Master of Landscape Architecture, University of Washington
Sarah M Chu | PORTFOLIO
Sarah Chu (she/her) is a Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA) student with an undergraduate background in cultural preservation and textile design, with a BA degree from the Rhode Island School of Design. Prior to graduate school, she spent five years organizing symposiums on historical textiles and craft in China and Mexico. This international work, particularly with supporting artisan communities, sparked her interest in the intersection of culture, communities, and landscapes, leading her to a career in landscape architecture. Sarah’s academic work includes rehabilitative design projects with incarcerated individuals, research on environmental racism in both Seattle’s South Park and Hunter’s Point in San Francisco, and the design of memorial sites addressing immigration and removal in Seattle’s historic Pioneer Square. She is actively engaged in student leadership, the department’s Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion committee, and EXTENTS, a student-led publication. Sarah is particularly interested in how landscape architecture can preserve culture, history, and bring forward lost narratives. Her research areas include landscape materials, landscape remediation, community engagement, educational design, and the creation of equitable public spaces.
01 | Slow Material Futures: Dismantling Landscapes of Industrialization
Location: South Park, Seattle, WA
Slow Material Futures reimagines a large parcel in South Seattle as a site which supports community-led ideas, environmental justice, and an equitable existence. The imagined Duwamish Valley Land Trust, represents shared community visions for an abandoned airfield, creating a partnership across organizations in South Seattle.
The site design is founded on three conceptual pillars: Community Imaginaries, which are future-shaping ideas and initiatives held by the local community; Ecological Interventions, involving plant processes to remediate, restore, and regenerate patches throughout the site; and Slow Production, which counters the fast pace of
rapid industrialization and technological innovations that to its present pollutive existence. By dismantling material components from the site’s former occupation of the aircraft industry, and recontextualizing them for community-centered programming, the space is reclaimed, reformed and revitalized.
01 | Slow Material Futures: Dismantling Landscapes of Industrialization
Location: South Park, Seattle, WA
02 | Memorial to Seattle’s Immigrant Histories
Location: Pioneer Square, Seattle, WA
The inspiration for this project draws from the collective experiences of the Asian, Pacific Islander, and Coast Salish peoples who labored in industries of imperial expansion in the late 1800s in Washington. Their narratives and experiences are often missing in the retelling of Seattle’s history and the state’s colonial settlement. The extractive material industries in which they worked, such as timber, coal, and railroads, demanded a transient existence, resulting in many of their experiences remaining unrecorded.
02 | Memorial to Seattle’s Immigrant Histories
The primary intention of the design is to provide a community-centered opportunity for creative expression. Lenticular panels act as canvases for local artists and organizations to paint or iterate specific visuals, fostering a sense of ownership and identity within the space. The ground plane consists of permeable pavers and gravel,
View facing North: Looking north, visitors see their reflections in the mirrored lenticular paneling. Historically, those living south of Yesler we ostracized from the upper white class community.The mirrored panels intentionally point south, reflecting the people of the surrounding community.
on season, color, light and shapes reveal and fade. The shadows cast are a metaphor for the transient existence of early migrant and Indigenous laborers.
and
Water captured can be used for street plantings. Bricks excavated and reused and gravel from surrounding construction excess.
Aggregate from ``surrounding construction
Foregrounding lost narratives
PAST NEW PERMEABLE BRICK AND GRAVEL PATHWAY provides improved infrastructure for pedestrians and stormwater capture. Water captured can be used for street plantings. Bricks excavated and reused and gravel from surrounding construction excess.
The GLASS CANOPY, inspired by historical and botanical motifs cast their shfiting shadows on those passing through. Depending on season, color, light and shapes reveal and fade. The shadows cast are a metaphor for the transient existence of early migrant and Indigenous laborers.
Incorporating present conditions FUTURE PRESENT
not only filtering stormwater but also symbolizing the deconstruction of the urban environment. Overhead coverings provide shelter from inclement weather while reflecting shapes and colors into the space during sunnier days, creating an ever-changing environment that interacts with seasonal shifts.
View at night: Pathways are lit up to make alleys more inviting and accessible for those working late shifts.
Bringing in community and culture
LENTICULAR PANELING provides space for local arts organizations and community groups to coordinate changing mural installations by different local artists (artwork featured by Stevie Shao)
The rhododendron is a species of ornamental flower commonly found throughout Washington. While the Pacific rhododendron is native to WA state, there are many varieties found here which are native to countries such as Japan, China and the Philippines. While the rose is historically an ornamental motif of imperial gardens, the nootka rose is used for medicine, food and ceremony in many indigenous cultures.
The rhododendron is a species of ornamental flower commonly found throughout Washington. While the Pacific rhododendron is native to WA state, there are many varieties found here which are native to countries such as Japan, China and the Philippines. While the rose is historically an ornamental motif of imperial gardens, the nootka rose is used for medicine, food and ceremony in many indigenous cultures.
MOTIFS OF EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRY MOTIFS OF ORNAMENTAL FLOWERS OF SIGNIFICANCE Western Red Cedar (Thuja plicata)
Sphagnum Moss
Artists Mural (ex. Stevie Shao)
Mirrored Paneling Brick excavated from site
Hops (Humulus lupulus)
Coal Timber Railroad
Nootka Rose cəkapaʔ (Lutshootseed)
Rhododendrons
MOTIFS OF EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRY MOTIFS OF ORNAMENTAL FLOWERS OF SIGNIFICANCE
Western Red Cedar (Thuja plicata)
Sphagnum Moss
Artists Mural (ex. Stevie Shao)
03 | Nurturing Transitions: Rehabilitation Through Design
Location: Washington Corrections Center for Women, Gig Harbor, WA
This project centered on designing outdoor spaces for incarcerated individuals at the Washington Correctional Center for Women. Collaborating directly with residents, our team facilitated group discussions to envision and design more supportive outdoor environments. Our design integrated principles of attention restoration therapy, offering residents diverse spatial opportunities to enhance focus and agency. This specific design is intended for the maximum security unit, ensuring essential features like shade, improved pathways, seating, and adaptable areas for socializing, solitary reflection, and spiritual engagement. The site design is a gradient of passive and active opportunities for residents. Given the limited free time allotted to maximum security residents, we prioritized creating an interpretive and adaptable biophilic environment. Key features included sensory gardens, open activity areas, water features, and habitats for local wildlife.
FASCINATION
GROUP GATHERING AREAS
Watch wildlife and enjoy the sounds of rippling water
Active space for social engagement
Feel away by experiencing enclosure
03 | Nurturing Transitions: Rehabilitation Through Design
Individual seating and design elements incorporated material reuse and opportunities for engagement with other programs at WCCW. Raised beds decorated with mosaics in partnership with the arts program gives residents more opportunities for ownership and shared responsibility with growing edible and medicinal plants. Modular benches made from dead trees on site give flexible use opportunities for residents looking for exercise activities.
feature: bird habitat and recycled concrete fountain promoting material reuse on site
feature: modular interpretive workout bench and concrete gabions made from cut trees on site and construction waste
feature: commmunity designed and made mosaic concrete planters
04 | Community Activism and Shoreline Development in Hunter’s Point
Location: San Francisco, CA
The San Francisco Bay shoreline is a network of trails and parks, many of which are being redeveloped due to sea level rise from climate change and the “Blue Greenway” initiative. The parks in South San Francisco, particularly the Hunter’s Point neighborhood, are at the center of these developments. Hunter’s Point has long suffered from industrial and military pollution.
This project visualizes Hunter’s Point by mapping its legacy of environmental racism, while also highlighting its history of community and environmental activism. It emphasizes the significant community input incorporated into large-scale park projects, such as the redesign of the PG&E Substation and India Basin Shoreline Park.
The mapping raises questions about how community engagement is both utilized and overlooked in the design process, and how it is rarely shared across design partners working on adjacent projects.
Sarah Chu | Master of Landscape Architecture, University of Washington
Sarah Chu | Master of Landscape Architecture, University of Washington
04 | Community Activism and Shoreline Development in Hunter’s Point
Location: San Francisco, CA
This graphic maps all shoreline parks and ongoing park developments along the San Francisco Bay, highlighting their respective municipal, governmental, and private owners, partners, and contractors.
My goal was to visualize the relationship between community demands, engagement, and community-led design, while gaining a deeper understanding of the complexity of adjacent city-scale projects developed by a network of firms and partners, all engaging with the same community.
05 | Migrating Mosaics: Climate Adaptive Plant Communities at Pioneer Park
Location: San Francisco, CA
The Design Futurist Students Award tasked students with reimagining the landscape of Pioneer Park surrounding the historic Coit Tower in San Francisco. Our design centered around themes of biodiversity, drought and fire resilience, climate adaptation and therapeutic design. Amidst a changing climate, we focused on incorporating
three ecotypes into our planting proposal - oak woodland, California grasslands, and chaparral - our design mirrors a mosaic supporting diverse flora and fauna. Including native species like coast live oak, goldenrod, and manzanita as keystone organisms, our design fosters learning and engagement with biodiversity and drought resilience.
Embracing an experimental approach, we include species from as far south as Baja, adapting to shifting environmental conditions. Our planting design bridges the past and future, showcasing California’s ecological heritage while envisioning healthier landscapes for generations to come.
06 | Quilted Ecologies: Increasing Biodiversity at Union Bay Natural Area
Location: Union Bay Natural Area, Seattle, WA
UBNA Boundary
Side Sewers
Buildings
10 ft. Contours
Existing Paths
Water
Non-Palustrine
Palustrine Forested
Palustrine Riparian
Palustrine Emergent
Palustrine Aquatic
This collaborative project addressed the lack of biodiversity, connectivity, and shoreline habitat at Union Bay Natural Area by supporting four different threatened or endangered species and introducing climate migratory plants. Formerly a landfill and now a restoration area, Union Bay Natural Area plays a vital role in providing a
variety of palustrine wetlands. Our design interventions aimed to mitigate the effects of climate change, such as more intense, shorter rain periods and drought conditions, through connectivity, expansion, and buffering, with the goal of enhancing current biodiversity. Inspired by Richard Forman’s ecological theories on patch shapes, and
precedents such as Magnuson Park, we explored how form can encourage interior and exterior forces or processes to promote ecological diversity. Introducing climate migratory plantings along edges of ecotones, creates more adaptive habitats for the endangered species we sought to support.
| Quilted Ecologies: Increasing Biodiversity at Union Bay Natural Area
EMERGENT
3-10 YEARS
western red cedar
ponderosa pine
pacific willow tufted hairgrass red osier dogwood
western red cedar douglas fir skunk cabbage
WATER LINE
LANDFILL
beaked sedge
daggerleaf yellow iris canary reed
himalayan blackberry
scotch broom red flowering currant cooley’s hedge
07 | Utilizing Design for Community Equity and Engagement
Work for Just Circular Communities Collaborative, a collaborative organization focused on regenerative and circular economies lead by the University of Washington College of the Built Environments, in partnership with the Duwamish Valley Sustainability Association.
08 | Textile Design: Experimental
A showcase of previous explorations in textiles, and translations from hand to fabric through digital manipulation. Images on left portray Jacquard weavings created on a TC-2 loom, translating ink drawings into pixel and then into computer code, created at the Jacquard Center in Hendersonville, NC. Images on right are handwoven, natural dyed pieces created at the Iceland Textile Center.
08 | Textile Design: Commercial
Brand visioning and print design for Nordstrom Product Group’s Young Adult brand, B.P. From left to right: Original designs and campaign shots for Nordstrom BP. x WildFang, original designs and campaign shots for Nordstrom BP. Be Proud Pride Campaign, and textile designs and product shots for B.P. Spring 2020.
