Master of Landscape ArchitectureFall 2022 - Spring 2025
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
zasolorza@cpp.edu (626) 422-5761
www.linkedin.com/in/zachary-solorza-8648592a8
Hydropath Playground
Schoolyard Greening
Rifugio Della Comunità
Community Park
Once Upon a Tree in Los Angeles-Phase I
Research and Analysis
Baldwin Hills Elementary School (BHES) and its adjacent neighborhood were the site of a greening project focused on supporting a culture of community by providing spaces centered around stormwater management, nature based play, and outdoor learning.
Supported by co-analysis and co-design outreach effortswith students, our design was centered on transforming an asphalt schoolyard into a restorative environment emphasizing the importance of watershed restoration for supporting healthy ecosystems, which in turn provide opportunities for the community to play and learn in a natural setting.
2024: Year 2/Semester 2
Rec Center
Metro E Line
Circulation
Rec Center Pedestrian Trail
Campus Circulation
Drop off/Pick up Residential Street Network
Obama Blvd
There was an inherent need for shade and natural environments in the school yard. We identified opportunities to achieve this by introducing nature-based stormwater management and creating access to the recreation center.
Student Collage and Charette
Place to Celebrate
Most in Need of Improvement
A place to be with friends
Rendering Created by Nicole Lee
The reorganization of bungalow classrooms allowed us to create a natural path that make up the nature-based playground. A bioswale begins at the front of the amphitheater, runs through the playground hills, and ends at a detention basin.
New Bioswales in the Baldwin Hills Recreation Center
Remodeled Sports Complex w/Shade Trees, Seating, & Grass Field
Relocated Faculty and Staff Parking
Nature Based Playground
School Garden and Orchard
Expanded Kinder Zone
Green Classroom Corridors w/Planters
Riparian Zone
Neighborhood Bioswales
(See Title Page)
Additional planter space and a conversion to a coastal sage scrub plant palette provides habitat creating a restorative outdoor view from the classrooms. The space functions as an adjacent outdoor classroom and area for respite. An estimated 380 gallons of roof runoff is collected in underground cisterns and reused to irrigate the new plantings.
Bioswales containing riparian plants native to the Baldwin Hills area were implemented at low points in the topography around an existing walking path. Capturing, filtering, and collecting an annual estimate of 783 gallons of stormwater in underground cisterns under the parking lot are a priority.
Coastal Sage Scrub
Common Name Botanical NameWaterFlowerBenefit
Trees
California Black Walnut
Juglans californica
Coast Live Oak
Quercus agrifolia
Shrubs
Toyon
Coyote Bush
Black Sage
California Buckwheat
Bush Sunflower
California Sagebrush
Perennials
Common Yarrow
California Fuchsia
Showy Penstemon
Heteromeles arbutifolia
Baccharis pilularis
Salvia mellifera
Eriogonum fasciculatum
Encelia californica
Penstemon spectabilis
Artemisia californica
Spring-Winter
Spring
Summer
Summer-Winter
Spring-Summer
Spring
Winter-Spring
Winter-Spring
Achillea millefolium
Epilobium canum
Penstemon spectabilis
Spring
Summer-Fall
Spring-Summer
Diplacus aurantiacus
mellifera
Baccharis pilularis Heteromeles arbutifolia
Native Riparian Community
Common Name Botanical
Shrubs
California Blackberry
California Wildrose
Golden Currant Rubus ursinus
Rosa californica
Ribes aureum
Perennials
California Hedgenettle
Narrow Leaf Milkweed
Scarlet Monkeyflower
Stachys bullata Winter-Spring
Asclepias fascicularis
Erythranthe cardinalis
Western Goldenrod Euthamia occidentalis Summer-Fall
Grasses
Clustered Field Sedge
Spiny Rush Juncus acutus
Valley Sedge
Carex praegracilis N/A
Hydropath Playground
Carex Barbarae Summer
Carex praegracilis
Carex Barbarae
Asclepias fascicularis
Erythranthe cardinalis
Fiorentino, Province of Arezzo, Italy
Designers: Zachary Solorza, Fransisco Ojeda
2023: Year 2/Semester 1
Our goal was to transform an underutilized green space in Castiglion Fiorentino (CF) into a vibrant and sustainable community park that harmonizes with its surroundings, prioritizes pedestrian connectivity, and fosters vibrant community programming connecting the street and space to the community church creating one cohesive area for leisure and gathering. The street and open space will provide essential connectivity and serve as an exemplary model for future green space growth that celebrates the natural and cultural heritage of the area.
Land Uses and Connectivity
• An opportunity was present for the existing church where many locals gather already for religious service to be the primary connector between the public space and community.
Urban Green Areas
• Not publicly accessible.
Vacant farmland.
The site provided an attractive view of the main town of CF for connection between the rural and urban context of the city.
A B Multi-purpose Plaza Space w/ Tilia Shade Trees
Sangiovese Wine Grape Vineyard
C D Production Olive Grove & Picnic Area
Via della Cassina Shared Street
E Stone Bench Seating Oriented Towards Urban CF and the Apennine Mountains
Sangiovese grapes and olive trees are commonly grown in the Tuscany region and are a point of pride among locals. The cultivation of these plants in the space enhances the agritourism experience.
Sangiovese Grapes Vitis vinifera ‘Sangiovese’
The Tilia trees throughout the site match up with the Tilia trees at the entrance of the church across the street, creating a flow of plant material from one side of the street to the other.
Continuing the paving material from the church into the street Via della Cassina and park provides the opportunity for a shared street to be implemented where drivers are cautious of their surroundings.
Sangiovese Grapes
Vitis vinifera ‘Sangiovese’
The intent of this MLA Capstone project is to apply systems thinking, utilizing planning and design to enhance the urban forest in the City of Los Angeles through canopy cover expansion and species diversification in areas that lack the capacity for climate resilience. This initial research phase of a year-long project involved a multi-scalar assessment of current urban forest conditions within the City of Los Angeles. This data was incorporated into a vulnerability model along with other critical social, environmental, and physical factors to determine communities in need at the census tract and neighborhood level.
es, CA
Los Angeles, CA
2024: Year 3/Semester 1
Once Upon a Tree in
Stakeholder Diagram
Primary Partners Local Partner Research Support Community Engagement Support
Our priority was to focus on the most urbanized areas within the City of Los Angeles. Where years of disinvesment has impacted public health and climate vulnerability
Average Canopy Coverage
Los Angeles Average: 20.28%
National Average: 39.6%
Lagerstroemia indica (6.46%)
Washingtonia robusta (6.06%)
Magnolia grandiflora (4.17%)
Jacaranda mimosifolia (3.89%)
Quercus agrifolia (3.83%)
Syagrus romanzoffiana (3.55%)
Liquidambar styraciflua (3.30%)
Ficus microcarpa (3.26%)
Platanus x hispanica (2.70%)
Pinus canariensis (2.89%)
Other (60.16%)
Lagerstroemia (6.84%)
Washingtonia (6.53%)
Ficus (5.66%)
Quercus (4.78%)
Pinus (4.45%)
Platanus (4.40%)
Magnolia (4.25%)
Jacaranda (3.89%)
Syagrus (3.55%)
Liquidambar (3.32%)
Other (52.33%)
Neighborhood-Vermont Vista
Percent Canopy Cover
CalEnviro-Asthma Percent Poverty
Percent Non-White
Percent Occupied Units w No Vehicle