205 Final: Sunset and Nightlife

This is my end of the semester studio project that entailed me going through the process of interviewing a client (one of my classmates) and asking them a series of questions that would better help me design the perfect room for them. I was to design a room out of a 2,500 sq. ft living space that was chosen by the client, along with a desired paint color, inspirational piece and furniture piece. From this I was then able to come up with a concept for the room just from the pieces I was given and also design a space. This space's concept is derived from the idea of a sunset and how someone can have a bubbly personality (sun/bright) but also a serious one (sunset/intense/rich). This is apparent through my space's design and color. The bright colors of orange and yellow represent the bubbly side of a person and the deep mauve color shows the person's serious side. This is a place that can let in the sun during the day, the sunset in the evening and the glow of the city's nightlife at night.

Vision Disability Workshop

This is the hand out that we were given to follow. It told us what to do and where to walk while we were "visually impaired" (not totally blind). I made some notes on it talking about how it was hard for my partner to walk down the green marble stairs located in the cub because the black strips that usually are an indicator of the edge of the step, fell back into the green and were not very visible. The green stairs were so shiny and all seemed to mesh together. However, the tan stairs that I walked down outside the libraries were easier to navigate down because the tan steps had a duller finish to them and I was able to see the black strip more easily.

These are some of my notes and sketches that I made while on my walk through the cub "visually impaired" (not totally blind). This showes that in the elevater it was hard to determine what the buttons said and so it made it frustrating to decide what to push. This is something that Ifeel needs to be addressed and maybe better planned and designed. It really is sad how often people with disabilities are disreguarded when it comes to design and I am glad that I was able to participate in this workshop. Now when I am designing the depot for the inkeepers wife, I will know some of the common things that are ignored when designing for the visually impaired, and also how to address them properly.

This is a sketch that I drew of my interpretation of the CUBS environment while I was "visually impaired" (not blind). This workshop asked us to walk around the CUB in glasses smeared in petrolium jelly which stimulated how it would feel to be partially blind. This sketch I drew shows some of the environments problems that I encountered, such as the CUBS lighting that reflects off the marble flooring. This makes it hard to determine where you are at and makes for a hard time determining where you might be at. This sketch also shows the ATM in which we had to locate. I thought that the flashing lights around the card slot did a great job showing where the card goes and then you were able to know that the key pad was close by, along with the brail to help guide you in number patterns.

Railroad depot: MICHIGAN CENTRAL STATION

This is my depot case study of the Michigan Central sation Depot that I did for part of the research and the process of the final project in studio. This involved researching a depot across the US and then making a poster using indesign to show our graphic skills and elements and principals of design. Each person in my group of 4 did a case sudy and all followed the same template. We then got together as a group and presented our research to the rest of the class that had different case studies as well on different topics. This is not only a way to show my understanding of the the elements and principals of design and my graphic presentation, but is also a way for me to research a bit about the adaptive re-use of old train depots. Our final project is asking us to take the old train depot (Pufferbelly) in pullman, and restore it to be a bed and breakfast art history hotel. I hope with what I have learned and research that it will help me with this process of designing a great bed and breakfast!

TRANQUILITY EMERSED IN WARMTH -Habitat for Humanity board 1/2

This is the Habitat for Humity house design project that we did in our studio class. Habitat for Humanity is an organization that builds homes for the lower income population. The homes are built with the owners and volunteers of the area. This is way for the home owners to "pay" for their house with out money. We were paired up with a partner and together were supposed to come up with a 3 bedroom floor plan, no bigger than 11,000 square feet, and fall right on or below the desired budget 80-85 K. The idea of combining tranquility and warmth with in the home is what katrina and I decided to go with. We then came up with this house design built around the idea of having a shed roof. At first we were told not to design a house with a shed roof because the clients just didn't see how this would work, but with persistance katrina and I designed a funtionable, cheap, aesthetically pleasing and sustainable home containing a shed roof. The first board contains our floor plan, the main living space perspective, some pictures of the site where the house is to be built and also the 2 exterior elevations. This was an excellent experience working with another designer to come up with such a design. The color pallet, materials, over all layout and interior features all connect and support our concept of tranquility emersed in warmth.

Habitat for Humainity board 2/2

This is the second board of Katrina and I's habitat home design. It displays many of the elevations and some of the perspectives that were done for the house. The interior elevations describe and show how the chosen shed roof design is handled when it comes to the interior aesthetics of the home and also why certain aspects and details of the home are the way they are. the windows in the living area that are set high are because of the shed roof, allowing for natural light to come in. The lowered ceiling heights in all the bedrooms are because of the shed roofs large void it would leave in personal and private areas. The bedroom interior, bath interior and kitchen interior perspectives all show show the homes tranquility and warmth through out the chosen materials. This is a home that anyone can enjoy, relax and experience true nirvana within.