Landscape Architecture Master's Projects

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Open Access
Seeds Sense Place: Reconciling Access and Cultivation at Howard Buford Recreation Area
(University of Oregon, 2024-06) Cummings, Tressa
This project investigates the potential impact of universal access infrastructure on stewardship and the cultivation of native plant material at Howard Buford Recreation Area (HBRA). The Friends of Buford Park & Mt. Pisgah, a non - profit organization, manages a native plant nursery within the park . This nursery sources seeds from the park and nurtures them to increase the availability of native seeds for restoration efforts. With ongoing universal access trail improvements scheduled for summer 2024 in the landscape surrounding the nursery , this project explores how the form and materiality of th at trail can delineate area s of heightened stewardship . These areas function as wild sources of desired plants and as traditional landscape design which f rames visitor experience , bring an experience of greater ecological richness to visitors of all abilities.
Open Access
Rural Flush: Harnessing Multifunctional Constructed Wetlands to Play a Winning Hand in Blue River, OR.
(University of Oregon, 2024-06) Meyer, Ted
This project applies a new model for rural wastewater treatment in Blue River, an unincorporated community in Lane County, Oregon. Blue River’s destruction in the 2020 Holiday Farm Fire created both a legal imperative to modernize the community’s sanitation and an opportunity to rethink rural wastewater treatment. The model combines basic mechanical primary treatment with extensive secondary treatment by constructed wetlands. Replacing mechanical secondary treatment processes with constructed wetlands considerably reduces the operating costs of centralized sanitation, lowering a critical barrier to treating wastewater offsite in low-population areas of the United States. Constructed wetlands additionally restore threatened habitats and provide recreational opportunities, making them dynamic community assets. The efficacy of treatment wetlands have been widely demonstrated in research and practice worldwide, and are beginning to be adapted in the United States. Landscape architects are uniquely suited to act as ‘aesthetic ambassadors’ for this intervention, which can provide a sustainable and affordable model for rural wastewater treatment.
Open Access
Par Bee: From Harmful to Helpful. Guidelines for a Sustainable Golf Course Through the Promotion of Biodiversity.
(University of Oregon, 2024) Goldstein, Sarah
The ecological reality of a golf course is not quite as beautiful as its intriguing aesthetic. Similarities to note here include turfed green open space marked by the red hexagon pattern. Canopies of trees that appear to lack a progression of ecological communities, marked here by the yellow dots, and patches of bunch grasses - arguably rather uninteresting - can be spotted and marked by the vertical purple stripes. The scenery is often repetitive from course to course and appears to lack biodiversity. All of this is not to disparage golf courses, or a call to swear them off, but rather to open discussion about the opportunities available for enhancing an underutilized landscape to support wildlife. While golf courses are in fact highly engineered landscapes, their lack of built structures combined with acres of open space provides a place for more diverse habitat. By providing more land for pollinators to thrive in a space that does not currently provide much ecological value, the pairing has the potential to create a functional landscape for human and non-human species to cohabitate.
Open Access
Beyond the Glow: Embracing Darkness & Reconciling Nocturnality in More-than-human Cities
(University of Oregon, 2024) Chuang, Phoebe
"Beyond the Glow" explores the pervasive issue of light pollution, particularly its impact on the environment and nocturnal migratory birds. It highlights how urban areas contribute significantly to light pollution, and emphasizes the cultural shift caused by excess artificial light at night, which disrupts our connection to natural darkness and its therapeutic benefits. By focusing on Washington Park in Portland, Oregon, the project showcases design strategies to mitigate light pollution, enhance nighttime experiences, and create habitats for nocturnal wildlife. The implementation of dark infrastructure, including a migration night trail and Mirror Stone installations, represents nocturnal bird migration and reflect natural lights for visitors. The project's ultimate goal is to reconnect people with natural darkness and improve urban environments for both humans and wildlife, demonstrating how design can address the root causes of light pollution, the lack of connection to natural darkness.
Open Access
The New Suburban Dream: The Intersection of Aesthetics & Ecology in Residential Planting Design
(University of Oregon, 2024) Harrison, Katherine
This project investigates the intersection of ecology and aesthetics in residential planting design, with the aim of developing a new suburban aesthetic that inspires homeowners to embrace ecological initiatives in their front yards. In particular, this project looks at planting design for the Lucas Valley Neighborhood in Marin County, California, which affords many unique opportunities for ecological connectivity at the neighborhood scale. Best practices for biodiversity, fire-smart landscapes, and water- wise landscapes are discussed and evaluated for synergies and trade-offs. Three unique planting plans are presented, each showcasing a different opportunity to be found in ecologically minded residential design initiatives.
Open Access
Extended Engagement: A Novel Approach to Sustained Relationships with Designed Landscapes
(University of Oregon, 2024-06) Phares, Holly H.
Most landscape architects rarely continue to engage with sites after the formal completion of a project, and thus are typically unaware of the long-term outcomes that result from natural and human-centric processes of change. Because of this, they forfeit their ability to guide those changes, as well as valuable feedback on the design and management decisions that were made. While others in the field have previously advocated for designers to expand their relationships with completed sites, few if any sources address the systemic barriers that make this difficult or offer actionable suggestions on how such barriers could be overcome. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many in the field are already interested in the long-term outcome of projects, but that efforts to “keep in touch” often become unpaid work on the part of designers. This paper introduces “extended engagement” as a new conceptual framework that advocates for a holistic approach to the relationship between designers and designed spaces over the lifespan of the project. It details a study that used interviews and surveys to explore landscape designers’ interest in tracking long-term site outcomes, as well as their current and desired levels of participation in extended engagement activities. Finally, it suggests actions that individuals and organizations could take to make extended engagement a more meaningful part of professional practice in contemporary landscape architecture.
Open Access
Following Hobbit Trails: A Stakeholder Driven Approach to School Yard Design
(University of Oregon, 2024) Glastonbury, Griffin G.
Hi there, thanks for reading this document! My project is about some hobbit trails I followed over the course of 6 months. My name is Giffin and this is a stakeholder driven approach to school yard design. This booklet includes, background context, my design process, my proposed design and some reflection and discussion.
Open Access
A Trail for the Masses: Trails to Educate, Celebrate, and Inspire
(University of Oregon, 2024) Coronado, Cameron
A trail for the masses demonstrates how a trail system can re - connect people with the land, appreciate the value of timber products, and better understand how sustainable sourcing can improve forest health, lower carbon emissions, and bring economic prosperity to local communities. Newly developed methods using GIS, R hino , and Grasshopper w ere used to spatial ly analyze stand - level data in the Elliot Forest . Th is de sign project explored how 3D modeling softwa re can aid in forest ste wa rdship practices , specifically focusing on souring small - diameter trees to produce mass timber products. Through mass timber demonstrations, hiking paths that weave visitors through forest stands in different phases of treatment, and interpretive signage, these trails can educate, celebrate, and inspire the masses.
Open Access
The Garden Hospital: Reinventing the Healthcare Landscape using Principles of Gardens and Sustainability to Create a Visual Guidebook for Human Design
(University of Oregon, 2024) Jeffs, Caitlin
Healthcare landscapes, such as hospitals, medical complexes, and clinics, are not known for being pleasant spaces for the human user to engage with. Often, these spaces are associated with sickness, loss, and death, and are sources of significant stress for their users. The western concept of medical spaces is in need of a redesign, with the increased incorporation of nature and community showing great promise in reducing stress and improving health outcomes. This project seeks to explore this concept further through design, investigating the role of Landscape Architecture in developing the Garden Hospital: medical landscapes that are designed for multi-functionality, biophilia, and community. The site for this design project is the Kaiser Permanente Medical Office Building in Santa Cruz, Ca. The full hospital landscape will be transformed, including facades, rooftops, interior and outdoor spaces to explore the Garden Hospital typology and demonstrate theoretical ways in which it could be accomplished. In doing so, the Kaiser Permanente site will go beyond a medical space, becoming a central point in the lives of the local community. This shift in healthcare, backed by research into human health and wellbeing, could not only improve our experiences within and relationship to medical landscapes, but help to improve the health outcomes of the community.
Open Access
Field Goals: A Framework for Integrating Sustainable Design Methods to Retrofit Existing Sports Park Infrastructure
(University of Oregon, 2024) Khalid, Basil
As climate change and its impact on heat island effects, water scarcity, and loss of biodiversity all become increasingly more pressing from year to year, designers and planners play an integral role in managing the effects of these impacts to provide a more sustainable way forward for future generations. One of the ways in which designers and planners can contribute to more sustainable design solutions is through improved land use management practices. While occupying large footprints in regard to land use, sports parks and fields have long been considered an essential feature for communities. Sports parks can be defined as public outdoor spaces that serve the primary function of providing organized physical activity and sports opportunities to a wide variety of users1. Ranging from rural to urban centers, sports parks promote health and wellness through exercise and physical activity, stimulating economic development and benefits, as well as supporting social inclusion and cohesion. Although the health, economic, and social benefits may be apparent through sports parks and fields, what is often a challenge to incorporate into the design of these spaces is an environmental and multifunctional benefit to the land they encompass. This project seeks to integrate sustainable design principles and practices into the planning of sports parks and fields. Incorporating a multifunctional landscape approach to the design of sports parks and fields can allow planners and designers to employ innovative methods to addressing specific sustainability challenges related to land use efficiency, along with storm water management, renewable energy sources, and habitat restoration, while promoting social and health benefits for communities.
Open Access
From Mines to Miles: Revitalizing Communities from a Post-Industrial Landscape to a Recreation Area
(University of Oregon, 2024-06-08) Phillips, Sarah
This project looks at the possibility of mined landscapes remediated into adaptive reuse spaces to provide equitable recreation opportunities for growing communities. These sites are a relic of time, and we can deploy placemaking and placekeeping practices to ensure the history of the site is not forgotten, and the character of these spaces are transformed for future generations. As a case study for one of those communities, Central Oregon should take into consideration its recreation economy and revitalize a previously strip - mined site as a new recreation park for its diametrically growing communities. This method of remediation of the Lower Bridge Mine will be broken into three phases: first, remediation through traditional ecological knowledge practices i ncluding crescent berms, branching on - contour swales, and trinchera dry stone masonry check dams. Second, creating a phyto - stabilization high desert planting plan and activation of a seedbank on the site will reduce the harmful effects of the mining indust ry. Finally, a monitoring program to ensure placemaking and placekeeping techniques are deployed for a successful project. By transforming a wasteland into an enjoyable and habitable site there could be a perceived illusion that the past has been erased, b ut through signage and other remnant relics the history of the site and the lessons learned in remediation will not be forgotten. In conclusion, the site can become a case study for placemaking and placekeeping practices for future mine remediation to crea te adaptable landscapes.
Open Access
The Power of Oregon Prison Gardens: Agrivoltaics at Warner Creek Correctional Facility
(University of Oregon, 2024) McKone, Mikayla
Research has shown that there are many physical and mental benefits from having gardens in prison. Gardens provide Adults in Custody (AICs) the opportunity to connect with nature, learn new skills, build relationships, and access fresh healthy food, among many other benefits. With the introduction of renewable energy to an existing prison garden, this project explores how solar panels can expand the current benefits of the existing prison garden at Warner Creek Correctional Facility. Through a literature review, case study analysis, and site visits, this research proposes a new site for agrivoltaic implementation which overlaps with Oregon Department of Corrections Sustainability Plan. Although landscape architects cannot solve issues of mass incarceration or climate change alone, they can help promote renewable energy to maximize mutual benefits to increase land use efficiency, improve the human experience of incarceration, and address food security inside prison.
Open Access
Wings of Change: Zoo Design Strategies for Raptor Rehabilitation Centers
(University of Oregon, 2024) Brotsis, Jake
This master’s project explores the adaptation of zoo design principles to wildlife rehabilitation centers, specifically focusing on the Cascades Raptor Center in Eugene, Oregon. The aim is to create speculative design solutions that prioritize animal wellness, visitor education, and environmental stewardship. Through extensive research, expert collaboration, and design development, this project presents a comprehensive vision for the Cascades Raptor Center’s future expansion, demonstrating the potential for integrating zoo design principles into a wildlife rehabilitation setting. The project includes a comprehensive analysis of the raptor center’s expansion plans and site conditions, proposing innovative approaches to designing new aviary habitats and human-occupied spaces. Using the award-winning Eagle Passage aviary at Northwest Trek Wildlife Park as a design precedent, the project explores alternative ways to meet the principles of landscape immersion and animal husbandry requirements while providing an educational experience for visitors through interpretive programs. The concept of “flex enclosures” is introduced, offering adaptable spaces that allow for controlled movement and rotation of raptors between enclosures, enhancing the immersive appeal and reinforcing educational interactives. Guided by a conceptual framework centered on Integrated Habitat Design and Interpretive Engagement, the project emphasizes the synergistic relationship between enclosure design and education. By replicating natural habitats and providing immersive educational experiences, the design aims to foster emotional connections and a deeper understanding of raptor conservation among visitors. This project provides valuable insights for landscape architects and students on designing species-appropriate habitats and educational programs within the parameters and goals set by the client, exemplified by the Cascades Raptor Center.
Open Access
#Insta-Structure: Designing for Instagram to Protect Local Ecologies on the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve
(University of Oregon, 2024) Sinclair, Katie
In the age of increased use of social media and Instagram comes the increased urge to replicate photos seen. Many of these photos are outdoor lifestyle photos, and many of those photos are, or could be located in sensitive ecological areas. That could mean the landscape itself or the way the photo is framed by stepping off trail. In the case of the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve, it’s both. This project also looks to the problem for the solution. By designing with Instagram in mind the narrative can be driven in a positive direction. Designing six site-specific landscape interventions is a way of keeping Instagram influencers, other visitors using the space, and local ecologies happy. These interventions enable influencers to create amazing content without having to step off trail to frame the view. One specific intervention is the “Scope”, which is designed to frame a photo with a kaleidoscope border. When the Scope is mounted to a permanent footing it forces people to stand and walk where it is desirable. In other words, they stay on the trail. The Scope also provides a way for people to view the surrounding landscape and take in its beauty, not just look at it. With the completion of this project, hopefully it will spark interest in other designers to spread this concept and use it in other landscapes. #Insta-Structure.
Open Access
LAND CARE IN THE EXPANDED FIELD: The Art of Landscape Maintenance in a Broken World
(University of Oregon, 2022-06) Pierce, Abigail
Landscape maintenance is a largely routinized and long-term process, and these qualities have the tendency to render it invisible. And yet, if we are to sensitively and meaningfully engage landscapes and the communities present therein, an ethics of care for landscape architecture is essential. To understand land care, and its importance in this moment, it must be made more familiar by enhancing its visibility, appeal, and power. This project explores the concept of a maintenance artist in residence, as inspired by the work of the artist Mierle Laderman Ukeles. Ukeles has been the maintenance artist in residence with the New York Sanitation Department for 40+ years. Through empathy and connection, Ukeles’ socially engaged art practice lends visibility to the reality, necessity, and creativity of maintenance work. The guiding question for this project is: How can the Ukeles model of maintenance artist in residence be applied within landscapes? Using the framework of creative practice for this inquiry opens the possibility of speculative design and the generative potential of iterative design in relation to practices of landscape maintenance. Four typologies of maintenance art are identified through Ukeles’ work: interaction, performance, documentation, and exhibition. These typologies are then explored through a researchthrough- design methodology informed by creative modes of inquiry as detailed in Karen Lutzky and Sean Burkholder’s “Curious Methods” and Tim Ingold’s Making. Studying land care in this way will hopefully lead to understanding its potential as a socially engaged, multidisciplinary creative practice serving both the physical and social infrastructures that require our ongoing attention. A Maintenance-Artist-in-Residence could act as a living link between designers, caregivers, and communities, while increasing visibility and respect for land care, the labor it involves, and the creative potential it holds.
Open Access
A.R.E.A.M. AGGREGATE RULES EVERYTHING AROUND ME: A CRITICAL TOUR OF AN AGGREGATE NETWORK
(University of Oregon, 2022-05) Lorber, Stephen
There are thousands of current and former extraction sites in Oregon. These sites on this tour represent larger themes at play in Oregon’s aggregate extraction network. As we follow a trail of Oregon aggregate, themes are developed that allow this expansive and complex system to become distilled into a conceptual framework. Aggregates start with the source material, and for Oregon, that material is almost exclusively Basalt or Sand + Gravel. How these materials differ would become apparent as we move through the tour. The aggregate supply chain is relatively simple. Extraction sites most often act as storage and distribution hubs that go directly to development, so it is easily distilled into a line segment with two points – source and destination. It’s an easily self-replicating model of material production. The supply chain is almost relatively short – 90% of aggregate comes from within 35 miles of the project site. In a world of hyper-globalization, where precious minerals cross borders easier than humans, benign aggregate remains local. And with it, the problematic reverberations of extraction can’t be outsourced either. The supply chain of source to destination is a simple explanation of aggregate extraction, however it doesn’t contain space for memory or projections into the future. Mines are finite - they have skeletons. There are also projections for the next iteration of the segment to begin. The sites on this tour show sources and destinations, as well as post-use sites and prospective extraction sites. This tour asks the viewer to consider the connection between the rural, exemplified by Oakridge, and the urban, represented by Eugene. As we move between these two regions, it’s important to meditate on who benefits from the sites on this tour and where the aggregate materials eventually flow. As someone on this tour, it’s also important to be cognizant of how the urban extends itself into the rural – and of how the urban’s extension – done to build its own cultural framework – relates to the shaping of cultural frameworks in rural communities. We might not own these sites, but these voids, structures, and empty fields are made by us all. As we move through this tour, I ask you to be reflexive - to think about how these sites intertwine with your life, how your dreams of a future necessitate the expansion of this network, and to think about how we can actively shift the processes to better align with how we want to see out world grow.
Open Access
Tasting Landscape: Expressing sense of place through Idiot's Grace
(University of Oregon, 2023-06) Hensey, Celia; Geffel, Michael
Genius loci and terroir are concepts that both relate to how the relationship between people and place is experienced through a personal sensory experience. Viticultural landscapes are working landscapes that also provide aesthetic, emotional, and sensory value – and the connections between wine and place are a critical component of winemaking culture. Idiot’s Grace winery, a small organic winery in Mosier, OR, provides an opportunity to explore how genius loci and terroir intersect through design. Using case study analysis, the project will compare the form, space, function, and concept of relevant projects to create design guidelines. Following this process, the guidelines will be tested through experimental design and simulation.
Open Access
Indigenous Resurgence on the University of Oregon Campus: Reclamation through Relational Landscape Design
(University of Oregon, 2023-06) Graham, Grace; O'Neal, Jennifer
This project engages with issues of Indigenous recognition, resurgence, and futurity at the University of Oregon through the lens of landscape design. By applying a relational approach to the design process that is grounded in Indigenous research methods, Grace uncovers the principles at the root of the University’s current campus planning structures and empowers Indigenous community members to reimagine them through their own lived experiences. Through this work, Grace hopes to ignite a larger conversation about the need to center Indigenous knowledge and leadership at institutions of higher education, and across the landscape architecture discipline.
Open Access
Large Wood, Long Legacy: Carving Timbers for Regional Environmental Interpretation
(University of Oregon, 2023-06) Vierck, Ian Escher; Borden, David Buckley
Large Wood, Long Legacy is a series of landscape installations and experiences that explores the role of large wood in different ecosystems in Western Oregon.
Open Access
Integrating Urban Acupuncture and the Triple Bottom Line to Revitalize Portland's Downtown Core
(University of Oregon, 2023-06) Rycewicz, Audrey; Ribe, Rob
This urban design methodology combines two complementary theories: the Triple Bottom Line framework and Urban Acupuncture. The Triple Bottom Line (TBL) emphasizes equal consideration of social, environmental, and economic impacts in decision-making processes, while Urban Acupuncture draws parallels between discrete interventions in the urban realm and the practice of acupuncture. The research focuses on Portland, OR, a city facing common urban challenges, including homelessness, safety, economic repercussions of COVID-19, climate change, and overemphasis on personal vehicles. Informed by the TBL and Portland's specific issues, 15 goals were identified across environmental, social, and economic categories. Urban Acupuncture guided the translation of these goals into tangible interventions in the urban context. To select a research site, an overlay analysis was conducted using ArcGIS Pro, considering the following factors: street tree density, proximity to parks, the urban heat island index, and the vulnerability index. The resulting "Environmental Vulnerability" index led to the selection of a 5 by 5 block area in Downtown and Old Town Chinatown as the research site. The research site is characterized by notable challenges, including a significant number of surface parking lots contributing to environmental vulnerability, low canopy cover (6%), and a presence of individuals experiencing homelessness. It also holds cultural importance, hosting beloved events such as the Rose Festival, Blues Festival, and Portland Saturday Market. Based on potential use types, synergies, and conflicts among the 15 goals, six site types were identified: Ecological Landscapes, Blue Infrastructure Landscapes, Personal Vehicle Landscapes, Community Landscapes, Small Business Landscapes, and Residential Landscapes. Each site type was assigned specific goals, and the conceptual design of each site was informed by those goals. Placement of site types within the research area considered site conditions and opportunities. Each design was evaluated based on its effectiveness in addressing assigned goals and additional serendipitous achievements. By adopting a district-wide approach and utilizing sustainable small-scale landscape interventions, the methodology aims to generate greater benefits compared to a traditional site-by-site approach. By considering district-wide opportunities and conditions, designers can identify site types that prioritize synergies among goals while avoiding conflicts. However, it is crucial to address the housing needs of the area, as neglecting issues of affordable housing and homelessness may undermine the effectiveness of landscape improvements in achieving triple bottom line goals. Incorporating these findings and considerations, future urban design planning and design endeavors can strive towards creating sustainable, socially inclusive, and economically vibrant urban environments.