Nicholas Kohlstedt Design Portfolio

About Me

Nicholas Kohlstedt, MLA

I am a graduate of the University of Tennessee with degrees in both Architecture and Landscape Architecture. I have been interested in pursuing Architecture since I was young and have been cultivating that interest since then. My passion for design led me to take an opportunity to expand into Landscape Architecture, which has greatly broadened my perspective.

Architecture and Landscape has merged in my mind after studying both, as I now understand them as necessary to each other. I am greatly interested and excited to continue to sharpen my design skills with this mindset.

Outside of school I spend a lot of time working as a server. I am fortunate enough to have found a place that acts not only as a restaurant, but as a community center for both the staff and patrons. I have learned a lot in both skill and relationship building in the span of 4 years.

Contact

nick.kohlstedt50@gmail.com

865-335-2419

Internship Experience

RIOS Summer 2025

Interned as a Landscape Architect creating and altering renderings, working on site plans, and setting up presentations.

Education

Master of Landscape Architecture Completed 2026

University of Tennessee 2024 - 2026, 5+1 Program

Bachelor of Architecture _ Completed 2025

University of Tennessee 2020 - 2025

Work Experience

KR Foliage _ Laborer 2021-2024

Landscaping laborer planting trees, excavating, mulching, gaining experience in general installation and construction

La Paz Server and Bartender 2022 - Present

Gained skills in customer service, stress management, multitasking, and high effort

Competition

NCMA FDC CMU Community Commons _ Spring 2024

Entry is featured in this portfolio entitled “Biddlesville

Community Center”

Awards

People’s Choice RIOS Awards _ “Best Axon” 2025

Studio wide award for collaborative axonometric drawing

UT Volunteer Scholarship 2020-2025

Highest merit scholarship maintained with high GPA

HOPE Scholarship with Merit Supplement 2020-2025

Supplement obtained through high GPA

Fold of Honor Scholarship _ 2020-2025

Scholarship awarded to dependents of veterans

Skills

Software

Rhino • Photoshop • Illustrator • After Effects • Blender •

Grasshopper • AutoCAD • Revit • Enscape • Vray

Physical

Model Making • Woodwork • Laser Cutting • CNC Milling •

3-D Printing

Table of Contents

Selected Works

Landscape Architecture

Campus Remains

Campus Remains reintroduces the Knoxville College campus to the Mechanicsville neighborhood by embracing its current state and tapping into the curiosity of the public. Throughout the project’s lifetime it will serve as a place for the community, informed by the formal remnants of it’s past. It is a project meant to celebrate decay and move forward into the future.

The design responds to site conditions by establishing two distinct zones, bound by curved forms, textural interaction, and tapping into the site’s native feeling of discovery and adventure.

Topographic change and spatial definition

Open World Adventure Play

Clear views for parents and textured obstacles for children

Textural Study

Exploration Area

Curvilinear forms for space making

Biddlesville Community Center

Located in a historic neighborhood northwest of downtown Charlotte, North Carolina, this project is part of their effort to strengthen their community that has faced an extended period of hardship. This center offers spaces for play, contemplation, learning, and connection.

The project is an entry to the National Concrete Masonry Association student competition, and explores the materiality and capability of concrete masonry units.

Branded Ecosystems

This project imagines the future of public space through critiques on consumerism, expectations of tourism, and public perception of conceptual urban space.

Parc de la Villette is transformed into a series of branded gardens engaged in “co-opetition” by leveraging sensory features and ecological processes. This results in an ever-shifting tapestry of micro ecotones and sensory experiences for guests of the park.

Utilizes elegant planting and branded topiary

Year 1

Year 10

Year 15

Competing Patches

Continuous seasonal planting creates an evolving edge between gardens

Spring/Summer Section

Sensory Experience

Fall/Winter Section

Sensory Experience

Heirloom Collective

A network of existing institutions that work together to provide resources to individuals interested in starting sustainable farming practices.

Their harvests are then used to create products that are distributed nationally, bringing outside dollars into the region.

Utilizing the “Buy Back” program, borrowed graciously from the Appalachian Beekeeping Collective, gives the network a financial framework that ensures benefit to all parties.

Heirloom Collective Invests in Resources and Education Participant Produces Harvest

Non-Profit Buys Back from Farmer

Heirloom Collective Creates Product Distributes and Sells Nationally Outside Dollars Enter the Fund Dollars are Reinvested in Farmers

Participating Farms + Shipping Route

Existing Non-Profit + Service Area

Shipping Route to HQ

Heirloom Collective Map

The network shows the area which each non-profit is able to aid individual farmers and get their product to HQ

Agroforestry

Beginner participants interplant persimmon,blueberries, and tomatoes to be bought by the Heirloom Collective

Silviopasture

Participants use livestock to clear brush, manage weeds, and eat pests in orchards of tree crops

Forest Farming

Existing canopy is used to yield high value medicinal crops that grow in shade such as American Ginseng and Black cohosh

Heirloom Collective Newsletter

Participant’s success story highlighting the progression of her farm to include new value added products

Heirloom Brand products created and distributed

Charleston, WV // HQ

National distribution of Heirloom products for regional development

Knoxville Maker Space

The building serves the community of creatives in Knoxville by providing them with a space to create, display, and live in one place.

The Kiln constantly supplies energy to various systems to heat and cool the building; utilizing the excess heat generated from artistic use.

A parametric roof system and detached sound screen respond to the site’s challenges of elevation and the historic placement on the railroad.

Flashing

Insulation

Parapet

Cont. Vapor Barrier

Cant

Roof Sealing Sheet

8” EPS

5 Layer CLT

5/8” Gypsum Board

Steel Bracket

Bolt

Metal Sealant

Hydronic System

Open For Heat Escape

Wall Assembly

Finished Surface

1” Dry Screed

1” Impact Sound Insulation

3” Concrete Topping

3” Rigid Insulation

2” Air Gap

Recycled Brick Rain screen

Corten Bracket

Corten Steel Screen

Steel Knife Edge Connector

Steel Plate

24” Concrete Bearing Wall

Sidewalk

Gravel

Earth

In-Situ Concrete Slab

4” Sand

3” Hardcore

In Situ Concrete Footer

Drainage

Door Frame

Glass Door Panel

The raised roof structure is shaped to encourage incoming winds to enter into the courtyard

The water body is located in the courtyard to cool the air entering from the roof structure and sound screen 2

Trees in the courtyard both help block sound and provide shade 3

The sound screen acts to help reduce the amount of vibration coming from the railroad by detaching from the structure and utilizing angled panels to scatter sound waves 4

Operable windows move air through the building by way of the stack effect

The party wall is activated by the use of a hydronic system which, during cooling months, can be used to heat the building at night as needed

The hydronic system is connected to the furnace, which runs constantly, to actively offset energy requirements of heating and reuse waste heat energy

A water body works to cool air brought down into the courtyard, which will cycle through the building via stack effect

During cooling months, an additional hydronic system in the ground works to store excess heat that is not needed

Operable windows move air through the building by way of the stack effect

The party wall is activated by the use of a hydronic system which, during heating months, can be used to heat the building throughout the day

The hydronic system is connected to the furnace, which runs constantly, to actively offset energy requirements of heating and reuse waste heat energy

A heated water body works to warm air in the courtyard, cycling through the building via stack effect

During heating months, a hydronic system in the ground works to heat the water body

Landscape Architecture

Transplanted Ecosystems

On a mound of discarded coal and mining by-product, this project is a moldy, purulent, suppurating scab on the forests’ wound.

Packets of salinated water burst open and mold grows between recycled metal and decommissioned windmill blades to create an entropic experiment for different types of bacterial life.

The outcome is a flourish of bacterial life that can exist in this harsh patch of disturbance.

Plan Diagram Spatialises the different components of the site

View 1 - Boxes and Windmill Blade

Boxes places in water rot over time and provide a damp environment for mold to grow

View 2 - Saline Packs

Corn plastic packs filled with salinated water burst over time adding entropy to the system

View 3 - Recycled Metal

Metal scrap from abandoned coal processing sites rust and give structure to growth

View 4 - Rendered Detail

Inoculated wooden boxes host mold and create a showy film over the pond

Year 5

Year 1

Year 10

Mold Studies Growth, Texture, Color Perspective Imagines how the site both deteriorates and grows over time

Details how saline packs burst over time