2023_Portfolio_MorganHannan

PORTFOLIO

Morgan Kelly Hannan

About MKH

Work Experience Grant Work

1.Sterling Design 2021-current worked with a landscape design team doing physical planting and maintenance on main line properties throughout the summer of 2021 and fall 2021 semester. This helped me gain insight on what goes into the creation of a design and what is more/less successful.

2. Kimley-Horn (Palm Beach,FL) 2022 interned with Kimley-Horn in their West Palm Beach office in florida in the summer of 2022. worked on projects varying from private and public sector and worked with many other disciplines during my time there. They provided many training and networking opportunities which gained a lot from.

3.Thomas Jefferson University 2021-23 organized and led community service events teaming up with local schools in Philadelphia, helped teachers start a garden club with their students, and produced site plans for their outdoor spaces.

1.The Philadelphia Pollinator Project 2021-current Thomas Jefferson University is working with the National Fish and Wild Life Services and Audobon Society to address conservation needs of high-priority pollinator and bird species in the Philadelphia portion of the Delaware River Watershed.

2. Park In A Truck 2021-2022

Park In A Truck is meant to allow community members to pick a type of park they want to see in their neighborhood and then work with members to help build and maintain the park themselves.

3. Park Ambassador Program 2022-current

The Park Ambassador Program is part of the Robert Wood Johnson Grant that works with school-aged kids to learn about their local environment, gain personal life skills, and take ownership in maintaining parks and green spaces around them,

Upon discovering landscape architecture, found a profession I wanted to be a part of. I have always had a thorough passion in the world around me. When I am not in school, enjoy gardening during the warmer months, skiing during the colder ones, and creating art and exploring fashion all year round. I am the student chapter president for ASLA at Thomas Jefferson University and a community service site leader where I have been doing work that focuses on improving outdoor play facilities for schools in philadelphia. Creating spaces that invite all guests in while producing a healthy environment that inspires is my main goal as a designer. believe landscape architecture holds the key to solving issues our world is facing, whether it be social or ecological,and I intend to help in every way I can through careful and considerate design that approaches challenges through multiple lenses with sensitivity and mindfulness.

Personal Info:

Hometown: Williamstown, NJ

DOB: 07/21/1999

Education: Thomas Jefferson University,BLA

Email: mkh012@jefferson.edu

Phone: 60 9-605-3852

Favorite

Relevant Courses:

1. Malawi

This spring, I will be working with architecture and health major students to collaborate on a very unique project. The Malwai Health Design and Collaborative is a team of academics, architects and health professionals committed to strengthening Malawi’s health and education infrastructure through rigorous evidence-based research and design. Thomas Jefferson University is working to redesign the campus of Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe, Malawi. As a landscape architect student, I will be working on a team to design a system that can work throughout the town and campus.

What started as a design for a hospital center has transformed into a design of a town. Malawi is the warm heart of Africa and wanted to emphasize that concept. Since the creation of this town started from the building of a teaching hospital, I want to give the residents the opportunity to heal themselves. a series of pharmacy gardens will be strategically placed throughout the town with African medicinal plants. The plants would be organized into areas that pertain to specific ailments for each part of the body.

Waste was another major component in my design. Traditionally, Nkhokwes are used for storing harvested crops, but what if they could be used to store waste? Using mycoremediation, mushrooms mixed with organic material will be placed in with the trash and slowly decompose over weeks. The mushrooms that are made out of this trash are completely safe and edible for consumption which would bring another source of food for Malawians.

Farming Methods

deep bed farming ridge and furrow and mound method

These are the two traditional farming methods

Malawians use. This is labor intensive and environmentally destructive. It can cause the soil to compact or erode so water cannot penetrate and crops find it hard to take root.

steps for deep bed farming or the Tiyeni method includes the use a pickaxe to break up the compacted hard layer underground.Next is the creation of the Tiyeni Deep Beds. These are designed to minimise water runoff, to maximise water retention, and to prevent a new hard compacted layer from developing under the ground allowing roots, water and air to penetrate downwards on a long-term basis.The deep beds are planted with crops. The staple crop of maize is typically interplanted with beans, pumpkin, kale, soya, ground nuts and other local crops.As the plants grow, weeds are cut or pulled up and laid on the surface as mulch, alongside crop residues, chopped

Vetiver grass and other agro forestry residues.Meanwhile, excess foliage, crop residues, ash charcoal, maize husks and other food or household byproducts are made into compost, which can be supplemented with further additives if the soil is heavily depleted. Finally, Tiyeni organises domestic animal pass-on programme of pigs or goats to first-time farmers, whose progeny are then passed on to other villagers, in an ever lengthening cascade thereafter. The animal waste is added to the compost, and the whole programme helps bring the village communities together because all are interested in the successful breeding programmes.

agroforestry

Cash Crops

Tobacco is responsible for more than 40% of the country’s annual total export earnings.

Cotton is responsible for 8% of the country’s annual total export earnings

Nuts are responsible for 39% of the country’s annual total export earnings

Tea is responsible for 5% of the country’s annual total export earnings

The field should be away from other fields of the same crop. When growing soya, groundnut or bean keep meters between fields of the same crop. for pigeonpea keep 200 meters between the same crop. The should not grow the same crop grown the previous year in the same field. Plan your crops for that season to ensure that your seed field is not near that of other varieties of the same crop. Speak to surrounding neighbors and ask them not to grow the same crop next to the field for seed. Work together with other farmers to grow the same seed variety and plant next to each other, but mark your fields. Locate your field where you can easily maintain it (weeding, field inspection, protection from animals, etc).Weed your plot and turn in crop residue in advance of planting

vetiver control

Most farmers use cow manure or urea to fertilize their land.The subsistence farmers and their families collect the urine they pass – most even keep a plastic vessel in their bedroom for use at night – and store it in containers where it matures and turns into a fertiliser worth about �0.47 a litre, cheaper than chemical rivalsIn the alkaline state, the PH is beyond seven and the product is salty. In this salty state, all the germs are dead and the fertiliser is odorless and free from germs.The fertiliser also helps conserve the soil by raising its PH through its chemical composition, giving it the same effect as agricultural lime on acidic soils.

The majority of farmers in Malawi use pesticides to protect their crops from pests. Without the use of pesticides, farmers would not be able to harvest significant yields. Proper seed storage is crucial for farmers to prevent pests from infiltrating their seeds. Acetylic insecticide is commonly used on seed when it is placed in bags for storage and is quite effective. Discuss with the students the safe use of this and other pesticides. You can also use Tephrosia volgeii (fish poison bean tree, an agroforestry tree) Collect and dry leaves then pound them to make a powder. Mix powder with seed in every bag. Before you do this, check if your market allows this.

Granaries or “Nkhokwes” are used to store the farmers crops. The basket is constructed on the ground and lifted onto the base.A thatch roof on a wood frame is quite common. They vary in texture and shape due to the weaving.

to livestock. Vetiver forms a living barrier which arrests soil movement. After heavy rain soil builds up against the hedge of Vetiver grass gradually creating a natural terrace effect.

Sugar is responsible for 13% of the country’s annual total export earnings.

flat bed farming

With unreliable rains, poor soils, and flooding, farmers in Malawi faces many problems in having a successful season. In typical permaculture practice intensive vegetable cultivation (zone 1) is planned near the house along with other resources that need attention and are used daily; however, in Malawian villages water access is often see to be problematic so traditionally, most people use a “dimba” or river floodplain away from the house for vegetable cultivation. Since these areas have sufficient water and are away from free ranging animals that destroy vegetable crops, it can be an appropriate, culturally relevant location for zone 1. But, we also work to show homes, schools, offices, restaurants and others interested in sustainable designs that there IS a lot of water around us that is often missed that can be put to great use around the zone 0 structures. Food forests (zone 2) incorporate more trees and perennial species into the system, which tend to be heartier and more drought resistant. For this reason, zone 2 can be more applicable near the house where little water is available most of the year and free-range animals are often a problem. In the food forest, families can compost household and animal wastes to improve soil fertility and plant growth. Once established, this area can produce food year round using very little water.

In Malawi, the agroforestry project financed by Reforest'Action and led on the field by the NGO Inter Aide aims at ensuring food subsistence and increasing the energy autonomy of local communities by integrating trees, sources of fruits and wood, around cultivated fields. With a strong community dimension, the project accompanies the farmers at each step of the creation of these agroforestry systems, from the production of trees in nurseries to their planting and maintenance. Designed to run for three years, the program aims to produce and plant total of 300,000 trees in different villages in Lilongwe District.

single back hoe

crop rotation

Most Malawians practice herbalism as a way of healing ailments and spiritual qualities. Bringing over western medicine to Malawi, I would like traditional practices to remain alive. Creating a pedestrian path that is filled with African medicinal herbs will not only give residents the chance to heal themselves the way they always have, but also help them enjoy their daily journies in a way that is therapuetic and enjoyable. The plants would be sectioned by location or type of ailment. In the example below, you can see a drawing of what a part of the path would look like for healing the stomach or gut.

Waste was another crucial factor I am considering in my design. Nkhokwes are currently used to store crops but what if they could also be used to recycle and create resources? By mixing the waste with organic matter and pestalotiopsis fungi, Malawians can use mushrooms to break down their plastic in as little as two weeks- 2 months. The organic matter can then be used as fertilizer for their crops and the mushrooms produced can be reproduced back into a plastic-like product such as flatware.

2. Canvas Campus

For my fall 2022 studio, I was tasked with designing an outdoor campus for a middle and high school in Elmwood, Philadelphia. Elmwood is a severely underserved neighborhood and children do not have any safe spaces to be kids. When doing my inventory and analysis, I realized that i wanted to transform this campus into a space where students can feel inspired to explore all avenues of creativity whether it be art, athletics, science, or music. The main elements of this design are driven by the students leaving their mark at the school and creating their own sense of place.

Feet

Below is a perspective of the workshop, outdoor studio, and yearbook canvas where each graduating class gets a square to design during their final year at Tilden Middle School.

Inventory and analysis is a crucial part for all of our projects at jefferson. We researched demographics, hydrology, existing conditions, ecological qualities, and street types for Elmwood. The next series of graphics shows the process of the beginning stage of this project and how formed the basis of my concept for the Canvas Campus.

Throughout the semester we met with the kids of Tilden Middle School to better understand what it is they desire for their outdoor campus. We learned that they did not know too much about the history of where they grew up so the entire studio created this diagram for their school.

To the left is a typology diagram of different uses for the outdoor stage. This space is meant ot be multi-functional and used for students, teachers, and the public. Concerts, plays, graduations, and outdoor classroom space are just a few examples of what this space can be utlized as.

Planting Palette Trees

Amalanchier alnifolia/Serviceberry

Betula papyrifera/ Paper Birch

Quercus alba/ White Oak

Shrubs

Hamamelis virginiana/ Witch Hazel

Ilex verticillata/Winterberry

Callicarpa americana/ Beautyberry

Grasses

Andropogon scoparius/ Little Bluestem

Eragrostris specatabalis/ Purple Love Grass

Panicum virgatum/ Switch Grass

Sporobolus heterolepis/ Praire Dropseed

Perennials

Amsonia hubrichtii/ Arkansas Bluestar

Dicentra eximia/ Fringed Bleeding Heart

Adiantum padatum/Northern Maidenhair Fern

Echinacea purpera/ Purple Coneflower

Monarda didyma/ Beebalm

Veronicastrum virginicum/ Culver’s Root

Eupatorium macalatum/ Joe Pye Weed

Campanula americana/ Tall Bellflower

Anemone americana/ round Lobed Hepatica

Rudbeckia hirta/ Black Eyed Susans

Asclepias incarnata/ Swamp Milkweed

Achillea millefolium/ Common Yarrow

Pycnanthemum muticum/ Mountain Mint

Tiarella cordifolia/ Foamflower

When began my design I wanted to shift the thinking of academic achievements being the only form of a “succesful student”. Giving the children a workshop space in the old storage building where they can create anything from paintings, fashion pieces, glass art, woodwork, or even welding was where started with this design. I then decided to attach an outdoor studio infront of the building so they can have an outdoor experience while creating as well.

To the right of the building is an event park that is also open to the public through a side gate entrance where it can be utilized as an outdoor classroom, graduation space, concert area, play stage, meeting space, or any other need the community may need. (diagrammed on the left spread)

For the high school students wanted to create a lounge gallery for them. They can display their work created in the workshop throughout the path gallery with lounge bumpouts for them to chill out and congregate freely. (pictured below)

Plantings

TREES Common/Botanical Quantity Water Tolerance

AA Serviceberry / Amelanchier alnifolia 14Medium

BN Paper Birch Multi-Trunk / Betula papyfera 34Medium - High

QA White Oak / Quercus alba 7 Low - Medium

SHRUBS Common/Botanical Quantity Water Tolerance

HI Orange Beauty' Witch Hazel / Hamamelis intermed 15Medium

HV Common Witch Hazel / Hamamelis virginiana 82Medium

IV Winterberry / Ilex verticillata 32Medium - High

PERENNIALS Common/Botanical Quantity Water Tolerance

AH Arkansas Bluestar / Amsonia hubrichtii 107Medium

DE Fringed Bleeding Heart / Dicentra eximia 35Medium

MB Eastern Bee Balm / Monarda bradburiana 73 Very low - Medium

VV2 Culver's Root / Veronicastrum virginicum 130Medium

EP Pale Purple Coneflower / Echinacea pallida 197Medium

AM Common Yarrow / Achillea millefolium 3170.82 Low - Medium

AA2 Round-lobed Hepatica / Anemone americana 21638.16Medium

AI Swamp Milkweed / Asclepias incarnata 310.98Medium - High

CA Tall Bellflower / Campanula americana 1349.85Medium

EM Joe Pye Weed / Eupatorium maculatum 2466.31Medium - High

EJ Coastal Plain Joe Pye Weed /Eutrochium dubium877.68Medium - High

PM Blunt Mountainmint / Pycnanthemum muticum

RH Black-eyed Susan / Rudbeckia hirta

2114.77Medium

3515.81Medium

AP Northern Maidenhair Fern / Adiantum pedatum 225Medium - High

TC Foamflower / Tiarella cordifolia

4200.86Medium

GRASSES Common/Botanical Quantity Water Tolerance

SH Prairie Dropseed / Sporobolus heterolepis 2759.9 Low

PV Switch Grass / Panicum virgatum

1769 Low - High

ES Purple Lovegrass / Eragrostis spectabilis 1098 Very low - Medium

AS Little Bluestem / Andropogon scoparius 120 Low - Medium

When selecting my plants for this project was specifically mindful of choosing species that had fall, winter, and spring interest because that is when the site is most utilized. Most of the area deals with full sun for most of the day while the areas around the high school have full to partial shade. chose to use dense plantings as a way to mitigate for stormwater managment. The school’s greenspace is managed by the city so made sure to cluster the perennials together so they do not get confused as to what is a weed and what is intentionally there. Using only native species is something most landscape architects thrive to achieve and that is how approached my plant selection. Above is a diagram showing what species are blooming during what season so the students were able to see that is is not just spring and summer that produces beautifully interesting landscapes.

GLENMORE AVE S 66TH STREET

3. Physical Planting

Throughout my schooling I have been working as a fine gardener for two landscaping companies. The experience I learned by doing this is unparalled. It enabled me to consider qualities to my design that you cannot grasp through a screen. I have done all kinds of gardens such as traditional rose gardens, meadows, bog gardens, rain gardens, succulent rock gardens, and english gardens. Photographed are some of my favorite projects I have had the honor to work on.

Tulip Entry Driveway for the owners of Anthropologie

Residential garden in Bala Cynwad,PA

Guest house front garden

Terrace garden

Park in a Truck allows communities to better themselves and actually serves residents rather than displace them. The Park in a Truck program’s goal is to convert empty lots throughout the city into public parks designed and built by community members. My involvement in this project has included collaborating with Professor Kim Douglas on creating a toolkit so community members are able to use it as a step by step guide on how to create their own parks. have also helped out by personally building benches for the parks as well as attend working days where the members of the community come out and build the park. Graphics have been completed by myself, Darby Mann, Alexandra Zahn, and Loganne Caka.

Photogpraphed is a picture of Mantua Park, one of the first parks as part of the program

PHOTO CREDIT: KIM DOUGLAS

We have created step by step guides for the community so neighborhoods can create their own parks. From obtaining funds to pruning trees, all the information necessary to create a successful park is in this toolkit. My professor, KIm douglas, hopes one day that this toolkit is available at local libraries so any individual is able to access it and create an outdoor space for their neighborhood.

SANCTUARY THEME

MID-BLOCK LOT

VACANT LOT

Rectangular in shape and found in the middle of a residential block. May have buildings on each side and/or the end. The highest number of available ‘vacant’ lots in Philadelphia are this category. May have limitations for some park uses due to narrow width and/or lack of sunlight.

CORNER LOT

VACANT LOT

Rectangular in shape and found at the end of a residential block. May have buildings on the side and/or end. These lots offer high visibility and often have the most amount of sunlight.

BREEZEWAY/ALLEY EASEMENT

Identifiable by their long and very narrow shape, these locations often connect ‘across’ a block. Orginally set aside for pedestrian connections between streets and/or utility easements.

5. Flock Blocks

Stable Center

Utilizing Hestonville CDC’s lot, the stable center will become a community hub for Hestonville. It’s name is coined from the old building being a horse stable. This center offers indoor and outdoor meeting spaces, a bird sanctuary, a bird outlook, and additional parking for residents on Hunter St. The indoor buildings are composed of existing brick from the site, as it was a brickyard back in the 1940’s, and wooden trellis to provide screening for the building as well as habitat and food for wildlife.

For my studio project in spring of 2022, we were asked to pick a site in Hestonville, a southeast philadelphia neighborhood. We worked with the Hestonville CDC and learned that they were able to raise funds to get a park back almost a decade ago. On the opposite end of the block, between a sea of rowhomes and garages, there is an unused greenspace that the CDC just purchased. Across from that lot they are building an apartment building and most tenants in the neighborhood are single and/or not from the area originally. thought this would be the perfect space for a community center, considering there is a school less than a block away.

I wanted to be able to bring the parks together so would create a denser ecological habitat for this area considering most of the surrounding land is impervious and plantless. Upon site exploration, realized there was a unique opportunity to connect these parks together, as well as the people who reside in between them. “Bird Belts” would inhabit the unused green space in between the fences of properties and contain bird attracting plant species for food and habitat. The end of belt would spill out a meadow into each park.

EXISTING CONDITIONS

HESTONVILLE, PHILADELPHIA, PA

THE SITE IS LOCATED NEAR HESTON SCHOOL, BAKER PLAYGROUND AND RECREATION CENTER, HESTON PARK, AND A HISTORICAL HOME THIS AREA SELECTED IS AT THE END OF THE BLOCK IN HOPES OF GETTING CIRCULATION BY PEDESTRIANS. THERE IS AN OLD HORSE STABLE THAT ONCE OCCUPIED THE LAND THAT CAN BE RE-DESIGNED INTO AN INDOOR/OUTDOOR COMMUNITY CENTER.

WITH THE PROPOSAL OF A CORRIDOR THAT CONNECTS THE BACKYARDS FROM PARK TO PARK, THIIS GIVES WILDLIFE AND/ OR PEOPLE ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY TO EXPLORE THE NEIGHBORHOOD IN A SECLUDED WAY ONLY TO BE DIRECCTED TOWARDS COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND RECREATION. tHE ADDITION OF OLIVE PARK AND A COMMUNITY CENTER WHERE THERE IS OPEN LOTS WILL TIE THIS STREET TOGETHER IN A WAY THAT IS COHESIVE AND UNITED.

Birds of Philadelphia

Look Up!

Can you spot this bird?

I wanted the space to be able to be utilized for community members, as they have no formal meeting space. Using the old foundation of a horse stable adjacent to the unused green lot, created the “stable center” that has opportunity for indoor and outdoor meeting space both intimate and large scale. Another key aspect of the design was the ability to see the bird belt from above without disturbing the wild life. On the roof of the stable center I designed a bird observatory that had a bird blind, so humans would go undetected to the birds while watching them in their natural habitat.

My name is: Blue Jay

While Blue Jays eat mostly seeds, berries, and nuts, they occasionally enjoy eating insects as well. One of their favorite foods are acorns. Boy and girl blue jays look the same, unlike many other birds. These intelligent birds like to chatter a lot. They can imitate the sounds of predators, and otherwise, their sounds range from lovely chirps in the morning to loud and obnoxious squawks.

Blue Jay

American GoldfinchAmerican goldfinch American Robin Mourning Dove American Woodcock Northern Cardinal

European Starling Eastern Bluebird Bald Eagle Song Sparrow American Crow Gold-winged Warbler Winter Wren

Black-throated Warbler Barred Owl American Tree Sparrow Coopers Hawk American goldfinch Ceruelean Warbler Dark-eyed Junco

Birding signage placed throughout the park to engage visitors with the environment.

Shaded Courtyard

Enter the stable center and immediately escape the city noise and be greeted by the sound of running water from the fountain. Interlocking permeable pavers create a natural feel to the space by bring nature indoors. There is a interior dividing wall composed of Varia ‘Fray Blaze’ that mimics the essence of a tin roof while providing visibility between the rooms for large community events.

Outlook Observatory

Using the stairs on the side of the stable center, Hestonville residents can find themselves at the same level as the birds. Bird Blinds have trellis with small cutouts so toddlers, children, and adults can view adults in their natural environment undisturbed. The remainder of the roof is vegetated with wildflowers, grasses,and perennials providing habitat for wildlife.

FLOCK BLOCKS ARE MEANT TO ENGAGE AND REUNITE

NEIGHBORS INTO A MORE COHESIVE AND NURTURING ENVIRONMENT. PROVIDING THESE SPACES RIGHT AT THEIR DOORSTEP MAKES IT EASY AND SAFE TO INTERACT WITH THEIR SURROUNDINGS AND EACHOTHER.

Thank you for taking the time to explore my work. Working in landscape architecture helps create emotional and interactive environments and I hope to be a part of that creation process. I look forward to the future that prioritizes this thinking. If you have any questions after reviewing my work do not hesitate to reach out to me directly. Best,