Aidan Acker Portfolio

AIDAN ACKERAcademic and professional work in landscape architecture and digital environment design

MIT Campus, Cambridge, MA

“Context Informs Form” is a site based design studio exploring the relationship between modern landscape design and

MIT Campus Phase 1: Master Plan

space; removal of an unused median along Memorial Drive to the south allows new green space to be created in front

EXISTING VEGETATION

CLIMATE ANALYSIS

SITE COMPONENT STRATEGY

Site Design, MIT Kresge Auditorium + Chapel

Site Design, MIT Simmons Hall Plaza

Site Design, Baker House Yard

Site Furnishing Design, Lighted Bench + Illuminated Bike Rack

Animation Study: Parametric Point Distortion

Dynamic Component Modeling

part 1

Modeling Form Within an Environment: Sketch to Render

FORESTED WETLAND

WET MEADOW

SHORT GRASSLAND

TALL GRASSLAND

CONSTRUCTED WATER BODY

UNFORESTED WETLAND

WETLAND EXPANSION AREA

RUNWAY

BIOREMEDIATION

PHYTOREMEDIATION

EXISTING BUILDINGS

ROADS

WALKING/BIKING PATHS

Site Plan 2020

500m

(FLOATING WETLAND)

1m CONTOUR INTERVAL

500m ROWING COURSE

SPECTATOR AREA/FINISH TOWER

FIELD HOUSE

SKATEBOARD PARK

TENNIS/BASKETBALL COURT

PARKING LOT/BEGINNER CYCLING TRAINING AREA

400m RUNNING TRACK

250m VELODROME

MOUNTAIN BIKE/ALPINE SKI TRAINING HILL

PRACTICE TENNIS COURTS

PRACTICE BASKETBALL COURT

BASEBALL/SOCCER FIELD

COMMUNITY ATHLETIC COURTS

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CD

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SITE ELEMENTS

FACILITIES

12%

8%4%

Existing Stormwater ManagementAquifers (USGS 2005) Vernal Pools (USGS 2005)

Wetlands

Detention basinsMedium yield: 100-300gpm

High yield: >300gpm

Potential vernal pools

NHESP certified vernal pools

GSD 1211: Hydrology AnalysisA watershed or basin is an extent of land where water from rain or snow melt drains downhill into a body of water, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea or ocean. Our site lies within the Coastal Mega Basin which drains to the Atlantic Ocean. Within the Coastal Mega Basin, the former naval base is located on the boundary of two major watersheds: Boston Harbor and South Coastal. Within the Boston Harbor watershed, our site lies within the Weir subwatershed draining to Weymouth Back River, which flows to Hingham Bay and then into the Boston Harbor.

GSD 1211: BiosystemsThe majority of the site is characterized by generally flat, slightly rolling terrain including bedrock outcrops, wetlands, waterways, excavated depressions, and developed areas.

Design Thesis in Landscape Architecture

Siting

Network Diagrams

Design Thesis: Tracing Network Traffic Routes

Design Thesis: Data Storage Hydro-Landscape

Design Thesis: Site Operations

Access roads

Design Thesis: Infrastructure

Study of disturbance effect on native bird habitat Visual projection of disturbance effect on native plant species population over a 10-year periodAvian migratory path

Design Thesis: Site Ecology

server infrastructure; the infrastructure

is routed through the landscape to the

both as retention basins to aid in slowing

water underneath the server infrastructure creates a natural cooling environment for

necessary to accommodate the growth

the infrastructure and the surrounding

cooling microclimate for the server

Design Thesis: Data Storage Site Infrastructure Landscape Elements

Design Thesis: Data Storage Site Experience

Design Thesis: Data Storage Site Context

Harvard Graduate School of Design Group Exhibition: Digital Terrain

ABU DHABI PAVILION, UAE, GROUND LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE PRIVATE RESIDENCE, ALAJUELA, COSTA RICAABU DHABI PAVILION, UAE, GROUND LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE PRIVATE RESIDENCE, ALAJUELA, COSTA RICA

Illustration and Photography

Illustration and Photography