Paul Roberts Toler

Landscape Architecture Portfolio

Virginia Tech BLA 2013

Paul R. Toler
ASLA. SLA. Virginia Tech BLA 2013 Contact Information Phone: 540.793.3197 Email: p.r.toler@gmail Address: 1965 Ashley Ln Roanoke, Va 24018 Skills & Facilities Adobe Suite: Illustrator In Design Photoshop Premier ArcGIS AutoCAD Sketchup Grasshopper Rhino 4.0

Objective

[Summer 2013] I aim to find a full time position with a design firm that promotes an interdisciplinary ethic and practices largely in the public realm. I intend to dedicate at least two years to professional practice before reconsidering the possibility of graduate school.

Education

[2008-2013] Currently engaged in the fifth year of Virginia Techs (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University) accredited, five-year professional BLA (Bachelor of Landscape Architecture) program. [Fall 2011] Participated in a direct exchange program between Virginia Techs College of Architecture and Urban Planning and Tongji Universitys College of Architecture and Urban Studies in Shanghai, China. While engaged in this exchange program, participants undertook studies pertaining to modern urbanism, urban planning, and urban culture.

Experience and Awards

[Spring 2013] Awarded the American Society of Landscape Architects Excellence in Landscape Architecture Studies Certificate of Honor. This award recognizes students who have achieved a sustained level of outstanding performance in their studies and show promise of making significant contributions to the profession. [February 2013] Planned and coordinated Landscape Architecture Week 2013 as Treasurer along with the President, Vice President, and Secretary of ASLA at VT. LAR Week 2013 featured guest speaker Walter Hood of Hood Studio and Teresa Gali-Izard along with Jordi Nebot of Aquitectura Agronomia. The weeks activities included senior thesis reviews, portfolio reviews, and a community garden design charette. [Fall 2012 - Spring 2013] Achieved and sustained the level of academic standing of Deans List within the College of Architecture and Urban Planning. [March 2012] Took part in a week-long cross-disciplinary design workshop organized by Virginia Tech CAUP and KEM Studio taking place in the office of KEM Studio in Kansas City, Missouri during which teams collaborated to create a conceptual design for an urbanized riverfront district of the city. [Fall 2011] Awarded a second tier prize in a five-month long, team urban design competition entitled Shanghai 2040: You Are Shanghai! arranged by the Shanghai Urban Planning Bureau. The proposed urban design manifesto called for projects that incorporate innovative applications of modern urbanism in ways that would build up and support the City of Shanghai on its rise to a seat of cultural and economic power amongst the worldwide network of global cities.

Organizations
[2012-2013] [2012-2013] [2012-2013] [2011-2013] [2010-2013]

ASLA at VT Treasurer Digital Mentor Collaborative (DMCO) ASLA National Student Member SLA Landscape Architecture Honor Society ASLA at VT member

Special Interests

Digital Design Method Landscape Representation Landscape Process Geomorphology Urban Design

Fall 2008 - Spring 2009

Design Foundation Studios

Projects
Opposite Cubes 4 Transformation Sculpture 4

Fall 2009 - Spring 2010

Second Year Landscape Studios Materials and Assembly

Modeling

Fall 2010 - Spring 2011

Third Year Landscape Studios Land Analysis, Human Systems, Watershed Sensitive Design

Wood Joint 4 Concrete Form 4 Town of Covington 5

Representing
Park, School, Garden 6 - 7 Merrimac Crossing 8 - 9

Fall 2011 - Spring 2012

Tongji University Exchange Program KEM Studio, Fourth Year Landscape Studios, Construction Documents Shanghai 2040: You Are Shanghai 10 - 11 Film Architectures 17 Norris Hall Peace Garden 12 - 13

Digital Design

Fall 2012 - Spring 2013

Fifth Year Landscape Studios Senior Thesis Project* Detroit Land Planning + Design 14 - 15 Digital Mentor Collaborative 16 Senior Thesis Project: Introduction 18 - 19
* *

Constructing

Final Thesis Documentation - Completed Thesis Project Worksample - In Progress

Drawing

Opposing Cubes Proposed as a challenge to choose a characteristic of a cube and create a pair of cubes that demonstrate the greatest and least of the chosen characteristic, this pair focuses on the conditions of corner and edge.

Wood Joint Detail

This project was assigned with double intent. One, to increase the sensitivity of ones design towards material properties. Two, to create an acute awareness of the dimensions produced by the production process.

Concrete Form

The intent of this assignment was to impose the realities of construction and assembly upon ones design. This began a dialog between the design of the object and the design of its making. This led to a greater understanding of mechanical conventions, material economy, and efficiency of assembly as well as the material properties of concrete.

Cube without Edges

Cube without Faces Isometric Enlargement

Transformation Sculpture

Instead of a prompt, a process was given: to make single, continuous cut through both the X and Y axis of a length of 4x4. The four resultant pieces were then turned outward to expose the intersection of the two cuts. The dimension of the cut itself produced the piece below from only one of the four quadrants.

Final Casting

Separated Joint Photo

Transformation Sculpture

Resulting Cutout

Miter Detail Photo

Casting Form

Design Foundation Studios

Materials and Assembly

Town of Covington, Va

This project began with a site visit led by the studio professor. The following phase was a class-wide effort to create a town masterplan based on the information synthesized from the site visit. From that point onward, the work continued as individually defined site designs. This work developed into a greenway project serving as a much needed linkage between an isolated neighborhood community and an expansive town park featuring ballfields and an outdoor stage. The detailing of the greenway responded to the vernacular precedent of the industrial railroad.
Vine Wall Pedestrian Bridge Vine Wall Planter Detail

High Volume Greenway Perspective

Site Character Collage

Low Volume Greenway Perspective

Second Year Landscape Studios

Park. School. Garden.

The scope of this project took place at three levels: - Nature park: a park masterplan design to balance programmed recreation with nature immersion - School grounds: given the plans for a small Montessori school building the task was to design the grounds in a way that emphasized the schools education philosophy while responsibly managing the sites hydrology - Play garden: a portion of the school grounds that most immediately facilitates the childrens immersion into the environment
Blacksburg GIS Basemap

Site Constraints
Paul Toler Heritage Park: Experiential Study Aug. 26, 2010

Third Year Landscape Studios

Heritage Park Experiential Study Vegetation and Viewsheds

Heritage Park New Masterplan

Balance of Thinking and Feeling Expression: -natural form -designed form Walk the balanced path between thought and feeling Natural Form -amophous -organic -natural Designed Form -rational -ordered -geometric

Play Garden Site Plan

Play Garden Perspective 1 Conceptual Diagram

Third Year Landscape Studios

Play Garden Perspective 2

Merrimac Crossing

The site given for this project had a long standing agricultural heritage. The challenge stated was to study the land across its many scales and design a new development to suit the trending expansion of Blacksburg, Virginia into the greater Montgomery County. The work progressed in teams of four throughout the analysis and district development stages then became individual in the site design stage.

Regional Watershed and Hydrology

Regional Environmental Analysis

District Hillshade Slope Analysis

0 400 Feet

Team District Plan

ArcScene District Plan Model

00

Existing Landscape Features

Wire Fences

Perennial Streams

Treelines

Third Year Landscape Studios

Three-Rail Fences

Roadways

Width to Height Ratio Study of Mixed Use Street Corridors 1:20

Conceptual Diagram

Width to Height Ratio Study of Mixed Use Street Corridors 1:20

Width to Height Ratio Study of Mixed Use Street Corridors 1:20

Third Year Landscape Studios

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Corridor Width Studies

Merrimac Crossing: Village Center

Shanghai 2040: You Are Shanghai!

This project was sponsored by Tongji University College of Architecture and Urban Studies and the Shanghai Urban Planning Bureau. The competition proceeded in teams of four made up of Chinese and International students. At the conclusion of the competition this project was awarded a second tier prize. Using analogous methods of change found in the natural world; adaptation, metabolism, and resilience became the cornerstones of this project. Seeking a more resilient future for the city of Shanghai, the final product was focused on a new system and interface through which the growth of the city can be monitored, regulated, and intervened upon.

Adaptability Concept

Resilience Concept

Flexibility Concept

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Urban Design Studio - Tongji University

Present Site Description In order to test the applications of the newly developed system of urban growth, it was tested against several situations unique to the city of Shanghai. Shown here is the case of Lujiazui, the central business district of Shanghai.

Developmental Priorities

Central Lujiazui Photo

Implementation N PROC ES S C O N S T R U C T I OProcess

The can simulate thethe best schedule of of schedule best simulate can software Theinterface intervention according to the impact on the city

intervention according to the impact on the city.

Urban Design Studio - Tongji University

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Norris Hall Peace Garden

This project was developed in conjunction with the Virginia Tech Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention. The site was located adjacent to Norris Hall, the primary site of the April 16th shootings. Using this significant cultural context, a peace garden was to be designed. The class projects were used as the subjects of community participation meetings.

Primary Views and Circulation

Axonometric Building Floorplans

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Fourth Year - Construction Documents

Predominant Viewsheds

Site Design Model Photos

Site Layout Plan

Site Design Plan

Fourth Year - Construction Documents

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Detroit Land Planning + Design

This course was taken in conjunction with the first semester of individual senior design projects. The objective of this land planning studio was to the City of Detroit as the subject of large scale, metropolitan land analysis methods. Work was carried out in teams until the district design phase.

Medical Facilities

Police Stations

Activate the Core

Parks / Greenways

Streams / Lakes

Existing Block Pattern

Bind the Fringe

Economic Production

Historic Sites

Population Density

Consolidate Resources
Railroad Corridors

Residential Block Organizations - Applied

Residential Block Organizations Residential Block Organizations

Five Story Perimeter Apartments / Lofts
Five Story Perimeter Apartments / Lofts

Perimeter Pocket Plazas Pedestrian Corridors

Perimeter Pocket Courts

Eight Story Inner Block Apartments

Eight Story Inner Block Apartments

Local Retail Local Ground Groundlevel Level Retail

Streets Basemap

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Fifth Year Landscape Studio

Inter-Block Inter-BlockPassage Passages

Mixed Use Market Building

Facade Articulations Market Arcade

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Street Corridor Buidling Massing Mixed Retail / Commercial Facade Articulations Upper Level Step-Backs

Residential Blocks Massing

Podium Style Apartment Building

Street Front Arcade Residential Open Space

Fifth Year Landscape Studio

Site Masterplan

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Digital Mentor Collaborative

DMCO is an interdisciplinary, student-led organization. Its members share a common interest in the digital design process both in program-specific and nonspecific methods. DMCO works to build and advance its knowledge base through peer to peer and special guest workshops.

Grasshopper Definition for Curved Wall Truss Triangulation

Variation One

Variation Three

Variation Two

Variation Four

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Digital Mentor Collaborative

Preliminary Photo Essay

As the first assignment of the Film Architectures course, students were asked to begin with photography as the medium with which to explore a narrative of the highly urban landscape of Shanghai. Great consideration was given to composition and dialog between the images just as one would orchestrate the scenes of a film.

Public Space

Frantic Infrastructure

Defensible Amenity

The Alley

Infrastructural Order

Urban Redevelopment

Film Architectures - Tongji University

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Country
Total Population: 316,358,000 Area: 3,794,101 Sq. Mi. 9,826,675 Km2

The West Rivers District

Kansas City, Missouri A convergence of the rivers, the land, and the city.
Paul R. Toler BLA 2013

Density: 88.6/Sq. Mi 34.2/Km2

An Urban Confluence

Region
Total Population: 2,035,225 Area: 7, 952 Sq. Mi. 20,596 Km2 Density: 260/Sq. Mi 100/Km2

County
Total Population: 463,202 Area: 319 Sq. Mi. 826 Km2 Density: 1,630/Sq. Mi 594/Km2

Preface

District
bears great semblance to sites throughout the United States that exist as products of declining urban riverfront industrial institutions. These lands, many as there are, have played an invaluable role in the making of the urban landscape and will continue to be formed and reformed according to prevailing cultural motivations. This project seeks to re-frame the increasingly outmoded cultural motivations which are responsible for the condition of these lands.
Average River Elv. 720 Total Population: 936 Area: 17 Sq. Mi. 950 Acres Density: 55/Sq. Mi 21/Km2 Average Elv. of W. Bottoms 750

Using the analogy of the urban confluence to describe an ideological union of river ecology, urban function, and the public domain; this project explores the multitude of design implications originating from this distinct paradigm. This project has been realized in the very particular context of the West Bottoms district of Kansas City, Missouri. While the historic, topographic, and aesthetic contexts of the West Bottoms remain unique, its greater relation with Kansas City

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Senior Thesis Project

Exposition

From the outset of this project, a lens, or theoretical framework was established to provide a distinct approach to understanding complex sites, not only for this project but for future works as well. The theory of topographic convergence was developed to be this lens. Topographic convergence is an approach to understanding place in terms of its surface and depth as interface and archive. It is also recognized that the understanding of place is subject to ones perception, experience, and knowledge.

The Rivers

The rivers are the enduring nature of the site. The nature of the rivers are the truth of the site beyond all else.

Study

Using the analogy of the Urban Confluence to describe an ideological union of the river, the land, and the city; this project explores the multitude of design implications originating from this distinct paradigm. The concept of the Urban Confluence was conceived of as an approach to the consequences, and equally numerous opportunities, presented by the current conditions of declining urban riverfront industrial institutions which have emerged all throughout the United States. The West Bottoms presents a rich topographic condition, a greatly dynamic river system, as well as a progressive city in the midst of redefining its developmental priorities.

The Land

The Land has guided the rivers just as they have carved the site out from the land. They continually fashion one another.

Design

At one conceptual level, The West Rivers District design acts as a model for any number of sites throughout the country that are experiencing a similar decline in urban riverfront industrial institutions. As the project progressed and became grounded in place, the work could no longer be treated as a model, rather it had to become a distinct production indivisible of the site. As a response to the rivers, the land, and the city as a production of its people; this project was conceived as a realization of a distinct design paradigm which recognizes the capacity of a design to embody variability in its nature rather than to stand in the face of change as an outside agent.

The City

The City is the most enduring representation and accommodation of the land and its nature. The City is an indivisible production of a distinct culture.

Average Elv. of Downtown K.C. 930

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Paul R. Toler asla. sla.

Virginia Tech BLA 2013