Concepts

PARTI CONCEPT
The source of the inspiration, a train home to flowing graffiti, brought to mind the words organic, flowing and movement. The powerful rusted train is situated on tracks covered and wound with grass and weeds which lead to the word organic. Flowing represents the shapes of the graffiti, they’re smooth and round and keep the eye moving. Movement relates to the normal use of trains, in traveling. The parti, that represents this train car, has organic shapes and colors and keeps the eye flowing and moving. The parti captures these key words by displaying a zoomed in aspect of the graffiti. An egg shape followed by four dots shows organic shape and allows the eye to flow throughout the parti without concentrating on one point.
PATTERN CONCEPT
To further emphasize these words, the parti was rotated to create a pattern. The pattern creates pinwheel shapes that embrace the ideas of flow and movement while the colors of the pattern and the shapes use help to show the organic nature.
MODEL CONCEPT
The concept model embraces the words flowing, organic and movement. Wooden beads wrapped in color represent the word organic. The red and green contrast each other and gracefully sit around a brown wire. The shape of the wire represents the word flowing. Its organic “s” shape creates a pinwheel shape that can be seen and felt. When taking the model into your hands it is easy to understand how movement is represented. The wood beads slightly move along the wire when the model is moved.

*pictures will be posted asap

Renaissance Cabinetry

Sophomore studio took another feild trip today, this time to Renaissance Cabinetry here in Pullman. In hopes to understand more about how designers work with craftsmen, the class met with the two owners of the shop. It was great to hear that craftsmen are designers themselves and that they appreciate the help and education of other designers in different feilds. The two owners explained that they were self taught and took their love of woodworking and transformed it into a career, stressing that it is important to love what you do. It was nice meeting people who don't just work for money but work for the love of the craft, which helps me know that what they make is quality because they want to be proud of their products. Though the shop was relatively small, it was packed full with storage, work tables and equiptment. I was impressed by the handmade storage solutions throughout the shop, such as shelving with racks for saw blades and organization of tools. The people who work at Renaissance Cabinetry really take advantage of all the space they have. My favorite thing the owners told my class was that it's important to have fun when working on a project because if there's no fun in it then it's a drag. It was reassuring that professionals still want to have fun and be relaxed during their projects.

This is a sketch of my experience of visual impairment while in The Bookie. All of the books blended together and made a sort of rainbow. It was impossible to understand what the books said or see the distinct shapes of the books. I didn't even know what I was looking at until I saw them without the Vaseline glasses.

WSU Museum of Art and Artist Studio Field Trip

I have been to a few museums in my life time, the Tacoma Museum of Glass is the largest one I have visited though I have seen a few other small galleries. The museum here at WSU is not one I frequent, but I have been there a couple times. Normally I just walk in a peruse the art, not paying attention to how it is layed out, the architecture of the space or the type of lighting. Now faced with a project that includes a gallery space all of these aspects are crucial. During the tour of the WSU Museum of Art, our guide was kind enough to explain to us the ins and outs of setting up a display. He explained that the art is displayed in a order that gets people ready for the rest of the gallery, a sort of preview. The rest of the space was very open, which allowed visitors to walk through the space in any way they wanted. The display walls were all on wheels, which I thought was a good idea. It allows for a different set up depending on the type of show. The lights were on tracks which also allowed flexibility. Overall I think that I may take a few things from the WSU Museums and incorporate them into my project, most specifically the lighting and movable walls.

The field trip to the artist studio was also very beneficial. It showed that a small space can accommodate an artist quite well. Carrie, the artist, took great advantage of using the space in multiple ways. The back storage closet kept her "messy" things from plain view, provided storage near the ceiling and could also be used as a model's changing room. Eye hooks attached to window sills allowed her to hang a drapery to provide a clean background when photographing models. Her blank wall space gave her room to hang her art, and track lights allowed her to light them in the occasion a client wanted to stop by. The windows in her studio were situated in such a way that they provided natural light to her work spaces eliminating the need for a lot of artificial light. Florescent lights were installed to provide light when she worked during the evenings. Carrie stated that she wished she had much more storage space and that when asking an artist how much storage they need, to double it. Space for large garbage cans was also a thing Carrie wished she had considered because constantly emptying her small garbage cans is some what of a burden. The last two things she thought would make a great addition were a bathroom and an office area to provide separation between her residence and her studio. I will defiantly take into account all the things she wished she had included and be sure to apply them to my artist's studio space. Seeing her studio made me want to build one for myself, so I am looking forward to the opportunity of designing one.

Visual Impairment Workshop

I never really realized how lucky I am not to be completely blind and how bad my eye sight actually is. It was a bit comical to look through four layers of plastic, which simulates being legally blind, only to find that my eye sight without my glasses or contacts is worse. So today I discovered I'm way past legally blind! Walking through the CUB in sunglasses covered in Vaseline was quite an experience. I really appreciated even lighting and contrast in color. The lights on the ceiling put a glare on the floor in such a way that it looked like the floor had several holes in it. A more even lighting system would have been much appreciated. The bathroom lighting was good except that when I walked in the door I was confronted with darkness before seeing any light. There was no braille on the sign to the bathroom either. When attempting to ride the elevator, my partner almost pushed the fire button on the key pad because it is the same shape and size and the up and down buttons. The buttons in the elevator were hard to see because there wasn't much contrast between the silver buttons and the numbers on them. The ATMs were surprisingly easy to understand because of the light surrounding the card swipe and colored buttons for enter and cancel. It would have been nice to have braille on the key pad though. The doors into the Bookie seemed hazardous, the glass doors next to the glass windows were confusing, I wasn't sure what was a space to walk through and what was a window, running into glass would have been horrible. One of my classmates pointed out that the stairs were hard to understand because there was no contrast between what was a step and what was a floor which was a major tripping hazard. I also tripped a bit on a tile that wasn't flush, which shows importance in proper floor installation. Overall I learned that the best thing to help those who are visually impaired is contrast and even lighting. Those two things are aspects I will be sure to incorporate into my design.

Gregory Residence

The Gregory Residence project was the most challenging and time consuming yet. Starting with a very small residence and moving to a completely new, redesigned residence took a lot of thinking. First, all interior walls withing the original plan were removed and two walls were bumped out for additional space. About 800 square feet was added to the east side of the residence to allow for more room as well.

Decideing the final floor plan was one of the first challenges I encountered. With Patti being handicapped, making sure she had enough room to move made constructing a floor plan harder than usual. After a few failed attempts, a final plan was made and was based of the idea of symmetry. My found object, a small electrical casing, was completely symmetrical, so I thought it was appropriate to incorporate this symmetry into my project.

The plan includes a custom kitchen that will make Patti's experience much easier while it also accomodates those in the home who are not handicapped. A roll up sink and stove make access easy, while countertops that can be lowered with a flick of a switch allow easy use for all members of the family. Three foot wide doorways and ample passing space were also included to allow Patti to move freely throughout her home.

Upon deciding on a color theme for the home, I concluded that the concept of contrast would work extremely well as it also reflected the contrasting shapes of my electrical piece. A cool color scheme along with soft textures was chosen to contrast the hot, rough atmosphere of Tempe, Arizona, where the home is located.

Environmental awareness was important to the Gregory family, therefor many recycled and sustainable materials were used. Bamboo floors and cabinets ran throughout the house, while recycled glass tile and countertops were used in the kitchen and bathrooms.

The Accessory Dwelling Unit for Patti's parents reflected the main residence in that all of the same materials were used. The main structure of the ADU, three straight walls and one curved, directly relates to the concept of contrast. Deciding of a plan for the ADU was also challenging. Since it is such a small space, it was very difficult fitting a fully equipted kitchen and living space in one public area. To provide seperation between the kitchen and social space, a wall was constructed between the two. A bedroom was also included in the plan along with a bathroom and three foot wide doors to allow Patti access to all.

Outdoors the main residence and the ADU are connected by adjustable shade panels that relflect the concept of movement. These panels also cover the south patio. The yard is outfitted with dyed concrete to allow Patti easy mobility, along with drought resistant trees and shrubs that provide shade. A water feature is located along the east wall of the yard and uses the same tile as the kitchens. This water feature was added because the pool was removed and I thought it was important to keep some aspect of the water in order to relate the outside to the concept of contrast.

I learned a lot during this project. Problem solving became a main theme and I discovered that by using skills I had learned in other classes, it was much easier to solve problems. Working with a home that had to be completely accessible was a challenge, but also a great learning experience. A designer I spoke with said he had never worked on a project that needed to be accessible, so I feel as though I have a step ahead by understanding how to accommodate the handicapped.

Bath Design

This bathroom design was inspired by a shell. The shell possessed flowing curves and neutral browns and creams. These flowing curves and colors were incorporated into this bathroom in the counters and textiles. This bathroom also included a laundry nook and an ADA accessible toilet.

For this project, an extra five feet was added onto the existing bathroom. Even with this extra space it was challenging to fit all the needed appliances. After much trial and error a floor plan was decided and completed. The need for an ADA accessible toilet was also a challenge. Because I wanted to add a water closet for extra privacy, more space was required to allow for wheelchair access. Cabinents were only added under one sink to allow access to the other sink which took away storage space. To allow for additional storage an in shower cabinet was added for towels and shower neccessities. The laundry area was added behind a curtain so that it would be hidden when it was not being used therefor making it seem as though the laundry and bathroom were two separate spaces.

Overall this project presented many challenges that required a lot of trial and error. Though a lot of work was needed to complete this bathroom, lessons about space and accessibility were learned and I am happy with the overall result.