JULIO DE CASTILHOS ST. REQUALIFICATION
READING GARDEN PERGOLA DETAIL HABITAT INCUBATOR
landscape / architecture
landscape / architecture / urban design
landscape / architecture / construction detail
landscape / graphic design
landscape / graphic design
landscape / graphic design
landscape / graphic design explorations
University of Toronto Integrated Urbanism
Date 2022
Team Fernanda Nunes, Coco Wang, Izzy Mink and Molly Lalonde
Site Toronto, Canada
Mentors Fadi Massoud and Robert Right
Software Rhino, Photoshop and Illustrator
This integrated urbanism project aims to use landscape architecture to derive solutions to multiple environmental and socioeconomic issues in Toronto’s RockcliffeSmythe neighbourhood.
This area experiences severe flooding, with two channelized creeks running through its centre. Our design goal was to mitigate the impacts of flooding by working with water –viewing it not as a problem to be solved but as an essential and integral life-giving system to be embraced and accommodated.
This proposal offers an example of how new housing can and should be created, with no Greenbelt land being lost as collateral. On the contrary, letting existing hydrologic and topographic systems guide land-use planning in already developed areas, creates far more resilient cities, supporting landscapes that can adapt and even heal over time.
In the face of the profound changes promised by climate change, supporting the rehabilitation of the Black Creek Watershed is essential. Doing so also has the potential to turn a point of distress for the community of Rockcliffe-Smythe into a point of pride. By rehabilitating the river, providing a new public realm with diverse parkspace, and redefining the edge between private and public space, our proposal aims to engage and empower local residents to continue to fight for a more just approach to land use in their neighborhood.
The proposal was developed during a semester in collaboration with colleagues Coco Wang, Izzy Mink and Molly Lalonde. I have aided in both conceptual and final drawings such as the diagrams, axonometrics, sections and render collages depicted here.
Dechannelize the rivers; Provide a larger area for the river to meander; Reduce Flood Risk areas.
Provide public access to the Rivers; Increase connection between neighbourhoods; Allow people to connect and understand
neighbourhoods; understand their surroundings.
creation of public spaces
Downzoning most flood-vulnerable areas; Expropriate Lambton Golf course; Provide areas for densification.
existing conditions | jane street bridge section proposed
The proposed truss bridge design allows a larger area for the river to flow and meander.
The Community Center has also been reimagined as one of the main entrances to the new park. The two new plazas at the north end of the bridge open up onto new terraces and connect to the new pedestrian and bike routes along Alliance Avenue. Terraces were created on both edges of the bridge as accessible areas for people to gather around the river, fostering social activities along its meander. The edges of each terrace have bleachers made from the concrete removed from the channels.
The newly-created Pond on the site of 200 Rockcliffe court serves as a water filtration site.
The interventions, such as dechannelizing the river and widening the bridges, will dramatically reduce flood levels, and marshland plants will also aid in the slowing and filtration of water.
Eco machines were proposed on the existing flood-prone industrial buildings to treat water using plants and become civic centers and event spaces.
Furthermore, more space will be designated for the public front rather than private backyards in the newly-densified areas with compact walk-up apartments.
Alliance Avenue will be transformed into a shared street with limited vehicular access, activating this streetscape, with small businesses occupying first floors of new residential buildings.
Plazas in front of the mid-rises act as a neighbourhood common for nearby residents as well as a center of activities that attract students from across the river. Parking lots and schoolyards give space to dry-ponds that hold water during storm events. Furthermore, the school adopts strategies to reduce runoff, including green roofs and rainwater harvesting storage, providing educational opportunities for students to learn to read the landscape.
Bloco B Arquitetura National Design Competition First Prize
Date 2019
Site Veranopolis, Brazil
Software Archicad, Lumion, Photoshop and Illustrator
The proposal to requalify Júlio de Castilhos street was designed in collaboration with the architectural firm Bloco B during my internship. The design was developed in one month and it was awarded first place and built in 2022.
This street is located in the city’s central area and it is considered a historic site that preserves Veranópolis’ commercial character. It represents the material and immaterial heritage of the city. Due to this, the proposal was to redesign the street according to the symbolic, affective and functional bases that consolidate the center of Veranópolis.
The main focus was to prioritize pedestrians, bicycles and collective means of transport, improving the street’s walkability, which is currently chaotic due to the priorization of cars. Urban requalification was used here as a powerful tool for reorganizing priorities, flows and uses. The walkability improves the city’s quality of life, develops environmental sustainability, increases social cohesion, and encourages the region’s commercial trade.
The proposal’s choice of materials considered the ease of execution and maintenance, the low acquisition cost, and availability in the local market. Furthermore, the proposal bases itself on modular solutions that can become models to be replicated in other areas of the city. The materials and the replicability make the project feasible and enduring.
The landscape design starts from the São Luiz Gonzaga Church framework, where the vegetation volumes rise from the edges of the sidewalk to the center of the street, directing the look to the historic building. The tree species’ size is small to guarantee the visual hierarchy and their canopies have thin foliage to bring transparency and permeability to view.
In this project, I participated in all design discussions, aided in the as-built project, studied the city’s cultural heritage, proposed urban furniture, researched the vegetal species, and created diagrams. This project is currently under construction.
circulation and bike racks information and leisure
bicycle path and planter leisure and rest
Red bottlebrush
Callistemon citrinus
Dianella
Dianella ensifolia
Brazilian cherry
Eugenia involucrata
*native plant
Brazilian cherry
Eugenia mattosii
*native plant
Golden trumpet tree
Handroanthus albus
*native plant
Apostle plant
Neomarica longifolia
*native plant
Flame vine
Pyrostegia venusta jan
*native plant
University of Toronto Materials and Assembly
Project PMA Landscape Architects
Date Winter 2022
Site Toronto, Canada
Mentor Francesco Martire
Software Rhino, Autocad and Illustrator
For this course, I have examined and constructed a set of detail drawings of the pergola situated in the reading garden at EJ Pratt, designed by PMA Landscape Architects.
The detailed analysis delves into key components and construction techniques employed in the creation of this architectural element. By closely inspecting the pergola’s structural complexities, I sought to unravel the implementation of these elements as a manifestation of a broader design concept.
This exercise has contributed significantly to the comprehension of the role that construction details play in the design implementation.
University of Toronto Design/Build International Garden Festival
Date Winter 2024
Site Grand-Métis, Canada
Team Fernanda Nunes and Bhavika Sharma
Mentor Peter North
Software Rhino, Photoshop and Illustrator
This project focuses on delicately revealing the various impacts of industry on-site at a specific location belonging to Jardin de Métis, situated closely to the original site of the international garden competition in GrandMétis city. It was an internal competition entry that reached the final round and secured second place through class voting.
An array of wall structures strategically placed throughout the proposed site enhances the existing sand pit. Currently, the colossal sand pit provides the endangered bank swallow (Riparia riparia) with a seasonal nesting habitat, coinciding with the annual opening of the International Garden Festival. Prioritizing this ecological process, the panel placement and composition aim to support the local bank swallow population and its associated ecologies.
The proposed project introduces fourpanel typologies spanning various heights: Sand Pile, Timber Stack, Quarry Panel, and Nesting Wall. These columns, composed of material remnants, not only reflect past histories but also offer new potentials for the site.
During this course, students were expected to explore constructed landscapes and transform experiences, observances, and concepts into visual modes of representation.
This work represents some of the different media and methods used to illustrate the Canoe Landing park, located near Gardiner Expressway in Toronto. The park has many sculptural features created by Douglas Coupland, such as the colourful large fishing weirs, the red canoe, the iceberg benches and the beaver dam. Having seen the importance of those features, the drawings envision to emphasize the most critical elements of the site, its surroundings and the activities they enable.
Through the experiment of different softwares, these drawings communicate and conceptualize information gathered on site visits and research.
University of Toronto Visual Communication I
Date Fall 2021
Site Toronto, Canada
Mentor Alissa North
Software Rhino, Illustrator and Arcgis
Birch Tree Betula papyfera
Service Berry Amelanchier canadensis laevis
Spice Bush Lindera benzoin
Red Osier Dogwood Cornus Sericea
Purple Willow Salix purpurea ‘Nana’
Winter Berry Ilex verticillata ‘Red Sprite’
Fragrant Sumac Rhus aromatica ‘Gro-low’
University of Toronto Plants and Design II
Date Winter 2022
Site Toronto, Canada
Mentor Mark Laird
Software
This schematic proposal for the Northern Planters of Willcocks addresses the decolonization of indigenous teachings. The main focus was to use native species important to the anishinabeeg culture and create a year-round interest planting scheme with a powerful colour palette that marks each season.
A different aspect is highlighted for each season, which helps the passerby read the landscape almost like a calendar. In the winter, red osier and purple willow are coloured with red branches and the winterberry still has some of its red berries. In the summer and spring, the predominant colour is green and white flowers from the serviceberry and red osier bring sparks of joy, together with the red berries from the winterberry. The leaves turn red and yellow during the fall, creating a whole new visual experience. This planting scheme looks at plants as other live beings with whom we can interact and communicate through their stories and characteristics. It is vital to interact and learn with them, especially by observing their cyclical changes.
The colour palette was chosen based on the anishinabeeg medicinal wheel, which is red, white, yellow and black. The Ojibwe names were consulted in the book written by Mary Sissip Geniusz: Plants have so much to teach us, all we have to do is ask. The trees and shrubs were also chosen by their draught and sun tolerance and adaptability to urban conditions.
University of Toronto Design Studio 2
Date Fall 2022
Team Fernanda Nunes and Bhavika Sharma
Site Toronto, Canada
Mentors Liat Margolis and Terance Redford
Software Procreate and Illustrator
The University of Toronto is one of the largest landowners within the downtown core with significant patches of non-native grasses reflecting a tradition originating with wealthy landowners in 17th century England. Holding low ecological value and low aesthetic function, these countless residual turf strips and planters surrounding the west campus become potential sites for intervention.
The proposed planting emphasizes the inclusion of native species that hold importance to Anishinabeeg culture while being attentive to the stark differences each plant undergoes throughout the year.
Each season brings a new iteration of the plant or, arguably, a new plant altogether. Our planting palette includes a combination of shrubs and perennials selected for different lighting conditions - here illustrated by the species chosen for the shade palette.
Our proposal seeks to create a larger discussion about a necessary cultural shift in the design and implementation of lawns. Rather than designing highly manicured green spaces, how can we create habitat fragments within the urban environment that provides us with many gifts and teachings?
This project was designed during a semester in collaboration with colleague Bhavika Sharma, both of us aided in the research and botanical drawings here depicted.
During a summer project within the Mono Printmaking Explorations class at the Toronto School of Art, I immersed myself in a creative journey using gelli plates and different plant species.
The outcome was a collection of detailed botanical prints in varied sizes and styles. This hands-on exploration not only sharpened my skills in mono printmaking but also allowed me to merge artistic expression with my love for plants.
Toronto School of Art Botanical Drawing & Print Making
Date Summer 2023
Site Toronto, Canada
Mentor Tina Oehmsen-Clark
Tools Gelli Plate and Hand Drawing
