veraeve giampietro concept portfolio
DESCRIPTION
I am Vera, and I am in love with the city. Check out my plans for making cities healthful, spontaneous, thriving, reliable, romantic places to live.TRANSCRIPT
PORTFOLIO
RESUME
WADI PLAY
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18
22
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LENS OF PROSPERITY
CONTACT ME
ELISEO COLLAZOS
ONRAMP
URBAN ROMANCE
PING PONG PARKWAY
GRAFT
INTERNSHIPS
Landscape Architecture Intern. GGLO. Summers 2012 + 2013.
The first summer I worked primarily with Marieke Lacasse, helping her research, design, draft, and render plans, sections, elevations, details, and design proposal documents for the landscape at a new senior living center in Daybreak, Utah. Daybreak is a new urbanist community designed by Peter Calthorpe and Calthorpe Associates.
The facility included a memory care garden, on-street exercise facilities accessible from the public right of way, and a private event courtyard. Our work dovetailed with the standards set forth by Calthorpe’s design guidelines. I also worked on construction documents for several new multifamily design projects, specializing in detail production.
The second summer I worked with the Director of Sustainability to research and present opportunities for certification programs for a new 50-acre community in King County. Some of the programs we evaluated included the Sustainable Sites Initiative, LEED ND, and Built Green Communities.
I also produced design proposal materials for various clients, including concept illustrations, landscape plans, and model perspectives.
Reference: Marieke Lacasse, [email protected].[Please notify me prior to contacting Marieke.]
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Production Intern. Workshop for Architecture. New York, NY. 2003 - 2004.
I worked with architect John Lee in his two-person firm, building models for residential and commercial design projects. I conducted as-built surveys and sourced materials from manufacturers. I learned how to ask the right questions of manufacturers, and to not be overly concerned with the correct lingo.
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UNIVERSITY APPOINTMENTS
Teacher. Digital Media I. Department of Landscape Architecture. Winter 2012 and Present.
I am currently teach design drafting, digital modeling, and mapping applications to thirty-five graduate and undergraduate students in landscape architecture. The programs we cover are ArcGIS, AutoCAD, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop and Rhinoceros.
I deliver 80-minute lessons two times every week. I produce tutorials, quizzes, and assignments. I guide students through in-class exercises. Frequent troubleshooting required.
Reference: Ben Spencer, [email protected]
Teaching Assistant. Gehl Master Studio. Department of Landscape Architecture. April 2013 - Present.
I helped plan, budget, and lead an international study tour for twenty-six students, two faculty, and several hangers-on. We visited Copenhagen, Malmö, Århus, and Køge. The theme for the autumn studio was Urban Play. The concept hinged on the notion that “design is an invitation,” and in this case, an invitation to play.
Reference: Nancy Rottle, [email protected].
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Treasurer. Graduate and Professional Student Senate. June 2012 - May 2013.
I was elected by the graduate student senate to oversee its financial operations. I inherited a $375,000 budget and the privilege of hiring specialists to track spending, which I reported back to the senate and fellow officers. I chaired the Finance + Budget, Executive, and Social Committees, connecting graduate and professional students with one another to give critical mass to our causes.
Reference: Rene Singleton, [email protected].
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SERVICE
Landscape Designer. Holy Child Program. Beit Sahur, Palestine. May 2013 - Present.
Planning + Design Intern. Pomegranate Center. Issaquah, WA. Spring 2012.
Design Consultant. Mini-B Passive House. Seattle, WA. 2009 - 2010.
Volunteer Gardener. Seattle Tilth. Seattle, WA. 2009 - 2010.
Board Secretary. Children of Peace Foundation. Seattle, WA. 2007 - 2010.
RESUME
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PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Project Engineer. Case Design + Project Management. Seattle, WA. 2008 - 2009.
This is my favorite work to date. I worked with an interdisciplinary team of carpenters, construction managers, and architects to design and build single family homes in south Seattle and in Redmond.
I designed and managed installation of the landscapes at these new homes. I designed and installed two green roofs, complete with drainage mats, custom soil blend, and dedicated irrigation from a rainwater harvest system.
I also drafted construction documents and developed construction assembly guides. I provided construction administration services as part of a small team of building envelope consultants.
References: Tony Case, [email protected]. Matt Wasse, [email protected]
Technical Assistant. The Soltner Group Architects. Seattle, WA. 2006 - 2007.
I drafted construction documents for this building envelope consulting firm. I also drafted site investigation and litigation reports, contributing to site analysis and technical writing.
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TRAINING
Master of Landscape Architecture.Master of Urban Planning.University of Washington. Seattle, WA. 2011 - Present.
Public Outreach + User Surveying. Waterfront Seattle + Elliott Bay Seawall Project. Seattle, WA. 2012.
MLA, 1st year. University of Georgia. Athens, GA. 2010 - 2011.
Master Composter + Soil Builder. Seattle Tilth + Seattle Public Utilities. Seattle, WA. 2009.
144-hour Permaculture Design Course. Bullock’s Permaculture Homestead. Deer Harbor, WA. 2009.
Woodworking + Carpentry. Seattle Central Community College Wood Construction Center. Seattle, WA. 2007 - 2008.
Bachelor of Arts. New York University. New York, NY. Urban Design + Architecture Studies major. Studio Art + Economics minors. 2000 - 2004.
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ADVANCED SKILLS
AutoCAD8 years of production experience
Adobe InDesign8 years of production experience
Adobe Photoshop6 years of production experience
SketchUp6 years of production experience
ArcGIS2 years of production experience
Adobe Illustrator2 years of production experience
Rhino1 year of academic experience
Revit.5 years of academic experience
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WHAT I DO WHEN I AM AWAY FROM WORK
I play soccer in a local indoor women’s league. I find urban and wilderness trails and then run along them. I hike, but not in winter. I love to ride my bike and to people-watch. I am curious about home composting systems, and experiment with them regularly.
This installation activated a highly visible yet rarely utilized site along Northeast Campus Parkway. While the site is prominent, there is no invitation into the space. Our team installed two ping pong tables, complete with balls and paddles, in an attempt to draw people in and engage them first in a game, and then ultimately with the site’s existing features.
PING PONG PARKWAY
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Recognizing the potential for vandalism or theft, the team designed details that encourage stewardship by designating spots that are understood as incomplete without their accompanying ball or paddle.
At the end of a game, the user is invited to contribute to the order and beauty of the space by returning all parts to their proper place.
PING PONG PARKWAY
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L ID
BR IDGENE 43RD STREET
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5
NE 44TH STREET
NE 45TH STREET
NE 47TH STREET
NE 50TH STREET
repair the grid
restore the crossing
The construction of Interstate 5 cut a north-south chasm through Seattle. In some places the opening is as wide as two city blocks. Thriving pedestrian- and commerce-oriented neighborhoods such as Wallingford and the University District lost their fine-grained connection to one another. The rich urban ecotone of these communities was replaced by a car-dominated environment, obstructing physical connections and depleting habitat for human and non-human species alike.
Ironically this site once offered some of the finest habitat on earth: an ancient forest stood here that was among the last areas in the city to be deforested in the settlement boom of the late 19th century. A lid over I-5 and accompanying cycle bridge will restore the complex vibrancy of these lost forest and neighborhood relationships, while illustrating potential synergies between built form, ecosystem function, and community interaction.
GRAFT
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I-5 looking south from the 50th street overpass
I-5 looking south from the 45th street overpass
PEDESTRIAN + TRANSIT
HABITAT PATCHES
WATER FLOWS
COMMUNITY AMENITIES
AUTOMOBILES
TREE CANOPY
CO
NN
EC
TIO
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HA
BIT
AT
GRAFT
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LID N
LID N
LID S
16’8’0’ 40’
200’0’ 500’
NE 45th street
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I-51. Makerspace Park2. Hollows3. Onramp
NE 47th street
NE 50th street
SEC
LID S
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south-facing
amphitheater seating
pedestrian & bicycle commuter bridgefo
rme
rly 8
th A
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Ete
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before
after
The pedestrian and cycle bridge, a modified slow-mode “onramp,” demonstrates walkable and bikeable urban delight. A habitat corridor accompanies the hardscape as it spans Interstate 5. Undulating levels of human and wildlife passage provide vantage points from one to the next. As the bridge sets down into the University District, new and modified existing buildings receive the structure along their edges, welcoming the bridge onto their site.
Adjacent structures include mixed programming for students, seniors, young families, and transient populations. By grafting urban tissue across the east-west divide, we restore lateral movement between two vibrant neighborhoods, and produce a new place of unique character.
ONRAMP
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bicycle storage
bridge-level dismount
bridge-level dismount
NE 43rd Street
7th
Ave
nu
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crosses I-5
Not to Scale 13
I fell in love, first with the city. I was infatuated with the energy and variety: spontaneity, celebration, and improvisation. Stepping into downtown was a cool, bright curative. My sense of fashion and culture dilated.
The city also showed me the swathe of my society. Persistently, wordlessly, it asked that I develop deep sensibilities for camaraderie and compassion. As I have grown older, my love has evolved into a partnership, a collaboration. Today I dedicate my life to the city.
I love the city, and I care to see it become a place that is loved by all, and a place that reverberates warmth and affection.
Bell Hooks tells us that love is the will to extend oneself to nurture the spiritual growth of another. Cultivating the spirit of a city, nurturing its growth, nourishment, and health, but also crafting the city’s ability to care for every last resident; this is my calling as an urban landscape architect and planner.
URBAN ROMANCE
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URBAN ROMANCE
First we shape our environments, and then they shape us. My strategy is in staging the urban environment, placing objects onsite, observing how people react and interact, and using those observations to iterate.
Human to human contact, shared struggle, shared sacrifice, shared joy—these are tenets of a lasting romance. We have heard that warmth is the agent of persuasion. If cities are to persuade people to live in their midst, then they must engage us through warm moments, soft spaces, and gentle details. Fine works of landscape architecture, urban design, art, architecture, and urban choreography engage in exactly this way, drawing us nearer one another to cultivate and foment our mutual affection.
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The city is a place for a party, to fall in love, to find livelihood, to find empathy, for moving the body, and for celebrating humanity. By leading this charge to design a warm, ambitious, energetic, and high performing city, I will help build a city that is loved by many and that loves in return.
Beit Sahur, West Bank, Palestine(Bayt Sahur, Beit Sahour)The house (Beit) of vigilance (Sahur).
My Masters thesis works to design a healing, therapeutic, educational, playful, and productive permaculture landscape at the Holy Child Program (HCP) in Beit Sahur, Palestine. HCP is a school dedicated to caring for Palestinian children with emotional and behavioral difficulties. It is a place where students and their families find healing and acceptance, and many refer to it as their “oasis.”
The guiding concept for this project is Wadi Play. Wadis are dryland landforms that channel surface runoff. Not unlike canyons, wadis are the physical impression left by water after it has carved away the earth. They often terminate at the site of an oasis.
Iterative Intervention
We Shape Our Environments
Our Environments Shape Us
Intervention
We Shape Our Environments
Our Environments Shape Us
Status Quo
We Shape Our Environments
Our Environments Shape Us
WADI PLAY
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PARCHED LANDSCAPES
WATER SCARCITY
REGENERATIVE LANDSCAPES
WATER HARVEST
MULCHED + IRRIGATED LANDSCAPES
WATER CYCLING
permaculture principles + system design
permaculture ethicsEarth CarePeople CareFair Share
redundancyEach element performs multiple functions.Each function is served by multiple elements.These design principles foster resilience within a system.
permacultureIsn’t Permaculture just about groovy outdoor pizza ovens and earthy intentional communities?
permaculture is...A closed-loop system, which, once complete, requires no externally acquired resources, and from which there is no waste. The Permaculture model calls for use of appropriate technologies such that energy, food, and water can be extracted from natural processes for human use.
Yes! Permaculture does sometimes manifest itself as a way of life. But there is so much more than meets the eye. Permaculture offers a design strategy and framework for the process of designing any system, and was built for designing food systems in particular.
Permaculture Ethics tell us how to focus our priorities in food system design. Redundancy tells us how to make that system resilient. Zone layout tells us where to put the elements of our system. The needs and yields analysis tells us what elements we will include in our design, what they will need, and what they will provide to other elements in the system. Needs and yields analyses help us find potential for “waste,” and opportunities to see those wastes as nutrients instead.
WADI PLAY
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The wadi concept describes the history and future promise of flowing water in a landscape that is dry half the year. The wadi sets up a metaphor for the work of treating culturally-fragile children with behavioral and emotional difficulties. A physical impression in the earth is a reminder of flourishings past, and can be used to express Palestinian history. The impression is also a suggestion of flourishings future, which inspire us to keep hope in desperate times, when access to essential resources are cut off.
I will visit the site at the end of March, and there I will work with students and teachers by guiding small interventions within their landscape, addressing the barbed wire perimeter. Our engagement exercises will aim at challenging the notion that the barbed wire is naturally occurring, but that instead it is the result of calculated human choices.
UPPER HOUSEAGES 7 - 16
LOWER HOUSEAGES 3 - 6
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zone layoutDesigned according to frequency of use and frequency of tending required.
WADI BEDHigh impact circulation route. Many feet indent the earth, incrementally over time, compacting it. Play, travel, waiting, lining up, talking, socializing. Meets basic needs for movement. Visit multiple times per day.
OASIS EDGEThe ecotone. The lens. Nutrients, intelligence, and energy of both the natural and human worlds collect here. Cultivation, nutrient deposit, and extraction. Observe, document. Visit daily.
HINTERLANDSThe land of curiosities. Operations take place behind the scenes. Visual and functional oddities intrigue. A chance for sublime encounters. Resource cycling, resource corral, resource production, nerding out. Visit when curious.
ZONE
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ZONE
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ZONE
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Play Structures
Play Structures
Play Structures
Play Structures
Play Structures
Play Structures
Compost System
Compost System
Adventure Playground
Vegetable Beds
Small Livestock
Dew Collection
Orchard
Orchard
Orchard
Outdoor Classroom
Outdoor Classroom
Outdoor Classroom
Healing Garden
Vegetable Beds
MeditationGarden
Greywater Harvest
On / Inside Buildings
Rainwater Harvest
CompostToilets
Biodigestor
Solar Array
Not to Scale
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L
ens of Prosperity
Planet
People
Human Health
Community Participatory
Design
Alternative Water ResourceEcological Restoration
Income Generation
Low Cost & Renewable Water Source
LENS OF PROSPERITY
I developed the core concept for our team. Acknowledging that all people first understand the value of ecological restoration through a lens of prosperity, our team designed a water collection and distribution system that serves immediate human needs first.
This work would allow residents to enjoy the yield of fog water for household washing, drinking, and bathing, while simultaneously allowing some of this resource to revegetate the hillside, reestablishing the self-sustaining hydrologic system of settlements past.
A team of graduate students in landscape architecture, urban planning, and civil engineering worked to design a fog collection, water storage, and distribution system that would serve residents of the Eliseo Collazos community, an informal settlement in Lima, Peru.
Fog Collection Nets Fog collectors capture water that has condensed around a particle, such as dust. These large nets, stretched between vertical poles, intercept the condensed water droplets and guide them into a gutter below.
Average yield in the lomas ecological system is 3 - 5 liters per square meter per day. A standard fog collector is 4 meters tall and 10 meters wide. 40 square meters of net can potentially collect 120 - 200 liters per day during foggy winter months, May - November.
Tree Nursery
Irrigation> in Dry Season
Irrigation> in Dry Season
Returns Water to System
SeedlingsPlanted
TreesGrow
Vegetative Fog Collection Cone Hygiene
Potable Water
Agriculture
Garden
Parks
Filtration
Reforestation
Prototype Fog Collectors
Origami Water Storage Tank Bottle Tee
Irrigation
Fog water collection, storage, irrigation, and distribution system diagram.
ELISEO COLLAZOS
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1m
440L
Origami Water Storage Tank
When folded from trimmed 8.5 x 11 paper, this traditional “water balloon” serves as an inflatable business card.
I was chosen to travel with a small delegation of students to present this work at the P3 exhibition on the National Mall. P3 - People, Planet, Prosperity - is an annual competition sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency. We presented to the head of the EPA as well as two judging panels in a science fair-style environment.
Our team was the only non-STEM department. We won the People’s Choice Award and placed 2nd for the American Society of Civil Engineers Sustainability Award.
1.5”
edge of cubeedge of cube
edge of cubeedge of cube
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8 9
1
6
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Crease along lines marked
turn
ove
r
(back) (back)
Cut intake holes. Attach gaskets & valves.
Open sheet, push together opposite midpoints to make a triangle.
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Fold front �aps along lines markedTurn over & repeat
4Fold along lines marked
Fold front �aps over pocket lineTurn over &
repeat
Fold & unfold along linesmarked “edge of cube”
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11
Tape closed along shaded edgesTurn over & repeat
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Fold & unfold along linesmarked “edge of cube”
FRONT
FRONT
FRONT
FRONT
FRONT
FRONT
Fold corner �aps towards center along lines markedTurn over & repeat
Fold corner �aps towards center along lines markedTurn over & repeat
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66
66
7
7Fold front �aps along lines marked
Turn over & repeat7
7
8
7
7Fold front �aps alonglines marked
Turn over & repeat
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1 1
1
4 444
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5Tape closed along shaded edgesTurn over & repeat
5Tape closed alongshaded edgesTurn over and repeat
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Fold front �aps over pocket lineTurn over &
repeat
99 9
Tape closed along shaded edgesTurn over & repeat
Tape here
pocket line
Tape here
Tape here Tape here
Tape here
Tape here
pocket li
ne
10
10
1010
Tape here
pocket line
Tape here
pocket li
ne
10
12
Tuck this corner into pocket below pocket line. Repeat on both sides.
Tuck this corner into pocket below pocket line. Repeat on both sides.
Tuck this corner into pocket below pocket line. Repeat on both sides.
Tuck this corner into pocket below pocket line. Repeat on both sides.
www.SQWater.be.washington.eduwww.facebook.com/[email protected]
UNIVERSITY of WASHINGTON
SQ ATER
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I developed the instructional folding graphics for this origami water storage tank.
The prototype was made of 6 mil polyethylene and instructions were printed onto the plastic surface.
A full-size tank holds 440 liters, measures 1m per side, and costs $15 for all parts.
[email protected] 206 407 8605