Madelene Dailey | Architecture & Planning | 2022 Portfolio

MADELENE JAVIER DAILEY

WORKS

PROFESSIONAL WORK

PLANNING

As a Planner I have traveled around the State of Florida sup porting various tasks for the Florida Department of Transporta tion. With 4 years of experience, my technical expertise include field research, data collection and assessment, and sustainable city planning.

I have supported state and federal planning organizations in Project Development & Environment (PD&E) Studies, Feasability Studies, Community Vision Planning Reports, multimodal transportation projects, mobility planning, and the National Enviornmental Policy Act (NEPA) project documenta tion process. I have served as the assistant project manager and technical lead on state and federal projects. I have also attended and presented at numerous employee, state, and federal train ing workshops to stay current with best planning practices that support community efforts.

POLICY

I have support FDOT Districts and the Of fice of Environmental Management (OEM) on project tracking, funding reviews, planning and compliance, and documenting changes in applicable law or regulation. This includes (but not limited to):

Florida Turnpike - Suncoast Parkway Extension

RESEARCH

Part of my technical support includes using mapping soft ware like Geographic Information System (GIS) to re search, review, and document the following conditions:

- Demographic analysis for Socio-economic Reports that include current and future land use, resident relocation and displacement impacts, and resource accessibility

- Cultural resources reviews for historic, preserved, and archeological sites, as well as protected state lands

- Physical impacts such as air quality, noise, and contamina tion monitoring to identify mitigation strategies

- Natural Resource Evaluations for review of protected spe cies and habitats, environmental compliance, permit coordi nation, and potential impacts

COMMUNITY RESOURCES

Part of my work as a Planner includes working with 501(c)(3) nonprofits and grassroots organizations on community beautification efforts. I have supported all 27 State and Federal Scenic Highways in Florida, and FDOT Federal Transit Triennial Reviews from 2019-2022.

Support efforts include; drafting promotional materials and infographics, grant writing, land conservation efforts, design of recreational pathways and historic markers, organizing volunteer outreach events, drafting Economic Research Studies and Annual Reports, Compliance Audits, Federal Highway Administration Disadvantaged Business Enterprise services, ADA Title VI and Nondiscrimation Audits, and interactive digital mapping programs.

Selected works are products of Atkins SNC-Lavalin on behalf of FDOT and FDOT documents available on the FDOT website. All documents shown are publicly accesible and information on the listed supported projects can be found at the following websites: https://www.fdot.gov/designsupport/highwaybeautification/scenichighways https://www.transit.dot.gov/funding/grantee-resources/triennial-reviews/triennial-reviews

Florida Scenic Highways 2020 Annual Report

FDOT Triennial Compliance Audit - Vehicle Inspection

Efficient Transportation Decision Making mapping software

2021 NEPA Re-evaluation Process Presentation

THE JOURNEY

Los Angeles Latin American Cultural Center

A Latin American Cultural and Educational Center that features a gallery, workshops, and a research center in South LA. The design intent was to create a space that is culturally enriching, representative, and empathetic to the patrons it serves.

The gallery space was designed to feature instal lation pieces made of found objects lost by immi grants on their journeys to freedom crossing the U.S. - Mexico border. The ground floor workshop serves as a research space in partnership with the nearby library, featuring Latin American authors. The third floor workshop would be used to teach traditional and indigenous cultural crafts of Latin America, led by local Latin American artists.

While collecting first-hand stories told by immigrants recounting their experiences and journeys to the U.S., I used a rock formation found in the Sonoran Desert in Arizona to create the interior gallery spaces of the building. Nicknamed the “migrant graveyard”, this desert has been re corded as the hottest desert in the U.S. and in Mexico, claiming the lives of almost half of the migrants who travel by foot to the U.S. The gallery would feature lost objects found in this desert and along the crossing bor der to humanize these stories.

Inspired by the mariposa Monarcha - the only species in the world known to do a two-way migration between Canada, the U.S., and Mexico - the exterior skin of the building was designed using a rendered kaleidoscopic image of Monarch buttery wings and a Grasshopper script. The monarch is a meaningful symbol of the immigration movement of the 21st century, and serves as a metaphor for hope during a long journey to find a new place to call home.

Exterior Skin Design

Potential Skin Material - recycled steel used to make the 2019 border wall.

Migrant Found Objects

Elevation A

Elevation B

Section A

Section B

CASTLING KINGSIDE

Noun| CHESS MOVE

Typically used as a defensive move in chess (used no more than once in a game by each player) as opposed to an attack strategy for a rook. The move consists of moving one’s king two squares toward a rook on the same row, then moving the rook to the square the king passed over.

It is the only time in chess that two pieces can move at once, and the only time a piece other than the knight can move over another piece.

THE ROOK -

Formerly called the ‘Castle’, it is most powerful towards the end of the game. Known as a major piece, it has the capability to move side to side or backwards and forwards to capture an opponent.

The rook is strongly used to deliver the final blow of checkmate.

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 b1 c1

a3 b3 d3 a4

a b c d e f g h a b c d e f g h

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Iteration #1

Using the Algebraic notation (the standard method for recording moves in a chess game), two iterations for a rook piece design were created. The notation’s traditional system of utilizing coordinates to categorize each square on the board was replicated in digital analog format to draft a series of computational designs.

Using a Grasshopper script to catalogue every individual segment of the forms, the analog archive was used to efficiently assemble each component in a large-scale model, allowing for simple, easy to construct chess pieces.

Castling Kingside Move with Algebraic Notation

Iteration #2

Taking a standard model rook piece, the model was altered using boolean operations to morph the horizontal and vertical notations. The vertical components were then stretched to connect the top and bottom pieces together. This final form was selected for the rook life-size replica tion.

The process was continued to create a full chess set. The set was arranged on a large scale chess board in a public space where participants were encouraged to interact with the chess set and with one another through a casual game of chess.

JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK VISITOR CENTER

This design of the Oasis of Mara Visitor Center in Joshua Tree Na tional Park intertwines the trails of the park to the Center, creating an experiential connection to the landscape for visitors.

The subterranean placement of the Center offers an unencumbered landscape showcasing the park’s terrain and vegetation as the focal point of guest’s attention, creating intimately framed views of the park’s surrounding natural features throughout the partially sub merged form.

The Center also serves as a research space and nursery for the endangered Joshua Tree species. Using the Center’s advantageous location, new generations of Joshua Trees will have the opportunity to grow above the building’s surface where researchers can study the effects of climate change on saplings.

South Entrance Exhibition Area

NARRATIVES IN DESIGN

Visual Storytelling

Using the USC School of Architecture and its surround ing campus I created a storyboard incorporating everyday objects with a whimsical take on storytelling.

These images were then superimposed at various scales to illustrate a series of schematic designs that reimagine the USC School of Architecture’s building with different spatial and tectonic elements. These variations ultimately dictacted the eventual programming for a gallery space, and components from each version were integrated in a future drafting phase, shown in the following images.

Storyboard Concept

Narratives in Design | Visual Storytelling

PLANNING HISTORY

EXPLORATION OF THE URBAN FORM

Guatemala City

DEMOGRAPHICS

Presently, Guatemala City is one of the most populous urban centers in Latin America. With roughly 3 million inhabitants it has become the center of cultural, social, and economic progress for the country. Within and around the city, a mixture of Spanish, Mestizo, Mayan mixture indigenous peoples, and foreigners represent the country’s rich cultural diversity of Guate malans in the 21st century urban landscape.

PUBLIC TRANSIT

Guatemala City

URBAN HISTORY

A rapid bus transit system (BRT) and metro light-rail allow for easier movement through the city and decreases traffic congestion.

Growth map highlights the effects of the 1954 Guatemalan coup d’état, carried out by the U.S. government and the United States Fruit Company.

TYPOLOGY EXAMINATION

Zona 1 to Zona 5 have a more traditional block structure similar to the historic center, upon which Guatemala City expanded from. Because Guatemala City is located on a mountanus terrain, much of the city’s newer districts and neighborhoods sprawl throughout different elevations to combat housing demands and increased populations.

This close-up of Zona 15 showcases a unique moment in the city, where the traditional grid structure starts to break apart and develop loose, organic shapes that follow the moutainous terrain.

Established in 1776, Guatemala City (officially Ciudad de Guatemala) is the fourth capital of Guatema la. It wasn’t until after a series of disastrous earthquakes in 1917 that Guatemala City replaced Antigua as Guatemala’s capital city. Built on top of the ruins of an ancient Mayan civilization, the city lies within a mountainous region, the pacific coastal plain, and volcanic highlands that are part of the Ring of Fire.

The rapid growth of the city can be traced to moments of signicant strife and progress within the coun try. Impacted by the 1954 Guatemalan coup and the 1996-1960 civil war, as well as a succession of natural disasters, the economic, social, and political strife of the revolution triggered a 36-year long civil war that led many to seek support within the urban framework of the city. The change in political power in the ‘50s focused on increased urbanization, economic development, and infrastructure planning. As it grew, the city became both an asylum and reminder of the social, cultural, and political influence over rural communities and indigenous groups within the country.

NATURAL ANALYSIS

The volcanoes featured are part of Guate mala’s major volcanic range that follows along the country’s coastal plain, contain ing both dormant and active volcanoes. Volcanic eruptions are one of many natural hazards that impact the city.

GUATEMALA CITY’S HISTORIC DISTRICT ZONA 1

ZONES

The original plan of the city was designed in a spiral form to have the following six zones surround the historic center. The planning eventually lost this shape with the development of the remaining zones, after mixed-use zoning and multi-story residential districts were emphasized.

Zonas 1-5 include the historic resources of the city, while Zonas 9-14 have a modern Westernized design. Zonas 10 and 13 mark the most recently commercialized and developed areas of the city, made of high-rise apartments and upscale neighborhoods. Zonas 1-25 are numbered, but numbers 20, 22, and 23 have not been zoned offi cially and do not exist in the city’s current plan.

Originally a small Spanish Colonial trading outpost, the Historic District centers around the Plaza de la Constitución. The oldest part of the city, the plaza square connects to all the major streets of Zona 1 and serves as the center point of its urban expansion.

From the Palacio Nacional de la Cultura where the country’s government business takes place, and spanning the full length of 6A Avenida’s grand central market, both tourists and residents can experience the history of Guatemala City’s original capital center - the heart of the city’s past.

Palacio Nacional de la Cultura

Left: Palacio Nacional de la Cultura - home of the president, government headquarters, and museum of Guatemala’s history.

Right: Street within the histroic district that marks Zona 1 from Zona 2.

KEY CONNECTIONS

EXPLORATION OF THE URBAN FORM

Detroit, Michigan’s North End Agrihood

OVERVIEW

With a population of about 713,777 residents (U.S. Cen sus Bureau, 2020), Detroit is currently classied as a food grassland. Different from a food dessert, a food grassland is defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a city whose poverty rate is directly compared to the proportion of residents living more than a mile from a supermarket or large grocery store.

Detroit has pockets within the city that make access to a grocery store or food resource limited, but not complete ly restricted throughout the urban landscape. But with a population that is over 80% Black residents, key discus sions have been brought to mainstream media’s attention over the past decade on the racial inequity of accessible, healthy food within Detroit. This coverage acknowledges that the main reason the classication of Detroit has shifted from a food desert to a food grassland, is because of grass roots activism and community action.

Diagrams show the relationships between food accessibility around the Michigan Urban Farming Initiative and the North End Community. While the Michigan Urban Farming Initiative is the largest “agrihood” in the North End, there are numerous edible gardens, creating a robust urban agricultural network with resources available to its community members.

Within the city of Detroit, nearly 1,400 community gardens and farms have sprung up over the last 20 years in response to demand for food justice. But of these com munity gardens, there is only one officially designated agrihood (short for agricultural neighborhood).

The Michigan Urban Farming Initiative is a 3-acre farmstead focused on food insecu rity. Founded in 2011, the Michigan Urban Farming Initiative has received nation-wide attention over the years. With the help of over 10,000 volunteers who have engaged in over 100,000 hours of volunteer service, the Michigan Urban Farming Initiative has been able to grow and distribute over 50,000 pounds of produce (grown using organic methods) to over 2,000 households within 2-square miles at no cost to the recipients (The Michigan Urban Farming Initiative, 2022).

CASE STUDY

The Michigan Urban Farming Initiative

Based in Detroit’s North End community, the Mich igan Urban Farming Initiative is an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) nonprot organization that seeks to engage members of the community in sustainable agricul ture. The farm addresses challenges unique to urban communities like Detroit (e.g., vacant land, food security) and creates opportunities for communi ty-supported agriculture.

The farm space is heavily themed by “adaptive reuse of the built-environment”, working to demonstrate best practices for sustainable urban agriculture, effective strategies for increasing food security, cost-competitive and scalable models for blight deconstruction, and innovation in Blue and Green infrastructure. However, the farm’s expansion has received criticism and opposition from the very community it claims to support. These criticisms range from displacement tactics, sovereignty vs. accessibility, limited economic support to the local community, and relationships to corporate donors known for environmental and social degradation. It begs the question, in comparison to Detroit’s other 1,400 gardens, which offers a more feasible, realistic approach in supporting its community?

URBAN ANALYSIS

Site plan shows the organiza tion’s parcel acquisitons and current and under-development campus uses.

SITE ANALYSIS REFLECTION

Aiming to develop a broader model for redevel opment for other urban communities like Detroit, this project highlights both the opportunities and struggles of civic activism in regard to charitable model-building city planning. While the farm strives to address the symptoms of food insecuri ty and racial inequity, it alone cannot rectify the root causes of injustice. By examining the pros and cons of this project, we can see the breadth of influence charitable design can have on communi ties, better understand both its perpetuated ineq uities and structural support for the residents they affect, and find opportunities to better address ways in which planners, designers, and activist organizers can provide long-term systemic change to underserved and vulnerable communities.

Elevation collage showing major components of the farm.

Graphic collage depicting historical and cultural resources located around the North End community. Detroit’s various communities work together to interlace civic-activism projects into its urban landscape.

ARCHITECTURE + ADVOCACY

WHO WE ARE

OUR TEAM

We are a student-run organization focused on social justice through the built environment. We volunteer our time to organize workshops, community events, and community service projects for South LA.

OUR MISSION

Architecture + Advocacy (A+A) empowers communities to un-design the spatial injustices affecting their neighborhoods.

OUR VISION

We believe everyone, not just trained architects, should have a hand in designing their homes, businesses, and neighborhoods.

WHAT WE DO

Architecture teaches us that because inequalities in the spa tial environment were designed by human actions, they can be un-designed. Our program advocates that architecture is more than just designing buildings, and can be used as a community tool to create system-level change.

We offer a design practice where everyone gets an oppor tunity to reflect on their lived experiences, listen to the experiences of others, and collaborate to design equitable solutions in their neighborhoods. We provide a space to take action creatively, together.

A+A helps communities take back a seat at the table and shape new, empowered narratives about who they are and what they can be.

More information about our program can be found on our website: https://architectureandadvocacy.org/

Spring 2022 Family Day

WHO WE SERVE

We started three years ago in response to USC’s lack of resources, documented narratives, and connections for the school’s surrounding neighborhoods and unwillingness to address architecture’s role in segregation, redlining, and gentrification.

While empowering USC students to speak out on issues of discrimination, we offer ways to use the architectural design process to build power in surrounding communities and enable the next generation of change makers to take action in their own neighborhoods.

Some of our partner organizations and nonprofits include LA Unified School District (LA USD), LA Commons, DIY Girls, AIA ACLA, and LA Trade-Technical College.

Spring 2022 Family Day

USC Leadership Workshop

LA Commons Expo Event

Hybrid High Charrette Celebration

OUR PROJECTS

We offer free workshops to students K-12th grades. Our workshops range from 5-7 weeks, and focus on introducing students to careers in STEM-related fields. Students have the opportunity to identify spatial injustices affecting their neighborhoods, design community-oriented and sustainably-driven projects, and meet licensed professionals.

Throughout the semester we recruit and train USC student volunteers to organize community days where our workshop participants, USC students, and community members can meet one another and continue discussions of accessibility and equity around LA. For these events we strive to work with local busi nesses and grassroots organizations to help support them whenever we can.

Sample Curriculum

Sample photos of our workshop ‘Empathy Walk’. - Students are given disposable cameras to record their daily walks to and from school. Through this activ ity students identify spaces of cultural significance, resource accessibility, and human interaction.

Fall 2022 Celebration

Maya Angelou High School Community Day

DIY Girls

DIY Girls

THE STREET AS A STAGE

A+A COMMUNITY DESIGN BUILD

“Wewanttorestorethisbuilding tothepillarofthecommunityit usedtobe,tellotherswhoweare, whatwedo,whoweserve,and expressthesurroundinghistory andculture.”

-WendyRaquelRobsinson, Founder

As Architecture + Advocacy grows to offer more workshops to students and communities, we are in terested in investing architecture resources back into the neighborhoods we serve. In collaboration with Gensler and JAF Creative Soluations, LLC , A+A will be hosting our first pro bono design build work shop series in LA.

Located in the historic West Adams District, Amazing Grace Conservatory (AGC) is celebrating its 25th anniversary training emerging artists & at-risk youth in the performing and digital arts by offering a well-rounded and culturally enriching, educational program in an environment that is nurturing for their personal, artistic and professional growth.

AGC C.A.R.E.S.

As the Director of A+A, this past semester I organized an all-female grants team comprised of USC students from the Schools of Architecture, Policy & Planning, and Heritage Conservation to create a community design build workshop series for the upcoming year.

My goals for this project include:

1) Introduce students to leadership positions in architecture and planning fields,

2) Engage the historical and cultural needs of the community,

3) Build sustainable relationships that connect students, AEC firms, and community members interested in hands-on civic-minded service projects.

Partners & Stakeholders

AmazingGraceConservatory, Gensler, JAFCreativeSolutions,LLC, WestAdamsCouncilDistrict, USCCenterforCityDesign, HollywoofComunityHousingCorporation

More information about AGC and this project can be found at: https://amazinggraceconservatory.org/

CultivateArtsResiliencyEngagementSupport

Artists like Academy Award Winner

Part of LA’s Harvard Heights Historic Preservation Zone, AGC is located in a historic 1920’s building in Sugar Hill. Once a cultural haven for Black artists and filmmakers in Hollywood, it became nationally known as the 1948 lawsuit case that helped end racially restrictive covenants and as a support case in the 1968 Fair Housing Act.

In 1964, with the construction of the Santa Monica freeway, Sugar Hill was split in half through its historic core and its residents were displaced. Today, the effects of this divide can still be felt through out the community, with neighborhoods that experience some of the highest pollution burdens in LA and the beginnings of gentrification.

We will be working with AGC to update the exterior of their build ing to acknowledge this history. Through this effort, we are holding monthly community workshop events called AGC C.A.R.E.S. to work with the community to design an inclusive, fun, and education al project that celebrates the residents, the history of Sugar Hill, and its legacy for LA.

Hattie McDaniel hosted numerous events at their Sugar Hill residences.

Research data, collected with USC Center for Design.

CREATIVE WORK

Gallery Exhibition

My work was featured in a rotating solo exhibition for upand-coming artists in St. Petersburg, Florida. Inspired by the religious holy week SemanaSanta , my exhibition Las FloresdelaVidaexplored the fragility and celebration of life through female portrait studies and religious iconography using native floral arrangements from the traditional holiday.

Publications

Working with the Environmental Studies and Writing Faculty Department heads at Eckerd College, I co-wrote a walking guide to London focused on sustainable city planning.

Teal Guide Publication

Designed after a traditional alfombra(carpets made of floral arrangements, offerings, and sawdust) this piece was made of woven hand-cut flowers. Throughout the duration of the exhibition the flowers withered and their fallen petals collected beneath the carpet.

Mixed media portraits are modern depictions of female figures presented in biblical text and prayed to during the holy festivities, paying homage to the strength found in feminity.

Photography

Over a two-year span I traveled between the Guatemalan Highlands to study the relationships of Guatemala City’s urban development on rural areas and its impacts in vulnerable communities. Through photography I was able to interact with community members in an informal setting that allowed me to casually observe their daily lives, unobtrusively collect data, and document interviews.

Part of this project included staying at Indigenous Mayan women orga nized cooperatives. I interviewed these women about using traditional handicrafts that promote fair-trade and ethical practices to provide economic independence and representative cultural autonomy in touristdriven areas.

Below: Mayan Textile Cooperative in Panajachel. Images capture interview with local textile weaver and textile making process.

Right: Demonstration of making Mayan cacao paste, remaining beans are sold at vendor markets around town or driven into the city to be shipped worldwide.

Above: Scenes from daily life - A woman waits for a Tuk Tuk fare (mo torized rickshaw). As an affordable and accessible form of transportation these vehicles are pretty commonplace in both urban and rural settings.