Pure Project is a 120-acre mixed used layout and schematic design excise from my site planning studio class.
This project improved my skills in spatial thinking and visually conveying ideas. I set ambitious deliverables for myself to push my workflow efficiency and time management in planning and design.
The site posed unique opportunities and constraints. I started by walking the site, photographing and noting points of interest. I then created a spatial analysis with QGIS to analyze the jurisdictional, geographic, cultural and historic features of the site.
After collecting these data, I printed everything, pinned it up, and asked myself: so what? I believe that this is the crucial step that separates a spatial analysis from a simple inventory.
Through assessing these data, I realized that the site posed great opportunity for improvement through the implementation of ecosystem services. I applied my analysis to an ecosystem service design framework, synthesizing my work into several core opportunities and constraints.
This analysis gave me a design framework to use as the foundation of my site planning and design.
I made sure that my design framework was based on peer reviewed mathematical and scientific principles. I have always been of the belief that decisions should be predicated on math and science. An objective rationale leads to strong, defensible design. I strive to justify every design decision I make with reputable data.
The site program was a mixed-use development with multiple housing, commercial and office requirements. I needed to plan this design in an attractive way that also abided by my ecosystem analysis. The greatest challenge in this was keeping all permanent structures at least 100 meters from adjacent sources of pollution.
Sketching
I began the process by printing my site analysis and overlaying trace paper. I took my time with the skeleton of the design, using big markers and scraping countless iterations. This allowed me to refine the design as coherently as possible.
Drafting
Once I had a working site layout, I uploaded my sketch into Autodesk Civil3D and began drafting linework.
Keeping this layout organized in CAD was essential, as it allowed me to efficiently edit features as design updates arrived.
Following the iterative process, I began rendering my design. I attached my linework to a Photoshop file. I did this instead of importing it so I could keep the CAD PDF live and thus easy to update, should a change be required.
I rendered the entire layout with Photoshop. I created smart objects from the linework, adding additional layers for the topography and satellite imagery. Finally, I placed the rendering in InDesign to annotate the design.
With a formalized site plan, I began designing spaces within the development. I took zones of my plan that felt most important to highlight and designed them to greater detail.
My workflow was similar to that of the site layout. I exploded the site plan at the areas I was going to design and sketched over them. Once I was happy with a design plan, I would scan and upload the sketch into CAD, where I could draft further linework on the existing layout file.
Finally, I rendered linework in Photoshop, annotating and formatting the designs in InDesign.
Though not required, I wanted to justify my design identity with calculations and strong sources. Using a QR code, I was able to provide a live link to a published webpage with my full references, rationale, and calculations. This kept the presentation visually descriptive, while providing proof of concept.
I consider myself an environmental scientist first, designer second. I wanted to emphasize this in my project, melding the subjectivity of design and objectivity of math and science. My design decisions were unconventional in the context of the program, yet reinforced my desire to be an scientific problem solver.
