Paris Study Tour

In the Summer of 2012, I had the opportunity to partake in a ten day study tour to Paris, France. Our group of Interior Designers led by two faculty were able to visit many of the famous buildings and interiors we soon learned about in classes. Our hotel was situated downtown so we easily strolled along the streets looking at shops and eating the french cuisine. On one of our first days we took the short metro trip to visit the Eiffel Tower(left) for the first time that week and also visited the magnificent Arc de Triomphe (right). These structures seem small in images but when climbing the Arc you realize just how tall they are from being so out of breath once you reach the top, looking out at all the streets sprawling from this central point.

 Next we spent an entire day at Notre Dame, walking the grounds and explore the enormous cathedral. Throughout the trip we had the opportunity to sketch several of the buildings and this sketch was one of my favorite to work with. We spent a maximum of 30 minutes sketching each building and this was a quick one at 10 minutes.

We spent half a day exploring the Louvre in all its enormity. First we were led to what the teachers believed were the "big three" pieces to see, the Venus de Milo, Mona Lisa and Winged Victory. Then we could explore the rest of the museum as we saw fit. That evening a group of us decided to go back and experience the Eiffel Tower at night and saw its light up show as we were headed back to catch the last metro train to our hotel with an ice cream crepe in hand.

Another day was spent visiting Villa Savoye and the Musee de Orsay. Again we had the opportunity to sketch around Villa Savoye and I sat up on the top floor sketching part of the building. I was surprised at how the walls were dirty when we arrived. In all the images you see these pristine white walls and it did not seem the same in person but it still was amazing to see such a famous structure.

 Then there was the day we visited Montmartre, seeing Sacre Couer and having portraits drawn by the artists nearby. My friends and I later returned for one's birthday to visit the Moulin Rouge, which was quite the experience in itself.

One of the last days we visited the palace at Versailles. I was enthralled by everything I saw and if the palace wasn't enough, walking the grounds took your breath away. However, they also had some contemporary sculptures displayed throughout the palace that weren't too appetizing. Some were interesting and create a unique dynamic with the space but then there were objects like the large pink feather helicopter that I feel just did not mesh well and wasn't very attractive to be honest.

I am sure I have left out some things we saw but the trip was so filled with wonderful experiences and places that it is difficult to think of everything upon returning. Now a year later I think about visiting the star outside of Notre Dame once more, ensuring another trip back. And maybe I will on my next semester to Italy!

The Portal Beyond - An Artist's Residence, Studio and Gallery

For this design work, we were given an old train building, the Pufferbelly Depot in Pullman, WA, and we were asked to adapt it into an artist's residence, studio and gallery. We were to also incorporate ADA and Universal Design aspects that would accommodate a spouse that had a vision impairment. We started by determining our concept by drawing inspiration from a tour through the existing building, then we came up with a module design that we drew our final parti idea from and created a textile design off of these. After having printed and received the textile, we started developing 3D concept ideas and created a model off of this. Once our concept had been solidified we started working on the design of the actual depot, utilizing bubble diagrams, adjacency matrices and block diagrams. To do this we chose an artist to base out design off of and I chose to use my aunt who is a painter in Germany. The final work included numerous plans, elevations and perspectives, but a few aspects of the project from start to finish really challenged and inspired me. From this work I drew out my final title as the Portal Beyond.

One of the most important components that helped me through my design were the inspiration I pulled out from a tour through the depot. We were asked to walk around the space, taking pictures of anything that drew inspiration for us and then pic from the images we had taken. Two immediately caught my eye and I decided to use both and draw inspiration between them. The first is the doorknob to the basement stairs and the second is some decaying pieces of metal from on the train. I was attracted to these objects because of their organic lines, mixed with geometric shapes and the rich colors that came from both. The doorknob and metal fueled my design work and from them I drew 3 ideas of concepts: organic/geometric and the portal between the two, repetition of elements and contrast. I learned to think more abstractly from what I was thinking and look for the elements and principles of design that drew my eye.

 The next component that further my design creation was the development of my parti design. We started off looking at these images and abstractly exploring elements we picked out from it, as I stated previously those three concepts were most common in my explorations. From there we moved into created fifty thumbnails that portrayed these objects and the words we drew from them. Off of those fifty we chose twenty to present to the class and gather feedback on. As we continued narrowing down we finally decided on one final thumbnail that would become the parti design for the project. From this aspect I was able to continue thinking abstractly and learn to look at things in a different way.

 These two images are a couple of the explored thumbnails I created and the final parti is below.

From the parti development we moved into created a textile pattern off of the parti. We explored many different patterns for the concept and then created 4 different possible color schemes to bring in. The parti above shows the colors I drew from my inspiration, with the mint color from the metal and the rust or brown color from both the doorknob and the train metal. As we explored the patterns we flipped, stretched and mirrored the parti to create a pleasing pattern that we would send into the Spoonflower website to be printed into a yard of fabric that was to be used in our depot design. I was able to even further stray from a set mind frame in this step and was surprised at how the final pattern came out and related to my original concept. The first image below on the left is the digital image I reproduced to send into the website for printing and the image on the right is a picture of how the textile was printed out. Although the colors are more muted I feel they fit better to my concept and I am pleased at how it turned out.

 After this stage we moved into 3D concepts and finally started designing for the artist within the depot. I found the furniture floor plan was a crucial component to my design, because it incorporated the layout of the space, the entrances/exits, furnishings and color/materiality. From this component I was able to work out all of my other drawings. We started by working a demolition plan that determined which walls we kept or destroyed and then decided on how we wanted to layout the furnishings within the space. The final step was rendering the space and determining how the materials would be laid out. During this step the most difficult part was finding a way to render my darker elements so that annotations of the space would still show through but I found I did that very successfully and learned to create a space that was both pleasing to the eye and functional.

The last component I feel was crucial to my design work was the final model. When exploring the demolition plan we started by working off a model, moving walls around and visualizing the interior space. In this we were able to look through exterior windows to see how the rooms were layout and how the expansive ceilings might affect the area. The final model was to include windows, doorways, interior walls, a rendered floor plan, a roof and show the entry paths to the building. The most challenging part of the model was to figure out how to create the roof but by looking through the construction documents and looking at an example model I feel I was able to recreate the depot roof successfully. From this I learned how to draw from multiple sources to create the best model possible.

Overall, through the semester I feel improved my ability in many different aspects. The first was my ability to render a space successfully. I had been struggling with making a drawing seem realistic with color, but I feel I was able to pull this off very well this year. The next aspect I feel I improved upon was my abstract exploration and thinking more abstractly. The final aspect I feel improved in my design work was my model making ability. But no matter how much I believe I improved there is always room for more. I am very pleased with the final result of this depot and look forward to showing my aunt the designs.

Art Museum Experience

During last week, I took the time to visit the Bellevue Art Museum in Bellevue, WA to view their "Love Me Tender" exhibit. This exhibit feature both 2D collages of currency artwork as well as 3D sculptures using currency. I estimated the total square footage of the space to be about 1500 square feet and the displays consisted of both pieces mounted on the walls, along with pedestal cases in the middle of the rooms. In some instances, cable suspension wires were used for a few of the hanging pieces of work. I noticed that all of the walls were stationary, so the ability to change the layout for separate exhibits was very limited but through the use of exhibit pieces and change in wall color they were able to direct the viewer through the space clearly. The environment colors were mostly dark with cream and grey wall colors, dark grey and black flooring, and a white ceiling. The only lighting sources were track lighting systems that spanned each room to highlight each piece as well as the cases situated in the center of the room. Although there was some daylight present it was filtered and redirected using resin panels so as not to affect the art pieces throughout the exhibit. I found their layout and directing through the space to be quite successful to emphasize the exhibit pieces and help highlight the most enticing artworks in the showcase. Overall the Bellevue Art Museum is a wonderful experience for artwork.

Visual Disability Experience

Riding an elevator

Attempting to use an ATM

 As someone who is already visually impaired, this was not much of a new experience to me. I have had contact lenses since I was 10 and glasses before that, so this activity just simulated how life would be if I did not have those corrections readily available. Everything appeared to be quite blurry and in order to read a newspaper or other element you must hold the object close to your face or get close to it. When walking around the CUB I found it was similar to walking around my apartment without my glasses or contacts in and I could navigate easily, but the problems arose when attempting to do simple tasks, such as pressing the correct elevator button or using an ATM. Although there were cues on the ATM machine of what buttons were which, without knowing how a keypad is normally set up, it would be difficult to operate without the knowledge of braille. Walking stairs was interesting due to the loss of perceptive depth and without having done this task multiple times without corrective lens I would have most likely tripped. Overall, certain aspects brought new light to my visual disability and made me better understand how to design for someone who has a visual impairment.

One Bedroom Residence and Common Area Design

Final Boards:

Final Model:

 

The song “Coming Home” by Gwyneth Paltrow brings to mind the growth and belonging experienced within the home. The encompassing feelings of warmth that envelope a home evoke playful curves and a sense of unity. The enlarging of elements through the space gives a sense of growth mimicking nature and its multitude of vegetation. Subtle curvilinear lines accent the repetitive unity, while stepped increase and decrease in size brings in the aspect of growth. Change in ceiling height as you enter the apartment and move deeper into the space evokes growth.  Repetitive elements are seen with the columns dividing the living and dining space as well as the tiling in the bathroom behind the vanity. Curvilinear shape comes in with the organic kitchen booth and shower design. To allow for the warmth home evokes, soft colors are chosen and daylight fills the apartment. Materials are chosen for their connection with nature both within the apartment and the common area. Growth is seen in the common area with decreasing sizes of furniture as you move back into the space as well as repetitive lines are seen in the ceiling lighting. 

The concept statement above applies to the common area and one bedroom apartment of the 2nd story to a hotel being re-purposed. I like the organic shape of the shower and its incorporation into the curvilinear aspect of my concept, as well as the curvilinear shape of the breakfast bar/booth and the ceiling curve in the kitchen. The repetition comes through with the tile behind the lavatory as well as the columns that divide the living area and kitchen. The idea of growth in the design is shown with the change in ceiling height, decreasing as you move back into the one bedroom apartment, as well as in the cabinetry both in the kitchen and living area with decreasing size of cabinets. I wish I had made the bedroom a bit more accessible, but everything else throughout the apartment is accessible for a person with a disability. The floor plan is very open so there is easy access to move through the space. In my study model I am very pleased with the detail and rendering of the walls, but which I had conveyed the change in ceiling height a bit better. The final boards I feel are very well planned out, there is only one portion of my common area board that feels empty, but other than that I am pleased with how it turned out. The most trouble I had with this project was picking which angles of the apartment to display. I found a lot of things important to show but I had to pick only a few or I would have had many more than five boards. Overall I am pleased with the design I created and the presentation of that design.

Client Brief

For the client brief we started out interviewing the owner of the building as a large group, each presenting our own questions and recording the answers. This really helped me get an idea of what he wanted for the building. I wish he had been a bit more clear of an idea, but at the same time the freedom was wonderful in order to come up with my own design. The client brief helped me organize all of the information he gave us and take out what I believed to be most important to the design. Then I was able to come up with a clear adjacency matrix and bubble diagram for the space. I wish we had been able to visit the site to get a better idea of where we were designing and the space we were given, but not seeing it in person helped to work on visualizing the space in the mind's eye.  I am happy with the turnout of my adjacency matrix and bubble diagram but which I had used more compatible colors to harmonize the diagrams. Overall I it was a great basis to start my design work in the building.

Residence Design Visit and Critique

While at home for Thanksgiving Break I was able to sit down with Kim Sparks, an Interior Designer in Bellevue, to discuss my final residence designs. I brought her a few floor plans, some concept sketches and the materials I envisioned in the space. She looked over my work as I explained it and gave me some really good feedback and some ideas of what to change. She told me that she like how I made my residence open and flowing and that the concept I had created was present but not overpowering in my designs. By meeting with someone to discuss the project outside of the studio, it gave me a new pair of eyes and some new insights I probably would not have heard from my peers. It really helped to talk to someone outside of studio and I would be interested in doing this for projects in the future.