Post Graduate Landscape Architecture Portfolio 2016 by Alexander Saunders Landscape Architecture

alexander saunders MLA Landscape Architecture Portfolio Of Works

alexander saunders

LDA Design Ltd • University Of Sheffield BA 2014 MLA 2016 • London • 23 I am a Landscape Architect with a masters in Landscape Architecture from the University Of Sheffield. My experience centres on public realm design, particularly in London on projects including Battersea Power Station (Phases 1-3) as well as North West Cambridge and international experience on Neopolis, Moscow. This experience was gained during an exceptional 13 months at LDA Design working with fantastic landscape architects as well as clients and coconsultants including Carillion, Buro Happold Engineering, Simpson Haugh Architects, Gehrys, Fosters + Partners and DRMM Architects. During this time I developed knowledge and skill in technical design and project management working under David Thompson on Battersea Phase 1 as well as gaining great additional design development skills under Benjamin Walker and the rest of LDA Design and our co-consultants. This experience, combined with my existing design skill and a drive to pursue new technologies in landscape architecture, has allowed me to develop into a well rounded and forward thinking landscape architect. With a keen interest in the latest sustainability research regarding public realm and my knowledge in emerging technologies including virtual reality (of which I introduced the design capabilities and work-flows to LDA Design and the University of Sheffield), augmented reality and the world of mobile sharing, I have the potential to offer a great deal to the profession, my clients and practises that share these interests. The following is a demonstration of some of my experience and use of technology in while pursuing my masters degree at the University Of Sheffield in particular.

Greenwich river park

University Of Sheffield • Special Project 2016 Greenwich Peninsula • London • UK With Greenwich Peninsula undergoing large scale regeneration, in which the post industrial wilderness is transforming into a metropolitan centre in line with Canary Wharf and Nine Elms, focus on how public realm connects and services the emerging population is paramount, especially given the lack of large scale public parks in the proposed masterplan. My final MLA project centred on the most northern tip of Greenwich Peninsula and looked to re-imagine the Thames River Path as a river park landscape that addresses the impact of existing built form and that shifts the dominance of outward views to Canary Wharf towards inward facing experiences. The parks design is a linear journey that wraps around the northern edge of the O2 Arena and is comprised of a sequence of parklets. These parklets have been predominantly design in Virtual Reality in which spaces were tested by students, residents and commuters and tailored according to their personal experiences at a particular location on site. This method of working resulted in a park with a great deal of contrast and variety that ensured those who ‘visited’ the park in virtual reality were given the opportunity to have impactful experiences. This was achieved through manipulating hard and soft landscape forms, various height relationships between the public and their surroundings and exploring how we can provide small scale experiences while accommodating large scale crowding. Being able to design spaces that could accommodate large volumes of visitors to the arena, new residents and those exploiting the new commuter route across the proposed pedestrian cycle bridge to Canary Wharf, all the while offering each visitor localised niche escapes drove decisions from the macro scale journey to the micro scale seating. Without these smaller interactions that were experienced by the users of virtual reality, the size of the built form would continue to dominate.

Greenwich river park

University Of Sheffield • Special Project 2016 Greenwich Peninsula • London • UK As the design developed from sketch, through virtual reality and onto the final proposal, the intensity of spaces along the route was driving both spatial layout and materiality. It is human nature to favour places and opportunities that have greater options, variety and diversity. To suit this and design a park that was dynamic and promoted human movement the character of the park peaks and troughs between formal landings at the eastern and western extremities and an urban wilderness along the northern edge. The north consists of a large and leisurely wooded walk, exploiting timber and organic sweeping movement particularly through the skyway that rises towards the canopies, briefly escaping the main walkway. The western edge consists of the wandering garden which is a formal statement garden at the base of the proposed bridge’s grand staircase. This then leads to a series of pleasure lawns, water features and tapering river-front platforms and seats. The eastern edge is a thin terraced landscape that transitions the return from the northern wilderness, back into the existing public realm at the O2 Arena entrance.

Context S tr ategy

Greenwich river park

University Of Sheffield • Special Project 2016 Greenwich Peninsula • London • UK

While spatial layout was dictated by human movement the key to maximising the diversity of experiences centred on exploring the temporal qualities of the landscape through soft landscape detailing that worked with hard landscape features. For example; The planting selection at the bridge landing exploited varieties of Tulips, Alliums and grasses for both very different structures as well as a range of flowering periods to ensure new visual experiences upon arrival. These beds then lay in formal linear strips defined by steel edging reflective of the steel of the post industrial gas works. In contrast the inner edges of the park have a more woodland aesthetic and character. Pine and Spruce trees shape evergreen avenues driving views along the park while the under-story utilises wetter grass species to manage low levels of grey water and swathes of asters run colour along more organic sight lines through the woodland. This wilderness edging eventually takes over to dominate the character of the northern boundary of the park through which the skyway pierces.

Greenwich river park

University Of Sheffield • Special Project 2016 Virtual Reality Design Virtual reality is the computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional image or environment that can be interacted with in a seemingly real or physical way by a person using special electronic equipment, such as a helmet with a screen inside, From ‘Oxford University Press’, 2016 “Landscape architecture is rooted in an understanding of how the environment works and what makes each place unique. It is a blend of science and art, vision and thought. It is a creative profession skilled in strategic planning, delivery and management. Landscape architects bring knowledge of natural sciences, environmental law and planning policy. They lead teams, engage stakeholders and manage conflicting demands. And they create delight with beautiful designs, protecting and enhancing our most cherished landscapes and townscapes”. From ‘Landscape architecture: a guide for clients’, 2012 These two definitions have much in common particularly human interaction with the physical environment especially through science and vision. Therefore I chose to pursue a design work-flow throughout the Greenwich River Park design process in which proposals and ideas were tested in Virtual Reality so that my personal creative solutions could be adapted to accommodate the experiences and desires of people who will one day use the site. By gaining primary source information from people walking through the proposed landscape it was possible to create experiences in sequences that maximised the engagement between user and place at a variety of scales.

Granary wharf

University Of Sheffield • Urban Retro-Fit Project Leeds Canal-side • Leeds • UK The Leeds canal-side is ribbon of water within prime proximity to the town centre and as a result there are new hotels and business facilities popping up. However in the rush to develop, human scale design seems to be lacking with in-active frontages and large monotonous façades. The proposal for Granary Wharf is a vision for what could have been and is comprised of a remodelling of the Hilton Hotel form as well as more budget conscious public realm revitalisation. The facade of the hotel is broken into and extruded from to give a series of strata with outdoor breakout space on multiple tiers to bring people out of the building and have some sense of social interaction with the ground plane as well as bringing some of the planting character upwards. The canal side parklet re works levels to give the waterside landing a seated enclosure with seatwalls that separates from the reading garden spill out and lawns. The railway arches will be opened from parking into retail opportunities offering a streetscape that spills over into the more open plaza. Street tree planting plays a key role in the plaza and canal parklet landscape to give a greater sense of enclosure and protection from the scale of the built form. This allows for small pieces of street furniture such as table tennis, seating and markets to thrive without intimidation from above. Temporary barges or water pop ups are given the space to spill out and changes in the materiality of space distinguish these spaces from main thoroughfares between the arches and the canal.

Granary wharf

University Of Sheffield • Urban Retro-Fit Project Leeds Canal-side • Leeds • UK Using principles of socially restorative urbanism by Kevin Thwaites to build on Lynchian analysis, this strip of canal side public realm was split into three key zones that each offer different relationships to water and built form as well as different experiences of movement and retreat. The canal edge is the most protected retreat to water and from the hotel. Densely vegetated and utilising timber and bond gravel this is the closest the space gets to a countryside retreat within the city centre. Leading away from the canal is the barge-side street. This avenue has spill out from both the semi permanent barge as well as the hotels library facility. Each spill out is given its own identity from the main thoroughfare and the width of the space gives a great intensity of social gathering with tight knit interactions. The plaza from the railway arches is primarily hardscape with a street tree grid to define small squares. These squares can then be populated by pop ups, markets, cycle storage, games facilities and many other more temporal events. The design does not ‘green for greens sake’ and stresses that designed interventions are very specifically located according to context and user desires.

PARKWOOD SPRINGS

University Of Sheffield • Masterplanning & Regeneration Don Valley • Sheffield • UK As Sheffield continues to develop as part of the Northern Powerhouse it is transitioning to a more poly-centric city with the old city centre competing with Meadowhall. Connecting these existing centres is the Don Valley and as such many of the post industrial sites along the river have the opportunities to form smaller centres similar to Machester- Salford or the multiple centres of London. Parkwood Springs makes for an ideal location for this kind of development with its existing transport connections and proximity to such a large underused green space. The greatest centres commonly have large parks for the latest development to collaborate with. In the case of designing a new centre in the Don Valley, flood risk was a major consideration and as such the design of the built form is encased in a two park system (river & rail) which expands the river capacity threefold as well as providing an overflow retention quay. This combined with SUD networks to manage grey water within the centre itself and the flood alleviation not only accommodates for the development itself but also benefits sites downstream. The masterplan includes new connections between nodes and focuses on driving the regeneration of the area through intense income generation which can then filter outwards supporting the wider region. A deliberately walk-able public realm integrates with the parks keeping key vehicular transport routes to a minimum and defining developable plots as a rational series so that the centre can grow with multiple partners as opposed to a single developer.

EMERGING MEADOWHALL HUB

PARKWOOD SPRINGS

CENTERTAINMENT SUPPORT HUB

POTENTIAL PARKWOOD HUB

PEAK DISTRICT WESTON PARK /PONDEROSA PARK HILL CITY CENTRE

ENDCLIFFE PARK

SHEFFIELD RING ROAD

PARKWAY TO M1

NORFOLK HERITAGE PARK

PARKWOOD SPRINGS

University Of Sheffield • Masterplanning & Regeneration Don Valley • Sheffield • UK The Don Valley masterplan is structured as a series of developable within a subtly re worked road network. This allows for two parks to wrap the site as well as allowing for a new pedestrianised spine piercing through from the city centre. Each plot has its own generous central public realm defined by the active frontages of new and existing buildings. The built form is orientated to maximise sun capture to both create more eco-friendly and cost saving development as well as allowing the public realm to maximise thermal comfort. Integrating these plots with the parks allows for a masterplan that promotes outdoor activity and pedestrian cycle movement ahead of the car. The majority of the site will consist of a retail district (blue) which opportunities for mixed use (orange), residential (green) and office (pink) facilities. Elements of the two parks are brought through the public realm to give each plot subtly different character. This character promotes free movement and integration between commerce and nature.

PARKWOOD SPRINGS

University Of Sheffield • Masterplanning & Regeneration Don Valley • Sheffield • UK

Economic rejuvenation of the local area is not just restricted to the urban centre in the Don Valley. Smaller interventions create sequences of opportunities for the local population to generate income and activity for the area working from the successful model of Greenwich Park in London. Better parking at the top of the slope with additional sorts facilities and lookout points are a great attraction in their own right and then a series of routes down the hill with visual clearings start to connect the centre with wider communities. This organised sequence fits into key environmental bands that run through the wider Parkwood Springs area including the Don corridor, the railway corridor, the enhanced woodland corridor and the heathland activity corridor.

30 st marys axe

Competition Entry • Public Realm Retro-Fit The Gherkin • London • UK The public realm surrounding tall buildings (both residential and commercial) in dense urban environments is typically poor with factors such as fire access, national security and the need to treat buildings as ‘iconic’ islands dictating design at the cost of environmentally and socially responsible networks of public city space. Retrofitting these spaces in a manner that addresses these responsibilities will allow cities such as London to create a higher quality urban fabric that will benefit a more diverse range of receptors in increasingly common tall building clusters such as Liverpool Street and Canary Wharf.

Increasing tree planting to generate obstacles to down-drafts and cyclic winds generated as air crashes into the large building and down to the public realm below. This creates a more thermally comfortable landscape. Dense planting with the intention of greeting a network of urban woodlands increases the coverage of heat and CO2 absorbing material to combat local and city wide urban heat island effect and CO2 emissions. Deciduous tree planting has also been proved to be beneficial for managing bounce light. White concrete also absorbs a greater amount of sunlight. Appreciation of combining natural light with artificial lighting so that the large shadows cast by tall buildings and even in some cases trees will create more comfortable well lit city environments allowing all corners of the public realm to be utilised all day round.

30 st marys axe

Competition Entry • Public Realm Retro-Fit The Gherkin • London • UK Increasing the quality of social gathering spaces in a manner that gives greater choice of activity will open the outdoor space to a wider demographic contributing to a more socially interactive space. Lawns allow for outdoor group interaction/ meetings while more formal seating creates more intimate space for private conversation. Multiple levels of green landscape add a new vertical dimension to the public realm bringing the visual relationship closer to more floors. This relationship would typically be lost after the first 3 floors how this can be doubled. Visual relationships between workers and landscape is proven to increase productivity and workplace satisfaction. Utilising tree planting and concrete planting structures maintains the required secure perimeter to tall buildings in the city to ensure public safety from potential terrorist threats. Lawns and raising planters above the hard landscape maintain the required floorspace for the gathering of those from within the building in the event of fire or other needs for evacuation. Gaps in planters with retractable bollards allow for fire access and goods access. Greater green coverage allows greater absorption of rainwater to reduce the pressure on the city’s drainage networks while growing green networks allow for the potential increase of biodiversity in the local area which in tern gives a more responsible character to the local area.

car parklet

Competition Entry â&#x20AC;˘ Parklet Design 2 Parallel Parking Bays â&#x20AC;˘ Anywhere Temporary installations such as car parklets are growing in popularity with their ability to increase the quality of urban public realm in restricted streetscapes. This particular design is comprised of seating with two steel shade structures on which signage or other information can be mounted. These are then encased in a sweeping, two tiered planting buffer to protect those resting away from the traffic. The timber deck offers a garden like retreat in the busiest of cities and a bulge in the planting container allows space for a single tree. Depending on the desired shelf life for the parklet the tree may or may not be artificial. The whole structure sits on a steel frame that lines up with any straight kerb and fitting into two parallel parking bays these modules can be repeated down the street and fork lifted onto flat bed lorries to be moved from location to location. The planting, tree and shade structures all combine to minimise the visual impact of traffic on the streetscape and transform the character of our streets.

Castlegate

University Of Sheffield • Y3 Integrated Project Castlegate • Sheffield • UK The Castlegate site is set to be transformed from an market warehouse into a public park that de culverts the River Sheaf’s confluence with the River Don as well as revealing hidden castle remnants. The strategy of the park starts at the cities edge with temporary formal lawns and street tree planting that may make way for future city development. Working inwards a woodland corridor defines the boundary between the riverside landscape and the formal urban site. It also accommodates much of the steepest level change down to the river. Once through the woodland the river landscape contains a series of raised protected lawns encased in flood-able wetlands that day to day manage grey water while offering emergency flood alleviation for the local area. The confluence is celebrate with a tiered platform with a variety of seatwalls and resting points as the furthest escape from the city centre

Castlegate

University Of Sheffield • Y3 Integrated Project Castlegate • Sheffield • UK The design for Castlegate centres on the utilisation and manipulation of previous forms, scales, and textures in order to subtly celebrate the heritage of Castlegate’s previous communities, cultures and characters, while providing a green gateway to the city centre. The park will be a hub for Sheffield’s future supporting green infrastructure, founded at the confluence of the River Don and River Sheaf. It will explore and incorporate green technologies such as infiltration swales and floating gardens, as well as riparian woodland, to create a highly biodiverse river park, while the outer reaches are potentially sacrificial and adaptable to the ever changing city centre. The Castlegate Park is split into three core character areas reflecting upon key historical eras of the local surroundings, the industrial revolution, the medieval castle and the natural river with the latter partially enclosed in a woodland corridor.

The design is comprised of three core zones moving from the city centre to the river’s edge; •The Industrial Revolution Emphasis on large ‘mass produced’ entities, playing on the notion of metal pressing, large industrial warehouses and the gateway to the modern city. •The Medieval Castle A more intimate hand crafted feel. Still formal but starting to lose its precision. Reflecting on the castle and supporting moat. •The Natural River A wilder area with more random intervention. Both large and small scale, formal and informal features promoting access to the water.

Large open spaces close to the city centre offer space for seasonal events (Christmas market, fares etc) as well as the potential for movable furniture. These spaces, enclosed by the woodland corridor are formal in character with street trees defining the main routes from pausing enclaves and guiding views towards surround landmarks. These will be the foundation for the pedestrianised street in the event that future development occurs on the park edge.

The woodland corridor acts as a gateway between the wet river corridor and both the industrial and medieval character areas. Dense planting begins to open up to reveal other character features such as the castle remains or the wider city. Existing on site materials such as rubble are incorporated into the design with seating features and retaining walls created from gabions containing site material or rubble can be crushed and used as the base soil for the wet swales.

The confluence platform offers multiple experiences with intimate seating enclaves that offer the chance to reflect back along the rivers or back into the park, and stepped blocks with greater access to the rivers themselves. Supporting wetlands allow the opportunity to manage rainwater before it reaches the river as well as acting as a flood management system. Floating gardens look to add more ecological and visual value to the river experience while deeper cuts in the river bed and have the waterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s journey.

MISC

Pro Landscaper Magazine Feature • Creating Healthy Places Ideas Competition Winner • Rosie Reynolds Design Award Winner • Centenary Square Competition Entry A selection of other works done through 2015 & 2016

NOTE; THIS DRAWING IS ILLUSTRATIVE ONLY

MISC

READ THIS FIRST

FOR MATERIALS PLAN REFER TO 3437_100 FOR SOFT LANDSCAPE REFER TO 3437_302

Note for Contractors

Battersea Powerstation Phases 1,2 & 3 LDA Design Ltd Carrillion Buro Happold Simpson Haugh • Neopolis Moscow LDA Design Ltd • Nine Elms Bridge Competition LDA Design Ltd, HOK, Arup Note for Workers

This drawing should be considered along with the risk information contained in the CDM Pre Construction Information. This information will include details of the SIGNIFICANT risks which LDA Design has identified which may arise from constructing their designs shown on this drawing. A Competent Contractor should be aware of the typical risks associated with doing this work.

This drawing may contain: Ordnance Survey material by permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office © Crown Copyright 2011. All rights reserved. Reference number 0100031673. OS Open data © Crown copyright and database right 2011 Aerial Photography © Bing Maps

A selection of other works done through 2015 & 2016

Do not issue copies of parts of this drawing without the above Note for Workers (unless you are sure that the Workers can undertake the work safely).

Client Update Stage F Revised

REV.

No dimensions are to be scaled from this drawing. All dimensions are to be checked on site. Area measurements for indicative purposes only.

DO NOT START YOUR WORK unless you know the Risks and Controls relating to the work on this drawing (including SAFE SEQUENCES OF WORK and EQUIPMENT).

02 01

DESCRIPTION

ISSUED BY

London

DATE SCALE@A1 STATUS

DEC 14 1:500 Construct

B40'

B51B

B99

B108

B106

B107

B104

B103

B101

B100

B102

X:\JOBS\3920_BPS P1_CONTRACTOR NOVATION\7CAD\DRAWINGS\STAGE F\100 SERIES\3437_106.DWG

Sources Ordnance Survey: nmlo_03146501-17

℄

B9'

Gully Drain

B51

B52

B53 B54

B5 B5'

B55

B12 B12

B13 B10

B13

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B11 B15

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06 403

B18

B59

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403

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G HEIGHT OF RIVER WALL 6.068

B17

B58

01 445

409

B16

B57 xxx

EXISTING HEIGHT OF RIVER WALL 6.068

6.118 BOW

1:45

1:60

03 458

6.439

7.595 0

1:6

XU2

B44

1:45 50

50 1:

1:25

47c

6.646

405

B32 B33 B34

404

B31

6.310

6.341

7.595

XU2

1:6

B30

462

B29

7.545

1:3

6.112

XU2

6.346

7.030 BOW 7.530 TOW

B27

B48

B47

6.800 TOW 6.221 BOW

FOR M FOR S

6.515 BOW 7.015 TOW

B28

B46

XSL5

6.143

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NTINUATION

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B26

ILL ON

NOTE;

465

6.850

B25

B66

BOW 6.000 TOW 6.500

6.000

6.063

6.284

xxx

B24

B65

5.910 BOW 6.800 TOW

6.104

xxx

403

P23

01 448

B23

XSL5

B64

6.800 TOW 6.247 BOW

01 447

B22

XSL5

6.118 BOW

6.800 TOW

01 446

B21

B62

EXISTING HEIGHT OF RIVER WALL 6.068

B63

5.910 BOW

B20

B61

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1:60

01 444

LEGEND

449

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For Hard Landscape Legend refer to drawing: 3437_200

For Hard Landscape Sheet Layout refer to drawing: 3437_104

For Hard Landscape Detail Drawings related to Level_00 refer to 3437_400 Series. For Hard Landscape Detail Drawings related to Level _01 refer to 3437_500 Series.

For Water Features refer to Fountain Workshop Drawings: PA738 Drawing Package.

The existing river walls may not have been designed for heavy loading from vehicles or additional materials. The contractor should undertake a full risk assessment before working near these walls.

Elements shown in grey scale are for context purposes only.

READ THIS FIRST Note for Contractors

01 456

Note for Workers

DO NOT START YOUR WORK unless you know the Risks and Controls relating to the work on this drawing (including SAFE SEQUENCES OF WORK and EQUIPMENT). Do not issue copies of parts of this drawing without the above Note for Workers (unless you are sure that the Workers can undertake the work safely).

EXISTING HEIGHT OF RIVER WALL 6.068 6.118 BOW

XSL5

6.118 BOW

1:60

XW3

1:60

XU2

7.595

XW3

7.595

XW3

7.595

XW3

6.515 BOW 7.015 TOW 7.030 BOW 7.530 TOW 7.545

XW3

6.000 BOW 6.500 TOW

NTINUATION

1:60

NOTE; GAS GOVERNOR LOCATION SUBJECT TO CHANGE