Caitlin Bates
Landscape Architecture
PORTFOLIO | CAITLIN BATES
Email: caibates@umich.edu | Phone: 586.907.2014
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/caitlinbates924
I am a highly social person with an interest in designing urban and community-focused spaces and looking into ways to reconnect people with the outdoors. While studying at the School for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan I worked on projects at a variety of scales and used an evidence-based approach to make design decisions. Much of my work focused on how to balance beauty, functionality and ecology to create places for people and the environment.
Outside of school I spend time caring for my indoor jungle, growing food and enjoying good coffee. Growing up so close to the Great Lakes meant I spent many summers enjoying the outdoors and being near the waterfront and ultimately led me on the path towards landscape architecture. I enjoy continuing to learn and develop new ideas and am highly skilled in both digital and hand drawing. I’m particularly interested in community learning spaces, food production, stormwater management and restorative design.
Relevant Experience
Assistant Landscape Designer and Project Co-Lead
University of Michigan | Greener Golf
January 2022 - April 2023
Landscape Architecture Intern
Greener Golf | Goat Hill Park
May 2022 - July 2022
Social Media + Marketing Coordinator
Student Chapter American Society of Landscape Architects
March 2022 - April 2023
HR Services Associate
University of Michigan Shared Services
May 2019 - August 2021
Merchandising + Shipment Team Lead
Victoria’s Secret
February 2018 - February 2019
Sales Associate + Merchandising Assistant
Victoria’s Secret
August 2017 - February 2018
Proficiencies
Adobe Creative Suite
Photoshop
Illustrator
InDesign
After Effects
AutoCAD
SketchUp
Rhino 3D
Miro
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Office
Word
Excel Outlook
Google Suite
Hand Drawing
Education
Master of Landscape Architecture | 2023
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability
Bachelor of Fine Arts | 2018
Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris
State University
Table
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CITY IN NATURE | FIELD OF STREAMS
BEES & GOLF: AN UNLIKELY YET
IMPACTFUL PARTNERSHIP
DANA GARDEN RE-IMAGINED
BIRD BOULEVARD: URBAN REUSE
Page 13-14
URBAN LEAVES: NEIGHBORHOOD
INTERVENTIONS FOR VACANT LOTS
Page 15-18
ASSORTED CONSTRUCTION DETAILS
CITY IN NATURE | FIELD OF STREAMS
Revitalizing the riverfront and beyond
The city of Detroit, like many American cities has lost its connection to the waterfront that it was built upon. The Detroit River is an important shipping route and over the years the shoreline has been hardened and large industrial sites have been built along it’s shores. As a result much of the river is inaccessible to residents except in and around the urban core of the city.
IndustrIal Zone 2
IndustrIal Zone 1
Location Marina District - Detroit, MI
Project Type Analysis & Planning
Advisors
Lisa DuRussel, Mark Lindquist
Year Aug 2022 - Feb 2023
The rise of manufacturing and other industrial practices led to the Detroit River and it’s surrounding tributaries becoming highly polluted. At the same time the hardening of the shoreline destroyed habitat, limited the possibility of stormwater infiltration, and contributed to increased flooding in neighborhoods near the river.
There are opportunities to utilize properties all along the river to provide new green space for residents to enjoy. By looking at the riverfront as a whole I was able to determine which areas would benefit from improved access. The Northeast region of the river is highly residential, regularly deals with flooding and has a large amount of neglected city properties along the river that could be improved.
Graphics AutoCAD, Adobe Photoshop, Hand drawing
Detroit riverfront Zones
Floodable Spaces
Imitating the historic creek beds of the area sidewalks and walking paths can act as temporary water collection spaces during larger storms to divert water from potentially flooding homes.
Waterfront Access
Waterfront programming varies widely all along the Detroit River to provide more opportunities for enjoyment. Where possible the shoreline can be softened allowing people to directly interact with the water.
The northeast portion of the Detroit River is highly residential with pockets of industrial sites and relatively high vacancy.
There are many city owned properties along the Detroit River including a marina, water treatment facilities, a boat launch, multiple parks and vacant land.
BEES & GOLF: AN UNLIKELY YET IMPACTFUL PARTNERSHIP
Converting underutilized spaces within golf courses to productive pollinator gardens
Location Goat Hill Park - Oceanside, CA
Project Type Capstone | Design & Build
Client Greener Golf/Parker Anderson
Team Cade Schafer, Kaitlyn Vreeken & Remington Gerst
Year Jan 2022 - Present
The ultimate goal of our project is to show the golf industry how to promote, protect and propagate pollinators on golf courses through the use of supporting data, industry tools and a demonstration garden.
With support from Goat Hill Park Golf Course we were able to test industry tools for identifying underutilized spaces, collect data on pollinator activity and design productive pollinator habitat for a roughly 9,000 sq ft area along the 12th hole of the course. This project has the potential to influence the golf industry to move towards more sustainable practices that can help our declining pollinator populations.
My role as landscape designer and project coordinator required me to work with the other landscape architecture student on my team to work closely with our client to develop a plant palette and design that would fit in with the rest of the golf course. Additionally I performed field experiments and helped in the development of two community events related to our research and installation of the garden.
Graphics Adobe Photoshop, Procreate, Hand drawing
Structure and Characteristics
A big challenge of the space was the fact that the site was located on a fairly steep hillside. Due to this fact we decided to create garden beds that sweep across.
In order to better highlight these sweeping shapes we alternated what was in each bed between all grasses, flowering perennials, xeriscape and wildflower seed mix. Most of the plants we selected are natives or cultivars of natives and all of them benefit pollinators either as forage or nesting material.
Xeriscape
Century Plant | Agave americana
Apache Plume | Fallugia paradoxa
‘Superb’ Grevillea | Grevillea ‘Superb’
Desert Globemallow | Sphaeralcea ambigua
Foxtail Agave | Agave attenuata
Chalk Dudleya | Dudleya pulverulenta
‘Afterglow’ Echeveria | Echeveria ‘Afterglow’
Beavertail Prickly Pear | Opuntia basilaris
Little Sur Manzanita | Arctostaphylos edmundsii
Ornamental Grasses
Canyon Prince Wild Rye | Leymus condensatus ‘Canyon Prince’
Heavy Metal Switchgrass | Panicum virgatum ‘Heavy Metal’
Blue Grama | Bouteloua gracilis
Perennials
Firecracker Penstemon | Penstemon eatonii
Showy Penstemon | Penstemon spectabilis
‘Salmon’ Autumn Sage | Salvia greggii ‘Salmon’
‘Hidcote’ English Lavender | Lavendula angustifolia ‘Hidcote’
‘Meerlo’ Lavender | Lavendula x allardii ‘Meerlo’
‘Salmon Beauty’ Yarrow | Achillea millefolium ‘Salmon Beauty’
Common Yarrow | Achillea millefolium
Moonshine Yarrow | Achillea ‘Moonshine’
Sticky Monkeyflower | Mimulus auratiacus
‘Fiesta Marigold’ Monkeyflower | Mimulus ‘Fiesta Marigold’
Purple Owl’s Clover | Castilleja exserta
Advisor Lisa DuRussel
