Design Portfolio 2023

Wangkyu Kim

Design Portfolio

As much as we shape our space, our spaces shape us. It is our job as designers and site planners to create experiences, evoke emotions, and generate genuine interactions through our designs. With looming challenges of climate change and ever growing cities, the need for smarter, efficient, and dynamic designs has never been more pronounced.

Our roles should not only allow the creation of aesthetic spaces and comprehensive plans, but should be a result of collaboration, effective communication with clients, users, and related professional fields to create sustainable, relevant, and practical design for our evolving urban spaces.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA (Planning and Urban Design)

Seoul, South Korea (Corporate Landscape Design)

Greenwich, Connecticut (Complex Residential Design)

professional work samples

Professional Work

looney ricks kiss 01

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA

Looney Ricks Kiss is an Architecture and Planning Firm with 8 offices across the United States. The firm covers a wide scope of projects spanning across the fields of Architecture, Planning, and Interior Design.

Projects in the Philadelphia office spanned a wide scope of work which included site planning and layout, site framework planning, spatial demographic data analysis, parking density calculations, and graphic rendering.

Sketch Perspective Renders

Sketch Perspective Renders

LRK 2021 Summer Internship Project - Philadelphia Streeteries

In collaboration with Richard Sodeinde (B.Arch Candidate, Penn State)

Following the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, Philadelphia responded to the struggling restaurant industry by allowing the establishment of “Streeteries” (Street + Eateries). The LRK Intern team in collaboration with Design Advocacy Group of Philadelphia created a best practice guidelines document and website that would aid restaurant owners navigate city regulations and design their own streeteries.

Guideline Diagrams

Professional Work

solto landscape architecture 02

Seoul, South Korea

Solto Landscape Architecture is a Corporate Landscape Design firm based in Seoul, South Korea. The office specializes in designing greenspaces at varying scales within highly urbanized sites in Seoul and throughout the country.

The office is responsible for landscapes in high profile projects such as Naver Headquarters & Green Factory, Yeongdeungpo Times Square, and Gangbuk Samsung Hospital.

Work in the office consisted of permitting, site spatial design, participation in design competitions, design bidding for Local Projects , as well as design development and construction documentation for International Projects in China and Vietnam.

Masterplan Render

Design Intent

This Healthcare facility located in China was a project in collaboration with South Korean architects. The site proved to be a challenge for the landscape as there was limited square footage for spatial design due to a canal system running throughout the site.

Considerations to patient and pedestrian accessibility as well as pathways to encourage pedestrian circulation throughout the site was a crucial factor in determining the overall spatial design.

Personal Scope of Work

Personal scope of work included working with lead landscape architect on spatial design of riverfront paths, site furnishings, rooftop spatial design elements and planting research and design. Additionally was tasked with masterplan rendering, relevant diagrams and sketches, and assistance with lumion renders.

Landscape Spatial Studies

International Healthcare Landscape Healthcare Landscape Masterplan Design: Eastern China

Lumion

(Landscape Elements): Phase 1 Rooftop

Lumion

(Landscape Elements) Main Entry

Render

Render

Lumion Render (Landscape Elements): Public Park

Lumion Render (Landscape Elements): Central Rooftop Garden

Corporate landscape: Songdo Oasis Plaza

Landscape Bidding Project

Conceptual Plan

Design Intent

The site, located in the new landfill extension of Songdo City, South Korea is to be home to the headquarters of a chemical research and development facility. Site constraints such as low soil nutrition, rooftop greenspace requirements, and high winds

informed a design based on landscape mounds and a central plaza park surrounded by green terraces.

Concept Diagrams

Professional Work

Doyle Herman design associates 03

Greenwich, Connecticut, USA

Professional Work Samples

Doyle Herman Design Associates is a Residential Design-Build firm located in Greenwich, Connecticut. The office offers complex residential design solutions for clients across the United States and internationally. Designs combine local context, client demand, and sustainability in design, for all phases of design starting from site preparation to site furnishings resulting in a comprehensive and unique design for the client.

Work in the office covered all steps of the design process, starting from conceptual design, and ending with project administration, site maintenance, and additional site furnishings per client demand.

Private Residence: Scope - Plan Render

Private Residence: Scope - Plan Render

academic work samples

Academic project: University of Pennsyvlania | MCP

League island north

Neighborhood site design

Collaborative Group Project: David Kim (MCP - Urban Design a & Helen Lea MCP - Urban Design)

League Island North is an imagined new neighborhood in Philadelphia .Located on the site of the current South Philadelphia Stadium District, this project tasked us with planning and designing a neighborhood with housing density, aesthetics, sustainability, and programming in mind.

Program Diagrams

league island north

Academic project: Pennsylvania State University | BLA

der neue schlatthof

Connecting Weststadt to Bonn: Bonn, Germany

Collaborative Group Project: Penn State Landscape Architecture & Texas A&M Urban Planning)

Project Duration: 1 Semester

The city of Bonn, Germany is located in the North Rhine Westphalia region of Germany. As the former capital of Western Germany, the city retains its identity of a small, yet culturally and historically rich city.

However, with recent developments and expansion projects to the city, a disconnect has been formed between the Northern part of the city and the Western part of the city, this project aims to form a connection through urban planning and landscape design to revitalize the industrial Weststadt, repairing and unifying the identity of the city once more.

Personal Scope of Work

Personal scope of work included on-site research, corresponding with locals for feasible amenities, digital site mapping, masterplan drawings and renderings. Collaboration with Texas A&M Urban planning students included housing-type research, site access routes, and placement of high-density community housing.

Site Location

Site Extents

Site Existing Greenspaces

Existing Conditions

The presence of existing rails allows for the proposed design to utilize these site elements to integrate pedestrian circulation and bike paths that lead to and from Central Bonn.

LEGEND:

Site Program

Site Program

Three main areas serve the site: a semi-public housing complex, a central public community space, and a transitional greenway/buffer.

These spaces address the need for affordable high density housing apartments near Bonn’s city center in addition to providing green spaces and a plaza for passive and active recreation for residents and visitors alike.

1. Community Plaza

2. Community Center

3. Residential Apartments

4. Greenway Buffer/Bike Path

5. Community Park/Dog Park

Masterplan Render

Bicyclecirculation

Pedestriancirculation

Design Intent

With relatively little grade change throughout the existing site, the proposed masterplan calls for open spaces between buildings to maximize open plaza spaces and encourage gatherings and pedestrian activities.

Pedestrian/Bike Circulation Path Detail Plan

Academic project: Pennsylvania State University | BLA

Muncy Center for Resiliency 03

Designing a Resilient Town Center: Muncy, Pennsylvania

Collaborate Group Project: Architecture, Landscape Architecture, & Architectural Engineering students

Project Duration: 1 Semester

The town of Muncy, PA has historically been faced with frequent floods in the region. Flooding of the adjacent West Branch of the Susquehanna River and Muncy Creek in the past resulted in large amounts of damage to the infrastructure of the town as well as private homes and property.

As a team of architecture, landscape architecture and architectural engineering students, we were tasked with building a center for resiliency that would serve as a town center as well as a shelter in times of serious flooding in the area. The adjacent abandoned warehouse district was also prompted for a redesign to better fit the needs of the town.

Personal Scope of Work

Personal scope of work included general site plan drawings and renderings for both The Resiliency Center and Mill Street warehouse complex in addition to on-site research, collaborative work with the architectural and civil engineering students for feasibility for drainage and landscape features.

Muncy, PA

In order to take full advantage of the relatively small plaza footprint in the interior of the architecture, a plaza with elements such as permeable paving, stormwater basins and flood tolerant seasonal plantings allows for visual interest and sustainability.

Site Plan: The Resiliency Center

Interior Courtyard Render

Interior Plaza

The planting design for the Muncy Resiliency Center utilizes mostly native plant species. Planters in the central plaza can be swapped out with different plants depending on the planting season.

Considerations to the building foundation prevents the planting of larger tree species, while shade tolerant species are favored due to the relatively high profile of the architecture.

Planting Diagram

The Resiliency Center Planting Plan

Planting Design

Mill Street Warehouse Complex

In addition to The Resiliency Center, a nearby disused warehouse complex was designed and revitalized into a community center and park area for the residents of Muncy.

The site features indoor community recreational facilities as well as event lawns and sports courts for active recreation for residents. Due to the tendency of the site to floor due to its low elevation, a central bioswale is established to direct stormwater drainage off site.

Masterplan: Mill Street Warehouse Complex

Site Perspective: Mill Street Warehouse Reclamation District

Event Space

Muncy Park

Main Entry

Recreation Center

MainParking