MICHAEL HANS
MICHAEL HANS
michaelhans3633@gmail.com
678.206.3959
University of Georgia Graduate
Bachelor of Landscape Architecture
May 2021
Master of Landscape Architecture
May 2022
Design Statement
Throughout my college career, I was fortunate enough to be a part of the men’s cross country and track team at the University of Georgia where I served as team captain during my 4th and 5th year competing for the university. This leadership position forced me to develop critical skills, such as time management, accountability, responsibility, and integrity. Juggling hours in the design studio, classes, early practices every morning, traveling across the nation every other week, and supporting my teammates through it all certainly had its challenges, but these experiences helped shape me into the designer I am today.
Traveling across the country to compete in different environments and landscapes helped to give me a new perspective on my design work. I have run many miles through a variety of different landscapes, all of which I have immersed myself in over the years. When I take breaks on my runs I like to explore and appreciate the uniqueness of each environment and let it influence my future projects. Many of the designs featured in my portfolio were inspired by the many landscapes I encountered.
Experience:
SMITH PLANNING GROUP
Watkinsville, Georgia
Landscape Architecture Intern
Summer 2020
MERRIFIELD GREENHOUSES AND GARDEN CENTER
Buena Vista, Colorado
Greenhouse Manager
Summer 2021
SMITH PLANNING GROUP
Watkinsville, Georgia
Full Time Landscape Designer
January 2021 - August 2023
JBROWN PROFESSIONAL GROUP
Gainesville, Florida
Full Time Landscape Designer
August 2023 - Present
Skills:
• AutoCad Civil 3D
• Adobe Creative Cloud
• Microsoft 365 Applications
• LandFX
• Procreate
1. PARK DESIGN
Watkinsville, Georgia
Athens, Georgia
Watkinsville, Georgia
2. PROFESSIONAL WORK
Watkinsville, Georgia
Bogart, Georgia
Watkisnville, Georgia
Santa Rosa County, Florida
A. Harris Shoals Park
B. Piedmont Preserve
C. Thomas Farm Park
A. Westminster Christian Academy
B. Georgia Club
C. College of Athens
D. Jubilee
PARK DESIGN
Watkinsville, Georgia
Summer 2019
Athens, Georgia
Fall 2020
Watkinsville, Georgia
Spring 2023
A. Harris Shoals Park
B. Piedmont Preserve
C. Thomas Farm Park
HARRIS SHOALS
Community Park design
Watkinsville, Ga
Designed with the community of Watkinsville in mind, Harris Shoals features many of the ammenities a downtown park should have. Playgrounds, miles of trails, boardwalks, pavilions, picnic areas, an outdoor classroom and even the historic Harris Family cemetery are located in this site.
Interpretive signage, trail map kiosks, trail markers, entrance signage designed for the park.
SITE ECOLOGY
Known for its wide array of ecosystems, Harris shoals encompases an area that features many of the Piedmont regions most notable habitats. It was important to outline these different ecological zones in our plan to make sure that corridors between these areas can stay intact to help wildlife move throughout the site with ease. It was also important to outline these areas to make sure future restoration efforts don’t interfere with the fragile wetland and floodplain habitats.
SITE HYDROLOGY
Located in the Oconee River Basin, Harris Shoals supports a rich and diverse mix of terrestrial and aquatic habitats. This plan was developed using Geographical Information Systems data to help us preserve the watershed and outline areas where conservation strategies should be implemented. Made in collaboration with Wes Ryals from Smith Planning Group.
Woodland Trail Section
Open
Lawn Perspective
Photoshop Perspective showing the Giardini Lawn.
Boardwalk Section 1
Boardwalk Section 2
Boardwalk Section 3
Woodland Trail Section
PIEDMONT PRESERVE
Community Park and Cross Country Course Design
Athens, Ga
Located inside Athens city limits, Piedmont Preserve takes advantage of fifty acres of conservation land and turns it into an interactive area for citizens to come and enjoy. Designed with the purpose of being the home of Athens Wild Earth Camp, it features many small scale structures for recreational use.
DESIGN PROCESS
Basemap
Featuring slope, floodplain regions, zoning, property borders, and different ecosystems located within the site boundary.
Conservation Focus
Quick sketch of areas on the site and their intended uses with an emphasis on areas suitable for development.
Recreation Focus
Emphasis on areas suitable for recreation amenities, such as pavilions, trails, play areas.
Conceptual Master Plan
First rendition of the master plan, featuring trails, pavilions, gardens, boardwalks, parking, etc...
THOMAS FARM PARK
Community Park and Cross Country Course Design
Watkinsville, Ga
Working very closely with the mayor of Watkinsville, we envisioned the park to serve as a nature preserve where people can observe the natural beauty this property had to offer. Some major elements we wanted to include were a measured running path, walking trails, plenty of parking, pavilions equipped with water fountains and bathrooms and some nodes along the border of Calls Creek. After months of design, the park went public to the city in the Spring of 2023.
Early Design
Thomas Farm Park is the largest plot of land located inside of Watkisnville’s city limits. At 100 acres, this prime piece of Georgia Piedmont will be preserved for citizens of the town to enjoy for many years to come. Centrally located within Watkisnville’s city limits, a new sidewalk spanning less than a mile will connect this park to the downtown corridor, providing the citizens of the small town with a safe and short connection to access the park. Thomas Farm Park abuts Calls Creek, has two man-made ponds, acres of open fields and pristine old growth hardwood forests.
MASTER PLAN DESIGN
PROFESSIONAL WORK
A. Westminster Christian Academy
Watkinsville, Georgia
Winter 2023
B. Georgia Club
Bogart, Georgia
Fall 2022
C. College of Athens
Watkisnville, Georgia
Winter 2023
Santa Rosa County, Florida
Fall 2022
D. Jubilee
WESTMINSTER CHRISTIAN ACADEMY
Campus Redesign Watkisnville, Ga
This master plan was designed to provide the staff and students of Westminster with an improved road design to help them alleviate traffic and congestion within the school grounds. Along with this new road design came many other aspects of the project, including an improved parking lot, entrance road, detention ponds, tree management and planting plan, gatehouse, pedestrian bridge crossing, tennis courts and bus turnaround.
RENDERED MASTER PLAN
Pedestrain Bridge Detail
This project had many challenges, the main one was time. We were presented with this project in late January with the intent on beginning construction in May. This project features many custom details that were used in the construction documents, like the pedestrian bridge detail and arched culvert for the stream crossing. Working alongside some of my teammates, this project was approved by the city and began construction just in time. Designed in collaboration with Mick Kittle and Joseph Bates of Smith Planning Group.
MASTER PLAN
GEORGIA CLUB
Single Family Residential Bogart, Ga
This 37-acre single-family development is positioned within the Georgia Country Club. Located in Northeast Georgia, the Georgia Club encompasses many hundreds of acres and is home to one of the region’s most popular Golf Courses. These singlefamily lots are positioned on a vacant parcel of the site located along Barber Creek, full of topography.
MASTER PLAN
GRADING PLAN ENLARGEMENT
This site was first hand graded at a very high level, with the goal of finding suitable road elevations, slopes and areas of cut and fill. After hand grading the entire site, Civil 3D was used to perform a cut and fill analysis to ensure that our client wouldn’t have to pay to remove dirt or buy any fill. By balancing the cut and fill on our site I was then able to finish setting finish floor elevations on all the lots and grading our site to align with our storm system. Designed in collaboration with Joseph Bates of Smith Planning Group.
COLLEGE OF ATHENS
College Campus Design
Watkinsville, Ga
MASTER PLAN LINEWORK
Enlargement on next page
A 114-acre college campus design, College of Athens plans to begin construction on Phase 1 of its new campus and retreat center in the coming years. The small private Christian College was designed upon an abandoned old country club and golf course; this site is nestled in the rolling hills of northeast Georgia. The overall Masterplan was centered around providing connectivity throughout multiple academic buildings, sports facilities, a small farm, prayer gardens, recreational vehicle sites and private woodland retreat cabins. Inspiration for this site was taken from the abandoned golf course. Over the years, fairways became peaceful meadows and clusters of pine developed into fine hardwood forests. We designed around these areas to help preserve these views, so students and staff of the future college can enjoy the natural look the site has to offer. Made in collaboration with Mick Kittle and Joseph Bates of Smith Planning Group.
BUFFER ENLARGEMENT
One concern for this site was its proximity to a neighboring subdivision. To ease the minds of concerned neighbors, a buffer exhibit was made for presentation to the adjacent property owners. It was important for this exhibit to outline the site’s topography, existing buffers and planned berm and buffer plantings.
JUBILEE
Masterplan Design
Santa Rosa County, Fl
Jubilee all started in the early 2000’s, after coming to an abrupt halt in 2008; recent years have brought this project back to life. The 2,700+ acre community has everything a town could offer, including two schools, shopping centers, medical facilities, equestrian center, farm, single-family and multi-family housing and much more. This masterplan was rendered using a combination of Photoshop and procreate. Made in collaboration with Bob Smith of Smith Planning Group.
LAND USE PLAN
A land use diagram displaying the development makeup of the site. With several streams running throughout the site, much of the low lying interior is planned to make up a conservation easement.
EXHIBITS
Such a large-scale project required many different exhibits. With the help of GIS data, wetlands, flood zones and different ecosystem regions were outlined, helping to assist in the overall design.
Trail System and Conservation
Easement Exhibit
Phasing Exhibit
Pedestrain Walkability Exhibit
ENLARGEMENTS
As our overall master plan for this site was so large, enlargements were made in order to effectively communicate certain details. The Jubilee Farm is a community garden intended to serve those who live inside the development, created using a combination of hand rendering with procreate. The roundabout enlargement was created using AutoCad linework, rendered with procreate.
Roundabout Design
This enlargement was used to help display how traffic is intended to flow in and out of one of the southern entrances of the site.
Jubilee Farm