Kyle Thurston Portfolio 2024

2024 PORTFOLIO

SE LE C T E D WO R K S | L AN D S CAPE AR C H I T E C T U R E KYLE THURSTON

Kyle Thurston

Education

Technical Skills

University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

AutoCAD

Master of Landscape Architecture 2021-2024

Illustrator

Bachelor of Environmental Design | Minor in Sustainability Studies 2018-2022

Contact:

Experience

Email: kthurston0@gmail.com Phone: 815-231-6507 Address: Minneapolis, MN 55414

Metro Blooms Design & Build Landscape Design Assistant 2022-current

About Me

Constable Steele Landscape and Garden Maintenance Crew 2021

Graduate of the University of Minnesota Bachelor’s of Environmental Design program, and Third-Year Graduate student in the Master’s of Landscape Architecture Program. Experience in Design and Build project work.

Passionate about the intersection of ecological restoration, urban planning, and human-experience.

Elliott Design + Build Landscape Installation Crew 2020-2022

Photoshop InDesign Rhino ArcGIS QGIS Drawing

Soft Skills Strong and clear communicator Self-Motivated Detail Oriented Collaborative worker Punctual Reliable Dependable

01 A Monumental Riverfront: Keokuk, Iowa p. 4 - 11

02 Coastal

Resiliency in Charlestown, Boston p. 12 - 15

03 Rethinking

I-94: The Future of the Rondo Neighborhood p. 16 - 19

04 Pollutant

Corridor: Mapping the Quad Cities p. 20 - 21

05 Professional Work

p. 22 - 25

01

A Monumental Riverfront: Keokuk, Iowa Professor: Elaine Stokes Location: Keokuk, Iowa Themes: Post-Industrial Design, Historic Infrastructure, Community Riverfront Revitalization Type: Riverfront Design, Regional Planning This project focuses on enhancing the historic infrastructure that was constructed during the channelization of the Mississippi River.

Leveraging the funding, maintenance, and design work that would accompany designation of the site as a National Monument, the design works to enhance visitor and community experience while highlighting existing historic infrastructure of the Lock and Dam.

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5

KEOKUK RIVERFRONT REGIONAL PLAN The Keokuk riverfront was redesigned with emphasis on recconnecting the city with the river’s edge. Three key areas were considered in crafting sites that would draw people: The Keokuk Union Depot, Hydropower Park, and the Abandoned Lock.

OLD LOCK VISITOR’S EXPERIENCE

HYDROPOWER PARK REDESIGN

HISTORIC UNION DEPOT SITE

6

Right: Technical sections exploring design interventions that move people out and over the Mississippi River shoreline

7

River Overlook

Riverfront Hiking Trail

Nature Play Park

Farmer’s Market and Event Space

Festival Lawn Space

Above: Plan of Hydropower Park, a space designed to highlight the intersection of multiple historic and functional infrastructural elements. The configuration provides enough functional space for the large annual festival held at the current site by the community, while updating and programming the remaining space for use as a daily trail or tourist destination.

8

Festival Stage

ADA Ramp

River Overlook

Festival Performance Area

Public Beach Operational Lock

Opposite: Plan of the abandoned lock at Mississippi River Lock and Dam 19, Keokuk, Iowa. Catwalks are implemented atop existing infrastructure, allowing access to historic lock and dam construction. Plantings within highlight scale and ground plane of structure and sediment accretion.

9

1 4" X 10" THREADED ST. S. BOLT DRILLED INTO EXISTING CONC. PYLON SEALED WITH EPOXY

1 21" 5 8"

2 34"

5 8"

1 58"

1 58"

1 2" Ø X 1" ST. S. THREADED BOLT IN PRE-DRILLED HOLE

ST. S. RAILING ATTACHMENT SEE DTL. 4/L15 4"X3" I-BEAM 1 2" Ø X 1" ST. S.

THREADED BOLT IN PRE-DRILLED HOLE

4" X 1 21" C-BEAM CROSSBAR 12" X 5" I-BEAM SUPPORT 1'-0"

6'-0"

1 2" Ø X 1" ST. S. THREADED BOLT IN PRE-DRILLED HOLE

4" GAP STEEL GRATING PANEL 3"X3'X6' ATTACHED TO 6"X3"X6' I-BEAM CROSSBAR SEE SPECS

10

Left: Section perspective of the Abandoned lock site. ADA ramp and geoengineered soil mounds add to user experience.

Right: Before vs. after sketch vignettes of the abandoned lock site. (from Library of Congress, contributors: Cooper, Hugh; Historic American Engineering Record; Keokuk & Hamilton Power Company; Meigs, Montgomery C. Rathbun, Mary Yeater; Rathbun, Peter A.; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Rock Island District; Union Electric Company; Vannoy, David; Wilson, James H.)

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02

Coastal Resiliency in Charlestown, Boston Professors: Yao Xiao, Robert Ganser Location: Charlestown Neighborhood, Boston, Massachusetts Themes: Sea Level Rise, Coastal Resiliency, Interactive Resiliency Measures, Community-Minded Design Type: Community Master Planning Under the looming threat of sea level rise, Charlestown, Boston is expected to be an especially vulnerable area. Located adjacent to the Boston Autoport, a new affordable housing development is being constructed to meet the surging demand.

This project uses guidelines laid out in the Boston sea level rise resiliency strategic plans to envision a future that protects Charlestown residents through a series of interventions along the mystic channel shoreline, while creating an interactive experiential landscape.

Elements not covered by white overlay are my work.

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5 3 C

2

B A

1 4

1

Exploratory Salt Marsh

2

Waterfront Plaza

3

Pedestrian Bridge

1

5

Pavilions and platforms at different elevations to encourage and facilitate the experience of tidal changes over time.

Planting to support the upland vegetation zone of the expanded shoreline area.

Open space along the edge of the apartment complex, connected by hiking/walking trails that extend from the other zones of the shoreline restoration areas.

Designed to function as a connection between the more organically designed housing development area and the newly designed multi-use, more angular autoport.

4

Satlmarsh Restoration Inlet

5

Tidal Marsh Pavilion Park

Low Tide

Low Tide

Mean Water Level

Mean Water Level

High Tide

High Tide

Continuing the raised planting theme along the border, this space creates pathways through a restored salt marsh area, with a central deck space raised above 2070 high tide projections.

Designed to capture water throughout the tidal cycle, with large e-concrete walls. Water will pool, altering the experience and habitat of the site.

13

Elevated Boardwalk

Section A

2070 High Tide Current High Tide Existing Grade

Raised Berm

2070 High Tide Current High Tide Section B

Existing Grade

Step/Constructed Slope

2070 High Tide Current High Tide Section C

14

Existing Grade

Perspective renderings depicting daily activity along the new Charlestown Little Mystic Channel waterfront.

Restored Saltmarsh Walk

Channel Pedestrian Bridge

Tidal Pool Park

15

03

Reconnecting the Rondo Neighborhood Professors: Vincent deBritto, Ross Altheimer Location: Rondo Neighborhood, St. Paul, Minnesota Themes: Urban Revitalization, Community Reconnection, Archival Research, Equity Type: Community Master Planning, Historic Research The historic Rondo neighborhood in St. Paul, MN, was a thriving black community cut in two by the intentionally destructive planning of Interstate 94.

The highway bisected the community, displacing hundreds and forever disrupting the cultural history of the space.

This project speculates on a possible future where the highway is capped by large landbridges that would begin to weave the community back together.

16

Programmatic Typologies

1953

1974

1985

Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

Column 1: Families and land displaced through the construction of I-94 and simultaneous “urban renewal” projects Column 2: Project phasing as it relates to the Rondo neighborhood. In each phase, a new lid is strategically located in areas of existing community engagement. These lids over the highway lead to greater investment into the corridors surrounding them.

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Phase 3:

Schoolyard improvements: nature play, outdoor classrooms, improved sports fields

Phase 2:

Learning pavilions, greenhouses, farming plots

Phase 1:

community recycling center

Maxfield Lid: The redesign of this schoolyard and extension of the grounds over the highway provides a much needed shield from noise and air pollution coming from the highway, while providing expanded learning opportunities for the children.

18

Low-Traffic, Pedestriancentric street

Refurbished Sports Courts

Children’s Nature Play

Rennovated Athletics Field

Commuity Greenhouses

Maxfield Elementary: Enhancing a Community Centerpoint

Educational Pavilions

Recycling Center

Outdoor Classrooms

Community Farming Plots

In the time since I-94 was constructed, those adjacent to it have experienced increased hazards due to air, noise, and general pollution from the highway.

Maxfield elementary school sits directly next to the highway. The design for this site emphasizes covering the highway next to the site as much as possilbe, and providing more than double the existing site size for community activities. This, along with the added productive space, tie the site into the rest of the project phasing plan.

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04

Pollutant Corridor:

CHROMIUM

Mapping the Quad-Cities Professor: Elaine Stokes Location: Mississippi River at Quad Cities, Iowa and Illinois Partner: Torey Erin - Concept and Research Help Themes: Environmental Inputs Mapping, Impaired Waterways, Pollution, Emissions Type: GIS Mapping and Overlay

NICKEL CHROMIUM

Part of researching for a project along the Upper Mississippi River Corridor, this mapping displays impaired waterways, active brownfield sites, and an EPA risk evaluation for point-source pollution sites along the river. This information was then extrapolated into health impacts from chemicals produced along the corridor.

CHROMIUM

NICKEL

ACETALDEHYDE

FORMALDEHYDE ETHYLENE OXIDE CHROMIUM DICHLOROETHANE FORMALDEHYDE POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC COMPOUNDS

20

EYES THROAT CANCER

LUNG CANCER BREATHING PROBLEMS

SKIN CANCER REPRODUCTIVE/ DEVELOPENTAL ISSUES LIVER AND KIDNEY NERVOUS SYSTEM

Potential health complications were extrapolated from the chemicals emitted by these sites along the Mississippi, and represented with the above human figure.

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05

Professional Work: Business Center Company: Metro Blooms Design + Build Location: Brooklyn Park, MN Themes: Commercial Design Type: Median Planting plan for screening Role: Planting Plan and Sheet Layout Creating a natural screen for the a small business center, this project combined the effort to choose the correct placement and size of planting beds along an existing median. Location was determined based on location of exisitng vegetation and utilities, as the installation was to accomodate these. Tall, drought tolerant native species were selected where possible, planted in a matrix style sedge and flowering prairie plant mixture. All serve to provide a native-heavy, strategically designed screen along a busy street.

22

Photograph from installation of planting bed B. Photo credit: Metro Blooms Design + Build

Sheet layout: planting beds with individual plant counts, planting plans, and context map along left and bottom side.

Consolidating information onto one sheet for legibility and ease of access for installation crew.

23

Phytoremediation and Native Species Company: Metro Blooms Design + Build Location: St. Paul, MN Themes: Research and Design Type: Phytoremediation, planting plan, strategic design Role: Research and documentation, Plans, Layout The goal of this project was to provide a planting plan utilizing native species that have the capacity for phytoremediation for a group of researchers.

My research led to the planting plan seen on the right. The site dealt with heavy metals contamination, and had an industrial rubber matting placed under feet of soil.

Professionals I talked with expressed concern with a woody root system eventually breaking through the rubber mat and releasing more contaminants into the soil. As a result, plants with fibrous root systems were selected, with less chance to break through the liner.

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25

THANK YOU

KYLE THURSTON

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