Home Sweet Home

My best project yet! And the most important! Several years ago my parents moved into a very small new home (a ranch style house to my dismay) and had big dreams for it. They went to an architect to help them with an addition to the house and after paying him a good amount of money, the architect came back with three sets of plans to prove to my parents that what they wanted couldn't be done. Now that sounds ridiculous doesn't it?

The criteria my parents asked for was simple:
-They wanted the addition to be as simple of a shape as possible, basically a box (because we all know that exterior walls cost more than interior);
-They wanted a downstairs office;
-A large entry with seating space;
-A formal dining room with a butler pantry;
-A half bath for guests;
-A laundry room;
-And a mud room.

Okay, so maybe it sounds like a lot. But when organized in the right way, it really is quite simple. So that's exactly what I decided to do. Although I only have a few years of college under my belt I thought that the architect couldn't possibly be right. I took his plans home and drew up my own. Lo' and behold, he admitted that they worked, the city approved them, my family loves them, and the project is finally in progress! How crazy that a two year college student with no real world experience designing could help people more than a guy who's been in the field for decades and earning thousands of dollars for his work. It isn't right, and I can't wait to get out of college and help others out!

Unfortunately I don't have the original plans to share with you so you don't get to see all the rearranging that happened. But in the pictures below, basically we added everything that is west of the living/kitchen area. Sorry for the poor quality, scanning doesn't always go well. Hope you like them!

Exterior plans.

First floor plan.

Second floor plan.

A New Courtyard...

This project was fairly simple, although it was my first project working with Revit, a design program. I loved this project, and so far, it seems to be the best expression of myself as compared to all of the learning work I've done before. I started with a basic courtyard house and then rearranged it into a design that I would love personally as opposed to a client's preferences. I've never been a big fan of central courtyards in a home so I pushed it to the edge of the house where it is still walled in, but can be open to the outdoors as well. It was, to me, a very unique idea. I'm not sure it's the best but it was fun to take the risk and try it!

A simple view from the kitchen to the outdoor courtyard.

Above are two pictures of the courtyard; one looking toward the kitchen/dining entrance and one looking toward the outdoor fireplace.

The first floor plan with labels.

 The second floor plan without labels (sorry)! The wall on the right side of this plan is a glass wall that can fold the the sides of the room for an indoor/outdoor space.

And if you didn't understand what that room was in the second floor plan, it was this! A library full of glass shelves (unfortunately without books in this rendering). The whole point was to create a sort of space you could get lost in and then emerge into the outdoors. With a statement piece couch of course!

Sweet Cupcakes

Here I am at the end of my second quarter at Bellevue. The past three months have gone in a blink of an eye. In my last post I shared my bus shelter project. That was so simple compared to the long development process of turning a real life bus stop into a functioning cupcake shop. I started with the word "sweet" and came up with my idea of what that meant. The first thing that came to my mind was childhood summers. Blowing bubbles, ice cream swirls, and fizzy drinks. So I created my first model based on those ideas:

 

From this simple idea, I developed my idea into an actual spatial model. It had to keep the same "language" of the first model, but suggest an actual use, rather than just a sculpture piece. I decided to focus on the bubble shapes and add arches to suggest swirls (in combination with the shadows that would be cast). I think it turned out to be a little more space-agey than I would have liked, but knowing where the ideas came from, I'm happy with the idea:



From here, I was introduced to my project location. A bus stop outside of my school was to be turned into the cupcake shop. It was a simple building, but the challenge was to add our "language" without changing the original structure of the building. Below is a Google SketchUp model of the original building:

 

The only part of the bus stop that worked with my idea was the circular skylights. Other than that, the building was extremely geometric, and built of concrete, glass, and metal. Not exactly my definition of sweet. I went through far too many ideas to show here, but wound up with one I absolutely loved. I haven't scanned any of the sketches in, but I built my idea in SketchUp. It was extremely difficult to create bubbles and arches since the program isn't very good with them, but I did it anyway! A few requirements were a POS area, counter seating, table seating, a display case, ADA compliant bathroom, a storage space, and a sink/dishwasher area. So here's a few views:



So the next step was to develop these messy ideas into a nice drawing, with some spot rendering. Below are my final drawings, including a floor plan. They're kind of overwhelmed with dimensions, but I was still very happy with how they turned out:





 

And then the final presentation!:



Bellevue College!

I've been at Bellevue College for a while now and I'm finally starting to get a feel for the program here. There is a bit of a difference between my current ID program and WSU's. Quite a difference. I've mostly been covering stuff I've already learned at WSU, but I never did get to learn any computer modeling program before. Here at Bellevue I'm expected to know how to use Sketch Up already, so here is my first attempt at it:

The project was to find a local bus stop, and redesign it, addressing users issues (after interviewing them) and to stay within the given footprint. My idea was a serious of pods. Keep in mind, the project was meant to be 90% creative and maybe 10% actually functional.

Actual bus shelter. Location is directly in front of the Bellevue College Campus.

My design model. To the left is an elevator, and the colored railings are made of light. (An idea stolen from Star Wars Episode I).

Sketch Up front view of my model.

Sketch Up back view.

Sketch Up detail on a pod door.

Palouse Apartment

I had a great time with this project! As you've seen, I've been redesigning certain parts of St. Elmo's Hotel in the Palouse. I started with the kitchen and the bathroom of the two bedroom apartment, and finally got to design the entire one bedroom apartment on the second floor.Above are the four posters I created for my final presentation. They're quite simple even though a lot of work went into this project. The first two posters were the main ones that I presented, with the second two being there for support. The floor plan and the way a person functions and uses a space is the most important part of the project. My back up posters merely had supporting elevations of the exterior of the building, some perspectives of a space we didn't focus on, and then the process work on the last poster, including my parti, concept model, and last two projects.

When we presented I had some really great and some not so great feedback. I was particularly complimented on the fact that I kept the wood from the original building (from the 1800's) and try to modernize without renovating everything. Unfortunately, a lot of people did not take too well to the curved walls. I personally thought they fit great with my concept and it was not something you saw from everyone. There were definitely ways I could have done it better (the bathroom plan worked better in the two-bedroom than the one-bedroom layout) but you always learn that once you're done. I also wish I could've added a patio onto the room. My favorite part of this was how my concept developed as I worked. When I started the project everything seemed overwhelmed by my idea of warm colors. But when I got to the full apartment layout I tried to return to the natural materials of my concept (wood, glass, and metal) and leave everything their natural colors with their natural textures. I believe it mixed well.

Here is a 360 view of my volumetric model. As you can see, I tried to have a very open floor plan with plenty of open space. Most of my furniture is built in, minus the living room set. Most other features are pretty self explanatory. There isn't a great view into the bathroom or den space however. Although the den space is small it has all glass walls so that it still feels open and a part of the living space while still providing a private place to work.

Designer Meeting

Over my thanksgiving break I sent some of my apartment designs to an architect, Denny Funderburg, at Aspenwood Home Design. I sent them over email because I could not arrange a time to meet with him in person unfortunately. We are still in contact even a week later about different ideas for the project. My apartment design incorporates a lot of curved walls and big open spaces. For the most part he liked my ideas, but there were still quite a few things we discussed. It is much harder to discuss ideas and get a creative flowing conversation going online however. There were a few issues discussed about having a curved wall into a closet and how that would affect the doors (because that may not be possible, or at least not without added expense). My bathroom design also appeared to be a little too long and narrow. Overall, Denny said he'd like to see a few more walls go up in the design, or at least a better balance of space sizes, but I think I prefer my open space plan with all the smaller rooms together on the north side. At this point, I think I will end up keeping most of my ideas as they are, whether or not they seem possible. It would be more practical to make a few of these changes but in order to stick to my concept I think it would be better off as it is.

(More to come later!)

Hybrid Drawing

I don't think I have ever been this proud of my work! For once I have created something that I personally love. Not that I don't love most of my other work, but usually I love it for the client's needs, not for my own personality and style. Here I actually got to try out a combination of classic and modern, two of my favorite themes put together. It inspires me and I think it's a great start to developing my own designs.

There are so many features that were thoroughly thought through. The ceiling is incredibly high, so I used a dark ceiling to make it feel less substantial. The columns are square with corinthian capitols, to put a new twist on the old style. All the furniture is mismatched, but typically have classical structures whilst being painted and upholstered with modern techniques. Surrealist art hangs at the back, two copies of the same painting. This creates a sense of classic symmetry even though it's modern art. The wall encasing the fireplace is black glass from floor to ceiling, as well as the wall set back behind the reception area. The reception desk itself is set at an odd angle intentionally to throw off all the symmetry happening in the background of the space. Chandeliers are of the classic style, but made of turquoise glass. Along the walls framing the reception and behind the front seating area are irregularly inset lights, with turquoise glass gems hanging from random corners. And of course, the men depicted in the picture are members of the band 30 Seconds to Mars.

The most exciting part of this whole design though was trying to find web images that fit with my drawing, and giving them certain effects. The fire glows, along with all of the lighting and you can see reflections in both glass walls. It was an awful process for me and my lack of computer skills but absolutely entertaining once I got going with it. I love the outcome! =]

Bathroom Design

To complement my kitchen design, here is my final bathroom design! I think the poster turned out much better. You can actually read it this time and understand what's going on. Personally, I think that's a huge improvement. This project seemed a lot more difficult than it was while I was working on it because I had so many other things to do last week. I finished this poster up over a period of three days (however the process work before hand took at least a week, if not more.) I'm pretty satisfied with the end result. I consider it a huge personal success. Once again, I have problems with the fact that I would never live in something like this, but hopefully someone else out there would like it! It's still a design for the client, no matter what. I'd love to design my dream home someday soon though. I would work a lot better if I was actually excited over what I'm doing. Other than that though, I don't really have much I'm disappointed by here. The tiles in the Plan Oblique were ridiculously tough to draw, but I still did it. I also accidentally cut off part of the name block, but what's done is done. I know I drew it right regardless! I'm just not the best at putting it all together on a computer. Computers and I have always been enemies which worries me when I finally start learning how to design with programs. Hopefully it'll go better than expected, just like this project!

Study Tour Visits

One of the first stops on our study tour of Seattle was Knoll. Knoll specializes in office design, such as office chairs, desks, filing cabinets, meeting rooms, and so on. I absolutely loved this firm. My mom works in insurance, so my whole life I've been visiting her in different offices around the city and every last one of them sucks. To be honest. My mom has been crammed in the middle of tall cubicles, which no one likes. She has been put in a private cubicle with a nice view, but it was so large and walled off that it felt depressing. Currently, she has a beautiful office, but you can barely fit one person in the hallway leading to her door. So when I visited with my boyfriend, the three of us standing in the doorway did not feel comfortable at all. Why is it that offices are so hard for designers to create?
At Knoll they showed us a thousand and one different ways I could improve all these offices for my mom. I loved the chairs they were designing specifically for how people work, not how diagrams say we sit at desks. They designed all the walls lower so you can see across the room while standing, but also feel like you have private space when sitting and working. They also designed several open desks, for collaborative work, which I find extremely important for my mom since she has an assistant who is currently stuck in a cubicle that is walled off from my mom's office. Knoll really understood how people work and how they want to function, rather than how we're told to. Designing for people is huge to me. If an item is technically correct but doesn't function in a way that people use it for, then it can never be considered a success.

 

Another site we visited was the Home of the Immediate Future, presented by Habitat for Humanity. I already know a LOT about the organization since I've volunteered for them and studied them so many times. So I didn't really learn much here. We also weren't allowed to tour the second floor which was really disappointing to me. I found the building interesting nonetheless and I loved that they considered how to move around functions of the house in case a family has different needs. Many of the rooms of the house could swap with each other. What I disliked the most about this house was the fact that the fridge was under the stairs. It was a clever use of the space but did not work very well for the future function of the home. I also tried opening and closing the fridge to see how it would take up space and I cut my finger open pretty badly. Of course, the home was not finished at the time, so the untreated wood was not the nicest material. But even then, when they finish the walls, people are still at risk of crushing their fingers with this odd set up. May not get a nasty cut, but not fun either way. Habitat for Humanity has done some wonderful things as far as providing affordable, lasting homes, but they still have a way to go with creating a space that understands the function of people.

Urban Sketchers

In Seattle, we spent a good amount of time walking around Olympic Sculpture Park. Everything we sketched took on some unnatural, abstract shape, right in the middle of a natural environment and buildings. It was really difficult for me to sketch something like that!

The above picture was the last one I did. The sculpture is called "The Eagle." I don't really see an eagle, more like a mutated elephant to me. But still. This was extremely difficult to draw because I don't personally understand the material that it's made of. I've never worked with metal and tried to form it, so I have a hard time imagining how it is supposed to be folded. I put so much work into trying to get the sculpture correct that I neglected the foreground and accurately depicting that. I like it a lot more now that I've had time to look away from it. The color I added after I returned to Pullman and I think it really made the sketch better. It isn't much, but the emphasis on the sculpture changes the whole balance. I think next time I will go inspect the sculpture before I attempt to draw it. I had no idea what the details were from my distance and I think that really hindered me.

 

This drawing was my first one actually. (Maybe I should have put these in the right order!) These were really interesting structures. From where I was sitting they look like small individual "wave" forms. But when I finished this sketch and walked by the sculptures to the other side, they reminded me of giant viking ships. I wish I had put a person in the drawing to show the scale. But I felt puny once I walked next to them, which you can't really get a feeling for from this perspective. However, the sketch itself was fun to create. it was interesting to try and create a three dimensional wave. The walls that framed the sculptures, as well as the building and shrubbery really made a great composition. I had fun trying to represent everything proportionally and accurately without making my plant life into solid scribbles. I think overall this sketch was a success!