2. "Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt."
- Anonymous
3. With our lives in constant motion we
have many decisions to make and
various paths to choose. If we opt for
what is comfortable and familiar we
often maintain our status quo. But
if we decide to venture toward the
unknown, then we open ourselves up to
opportunities to truly expand our worlds.
For me, designed landscapes have
always provide the most beautiful
and soulful divergences. It is from
these most personal experiences that
my desire to become a Landscape
Architect arises. I want to design
places and spaces for others to
experience their own divergences.
To feel how a busy mind can be
quieted in a shady urban pocket
park; how new possibilities arise
in a child who first sees the ocean
from a waterfront promenade; or
how an inspiration for a backyard
water feature unexpected comes to
a gardener in the Moroccan Desert.
In my life in deciding which paths
I will chose, I will most likely opt
for the dirt ones, for the unlimited
possibilities of where they may lead me.
ApproachApproach
Erika Mueller
8 4 3 . 4 7 8 . 2 9 4 8
e r i k a @ c h a s c p. c o m
w w w. l i n k e d i n . c o m / i n / e r i k a e m u e l l e r /
4. MASTER PLANNING
Urban Waterfont Redevelopment: Union Pier
Community Revitalization: Sterling Neighborhood
UNIVERSITY PLANNING & DESIGN PROJECTS
Courtyard Renovation: Student Union
Custom Benches: Tiger Band Plaza
Clemson University Site Design Guidelines
MODELING
Form Inspired Landscape
Meadow, Forest, Lake
LANDSCAPE SKETCHING
Academic studio
Professional
Hand Crafting
5. Urban Waterfront
Redevelopment
Masters Thesis
To integrate Charleston’s maritime
and post-industrial heritage into an
ecologically responsible and sustainable
redesign of its urban waterfront.
Design Goal
Charleston, SC
With its naturally deep port and ideal
location favorable to North Atlantic trade
winds, Charleston was settled in 1663
as a British colonial trading port. For
over 300 years, Charleston’s waterfront
has been the catalyst for its economy.
Union Pier, located on Cooper River on
the east side of the Charleston peninsula,
continues to operate at the center of global
commerce and trade, serving as a bulk cargo
facility and the city’s cruise ship terminal.
The scope of this redevelopment totals 50
acres and encompasses Union Pier, which is
managedbytheSouthCarolinaPortsAuthority.
Union Pier
9. Design Strategy & ElementsDesign Strategy & Elements
maritime and
post-industrial
infrastructure
and heritage
highlights local
identity, history, and
culture
wharves and
piers
creates a unique
sense of place
railroad
lines
Bennett
Rice Mill
Customs House
the greatest asset of
any waterfront
urban waterfront
design principles
sustainability
views
education
recreation
the water itself
ecologically
responsible and
sustainable design
stormwater
gardens
green roofs
pocket green
spaces
permeable
paving
marsh
restoration and
daylighting
healthy
ecosystems
continuous
public access to
the water
connection
to the city
multimodal
transport
vegetation and
wildlife
10. Customs House Green Connection Sea
Steps
Temporary
Markets
Customs House Green Connection Sea
Steps
Temporary
Markets
Re-establish Customs House as Charleston's Front DoorRe-establish Customs House as Charleston's Front Door
Integrate Maritime & Post-Industrial HeritageIntegrate Maritime & Post-Industrial Heritage
11. Connect The City To Its WaterfrontConnect The City To Its Waterfront
Create View Corridors & Public AccessCreate View Corridors & Public Access
12. Visitors Center
University
Customs House
Maritime Museum
Public Market
Children’s Museum
Stormwater Park
Splash Pad
Retail & Restaurants
N
Scenic Overlook
Pier Pilings
Sea Steps
Residential
Artisans/Galleries
Cooper River
Bennett Rice Mill Parking
Maritime Art / Sculpture
Green Roof
Market Street
EastBaySt.
Vendue Street
Hassell St.
WashingtonSt.
ConcordSt.
Waterfront Park
Master PlanMaster Plan
13. Community
Revitalization
Community Studio - Year 2
Designed in partnership with Christine Rollins
To revitalize the community by providing
residents with pleasant and safe access
to spaces and places to recreate, garden,
shop, and interact and to link the Sterling
Neighborhood to nearby Greenville’s CBD.
Design Goal
Encourage pedestrian activity by creating
passive and active recreation spaces along new
neighborhood greenways, a tree-lined retail
boulevard, and centrally located town square.
Improve pedestrian and bicyclist safety with
traffic calming measures, bike lanes, and
sidewalk enhancements and streamline
vehicular traffic with road realignments
that connect to Greenville’s street grid.
Design Strategy
Once a thriving African American community,
the Sterling Neighborhood faces the
challenges of a decreasing population, a lack
of community cohesiveness, rising crime
rates, and abandoned and derelict properties.
Sterling Neighborhood
Greenville, SC
16. Roadway RedesignRoadway Redesign
Sterling Boulevard
Narrow vehicular lanes
Designated bike path
Street trees
Raised intersections
Landscaped islands
Adequate lighting
Stormwater management
17. Town Square
St. Francis
Community Garden
St. Francis Hospital
Community Gardens
Hwy 123
Greenville High School
Montessori School
Baseball Field
Brushy Creek
Greenway Paths
Church
St. Francis Hospital
Friends and Family
Co-Op Housing
Recreation Pond
N
Pendleton Road
Anderson Road
Greenville CBD
19. Student Courtyard
Renovation
Designed in partnership with Marissa DiLoreto
for Clemson University Student Affairs
A peaceful yet playful oasis for students
to lounge in hammocks, to hang out
with friends, to surf the interent, or
to watch an outdoor evening movie.
Design Goal
Create a comfortable microclimate with
tree canopies, tables with umbrellas, sail
shades, and patio heaters. Soften the
space with wood decking, bamboo and
grasses, green screening, and hammocks.
Increase hours of usability at night with lighting
and programming. Provide ADA accessibility
with ramps incorporated into the decking.
Design Strategy
Clemson, SC
A student union should be designed as
a place for people to gather, relax, and
interact; as a space to take a break from the
hecticness of collegiate life. The enclosed
courtyard of Clemson University’s Student
Union feels disconnected and uninviting.
Visually separated from the campus, the
space is dominated by brick hardscaping
and lacks adequate ADA accessibility.
23. Tiger Band Plaza
Custom Benches
Designed for DP3 Architects
Design and generate CAD drawings of two
custom teak and granite benches to fit the
radii of the curves of the pergola. Placed
under the vine covered steel structure,
the benches create places for visitors to
sit and watch the band practice, shaded
from the heat of the afternoon sun.
Design Project
Clemson, SC
Clemson’s Tiger Band Practice Field has been
recently redesigned as Spirit Point at Tiger
Band Plaza and is anchored by an S-curved
pergola. The Tiger Band can be heard from
the plaza across campus when it practices
in the afternoons during the school year.
28.
SITE DESIGN GUIDELINES
PEDESTRIAN VEHICULAR BICYCLE VEGETATION FURNISHINGS LIGHTING SIGNAGE PAVING SITEWORK PARKING
CLEMSON UNIVERSITY
Clemson University
Site Design Guidelines
Project Goal
Clemson, SC
Clemson University’s Site Design Guidelines
describe the procedures, standards,
processes, and implementation for the design
of campus improvements that reinforce and
maintain a unified visual campus character.
To edit, revise, reformat, and update the
university’s current Site Design Guidelines
which were drafted in 2001. New additions
included a Bicycle Systems Section and an
Appendix with Product Specifications for
Campus Standard Products and Materials.
With an end goal of creating an accessible
resource for those involved in planning
for change on the campus, I embedded
hyperlinks to further reference detailed
information and linked the entire document
to Clemson University’s Facilities website.
Adopted by President Barker and Clemson’s
Administrative Council in June of 2012.
www.clemson.edu/facilities/campus-planning/sdg.html
Available At
Created for Clemson University
29. A mechanized time punch clock is
disassembled and its components
analyzed for their shape, form,
texture, and volume. They are
re-envisioned as elements of an
Italian Renaissance landscape.
Form Inspired
Landscape
30. A collage inspired and created from the natural elements found in an experimental forest
Meadow, Forest, Lake
materials: wood, tin, moss, soil, clay, rock, water, vegetation
36. Erika Mueller
8 4 3 . 4 7 8 . 2 9 4 8
e r i k a @ c h a s c p. c o m
1261 Calais Drive, Mount Pleasant, SC
L i n k e d i n : w w w. l i n k e d i n . c o m / i n /
e r i k a e m u e l l e r /
