Grace Weigel Selected Works 2020-2023

GRACE WEIGEL

SELECTED WORKS 2020-2023

choreographing beautifully functional spaces

GRACE WEIGEL

FAST FACTS

• University of Georgia

May 2023 graduate

• BLA in Landscape Architecture and BA in Dance

• Working to become registered post grad

• Interested in residential planting design at the site scale and creating outdoor spaces for the arts, especially dance

DANCE AND AERIAL

HERSCHEND RESIDENCE

This project was created on a site in Atlanta in tandem with a new build house.

The family wanted a pool and pool deck, a large lawn for young children to run and plan, and a relaxation area for the parents.

They also wanted guest parking in the front yard separate from a private gated motor court.

MASTER PLAN

PLANTING PLAN

SECTIONS

Master Bedroom

French Doors not seen

to Patio and Pool to property line

Secret Garden Nook

The secret garden nook in blues, purples, and greens provides a restful hideaway outside of the master bedroom on the ground floor.

Seasonal Interest

The seasonal interest garden provides color, blossoms, and fragrance all year round for consistent beauty. It can also be seen from the kitchen.

Around the circular driveway I supplemented the existing trees with flowering understory trees and shrubs to create a woodland atmosphere.

The main lawn adjacent to the pool and spa provides plenty of room for running and playing.

The bluestone pool deck orients towards the pool during the summertime and towards the woods in the winter. The pool deck steps lead into the woods.

Covered Patio

ELEVATION ESTATES AT MOSSSIDE DRIVE

PROJECT BRIEF

For this project we were tasked to design and site ten houses as a new planned community inside of an existing neighborhood. I imagined a stacked shipping container house inspired by a treehouse for the individual resident houses, and the houses were placed closely together. For the master plan, I wanted to focus on low-impact development, preserving the old growth hardwood forests on the site and emphasizing access to the pond for both current and new residents.

THE LIGHTEST COLORS INDICATE THE LAND IS MOST SUITABLE FOR DEVELOPMENT BECAUSE THERE IS NOTHING COMPARABLY WORTH CONSERVING. THE DARKEST COLORS INDICATE THE LAND IS MOST SUITABLE FOR CONSERVATION AND LEAST SUITABLE FOR DEVELOPMENT.

SITE SUITABILITY

ANALYSIS

LEGEND

HUMAN USE AGRICULTURE/SOIL VEGETATION HYDROLOGY

MASTER PLAN

Existing Pond

Deck with Swings

Trail System

Main Road

Edible Vine Wall

Raised Boardwalk

PERSPECTIVES + SECTIONS

When I analyzed the current and historical human use of the site, I wanted to keep this area around the northwest corner of the pond open and natural for residents to enjoy.

Parking is situated directly underneath the treehouses to create the smallest road footprint possible, with a buffer of trees in between.

This area of the community garden is raised beds so that each resident has direct adjacency to their food source.

This section shows from one house to the center of the community garden area.

This section shows the proposed trail system.

FARMSTEAD

PROJECT BRIEF

This project was to create a five house neighborhood in Chattahoochee Hills in keeping with the upscale but rural character of the area. We were required to choose and site one-acre lots for each house and also create a conceptual road layout, as well as designing any amenities we chose.

I wanted to site each lot evenly far apart to create the illusion of larger lots and keep the southeastern bank of the pond open to emphasize the connection between the high point of the site and the pond.

Existing structures on the site included a pole barn for farming equipment and newly built event barn, so I added the pull-off parking along the branch of the road that leads to the public spaces.

For planting design, I grouped native grass plants and similar flowering and evergreen shrubs in a meadow area both around the pond and at the top of the hill so that the plants would move and visually present a light, airy effect.

MASTER PLAN

For the master plan, I wanted to create a road layout with horizontal and vertical curves that moved together to create suspense, concealing and revealing the view ahead while traveling around the site.

I designed a circuitous trail system to connect the two gazebos down at the pond on opposite banks with the swings at the top of the hill.

BIRD’S EYE VIEW

In working with the existing trees in the site, four trees in particular formed a natural circular area that I envisoned as an informal intersection. From this point, visitors can park, head to the event spaces, or continue on to their private drives.

PERSPECTIVES

FARMSTEAD SITE PLAN

My first inspiration for the site plan was to create a vanishing edge effect in the backyard. I kept the front yard open with a winding driveway. The gravel path out the back door of the house leads to stairs which drop five feet to the lawn below. Other paths meander through the garden down to the groundcover planted seating area by the pond.

I brought in the native meadow plants from the rest of the site and supplemented them with flowering and evergeen shrubs .

I selected modern farmhouse architecture with lots of glass to maximize the views and create a smooth indoor-outdoor transition.

Following Chattahoochee Hills code, each house had its own septic fields and detached garage. In order to allow the septic to drain downhill, I sited it in the backyard underneath the lawn.

WALKER COUNTY AFRICAN AMERICAN MEMORIAL

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PROJECT BRIEF

This project comes from my Urban Design studio, where we worked with the town of Lafayette to create a memorial park for the celebration and remembrance of the historical and current African American community members in Walker County.

W

PROCESS

I started with the Ghanian symbol of the Sankofa bird, who looks backwards into the past in order to gain knowledge for the future, and I combined it with the symbolism of the eternal circle into an arc.

I placed the fountain at the center of the arc nearer the trees where the Sankofa bird’s nugget of knowledge is found. I wanted to balance proximity to the shaded tree cover with the proximity to the memorial wall.

To form a living buffer from the road, I surrounded the edges of the pavement with trees to add shade.

To create a thoroughly accessible universal design, I avoided use of stairs and excessive slope.

Rather than use the arc as a standalone wall, I wanted to facilitate gradual and subtle topographic change and use the new retaining wall as a space for the memorial plaques to rest.

WEIGEL RESIDENCE

PROJECT BRIEF

In this project, I worked with a lot in downtown Athens to create an ideal home for my brother, his young family, and a tenant of their choice. My brother and his wife both expressed desires for a variety of passive and active recreation spaces and the opprtunity for indooroutdoor living as well as privacy and separation from the tenant’s house.

PROCESS

WEIGEL RESIDENCE SITE ANALYSIS

SITE PLAN AND PERSPECTIVES

MILAN CANALS

PROJECT BRIEF

These concepts were created for the Milan Navigli Canal Challenge which challenged participants to improve enviornmental urban conditions and reconnect the city of Milan with its defunct canals in a functional and enjoyable way.

My partners and I focused on the creation of a public access boat network, promoting hyper slow transportation as a form of both leisure and travel for tourists and residents alike.

MILAN NAVIGLI MILAN NAVIGLI

8 KM PLAN 8 KM PLAN

The first panel shows the symbolic master plan of the site outlining our general concept: hyper-slow transportion as circulation and leisure.

The second panel shows our ArcGIS analysis maps where we studied the existing transporation, surrounding urban density and land use, and the current nodes of green space and bodies of water.

NEXT

STEPS:

CLOSE THE LOOP FOR CONTINUOUS PUBLIC WATER-BASED TRANSPORTATION. HISTORICAL MAPS SHOW THIS SECTION OPEN.

The third panel shows our perspectives for our chosen site where we proposed a boat ramp and giant steps with a fountain for the cried up lock. We were also inspired by the urban turtles we saw in an aerial photograph and decided to name our public boat fleet after the turtles of Milan.

The fourth panel shows our site plan and four small sections indicating proposed programming at different areas of the canal.

LEGEND: BOAT DOCKS 3/ LONG-TERM BOAT STORAGE FOUNTAIN SEATING BIKE LANES

Created with Brianna O’Neil and Annie Rochner

GREEN SPACE AND

Created with Brianna O’Neil and Annie Rochner

ALONG THE CANAL

GIANT STEPS

LEBER RESIDENCE

For this project, the clients had preserved the existing one-story house and decided to add a carriage house and convert their existing garage into a new family room.

The slope on this site was particularly challenging in designing the front driveway and retaining around the west side of the pool. They also wanted to keep the original pool but redesign the pool deck.

SITE PLAN

I added to the existing tree cover to supplement the front yard with hardwoods and some evergreen and decisuous flowering shrubs.

The front foundation plantings consist of a mix of deciduous, evergreen, and flowering evegreen shrubs with some perennial mix areas.

To preserve a lawn area next to the pool, I created a low retaining wall and stone steps to take up the grade change.

To fix the existing steps on the west side of the house, I redesigned a new staircase and added a slip-through stepping stone path with groundcover underneath.

PROCESS

GRADING PLAN

I designed the front driveway to be steeper towards the middle and less steep at the top and bottom, aligning the vertical and horizontal curves of the diveway to create a conceal and reveal effect.

I also added a retaining wall to the southwest curve of the driveway.

I added the guest parking as a pulloff space adjacent to the front corner of the house so that guests could come in the front entrance.

I added a trench drain to the bottom of the steps to the pool from the lawn and directed the rest of the runoff from the pool deck to the planted area behind the wall and in front of the western deck.

I piped the drains I placed around the backyard into a buried dry well system in the northwest corner of the yard at the lowest point on the site.