Portfolio Dylan
Gomez
“You
don’t choose place. Place is something that happens to you....But if you have the means and ability, there are those of us who at some point in our lives get to choose a place back.”
- Hanif Abdurraqib
PARK(ing) Day 2024
PARK(ing) Day is a national event that I took part in on behalf of the Toledo Design Collective. My main responsibilities where to take a lead on the creative direction for the Toledo Design Collective’s installation at the event. Additionally, I supported in graphics for logistics. Presenting familiar sites that along the street in new contexts, I wanted to inspire discussion and critical thought in people who interacted with both the stationary maps and the interactive hand out. Hopefully, a person would walk away questioning the amount of their city that catered to cars.
Sign made to mark entrances to the event and offer directional and logistical help to both observers and participants at the event. Lists participants and shows the location of their instillations relative to recognizable sites. Made with Adobe Illustrator, InDesign.
Map made of the Downtown Toledo area that highlights all the surface parking lots and parking garages in light blue and dark blue respectively. Presented as part of the organization’s instillation. Made with Adobe Illustrator.
Zoomed in map of the street the event was held on. Three locations are highlighted to tell the story of space dedicated to parking and pedestrians over time. Made with Adobe Illustrator, InDesign.
To bring an educational element to the organization’s presence at the event I designed and wrote posters as part of the installation previously discussed. Various landmarks and projects where put on display alongside a major highlight building, event, or district. Allowing people to see the evolution of space in Downtown in one sitting was valuable when trying to change broad public sentiment.
PAST highlighted the loss of pedestrian landmarks in Downtown Toledo. The focus was the former site of the Toledo Produce Exchange, which currently a parking lot. Made with Adobe InDesign.
PRESENT highlights the current actions taken by citizens to shift priority of city governments away from car dependent development. The focus was PARK(ing) Day and its spirit of community organizing and tactical urbanism. Made with Adobe InDesign.
FUTURE highlights how anchor features in Downtown Toledo can bring investments that positively impact streetscape and mobility. The focus was the Four Corners, the only intersection in Downtown with all the original buildings remaining. The location shows the value of prioritizing preservation over efficiency for vehicles. Made with Adobe InDesign.
The final piece I designed for the event was an interactive handout for people to take with them as they populated the street the event was on and experience the locations in person they were previously reading about. More depth about the highlight building, event, and district previously listed on the posters is provided to help better understand what they meant in the context of the city and both at moments in the past and currently existing today.
Public Engagement
Experience in leading and conducting public engagement were presented to me through leading stations for people to interact with prepared material. I interacted with local communities and got to understand the perspective of people affected directly by planning. Public workshops for the Dorr Street to Adams Street project with the City of Toledo and the Swan Creek Resiliency Planning project where major engagement efforts I took part in.
Image of the event for the Swan Creek Resiliency Plan. I tended to a station asking people about their feelings surrounding accessibility withing the neighborhood as it relates to the river being planned around.
Image of one event for the Dorr Street to Adams Street Project. I tended to a station of an overview of the project area where people were able to point out specific areas of concern or places they enjoyed that serve as guidance for future outcomes of the project.
Another view of the Dorr Street to Adams Street Project event that demonstrates how I helped people share their opinions about the project and the condition of the project area as a whole
Vacant Lot Pilot Handbook
Involvement in the beginning stages of a handbook for local professional on how to handle the future development on vacant parcels in the city of Toledo required me to take the lead on mapping initiatives. Developing a base of GIS mapping data is essential to the future communication of the final product of the project. I also spent time communicating with various offices across the city to build an understanding of existing knowledge around parcels and how people have been tracking their existing conditions.
Example map of the Junction Neighborhood in Toledo made to show vacant parcels by land use code. Made with ArcGIS Pro.
Centerville Comprehensive Plan
I did mapping for the early stages of a comprehensive plan for Centerville, Ohio to understand the context of the area. Beginning the process brought the audience of the professionals I was working with who needed to learn as much as they could about the new place quickly, and a group of selected residents apart of a steering committee who were presented the maps as an introduction to the project. Using recognizable assets and landmarks I tried to communicate the shape and interaction of the community.
Initial draft of an engagement piece I created to promote up coming survey workshop in the community. I balanced attracting a diverse audience and including necessary information through design to be made physical. Made with Adobe InDesign.
Basemap of the city places it in the context of surrounding communities to help people identify their own location and get an idea of what needs to be accounted for in the consequences of planning. Made with ArcGIS Pro, Adobe Illustrator.
Parks, Open Space, and Recreation Facilities were mapped to illustrate a complex network of shared amenities in the City and even outside sometimes. The map provides insight into how different agencies work together which will be an essential practice to understanding going forward in the planning process. Made with ArcGIS Pro, Adobe Illustrator.
Statewide Research & Report
I conducted research for a statewide analysis project. Current status of local comprehensive plans were evaluated from every county in Ohio. This began a process to identify major projects, movements, and desires across the various communities. I learned a lot about comprehensive planning through reading material from diverse regions. I observed what is necessary for different communities and how planners can adapt to best serve those places.
The writing under the sections was not prepared by me, but all the graphical content and layout was. Made with Adobe InDesign, Illustrator.
I then broke Ohio into different regions to present a more local story of planning. One example of an observation is that many counties around major metropolitan areas lack their own comprehensive plan, leaving the responsibility to city governments.
Additionally, as a part of this project I wrote reports about the West and Southwest Ohio regions to further synthesis the compiled plans to more specifically identify local trends and visioning. I also assisted on parts of the Central Ohio report. At the current moment, these full reports cannot be shared.
I prepared the layout and graphics of this page of the report. The quick statistically summary serves to give readers an easy takeaway. Made with Adobe InDesign, Illustrator.
Cincinnati Industrial Core
To revitalize Cincinnati’s historical industrial core in a school studio class, my group focused on restoring the intrinsic environmental nature of the area. The focus was based around the presence of the Mill Creek and Ohio River and influenced Sponge City concepts.
My focus was on creating equitable economics, developing strategies that take advantage of existing infrastructure, and shift industry types in an environmentally conscious direction.
Sponge City: The Main Idea
1. Site Redevelopment 2. Transportation 3. Local Workforce Training 4. Strengthen NBD
5. Increased New Industry
Industrial Sponge Tool Kit
New Industry: Transition to renewable energy production, distribution, and use. Have areas dedicated to production along the river and redevelopment industrial land to campus style buildings that attract corporations or institutions.
SWOT Analysis
Green Infrastructure: Major roadways identified to host larger bioswale stormwater management, tree canopy recovery, native landscaping with infiltration, green roofs. Incorporate these elements into new developments.
Natural Open Space: Taking sites that are vacant or underdeveloped and creating gardens of native species to be left as refuges.
Site Suitability Block Phasing
I developed a Tool Kit to inform design and redevelopment principles to incorporate natural elements and allow for a focus on reuse rather than reconstruction. Then I did a SWOT Analysis to find what areas were suitable for the different categories of the Tool Kit. Made with Adobe Illustrator.
Writing
Writing is a skill I have a lot of practice in and is essential in communicating ideas when planning with a focus on outcomes for people. In this paper from a History of Art class, I synthesized the two photographs presented on the right. I evaluated their similarities to reveal how works of art care related despite being produced at completely different points in history and within the context of art of their respective periods of time.
Seydou Keïta, Untitled, 1954-1960
John Edmonds, Losing Fathers We Never Knew, 2022
Seydou Keïta’s Untitled, studied in class as a part of Chapter 64 lecture, and John Edmonds’ Losing Fathers We Never Knew, displayed in the Cincinnati Art Museum in their Natural World Exhibit, are two distinctly separate works of art yet incorporate many similar elements that draw a comparison. Made more than 60 years apart, the two photographs work to communicate an awareness of a social issue that, despite the difference in age and style, are not wholly unique from each other. Keïta focuses on perceptions Africans faced in front of global society and Edmonds looks towards the way society has affected Black Americans personally trying to communicate the feelings to a wider audience. Beyond just being art pieces, these photographs are working to be relevant towards society as a whole, pushing it forward.
The difference in style and subject between the two are wide, both working to guide thought towards contemplation of a people group. Keïta depicts a group of women dressed up in beautiful garments standing in front of a car. The figures jump out from the photo being placed in front of a blank, white background that lets the intricate patterns of the clothes and the people to draw the eye in. Compositionally, Keïta’s photo is a simple, yet powerful portrait of people in their usual state with a little bit of idealization used to help viewers better relate to the subjects. Helping to contribute to the idealistic portrayal of people, props were used in almost all of Keïta’s portraits that were either provided by the people getting their photo taken or even Keïta himself. Edmonds presents a scene of five men bent over an older man laid on the ground who can be assumed to have died. Despite the horror presented the group of five, their expressions remain oddly calm and caring as the seem to be gentle and almost helping the older man. Their attitude is most clearly seen in the man wearing a green durag extending his hand holding the old man’s gently barely even grabbing it. Intense, dramatic emotions are conveyed through the composition and style of the photo, which enlists Baroque era tactics to fully capture the drama. The pinnacle of the event is captured to communicate the most emotion, as well as classical painting techniques like stark chiaroscuro surrounding the figures in shadow clashing with their pure white shirts. Contrasting styles are employed by both artists but similar ideas can be communicated regardless.
Audiences between the two photos are wide and they all take away a new perspective after viewing each work. Keïta took this photo to help paint the people of Mali, and by extension the rest of Africa, in a more empathetic light for the rest of the world. Providing people with the opportunity to be documented by someone who cares about and wants the best for them allowed for a more objective opinion to be formed upon viewing. Looking urban and prosperous helped move forward the perception of African people in the eyes of Europe and the world from being thought of as primitive and unsophisticated. Edmonds creates a story for Black Americans. Throughout their history their stories have been denied attention and care leading to false perceptions to be held by the public. Representation is provided for Black Americans providing a way for them to see others who go through the same experience, building a cultural identity and unity. For a broader audience, seeing a picture that evokes so much of classic works with the subject matter never seen in that style brings legitimacy to the people as they are equated with the reverence held for the legends of the past.
The artists who created these photos had goals for what they would be used for, communicating experiences. Keïta wanted to make it known that African people all have their own unique, complex identities. Africans are not a homogeneous group that can be written off as they have been throughout history, and with simple and effective use of inventions of the time Keïta created an accessible way for people to educated themselves. He made a point of capturing people as they are and how they wished to be perceived. Edmonds made this photo in a series as a meditation on family with themes of identity, community, and belonging. Relationships between generations of Black men and how wounding and love among other ideas are experienced between them are also brought to the forefront. Specifically in Losing Fathers We Never Knew the generational relationships are presented as each of the men in the photo are of a different age and are connected through this shared experience. Each photo brings individuals and their experiences to be presented for a larger idea.
Keïta and Edmonds’ photography both serve to forward aspects of society. They capture greater ideas and take advantage of the staged nature of photography to push their narratives forward. Stylistically they both employ some abstraction to ease the readability of the works, Keïta idealizes people through props and setting and Edmonds dramatizes a scene to make known its weight. Conversely the styles can be observed to be in immense contrast with the simple composition of Keïta’s photo looking bland and underdeveloped in comparison to Edmonds dramatic retelling of a traumatic event. Drama ties them together in the end, as both photos get dramatic weight drawn from contrasting what is observed by society of their times.