Communicating Sustainable Design through Visual Dynamics

My thesis is the exploration of dynamic methods to eff ectively visualize and communicate sustainable designpractices. Every site consists of temporal conditions (climate, vegetation growth, hydrology, comfort, aesthetics)that require dynamic representation of it’s progressive state. By understanding both the quantitative and qualitivemeasures of a site’s content, designers can begin to create guidelines and adaptive responses to the changingconditions. Th is can be achieved by fi rst understanding the intergrated relationship of those conditions, as oneelement has a direct or indirect impact on another. Th e design, in turn, cannot be a static implimentation butrather an evolutionary application

Augmented Decision-Making Through The P[AR]k: Hybridizing Performance Metrics for User Evaluation

Nature-based solutions are being further appreciated beyond their aesthetics and are being recognized for their ability to sustain, mitigate, and service the sensible ecological preservation and enhancement of the natural and built environments (Beck, 2015). For the profession of landscape architecture to properly evaluate these necessary design tactics, our process must shift to a divergent method of asking questions to direct solutions through evidence-based decision-making (Lahaie, 2016). Through the emergence of landscape performance and the integration of quantitative metrics into outdoor spaces, technology and innovate methods can begin to communicate nature-based benefits as tangible outcomes to comprehend the complex ecological, social, and economic relationships of our complex environments. My approach models these dynamic landscape benefits using an Augmented Reality (AR) platform of both physical demonstration pieces and digital interfaces to reach a universal audience. Augmented reality is not only gaining traction as an innovative representation tool but with the integration of parametric modeling and performance metrics it can also serve as a decision-making tool (Duenser et al., 2008) to the design process. Students, community members, and stakeholder groups can rapidly generate scenarios that align with program objectives that relate to social, economic, and environmental benefits for measurable outcomes. With the augmented interface, information and data becomes perceptual and responsive to real-time change, performance parameters, and user decision making. With the influx of real-time quantitative data that updates during this process, there is a profound opportunity to fundamentally shift design thinking and action based on these augmented outcomes. By embedding measurables and metrics to this workflow, a new design process and methodology can potentially emerge that enables the respective parties to generate robust design strategies for evaluation against their specific goals and objectives. This approach uses a mobile AR station serving as a digital gameboard, demonstrating varies examples of landscape performance to create a “discovery exhibit” for K-12 students, college campus groups, and the surrounding community. The advanced augmented sandbox can be calibrated to communicate basic landform characteristics of elevations and slopes to advanced performance metrics of tree benefits, stormwater management, and erosion control. The gameboard scenarios can be developed, monitored, and evaluated with the digital tracking of user engagements to cross-reference with surveys to evaluate the effectiveness and friendliness of the interface and intended learning outcomes. This mixed reality provides an opportunity to evaluate whether data outputs impact or influence design decision-making by the user from the survey forms (Wang et al., 2013)..https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/cfa_collaborate/1012/thumbnail.jp

Food Desert to Food Oasis: An Engagement with the Community through Evidence-Based Methods

The state of Nevada has the 12th highest percentage (12.8%) of households living with food insecurity compared to the US average of 11.1% according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (1). Economic and environmental benefits of urban forests have been well documented to address issues of climate change, urban heat islands, and fragmented ecologies, however, in a period of social inequities, urban forests can serve a vital role in providing environmental justice through agroforestry for communities identified within a food desert. According to Kyle H. Clark & Kimberly A. Nicholas, “urban food forestry can be an efficient way to consistently provide free or low‐cost nutrient‐dense food to the people that need it” (2). Tree planting initiatives have been deployed to increase ecosystem services within cities and movements such as the “Incredible Edible” (3) have converted underutilized vacant lots into productive landscapes but these often occur within publicly owned land. In order to make a more significant impact with the environmental, social, and economic benefits of urban forestry, these actions need to extend into private residences. Not only will this provide direct benefits to the residents but also to the public by reducing urban heat island, filtering air pollutants, and increase the city tree canopy. Residents can be trained and provided with proper tools, education, and most importantly trees, as a community engagement approach to transform a food desert into a food oasis. Funding from the USDA Forest Service assisted in the identification of communities in need within food deserts throughout Southern Nevada, providing education and training on proper planting techniques and harvesting, and delivered fruit and nut trees to the residents. The goals and missions of this project not only aligned with the State of Nevada’s Climate Initiative of Climate Justice through urban forestry but also fulfil the United Nations (UN) Millennium Development Goal (4) and satisfy six of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. The objectives of this project was to provide a fresh food source for identified food desert residents in Southern Nevada. It also supported pop up tent events within targeted neighborhoods with Master Gardener assistance, and outreach driven by local groups and clubs, that include EcoMadres and Moms Clean Air Force, all of which were intimate with the areas intended for planting.https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/cfa_collaborate/1013/thumbnail.jp

VERTEX: A Compendium of Research and Design

From the foreword: Vertex was organized to showcase some of the UNLV School of Architecture’s most prominent areas of strength. Our multidisciplinary design foundation program is the initial building block that instills in students an ethos of systematic inquiry through making. Appropriately structured processes of experimentation and production using a variety of tools and media help students develop significant spatial understandings through the sequential act of drawing and making. The spatial understandings developed in the design foundation, supplemented by a culture of inquiry through making that is cultivated in our design studios, prepare our students to creatively engage in a rigorous study of relevant disciplinary subjects that range from the design of arid environments to hospitality, and from building technologies (including design-build) to healthcare interior design. Note: The written sections of the book are featured in Digital Scholarship@UNLV. The complete volume may be purchased at the Buy this book link abovehttps://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/vertex/1000/thumbnail.jp