Portfolio - Ana Laureys

PORTFOLIO.

Landscape Architecture

Ana Laureys

DETAILS

Name: Ana Laureys

Date of birth: 03/08/2000

Nationality: Belgian

Address: Zegersdreef 26, Brasschaat 2930

Email: ana.laureys@gmail.com

Phone nr.: +32 49 85 93 480

“Nature, art, and people have been life-long passions for me. Because of this, Landscape Architecture has felt like coming home. I aspire to make my job my passion, to make a positive impact through my designs, and to stay curious in everything I do.”

EDUCATION

Bachelor Landscape and Garden Architecture, Sep. 2021 - Aug. 2024

KASK School of Arts

Ghent, Belgium

EXPERIENCE

SKILLS

Landscape Architecture Internship, Sep. 2023 - Jan. 2024

Hansen Partnership

Melbourne, Australia

Conservation Work Volunteer, Oct. - Dec. 2018

Global Vision International (GVI)

Tortuguero National Park, Costa Rica

... Computer

Languages:

04.

“GO WITH THE FLOW” Professional Work pg. 14

05.

“FROM PARASITE TO SYMBIOTE” Academic Project pg. 16

06.

“VARIA” pg. 18

Hand Drawing Skills, Planting Plans, Photography, Model Making, ...

“BEYOND BARRIERS”

A re-imagining of the Federal Prison of Oudenaarde

- Academic Group Project -

“Why do prisons from 250 years ago look exactly like they do today? If anything can be a weapon, how can we plant trees or roses?“

“How do we make meaningful design choices within the existing penitentiary system? What does freedom really mean?”

All of these questions and more ruminated and guided us as we embarked on this project; the rejuvenation of the Federal Prison of Oudenaarde.

Constructed during the 1910s following the famed Ducpétiaux-model, from the moment we stepped foot into this historical space we knew we were up for a challenge. Our task was to re-imagine the existing courtyards, rework the outdated parking lot to include a neighbourhood park, and create a ‘detentiehof’ somewhere on site. A ‘detentiehof’ or ‘detentiehuis’ is a recent concept wherein inmates live in ‘houses’ and are slowly reintroduced into society while being given the individual attention they need. Many say this could be the future of the penitentiary system, including Hans Claus, the director of the Prison of Oudenaarde.

In the courtyards we worked with layered ‘floorscapes’ inspired by the great Roberto Burle Marx, in whose parks I spent much of my childhood in Brazil.

These floorscapes were doubly interesting because inmates spend much of their time in their rooms. Because of this, having a dynamic and varied view from a bird’s eye perspective is also essential.

Every courtyard received a different focus; ‘zin, zen, en zon’ , or ‘to activate, to focus, and to relax’. Inmates need variety in their daily lives, and opportunities to participate in different activites. In one courtyard they’re given sports equipment and a basketball court. In another, a large lawn is provided for sunning and a circular path for ambling. In the last, gardening and outdoors therapy is possible.

This was an incredibly fun exercise in creating stylistic elements and drawing inspiration from Landscape Architects who paved the way for us. With this design choice we hoped to bring the inmates in closer contact with the outside from the inside, bettering their quality of life and mental health.

Detentiehof

Car park

Prison courtyards

Despite the organic and playful shaping, the courtyards, parking lot, and ‘detentiehof’ were all still framed by harsh lines and barriers. We sought to soften this through planting, working with layers where possible while also staying aware of the fact that supervision is paramount. We introduced several types of planting to ensure a varied and dynamic view. We also utilised the ‘lost space’ in between two of the perimeter walls, creating a small-scale corridor of nature that serves as an oasis for many species of small mammals and insects.

We included dry ponds planted with a grassland seed mix, giving water the opportunity to permeate and infiltrate the ground. In the ‘detentiehof’, we used the principles of permaculture to encourage learning to care for the self and for the wider world. We kept a width of 4 meters around all three prison courtyards, with the possibility for emergency vehicles to access all sides of the building.

Finally, we solidified our paving options, keeping the courtyards as unhardened as possible while keeping the traditional stepping stones around the entrance intact.

Where necessary we used impermeable paving, i.e. the car park. Overflow parking, or parking that is only used during peak visitation hours, is done with a gravel lawn mix due to its infrequent usage.

This design was an exhilarating yet sobering exercise in sociology and legislature. It allowed us to explore the psychology of colours, the safety requirements for emergency services, and many more concepts which we would not have come into contact with had it not been for this unique project.

Overall we strived to revitalise this historical but monotone facility with its inmates, officers, and visitors in mind. We also set our eyes towards the future and what it might hold for the penitentiary system, both in Belgium and worldwide.

“PUTTING DOWN ROOTS”

Creating a living, breathing, and circular community in Muide

- Academic Project -

It’s a summer evening in Muide, and the fireflies are out...

Another project which I had the opportunity to individually work on was CLT Muide, a mid-scale housing project. Muide is a suburb of Ghent with working-class roots and is found in an almost island-like state with docks and canals dividing it up. A CLT is an organisation that acquires, develops, and manages community land. I aimed to fulfill their mission of guaranteeing affordable, sustainable and communal ways of living, in an ecological, communal, and aesthetic manner. With this in mind, there are three themes central to this project.

“Ecological Stepping Stone”

Ecology

CLT will be an ecological stepping stone in the city of Ghent, contributing to increased biodiversity in an urban context and a better quality of living for residents. In this way it assists on a local scale as well as making wider contributions. Closer bonds between nature and humans are implemented, such as including swallow nesting boxes, insect hotels, and bat sanctums.

“Locally Anchored”

Community

Just like the ships that still frequent Muide’s docks, this project should be anchored to the fabric of the local community. Whether it’s the school across the road, the communityorganised supermarket, or simply the pathways to the nearby playgrounds, creating social, logistical, and physical connections is a must.

“Recovered Industrialism”

Aesthetics

With its industrial roots and background as a working-class district, CLT Muide embraces its history and builds upon it. Spontaneous growth is encouraged and incorporated into future visions of the project. Traditional materials like corten steel and grey brickwork are emphasized. This way, through the cracks in the pavement, regrowth and rebirth is made possible.

Year by year, more of Belgium’s open space is lost. Nearly 4 hectares per day, to be exact. We are all projected to start living more compactly by the year, closer to city centers and relying heavily on communal spaces. Living together, harmoniously and circularly, has never been more important. With this all in mind, how do we look past all the numbers and facts to create a home?

How residents and passers-by experience CLT Muide is essential. Various spaces are provided for communal gathering, such as the central fire pit or the garden plots. But there are also spots for more private moments along the water. The productive plant and tree species that are planted provide opportunities for both humans and animals, and there are several places for children to let their imagination run wild. This includes the extensively managed grassland where paths are mown and play elements are placed haphazardly. CLT Muide will become a dynamic, intriguing space which is nevertheless welcoming and relaxing.

Another important aspect to the story of CLT Muide are the connections. For example, many children who live here will likely be enrolled in the primary school that’s just on the opposite side of the street. I chose to frame the connection to this school with playful elements like organic tree trunks, insect hotels, and overhanging climbing plants that flower during the spring. I purposefully left blank spaces to be filled in creatively by the children and their families. At the end of the day, CLT Muide will not be shaped by the designers. It will be shaped by by its residents

A design should not only be made for today’s requirements and context, but also for the future’s. We can never truly know exactly how things will evolve, but we can roughly know how plants and ecosystems will develop given enough time, resources, and management.

This management plan sets a course for the next 30 years for the planting in CLT Muide. It plots a path that will lead to a combination of grassland habitats, interconnected detention ponds, a spontaneous pioneer forest mostly consisting of willows and poplars, and a ‘food forest’ with productive trees and shrubs. The pioneer species take root first, creating dynamic views from day one and changing both the surroundings and the subsistence of the soil. They will naturally be overtaken as conditions become shadier and ideal for climax species.

Planting date:

+5 years:

+15 years:

+30 years:

Management Plan for 2023 - 2053

“WOMIN-DJI-KA MARONG”

A highway bypass case study and its local effects

- Professional Work -

“Womin-dji-ka Marong” or Welcome to Marong - the Djaara way.

Marong is a sleepy little town in Greater Bendigo, central Victoria. Despite its small size and limited inhabitants, it stands at an incredibly busy mobility intersection. Marong is the meeting point of three highways - the Calder Highway, the Calder Aternative Highway, and the Wimmera Highway. There are plans to create a bypass on the outskirts of town, and as a result a study was made by Hansen to map Marong’s key elements and the potential impact of a bypass.

The Traditional Custodians are the Dja Dja Wurrung People, or the Djaara as they call themselves, of the Kulin Nation. Even with such small towns and hypothetical studies, the Traditional Land Owners must always be acknowledged and collaborated with due to their deep spiritual connections to and understanding of their Country.

Elevation and Hydrology

Tree Density

Potential Visual Exposure

Marong was one of the first projects I started working on when I first arrived to Australia for my internship. Alongside Joanna Spiez, a Senior Associate at Hansen, I began to uncover the wonders of mapping and GIS. It was a fascinating to get to know the Victorian landscape and all the moving parts it consisted of from behind a computer screen. Ecological Vegetation Classes, for example, can often be discerned by simply looked at the mappings of Elevation and Hydrology, Tree Density, and Geology. None of these elements work without the other, and fitting all the puzzle pieces together was a challenging but delightful exercise. Mapping allows one to focus on the bigger picture, and to link seemingly random elements together to form a cohesive picture of a landscape.

It was during this project that I truly developed a love for mapping and a deep interest in GIS data. However, it was equally rewarding to drive out and discover the puzzle pieces on site. The water courses we mapped turned out to have many more branches than we expected, for example, leading to a clearer picture of hydrology. And we also discovered ‘The Great Stupa of Universal Compassion’, a Bhuddist temple that had completely flown under our radar until then. Site visits, in other words, always bring more into the picture, even if it is in unexpected ways. With this added knowledge, I was able to complete this study’s mapping most accurately.

Geology

Ecological Vegetation Classes

A project that I collaborated on with Connie Jara Herrera, Yongching Sun, Giovanni Hojilla, and Andrew Partos was Portman Street. This project for the City of Monash asked for a strategic design and feasibility study for their station streets - a welcome challenge, in other words. Portman Street in Oakleigh is one of several station streets, connecting Oakleigh Station to the surrounding community and to Melbourne.

Portman Street’s design and functioning hinges on one focal concept; the flow of water along the study area. The overland flow of water runs eastwest and is showcased in the paving. It brings geological qualities from the soil to the surface, making underground processes visible to the naked eye. Portman Street’s design is a unique combination of symbolism, aesthetics, and functionality that greatly inspired me during my internship.

My primary contributions to this design came in two parts. Firstly, I designed the dry ponds and detention ponds in which the east-west water flow would be captured. Visually I decided to continue visually showing evidence of erosion, but through rock placement and logs instead of paving. I made use of WUSD initiatives, or Water Sensitive Urban Designs, contributing in reducing the Heat Island Effect in Melbourne. With mounting flooding and heat wave issues in Australia, these initiatives are becoming more important with every year.

I also reconfigured the Council car park, a practical and key element for this project. New parking spots were made accessible and compliant to the Australian Standard, allowing accessibility for people with a disability. And the parking spots were made bigger than before, paradoxically allowing for more spots than if the dimensions had been smaller. This reconfiguration allows for a ‘pocket park’ where there was only asphalt before, creating a space for spontaneous interaction to take place.

“FROM PARASITE TO SYMBIOTE”

The Gentbrugse Meersen and its gifts - Academic Project -

It begins with a quote from Stef Vanbilsen, a recently graduated landscape architect.

“... We should not only make designs where nature is subordinate to humans. I believe we should focus on wild and robust landscapes, with functioning, undisturbed ecosystems. We must be able to put our dominance as a species aside.”

Vanbilsen, S. (2023, December 21). Nieuws. Blikveld. https://blikveld.eu/nieuws/stef-vanbilsen-wint-studentenaward/.

Though my Bachelor’s Thesis is still under construction and in its beginning phases, my vision and analysis has already yielded interesting results for a project that promises to be a satisfying conclusion to my study.

With the second highest urban population in Europe, Belgium consists of innumerable urban veins reaching from every major city in the country. Only 8% of our country consists of nature reserves, and most if not all of it is accessible to pedestrians and cyclists at the very least. Every part of our infrastructure is based on our needs as humans and what we can gain from nature. In other words, we are true parasites. Where, then, do we leave room for fauna and flora? Is there anywhere left where they can be undisturbed?

The Gentbrugse Meersen already has many gifts to give us, including unique silt and salt marshes and grassland biomes. Species like the beaver, the lapwing, and many more already occur here.

In this place brimming with possibility, I see an opportunity for an undisturbed habitat that is rarely seen in my country. For once, nature will be the lead actor while humans play the supporting role - a symbiotic relationship. For this to be possible, gradation in planting and in infrastructure is necessary. We need reciprocity to ensure longevity and connection. Finally, the Meersen should become a chain in the link when it comes to the Scheldt. This river runs through Ghent into Antwerp, offering the perfect ecological connection to the two biggest cities in Flanders.

And while nature has already found a firm place in my vision, human cannot and should not be considered a separate entity from this. Gentbrugge reports having a problem with loneliness and suffers from a lack of social, green infrastructure. In other words, the community and its teenagers should not be forgotten. Especially those between 12 to 17 often slip through the cracks. It’s easy to say a project is ‘designed for kids’, but what about the surly teenager?

At times, even when they do make use of a space, teenagers can be unwanted. ‘Hangjongeren’ they’re called, translating literally as ‘loitering youth’. When a man in his 20s ambles alongside a river, he is simply taking walk. But when a boy of 16 does the same, he is loitering. Teenagers are not made to feel welcome in many spaces, but the Gentbrugse Meersen can be an oasis for this often forgotten group. Perhaps, instead of trying to programme it all, we can create informal opportunities for teenagers to test their boundaries and to meet with their friends in a safe place.

“Where are teenagers still allowed?“

Ana Laureys