LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE
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Thomas is currently a Masters of Landscape Architecture student at Rutgers University, due to graduate in May 2017. He comes from a background of ecology, biology, music, and theatre.
Thomas's past credits include researching herbaceous changes in a university-owned forest in addition to directing multiple musicals with his Rutgers-affiliated student theatre groups. While his interests vary, he is strongly pulled to the core concept of groups of intelligent and diverse minds coming together to create something important and innovative. He has a strong focus in the concept of story-creation and how we as humans interact with our landscape to make our own narrative. Thomas hopes to use these concepts in his future studies to examine how we can intervene with the landscape to promote this curiosity, sense for adventure, and decision making process in hopes to engage people further within the landscape. Thomas is currently looking into combining the fields of landscape design and theatrical design. He is interested in provoking the feeling that actors and audience members experience when participating in the theatrical arts. In addition to his theoretical interest, Thomas has a strong attraction to restoration ecology and how we can bring that into an aesthetically pleasing environment. His theatrical brain and heart lead him to being very interested in the Disney phenomenon and how that affects the landscape, specifically in Walt Disney World. |
ISOTOPES IN THE GARDEN: MASTERS THESIS
This thesis is a narrative, which explores the age of nuclear enlightenment—or the Atomic Age—and its physical ramifications within the landscape. This era—starting with the discovery of radioactivity in 1898 and continuing through today—began with a belief in progress towards a brighter tomorrow, but ended in destructive actions that will continue to decay within our soils and bones for millions of years into the future. Following the stories of key people, such as Marie Curie, Robert Oppenheimer, and Edward Teller, this thesis tells a story, which even though it is historically recent, it is unknown to people of the millennial generation—those born from the early 1980s through the early 2000s. To tell the story, the thesis draws upon science, politics, history, and pop-culture and employs a specific representation technique that draws from mid-twentieth century movie animation. Based upon the author’s own experiences, the thesis argues that the millennial generation is less informed of, less motivated by, or less interested in the legacies of the Atomic Age. Ultimately, the thesis seeks to remedy this detachment from this historically relevant narrative. To do this, the thesis explores the physical ramifications of nuclear ingenuity over the last 120 years, which has resulted in the unintentional and global spread of radioactive isotopes via atmospheric nuclear weapons testing and nuclear meltdowns. This radioactive debris has become embedded within our earth’s crust, plants, animals, and bodies, where it will decay for millions of years into the future. This paper hopes to engage the readers with this reality and transform their perspective of this age from a distant past to an imminent present and future.
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COOK CAMPUS
This final project for our housing studio was centered around the rehousing of 1800 students on the Cook Campus of Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ. The task at hand included looking into "agriculture" and how it can be incorporated into a dramatically evolved campus such as Cook, which has its roots as a land grant organization. We paid special attention to Rutgers' 250 Anniversary Master Plan and critically looking at its initiatives to remove the individuality of each campus in hopes to create a more centered and identifiable New Brunswick campus as a whole.
This project dealt with the redesign of the Old Queens Campus at Rutgers University. Old Queens was the first campus on this historic property, dating back to 1766. Some issues that were factored into the design process included grading the site for ADA accessibility, preserving the rich historic background, and activating the space to be a living icon for this growing university that just celebrated its 250 anniversary.
THOMAS EDISON CENTER
This was a project to redesign the area around the Edison Memorial Tower in Menlo Park, NJ in addition to the State Park's trail systems in the large area behind the tower and museum. This was for Studio II at Rutgers' MLA Program. Spring 2015.
HOME SWEET HOME
This was a residential design project. Thomas used his own house in New Jersey as a model. The deliverables were concept sketches in addition to a rough model and a rendered plan and sections. This was for Studio II at Rutgers' MLA Program. Spring 2015.
DOUGLASS BOULEVARD
This was a courtyard / pedestrian boulevard design for the Douglass Campus area at Rutgers University. The deliverables were concept and rendered sketches of the design. This was for Studio II at Rutgers' MLA Program. Spring 2015.
SPACE-MAKING STUDIO
This studio was based on scale model making to understand the creation of space. There were 5 projects. The first four explored 4 different forms (biomorphic, geomorphic, rectilinear, and circular), 3 ways to work with the surrounding areas (supportive, non-supportive, 3:1 non-supportive to supportive), and combinations of 3 types of materials (landform, plants, and structures). The final project was in pairs and used a real space, behind the building that houses the Rutgers LA department. This was for Studio I at Rutgers' MLA Program. Fall 2014.
IMMERSIVE THEATRE
This was a final paper for the Theory of Landscape Architecture class at Rutgers. It concerns the conversation of Theatre and Landscape from the Halprins to Julie Taymor, and eventually discusses the rising medium of Immersive Theatre and how it impacts our view of place making and memory.
Immersive Theatre | |
File Size: | 2115 kb |
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FITTING THE GLASS SLIPPER
This was a final paper, for the History of Landscape Architecture class. It concerns the history and iconography of Disney's Cinderella's Castle and how it came to mean something so much more than just a building for a princess.
Fitting the Glass Slipper.pdf | |
File Size: | 2031 kb |
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VOORHEES MALL
The purpose of this project was to hand draft and depict a story of a character in the context of Voorhees Mall at Rutgers University. A woman hippie protestor was chosen. We see her story as she goes from a hippie protest, meeting a young man, watching him drafted to Vietnam, learning about his death, and visiting the Vietnam War Memorial at the mall. Each building in plan is a framed perspective towards its own facade. This is made of drafted vellum on top of an oil pastel mural.
BARCELONA PAVILION
The purpose of this project was to hand draft Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona Pavilion and to show a specific detail or feature of the structure. The elements (air, water, earth, life, and fire) were chosen in this particular project. Using a collage technique to diagram the pavilion, each element is highlighted and explains how Mies created geometry to these seemingly amorphous elements.