Landscape Architecture Master's Projects

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https://hdl.handle.net/1794/10476

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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
After Lithium: Reclamation Strategies for Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia
(2018-06-18) Rayle, Derek
This project uses interview responses from local, impacted people to explore the future landscape of the Lithium Pilot Plant in Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia, as its development responds to the rise and fall of global lithium demand. As technology changes, so do the materials that support it. Recent research suggests that lithium could become obsolete in the next fifty years despite current trends towards lithium-ion based technology. Such as shift could leave mass quantities of mining remnants and would constitute the next step in a continuous history of Bolivian resource exploitation. This project explores a speculative future scenario where solutions for the gradual transition from current mining practices constructively deal with mining waste and prepare the study area for a post-mining era. Through this exploration, the project deviates from more standard approaches to mined landscape reclamation, which conceive of returning the landscape to its original state. The overarching premise is that, if a reclamation program framework is established, it could permit the territory to transition to alternative, productive uses. Based on several local interviews and my personal evaluations about the future land use and cover classes, I developed a reclamation program for the study area depicted in a 2070 scenario master plan. The proposal establishes a new economy of infrastructure tourism in the region, using agriculture, energy production and celestial movements in a new form of territorial restructuring.
Open Access
Aftermath: Land Art and Forestry at the Dawn of the Climate Crisis
(2021-06-13) Pauls, David
Effects of climate change in Oregon are evident in multiple ways. Dwindling snowpack, hotter longer summers, and larger, more frequent forest fires are among the most visible impacts of the climate crisis. in Oregon. These impacts can be challenging, if not impossible, for humans to perceive without concentrated effort and an understanding of landscape systems. Climate change effects will be most noticeable in the future as the forests throughout Oregon suffer from more harsh and inclement weather. Thoughtful examination of the relationship between forestry and logging is necessary, as timber is one of the largest industries in the state and one of the leading contributors to the climate crisis. The Anthropocene and ecological impacts surrounding the new epoch will be primarily understood through our senses. Artwork then presents a opportunity for interrogating these issues in in ways that are more accessible and instinctual than empirical data representation can be. Art doesn’t explain. It interrogates, problematizes, speculates. Aftermath uses artwork to problematize and interpret the traces left behind from logging and forestry practices. Iterative research by design methods was used to create a series of site-specific artworks, each examining a different impact from logging. The end product is an interpretive trail weaving through a private forest in the Willamette Valley, featuring a series of 6 artworks interpreting and reframing the forests of Oregon. This project promotes a dialog that explores our society’s perception of forestry and climate crisis.
Open Access
Algae as Agents
(2021-06-13) Woolverton, Aaron
As a means of understanding landscape phenomenon, responsive modeling establishes a place to concurrently hinge between generating and testing hypotheses while incorporating the expanding agency of computational modeling and live data streams. Inspired by the ideas of process discourse and research through design, this project will investigate the harmful recurrence of algae blooms in South Florida waterways through the means of responsive modeling. Algae as Agents aims to define the responsive model as a research method via case study investigation and analysis; subsequently, responsive modeling practices and concepts has the potential to be translated from these case studies into the context of South Florida via projective design methodologies. The overall goal of the project is to establish an iterative design approach as the platform to understand the complexities of algae mitigation while simultaneously providing the researcher a place to test design outcomes experimentally. Following these design translations is a reflective meta-analysis revealing both the limitations and knowledge garnered throughout the design process. This discussion expands the meaning of the responsive model while providing it more definition within the realm of landscape architecture research strategies. By projecting responsive modeling concepts into this context, we have an opportunity to speculate upon this issue, illuminate algae’s nature through an apolitical lens, and expand our growing list of research design methodologies.
Open Access
And Then There Were Butterflies: Using Butterfly Life Histories to Design for Urban Butterfly Habitat Gardens
(2018-08-25) Hawthorne, Chad
Butterfly populations face many challenges, none so great as the loss of habitat do to urbanization. The practice of clearing native vegetation and replacing it with an exotic plant palette forces many urban butterflies further and further from human development. This habitat loss can be mitigated by strategically planning and designing urban butterfly gardens. The question then arises, how can these butterfly gardens be designed to best insure butterfly survival. Through this master’s project I introduce a methodological process framework for the designing of urban butterfly habitat gardens. This process centers on design strategies based on butterfly life histories of the butterfly life cycle, butterfly needs, and butterfly behaviors. Employing the design strategy of research through designing, this master’s project demonstrates how designers can employ this framework to ensure the survival of urban butterflies. To accomplish this goal, I have first produced a guidebook that walks the reader through this step by step process of using butterfly life histories to design butterfly gardens. I then demonstrate how to use the design process by employing the methodological framework on a site within the city of Eugene, Oregon. I assert, that through a detailed examination of butterfly life histories, design elements can be generated to better meet the survival needs of urban butterflies.
Open Access
ANTICIPATING CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE MIDWEST: An Assessment of Shrub Compatibility to Climate Change in Missouri
(2019-06-18) Heese, Brianna
Climate change impacts the world at different rates and scales. This project examines the effects of climate change in the residential landscape in the Midwest, an under-examined— but crucial—topic in climate change studies. Columbia, Missouri is used as a case study for analyzing climate change impacts in residential planting design, specifically focusing on the success and longevity of shrub species which provide both an aesthetic and functional role in the region. This project developed a flow chart and scoring system for critical evaluation of the climate change compatibility of locally available shrubs. Shrub data from four sources in Columbia generated a condensed list of shrubs encompassing different species, cultivars, and varieties. The shrubs were assessed via a two-tiered system: first filtering shrubs by winter hardiness and invasive qualities; and second, those passing the first filters were scored based on compatibility with both current and future climate conditions in Missouri. Of the species examined, 56% were identified as compatible for current and future conditions, 3% were predicted to be compatible for future conditions, 15% were found to be at risk in future conditions, and 26% were considered incompatible as shrubs in Missouri. For those species identified as at risk under climate change, climate-compatible alternatives that fulfill similar functional and aesthetic roles were explored as replacement and design strategies. The result was an identification process that opened the door for discussion on the future of landscape aesthetics in the Midwest.
Open Access
Artistic Practice for Increased Awareness
(University of Oregon, 2016) Byrne, Kayla
The question I intend to answer with this project is: Can artistic practice stimulate the designer and the public to interact in ways that will promote public awareness of a local post-industrial site? The aim of this project is to show the potential of artistic practice to stimulate awareness in the design of parks on post-industrial sites. The case-study site is Alton Baker Park in Eugene, Oregon a large park with a layered and multivalent history. Considering these layers of historical complexity and the timeline of this project, I have specifically chosen to narrow this inquiry further by creating art works that only reflect the industrial past of the Whilamut Natural Area, formerly known as the Day Island Landfill. At the public showing of the created works, I asked visitors to complete a brief survey that focused on their experience at the exhibit and their knowledge of postindustrial landscapes. The results of this project demonstrate how art can enhance and sharpen awareness of post-industrial landscapes while learning.
Open Access
Beyond Salmon: Biocultural Restoration on the Central Oregon Coast
(2021-06-13) Craig, Amanda
In a time of environmental uncertainties, restoration efforts are charged with the complicated task of creating environmental resilience in the wake of issues like climate change, sea-level rise, and the loss of species and habitat. This project looks to Biocultural Restoration and the Traditional Ecological Knowledge of the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians, and their experiences within environmental restoration and management practices today. Using a literature review and semi-structured interviews, four categories for changes, and a set of practice principles were developed that could inform future restoration efforts on the Central Oregon Coast or elsewhere. This research was conducted with the understanding that indigenous peoples are experts of their own culture and realities. Drawing insight and inspiration from the experiences and cultural practices of the Hanis and Miluk Coos, Quiich [Lower Umpqua], and Sha'yuushtl'a [Siuslaw] peoples and their centuries of place-based knowledge, this research is intended to provide a lens through which to view the environmental world, illuminating a unique perspective on humanenvironmental relationships and reciprocity. Through this research, I intend to show the importance Biocultural Restoration and Traditional Ecological Knowledge can have in modern restoration and the critical role indigenous peoples play in the management of their ancestral lands. Furthermore, this research may offer insight into the potential for collaborative work between Tribes and other environmental management entities.
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
BIM-Scapes: Framework for Modeling Site Scale Through Design
(2018-08-25) Carr, Alden
Extending the workflow of Building Information Modeling (BIM) to the field of landscape architecture has significantly improved the workflow across design disciplines. This project explores how BIM can assist landscape architects in innovative planning for site scale storm and wastewater systems. As a proof of concept, this project produced three redevelopment plans for the Saginaw Mobile Home Park in Saginaw, Oregon. The design goals created strategies for providing equitable living spaces for maintaining manufactured home parks as a type of affordable housing. BIM was pivotal in the design process as early schematic designs were able to tabulate and inform sizing and locations of stormwater treatment facilities based on the site-specific geospatial information. As the design process refined the level of detail, results were continuously re-evaluated to inform the design process and adhere to the site needs.
Open Access
Biocultural Healing: Relational Methods for Extending Public Health Sovereignty in Eugene, Oregon
(University of Oregon, 2023-06) Witzleben, Jenna; Keeler, Harper
This project was completed as a master’s project within the Landscape Architecture department at the University of Oregon from January 2022 to June 2023. In this section, I present the relational methodology, topic focus on culturallyrelevant medicinal landscapes, and the key research questions of this project, followed by a short summary of some of the research findings. As will be described in this section, the body of this project “report” is comprised of letters written to particular audiences, including my community collaborators and mentors. The purpose of this introduction section is to provide an orientation before reading any of the personalized letters. It is also intended to serve as a summary of the project for a “general audience.”
Open Access
Boundaries in Movement: Designing for an adaptable 21st-century multi-family residential landscape
(2018-08-25) Chen, Lin (Flora)
In our rapidly densifying urban environment, diversifying family types, and evolving urban demographics, it is of great value to reconsider ways to design residential landscapes that are adaptable to natural and cultural changes. This project interprets Gilles Clément’s one approach—The Planetary Garden, and two theories—The Garden in Movement and The Third Landscape, to develop design strategies that create interconnected spaces with a gradient of scales and functions. These strategies were tested on Parkmerced, a multi-family residential community located in San Francisco, California, completed in 1951. Four proposed design elements create flexible boundaries, permeable surfaces, interconnected pathways, and dynamic vegetation that could easily be altered and accommodate for future change. Parkmerced is on the verge of a long-term redevelopment and this project proposes an alternative approach that would retrofit a 20th-century modernist landscape into a culturally and environmentally adaptable 21st-century urban residential landscape.
Open Access
Carving a New Path Forward: Advocating for transitional housing to help mitigate oppressive forces for people disproportionately affected by homelessness
(2021-06-13) Alig, Sam
Homelessness is a racial justice issue, as well as a social justice issue, and finding solutions to house the unhoused needs to be viewed through both lenses. Individuals experiencing homelessness are not one homogenous group and seeing them as such fails to recognize the intersectional nature of people living on the streets and the disproportionate rate of BIPOC individuals experiencing homelessness. Landscape Architecture has been slow to address issues around houseless populations, as homelessness is often seen as a nuisance commonly addressed through defensive design strategies rather than viewing houseless individuals as stakeholders in the urban landscape that should be included. This work helps to expand how landscape architects address these issues through design and hopes to push the field in a new direction. Transitional housing offers a newer model of housing that is gaining traction in cities throughout the country and could be more widely utilized to address homelessness. However, current models of transitional housing often exist on the fringe of cities or within parking lots, erected as emergency solutions. This work seeks solutions to help integrate transitional housing into the urban fabric and advocates for transitional housing to be more widely considered by communities and local governments to help create a more equitable response to housing the unhoused, particularly for BIPOC members of communities. A literature review and recommendations from the Center for Active Design to increase civic engagement in public spaces served as the foundation to create a framework for the integration of transitional housing into urban spaces. This research focuses on three transitional housing communities in Eugene, Oregon to provide examples of how transitional housing can be integrated into the urban fabric in a way that is multidimensional with greenspace and food production. The examples include innovative solutions to water and sanitation in the form of anaerobic waste digesters that produce methane and compost as byproducts. These systems are simple, cost effective and can be designed in a way that adds to the vibrancy of a transitional housing community.
Open Access
Cohousing to Catalyse Social and Ecological Networks of Reciprocity
(University of Oregon, 2023-06) Hagen-Botbol, Sabina; Ribe, Rob
In an effort to live with a deeper sense of community, this design project seeks to explore the concept of cohousing, with the intention to integrate social and ecological reciprocity. In applying the lens of landscape architecture, this interconnection would extend to the landscape, and ecosystems. By consciously recognizing this broader, more encompassing, view of community, forming cohousing communities becomes an endeavor that incorporates our inherent responsibilities of being a good neighbor socially and ecologically, forming relationships of reciprocity rather than systems of commodification. These concepts are applied to create a concept design for a cohousing community in Fall Creek, Oregon. This project aims to design a site to promote living with a deeper sense of community by integrating social and ecological relationships for enhanced quality of life.
Open Access
Collaborative Art Making: A New Method for Landscape Architecture
(2018-08-25) Holt, Whitney
As communities and demographics shift rapidly in the United States, landscape architects are responsible for creating and curating progressively more urban spaces for increasingly diverse communities. In an era of extreme nationalism and xenophobia designers are confronted with a moral and ethical duty to design spaces that recognize diverse needs and actively foster inclusion. This project explores the capacity of collaborative art-making, a tool from arts education, to engage community and solicit individual’s values and priorities as part of the landscape architecture design process. Currently, there is a dearth of documented methods/strategies for facilitating public engagement ascribed to landscape architecture (LA). LA primarily borrows public engagement methods from Public Planning and many of these strategies elicit specific, concrete desires/wishes, rather than more comprehensive values. Furthermore, these methods don’t consistently address how to engage diverse communities and groups of people and/or how to facilitate activities that foster empathy. Meanwhile, recent studies in arts education maintain that collaborative art-making fosters relationships, strengthens community, reduces marginalization, and promotes inclusion (Hajisoteriou and Agelides 2016). Consequently, this project asks; What are roles for collaborative art making, as a tool for community engagement and inclusion, in the landscape architecture design process of urban public spaces? This project employs two collaborative art-making projects to explore individuals’ perceptions and values regarding the Pioneer and Pioneer Mother, two culturally and historically significant statues situated on the University of Oregon campus. I asked participants for specific feedback pertaining to facilitation, process, and outcomes of the art-making projects in order to further realize the potential values and deficits of collaborative artmaking as a tool for public engagement in landscape architecture practice.
Open Access
Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area: Visual Policy Impact Study
(2021-06-13) Kuebler, Jeffrey
The Columbia River Gorge separates Oregon and Washington along a 75 mile stretch of poignant beauty became a drivable destination in the 1920’s [Willis]. There are key view areas on this route of elevated aesthetic quality. The conservation of intact scenic landscape beauty from these key view areas is informed by strata of local and regional land use policy, as well as conservation trust land banking. The Gorge Commission, given its duties through the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area Act in 1986, enforces the landscape conservation policies [gorgecommission]. A brief history of the legal framework and controversy of the Act is offered. This project looks into identifying land use policy mechanisms in place for preservation of scenic beauty, across public and private properties visible from three exceptional viewpoints in the Columbia River Gorge that represent some of the most scenic and most visited scenic points. Scenic quality in the Gorge is generally preserved through limiting housing development, with the assumption that unnatural objects in scenery detract from scenic beauty. Representation of spatial data is projected on viewshed scale, and differentiated at a tax parcel basis. Data was extracted from publicly available GIS sources, and projected onto map views and panoramic scenes. Site photography of the represented key view areas is joined for better visual comparison between what is seen and visual stewardship policies. This project is a visual document intended to represent of some of the most visited and publicly valued places in the Gorge. This document is intended for a general audience to better understand why the landscape looks the way it does in the Columbia River Gorge. Through offering a better understanding of how policy shapes the landscape we see in the Gorge, more informed public discussions about the Gorge’s visual future can be held. The document and visuals are also intended to be a platform from which further modeling and public preference surveys, including alternative visual future scenarios, may be developed for Commission and community review.
Open Access
Cultural Resource Relations: An Exploration of Tribal Interests Within the Sweet Home Ranger District
(2018-08-25) Stone, Jill
Federal-tribal collaborations in resource management are becoming more common, but successes are difficult to duplicate and recommendations for future partnerships are often vague, nontransferable, or dependent on a specific tribe, federal agency, or context. Since no two partnerships are alike, I ask how and why two projects within the same ranger district, with relations to the same tribes and harboring similar goals, have evolved and been implemented in different ways. Both Camas Prairie and Cougar Rock, two resource management projects within the Sweet Home Ranger District of the Willamette National Forest in Oregon, aim to improve access to and abundance of American Indian first foods. As a means to compare the two sites, this project uses a literature review to generate seven ‘guiding principles of a successful federal-tribal collaboration.’ The principles are then employed through a case study analysis, using in depth interviews and document analysis, in order to 1) Better understand the differences between two projects involving similar tribal interests 2) Explain how a specific landscape context adds to current understanding of federal-tribal relations and 3) Make recommendations to land managers on ways to better identify promising collaborations.
Open Access
Designing for Sea Level Rise; Back Cove, Portland, Maine
(2018-08-25) Barajas, Margo
At the heart of Portland, Maine is a 500-acre tidal bay framed by a linden tree-lined trail and boulevard. Back Cove physically and visually defines the city and is regarded as an important natural, historical, and recreational resource. However, data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) projects sea levels in Back Cove to rise six feet over the next fifty years. This poses an immediate risk to the historic boulevard and trail—originally designed by Olmsted, Olmsted & Eliot, the bordering low-lying neighborhoods, and the extensive network of stormwater and sewer pipes that outlet into the Cove. Additionally, it has been more than twenty years since the city of Portland has published a comprehensive master plan for Back Cove, which did not account for climate change and predates the most recent sea level rise projections. This project engages in the constructivist ‘research-through-designing’ approach set forth by Lenzholzer, Duchhart, and Koh (2013) that emphasizes the contextual role of physical and social environments. Methods used in support of this approach include literature review, interviews, site visits, and archival research. Values of historic and ecological integrity and four sea level rise design strategies guide the outcome—a master plan design for the year 2070, when NOAA projects sea levels to rise six feet at Back Cove, and focal area designs across multiple spatial and temporal scales.
Open Access
Destination Dam Removal: designing historical narratives into post-industrial landscapes
(2021-06-13) Corl, Carolyn
In recent decades, dam removals on American rivers have accelerated due to environmental concerns for stream ecology coinciding with the obsolescence of dam infrastructure built in the early 20th century. In some cases, parts of a dam’s structure are left behind to minimize riverbank disturbance or to appease community members who oppose dam removal for its cultural significance. Like other post-industrial landscapes, the traces and ruins associated with dam infrastructure tell a story of the site before, during and after the infrastructure severely altered the landscape. At dam removal sites specifically, acknowledging this narrative of landscape change and recovery is a unique design opportunity that cannot be addressed through restoration or preservation alone. But through literature review and case study analyses, this project builds a design framework for engaging with the traces left behind by dam removal. By examining how landscape architects have previously worked with other types of post-industrial landscape remnants to elicit a site’s narrative through design, a decision-making procedure for proposing design interventions for historic remnants and how to make them compatible with an overall design concept was developed. The design intervention framework is then exemplified through a proposed site design at the former Savage Rapids Dam on the Rogue River in Southern Oregon.
Open Access
Developing Sustainable ADU Guidelines for San Jose, CA
(2019-06-18) Stagi, Shelby
Many US cities are experiencing exceptionally high housing costs and housing shortages, this is especially true in California, where housing costs greatly exceed those of the rest of the nation. State law-makers and municipalities are looking for ways to quickly improve the housing crisis. A promising strategy for affordable housing can be found in low-density single family neighborhoods; Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) offer the opportunity to increase housing options, without greatly affecting city character and existing infrastructure. This project explores the potential of ADUs as a strategy for sustainable growth in municipal density at multiple scales. Currently ADUs are seen as sustainable options simply because of their smaller footprint, but little research has been done to further develop responsible ecologically and socially driven housing opportunities. This project addresses the need for density while striving for comfortable spaces that meet the needs of residents as well as addressing the city’s goals for sustainability. This project identifies barriers that prevent widespread implementation of ADUs in San Jose, California through analysis of case studies of municipal policy and surveys. Site scale designs and performance analysis demonstrate that sustainable ADU design can be added to residential lots while improving environmental performance through on-site stormwater treatment, energy savings, and a balance between privacy and communal space. Policy recommendations further explore options to address these concerns and mitigate potential negative impacts. This project shows that sustainable ADU models can address many concerns about densification and identifies challenges and benefits for homeowners.