student work

Pendulum Garden Plaza Rodea Promenade at 12th Street La Promesa: Civic Plaza Margins on the Motorway

professional work

Aldea El Paso Albuquerque Great Streets UNM E.D.G.E.S. Project Management Ashley Pond Park Lily Lane Las Cruces Dam Farmington Botanic Gardens Sandia Science Academy Art & Design

portfolio of work
victrujillo@gmail.com

VICTOR R. TRUJILLO

As an emerging professional in the field of landscape architecture, I am both an advocate for the creation of vibrant urban spaces and a believer in the ability of place-making to engage, connect, and nourish. Recognizing the significance of site and of context, I hold landscape architecture to be the synthesis of environmental processes and human activity as a means to engage with and transform the places we inhabit; it is an optimistic practice that negotiates the extant and celebrates the possible. The artful integration of natural and infrastructural systems as a tactic for social, ecological, and economic sustainability is essential to laying a successful groundwork for the well-being of our communities and the stewardship of our resources. This integration has been a sustained personal goal throughout my academic and professional work, from small streetscapes to institutional master plans. I remain energized and excited by holistic design practices that identify thoughtful, germane and creative responses to social, political and material realities within the urban realm.

design philosophy

student work

promenade at 12th street

Fall 2009 Typologies: Browneld, Adaptive Reuse

Design issues: The role of land reclamation and land planning in the urban setting Site design in the regional, local & neighborhood context

recreation eld promenade walkway

sidewalk addition

gabion check dams public art element seating

existing rail line secondary paths

The Promenade, located in Albuquerques historic Sawmill district, is a new chapter in the history of the area, one of densification and smart, sensitive development; it is a bridge linking two neighborhoods split by a decaying industrial infrastructure. Central to the design is an examination of the processes of plant succession in an urban and highly disturbed environment, with the inclusion of provisions for windborne seed to colonize and grow. Minimal human intervention is prescribed to dictate plant species, growth habit and aesthetic. The disrupted landscape is here a deliberate design gesture, at the same time reestablishing those human connections lost to an industrial wasteland.

seating playground trafc median / roundabout

observation platform entrance fountain and signage

site plan

site patterning: nodes of disruption

ruderal plant succession: year one

year ve

year twenty

view to west

la promesa: civic plaza

Spring 2010 Typology: Transit-Oriented Development

Design issues: Revitalizing the rural town core Transit-oriented development

analysis sections

The under-used Downtown Bernalillo commuter train station is in close proximity to the town Main St. and the aging civic core; this design for an open public space aims to revitalize the area by balancing civic, commercial and residential uses. This civic space will rely equally upon public and private investment to develop, in phases, a successful public space that maximizes the visibility of town from within, along Main St., and from without, from the train station. A civic plaza, a market plaza, and a mixed-use pedestrian alameda allow the town to preserve its rural character, revive its core, and establish a sustainable model for new growth. A collaborative proejct with 4 fellow architecture & landscape architecture students.

aerial view to east from civic plaza

perspective to east from civic plaza

margins on the motorway

Spring 2011 - MLA Thesis Work Typology: Design Analysis & Methodology

Design issues: Consequences of the urban void Creating and applying a typological model for urban remediation

Mobility is a key characteristic of modern life; yet, the infrastructures of mobility divide and fragment our cities even as they connect them. In doing so they leave behind neglected and underused spaces that ultimately detract from both urban vitality and social / cultural linkages. This thesis project establishes a typology of the freeway void, and offers a methodology for revitalizing interstitial spaces as integral and meaningful elements of the city. These spaces, created in and around overpasses, on-ramps, and rights-ofway, have the potential to strengthen and seam a fractured landscape. The void, traditionally an undesirable and unproductive urban form, here becomes the site of latent social and environmental remediation practices.

the emplacement

M M ed ia n Pa rk

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ed

ia

Pa r

proposed design sections

spatial typologies (axonometric)

water diversion from channel

potential uses along slope

pedestrian circulation

translucent bicycle overpass

median park & overpass promenade

public art cars

bicycle circulation schematic site plan

bm x gr ee tra ck ov er pa s bi ke so s pr om en tra cia ne w il s ls tre so ha pa c e e de fo st ru rh cia ch l s an pa ne ce l b an pu rid d bl ge ic ar tc ar s pe de w str / a ia m no en ve itie rp s as ch w an n at el r er et fe urn at ur for Li e Tr aC on

nh o m ed use ian / pa soc th ial rk e sp em ac pl e ac ob em se e nt jo rva gg tio in g n de tra c k il

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ct ur e pl an ome tin l gs ess

professional work
*All graphic exhibits are my own work unless otherwise noted

unm e.d.g.e.s.
Summer 2010 "Envisioning Design Guidelines & Engendering Sustainability"

Design issues: Effecting institutional planning practice Understanding, communicating and addressing stakeholder interests

The University of New Mexico is actively interested in strengthening the relationships it has with the neighborhoods, businesses and residents that provide the context for university life. The UNM E.D.G.E.S. Strategic Plan addresses the ways in which the physical environment at the campus edges affects perceptions of and connections to the University. An analysis and design study performed over 9 weeks with two fellow MLA candidates outlines a methodology for initiating development where campus facilities are juxtaposed with non-university property and roadways. http://iss.unm.edu/PCD/universityarchitect/design-guidelines.html

diagram relating users, placemaking elements

process output

site plan (1 of 3): enhanced transit

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sections to north

aldea el paso
Sites Southwest Charrette - El Paso, TX

Design issues: Envisioning a vibrant, attractive, context-aware urban development Collaboration & Idea iteration among urban design professionals

A three-day design charrette for a 200 acre site in northern El Paso led to the generation of a cohehesive site plan which blended a walkable commercial district, a multitude of housing types, an emphasis on pedestrian and bicycle transportation, and recreational open space. Illustrated are three of many diagrams for which I was responsible, and which depict ideas I developed in concert with team members: a commercial plaza and ramblas, and a parking grove. Both elements feature flexible space available either for parking or events, and feature shade trees in symbiotic relationship to the corridors of the site, fed by harvesting stormwater runoff. Work done while employed at:

plan view: plaza & ramblas

plan view: parking grove

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section: parking grove

ashley pond park

Sites Southwest Site Plan - Los Alamos, NM

Design issues: Managing water quality via nontraditional soft infrastructure Providing accessible design within an historically-sensitive context

This park restoration project updates an historically significant yet degraded pond surrounded on all sides by grassy slopes. Three goals guided the design process: to provide longterm treatment solutions for water quality; to allow ADA access from the perimeter sidewalk down to the pond edge; and to repair a crumbling and hazardous bulkhead promenade. A series of planters around the pond catches the nitrogen-laden irrigation runoff, which is then directed into a series of wetlands before it re-enters the pond. I worked closely with the client during design development, coordinated design decisions with civil and structural engineers, and produced all construction documents. Work done while employed at:

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construction plan

conceptual ADA access path

conceptual sections

bioswale planter & seat wall detail

farmington botanic gardens

Sites Southwest Master Plan - Farmington, NM

Design issues: Strategizing both short- & long-term landscape goals and priorities Negotiating multiple and varied stakeholder needs, concerns

The planned botanic gardens at the confluence of the Animas and San Juan Rivers is currently an open flood plain lined by Cottonwood and Russian Olive trees. Landowner concerns, environmental issues, FEMA restrictions and local planning requirements all guided the project. The site is tied into a larger trail network and is accessible primarily by foot; amenities include a series of ponds designed to alleviate flooding, a large event lawn, xeric and naturalized gardens, streambank restoration along the Animas, and an elevated boardwalk over the confluence. I collaborated on site layout and design, and was responsible for plan graphics and conceptual grading. Work done while employed at:

concept diagram

programmatic diagram

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conceptual grading plan

existing site

site master plan

sandia science academy

Sites Southwest Site Plan - Albuquerque, NM

Design issues: Designing a landscape for use as a teaching tool Utilizing sustainable methods and materials for site construction

The construction of a new science academy at Sandia High School provided the opportunity to create an outdoor learning lab, centered on a wetland showcasing the plant life of local ecosystems via a conceptual progression from foothills to valley. Material from the demolition of outdated facilities provides new hardscaping and an outer gabion wall. Stormwater flows off the roof into cisterns that supply both irrigation and wetland needs. Raised garden beds and a greenhouse allow students to get hands-on. My role was in collaboration on design concepts, helping to develop the plant pallette, and creating both conceptual graphics and construction drawings. Work done while employed at:

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conceptual site plan

valley ecosystem

shrubland ecosystem

foothill ecosystem

landscape plan

art & design

watercolor and ink

watercolor and ink

watercolor and ink

mixed media (chalk, paper, ink)

acrylic on canvas

braille earthwork art installation architectural sketches >

art installation

watercolor and ink

A Walk My eyes already touch the sunny hill. going far ahead of the road I have begun. So we are grasped by what we cannot grasp; it has inner light, even from a distanceand charges us, even if we do not reach it, into something else, which, hardly sensing it, we already are; a gesture waves us on answering our own wave... but what we feel is the wind in our faces.

-Rainer Maria Rilke

VICTOR R. TRUJILLO
victrujillo@gmail.com