2013 Academic Portfolio (very outdated)

alicia adams

por t folio alicialynnadams@gmail.com

319.558.7681

405 north hyland ave. ames, ia 50014

I am an explorer...

I venture through alleyways and up mountains; I frequently talk to strangers and intentionally get lost. I spent three months in Costa Rica, living with a family whose language I did not speak. I navigated using a combination of hand signals and broken Spanish until I learned to communicate and understand their cities. As my fluency increased, I travelled to explore the furthest reaches of the country. Through the patience to learn and willingness to explore, I was able to have a truly valuable experience during my time in Costa Rica.

When I first visited Detroit, I was captivated. From the formal architecture and informal art, from groups who are passionate about revitalization to those who just want to grow a few vegetables on an adjacent lot, I was inspired to join in. I believe Detroit is a place where I can get involved. I will make a difference. I will strive to create places that bring people together and change the way people see their city.

I met and spoke with many amazingly passionate people in Detroit whose projects and involvement are revitalizing the city. I admire their passion. I will find my unique role in personally contributing to the changes taking place in Detroit.

community revitalization the woodward way

detroit, michigan

The citizens of Detroit have learned to adapt to the conditions of the city. For this reason, the goal of the Woodward Way organization is not to alter or challenge the entrepreneurial culture and spirit of Detroit, but to activate the existing knowledge and resources to facilitate action and reinvestment in the city. By incorporating resident feedback and participation, Woodward Way provides an opportunity for the communities of Detroit to work together to take back their city.

This project acted as a capstone to my undergraduate study at Iowa State University. It was a semesterlong exercise in community analysis and revitalization. I spent the semester working with Melissa Goodwin, a graduate student in the architecture and community and regional planning programs.

Highland Park

Detroit

Hamtramck

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Highland Park Ford Plant Project Site 0

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CITY BOUNDARIES

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SITE AND COMMUNITY ANALYSIS CURRENT CONDITIONS

PROPOSED SOLUTION

Increasing levels of urban decay in Detroit and Highland Park communities

Improve physical conditions of Detroit and Highland Park communities

Disintegration of social fabric due to declining populations

Create and strengthen social networks

Declining economy and failing local businesses

Pool resources to encourage success of existing local community programs

population shift

in highland park, michigan

precedent study: eastern market

STRATEGIES FOR DEVELOPMENT

ACTIVATE knowledge and relationships in Detroit to facilitate activity and reinvestment in the city

REMEDIATE 40% of site in 5 years

PERFORM 24 public projects in the first year of being in service

EXPAND the impact of selected community organizations and the number of people involved

ESTABLISH a community program that will be sustainable in Detroit and will have a lifespan of at least 10 years.

COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS These organizations are geared towards the strengthening and rehabilitation of Detroit’s communities through people and place-based strategies. These existing community organizations generally fall into two primary categories:

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT APP The Woodward Way Community Development App creates a line of communication between those who live in the community and groups who seek to improve the city of Detroit. By allowing citizens to submit project ideas and gain supporters, it can be ensured that the projects that are being executed are those that are of highest priority by the community.

COMMUNITY BUILDING These groups generate improvements geared towards the more pressing community concerns affecting Detroit’s residents.

ARTS AND CULTURE These community organizations focus on enriching the lives of Detroit residents through art, creativity, and cultural celebration as a means to organize and strengthen communities.

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Check in with Woodward Way to get updates and submit project ideas.

Choose the location of your project and submit a short description and photo.

Gain support from community members. If your project gets enough followers, it may get sponsored or have an event in the future.

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Signage inform users of the purpose of the building

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Tree plantings buffer the northeastern edge of the landscape

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Improved sidewalk and crossing conditions encourage access to the site

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80’

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ACCOMMODATES

ADMINISTRATION

Administration space for existing community programs Resources for community programs and citizens

x38 100

sq. ft.

ACCOMMODATES

CLASSROOM

Medium-scale education space Medium-scale meeting space

x60 400

sq. ft.

ACCOMMODATES

STUDIO

Workspace for educational and community programs Small-scale event space

x22 1600

sq. ft.

ACCOMMODATES

LARGE GROUP

Large-scale education space Large-scale event space Public and community gathering space

x3 6400

sq. ft.

historic preservation

brucemore mansion and estate

In 2009, I worked with Brucemore Mansion and Estate to design a series of interpretive panels for their grounds. Through my research, I was able to develop concept sketches, panel templates, and a grant proposal for the project.

In 2010, Brucemore successfully obtained funding for the panels. They were created and installed in May of 2012.

cedar rapids, iowa

The background for the panels is a reinterpretation of a work by Grant Wood that appears the porch of the Brucemore mansion.

The title of each panel complements the Grant Wood artwork in the background of the page The navy blue background with watermark draws attention to the panel without detracting from the overall historic integrity of the landscape The yellow font on a navy blue background is easily readable and provides the reader with information pertaining to the site.

Historic photographs educate visitors about the historic estate grounds, as well as their original appearance and function.

revisiting the site I retuned to Brucemore in the spring of 2013 as a research assistant for Heidi Hohmann with the landscape architecture department at Iowa State University. My primary involvement is with site survey and documentation of the grounds, the creation of current condition diagrams and graphics, and the assistance in the development of a treatment plan.

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view of first avenue exit early 1900s

As part of O.C. Simonds’ design, large elms once created an allee of trees along the drive.

They were taken by Dutch Elm Disease in the late 1960s.

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In the early 1900s, this drive served as the entrance to the property. With Simonds’ design, it became the exit to First Avenue.

view of first avenue exit may 2013

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Pruned understory shrubs once framed the First Avenue drive. They have since been replaced by turf and small groupings of shrubs.

Although the specific vegetation has changed since O.C. Simonds’ original design, much of the design intent has been maintained.

A swale was added to the front lawn in the 1990s to reduce erosion and pooling from runoff from nearby developments.

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view of front lawn 1908

A mix of native trees replaced the allee of elms lost to Dutch Elm Disease.

view of front lawn may 2013

marketing and communication rebuild and recover mapleton mapleton, iowa The fifth year landscape architecture students of Iowa State University worked with the town of Mapleton, Iowa to rebuild after a devastating tornado. As a member of the marketing and communications group, I facilitated communication between the citizens of Mapleton and the landscape architecture design groups, worked with one other student to create a graphic identity for the town, documented the process of the project, and created a final marketing handbook for the Rebuild and Recover Mapleton board members.

Student Design Team Logos

Color Palette The color palette is intended to reflect the state of the maple tree throughout the seasons. The dark red is taken directly from the current Rebuild and Recover Mapleton logo, and the other three colors are complementary to this.

CMYK: 0-51-100-10

CMYK: 0-0-0-54

CMYK: 7-0-50-25

CMYK: 0-82-92-49

Rebuild & Recover Mapleton

Typeface The typeface choices include one sans serif font and one serif typeface, which were selected for their readability and fact that they complement each other.

Nexa Bold

the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPS OVER THE LAZY DOG

Garamond

the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPS OVER THE LAZY DOG

marketing and communications team Alicia Adams Jacob Graves Stephanie Lundberg Jacob Gazlay Travis Larson Kyle McMahon

Aaron Raney Annie Remmerde Kelly Zolnierczyk

design-buildcampustown project parklet ames, iowa

photo by iowa state university ssla, april 2013

Ames Public Parklet In the spring of 2013, I travelled with the Iowa State University Student Society of Landscape Architecture to San Francisco to study and document public parklets. With this research, I returned with the group to Ames, and we proceeded to design our own.

This project was an exercise in communication between the club, city officials, Iowa State University, and local business owners. I worked with 11 other group members to design and construct the parklet. I attended city meetings and created marketing material in order to gain support and funding for the project. We received overwhelming support for the parklet, which was almost entirely funded by donations from local businesses.

site grading

somerset development

ames, iowa 1

Residences

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Community Center

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Path and road around neighborhood

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Technical Design

Vertical Curve Calculations

This project was an exercise in in-depth grading practices at a community scale. The technical goals of this community design project focused on creating safe turning radii, grading for proper drainage around buildings and on parking lots, and balancing cut and fill in the design. The LA 381 course is the first in a series of three technical construction courses in the landscape architecture program.

By calculating the vertical curve, I was able to optimally balance the cut and fill of the path and road.

construction documentation

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des moines, iowa

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americana restauarant

L1.03

Construction Details This outdoor patio design for Americana Restaurant in Des Moines, Iowa, was an exercise in small space design and construction document production. The LA 481 course is a part of a three-course series that educates us on the common construction and grading techniques.

java-programming recursive tree program

ames, iowa

I am interested in developing the relationship of programming with landscape architecture. Through this recursive tree program, I was able to create a tool that allows me to generate an unlimited number of unique trees that can be manipulated through a series of defined variables. The final tree image can then be exported as a jpeg or png for use in section cuts and renderings.

My primary goal with this project was to create a user interface that could be easily understood and used by anyone. The interactive components of the interface allow the user to manipulate the variables in the code which determine the tree’s form, height, trunk thickness, and color.

Switches allow the user to manipulate the variables that influence the form of the tree.

Active settings are green while inactive variables display as a black square.

This option allows users to export the end product through corresponding keystrokes.

When the code is run, it will sometimes produce another section of branch, which accounts for much of the “random� quality of each tree.

When the code is not continuing an existing branch, it splits. Each split creates branches that are a fraction of the width and length of the previous branch.

As is common practice with coding, pieces of the original code were written by Alasdair Turner and Mitchell Whitelaw and were obtained from openprocessing.org. The code was highly manipulated to fulfill my goals for this development.

This is a representative excerpt of code from the entire program

the recapitulation...

This portfolio tells my story. It represents who I am and how far I’ve come in the landscape architecture program at Iowa State University. But more importantly, it sets a foundation for where I will go in the future.

Right: Presenting my final project with Melissa Goodwin for the Woodward Way to a panel of architecture professors and professionals Below: Being interviewed in February 2013 in Detroit concerning my opinions about the Emergency Financial Manager