 1932 1932

Project for a state park system for Alabama , Sam Findley Brewster, Landscape Architecture

Theses from 1927 1927

The triangulation method of stadia transit topographic surveying adapted to landscape architecture , Kenneth Boyd Simmons, Landscape Architecture

Theses from 1917 1917

Principles of real estate subdivision with a practical problem , Irving C. Root, Landscape Architecture

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Home > Landscape Architecture > Landscape Architecture Masters Theses

Landscape Architecture Masters Theses

Fully accredited by the American Society of Landscape Architects, RISD’s MLA program is unique in that it gives students access to a wide range of fine art and design courses on campus, along with classes at Brown University, study abroad options and a six-week Wintersession that allows for focused study on campus or off. In addition, the program revolves around environmental and global issues, with recent involvement in projects in Bangladesh, Costa Rica, Ghana and beyond.

In the final year, students complete the course of study by developing a thesis and a methodology for testing their conceptual premise through a committed design project. This final requirement differs from most programs, and allows students to spend the time they need to develop a visual and written language that articulates their interests and future direction. All MLA candidates also participate in the RISD Graduate Thesis Exhibition, a large-scale public show held annually.

These works are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License .

Theses from 2023 2023

Starting From Ecotone Reconnecting Fragmented Mission Hill , Xinyi Cai

Arctic Resilience: Adaptive Networks of Self-Sufficiency , Jingjing Cui

Beyond the Lines , Miranda-Max de Beer

Abundance within Scarcity: Food Security in the Favelas of Brazil , Menglin Ding

Cities of Tomorrow Future Urban Planning Strategies , Jingyu Ge

Landscape De/Re-Construction through Art , Manuel Gonzalez

Liquid Border , YINGFAN JIA

FLOWS OF SOUND “Harnessing Sound As Critical Urban Resources” , Zuan Lin

Temporary urbanism-spatial democracy in the temporary city , Shijie Li

MODERN NOMADISM ——A network of reciprocal moorings , Jinting Liu

Enhancing Wellbeing In Public Landscape Through Light , Ruiqing Miao

CRACKS OF THE CITY: Crack as an invitation for informality , Yusha Miao

The Root of Culture: Human Ritual and the Soils of West Virginia , Aleece Mount

Celebrate Scarcity: Water Harvesting as Cultural Keystone , Jiajun Ni

Orchestration of Experience , Jingyi Shen

SENSIBLE NATURE: To “See” As We Once Did , Yuhan Su

Vanishing Ice , Zhehao Tang

Rebuild Relationships Between City, Agriculture and Ecosystem in the World of the Drought , Ninghao Wang

Moving In, Moving Up, Moving On : The adaptation and preservation of Chinese diasporas through food , Jieqi Yao

Watering the Soul: Reintroduction of Water to the Urban Space , Danfei Zhang

Healing the Haunted: Rituals of Mourning and Suture , Pian Zhang

City as Cemetery , Siqiao Zhao

Theses from 2022 2022

X-Era: adaptation to the future uncertainty with sustainable Indigenous wisdom , Ruoyuan Chen

Systemic design: Experiments to trigger pedestrian empathy in the urban system , Yu Chen

City of intelligent soil: systematic approach towards urban soil mutualism , Yuting Chen

To mine or not to mine? Epistemological development of the Pebble Mine landscape in Lake Iliamna area as a resilient commons system , Chenfang (Vincent) Gang

Urban vine: reimagine the scaffolding as a repair opportunity to transform the ecosystem , Shuyi Guan

Arriving in the city: reimagining the urban footholds for rural workers , Xinlei Gu

Scalability system: A tool for bioregional navigation , Lulu Hou

We walk, we live: reclaiming the rights of female and other gender minorities to the urban commons , Wenxi (Hillary) Huang

Darkness matters: understanding the ecological effects and human sensory perception of night lighting , Zitong (Shirley) Hui

Field guide to gendered public life : balancing the preservation of the existing vibrant public life with the improvement of the female experience , Christina Koutsoukou

Regenerating the ground: Using regenerative agricultural practices to increase urban food production and restore the health of soils , Yuxiao Liao

Anti-gentrification: reconnect Chinatown through culture practice , Xianzhongge (Allen) Liu

Aquatic assemblages: improving dragonfly habitat and water quality in an urban park , Yan Liu

Trash matters: material strategies for prolonging the life of single-use plastic , Zixin Li

Infection-free landscape: adaptable urban open space design during and after the COVID-19 pandemic , Weirong Luo

Offshore speculation: generative ethics for submerged lands , Leigh Miller

Design in support of playfulness , Seung Hwan Oh

Emotional experience: An exploration of reestablishing the connection with nature through novel street tree planning in Providence, RI , Xiuyan Qin

Living with fire , Mohan Wang

Farming publics: Use farming practices as a tool to de-alienate people with land , Sirui Wang

Sensory resilience in urban walkingscapes: Space making strategies for streetside public systems in neuro- inclusive city visions , Yingying Wang

Slow down: Investigating how pop-up installations transform multi-use space , Yuanrui Wang

Landscape of resistance: reimagining public space for a vibrant socio-political life , Ziyu Wang

Zoopolis: repurpose urban infrastructure to welcome invisible neighbors , Yu Xiao

The Urban fabric: upcycling textile waste into raw material for urban ground surface design , Wenlin Yang

Agricultural Landscape as cultural practice : through the lens of rice farming , Yumeng Yan

One land / one ocean: reactivate coastal commons in urban territory , Chengie Zhang

Bee stations: refueling bees and creating opportunities for education , Jinghan Zhou

Cross border conservation - China - North Korea border , Ziyu Zhou

The future of the High Plains Aquifer: addressing potential desertification in the Great Plains , Hongfei Zuo

Theses from 2021 2021

Solastalgic ecotone: the critical zone in suspension , Bareeq Bahman

The sixth migration - rural/urban "heterotopia" , Pan Chen

Inclusive multi-sensory landscape: directing visually impaired people in a perception world , Tianqi Chen

Urban tree community: living with tree spirits , Xueying Chen

Blur the boundaries: an aerial coexisting system for birds and humans on rooftops , Yu Fang

Holding: speculative infrastructure for fire mitigation , Ian George

Rewilding Seattle: a green network for both humans and non-humans , Zhouqian Guo

Mutable landscapes: diversity through the lens of the earth's biomass , Ilya Iskhakov

The TEK-way: traditional ecological knowledge: a catalyst to building resilient communities , Smera Rose Jacob

Transforming islands: a living memorial for the Marshall Islands , Chengwen Jiang

Reimagining the damage: an exploration on urban brownfield regeneration strategies , Jun Jiang

Re-foresting: cohabitation of human and trees , Chengyu Ke

Filmic landscape: a performative space with multi-medium , Zhihong Ke

Land, labor, water: an agricultural commons in the Central Valley of California , Jacob Lightman

Post-industry brownfield renewal system: precision strategy and design via the new methodology , Sirui Li

Fluid ground: imagining a floating future for Tuvalu , Yuxi Liu

Eco-waste: household waste material flows in a circular economy , Erqi Meng

Affordable Green: what cause landscape gentrification and how we deal with it , Siyu Pan

Virtuality, reality, community , Siqi Rao

Synthetic undulation: improving the marine life quality on the Indonesian island of Seleyar , Shreeyaa Shah

Community steward of the deep bay: staging Lau Fau Shan for resiliency through collective participation , Lauren Tam

Across the boundary: addressing segregation along transportation infrastructure , Ruochen Wang

Regional food self sufficiency: new visions for productive landscapes , Yiling Wang

Wandering land: landscape on space station , Xin Wen

Optics / perception / experience: regenerating agricultural landscape through railways , Tianyi Xie

A better city for her: design safer public spaces for women in the United States and China , Geruihan Xu

Mother river: restoring transiting producing , Rui Yang

Eco-corridor for wildlife: reclamation of wildlife habitat in Rhode Island , Xiaodong Yang

Negative carbon growth in the atmosphere: to reverse the growth of carbon in the atmosphere through urban reforestation , Hanchao Zhang

Eco-concrete: reimaging Nantucket infrastructure system , Huaiwen Zhang

Driftscape: maximize urban space uses in the context of densification , Sida Zhang

The second identity: the human-otters ha-ha - utopia for urban animals , Yuxin Zhang

Feeling at home: working with the rhythm of the day to support seniors in urban villages , Guoxi Zhou

Theses from 2020 2020

This land is your land: democratizing landscape architecture , Adrienne Emmerich

A material cooperation over time , Diana Marcela Gallo

Urban storytelling: rebuilding the understanding of place via immersive narrative , Xue Gao

Flowing garments: textile waste reutilization in landscape design , Fengjiao Ge

Generative landscapes: successional and equitable plant propagation on Rhode Island's public lands , Elizabeth Hunt

Mountainous city , Yixuan Hu

Territories of trash: designing the overlap of spaces of disposal and acquisition , Mary Kokorda Cavazos

Dynamic landscape: The theatre of time unfolding , Mo Kong

42nd Soundscaping: sound as media for reshaping urban ecology , Chao Li

3D simulation in flooding Providence , Qing Liu

Urban ecotone: restoring the water-land balance as a strategy for social equity , Yuzhe Ma

Landscapes of exposure: reframing the connection between body + environment , Kayla Murgo

What is rural design? decentralized & community-driven approaches for the Green New Deal that value existing rural land and community , Cornelia Overton

Urban palimpsest: re-placing memory in war torn city Dresden , Xinyi Sun

Reviving the hollowing rural village: research on the coastal mountainous region of Kaihua, China , Rui Tao

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Master of Landscape Architecture Theses

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• Landscape Architecture Design Thesis

Landscape Architecture Design Thesis (ABPL90375)

Graduate coursework Points: 25 Dual-Delivery (Parkville)

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Email Semester 1: Sidh Sintusingha [email protected]

Semester 2:

Jillian Wallis

[email protected]

This subject is the culmination of each student's studies in Master of Landscape Architecture. Students will be offered a studio thematic which provides scope for an original approach to design synthesis in landscape architecture, which is based on research and critical thinking. These studios may offer an interdisciplinary experience with students working alongside others in a parallel design discipline. Students will be expected to demonstrate mastery of design resolution, conceptual engagement and aesthetic expression. With course coordinator approval, high-achieving students may undertake the Landscape Architecture Design Thesis as an individually supervised design investigation. Similarly, under exceptional circumstances and with course coordinator approval, the Design Thesis may be undertaken as a written thesis.

Intended learning outcomes

On completion of this subject, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate a capacity to make a contribution to the existing body of knowledge in landscape architectural theory and practice;
• Demonstrate critical awareness of how their chosen specialisation contributes to this body of knowledge;
• Demonstrate an understanding of design as a form of research enquiry.

Generic skills

• Written, verbal and graphic presentation of ideas
• Correct use of design terminology
• Ability to analyse social and cultural contexts
• Critical thinking and analysis
• Creative response to complex problems
• Ability to select the appropriate design approach

Last updated: 3 November 2022

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MLA Student Thesis Projects

Mla thesis projects.

Ever wonder what kind of thesis projects our students worked on while here in our program? Check out the topics our students, now alumni, explored!

Quicklinks: 2018-2019 |   2017-2018 |  2016-2017 |  2015-2016 | 2014-2015 | 2013-2014 | 2012-2013 | 2011-2012 | 2010-2011

Coming soon!

Jennifer Ren

Choreographing a Greenway: Exploring Experiential Diversity Through Choreographic Dance Principles

Successful parks provide a rich assortment of experiences that stimulate the body, senses, and emotions. Another way to describe this quality is the term experiential diversity. While experiential diversity is rarely addressed explicitly in typical greenway designs, its implementation is vitally important in order to increase engagement and activate space. The Anacostia riverfront in Washington, D.C. suffers from a severe lack of experiential diversity and is redesigned in this thesis to explore how experiential diversity can enhance greenway design using choreographic dance principles. Many dance principles can be applied to design. By approaching park design as a choreographer of dance, a designer can focus on the human experiences –how materiality and the environment influence movement, senses, and emotions. This thesis demonstrates how dance can be successfully translated into the landscape, and how choreographic dance principles are helpful tools for creating a diverse and engaging landscape composition.

Matthew Zerfas

REGENERATIVE STORMWATER CONVEYANCE: TECHNIQUES TO WATERSHED STEWARDSHIP & TURNING STORMWATER LIABILITIES INTO AMENITIES

Regenerative Stormwater Conveyance (RSC) is a moderately new best management practice primarily implemented in the mid-Atlantic region. This thesis documents the proposed design of an RSC at Parkdale High School in the Washington D.C. metropolitan region. A degraded channel with incised banks between 9 to 12 feet in height was found on site. This stormwater channel runs for 160 feet and has a contributing catchment of 17.2 acres. The proposed RSC was designed to stabilize the channel banks, and create a stable channel profile. The runoff storage volume was calculated to be 4523.1 ft3 total which would treat a runoff volume of 0.24”. This equates to 32% TN, 37% TP and 40% TSS removal. The design provides a viewing area with a photo point and bank pin that would provide an opportunity for students and teachers to assist in visually documenting sediment deposition and geomorphological changes that may occur.

Joshua Franklin

TRANSFORMING ECOLOGICALLY DEFICIENT ROADSIDE GREENSPACE INTO QUALITY POLLINATOR HABITAT

This paper discusses preeminent ecological issues attributable to human development which negatively affect pollinator population sizes and diversity, and suggests design solutions to mitigate them. Under particular scrutiny is the perpetuation of monoculture landscapes. The problems with this ubiquitous practice include increased pesticide and herbicide use, lack of habitat and forage for pollinators, and reduced soil quality. In an effort to attenuate these threats, this thesis proposes two redesigns of University of Maryland campus lawn spaces into designed native plant communities. In these designs, native plants have been arranged in ways that reduce maintenance and provide ecological benefits by considering the unique roles each of them fill in their natural environment. Other strategies, such as defining borders around the habitat and placing smaller plants near the edges, were also implemented in order to positively influence the public’s view of these more naturalized designed systems and encourage adoption.

Avantika Dalal

DESIGNING NEIGHBORHOODS FOR ACTIVE LIVING: THROUGH TRAIL AND TRANSIT ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT

Trail and Transit Oriented Development is a new neighborhood planning and design concept. Trail and transit-oriented developments are high-density, mixed-use communities around public transit stations connected by trails (off-road shared use paths) and a dense network of pedestrian-friendly streets. This concept addresses the lack of pedestrian and bike-friendly design often characterized by suburban sprawl and the resultant lack of physical activity characterized by Americans. Car dependent suburban development promotes sedentary lifestyles. On the other hand, walkable and bike-friendly communities provide opportunities for active living. Neighborhoods designed with the concept of Trail and Transit Oriented Development have a network of trails connecting public amenities, major destinations, new development, and existing neighborhoods. This research project focuses on applying trail and transit-oriented design and planning principles to the Long Branch Sector Plan. There are two proposed Purple Line light rail stops within the boundary of Long Branch Sector. The proposed design provides an increase in trail length and connectivity. It creates a built environment for active living by creating opportunities for walking and bicycling in everyday life.

Laura Robinson

THE SURVIVORS’ MONUMENT: AN EMPOWERING AND HEALING LANDSCAPE FOR SURVIVORS OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE AND THEIR SUPPORTERS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND

This design investigation explores the duality of landscape architecture to be both a tool for healing survivors of sexual violence and a mechanism for spreading awareness to the general population at the University of Maryland. To design the site, a literature review of healing gardens and case studies were undertaken to uncover the parameters for successfully designing with the restorative properties of nature and healing garden techniques. To understand how to apply this research to redesign the site, Morrill Quad was inventoried and analyzed. The result is a space where awareness and restorative elements are merged to promote the healing of individuals and the community. By utilizing the restorative qualities of nature with healing garden design techniques, the space creates opportunities for stress reduction and mental restoration for all users. The concept of a monument is re-imagined from one object symbolizing an event or person to an entire space representing a movement and those that support it. This monument space serves as an educational piece, a place to embody survivors’ voices, and a restorative environment for survivors and students.

Jorah Reinstein

Toward Conservation of Magnolia Bogs on Utility Rights-Of-Way: Increasing Imageability

Magnolia Bogs are a rare wetland type known only to the gravelly sands of the inner Chesapeake Bay watershed. Scattered across upland landscapes just east of the fall-line, these habitats occur where lenses of clay intersect the rolling terrain and groundwater seeps along the faces of hillsides. Most Magnolia Bogs have been lost to development, but remnant habitats have in several cases been inadvertently preserved on lands managed to support that very development – utility rights-of-way. Magnolia Bogs have become the focus of targeted conservation efforts, but despite intentions, bog remnants on rights-of-way often go unrecognized by maintenance crews and are unintentionally damaged during management procedures, particularly mowing. By adopting the perspective of a mower in the field, the patterns and forms of that experience are investigated. Cognitive mapping concepts are then applied to create suggestions for increasing the apparency of magnolia bogs to maintenance crews.

Reza Mabadi

THE CREATION, EVOLUTION , AND DEGRADATION OF THERAPEUTIC LANDSCAPE DURING THE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURIES IN THE UNITED STATES

During the 18th and 19th centuries, planners, and medical reformists emphasized the restorative effects of natural settings in healthcare facilities. Then, in the 19th and 20th centuries, many hospitals campuses across the United States extensively applied therapeutic landscapes in their designs. While the architectural history of hospitals has been studied thoroughly, the gardens of healthcare institutions have not been independently investigated. In the 20th century, socio-cultural changes and modern technologies caused a degradation of therapeutic landscapes in hospitals. Today, new approaches to medicine and health necessitate a reexamination and reinvention of hospital landscapes in order to better align hospital atmospheres with modern healthcare goals. The goal of this dissertation research is to understand the transformation of hospital landscapes, their evolution and degradation within their socio-cultural context during the 19th and 20th centuries in the United States. This study will also addresses the broad concept of therapeutic landscapes and holistic approaches to using hospital gardens for restorative purposes. Therefore, this research aims to redefine the therapeutic landscape in healthcare facilities by proposing ideas to expand their socio – cultural capacities and extend their therapeutic properties beyond conventional practice. This research hypothesizes that throughout the 19th and 20th centuries in the United States, the therapeutic landscape in hospitals was degraded, and that the reemergence of conventional landscape practices is insufficient to address the whole healing properties of hospital sites. To achieve the stated goal, this research applied a qualitative approach through a case study method. Data collection was conducted via a triangulation strategy, and included semi- structural interviews, content analysis, and an extensive literature review. In analyzing the collected data, I used thick description, spatial-comparative analysis, and content analysis integrated into a holistic framework, in order to examine both historical and modern practices. Analysis of results concluded that throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the therapeutic hospital landscapes in the United States became degraded due to the introduction of new technologies. In addition, the reemergence of conventional landscape practices, such as small healing gardens, does not fully address the restorative potential of hospital sites. Therefore, many new possibilities need to be explored and implemented.

2016-2017 [ top ]

Renee LaGue

Wild to Wildscape: Designing the Urban Wild

Urban wasteland, terrain vague, postindustrial site, urban wild and wildscape: these are but a few of the terms describing sites which have been disturbed by humans and contain novel or spontaneous vegetation. In this thesis, I investigate the literature for examples of how designers can act upon these sites such that they provide the social, environmental, and artistic benefits of being ‘designed’ without destroying existing vegetative wildness and historical traces. I organize 35 terms into three categories describing the spaces as either negative, empty, or by vegetation type. I find that most design suggestions lie along three axes: history, vegetation, and access/interactivity, along with a general principle of ‘minimal intervention.’ Finally, I synthesize the literature review and precedents and apply what I have found to a test design site, a portion of a former railroad right of way in Alexandria, Virginia.

Charles Dylan Reilly

Walk Along the River: Community Design Process for the Norton Riverwalk

The City of Norton, nestled in Southwest Virginia’s coal country, has a proposed 2-mile Riverwalk running along the Guest River and connecting to an existing Safe Routes to School sidewalk. The designer employed informal interviews, a design charrette, and formal presentations during the summer of 2016 to better understand the challenges and opportunities for the Riverwalk. Design ideas from the community engagement process were triangulated and compared against the site analysis, to better understand which ideas had the most support and were feasible. The resulting design from this process focused on improving pedestrian connectivity; improving quality of life for residents and attracting visitors; and telling Norton’s history, from towering chestnuts to coal mining. The community engagement process reached about 145 people and produced media buzz for the project with four front-page articles in local and regional newspapers. The charrette brought residents from diverse perspectives to the design table.

Transforming Vacant Land: A Green Infrastructure Master Plan for the Neighborhood of Druid Heights, Baltimore

Vacant properties often become an invitation for crime, dumping, and other unwanted activities and are associated with lower property values; increased municipal costs; and poorer health outcomes. However, vacancy can be viewed as an asset for the community and an opportunity for productive reuse. Well-maintained urban green spaces can reduce crime, strengthen social ties, and improve physical and mental health. The green infrastructure master plan for the neighborhood of Druid Heights is a response to findings from the site inventory and analysis and the community and stakeholder engagement process, which indicate a lack of recreational and natural amenities, poor public health outcomes, and high crime rates. By improving access to recreational and natural amenities and creating a connected series of green spaces, the design of this thesis addresses the high vacancy rate of Druid Heights and promotes recreation and social interaction to improve the public health outcomes of neighborhood residents.

Katelin Posthuma

Kintsugi: A New Framework For Post-Industrial Transformation

This thesis uses the Morse Chain factory in Ithaca, New York as a testing ground for the development and exploration of the kintsugi framework as a method for transformation of large-scale postindustrial sites. Deindustrialization has had a profoundly destabilizing effect on many communities that were depended on industry. Abandoned industrial facilities are one of the primary visual markers of deindustrialization. Landscape architects employ two strategies for reclaiming these spaces - the conceal/camouflage approach or the reveal/reinterpret approach. These two approaches are typically presented in opposition to each other, which limits the design potential of these sites The kintsugi framework blends these two operating modes, creating an exciting and interesting operating field for the transformation of post-industrial sites. Based on the traditional Japanese method of repairing broken pottery with gold inlay. This technique incorporates damage as the central element for metamorphosis and change.

2015-2016 [ top ]

Nathan Allen

Mowing To Growing: Transforming A Municipal Golf Course to Urban Agriculture In Baltimore City

This thesis demonstrates how landscape architects can transform underused golf course facilities located within cities for urban agriculture (UA). In the last decade more than 1000 golf courses have closed in the United States. Municipal golf courses represent some of the largest pieces of open space in cities and because of their inherent infrastructure they can provide the ideal location to support large-scale UA. In Southwest Baltimore large food deserts are a serious health concern and represent a lack of access to healthy food options for residents. Carroll Urban Agriculture Park is a design response resulting from a detailed analysis of the existing Carroll Park Golf Course and the surrounding community of Southwest Baltimore. The design will create an urban farm in a park-like setting to provide readily accessible healthy food options and various educational opportunities, and to support current and future urban agriculture related businesses in Baltimore.

Kathleen Hayes

Regenerative Stormwater Conveyance: Design Implications Of An Urban Case Demonstration in Baltimore, Maryland

This research-design thesis explores the implementation of Regenerative Stormwater Conveyance (RSC) as a retrofit of an existing impervious drainage system in a small catchment in the degraded Jones Falls watershed in Baltimore City. An introduction to RSC is provided, placing its development within a theoretical context of novel ecosystems, biomimicry and Nassauer and Opdam’s (2008) model of landscape innovation. The case site is in Baltimore’s Hampden neighborhood on City-owned land adjacent to rowhomes, open space and an access point to a popular wooded trail along a local stream. The design proposal employs RSC to retrofit an ill-performing stormwater system, simultaneously providing a range of ecological, social and economic services; water quantity, water quality and economic performance of the proposed RSC are quantified. While the proposed design is site-specific the model is adaptable for retrofitting other small-scale impervious drainage systems, providing a strategic tool in addressing Baltimore City’s stormwater challenges.

A More Complete Street A Street For Everyone To Enjoy, North East Street, Frederick, Maryland - A Design Investigation Of Different Street Design Theories

This design-research thesis suggests that the improvement of North East Street performances by using Complete Streets, Green Street, Place Making and Context Sensitive Solution principles and practices. Heavily used by a variety of users, often conflicting with one another, University of Maryland Campus Drive would benefit from a major planning and design amelioration to meet the increasing demands of serving as a city main street. The goal of this thesis project is to prioritize the benefits for pedestrians in the right-of-way and improve the pedestrian experience. This goal also responds to the recent North East Street Extension Phrase I of economic renaissances. The goal of this design-research thesis will be achieved focusing on four aspects. First, the plans and designs will suggest to building mixed use blocks, increase the diversity of street economic types and convenience of people’s living. Second, design and plans will propose bike lanes, separate driving lanes from sidewalks and bike lanes by street tree planters, and narrow driving lanes to reduce vehicular traffic volume and speed in order to reduce pedestrian and vehicle conflicts. Third, plans and designs will introduce bioswales, living walls and raingardens to treat and reuse rain water. Finally, the plans and designs will seek to preserve local culture and history by adding murals and farmers market. The outcome of the design-research thesis project is expected to serve as an example of implementing Complete Streets, Green Street, Place Making and Context Sensitive Solution principles and practices in urban landscape, where transportation, environment and social needs interact with each other.

Amina Mohamed

Shifting Scales, Adjusting Lenses: A Framework For Investigating Baltimore's Urban Vacancy

This thesis addresses contemporary gaps of vacancy within literature by using qualitative and quantitative methods and tools to determine the quantity, location, and interspatial relationships of vacant buildings and lots located in Baltimore Maryland. Spatial analyses were conducted to answer three questions of vacancy: 1) how many vacant lots and buildings exist, 2) whether there are spatial patterns of vacancy, such as clustering around geographic locations or within watersheds, and 3) how to prioritize intervention opportunities that respond to the city's larger issues? Using the city’s vacant lot and building data-sets, two concepts emerged from these investigations. First, Utilized Landscapes as a classification system that identifies lands that serve a function but have un-traditional qualities that make them susceptible to being labeled “vacant.” Second, the development of Transitional Zones, geographical areas with a high density of vacant buildings or lots that should be prioritized.

George Sorvalis

Maximizing Landscape Performance At Advetist Hospital: Healing The People, Healing Sligo Creek

This paper answers the question of whether a design intervention on Washington Adventist Hospital’s Takoma Park campus can combine stormwater Best Management Practices with outdoor healing spaces, to improve the health of the local creek (Sligo Creek) while creating a restorative environment for the hospital community. To improve the health of Sligo Creek, a campus-wide stormwater analysis was undertaken, in addition to an intervention-site-specific stormwater analysis, and a literature review of stormwater best management practices. To create a restorative environment, a literature review of healing gardens was undertaken, in addition to a campus-wide site analysis, to uncover the most ideally suited site to create a restorative environment.

Nicholas Yoder

Changing Course: Repurposing Golf Ladrum ndscapes for Wildlife Habitat and Recreation

2014-2015 [ top ].

Robyn Edwards

Choice Experiments and Design Decision-Making

Jonathan Gemmell

Rethinking Playgrounds: A Design Investigation of Playscape Theory

This thesis studies how playscapes and nature play offer alternatives to traditional playground designs by encouraging multiple facets of childhood development. Playscapes promote play spaces that integrate physical, mental, and educational features. Harnessing the malleability of the natural landscape provides clear developmental advantages that surpass traditional structure-based playground design and provide opportunities for building environmental literacy. After combining research with feedback taken from site users, a design will be proposed for the exterior of Riverdale Elementary School, in Riverdale Maryland. Anacostia Watershed Society has received a grant for implementing stormwater controls and improving the quality of the nearby Wells Run stream. The design of this project will show how it will be possible to combine playscape, nature play, and environmental literacy goals with stormwater storage and treatment to transform the school's environment.

Harris Trobman

ENGAGING CHILDREN IN HAITI: UTILIZING FOUND MATERIALS AND PROVEN TECHNIQUES TO GROW FOOD AND FILTER WATER

The focus of this thesis is the design and implementation of a community health project at a new school campus for 600 students in St. Louis Du Norde, Haiti. The design harvests and filters rainwater to drinking water standards, grows nutritional vegetable crops on secure rooftops, creates social space, and recycles old tires, plastic bottles and rice sacks that otherwise pose a massive solid waste problem in Haiti. The processes are also taught to the students so they can take and use the planters at home. The materials for building the growing containers and the growing media are all free and made from local wastes (tires, plastic bottles, rice sacks, manure, soil etc.). They are easy to build and free to construct making them accessible to even to the poorest and neediest families in Haiti. The idea is to develop easily replicable and desirable solutions to the basic health needs.

2013-2014 [ top ]

Nancy Britt

Greenway as the Framework for Community Design on the Patapsco River Valley

By the nature of their shared locality, greenway corridors and the communities along them share a unique set of socio-cultural and ecological resources that are rooted in the greenway's landscape form and character. When unified, greenways and surrounding communities foster a sense place that is deeply site specific. This thesis explores the unique characteristics of greenway landscapes, using them as a basis for formulating cohesive design criteria for creating vibrant greenway-adjacent communities. These criteria offer solutions for balancing growth and conservation strategies to guide community design within the framework of the greenway, achieve community and greenway sustainability, and support the integrity of the landscape. Using a site along Maryland's Patapsco River Valley, this thesis demonstrates how these criteria can work towards achieving an ideal community form where design highlights unique site features to create awareness of and support for the greenway context.

Shoshanah Haberman

The Micro -Landscape Modular Urban Apartment Gardens

Paul Jester

Shifting Gears: Exploring Parametric Design to Renovate an Urban Waterfront

A powerful tool currently being used by architects and planners, parametric design has yet to be embraced by landscape architects. Through research and design, this thesis seeks to answer two questions: what is parametric design and how can it benefit the field of landscape architecture? Looking at historical and present-day sources, the evolution of computer aided design has been drawn out leading to the emergence of parametric design. An explanation and analysis of parametric tools, including a series of case studies, has been conducted to show how these tools are presently being utilized by designers. Utilizing parametric methods and tools, a design proposal was created to renovate a waterfront site in Baltimore, MD that focused on highlighting the city history and promoting health for the local residents and inner harbor.

Operation Market Garden: Establishing a Sustainable Food System in West Baltimore's Poppleton Neighborhood

Food deserts and food insecurity are public health concerns, associated with negative health outcomes for children and adults and connected to poverty, racial disparities, and other social inequalities. Urban agriculture offers one solution to the food accessibility issues in West Baltimore. Besides the initial purpose of food production, urban agriculture can play an important role in contributing at varying scales to the social interactions and economic viability of communities. These multifunctional landscapes can be used as design solutions for challenges posed by urban development. This thesis explores the roles that landscape architecture and urban agriculture can play in improving food environments for schools, families, and communities located in urban food deserts. This investigation examines urban agricultural planning strategies that address food accessibility issues and yield fresh produce, while also providing valuable public open space for community members. This project applies these strategies to the West Baltimore neighborhood of Poppleton to offer a critique of proposed urban agriculture solutions.

Adriana Mendoza

Anacostia: Community As Form

The essence of this thesis is to explore what form public art takes on in order to visualize Anacostia's community identity during the urban revitalization of the neighborhood. The current small and large-scale revitalization efforts by the City (Washington D.C.) are showing change in both the physical and social fabric of the community and neighborhood. As a predominantly African American community that has faced disinvestment and injustices--socially, economically, and politically--many residents are concerned that these City efforts will physically displace them, as well as the collective memory of the community. This thesis seeks to transform a vacant lot, slated for development, into a temporary, transient, multi-functional public art design for engaging the community in the process of exploration and expression of their community identity. Public art is used as a strategy to provide a platform for residents to effectively become present, visible and audible at a time when many residents feel as though they are not part of Anacostia's future.

Joshua Silverstein

Parchment to Touchscreen: Landscape Journey and Experience for 21st Century Learning

Experiences of landscape journey are informed and mitigated by modalities of place-based practices. Historically, documentation and transmission of landscape knowledge was limited to narratives of those with power and influence. Today, the democratization of power and decentralization of knowledge, particularly as affected by technology, are projected to affect powerful changes for our future. This project creates innovation in place-based learning through an interdisciplinary approach combining landscape design for outdoor learning environments with collaborative curriculum development. Educators from Gesher Jewish Day School in Fairfax, VA were involved in this collaboration that has yielded an exciting, fresh approach to engaging student relationships to landscape. Students connect to narratives of landscape journey and experience in Jewish tradition while engaging in guided personal explorations of place. In the process, new wisdom, the "Torah of Place," is generated, documented and transmitted through both traditional sense-of-place activities and pedagogies integrating modern mobile technology such as smartphones and tablets.

Elisabeth Walker

Exploring Socio-Cultural Dimensions of Sustainability. How Cultural and Social Factors Inform a Sustainable Redesign of Whitmore Park (Annapolis, MD).

Even though sustainability is defined by four parameters - ecological, economic, social and cultural, sustainable design is essentially reduced to ecological and economic aspects (Nadenicek et al., 2000). That narrowed focus ignores those, on whom sustainable development depends on: people and their physical manifestation, culture. Sustainable design depends on both economic and ecological health, cultural vitality (Lister, 2007) and stewardship. When sustainable development does not encourage stewardship, it is prone to fail in the long term (Nassauer, 2011). This design-research thesis focuses on the socio-cultural aspects of sustainable design and the role of participatory engagement in identifying the social and cultural layers of Whitmore Park. It explores how cultural and social factors can inform a sustainable redesign of the neglected 0.7-acre Whitmore Park in Annapolis, MD. The project also helps the community to save the park´s existence through creating a common, sustainable long-term vision for it. In order to create that vision, the designer used various community engagement methods to reconnect the communities to their plaza, and to explore socio-cultural sustainable design approaches. The park´s new aesthetics, functions and programming are driven by the results of the community engagements, as well as the SITEs (Sustainable Sites Initiative) design recommendations. The citizens´ involvement, as well as the socio-culturally sensitive and aesthetically pleasing design will foster a sense of community, and pride, which are important conditions for stewardship and therefore, sustainable development.

Travis Wierengo

REVIVAL THROUGH RESILIENCE: Small Craft Harbor Design within a Coastal Urban Community

Coastal communities along the Mid-Atlantic shoreline are facing difficult decisions moving forward into the 21st Century. The Rockaway Peninsula exemplifies many issues urban coastlines are facing. Environmental degradation, historic urban infill and development, a stagnant economy, and aging infrastructure, are only a few dilemmas communities along the Rockaway Peninsula are dealing with in the wake of the most current natural disaster that has left many questioning the future development of the area. This thesis explores what roles a Small Craft Harbor (SCH) could function as within an urban setting along the Atlantic coastline. The project will offer suggestions as to how programmatic elements within SCH development along the back bay shoreline of the Rockaway Peninsula, could serve to protect and enhance not only the human communities residing on the peninsula, but ecological systems fighting for survival within the back bay waters of the Jamaica Bay.

2012-2013 [ top ]

Risa Abraham

Revealing Risk & Redefining Development: Exploring Hurricane Impact on St. Croix, USVI

This thesis explores the direct and indirect role of landscape architecture in disaster risk reduction specifically focusing on designing and managing natural resources such as sun, wind and water as well as allocating infrastructure to improve the power and transportation system on the public, private and regulatory levels that can prove to endure the impact of a hurricane and promote a "culture of prevention." Every year a significant amount of damage is cause by natural disasters throughout the whole world. This highlighted the importance of mitigating the adverse impacts of disasters through the process of disaster risk reduction. The architecture, landscape architecture and urban design disciplines and the construction industry have a strong relationship with disaster management and therefore provide a high need in identifying how landscape architecture can contribute towards disaster risk reduction. This thesis focuses on the role of the design and construction industry, specifically the landscape architecture profession, in disaster risk reduction. A two-step approach was formalized to develop an understanding and to produce a design proposal based on the practice and theories of landscape architecture. The first step explores the definition of disasters and risk and provides a comprehensive literature review on disaster mitigation. The second step includes the systematic development and application of these policies, strategies and practices to limit or avoid the effects of hazards in the form of a three-tiered detailed design and mitigation plan. The findings from both steps will be applied to re-design the town of Christiansted, St. Croix, in the United States Virgin Islands.

Sarah Capps Ashmun

Healing Invisible Wounds: Landscapes for Wounded Warriors Suffering from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Characterized by pervasive symptoms of intrusion, numbing, and hyperarousal, coping with PTSD can be a tenacious and lifelong challenge for sufferers (Cahill and Foa 2010). Given the recent surge of war veterans resulting from Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom with a high prevalence of PTSD, landscapes may provide a free and accessible means for veterans to successfully cope with their PTSD symptoms and seek treatment. The intention of this project is to merge holistic therapies for PTSD with successful landscapes for trauma patients into the creation of adaptable design principles. Guiding Principles for PTSD will be incorporated into the design of a Healing Woodland for wounded warriors at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, while also providing potential solutions for other sites aiming to incorporate holistic therapies for PTSD into the landscape.

Matthew Busa

Designing for the Shrinking City: Re-imagining Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland, OH

Like many post-industrial cities in the Midwestern United States, Cleveland is shrinking. A decline in its manufacturing-based economy in the late 20th century has led to unemployment and outmigration, eroding the quality of life and economic stability of inner city neighborhoods. Traditional planning strategies that rely heavily on growth as a means of addressing shrinking city problems have proven to be somewhat ineffective. This thesis explores an alternative planning approach suggesting that Cleveland might successfully shrink into an archipelago of small, sustainable neighborhood islands while failed neighborhoods would be converted to productive "green belts". This project applies this approach to the site of an under-utilized municipal airport, proposing a new design that enhances the social, economic, and environmental sustainability of Downtown Cleveland. Specifically, the design solution promotes transit-oriented development, connects existing neighborhoods to the waterfront, cleans polluted water, and re-uses dredge material to create a recreational and ecological landscape.

Emilie Carroll Carter

Designing for Interpretive Signage: Best Practices for Increasing Attraction Power

Interpretive signage, murals, and art installations are an important element of passive outdoor education for those who do not have formal education or knowledge about how landscapes work. The inclusion of passive education in projects has become increasingly necessary as new types of green infrastructures such as rain gardens, bioswales, and floating wetlands, are introduced to the landscape. Landscape architects can contribute to educational efforts by including interpretive signage on a site. While this practice is being implemented among many sites around the United States, it is unclear how effective these installations are in educating the public - specifically adults. This thesis project takes an in-depth look at the effectiveness of interpretive signage located around low-impact design elements and proposes a set of best practices for designing sites with interpretive signage. To support the best practices, data is being collected at two sites with methods that include surveying site occupants, field observation of occupant interactions with signage, and interviews with project designers. Initial data analysis from the pilot study shows that interpretive signage does positively affect people's views on environmentally sensitive design, but a variety of factors such as signage location and visibility of installation can affect the percentage of people who read signage.

COMPLETE STREETS CODE FOR ROADWAY FACILITY IMPROVEMENT IN COLLEGE PARK CAMPUS, THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND - A CONTEXT-SENSITIVE APPROACH

This design-research thesis suggests that the improvement of campus roadway facilities using Complete Streets principle and practices can enhance the overall pedestrian experience. Campus Drive, one of the main arterials in the College Park campus of the University of Maryland, will be used as a case study. Heavily used by a variety of users, often conflicting with one another, University of Maryland Campus Drive would benefit from a major planning and design amelioration to meet the increasing demands of serving as a university main street. The goal of this thesis project is to prioritize the benefits for pedestrians in the right-of-way and improve the pedestrian experience on campus. This goal also responds to the recent Facilities Master Plan vision of building a more walkable campus. The goal of this design-research thesis will be achieved focusing on four aspects. First, design and plans will discourage cut-through driving to reduce vehicular traffic volume on Campus Drive in order to reduce pedestrian and vehicle conflicts. Second, plans and designs will clarify cyclists' use of the right-of-way and create a built environment that will reduce and hopefully eliminate current riding on pedestrian sidewalk. Third, the case study seeks to improve public transit facilities on Campus Drive to better serve users of which the majorities travel as pedestrians on campus. Finally, the case study seeks to improve pedestrian facilities to enhance pedestrian connectivity, accessibility, and overall experience on University of Maryland Campus Drive. Campus Drive roadway facilities will be inventoried. Roadway segments typologies will be identified and classified. A toolkit, road improvement design interventions, will be developed based on this classification. An improved master plan will be developed utilizing the toolkit while considering the specific site context around specific segments and the overall functions carried by Campus Drive as a campus main street. Detailed plans and designs will be developed for focus areas that demonstrate the goals and objectives. The outcome of the design-research thesis project is expected to serve as an example of implementing Complete Streets principles and practices in urban commuter university campuses, where transportation needs and institutional functions interact with each other.

Laura Kendrick

The Purposeful Edge: Designing for Wildlife Along the Anacostia River

As urbanization increases, many cities will reassess their land use policies and practices to establish a balance between densification and ecological sustainability. Creating and improving urban wildlife habitat can increase biodiversity and provide places for people to experience native vegetation and animals. Among the inspiring collection of culturally significant places, Washington, DC has many small reserve parks. For wildlife habitat to be sufficient, larger tracts are often needed. This thesis project capitalizes on one such expanse along the Anacostia River by proposing the area surrounding Robert F. Kennedy stadium and its parking lots become places where habitat is integrated into the urban fabric. Integration means creating spaces where humans and wildlife coexist, each enhancing the lives of the other by their interactions. Healthy ecosystems are a piece of the sustainability puzzle, and the future of the world's cities must include the application of ecological knowledge in designing urban spaces.

A SCENARIO PLANNING APPROACH FOR SCHOOL GREEN ROOFS TO ACHIEVE STORMWATER MANAGEMENT BENEFITS: A CASE STUDY OF BRIER'S MILL RUN SUBWATERSHED

In 2010, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determined the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), a "pollution diet", for the Chesapeake Bay watershed for six states (New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia) and the District of Columbia. The EPA required responsible agencies to develop statewide Phase I Watershed Implementation Plans (WIPs) to support the implementation for TMDLs. Previous planning efforts included the development of Subwatershed Action Plans (SWAPs), which provided a baseline of conditions, proposed tools for achieving TMDL reductions and visions for the subwatersheds. In 2012, the Phase II WIP process was developed to refine Phase I plans at the county level, including more local details about a variety of green infrastructure interventions to optimize nutrient and sediment load reductions. While green roofs were considered an important tool in the SWAP plans, they were not included in Prince George's County's Phase II WIP plans. Recently, Prince George's County has implemented a new green roof incentive policy. In light of this new policy, this research explores how green roofs might contribute to reducing TMDLs. The research uses Brier's Mill Run Subwatershed as a case study to demonstrate the benefits of both the incentives and the green roof as a tool in the SWAP plan. The objective of this research is first to document the specific role of green roofs in stormwater management in Brier's Mill Run Subwatershed. Secondly, the thesis provides three metrics to measure and compare the stormwater management benefits of each proposed institutional green roof in the research site. The third goal is to use a scenario approach to achieve school green roofs benefits that contribute to the stormwater management goals of the subwatershed.

Nicholas Patrick

Experiencing Temporary Artscapes

The focus of this thesis is on temporary artscapes - public installations that are originally-creative and intentionally-temporary in some way. A temporary art installation has the ability to quickly and clearly transform a place, increase our understanding and awareness of a particular site, and redefine and highlight the importance of public space. This design-research thesis proposes that temporary artscapes have the capacity to significantly alter the experience of a landscape. Through the investigation and evaluation of the theories, intentions and working methods of the artists, landscape architects, and architects involved in recent projects, this thesis explores the value of temporary artscapes in landscape-design. Two key research investigations assist this investigation. Designing the Experience explores the artistic process of designing a temporary installation, through the collaborative designing and building of a temporary art installation with a sixth-grade class at the British School of Washington. Experiencing the Design explores the experience of a temporary art installation from the perspective of the public audience, through the surveying of people during a temporary art installation in a prominent public space at the University of Maryland. The outcomes of the investigation and two research investigations determine my strategy in choosing a site within the University of Maryland campus in which to design and test a conceptual temporary artscape.

Light in the Landscape

This design-research thesis proposes the redesign of Tide Lock Park in Alexandria, Virginia as an exploration of light. By researching the cultural history of artificial lighting as well as the sculptural use of light as art, this thesis seeks to distinguish lighting design that goes beyond functional and safety concerns to include design that honors the human relationship to darkness, as well as the artistic and emotive qualities of lighting. To accomplish these goals, this thesis proposes a landscape design for Tide Lock Park which meets the City of Alexandria's objectives as described in the Waterfront Small Area Plan. The design includes three distinctive areas of light, providing visitors the opportunity to engage the night in multiple ways.

Sarah Watling

WHAT DOES THE MINE HAVE TO TELL US? ART AS A RECLAMATION STREATEGY IN THE POST-MINED LANDSCAPE OF THE OLDEST KNOWN MINE IN THE WORLD, NGWENYA MINE SWAZILAND

Swaziland's Ngwenya Mines, the oldest known mine in the world, has been a source of ochre for cultural use for over 43,000 years. Until the 20th Century, extraction at Ngwenya Mine left an imperceptible mark on the landscape until industrial technology enabled new mining practices that have dramatically and irrevocably altered this landscape. The intent of this thesis is to further the development of mine reclamation models and ultimately benefit similar sites around the world. By building on current mine reclamation strategies where Land Art is a mediator between ecology and industry, this thesis focuses on the important story Ngwenya Mine can tell. With no intervention, the conclusion will be an untreated landscape with limited potential. With creative design responses, a story of cultural and ecological integrity can persist into the future.

2011-2012 [ top ]

Michael Boeck

Reimagining the Cambridge Shoreline: Encouraging Implementation of Sustainable Shoreline Erosion Controls in Cambridge, MD

Erosion in the Chesapeake Bay area occurs naturally and unnaturally. It is a concern for property owners, environmentalists, and communities. New legislation in Maryland specifies "living shoreline" as the preferred type of erosion control. Long-term success of the legislation depends on public support. Choosing to restore degraded or structural shorelines is an expensive undertaking and arguments that rely on environmental benefits alone are insufficient. The key is to develop, design, and promote erosion control devices that meet property owner and community goals. This research-design thesis asks the following question: As `living shorelines' become the preferred method of shoreline erosion control in the Chesapeake Bay, how can these shorelines be designed to meet the goals of property owners and residents, while being environmentally sensitive? The author argues that shoreline designers must integrate human dimensions research as well as scientific research into their designs in order to encourage widespread implementation.

Zoe Clarkwest

COMMUNITY BASED APPROACHES TO STORMWATER DESIGN IN A BALTIMORE NEIGHBORHOOD

This interdisciplinary research-design thesis explores the role of resident engagement in developing a design criteria for urban stormwater runoff design solutions, urban greening, and activating public spaces in the urbanized McElderry Park neighborhood of Baltimore. Drawing upon stakeholder and resident interviews, community workshops, resident working groups, and site observations and analysis the designer developed design criteria for site interventions as well as neighborhood-wide programming elements. Residents identify jobs, safety and health as primary concerns. Beyond harvesting stormwater, site interventions must provide safety, education, entrepreneurial opportunities, exercise, etc. Building on community input, the design interventions proposed by the designer are site specific, but the intervention types are readily adaptable. The overall design process and programming strategies apply to a variety of urban sites. Given the amount of stormwater managed by the interventions, the potential jobs created by the interventions, and other benefits provided to residents, the model merits field testing at the neighborhood scale.

Allison Jensen

GREEN AND BLUE SCHOOLS: THE USE OF ENVIRONMENTALLY SENSITIVE RAINWATER DESIGN AT GEORGETOWN VISITATION PREPARATORY SCHOOL IN GEORGETOWN, WASHINGTON DC.

The artful management of stormwater has a capability to create educational arenas by combining environmentally sensitive rainwater design with education. School settings provide great opportunities for integrating on-site stormwater treatment into many aspects of the curriculum from the sciences to the arts. Presently, urban settings have new initiatives for creating green schools, which covers all levels of sustainability for the campus. This research project focuses on the development of stormwater and water-related designs for Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School in Georgetown, Washington DC. The main research is an assessment of the school's existing stormwater usage and runoff and also evaluating possibilities for new stormwater management techniques to be a supplement to curriculum.

Joyce Kelley

Redefining the ORILLA: community awareness at the water's edge in Baltimore

This thesis proposes a redesign of a waterfront park in South Baltimore, Maryland. Middle Branch Park, located one mile south of Baltimore's Inner Harbor, offers a unique opportunity to restore a degraded shoreline in the context of watershed stewardship. This thesis strives to reestablish Middle Branch as a functional critical buffer within the urban fabric of Baltimore city by utilizing shoreline restoration techniques, stormwater management and floating wetlands. The issues of water quality within the Middle Branch and the surrounding area are reflected in the design decisions. The design focuses on visualizing the hydrology of water in the landscape and creates opportunities for people to be within the water-landscape. Moreover, within this design the dynamic overlap of water and land is used as design tool to interconnect education, health and community within the new park design.

Kory Kreiseder

Addressing New Stormwater Policies in the Redesign of the National Grove of State Trees at the United States National Arboretum

The National Grove of State Trees at the United States National Arboretum is in need of redesign to meet ecological and social needs. The Grove serves as a scientific and cultural landscape and can be repurposed to serve the public as an ecological demonstration for contemporary environmental issues. In an intensive effort to clean up the local rivers of the District of Columbia and the Chesapeake Bay, the two agencies of the District Department of the Environment and DC Water have enacted stormwater runoff fees, based on impervious surface fees, on all property owners located in the District of Columbia. The redesign of the Grove is compounded by the Arboretum's need to add more parking to the area where the Grove is currently located. The objective of this thesis is to reimagine the design and interpretation of the Grove as well as address the impervious area charge assessments.

Rosamaria Mora Montenegro

"PUERTAS": THE MEANING OF GATEWAYS AND A DESIGN PROPOSAL FOR THEIR INTERPRETATION IN CASCO ANTIGUO, PANAMA

"Puertas", translated as portals or gateways, give residents and visitors the first visual images of the city. Their importance depends in the way they connect two areas, as well as in the way they give identity to the city as a whole. With the expansion of the city, the Historic District of Panama (Casco Antiguo) lost part of its defensive wall and its two original city entrances: Puerta de Tierra (Land Gateway) and Puerta de Mar (Water Gateway).When these elements were destroyed, the city lost part of its physical boundaries and part of its identity as a fortified colonial settlement. This thesis is a historical and design investigation into the role of city entrances and how their interpretation in Casco Antiguo can improve the visitor's experience. The reinterpretation of these entrances will also mark the boundaries of the Historic District that function as meaningful links between Casco Antiguo and its surrounding areas.

Kimberly Moyer

Wildness as Infrastructure

An interesting line of tension happens when wildness is physically juxtaposed with order. This tension is an emblematic feature of the urban wildscape. This research/design thesis explores ways to inject qualities of wildness into the urban environment where order, functionality, and safety are a necessary part of the landscape. The exploration is primarily focused on aesthetics; the full engagement of the senses in the perception of the environment. Nevertheless, the sustainability of urban wildscapes has important implications for its survivability. With appropriate research and design, a degraded urban landscape can be transformed into a minimal maintenance wildscape. The goal of this project is to identify design parameters and apply them to a specific place: Baltimore's "Highway to Nowhere" with designed acts of intervention and a restrained approach to maintenance. The intent of these interventions is to encourage a predictable succession of urban wildlife habitats with varying levels of human presence.

Chris Myers

DESIGNING FOR BIODIVERSITY TO INFLUENCE HABITAT ON A GREEN ROOF IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

This paper will discuss design elements to enhance pollinator and avian diversity on a green roof in the District of Columbia. Biodiversity trends on green roofs in Canada, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and the United States are discussed. Focusing on North America, reconciliation ecology is explored through the use of case studies. The design process for designing a green roof is divided into three parts: identifying program goals, site analysis, and design concept. Design guidelines are extrapolated from conservation literature for the creation of green roofs that support pollinator and avian habitat. These "bioroofs" will be draped over the United States Coast Guard Headquarters building which will serve as a template for creating a green roof to target the least tern, the killdeer, the butterfly and the bee, in the District of Columbia.

Matthew Sickle

Nomadic Memorial: Dynamic Landscapes of Commemoration for the Civilian Public Service

This design-research thesis suggests the creation of a memorial commemorating the Civilian Public Service (CPS), a World War II era program of alternative service for conscientious objectors. Through an exploration of memorial culture, the thesis seeks to distinguish the commemoration of nonviolence from the commemoration of war and to propose a memorial that inspires its visitors to consider nonviolence and conscientious objection as positive aspects of American culture. To accomplish these goals, a memorial composed of modular commemorative elements was designed. Rearranging this kit of parts in combination with a new group of locally appropriate trees, the memorial will relocate to a different American city each year and return to Washington, D.C. every four years. With the growth of a new grove of trees and its donation to the neighborhood the memorial inhabits, the latter will draw attention to the history and the variety of services performed by the CPS.

2010-2011 [ top ]

Kameron Aroom

Riverpark: Adaptive Reuse of South Capitol Street Bridge

This thesis proposes the adaptive reuse of the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge, located in Washington, D.C. into an urban park dedicated to the pedestrian experience. Also named the South Capitol Street Bridge, the bridge currently serves as the vital connection between the north and south quadrants of the District of Columbia. With plans to replace the existing bridge, and by utilizing the existing infrastructure, Riverpark will serve as the green link enhancing the pedestrian and cycling experiences between the Capitol Riverfront and Poplar Point across the Anacostia River in southeast Washington.

REINFORCING COMMUNITY: THE MEANING OF PLACE ATTACHMENT AND ITS APPLICATION IN THE REDESIGN OF LANGLEY PARK

This thesis is a design study of a residential community in Langley Park, Maryland with a diverse international population, a mix of mid-twentieth century housing stock, and a car-oriented commercial center. Langley Park will experience dramatic changes over the next ten years as the proposed transit center and light rail line is realized. The study proposes a new way for landscape architects to approach community design. It suggests that by consulting the scholarship of place attachment, designers can develop design strategies and apply them in design practice. Five strategies are proposed. Following a site analysis which identified assets and problems, the author established design objectives that would enhance the community's character and repair damage caused by a lack of connectivity. This thesis suggests designers can incorporate the concepts found in the literature of place attachment and thereby develop strategies to successfully achieve the design objectives.

Graduate Programs

Master of landscape architecture.

“Fallowing the Fabulation” by Samuel Syrop MLA ’24 and David Smucker MLA ’24

Designing the Urban Ecological Future

Landscape architecture plays an essential role in connecting justice to environmental design and the ecological infrastructures of the urban realm. The mission of our MLA is to prepare students to be leaders in the field of landscape architecture through innovative research and practice in urban ecological design, planning, and policymaking. The program aims to reimagine and rethink the profession’s current and future challenges through the lens of social, environmental, and multi-species justice, including rapid urbanization, resource extraction and management, the interface of nature and technology, ongoing species extinctions, and the climate emergency. The curriculum engages critical thinking about complex and indeterminate systems, empowering students to implement actionable change across multiple scales of the urban landscape.

In our design studios, we harness the dynamic environment of New York City as a living laboratory to experiment with innovative landscape and urban strategies. These studios incorporate diverse and multidisciplinary frameworks into landscape design and planning, drawing from fields like environmental sciences, engineering, and the humanities. Students cultivate landscape expertise by exploring a wide range of topics, such as urban agriculture, coastal engineering, urban ecology, and robotics.

Our students are prepared to be leaders in the field of landscape architecture through innovative research and practice in urban ecological design, planning, and policymaking. We are a small program with high-touch teaching, mentoring, and advising. Graduates of our program go on to work at design firms and public agencies.

Applicants from all undergraduate backgrounds are welcome in the Master of Landscape Architecture program.

HOW TO APPLY

• Professor Catherine Seavitt Nordenson awarded $250,000 grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to design strategies to improve coastal resiliency of Jamaica Bay, a 31-square mile estuarine embayment located in Brooklyn and Queens.
• We Live with Animals  installation of human and animal interaction in the city, developed by Professors Catherine Seavitt Nordenson and Denise Hoffman Brandt, presented as part of  Performa 13 , and supported by a New York State Council on the Arts grant.
• Program Director Denise Hoffman Brandt led a team of first- and second-year MLA students in building  Red Carpet Encrypted , a project that explores themes of surveillance and power. Consisting of a series of inactive and “live” hillside stakes (plantings of red dogwood) in the Architecture Omi grounds, the project will be on view for the 2014-15 season and exhibited in the gallery in January 2015.
• Waterproofing New York Symposium  and  publication
• First place in the 2012 Wayne Grace Memorial Student Design Competition (LARBF) for  Spoil Islands , a student thesis
• First place in the Parks for the People competition sponsored by the National Park Service and the Van Alen Institute for  Finding Common Ground , a proposal for Nicodemus National Historic Site
• Student Projects exhibited in Barcelona, Spain, at the International Exhibition of University Projects in the Schools of Architecture and Landscape
• Travel studios exploring American landscape in California, Kansas, Colorado, Michigan, and the Gulf Coast
• PLOT , an internationally distributed student-edited journal, and accompanying film series
• SLUM Lab: Last Round Ecology , multi-disciplinary journal produced in collaboration with ETH Zurich and Columbia University, 2010

ACCREDITATION

The Master of Landscape Architecture Program at the City College of New York’s Bernard & Anne Spitzer School of Architecture is fully accredited by the Landscape Architectural Accreditation Board.  Click here  for full accreditation details and other public information.

PREREQUISITES

The MLA program is open to students from all undergraduate backgrounds and has no formal prerequisites. Students will be expected to come in with an awareness of current versions of AutoCAD, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, and Adobe Photoshop; basic spatial representation skills such as orthographic drawing and 2D drafting; and basic graphic design knowledge. Students lacking these skills should take our late-summer, intensive digital “boot camp” — Spatial and Regional Representation — at the Spitzer School in order to gain proficiency prior to the fall semester.

STEM DESIGNATION

Landscape Architecture is listed within the U.S. government’s official STEM fields list, meaning graduates with F-1 visas may be eligible for U.S. work authorization for up to three years. See the STEM OPT Hub  for more information.

Total program credits: 90. Per-semester courseload: 15 credits.

Fall Term 1

Laar 61100: landscape architecture studio i.

The first design studio introduces a range of technical, spatial, and cognitive skills used in urban landscape design. Manipulation of terrain and spatial conditions are explored using two-dimensional traditional and digital drawings and three-dimensional physical models. Students learn analytic mapping techniques and investigate systemic site processes at multiple scales. Design research skills are interlaced with speculative environmental design strategies and spatial design propositions.

Corequisites: 61400 Digital and Traditional Representation, LAAR 61300 Landscape Technology I

LAAR 61400: Digital and Traditional Representation

This course provides instruction in the fundamental skills and techniques of both analog and digital landscape architectural representation. Graphic design skills are instilled with instruction in photo-based image editing, illustration, and publication software. Additional instruction in vector-based AutoCAD and advanced three-dimensional rendering software such as Rhino supports both two-dimensional and three-dimensional digital drawing techniques.

Corequisites: LAAR 61100 Landscape Architecture Studio I, LAAR 61300 Landscape Technology I

LAAR 61500: Introduction to Ecology/Plant Identification

This course provides an introduction to ecological theory and physical geography by using the environs of New York City as a living laboratory for the study and investigation of plant material and ecological systems. Students identify and observe local flora, seeking to understand relationships among ecological function, plant habitat, plant associations, soils, and hydrology in both natural systems and designed landscapes. The course includes field trips to public parks, botanical gardens, and arboreta.

LAAR 61300: Landscape Technology I

This course presents the fundamental principles of site planning: the environmental and ecological factors of siting a building, grading, drainage, site structures, and material selection. Students use the analysis of small sites to evaluate underlying issues of environmentally responsible design, accessibility, zoning requirements, and affordability. Methods of site inventory, site analysis, and site selection are explored. Site grading — an environmental necessity, a functional requisite, and an aesthetic expression — is a key component of the course, and it is used to integrate pragmatic design decision-making into the design process.

Corequisites: LAAR 61400 Digital /Traditional Representation, LAAR 61100 Landscape Arch Studio I

Spring Term 2

Laar 62100: landscape architecture studio ii.

The second design studio expands the range of landscape scales and deepens an understanding of urban context. Site analyses reveal narratives richly layered with diverse historical, social, and cultural significance for various groups. Site design is considered as a transformational practice leveraged at multiple scales. Dynamic environmental processes (soils, hydrology, geology, plant communities, and climate) as well as social and economic factors are deeply examined. The studio emphasizes digital presentation techniques and professional collaboration. Design proposals present strategic and transformative plans for implementation at the human, urban, and regional scales.

Corequisites: LAAR 62200 Intro to Landscape Arch History, LAAR 62300 Landscape Technology II

LAAR 62200: Introduction to Landscape Architecture History

This course provides a cultural history of landscape architecture to understand the design, inhabitation, and ecologies of landscapes — including cities, gardens, territories, and the environment — across space and time, with an emphasis on infrastructure, power dynamics, and the urban realm. By critically probing landscape’s histories, narratives, and counter-narratives, students will be better poised to understand and articulate their own contributions to the field as future practitioners. The course follows a loose chronology based in synoptic themes, which will be presented with theoretical texts to provoke critical thinking about the development of landscape form and ideas among world cultures.. 3hr./wk.;3 cr.

Corequisites: LAAR 62100 Landscape Arch Studio II, LAAR 62300 Landscape Technology II

LAAR 62700: Urban Ecology

This course examines the ways that ecological systems function in the urban environment. The intertwined relationships between humans and so-called natural systems are explored, leading to an understanding of the effects of human activity on the biotic and abiotic components of urban systems. The course includes field trips to urban landscapes that are emblematic of the confluence of social, cultural, and environmental forces in the city. Geospatial analytic mapping is incorporated to spatialize the complex and dynamic systems present in urban ecologies.

Prerequisite: 61500 Introduction to Ecology/Plant Identification

LAAR 62300: Landscape Technology II

This course is a continuation of the content described in the prerequisite LAAR 61300, with problems increasing in scale, complexity, and application constraints. In addition, the course provokes a deeper understanding of the relationship between urban development and constructed landform. Projects examine large areas and complex sites with multiple human and environmental overlays. Students address complex issues of site grading, drainage, site structures, and material. Site grading continues to be developed as a means of integrating design intent with the practical aspects of site planning and design.

Corequisites: LAAR 62100 Landscape Arch Studio II, LAAR 62200 Intro to Landscape Arch History

Second Year

Fall term 3, laar 63100: landscape architecture studio iii.

This advanced studio laboratory addresses “wicked problems” in landscape architecture through extended design research and in-depth design propositions. Students analyze the cultural and ecological forces shaping a given urban landscape or condition, responding to topics such as social, environmental, and multispecies inequities; pollution and the climate crisis; and the opportunities and constraints of adaptation, mitigation, and remediation. Independent research methodologies are supported, and student work is expected to achieve the quality of a well-developed landscape design thesis and design proposition.

Prerequisite: 62100 Landscape Architecture Studio II

Corequisite: LAAR 64150 Design Research, LAAR 63300 Environmental Planning

LAAR 64150: Design Research

This seminar complements the landscape architecture studio, developing essential methodologies of design research and advanced representational techniques. Students learn to conceptualize and communicate landscape analysis, design, and research techniques through the development of data-based infographics and maps; time-based videos and animations; and three-dimensional digital and physical terrain modeling. The Design Research seminar supports the development of students’ design studio theses and spatial propositions.

Corequisite: LAAR 63100 Studio III or LAAR 65100 Studio V

LAAR 63300: Environmental Planning

Theoretical texts frame an examination of techniques for mapping the physical environment of the New York City metropolitan region, including geology, soils, surface water, plant communities, and climate change impacts. These serve as the basis for an examination of urban infrastructure systems, including circulation, energy, water, and waste. Large-scale planning initiatives in the New York area are examined from the perspective of complex social and environmental ecologies. Students prepare geospatial mapping analyses that explore past, current, and future urban conditions in the urban environment.

Prerequisite: LAAR 62700 Urban Ecology

Corequisites: LAAR 64150 Design Research, LAAR 63100 Landscape Arch Studio III

LAAR 65160: Urban Plants

This course investigates plants as the quintessential material of urban landscape architecture. By building skills and knowledge drawn from the expertise of botanists, professional gardeners, and horticulturists, the course connects plant knowledge with the workings of the larger urban ecosystem, including urban design, policy, civic infrastructure, funding, phasing, and maintenance. Students will develop analytic drawings that explore the multifaceted ways in which plants and humans connect in the urban ecosystem.

Spring Term 4

Laar 64100: landscape architecture studio iv.

Continuing work from the previous semester, this advanced studio laboratory addresses “wicked problems” in landscape architecture through extended design research and in-depth design propositions. Students analyze the cultural and ecological forces shaping a given urban landscape or condition, responding to topics such as social, environmental, and multispecies inequities; pollution and the climate crisis; and the opportunities and constraints of adaptation, mitigation, and remediation. Independent research methodologies are supported, and student work is expected to achieve the quality of a well-developed landscape design thesis and design proposition.

Prerequisite: LAAR 63100 Studio III

Corequisite: LAAR 64400 Planting Design

LAAR 00000: History Elective

Elective offerings change each semester. For a sampling of recent electives, refer to the school schedule . In addition to landscape architecture electives, certain classes within architecture, urban design, and sustainability may fulfill elective requirements.

LAAR 64400: Planting Design

Students explore the aesthetic potential of plant material to create compelling spaces, with attention to techniques for anticipating growth rates, projecting mature form, and predicting seasonal character changes. Environmental tolerances of plants in the designed landscape, particularly in constructed urban soil conditions, are an important focus of the course. Technical aspects of plant material selection, nursery practices, planting plan production, and plant specification are discussed, as well as the implications of plant selection on landscape management practices.

Prerequisite: LAAR 65160

Corequisite: LAAR 64100 Landscape Arch Studio IV

LAAR 00000: Urbanism Elective

Fall term 5, laar 65100: landscape architecture studio v.

Prerequisite: LAAR 64100

Corequisites: LAAR 64150, LAAR 64700 Landscape Restoration

LAAR 64700: Landscape Restoration

This advanced course examines histories and theories of restoration, the question of preservation versus conservation, and novel strategies for both mitigation and adaptation to address ecological health in the current climate crisis. The course focuses on the terrestrial and aquatic biomes of North America. Students will question and rethink conceptions of restoration as a return to a past condition, and they will attempt to constitute a theory of dynamic ecological health that embraces novel ecosystems and natural disturbance regimes.

Corequisites: LAAR 65100 Landscape Arch Studio V, LAAR 64150 Design Research

LAAR 65300: Professional Practice

This course introduces the range of professional practice undertaken by qualified landscape architects at the site and planning scale in both the public and private sectors. The course familiarizes students with the range of legal and administrative requirements of practice and office projects. Topics explored include the pursuit of work, preparation of proposals, contracting of services, design and construction documentation, specifications, bidding, and construction administration. Final project hand-over to clients, project maintenance, and the ongoing management of liability are also discussed.

Prerequisite: LAAR 62300 Landscape Technology II

Spring Term 6

Laar 66100: landscape architecture studio vi.

Prerequisite: LAAR 65100

LAAR 00000: Professional Elective

Laar 00000: general elective.

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From an architecture master’s thesis to professional workflows with SketchUp

Halmstad, Sweden

For his master’s thesis, Mathias Kidron used SketchUp to design an innovative timber-constructed space inspired by antique architecture in the hopes of creating a more connected future. Today, he builds on his skills as a professional architect.

Jump to: A thesis to connect historical concepts with future hope Designing spaces for connection Inspiration from classical architecture The modern age of timber construction Building a toolset for an ambitious thesis project Building skills as a professional architect Tips for early career architects

Mathias started studying architecture at the Chalmers University of Technology in 2015 after years of architectural aspiration and a love for drawing. It was at university that Mathias started using digital tools, including SketchUp, to design 3D spaces.

My professors recommended several programs; depending on which year you studied, it was a bit different. But for the most part, you only really need SketchUp. —Mathias Kidron

When it came time for his thesis, Mathias used SketchUp to design an ambitious project — a culmination of everything he’d learned at school, and groundwork for what he hoped for his future architectural career. His goal was to make an innovative, sustainable timber structure that would help create cohesion in his community by providing a welcoming meeting space.

Portrait of Mathias Kidron, architect.

A thesis to connect historical concepts with future hope

Mathias was given free rein to create his thesis. He could situate his structures in imaginary worlds and test experimental designs. However, Mathias decided to pursue a more grounded project: a public space situated in an open space in the heart of Gothenburg. He wanted to create a public building that provided space for debate and discussions.

Cover sheet for Mathias’ thesis.

Designing spaces for connection

Mathias looked to the past for ways of coming together for discussion, inspired by the past to alleviate the disconnect he sees in modern communication and debate. He believes that when people have disagreements on the internet, the anonymity can lead to dehumanization on both sides. When people discuss contentious topics in person, they tend to give their discussion partner the benefit of the doubt because it’s much easier to communicate the unspoken — like body language and intentions — in person. It’s easier to see a real person with feelings that can get hurt when you’re standing in front of them versus when you’re interacting with an avatar or screen name online.

Mathias believes that architecture has a unique role to play in creating better connections between people. Creating a welcoming physical space for people to come together encourages more civil discussions and a more cohesive community.

Rendering of the entrance of Mathias’ agora.

Inspiration from classical architecture

Mathias took both conceptual and aesthetic cues from the Roman Forum and the tradition of Greek agoras. In antiquity, these spaces were designed for people to come together for all aspects of civic life — commerce, art, justice, politics, spirituality, and public debate. In modern society, most of these aspects of civic life have found new architectural homes — commerce happens in malls, spiritual practice in temples, et cetera. Debate and discussion lack the same institutional support, so the internet has taken up the mantle virtually.

While Mathias’ project did not aim to be the all-encompassing center of civic life that the Forum and Greek agoras were, he believed that creating a space dedicated to community discussion would help usher in a new era of productive civil discourse.

Mathias studied both architecture and the societal effects the architecture had in ancient Rome and Greece and attempted to recreate an environment that would encourage the principles of free speech and expression through open spaces and permeable boundaries between structures. The soaring roofs promote a feeling of open space and possibilities.

Rendering of an atrium in Mathias’ agora. Scroll to see renderings of an auditorium.

The modern age of timber construction

Wood was a natural choice of material for Mathias; it’s very common in Sweden. Also, like many young architects, he sees the importance of pursuing sustainable design in architecture . Timber has become an increasingly popular material choice for sustainable construction, especially as the technologies around leveraging timber have improved.

Large-scale mass timber buildings present a unique challenge for architects and builders. Replacing steel and concrete with timber requires careful consideration. For his project, Mathias connected with a timber researcher at his university to determine how a large building could work with all-timber framing. Inspired by ancient architects and modern Japanese architect Kengo Kuma , Mathias opted to keep much of the timber construction visible in his project.

A series of images showing the agora’s timber construction. Scroll to see how the design builds on the timber frame.

Building a toolset for an ambitious thesis project

Mathias conducts in-depth research before beginning any project. While researching and reading, he would start with some hand sketching to give form to the ideas he was gathering. Very soon after his initial sketching phase, he moved into SketchUp to try different proportions and designs.

“As an architect, SketchUp is an incredibly valuable tool for fast and efficient modeling during the early stages of a project. The program's sketching capabilities are highly effective and allow for easy visualization of design concepts.” —Mathias Kidron

Mathias leveraged SketchUp’s geolocation capabilities to help place his project in the correct context: an open space in a park in central Gothenburg near a theater and commercial district, creating a place for discussion and debate near other civic activities.

Site map showing Mathias’ project in context; scroll to see a rendering of the site map. 

After a lifetime of hand-drawing before architecture school — Mathias loves how easy it is to draw in SketchUp. 

“Its intuitive interface and similarity to using a pen make it a favorite. I really appreciate the push-pull feature for its simplicity and effectiveness for quickly turning a sketch into a 3D design.” —Mathias Kidron

When his design was further along, Mathias used Twinmotion and V-Ray to create stunning visualizations that clearly communicated his design ideas.

Renderings of the exterior of the agora, located in a municipal park in Gothenburg’s city center. Scroll to see more.

Building skills as a professional architect

After graduation, Mathias began his career at a firm in Gothenburg. There, he worked on competition deliverables . With early phase design work and sketches being a big part of his workflow there, his professional work grew naturally out of his work as a student. After two years working in Gothenburg, he moved to Halmstad, Sweden, to begin working at Fredblad Arkitekter . There, he still works on competition deliverables and the early stages of projects, but also on projects that have been won and are further along in the design process.

As Mathias’ professional career has grown, so has his SketchUp skillset. He advocates for the importance of grouping work frequently, using components intelligently, and exploring all available functions to avoid unnecessary work. He’s also become more adept at integrating plugins and extensions as part of his workflow. His favorites include Joint Push/Pull , Curviloft , and Eneroth extensions . Watch the video below for tips on how to find the right extensions for your workflow. 

Check out this video for advice on finding your next favorite extension.

Mathias stays at the forefront of design technology and experiments with AI. He’s been experimenting with SketchUp’s AI technology, Diffusion , which creates images that are rendered in seconds. With SketchUp, he’s able to communicate visual ideas with clients in a variety of ways, from static presentations to real-time 3D model tours. 

Tips for early-career architects

Throughout his journey from student to professional architect, Mathias has made the most of the tools and information available to him. We asked him to pass on some wisdom for a new generation of architects navigating their early careers.

Explore as much as you can. Absorb all the information and knowledge you can get. Iterate often. Be prepared to rework your design. Be decisive. Make decisions quickly and move on with your design. Listen to your critiques. Reflect and use them to develop. Read a lot of history. There is so much to be learned from the past that can be translated into modern architecture and urban design.   Do your own thing. —Mathias Kidron

Feeling inspired to create a stunning design of your own? Start with a free trial of SketchUp , or check out our subscription options if you’re ready to start building a professional portfolio.

Urban forests of Moscow: typological diversity, succession status, and fragmentation assessment

• Research Article
• Published: 28 October 2023
• Volume 38 , pages 3767–3789, ( 2023 )

Cite this article

• Ivan Kotlov   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3251-2778 1 , 2 ,
• Tatiana Chernenkova   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6608-2254 3 &
• Nadezhda Belyaeva   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-8410-2714 3  

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Urban forests provide ecosystem services such as temperature regulation, air purification, carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation. It is important to perform baseline assessment and regular monitoring of biodiversity, vegetation dynamics and spatial structure of urban forests. Most cities suffer from the lack of a unified monitoring system. The heterogeneity of Moscow territory land use determines different functions and state of urban forests. To what extent are the forests of modern Moscow support natural resource and ecological potential, and what are the risks in maintaining the social and ecological needs of the population in the urban region?

Assessment of typological diversity, succession status and spatial structure of Moscow forests in the context of three sectors of different land use.

This study integrates typological (cenotic), succession and fragmentation approaches on the basis of remote sensing data. Field relevés were used for cenotic classification into forest formations and association groups. Random forest algorithm was used for cartographic modeling. Forest patches assigned with formations and groups of associations were subject of diversity, dynamics and spatial structure of forests analysis.

Current study presents the assessment of the composition and spatial structure of the Moscow forests in the context of three sectors of different anthropogenic pressure and land use. 11 forest formations and 33 association groups were identified. Overall accuracy of cartographic modeling was 59% for association groups, and 67% for formations. Unsatisfactory ability of forests to support social and ecological needs of residents was revealed especially in the central part of the city. The combination of low fragmentation metrics with a high proportion of long-term derivative forest types is critical for the sustainable existence of forest cover within city center. With distance from the center a fairly high typological diversity of forests is noted.

The combination of low fragmentation metrics with a high proportion of long-term derivative forest types is critical for the sustainable existence of the forest cover. Overall, the methodology and results of the work create a basis for regular monitoring of the Moscow forests, as well as in other urban areas.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank many colleagues who participated in the collection of the primary material, among whom the proportion in relevés is E.G. Suslova, E.V. Tikhonova, O.A. Pesterova, N.G. Kadetov, O.V. Morozova, M.A. Arkhipova, S.Yu. Popov.

The study was funded by State research tasks of the Institute of Geography RAS FMWS-2024-0007 (1021051703468-8) and Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution RAS «Historical ecology and biogeocenology» (121122300052-5 (0089- 2021-0008)). This study was funded by Basic Research Program at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE University).

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Kotlov, I., Chernenkova, T. & Belyaeva, N. Urban forests of Moscow: typological diversity, succession status, and fragmentation assessment. Landsc Ecol 38 , 3767–3789 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-023-01788-7

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A Millennial Weaver Carries a Centuries-Old Craft Forward

Melissa Cody mastered a weaving tradition dating back millenniums, but her eye-dazzling patterns joyously venture beyond it.

Melissa Cody’s “Scaling the Caverns” (detail), from 2023, in her solo exhibition “Webbed Skies” at MoMA PS1. Credit... Rebecca Smeyne for The New York Times

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By Patricia Leigh Brown

Reporting from Long Beach, Calif.

• April 18, 2024

Spiders are weavers. The Navajo artist and weaver Melissa Cody knows this palpably. As she sits cross-legged on sheepskins at her loom, on one of the wooden platforms that boost her higher as her stack of monumental tapestries grows, the sacred knowledge of Spider Woman and Spider Man, who brought the gift of looms and weaving to the Diné, or Navajo, is right there in her studio with her.

It also infuses “ Melissa Cody: Webbed Skies ,” the first major solo exhibition of the artist’s work, which is on view at MoMA PS1 through Sept. 9. in a co-production with the São Paulo Museum of Art in Brazil (known as MASP) .

The exhibition is part of the overdue recognition of Indigenous artists by museums and other institutions, from the recent retrospective of Jaune Quick-to-See-Smith’s work at the Whitney Museum of American Art to the expanding roster of artists at the Venice Biennale. Cody, 41, is a millennial at the forefront of an art form harking back millenniums — at once building on tradition and joyously venturing beyond it.

Her show’s title alludes to her 2021 work “Under Cover of Webbed Skies,” in which hourglass shapes resembling a spider’s underbelly stand in for the artist herself, passing Spider Woman’s wisdom on to future generations and a web of motherly protection from mountain to sky. (Selected works are also at the Garth Greenan Gallery from April 25 to June 15.)

Cody was weaned on weaving, tapping weft yarns for her nine-foot-tall textiles with the same wood comb she started out with at age 5. She grew up on the western edge of the Navajo Nation in Arizona, the fourth generation from a family of distinguished female weavers, most notably her award-winning mother, Lola S. Cody , who raises her own churro sheep for traditional patterns like “Two Grey Hills,” and her grandmother Martha Gorman Schultz , still pioneering in her 90s on her outdoor loom.

Cody’s complex and multidimensional woven canvases — or what she calls her “vibe” — are layered with past, present and future histories, including her own. She describes herself as a “voice for kids who grew up in the ’80s” and she will often incorporate imagery and typography from early video games like Pac-Man and Pong and magnify individual pixels so that they appear to move fluidly across the surfaces of her tapestries and become a life force all their own.

Her weavings are worlds-within-worlds that tweak perspective and juxtapose ancient and contemporary motifs in an electric palette of aniline-dyed yarns. There’s a reason the vertiginous Diné patterns of bright serrated diamonds that Cody prizes are called “eye-dazzlers.”

In one stunning work, “Into the Depths, She Rappels,” a symbolic Spider Woman lowers herself by a single thread into a shocking fuchsia abyss in which animated rainbow-colored pixels seem ready to duke it out with a bevy of eye-dazzlers.

“Hundreds of years ago, Navajo weaving played with illusion, creating 3-D effects with the overlapping and overlay of motifs,” said Ann Lane Hedlund, a cultural anthropologist and retired curator who works with artists. “Melissa has taken that to a new realm.”

She has mastered a slow art in a fast world.

Cody’s vibrant Germantown Revival color palette emerged from a dark era: the devastating 1863-1866 U.S. government campaign to annihilate the Diné by burning villages, killing herds and removing more than 10,000 Navajo from their homelands. In a forced march, the Navajo walked for hundreds of miles to Bosque Redondo at Fort Sumner, in present-day New Mexico, where they were incarcerated. There, in a creative act of resistance, women unraveled government-issued synthetically dyed wool blankets made in Germantown, Pa., and rewove them in their own designs, surmounting trauma and loss through sheer perseverance and beauty.

In the coming decades, white trading post operators convinced many Diné weavers to limit themselves to “authentic” textiles in natural yarns tied to specific Navajo communities. Some non-Native scholars followed suit, dismissing the aniline-dyed Germantown Revival style as inauthentic.

Cody relished color and an eclectic aesthetic early on, spurred by a cache of dizzyingly bold yarns given as a gift by a friend.

She describes Leupp, Ariz., where she grew up, as “desolate and Mars-like,” a landscape of towering red rocks, sand dunes and mesas. The family home was lit by kerosene, without running water, and an hour of staticky television was available only when her father, Alfred, a professional carpenter, fired up the gas generator.

Cody thought all little girls had looms, her mother recalled. Young Melissa and her older sister Reynalda traveled frequently to major art shows at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, the Santa Fe Indian Market and elsewhere along with her grandmother Martha and an inventive aunt, Marilou Schultz , whose “ Replica of a Chip” — a 1994 commission by Intel of a microprocessor translated in wool — is currently at the National Gallery of Art.

Many shows had youth divisions, and Cody would frequently compete against her sister and a male cousin who is half-Hopi. (Diné weavers are traditionally female.) “I wanted to be as good as her,” she said of her sister. Cody won her first ribbon at age 8 at the Santa Fe Indian Market, reflecting an inner drive that had her glued to the loom after school and even while watching Saturday morning cartoons.

She credits her mother, whose loom was in the living room, with “instilling independence in what I created.”

“She taught me a heightened, technically precise level of work, without a lot of negative space and every inch filled with geometric patterning,” she explained. “When I asked her about colors and if she liked them, she’d say, ‘Do you like them? What do you think about it?’ So there was a lot of self-reflection.”

Cody’s years perfecting traditional techniques gave her the confidence to experiment and create more personal work. “It’s ‘What emotion am I trying to convey?’” she said. “What’s the thesis behind it?”

Some of her most ambitious pieces have been responses to personal crises. In 2015, her anguish over the sudden death of her 38-year-old fiancé prompted an unusual set of weavings with block lettering, including an excerpt from the Rat Pack crooner Dean Martin’s “Sweet, Sweet Lovable You.”

Her father’s diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease led to a similar breakthrough with “Dopamine Regression,” one in a series in which hallucinatory eye-dazzlers shift directions and are overlaid with black Spider Woman crosses, some abstracted. A bold red cross synonymous with medical care extends into a rainbow, a symbol indicating the presence of holy people and their blessings. “It’s her way of dealing with it,” her mother said. “It’s how she expresses her thoughts.”

Not all curators relate to Cody’s boundary-breaking tapestries, however. “She’s spicy,” said Marcus Monenerkit, the Heard Museum’s director of community engagement, and also a fan. “That doesn’t always work with people.”

Cody conceptualizes her weavings as scrolls that can be “read from bottom to top or top to bottom,” she said. “I think of where the attention-grabbing elements are — and where can the viewers’ eye rest.”

To a non-weaver, one of the most extraordinary aspects of Navajo weaving is its largely spontaneous quality, accomplished with nary a sketch. “We’re graphing it out in a mental image — maybe a texture out in nature or the feel of a city, or a color, and then replicating it in woven form,” Cody said. “It’s a slow-moving fluidity, with everything calculated down to each individual string.” A large-scale weaving takes six months or more to complete.

Her mother visits frequently to help out, following her daughter’s lead as they lay the warp strings out on the floor. The studio is definitely a family affair, the loom built by her brother Kevin and the platforms by her partner, Giovanni McDonald Sanchez.

It’s become even more so: The couple are now parents to a 3 ½ year-old daughter, Anihwiiaahii (“the judge” in Navajo), and a 10-month-old son, Naabaahii (“Navajo warrior”). Cody plans to teach them both how to weave, wanting it to become second nature but also letting them decide whether to pursue it further, as her mother did with her.

She has recently transformed her affection for “the mighty pixel” into digitized jacquard weavings that are coded and sent to a production loom in Belgium, a leap that allows her to adapt previous motifs and that has given her access to colors and shapes impossible on a traditional loom.

Along with others, Cody has revived culturally significant motifs like the Whirling Log, a symbol of the origins of the Diné people that had disappeared after World War II because it was mistaken for Nazi swastikas. “To move forward as Indigenous artists, we need to reclaim our stories and respect our true selves in the work we create,” she said.

She continues to pass on her knowledge: In Los Angeles, Cody is teaching elementary school students in an under-resourced district through the organization Wide Rainbow . She is also teaming up with the Autry Museum of the American West on summer workshops for local Diné weavers. “A big part of Native American culture is reciprocity,” said Amanda Wixon (Chickasaw Nation), an associate curator. “Melissa has it in her bones.”

In Long Beach recently, her black hair spilling down the entire length of her spine, Cody manipulated wefts of jubilant yarns. Her thoughts often drift to her grandmother, who continues to experiment and remains a student of the art. “Ancient knowledge coveted by my ancestors comes through my fingertips, which is a huge honor,” she said. “I do feel I breathe a life into a textile. And vice versa, the weaving gives me life.”

Melissa Cody: Webbed Skies

Through Sept. 9 at MoMA PS1, 22-25 Jackson Avenue, Long Island City, Queens; (718) 784-2086, momaps1.org .

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Launchpad II

Juried Exhibition Featuring the Thesis Work of Graduating Students

Posted in: Announcements

The Department of Art & Design at Montclair State University in partnership with Studio Montclair is excited to announce the opening of Launchpad II, a juried exhibition featuring the thesis work of graduating students.

Launchpad II will showcase a range of works from the Visual Arts, Illustration, Fashion Design & Merchandising, Visual Communication Design, and Product Design programs. Visitors will have the opportunity to experience a compelling sampling of the talent of Montclair State University students showing thought-provoking artworks that explore a diverse range of themes that visually communicate cultural issues.

Montclair State University is proud to continue a partnership with Studio Montclair, an inclusive, nationwide non-profit organization exhibiting, professional and emerging artists and others interested in the visual arts. The mission of the organization is to promote culture, education, equality, and tolerance through art. Located in Downtown Montclair, this exhibition is sure to be a highlight of the Montclair art scene and is an exciting opportunity for the students, art enthusiasts, and the general public.

“The Department of Art and Design at Montclair State University eagerly announces its renewed partnership with Studio Montclair for the second consecutive year to showcase the outstanding work of our graduating students. Since the inception of this partnership, collaborating with the dedicated team at SMI has been a delight. The Department of Art & Design highly values this mutually fruitful relationship and is looking forward to the continued strengthening of ties between the Montclair art community and Montclair State University.” – Christopher Kaczarek, Chair, Department of Art and Design, Montclair State University

“Studio Montclair has always believed in the importance of collaboration, partnerships, and community and we are delighted to again welcome Montclair State University into our main gallery at 127 Bloomfield Avenue for their thesis show, “Launchpad II”, an exhibition of student thesis work. We can’t wait to see what these talented artists have been creating and can now share with the entire Montclair community and beyond!” – Phoebe Pollinger, SMI Interim President

Launchpad will run from April 30th to May 10th. The opening reception will take place on Wednesday, May 1st from 6pm-9pm. Visitors are welcome to attend and enjoy the artwork, meet the artists, and celebrate the exhibition with some light refreshments. Admission to the exhibition is free and open to the public.

Studio Montclair is committed to providing access to the arts for all with the hopes that this exhibition will inspire and engage visitors from all backgrounds.

Launchpad II Montclair State University Student Thesis Exhibition

• Exhibition dates: April 30 – May 10, 2024
• Opening Reception: May 1, 2024, 6:00 – 9:00 pm
• Gallery Hours: Wednesday through Sundays, 1:00 – 5:00 pm (Check website for updates)
• Studio Montclair 127 Bloomfield Ave. Montclair, NJ 07042
• For more information about Launchpad, please visit Studio Montclair Website

Second Nature Landscape & Design - formerly Fletchers

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