Meghan SpigleHarvard Graduate School of Design 2011Yale School of Architecture 2009University of Virginia 2006

Meghan SpigleSpring 2010 Academic WorkShauna Gilles-Smith Landscape Urbanism Studio

Dynamic Urban WaterfrontWILLETS POINT, QUEENS, NYLANDSCAPE URBANISMIn 2010, Willets Point is a mixed-use residential enclave that integrates the Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Citi stadium, and commercial activity in order to create new linkages between the neighborhoods of Flushing and Corona.The use of the canal edge changes over time as water levels rise and subsequent changes in vegetation patterns occur.Systems of parks, tree-lined streets, bio-filtration swales, and wetland marshes comprise the vegetation of Willets Point.Change in marsh grass distribution indexes rising tides and water salinity fluctuations.In 2100, Willets Point is an older residential neighborhood, distinguished by its engagement with the waterfront where boating and recreation occur.Diagrams show the formal and programmatic components of the Willets Point site.Diagrams show the Willets Point site in relation to the urban context.Rising tides change the canal edge and vegetation cover over time.Sea level rises three feet over the next 50 years and six feet over the next 100 years, changing the perceptual experience of the canal edges.

WILLETS POINT IN 2100

URBAN DESIGN COMPONENTS

Section F

Plan WILLETS POINT IN 2010

TRANSFORMATIVE SPATIAL EFFECTS OF SEA LEVEL RISE

Section A

TRANSFORMATION OF VEGETATION OVER TIME DUE TO GROUNDWATER SALINITY FLUCTUATIONS

Section D

VEGETATION PALETTE

VIEW OF CANAL EDGE DURING LOW TIDE Section C

Meghan SpigleFall 2009 Academic WorkTeam project with Chanwoo Kim and Ben Winters-diagrams and perspectives by Meghan SpigleChristian Werthmann Core Landscape Architecture Studio

Veteran Re-Training GroundSOUTH WEYMOUTH NAVAL AIR STATION, MA FLEXIBLE TRAINING FIELDWith over 350,000 service members decommissioned from the United States military each year, 38,000 of which return from war with high risk of unemployment and subsequent homelessness. At the same time, the nation is trying to relieve itself from oil dependency (a major cause of overseas conflict). The single largest institutional consumer of energy in the US, the Department of Defense, is attempting to decrease its energy consumption by installing wind turbines and solar panels on its own military lands. Organizations, such as Veterans Green Jobs, based in Colorado have formed to address the dual concerns of retraining war veterans and reinforcing the green job sector. With cause established, monetary aid is available; $600 million dollars are allocated to Green Energy Job Training in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The SOWEY site, located outside of the Boston metropolitan region, offers a viable location for a veteran green job retraining field and a potential program prototype for other BRAC sites.To provide a variety of training options for veterans at SOWEY as well as to create closed cycles of CO2 creation and by-product production and consumption, multiple green energy systems are utilized. Solar panels, wind turbines, switchgrass fields, poplar forests, and algae beds are installed and maintained by the veteran population living and working on-site. A single roadway constructed of fill material from the existing 220,000 cubic meters of tarmac will provide a platform for bundling infrastructural components (CO2, water, and electrical conduits) that will enable the flexible expansion and contraction of re-training fields. Flexibility in planning is necessary to accommodate both unknown future energy demands and veteran populations. With current estimates, it is predicted that 500 veterans could be retrained each year on the SOWEY site, producing 190,000 gallons of ethanol and 92,000 MWH of electricity each year. Optimistically, the site could over time, alleviate the current problem of veteran homelessness due to unemployment while at the same time, establishing a workforce of individuals trained in a growing job sector.

SOWEY SITE CONSIDERATIONS CRITICAL DIMENSIONS AND SPECIFICATIONS OF ENERGY COMPONENTS

220,000 CUBIC METERS OF EXISTING TARMAC

CONTAMINATED SOILS AND GROUNDWATER

ECOLOGICAL NETWORKS

PROTECTED AREAS

30M BUFFER FROM STREAM

HABITAT:EASTERN BOX TURTLEUPLAND SANDPIPER

ELECTRICAL SUBSTATIONveterans trained in electrical operations

BIOGASIFICATION PLANTveterans trained in plant operations

CO2 PIPEPED TO ALGAEincreases algae biomass yield

ATMOSPHERIC CO2

CO2 uptaken by switchgrass blades and rhizomes

veterans harvest and bundle poplar and willow

ALGAE POND FOR CULTIVATING BIOMASSveterans trained in construction, maintainance, cultivation, and harvest

SWITCHGRASS FIELDS FOR CULTIVATING BIOMASSveterans trained in cultivation and harvest

POPLAR AND WILLOW FIELDS FOR CULTIVATING BIOMASSveterans trained in propigation, maintainance, and harvest

WIND TURBINES AND PHOTOVOLTAICS veterans trained in installation, maintainance, and repair

ETHANOL BIOREFINERYveterans trained in plant operations

ETHANOL STORAGE

ETHANOL SALEveterans distribute ethanol to the public at on site gas station

ENERGY SOLD TO THE GRID

RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY GENERATION

BIOMASS ENERGYGENERATION ANDCO2 RECYCLING

EXPANSION OF LAND USE TYPES

SITE PLAN AT 2020

PHASING OF FIXED ELEMENTSPHASE I PHASE II PHASE III

cut biocorridor II fill

fillcut

cut

daylight French streamfill

biocorridor III

biocorridor I surface wetland (bench) wetland treatmentswales

SITE PROGRAM

LAND USE TYPES AND WIDTHS

SECTION OF FILL ROAD AND BIKE PATH

BIKE PATH AND PUBLIC ACCESS

UTILITY ROAD

120M

60M

60M

30M

30M

10M

15M

BIOCORRIDOR I

POPLAR PLANTATION

WIND TURBINES AND SWITCHGRASS FIELDS

Meghan SpigleSpring 2009 Academic WorkKeith Krumwiede and Kate John-Alder Architecture and Landscape Sustainability Studio

Sustainable Urban HousingEAST DOWNTOWN HOUSTON, TXGREEN URBANISMThe site, EaDo (East of Downtown), is cut off from the downtown area by an array of infrastructures. Circumscribed by highways to the south and west and railways to the north and east, EaDo is isolated from its surroundings but yet, is located minutes away from downtown. New connections are to be made both within the urban fabric of EaDo as well as to its surroundings. At the urban scale, bike trails and light rail can connect this isolated area both to downtown and to the University of Houston while fostering alternative means of transportation. At a smaller scale, connections between blocks and new green spaces create a sense of place and identity for residents. Urban landscape infrastructures are utilized both functionally and programmatically to create social and ecosystemic networks that manage water absorption, aquifer recharge, create recreational spaces, and promote sustainable transportation.Smaller scale landscape interventions infiltrate the existing housing fabric, connecting new housing to old housing through systems of parks, gardens, and recreational pathways. Courtyards at the center of new housing blocks create new community spaces for live/work and commercial activity to occur, thus stimulating activity and cultivating an identity for EaDo as a live/work district. As a part of this new identity, materiality is implemented metaphorically, reminding residents of the necessary destruction that is required for housing construction. A thin, operable, wood sunscreen covers the southern facade of the housing blocks to shade the units from excessive sunlight and radiant heat. Wood used to construct the screens is harvested from pine plantations along the periphery of the district, visible to the inhabitants from the park and transit networks.

NEW DISTRICT PLAN

LANDSCAPE SYSTEMS AT THE DISTRICT SCALE

North

Private Outdoor Space

Pathways Through the Block

Retail and Live/Work Spaces

58 Units/Acre

75% Open Space/Unit

DESIGN OF THE HOUSING BLOCKUnits/Block: 44Average SF/Unit: 1,990

HOUSING COMPONENTS

studio studio studio

studio

live/work live/work

live/workretailretail retail retail

live/work live/work live/work

live/work live/work

studio

studio studio

studiostudio

A

SECTION A

ACTIVITY WITHIN THE CENTRAL COURTYARD

GROUND FLOOR PLAN OF HOUSING BLOCK

North

HOUSING CONNECTION TO THE DISTRICT NETWORK

BIKE PATH AND DISTRICT PARK

INTEGRATION OF NEW AND EXISTING HOUSING WITH GREEN NETWORKS

HARVEST OF THE PINE PLANTATION FOR NEW CONSTRUCTION

MATERIAL AND METAPHOR:FROM TREE TO SHADE SCREEN

Meghan SpigleFall 2008 Academic WorkTeam project with Rebecca Beyer and Dexter Ciprian-landscape plan, section, and model by Meghan SpigleDiana Balmori and Joel Sanders Landscape and Architecture Interface Studio

IT Cattle CampusNEW DELHI, INDIALAYERING LANDSCAPESThe Delhi Cattle Campus and Gosadan incorporate three principles from Indian architecture and culture: The preservation of water, the incorporation of outdoor spaces into indoor spaces, and the reliance on the sacred Indian cow for sustenance.Situated in a strip of land between the national highway that connects Delhi to Faridabad and a freight railroad, the campus reaches beyond its boundaries to create a new public landscape. The public landscape, on the upper level of the campus, provides space for ad hoc retail vendors to set up shop along a path planted with scented vegetation that connects new, high-end retail development to informal markets and residential communities on the other side of the railroad tracks. This upper landscape, shielding the lower landscape and IT area from the harsh Indian sun and deadly summer winds, contains the Gosadan or cattle preserve, where cattle are brought away from the intensely trafficked Dehli streets, and cared for beneath a shaded grove of trees. Dung from these cattle is collected, processed into methane by anaerobic biodigesters, converted to electricity, and used to power the IT center on the lower landscape.Along with the IT center, on the lower level, are the Grasslands. The Grasslands, open to the IT staff for recreation, are used to produce fodder for cattle on the upper landscape. Here native Dehli grasses and fruit bearing trees are grown, fertilized by by-products of biodigestion and nourished by collected rainwater. Thus, a symbiotic agricultural process takes shape, wherein energy and resources are continuously reallocated to zones within the landscape.

CONTEXT AND RAILROAD CROSSING

FOUR PROGRAMMATIC ZONESThe Delhi IT Cattle Campus is comprised of four zones that serve ecological and social purposes. The Gosadan and Retail zones are located on the upper level of the campus, while the Grassland and IT zones are on the lower level.

GOSADAN: The Gosadan zone is a preserve for Delhi cattle that are brought to the campus and out of the city streets where they cause traffic congestion. The Gosadan landscape is covered in shade trees, in accordance with the agricultural practice of silvipasture.

GRASSLAND: The Grassland zone, on the lower level of the campus, is used for agricultural cultivation of pasture grasses that are used to feed the cattle of the Gosadan.

RETAIL: The Retail zone is open to public access and forms a public path across the upper level of the site. Retail space is available in indoor formal retail space as well as outdoor informal spaces.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: The IT zone, on the lower level of the campus, is beneath the Gosadan and Retail zones and is the space where the IT staff work.

LANDSCAPE PLAN

GROUND FLOOR PLAN SHOWING IT AREASA B

SECTION B SHOWING THE OUTDOOR PUBLIC THEATER

THE IT ZONE DURING MONSOON

THE RETAIL AND GOSADAN ZONES

Meghan SpigleSummer 2008 Academic WorkHand Drawings Rome Seminar

Villa d’EsteTIVOLI, ITALY

NATURE AND LINEThe Villa d’Este, situated on a dramatic hillside in Tivoli, is organized by a major axis that runs perpendicular to the hill (north to south). Cross axes bisect this major axis at various points along the hillside, connecting the town of Tivoli and the headwaters of the Anio River to the east, to the views of the Villa Adriana to the west. These cross axes create terraces and paths that extend the spatial experience of the garden along the compressed site of the hill. Each cross axis presents a unique experience through the integral design of water features, architectural and vegetative elements, and views beyond the extent of the villa. A series of seven cross-axial perspective views, drawn as one progresses along the north/south slope of the hill, illustrate the unique and distinct design of each terrace; from the grotto and trees at the base of the hillside to the fountains within the subterranean hallway of the villa.The series of drawings, created in pen, explore variation in line type and quality in order to represent vegetation and water.

THE WATER ORGAN

THE GARDEN PORTICOTHE TIVOLI TOWN GATE

THE HERCULES GROTTO

Meghan SpigleSpring 2008 Academic WorkTeam project with Reuben Herzl and Philip Drew-site strategy, section, and barge detail by Meghan SpigleAndrea Kahn Urban Design Studio

Gowanus CanalBROOKLYN, NYSTITCHING AND BRIDGINGThe Gowanus Canal, known for its toxicity and foul smell, was historically used for freight shipping while the land surrounding the canal was used for manufacture and storage of gas. Currently, the city’s Combined Sewage Overflow system pours raw sewage into the canal when heavy rainfall occurs. Yet despite its toxicity and location within the 100-year flood plane, the area around the canal is now under extensive real estate pressure as residential areas begin to encroach. Currently zoned for light industry, the area around the canal will soon witness change.An urban analysis of the site reveals latent variables that can be used to successfully stitch together the two residential areas on either side of the canal: vacant and low-use lots, existing commercial avenues, and a network of pedestrian paths and green spaces. Just at the bend in the canal, is an area of publicly owned land, that can be used to initiate an urban intervention that would set a precedent for housing development and the remediation of toxic soil and land. This initial intervention at Public Place, would be the first of a series of ‘stepping stones’ that cross over the canal and thus bridge one side to the other. Operating at the scale of the detail, the Bioswale Bridge Barge, is a small scale intervention that is designed to decrease toxic Combined Sewage Overflow effluent from entering the Gowanus Canal while also serving the larger urban goal of stitching the two sides of the canal together.

BIOSWALE BARGE FLOATING IN THE GOWANUS CANAL

URBAN ANALYSIS

PEDESTRIAN PATHS: Pedestrian paths and greens paces will create a network to guide people into the proposed site

PRESSURE: Residential pressure from Carroll Gar-dens and Park Slope encroach upon the Gowanus Canal which has increased speculation in real estate prices

FLOOD LINE: The area currently under speculation is also within the 100-Year flood line

TOXICITY: A history of manufacture and storage of gas has left toxic elements that have leached into the soils. Additionally, raw sewage coming from the Combined Sewage Overflow system toxifies the canal waters

STITCHING LOTS: Low-use and vacant lots are tar-geted for development in order to bridge across the canal and stitch together the two neighborhoods

COMMERCIAL AVENUE: A new commercial avenue that brings in existing commercial activity will activate the site

URBAN STRATEGY

PLAN OF BRIDGING INTERVENTION

SITE STRATEGY

CAPPING CITY BLOCKS: A strategy to safely contain toxic soils and create buildable ground

RESIDENTIAL TOWERS: Positioned on capped blocks, these allow residential pressures to infiltrate

GREEN SPACES: These service the residential towers and commercial areas

COMMERCIAL AREAS: Feed the pedestrian paths with activity and bring in existing commercial business

SECTION OF INITIAL INTERVENTION AT PUBLIC PLACE

Displayed Soil and Water Remediation

Public Walkway

Revitalized Vegetation

Toxic Soil

Soil Cap

Retail

Office

Housing

Public Walkway

Outdoor Retail

Scented Flowers

BIOSWALE BRIDGE BARGEThe bioswale barge and dock areas are planted with Reed Canarygrass and Cattails that clean the 300 million gallons of raw sewage that flow into the Gowanus Canal each year through the Combined Sewage Overflow system. 250,000 square feet of bioswales are needed to treat the sewage that enters the Gowanus. The barges and docks are located at streets that currently dead end at the canal. Thus, the bridge barges connect residential neighborhoods on either side of the canal, stitching them together and creating public green space.

Toxic Water Toxic Soil

SECTION OF THE BIOSWALE BRIDGE BARGE

THE BARGE AND DOCK

Meghan SpigleFall 2007 Academic WorkPeter de Bretteville Architecture Studio

KunsthalleNEW HAVEN, CTGARDEN AND GALLERYThe New Haven Kunsthalle is conceived as an art and media center, which would serve both the Yale and New Haven community. The given the wide array of art media to be displayed and interacted with in the museum, the Kunsthalle is designed to address the curatorial needs of conditions with and without light. Art and media requiring visual projection or media interaction are located on the ground level. The ground level is spatially defined by a series of steps and ramps which negotiate level changes through what is otherwise a fluid and connected space beneath a large green roof surface. The green roof, a sequence of ramped surfaces, offer exhibition space for art pieces that are better suited for outdoor display. A portion of the green roof which slopes down to the ground floor, adjacent to the lobby entry, is accessible and open to the public and provides an informal outdoor meeting space for larger groups.Artwork requiring display in natural light is accommodated in the ‘light box’ gallery which appears to float over the constructed landscape of the green roof. Natural daylight is brought into the gallery space by a light tray ceiling system that captures southern light and reflects it into the gallery spaces. The light trays are situated so that they articulate the structural elements within the space.

MODEL SHOWING CONSTRUCTED GREEN ROOF AND GALLERY

CHAPEL STREET AND PASSAGE TO THE KUNSTHALLE NORTH EAST ELEVATION AS SEEN FROM CHAPEL STREET

KUNSTHALLE IN URBAN CONTEXTKUNSTHALLE AND ADJACENT YALE ARTS BUILDINGS

SITE PLAN SHOWING PASSAGE TO CHAPEL STREETDIAGRAM OF

NEW HAVEN GREEN SPACE

VIEW TO THE PUBLIC GREEN ROOF VIEW OF THE GROUND FLOOR GALLERY

SECOND FLOOR PLANGROUND FLOOR PLAN

SECOND FLOOR PLAN

GALLERY SECTION WITH NATURAL LIGHT STUDIES

THIRD FLOOR PLAN

Meghan SpigleFall 2006 Academic WorkBen Pell Studio

SlagscapeNEW HAVEN, CTCONSTRUCTIVE WASTEUnion Station is a nexus for collection and distribution of people in and out of the city of New Haven. As people are processed through the station, they leave waste behind. Union Station alone handles over 4,500 cubic feet of rubbish each week. Three times a week, this waste is shipped off-site via petroleum fueled vehicles to an incinerator in Bridgeport, CT, some 20 miles away. The incineration method of waste management in the county of New Haven and the use of transport are unnecessary and are contributing factors to its low air quality rating, placing it in the top 10% of counties with the worst/dirtiest air quality.Plasma gasification is a relatively new method of waste management that densely consolidates waste matter into by-products of vitreous slag and energy filled gas. If this process were to be used to treat the waste from the city of New Haven on the site of Union Station, a new system could emerge; whereupon waste from the city could be used to generate a new landscape that provides new ecologies for humans and wildlife. The Slagscape uses city waste as a programmatic fuel for reinventing the site adjacent to Union Station. Vitreous slag by-products are used as building blocks to make new connections on site and to remediate the site by creating new natural and constructed environments. The Slagscape self-multiplies in order to continuously grow eastward, toward New Haven Harbor, overtaking existing hazardous waste producing meat packing factories. This new swath of natural territory would then link the shoreline of the harbor to the nexus of Union Station via a new and healthy ecological environment. The new ecology would provide a home and breeding ground to summer dwelling grassland songbirds native to the Northeastern US, whose habitats are now dwindling due to urban development and farmland reforestation. Visitors and city residents could then participate in this dynamic landscape by observing bird life in the summer and occupying heat pockets produced by the plasma gasification process during wintertime.

TEXTURE AND PATTERN OF THE SLAGSCAPE

SECTION A

PROGRAMMATIC PATHSThe project is motivated by an attempt to create new habitat for native grassland birds in New Haven. This map shows the relative size and location of existing habitat areas, also called Important Bird Sites.

Union Station after 20 years

Union Station after 60 years

Union Station after 40 years

SLAGSCAPE PLAN

A

Meadowlarks, Sparrows, and Bobolinks are grassland birds native to the Northeastern United States. They are loosing their natural habitat due to urbaniza-tion and reforestation of farm-land.

Pigeons and Gulls are becoming more prevalent as urbanization occurs and the natural landscape is destroyed. These birds scav-enge food waste produced by people and industry.

SLAG ASSEMBLYOne Slag component equals two weeks of processed waste produced by the entire city of New Haven and can be assembled according to programmatic conditions.

BIRDWATCHING AREA