Sophia Geller | Portfolio

Sophia GellerMaster of Landscape Architecture 2017Harvard University Graduate School of Design

[email protected]

Sophia GellerMaster of Landscape Architecture candidate, Class of 2017Harvard University Graduate School of Design

ad: 221 Winchester St. Brookline, MA 02446tel: 617-721-8984email: [email protected]

EducationSmith College Northampton, MA BA, Studio Art and Landscape Studies, GPA 3.64 Class of 2013

University of Groningen Groningen, the Netherlands CIEE summer course: Summer 2012 “Society, Environment, Transportation and Space”

Activities and AwardsLE:NOTRE Landscape Forum 2016 prize recipiant Paphos, Cyprus 2nd prize, international student design competition March 2016 “Rural Change” workshop participant

GSD Student Events Coordinator Cambridge, MA Responsible for our Friday evening school-wide gatherings 2015-2016 Entertainment, food, drink, collaboration with student orgs.

Center for Creative Solutions 2013 Workshop Londonderry, VT “After the Flood” workshop participant Aug. 2013 Strategies for community building and flood mitigation

Fabos Conference on Landscape and Greenway Planning Amherst, MA Paper finalist and conference presenter April 2013 In collaboration with the Mill River Greenway Initiative

Smith College Landscape Studies Prize recipient Northampton, MA For work at the Fabos Conference May 2013

MacLeish Field Station, Smith College Whately, MA Designed the main wooded trail of the 240 acre property 2012-2013 Orchard planting, maple sugaring, tours

Smith College Equestrian Team Captain Northampton, MA

Team preparation, organization, and strategy 2011-2012

SkillsComupter program proficiency:

AutoCAD, Rhino, Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign Adobe AfterEffects, Grasshopper, ArcMap 3DS Max

Analog skills: Drawing, painting, photography, installations, and modeling.

Foreign language proficiency: French Dutch

Work ExperienceLoeb Design Library, Harvard Graduate School of Design Cambridge, MA Student library assistant 2014 to present Reference: Bob Angilly [email protected] (617) 495-8940

Reykjavik Art Museum Reykjavik, Iceland Richard Serra “Afangar” exhibition volunteer August 2015 Research, tours, youth programming Reference: Hafthor Yngvason [email protected]

Triangle P Cattle Ranch Ruidoso, NM Cattle moving and care, land and property maintenance May-June 2015 Reference: Laura Jean Schneider [email protected] (406) 425-3411

Stantec Consulting, Ltd. Boston, MA Marketing Intern Feb. 2013 - Aug.2014 Satements of Qualifacation, project proposals, and promotional material production Reference: Michael Favaloro [email protected] (860) 948-1628

Contents

CompetitionsPlay You, Play Me

Studio ProjectsBoston Seaport DistrictFranklin Park

ResearchQuadrant 23A Hertzian Space

LE:NOTRE Landscape Forum 2016

Boston CommonsCity Studies

Declination 34.90

12

38

20

40

06

24

46

30

02

Competitions 02 - 09

Play You, Play MeAn interactive acoustic fieldSubmission for the 2016 Radcliffe Institute Public Art Competition.

A grove of networked copper poles turns the Radcliffe Yard into a sensitive, interactive field; a site-scale musical instrument that responds to human touch. A programmable electronic interface assigns notes, scales, and chords to the range of poles across the site, which need no more than a fingertip to trigger sound. The grove invites one to wander in and amongst the poles, touching, listening and making as you go.

02 | Sophia Geller

Competitions | 03

04 | Sophia Geller

The circuitryEach copper pole acts as a capacitive sensor, detecting the electrical currents of the human body. When contact is made, our bodies send electrical signals through the pole, which an Arduino system converts into code, a digital signal that means “play.” This information is then sent as an audio signal, producing sound from one of eight discreetly placed speakers. Each copper pole thus produces various specifically programmed notes and tones, inviting the visitor to move from pole to pole and back again, creating an improvised and immersive sound experience.

Right: Images from our test studies

Competitions | 05

Sophia Geller

An overarching plan for the village of Arodes and its greater regional context of the Akamas

Peninsula in Cyprus. The project moves through three scales to address economic, ecological and

social improvement in this shrinking village.

Our final project outlines a revitilization of the rich agricultural heritage of Arodes to promote

sustainable co-op farming practices and the production of local food and goods. Our

strategies implement reforestation and rotational grazing to reverse the processes of erosion and

desertification, and employs a phased growth strategy to merge together the segregated upper

and lower village sectors.

LE:NOTRE Landscape Forum 2016International Student Competition

Awarded Second PrizeTeammate: Philippe Allignet, Ecole de la Nature et du Paysage, Blois, France

Phased growth for village connectivity

Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

Phase 4

Phase 5

Community market space

Community park space

06 | Sophia Geller

Local transformation and sales

Common laboratoryFrom field to kitchen, a community space for the production of traditional foodstuffs

Extended land uses

Orchard

Field

Vineyard

Reforestation

Local organic production

VineyardsArodes is on theCypriot Wine Route.Retore traditionalwine economy

PasturesMimic natural processes,Manage extensive grazing techniques

OrchardsExtend existing production,Develope local production,

Dams and canalsExtend existing network, collect rain water, irrigate

Independent markets, restaurants, shopsSelling points and public spaces for the sales of locally produced goods

Territorial-scale plan adressing road systems, eco and agro-tourism networks and services, and restorative land-use patterns

Competitions | 07

FieldsImplememt restorativeagricultiral practices and grow climate-tolerant species

FieldsExistingwalls Orchards Urban space

Reinterpreting the productive orchard

Mixed-species plots planted in a staggered arrangement, offset by low planting beds as pathway transitions to main terrace

Moment for rest - an open clearing within one of the classically grided orchard plots

Transition through shrub plant-ings between open grove below public plaza into a tightly grid-ed orchard plot

A shift in scaleAt the detail scale the competiton brief asked for the design of a stargazing park. Our response was to create a sequential experience from the main market square through a series of public groves and orchards to the main terrace, where one can walk along or descend down a monumental wall made of local limestone. The orchards act as both transitional space and light buffer, insuring a secluded experience on the main stargazing platforms while reinforcing the agricultural character of Arodes.

08 | Sophia Geller

Concept sketches

Left: Main terrace wall and pathwayRight: Seating studiesOpposite: Orchard agacencies

Competitions | 09

Studio Projects 12 - 35

Boston Seaport DistrictLandscape Architecture I Core StudioFall 2014

Design strategies for a public plaza that embraces adjacency to water and the reality of inundation, from daily tidal changes to storm events, flooding, and sea-level rise. The design process began by reconfigurin g both formally and conceptually an assigned precedent,The Edge in Brooklyn, New York, in order to promote connection between civic life and coastal conditions.

Below and right: investigations of the surface qualities of water as influenced by different barriers and edge conditions

Group drawing60x60 in.

Sophia GellerAnnie Liang

Louise RolandAccumulation studies

12 | Sophia Geller

“La Linea”1994 Italian cartoon

...paved/illuminated water channel

...cast concrete bench

...steps

...sloped concrete surface

Line as...Lines - few or many, purposeful or arbitrary, real or percieved - are the very definition of edge conditions, and so they form the structure of the plaza, manifesting as different construction elements as they traverse the site from street

...sea wall

...sloped concrete surface

...granite paver

Plan iterations

AA

Studio Projects | 13

Central PlazaApril 15, 20152:58 pm - just before high tide

Central PlazaApril 15, 20153:07pm - high tide

Section cut, north-southLow, mean, and high tides

Central PlazaApril 15, 20159:42pm - mean tide level

14 | Sophia Geller


16 | Sophia Geller

Serial sectionsPlanting scheme explored

Site conditions most pertinent to species selection:

Salt sprayWind exposureIndundationUrban stressors

Zelkova serrata

Ginkgo biloba

Amalanchier canadensis

Solidago sempervirens

Erioforum angustifolium

Spartina patens


18 | Sophia Geller


Boston CommonsLandscape Architecture II Core Studio Spring 2015

A two-week exercise to examine conditions of topography and canopy in the historic Boston Commons. Designing in section was emphasized as we explored the task of inserting new design elements into an existing site.

My final design proposed the insertion of two new species, Styphnolobium japonicum and Fagus grandifolia, using the new trees as registers of both topography and old-growth canopy.

20 | Sophia Geller


45

A

A

AA

40

Fagus grandifolia

Existing trees Acer platinoides Fraxinus pennsylvanica Liquidambar styraciflua Styphnolobium japonicum Tila Vulgaris Ulmus parvifolia Zelkova serrata

40

0 30 60 ft.

15

Scale 1” = 15’Detail Planting PlanFagus grandifolia grid implementationBoston Commons

Section PerspectiveFagus grandifolia grid implementationBoston Commons

Sophia Geller

45

A

A

AA

40

Fagus grandifolia

Existing trees Acer platinoides Fraxinus pennsylvanica Liquidambar styraciflua Styphnolobium japonicum Tila Vulgaris Ulmus parvifolia Zelkova serrata

40

0 30 60 ft.

15

Scale 1” = 15’Detail Planting PlanFagus grandifolia grid implementationBoston Commons

Section PerspectiveFagus grandifolia grid implementationBoston Commons

Sophia Geller

Study model, ridgeline pathExisting trees Introduced Styphnolobium japonicum

Study model, planted slope - view uphillExisting trees Introduced Fagus grandifolia grid

Study model, planted slope - aerial viewExisting trees Introduced Fagus grandifolia grid

22 | Sophia Geller


Franklin ParkLandscape Architecture II Core Studio Spring 2015

Upon a close reading of Olmsted’s “Notes on the Plan of Franklin Park”, I set out to investigate how Olmsted’s notion of the “not”, of the park’s lack of any one unique or exceptional quality, is precisely why it is so successful. Working with the northern section of the park’s more extreme topography an aging oak forest, I propose a sequence of platforms, of undefined spaces, to reveal how a series of nothings can become something quite special.

24 | Sophia Geller

Streetside platformupper promenade to provide views out and entice views in.

Streetside platformAlternate view: agacency to and visibility from street.

The abandoned bear cagesA relic of the original Olmsted zoo, retrofitted as a gathering space that plays on the notion of interior vs. exterior.

Upland clearingA slight depression in the park’s highest puddingstone outcrop, demarkating a viewpoint to the Boston skyline.

Amongst the ledgesA platform emerging from some of the park’s more dramatic outcroppings, allowing for an elevated yet protected gathering space.

PathsideTwo adjacent, elevated platforms hovering over one of the primary pathways; as much an invitation off the path as a perch from which to watch.

Platforms and ledges Locating opportunities for open, undetermined gathering spaces set into the puddingstone ledges and outcroppings of Franklin Park. Viewing platforms, promenades, clearings and sheltered spaces, theses platforms open up new, active ground in a previously overgrown and overlooked section of the park.


26 | Sophia Geller

The upland clearing: a view from the top.


Topography and viewsFrankin Park currently suffers from a lack of appreciation of the incredible views to the Boston skyline, and at the same time suffers from the dangers of a lack of view into the park itself. I employ elevation, clearing of old-growth canopy and brush, and new planting schemes to alllow for both outward and inward views.

Bristol study model to work out e levation and circulation

Section cut exploring both views out and views in, or two modes of enticement.

28 | Sophia Geller

Platforms and canopies A planting scheme for Franklin Park emphasizing groves and public orchards, paying particular attention to the strategic replacement of original Olmsted plantings that are reaching the end of their lifespans. Flowering ornamentals are used as both accent to and demarcation of the various platforms scattered in, amongst and above the newly proposed hardwoods and cedars.

Streetside platform A staggered, double-row of Cornus florida agianst a slope of outcroppings and Juniperus virginiana.

Streetside platformAlternate view

The abandoned bear cagesCercis canadensis ‘alba’ is planted around the perimeter of the cage walls, a visual screen between window and road.

Upland clearingPlantings of Juniperus virginiana to punctuate the rocky, shallow soil and swaths of Bluestem at the park’s highest elevation.

Amongst the ledgesCercis canadensis ‘alba’ is planted in and amongst the ledges near groves of Acer saccharum and Cladrastis kentukea.

PathsideStewartia rostrata serves as backdrop to the elevated platforms along the path.


City StudiesLandscape architecture III Core StudioFall 2015

A series of studies of urban conditions and the built environment, with a focus on the implications of iterative design decisions. Working in pairs, we explored ideas of density, FAR ratios, and designing for varrying conditions of su nlight, shadow, and slope. We also considered notions of time and use, construction and demolition, looking at how different components of the city can fit together, disrupt, and take each others’ places to promote a more flexible approach to city-building and city living.

30 | Sophia Geller


Canal typologies:

Water always present

Wetland condition

Water present during flood condition

Water only present as runoff

15 m

25 m

12 m

9 m

3 m

1 m

3 m

6 m

Category 1 units:residential and small-scale production

Residential EducationalRetail OfficeProduction

a 9 x 30 m (greenhouse)

b 12 x 20 m (apartment building)

c 10 x 15 m (single or double family home)

d 9 x 15 m (townhouse)

e 18 x 50 m (retail)

f 18 x 40 m (office units)

g 25 x 48 m (university housing)

h 45 x 60 m (large-scale production facility)

i 70 x 90 m (large-scale retail)

Category 3 units:small and large-scae retail, office, educational, and large-scale production

Category 2 units:open space (shown at half-scale)

Unit complilation indexAllston site

a

bc

e

f

g

j

k

l

h

i

d

60 x 200 m (office and retail17 unit block)

90x 200 m (large-scale production facility4 unit block)Scale 1:1600

0 25 50 100 m

Scale 1:1600

0 25 50 100 m

240 x 200 m (park space, athletic field, community garden plots12 unit block)

120 x 200 m (park or civic space, 1 unit block)

50 x 260 m (community gardenplots, single/doube famly housing, greenhouse 20 unit block)

25 x 170 m (community garden plots1 unit block)


50 x 170 m (community garden plot, single/double family home, apartment building13 unit block)

120 x 200 m (large-scale production, greenhouse, retail and office26 unit block)

120 x 200 m (large and small-scale retail9 unit block)

60 x 200 m (retail 10 unit block)

45 x 75 m (greenhouse to townhouse 14 unit block)

45 x 75 m (greenhouse to apartment row 5 unit block)

45 x 75 m (greenhouse to residential house 10 unit block)

45 x 75 m (greenhouse 6 unit block)

25 x 74 m (townhouse 7 unit block)

25 x 74 m (single/double family home5 unit block)

25 x 73 m (apartment building5 unit block)

j 120 x 200 m (park or civic space)

k 70 x 115 m (athletic field)

l 20 x 160 m. (community garden plots)

32 | Sophia Geller

The unitA consideration of construction, demolition, and the ever-changing ground of urban space, this diagram explores a series of self-referential unit sizes for buildings, open spaces, and a stormwater system, that allow for endless reconfiguration within the given unit bands.

Canal typologies:

Water always present

Wetland condition

Water present during flood condition

Water only present as runoff

15 m

25 m

12 m

9 m

3 m

1 m

3 m

6 m

Category 1 units:residential and small-scale production

Residential EducationalRetail OfficeProduction

a 9 x 30 m (greenhouse)

b 12 x 20 m (apartment building)

c 10 x 15 m (single or double family home)

d 9 x 15 m (townhouse)

e 18 x 50 m (retail)

f 18 x 40 m (office units)

g 25 x 48 m (university housing)

h 45 x 60 m (large-scale production facility)

i 70 x 90 m (large-scale retail)

Category 3 units:small and large-scae retail, office, educational, and large-scale production

Category 2 units:open space (shown at half-scale)

Unit complilation indexAllston site

a

bc

e

f

g

j

k

l

h

i

d

60 x 200 m (office and retail17 unit block)

90x 200 m (large-scale production facility4 unit block)Scale 1:1600

0 25 50 100 m

Scale 1:1600

0 25 50 100 m

240 x 200 m (park space, athletic field, community garden plots12 unit block)

120 x 200 m (park or civic space, 1 unit block)

50 x 260 m (community gardenplots, single/doube famly housing, greenhouse 20 unit block)



50 x 170 m (community garden plot, single/double family home, apartment building13 unit block)

120 x 200 m (large-scale production, greenhouse, retail and office26 unit block)

120 x 200 m (large and small-scale retail9 unit block)

60 x 200 m (retail 10 unit block)

45 x 75 m (greenhouse to townhouse 14 unit block)

45 x 75 m (greenhouse to apartment row 5 unit block)

45 x 75 m (greenhouse to residential house 10 unit block)

45 x 75 m (greenhouse 6 unit block)

25 x 74 m (townhouse 7 unit block)

25 x 74 m (single/double family home5 unit block)

25 x 73 m (apartment building5 unit block)

j 120 x 200 m (park or civic space)

k 70 x 115 m (athletic field)

l 20 x 160 m. (community garden plots)


34 | Sophia Geller

The layering of timeFour stills from an animation showing the growth, decay, and regrowth of our proposed urban swath. Canal and road systems provide the support structure to a host of ever-changing built conditions, from phytoremediating tree plantations, row houses and green houses, to institutional buildings and commercial centers.


Right: Serial sections exploring the layering of past, present, and future site conditions. Whether an open construction site or functioning plaza, all space is active, useable and a part of daily life.

Research 38 - 51

Quadrant 23Representations IIIFall 2015

Using Rhino and Grasshopper, I explored conditions of slope, sun angle, vegetative cover, water flow, snowpack, and other such phenomenon of an upland chapperal ecosystem. Using the scripts allowed me to both analyze and hypothesize, while gaining an understanding of the relationship between topography and site conditions.

38 | Sophia Geller

Site vegetatedvarious species occupy the site accord-ing to the degree of slope tolerated, resulting in a mosaic of woodland, scru-bland, and rocky outcroppings in this dry, rain-dependent ecosystem.

Research | 39

Declination 34.90Representations IIIFall 2015

An exercise in scales and big data, the following openended research project stemming from Quadrant 23 culminated in a presentation and small book documenting my method and process.

Of the 87, 476 stars nearest to our planet, exactly 67 sit directly above the 11 square kilometers of quadrant 23, whose geographic center is located at +35.950000 N, +32.39202 E. Using a series of self-defined operations, I set out to explore the relationship between this piece of ground and its celestial counterparts through drawings, definitions, animations, and modelmaking.

Operations:

assign calculatecull define scale

Performed in various order, in various combination, depending on need.

40 | Sophia Geller

> asg> calc> cul> def> scl

Research | 41

> def

Apparent magnitude (m)// the measure of a celestial object’s brightness as seen by an observer on Earth, adjusted to the value it would have in the absence of the atmosphere. The brighter an object appears, the lower its magnitude value.

> cul

apparent magnitude of 67 stars

_list results (67)

> calc

lowest value = 3highest value = 10.7range: 10.7 - 3.0 = 7.7divide into 9 categories spanning .99

_list results (9)

> asg

diameter/symbol for corresponding m level

7.418.76.747.268.458.88.3

2.5-3.49

37.958.757.8110.638.58.48

3.5-4.49

8.857.868.628.18.587.688.6

4.5-5.49

8.277.267.458.686.768.595.57

5.5-6.49

5.737.377.627.766.787.95.98

6.5-7.49

8.910.38.778.228.348.966.92

7.5-8.49

8.087.177.8688.628.217.93

8.5-9.49

87.228.18.598.515.146.86

9.5-10.49

8.1210.778.028.317.897.158.1

10.5-11.49

8.496.667.118.26

42 | Sophia Geller

Research | 43

44 | Sophia Geller

Research | 45

A Hertzian Spacethe radio-ecologies of Vandenberg Air Force BaseLandscape Architecture IV Core Studio , Spring 2016Teammates: Lu Wang, Leandro Couto de Almeida

Vandenberg Air Force Base in Santa Barbara County, California, is an active ICBM testing site, as well as NASA’s key strategic launch site for placing satellites into polar orbit. All eight Landsat satellites have launched from Vandenberg. My group and I are undertaking an exploration of the various manifestations of acousitc and the electromagnetic radiation on the site, from the low, powerful frequencies that permeate through deep sections of ground during the launching of a rocket, to the specific wavelengths of light read bythe remote sensing technology of Landsat.

46 | Sophia Geller

Above: Study model examining the propagation of acoustical energy through the various materials of a sectional cut through an inactive ICBM test site on Vandenberg Air Force Base. Material properties of density and homogeneity were explored.

Left: Component of sound installation discussed on following spread.

Right: Section cut examining the different types of acoustic and electromagnetic frequencies employed at a Vandenberg launch site. Technologies and phenomenon studied include Landsat remote sensing, rocket launches, and electromagnetic geosurveying techniques used to detects chemical plumes, ground materials, hydrological systems, and undocumented landfills on inactive launch sites.

Research | 47

Sandy loam: 1,725.00 kg/m^3 Steel: 8,050.00 kg/m^3 Wood: 750.00 kg/m^3

Aluminum: 2,712.00 kg/m^3 Plaster and silty loam: 950.00 kg/m^3 Concrete: 2,000.00 kg/m^3

48 | Sophia Geller

5-200 Hz. A sound installation exploring the frequencies of acoustical energy that permeate through the ground during the launching of a rocket. These frequencies range from 5-200 Hz., so low that we percieve most of the energy as vibration. The installation allowed one to experience how these frequencies travel through various materials cut through a deep section of a Vandenberg launch site, exploring how different densities of material react to the range of frequencies - a range as low and destructive as an earthquake.

Research | 49

50 | Sophia Geller

Research | 51

Bands 2, 3, 4, 5Red, Green, blue, and near-infrared wavelengths are picked up by bands 2,3,4, and 5, respectively, of the Landsat 8 eath imaging satellite. The following model and drawings explore nine different sites on Vandenberg, breaking them down into the 30m x 30m pixels read by Landsat, and examining the specific frequencies of electromagnetic readiation recorded in each of the 225 chosen pixels.

Sophia GellerMaster of Landscape Architecture 2017 Harvard University Graduate School of Design

[email protected]

Documents

Sophia Geller | Portfolio