The majority of people living near Narok are from the Maasai tribe. With the transition from semi-nomadism to permanent settlements, several Maasai villages now require additional educational infrastructure for nursery & primary education, as well as a clinic and community center.

The Enachipai site is located on 15 acres of land southeast of Narok. The site is owned by a Maasai elder and his wife, Merry Purcell, who run the Nairoshi Foundation to help bring positive cultural and educational change from within the community. One of the main goals of the foundation is to enable women and children to secure a sound economic future and take control over their own developmental needs through education. The first classroom is set to open in May 2013.

Working together with Jedidiah Gordon-Moran and the Nairoshi Foundation, our involvement started with masterplanning and is expanding to include the building design and construction of the teacher’s quarters, primary school classrooms, and dining hall. We are working to source sustainable materials and look forward to returning to Kenya to help build the next classroom. 

To donate to the Nairoshi Foundation and help support the work, please click here (in Canada) or here (Worldwide - Click on 'Donate')

THE CITY LAKES in Copenhagen, Denmark, are a series of man-made lakes between the old centre and the surrounding neighbourhoods. The lakes hold a strong historic and cultural connection and have been a popular recreational area since the 1800's .

Although the city lakes have been partially remediated they lack the basic necessary natural features to sustain a healthy lake ecology without continuous maintenance. Each spring, algae begins to bloom and by mid-summer the lake surfaces are covered so thickly that the city has to remove algae regularly. Alongside this, the public edges of the lakes are featureless and boring, with ill-defined paths and very few urban spaces.

The lakes hold the potential to become a high quality natural space in the midst of a dense urban centre. My thesis addresses four main goals:

1. To provide a naturalized edge to restore diversity and support the stability of the lake ecology;

2. To soften the transition between the constructed and natural edges through planting and materials;

3. To give a place to stay on the lakes to establish them as a good urban space as well as a natural, recreational area; and

4. To develop a context-sensitive design in the surrounding areas to create a better urban nature

Project: Master's Thesis 2011

Supervised by: Merete Anfeldt-Mollerup

THE RESPACE COMPETITION is an effort to raise awareness of reuse materials while showcasing creative and successful small space designs inspired by their use.

reframe is a flexible space that can be used privately (e.g., workshop, garden shed, getaway cabin) or expanded for community use (e.g., library, community kitchen, park pavilion).

The unique modular frame system allows materials to be selected based on availability and intended use rather than predetermined limitations that can result from more rigid construction systems. reframe is meant to adapt to both existing material flows and the user's needs over time.

A super hideaway - I can imagine reFrame being built in a private wooded area and would make a great destination spot to camp. - Holly Aiken, Juror

The thing that I like is the way it can be adapted to different materials depending on what is available. -Steve McCulloch, Juror

Status: Honorable Mention

DESIGN CONCEPT, MODELLING & DETAILING: Jedidiah Gordon-Moran
DESIGN CONSULTATION & VISUALISATION: Stephanie Braconnier

The area near Mühldorf was used by the Nazis as an extermination camp from 1944. Under the cover of thick pine forests, victims were forced to build first the living quarters for the SS, then their own 'waldlager' (forest camp). The average life span for a Mühldorfer was 80 days.

Prisoners from both Mühldorf and Mettenheim Concentration Camps were marched to work on various projects; amongst them an underground bunker where one of the Nazi's 'secret weapons'  - Messerschmitt Me 262 jet engines - were to be built.

Americans demolished part of the bunker which was never finished. Out of a total of 12 concrete arches only 7 were completed. One is still standing today.

The competition was to create an unobtrusive path system with information points, a memorial for the victims who died in the camp, and an observation point at the bunker.

The memorial envisioned is one that requires participation. The act of bringing tokens of remembrance often helps people through the grieving process.

To go one step further, we provide metal stencils with each victim's name on it. Family members and friends can find the stencil and spray the name onto a tree. The process is repeated year after year, and the names of the lost are not forgotten.

Status: 2nd prize

Team: Theresa Fehrmann, Henning Pagels, Ole Saß

All images property of Sinai Gesellschaft von Landschaftsarchitekten

Competitionline

An old mining town with a collapsed industry, Lennestadt wants to commemorate the role mining had in shaping the community. The exploration and extraction of metal ores caused deep mine shafts to be built in the hillsides surrounding the city, but are now covered up. 

To accentuated the broad views into the mountainous landscape, we mark a path from the city, along the river Lenne, and up to an interpretive center. Along the path are richly coloured wildflower meadows and cor-ten steel posts that map the depth to which the underground shafts bored into the landscape. 

The path creates a meaningful, accessible connection to the heritage of Lennestadt and joins important civic spaces, bringing the past into the present.

Status: Community Design Workshop 2012

Team: Theresa Fehrmann, Henning Pagels, Ole Saß

All Images property of Sinai Gesellschaft von Landschaftsarchitekten

Stiftung Flucht, Vertreibung, Versöhnung (Foundation for Flight, Expulsion, Reconciliation) is a documentation center for instances of expulsion and ethnic-cleansing worldwide, with a specific focus on the expulsion of Germans after WWII. The new center is to be located in historic 'Deutschlandhaus' in Berlin-Kreuzberg.

The objectives of the NGO who run the foundation are to document post-WWI expulsion & deportation of Germans from various countries; to provide a room for sadness, sympathy & forgiveness; to document the integration of uprooted Germans into new German society; and to document the expulsion and genocide of other peoples, especially in Europe.

The space around Deutschlandhaus becomes particularly important in light of the objectives of the foundation. Working with leading contemporary artists from Berlin, we proposed a combination of art and urban design that represents the flight and return of displaced Germans.

At the entrance to the center a bronze statue shows 3 states of German territory from dates preceding WWII. This shows the impact of the displacement of those who lived in areas that changed status, sometimes overnight.

On the other corner of the space, trees are planted in different angles. The trees grow away from each other, but over time their branches grow together in the same direction. 

Status: 2nd Prize

All images property of Sinai Gesellschaft von Landschaftsarchitekten

Team:  Sophie Holz, Maja van der Laan, Martin Tietz; and Oliver Störmer & Cisca Bogman (Artists) 

Baunetz

Competitionline

BAAKENHAFEN is the final quarter of the new harbor to be developed in Hamburg, Germany.  This competition called for a detailed urban design for the public squares, parks, and shared-use courtyards throughout the whole quarter. 

The vision for the quarter took root from the concept of a new 'nordic city', with a close relationship to nature manifested through bare granite archipelagos and pine forests. In the center of Baakenhafen is the recreation island--the central public space for the quarter, with white stone features under a canopy of pines.

Bordering the whole island is a new cycle route that brings people from the edges of the city into the heart of Hamburg. 

Status: third prize

Team: Elena Emmerich, Peter Hausdorf, Sophie Holz, Henning Pagels, Christoph Schimetzky, Maja van der Laan

All images property of Sinai Gesellschaft von Landschaftsarchitekten

Competitionline

THE HEBEBRAND QUARTIER in Hamburg is an urban development that will integrate environmental systems into the basic infrastructure of the neighborhood. One of the main features of the development is a natural water filtration system to remediate urban run off.

The courtyards of the neighborhood will be 'shared use' -- semi-public garden spaces that can be used both as a recreational area and a community garden. In this competition, we proposed designs for the main public spaces of the new quarter and detailed the shared-use courtyards.

Status: 4th Prize
In collaboration with PPP Architects

Team: Elena Emmerich, Sophie Holz, Maja van der Laan

All images property of Sinai Gesellschaft von Landschaftsarchitekten

RESTRUCTURING CIVIC SPACE IN POST-SOVIET GERMANY

FORST is a small town on the border of Germany and Poland. Like other small towns in the former East Germany, it has seen its population decline. The center of the town was developed by the Soviets with large housing blocks that are now 30-70% unoccupied.

This competition outlined a demolition strategy for the Soviet housing blocks that border the main church square and called for  remediation and landscape design that would bring a meaningful public space in the place of the former buildings.

Forst is known for its extensive and well-maintained rose garden, close to the city center. To strengthen the identity of the town and build up a sense of community, the proposal introduces a "see-rose" (water lily) lagoon into the footprint of one of the former Soviet buildings.

Filled with water-lilies and bordered by strong lines of trees on both sides, the lagoon quietly celebrates the town's history by recalling the footprint of the old buildings and the town pride--the rose garden.

Status: Won. Construction begins 2013

Team: Sumika Aizawa, Elena Emmerich, Theresa Fehrmann, Peter Hausdorf, Sophie Holz, Denny Mlotzek, Theresa Quade, Ole Sass, Maja van der Laan

All images property of Sinai Gesellschaft von Landschaftsarchitekten

LANDSCAPE PARK OVER THE AUTOBAHN IN HAMBURG

THE A7 MOTORWAY runs through Altona, a district of Hamburg. To reduce noise and pollution in the city a green landscape cover is to be built overtop of large sections of the autobahn.

When the landscape cover is built it will re-unite two districts--Altona and Bahrenfeld. Rather than being separated by overpasses and exits the two neighborhoods will be stitched together again by recalling important historic urban spaces - for example the Bahrenfeld Marketplace. 

Incorporated into the landscape cover is a new structure of 'kleingärten' - small garden plots used by local residents to grow flowers and vegetables. The mixture of open space, important historic axes and productive land brings cohesion and purpose to the new park.

Status: 3rd prize

All images property of Sinai Gesellschaft von Landschaftsarchitektur

TRANSFORMING INDUSTRIAL GROUNDS INTO AN URBAN PARK

TEMPLEHOF AIPORT in Berlin, a symbol of Nazi Architecture as well as the airport used by the American military during the cold war, was decommissioned in 2008.

In 2011 a competition was held for the development of the airfield into an urban park. Templehof's central location in Berlin Kreuzberg means that the grounds are easily accessible, making this a rare open space in the middle of a dense city.

The former airfield has already been partially converted into a conservation area to foster native and wild regrowth while providing a breeding ground for migrating birds. The intention of the city is to extend this natural space to include a constructed wetland.

In 2011-2012 my firm worked with the winning landscape architects, GROSSMAX, to make a feasibility study for holding simultaneous exhibitions during the proposed international garden show in 2017. For this study I created visualisations to highlight specific exhibition spaces around the airport lands.

All images property of Sinai Gesellschaft von Landschaftsarchitekten

The specific aspect of bridges within an urban environment is that they appear in conjunction with other distinctive elements, as opposed to bridges in a landscape that typically appear as solitary units. The art lies in finding a balance between the soul of the bridge and the soul that the city possesses or will possess, while integrating the new family member, which in this case is the new bridge. 

Sluseholmen is a new urban district in the south harbor of Copenhagen, following the urban principles of Dutch canal living. Though the new neighbourhood is rich in detail and has the bones of a strong area, it lacks public space.

The lightcatcher bridge is a contrasting form to the pure, controlled architectural detailing of Sluseholmen. It is inspired by the life that becomes visible in the windows at night; each room a different quality of light, each person just a shadowy silhouette within.

The bridge is clad with polycarbonate panels that reflect colours during the day and have light projected upon them at night. In this way the central element, people, and the function of the bridge, motion, are brought together with through a third urban element, light.

Project: Master's project 2009 - XXL Object in the City