[Ryan Sand]

To Robert J. Wainer:  it is not the re-stabilizing of social/economic levels that is the goal.  If you believe that our profession is based solely on creating furniture details that effect an experience, I respectfully ask you to rethink your view of the profession.  Our sites become the venue for interaction dictated by what we include/omit/arrange.  Security is a metric that I recognize as important.  How does one make a secure place? Does security solely mean kicking out “unwanted”?  Does it mean compartmentalizing?  Is there reintegration involved?  (Forgive me if I mis-quote you Mr Hood) but I believe Walter Hood expressed the potential of spaces to be wholly public, despite the offensive perceptions of other public dwellers?  

For security and urban design I was impressed the case study provided by VPUU within the documentary Urbanized (http://openarchitecturenetwork.org/projects/dlygad2_vpuu)

I am not the most educated on social deprivation (this talk is actually inspiring me to study it at least a little more deeper).  I have heard that for a person to experience such intense deprivation for 1 year can permanently damage an individual.  To further isolate the incident is increasing potential effect as compared to healthy public exchange within public space and the potential it has to reverse ill-effects.  All people are subject to social deprivation, and social inequality may be deterred if such design encouraged healthy social interaction.

[Ryan Sand]

what a nice texture!

[Ryan Sand]

specifics?

[Ryan Sand]

Great looking content, I got a little into it, excited to get deeper!

[Ryan Sand]

You are fine, I reviewed my primary query and noticed a mis-communication (I have since edited my meaning).  

Most of the time designers simply note plaza with seating on the space and deem it worthy to support a community, or host a community involved charette.  This is good, but I believe is not the extent of public participation as a designer.  For real community, the neighbors should be re-united, and the creation of a new space is only the first step.  A public green or community garden (an installed example) is a great step towards getting neighbors outside to join in a common space.  As William Whyte deemed Triangulation as an example, we can utilize amenities to bring people together.  Should designers even take on the role of events planner with other organizations to manage and plan events (foodie nights, markets, concerts, etc.) within the space we design? What are other ways you have seen designers re-unite neighbors?  

[Ryan Sand]

While it maybe impossible to achieve, several spaces are better than others to involve/invite the public to “own” the landscape.  According to Randolph Hester,”people seeking to design sociable neighborhoods must clarify the concept of “residents’ own” spaces, and then they must decide how to delineate those spaces. The word “own” refers to a collective, symbolic community ownership and can often apply to highly contested areas.”

What places do you see Designers being proactive in these landscapes, more than others, creating “neighbor” engaging landscapes?

[Ryan Sand]

Some advice I utilize:

If you want to enter a specific firm, create graphics that are of the same quality and style of theirs.

[Ryan Sand]

Thank you,  The concept of the portfolio has been evolving since I graduated.  It was my goal to create a portfolio that not only could be used as a review of my work but also an educational exploration (scale/design).  I couldn’t really tell you how long it took to create the portfolio itself.  Just as I think everyones occurs, work comes in and work goes out, the most important and hardest is playing triage with work  samples.

[Ryan Sand]

Can you expand on that a bit more? I have always seen a work sample as a collection of various works.  Do they not seem Landscape Architecture related?  Is it the formatting that doesn’t seem consistent?  A page before the table of contents not included mentions the various scales of design and correlates with the scale identification in the background of each project, it may be possible I didn’t express this efficiently?  Attached below are the introductory pages, do these help at all?.  Thanks for your time.

[Ryan Sand]

I thought since I commented on a few, I’d throw my portfolio into the shredder to get torn apart.

Due to size restrictions (which I guess I need to tackle) I cut a few pages out in the middle as well as the intro and back cover pages.  I’m not too worried as they are personal pages.

Let me know your insight on

a) the understanding of the project and how the imagery assists in explaining it.

b) quality of graphics and style (are they professional quality)

c) the portfolio as a strong representation as my person as well as work quality.

Thanks for your time
Ryan

[Ryan Sand]

As you have a lot of built work and it seems that is a pride of yours, show how detailed your design is by taking strong detail photos (similar to the waterfall you did on the outdoor kitchen.  The fact that it was built shows you had all the papers drawn out to the needed quality.  

If you are interested in process, include a good quality masterplan drawing and as students would use a sketch up model use your built work as the perspective… 

Are you showing this to employers or clients, include some space in your “construction drawings” and color graphics pages and tell them what is important about your ability to communicate, your medium, or even what clients respond best to… your experience?

[Ryan Sand]

1) Clean design layouts:  I would recommend having a consistent layout base. (rule of 3rds, clean lines (ex recommendation: on the “open space design” give the text the same height as the plan.  Blow one perspective up and include a few small ones to support a detail? 

2) Negative Space: With a clean layout, include negative space, allowing the reader to breathe as well as sense the hierarchy of your work.  

3) Highlight Construction: You took a risk and built something you designed I think that is valuable and I would recommend you show a plan model and then highlight the project you built with your hands more so.  Demonstrate your designers eye with photography and take some great attractive photos of your human scale “model”(landscape).

4) What is your passion/what do you want to do? As graphics are always able to be developed it is the person behind the pencil/mouse that gets the project done and takes it to a new level.  Why do you enjoy landscape architecture, how do your projects demonstrate what you do?

 

[Ryan Sand]

You have some clean graphics that resemble the white clean plans of professional firms.  However It is hard for me to really focus on where I should start aside from the introduction pages to each project.

1) there is a lot of text off the bat on the first page of each project.  It is hard for one to want to spend time reading all of it.  Take some of the text and place it next to the image it correlates with.  remember the 3-30-3 rule and think will they spend 3 min reading all of this, and if they do will they have a chance to check out the imagery.

2) enjoy the aesthetic principle of white space.  To not entirely fill the page means not only a legible layout but also that you reviewed your work and weren’t attempting to smash everything in at once.  I can see your work resembles a process, however I cannot decipher what that process is through all the imagery unless it is limited to a few images.  One way to do this is to look and see which images are similar to something you’ve already “said” (for example in the first project you include a site plan 3x and 2 of them take about 1/4 a spread).  

3) hierarchy:  for pages like your analysis spread, remember you included those to express your thought process not necesarily a set of attractive images.  If you built those models, I recomend highlighting those as people rarely build anything by hand anymore (due to digital options)

4) Begin and end with strong material, the first and last thing they should be able to retain should be strong work and a last impression is always important.

Overall you have some very attractive items and I would use your designers eye in everything from, is this image important to the story of the project and my process? to how much will they be able to really retain?.

 

[Ryan Sand]

To break away from the herd in regards to portfolios I would also like to reemphasize the identity aspect to your work. You have your own A) Process B) Style C) Perspective from everyone else. Tell the reader to lean into the imagery, the prose, and the detail of specific projects. Share a story that each is its own distinct project. Project one sets up a great opportunity to discuss the need to focus on details for intimate areas while needing to focus on the community masterplan… what stands out to you? If that doenst get across for you then it probably wouldn’t get across for the reader.

[Ryan Sand]

Sometimes my view of out of the box thinking is a little restricted. Find a good group of minds to share ideas and look at new ways to turn perspectives. In this respect I enjoy galleries music venues and the occasional trip outside. I think no matter what it is, my sketchbook always being on my person is important. Even if its the smallest hiccup of an idea, writing it down, moving on and processing the sketchbook isn’t home to final renderings but initialized ideas.

[Author]

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