[portfolio]liz crim

Bachelors of Landscape Architecture(Virginia Tech 2012)

sketches + hand rendering

computer rendering (Photoshop, Illustrator)

horticultural internship

graphic creative thinking

for more, visit online portfolio

AutoCAD, ArcGIS

table of contents + cup o’ skills

Freedom Park p. 2–3Vaughn Homes p. 7Hurt Park p. 8City Forest p. 14

Freedom Park p. 4 Jessup West p. 10–11Pleasure House Point p. 13City Forest p. 15–16

Hurt Park p. 9

sketchbook p. 6, 17

overview:designer’s statementWhen people ask me what landscape architecture is, I always have a hard time defining it: it is a combination of urban planning, engi-neering, sculpture, horticulture, architecture, and other disciplines. But rather than seeing this as a shortcoming, I think this is one of the strengths of landscape architecture. As I am about to embark on an entirely different adventure (my magnificent professional adventures), I am reminded of what landscape architecture has given me:

(1) Vision. My time at school has given me the ability to really understand, critique, and appreciate the world around me. Whether I am travelling or exploring locally, I can begin to see not only the landscape’s problems, but its potentials.

(2) Collaboration. As designers, we tend to have to assume we have the sole power to solve the world’s problems – a delusion that has created more problems than it has solved. Because landscape architecture is at the junction of so many disciplines, we are uniquely placed to work with other professionals and, more importantly, with communities to create the best solution.

(3) Theory. It’s so easy to get caught up in design details that we forget to consider what’s grounding our work. Rather than limiting our work, theory can become a framework that can amplify our creativity.

(4) Purpose. I came into landscape architecture with the narrow goal of creating gardens, but along the way have developed a passion for transforming communities. This idea of regeneration allows me to think beyond mere sustainability; not merely how to preserve, but to affect positive change.

page 1

conceptual drawing of Time Landscape (NYC) by Alan Sonfist

project projection: design to delivery An overview of one entire project from design development sketches to final design renderings. The chosen project, Freedom Park, was a group design charette as part of a vertical studio assignment.

page 2

freedom park

The concept for the design was an urban escape into art – art flowed from the art museum (the Artisphere) in the center into the landscape, gradually transitioning to the urban fabric. These drawings are from the

design development stage, figuring out how the art would radiate from the museum into the landscape. The next page shows the final design for each area (marked A-C).

page 3

(A)The theater space or courtyard

(C)The south entrance

roslyn, va

(B)The north entrance

page 4

A B

CC

(A) The formal seating area offers a place for people to sit, relax, and eat lunch in the shade of the pergola. Located off the main pedestrian path and surrounded by lush plantings, it offers a comfortable escape.

(B) The West Entrance to the park is framed by an allee of arched sculptures, which echo The Arches near the North Entrance. The Progression Pool is visible just beyond, the stepping stones are made of plexi-glass and mimic the shape of the Twin Towers (adjacent residential property, owned by the same development company.)

(C) The Arches linking the decorative planted mounds along the entry way from North Kent Street are the first things the viewer experiences after entering the park. At night, the Arches are illuminated by lights embedded in the sculptures, accentuating the path.

page 5

As the park rises high above the streets, the user is transported from the harsh urban environment into a different world, an escape into art, nature, and solitude. This park provides a refuge from the city life by bringing awareness to art in nature and creating personal and community spaces. The orange traces weave through and tie the landscape together, highlighting different features and experiences along the journey: an arch that flies gracefully over your head as you enter, a bench to sit on, a sculpture to climb on, and always a line to follow. (The masterplan rendering was done by another student, but we were all involved in the actual design.)

final masterplan

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2

34

5

6 7 89

West Entrance: corridor through trees and arching sculptures, viewing platform over North Lynn Street and Progression Pool

Wire-frame pergola over seating area/outdoor event area

Seating island separating the seating area from the walkway

Garden walk from North Lynn Street entrance

Circular seating platforms with moveable privacy/sculpture panels

Central water feature

Grassy mounds with climbable sculptures

The Arches: overhead arching sculptures running through mounded flower beds

North Entrance: circular entrance wall framing the entrance, welcoming the visitor into the site

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2

4

9

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3

8

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project pickings:range + renderingsSelections from a range of different projects I have worked on.

Sketches from case studies about reuse of vacant lots and greening cities

page 6

vaughn homes

This masterplan was for creating a sustainable community in Prices Fork, Virginia. The design concept included attached homes with shared courtyards, contour planting in the agricultural fields, and a

nature center in the historic barn on the site. The layout was thought of in layers: first the topography of the site, then the agriculture, and then the housing.

page 7

prices fork, va

hurt park gateway park

page 8

back doorgrassed parlor

porch

porchhallway

grassed living room raised terrace

room

front door

Neighborhood house: architectural remnants into landscape

roanoke, va

My intent for this design was to create a neighbor-hood house as part of the gateway into the Hurt Park neighborhood. While going through some of the oral histories of the neighborhood, I was struck by the role of the house; the two main gathering places in historic Hurt Park were the front porch (mainly for adults) and the house itself (mainly for the children).

The community of Hurt Park used to be described as a family, so why not give them a place to be-come one again?

Because this is meant to be a park, I flattened the house and opened up the design to allow for bet-ter accessibility and safety. Within the confines of the porch, the house is divided into several rooms which can be used as private individual spaces or several rooms can be combined into a larger area for group events.

A

B

section Bsection A

page 9

front door

These detail areas are from drawings that were part of a complete construction documents set for my Hurt Park design.

layout plan planting plan grading plan

A.n. var. p. I.c. ‘R’

A.f.

A.a. ‘VQ’

A.m. ‘SoS’

& Abbreviations

80%

Gra

ding

Pla

n

0 16 32

Scale: 1/8” = 1’

80%

Lay

out P

lan

0 4 8 16

Scale: 1/8” = 1’

jessup west greenroofsheffield, yorkshire, uk

page 10

This project applied lessons of habitat research to adapt an existing greenroof so that it can serve as a viable habitat and accommodate people as well. The roof is broken up into the main habitats a hoverfly needs to survive: woodland, wetland bog, and wildflower meadow.

mimicking architecture to create habitat

priority habitat range of species recommended from Sheffield Open Mosaic Habitat on Previously Developed Land

sample of species from Pictorial Meadow Green Roof Seed Mix. Also includes calcareous grassland species and local sedums. Proven successful in Sheffield greenroofs (Sheffield HAP).

page 11

To recreate the woodland (important in the egg and adult stages of the hoverfly), I echoed the interior ventilation system (top left) to create connected log structures (top center, bottom left)that would both provide wood for the hoverflies and support pockets of wildflower meadow (important for pollina-tion), which need more drainage and greater rooting depth. The logs also function as a dividing line be-tween substrate depths (top right). I altered the existing walkway layout (bottom center) to open up views to the entire greenroof, while pre-serving habitat size and quality.

The site, Pleasure House Point, is the future site of the Save the Bay Foundation, and the assignment was to create a wildlife park that also provided opportunities for education and recreation. The design (which was a team effort - the masterplan was rendered by a colleague) focused on highlighting the characteristics and po-tentials of the site through a series of boardwalks and trails. Rather than concentrating the educational areas around the building, we spread them around the site, highlighting different habitats: e.g. a bird observatory, a series of tree houses, and a floating boardwalk that protected an oyster colony.

sustainable recreation: balancing social & natural ecology in a park

pleasure house pointvirginia beach, va

page 12

A proposed artificial oyster reef which – in concert with the sea walls, sand dunes, and wetlands – could eventually clean the bay.

The bird observatory allows visitors to appreciate the site’s native wildlife.

page 13

city forest

This was the masterplan for City.Forest, my concept for repurposing the urban forest that has grown up on the Pruitt-Igoe site in St. Louis. Be-cause of its location and the emptiness and dereliction of the surrounding neighborhood, the concept for the site is a transition from urban pat-terns to the forest. The site hosts community gardens, orchards, outdoor classrooms, a Pruitt-Igoe memorial, and a community center.

st. louis, mo

page 14

page 15

In the southern part of the community center plaza, the space-frame structure offers an opportunity to experience the city and the forest in a different way: a cross-section from forest floor to canopy (above), through the tree canopy (top right), and a direct view to downtown (far right).

page 16

The edge condition is one of the most crucial parts of the design because it draws people in and marks the transition between the neighborhood and the park, between city and forest. To begin to pull people out of the housing enclaves and onto the streets, the streets need to be more pedestrian friendly: narrowing the roads, repairing the sidewalks, planting trees and flowers (above, right). The edge of the site along Jefferson and Cass is made up of a series of garden rooms and planting beds (both agricultural and ornamental) that are part of the more familiar domestic pattern and scale. The community gardens (above, left) mark the start of a new corridor of green infrastructure leading from the site – a way for the city to use the vacant land in a more productive manner.

graphic thinking

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