RYAN SANDWICK
**under construction**
community engager + placemaker + regeneration(er) + urban designer
Professional Experiences - A Sample
Sustainability & Campus Planning
My mentor has repeatedly stated that “The most sustainable landscape is often what is already existing”. As UC Davis is recognized as one of the most environmentally progressive universities, it was important for the university to balance the need for environmental sustainability in times of financial austerity.
Balancing landscape renovation projects with extensive budget cuts led the University to embark on its first Landscape Management Plan. As drought tolerant and native gardens cost nearly 5 times as much to maintain as traditional lawn landscapes, the ultimate goal of the plan was to identify the most environmentally, financially and physically sustainable methods of maintaining UC Davis’s 900 acre core campus.
South Land Park Residence
Residential Landscape Architecture
I’ve found that residential designs often have the same issues as larger scale projects, but at a smaller scale and on a more personal level. While in public sector projects the ultimate users are fairly removed from intricacies of the process, in residential design every decision directly effects the client. The personal relationship that develops during the process inspires me to push my creative and technical boundaries, all in effort to create the space they’ve always wanted, but never knew they could have.
Urban Design Analysis
B-plans have became an effective tool complementing site analysis, helping to fill in the knowledge gaps of why an area feels the way it does. Understanding this has helped me to avoid, or duplicate, neighboring communities when entering the schematic phase of spatial planning.
When I began working on a spatial plan for Glasgow Harbour I knew that connectivity was one of the key constraints, and that preparation of a B-Plan could visually explain how, and why, the site was so disconnected and how dramatically the historic footprint of the area has been changed. The communities to the north of the site (Partick and the West-End) have retained their historic character and are some of the most successful in Glasgow.
When redevelopment began along the River Clyde 30 years ago, an emphasis was placed on creating statement architecture, breaking from the traditional Glaswegian aesthetic. This physical regeneration strategy has resulted in eye-catching buildings along the river that are often removed from the ground plane and seem to discount effective circulation and access.