[strength]from others

When asked to look at another students design strength to learn from I chose Clarissa Anderson. What she really felt helps her the most is her ability to produce as many thoughts as she possibly can. In the beginning stages of her work she says she writes as many ideas down so that later on she will have many options. I think I can really learn from her way of thinking and designing. I usually get stuck in a one-way mindset. By this I mean that my first thought too often tends to not be developed too far and turns into my last thought. I really want to start thinking of as many ways possible of designing before I make my final design. I don’t want to continue to be stuck in my design, rather be able to build on it along the way and make as many necessary changes as possible. Like Clasrissa said, “not all the ideas are great or necessarily the right option for the existing problem”, but in the end it is better to have too many options rather than only one.

[strength]

It is hard to just throw out a list of my strengths as a designer, its more of a combination of many factors that make up my talents. The first step to creating a design is brainstorming ideas and creating a concept of what your design will be. I wouldn’t consider coming up with a concept a strength rather than thinking outside of the box and looking past cliché themes. Another strength of mine would be computerized rendering. I do not have the best hand rendering skills, but I can make sketch-up drawings look polished and finished. I also believe I have a strength in design and build. The makeshift shelter project really made me realize how much I enjoyed turning a conceptual design into a real structure. Another strength would be team work. Not only do I listen to the ideas and designs of my group members, but I work hard to pull my part in the project. This semester has taught me that I do have this strength, seeing that all our work thus far has been with a team. Finally, I think I have a strength in visual compositions. I enjoy putting my work together in interesting and pleasing ways.My many strengths come together to form who I am as a designer, not just one talent makes anyone up nut rather compliments their other strenghts.

Phase 3:A day in the life

...of Cindy Heffernan:Ms. Heffernan is a retired 71 year old woman. She is a social butterfly.She holds private watercolor classes in her apartment and hosts her book club in her apartment every other thursday. She enjoys displaying her art as well as her students artwork. She wants her apartment to have an open feel with lots of natural light.

"The alarm rings at 9 am, time to get up and get my day started. I draw the shades open to bring in the mornings rays warming up the space and giving me a view of the outdoors. I hurry to make a breakfast and read the paper before Martha comes for her watercolor class. When she arrives we go back to the studio where the most light is and get started. I love having all this space so we can have our supplies close by, but at the same time hide them when we are done. After her class is done I hang up some of her work as well as mine on my gallery wall. Later on in the evening I have over my girls to meet for our book club. I get the spare chairs from the closet and set them around the living room. I have tons of space to stretch out and relax. As we talk we let our imagination run wild and thoughts fill the room. The space around me is serene, not too bright letting me paint my own picture. When the day is over I return to my room to rest for what tomorrow holds"

Unity Village:Phase 2 assessment

[neighborhood C]

[ground floor]

This floor was presented by Carlos, and his concept was jellyfish. The space was all about flowing movements and integrated parts forming a whole. I liked the idea of having the natural shapes, however at times I felt that the interconnected pieces (for example the workout equipment built into columns) would not only be hard to do but was a little awkward

. The colors used in the space were greens, blues, & yellows which I felt really brightened up the bottom floor. One word that I heard repeatedly used by him was movement, and I think his design really captured that feeling through the use of interesting shapes and curved half walls.When presenting his work I thought there could be improvement. The slideshow lacked cohesiveness but the renderings were really impressive. The work was not completely finished, so im really interested what it would look like in the end.

[first floor]

Floor 1 was the work of Cassandra and Hailey. Their concept was chaos and order and the balance between the two. At first the concept didn’t make sense to me but after hearing the explanation I think it works well, but is hard to represent. The ceiling is a grid pattern which adds interest while also setting up the order they want. I liked th

e accent with the green color, however it may be too bright for older guests. I also thought that their daycare took up too much valuable space on the first floor seeing the proportion of kids that would be there. Seeing that it is the main floor I thought it could have had better uses of the space. The presentation of the graphics were nicely rendered and the slideshow was put together well, being read easily.

[second floor]

The second floor had the concept of an oasis. This works well with their design since it was all about places to eat and grow food. There was a dining room area as well as a food market and greenhouse. This was a very interesting and unique idea. I liked the colors used for the space cause it really brightened and opened it up. I also liked that it provided jobs for the residents living there, as well as volunteer opportunities. The design was well

organized and put together, and the renderings were really nice. What could be fixed was the slideshow. I loved the way it was set up and the pictures descended like bubbles, however some images were so small they were unreadable. They also wasted a lot of slide space having white blank spots, when they could have enlarged the images so we could see them better. Overall it was a very nice job, and a good design.

[my groups design]

After presenting our presentation it was really helpful hearing feedback on it. On my own personal renderings I could add more light to the office spaces to brighten them up and make them feel like they could be used more. When talking about the design I think we did a pretty good job, but of course every space could by improved. I think that we could have taken our concept a little further and played with the scale even more than we already have. Also, more cohesion could have been made throughout our group. As a group we worked really good together and balanced each other out. Our design process worked well, however it would have been better to have feedback earlier so that we didn’t have to re-do a lot of renderings so late in the design. I think the project as a whole was really well planned and got our minds thinking about holistic design, and is a good segway to phase 3. Just like our design concept the project itself is all about connections not only to your group but from phase to phase.

DC metro:making connections

Unity Village:User Experience

When thinking about the design of our space we wanted to think about how the user would feel in there as well. To take account of all the demographics I want to show 3 different types of users experiences throughout.

[72 year old elderly man in wheel chair]

"As I wheel myself through the entrance way I am greeted by a spacious reception area that points me right in the direction to the convenient store and the cafe. There is enough space for me to fit through the opening of the lounge to make my way outside to the porch. One of my favorite things is nature and with the tables and chairs that line the porch I am able to watch downtown life and the garden below. The cafe draws me in with its inviting entrance and feeling. The colors are cool and relaxing making my mind at rest and find peace.The large communal spaces allow me to meet with my neighbor down the hall and catch up while drinking a cup of tea."

[6 year old girl]

"I bounce from comfy chair to comfy chair wanting to try them all out. Im running wild in the open cafe trying to find my mom. While she is with her friend having lunch I get to use the big kids computers and my mom still has an eye on me. I am amazed at how many different cakes and goodies are in the big display cases at the counter, I want to try them all! There is a cool breeze blowing through the open doors and windows, its a perfect summer day.

[42 year old mother who works there]

"Living in a city can be hard trying to commute to your job, but luckily all I have to do is walk downstairs to the convenient store where I work. My day starts off by taking the stairs down to the first floor. When I reach the bottom I am directed to walk down the long hallway past all the offices and to the convenient store on the left. I am awaken by the aroma of the food cooking in the cafe and get a cup of coffee to start me off. I then have to make sure the cafe is all stocked up, and if its not I find what I need in the storage closet. It is fun to work here because all of my customers are my neighbors so I get to create connections with my community."

design.thinking

Recently I watched a video in studio of a speech by Tim Brown about design thinking and "ideas worth spreading", as well as heard a speech about "hatching" ideas. After hearing both speeches it made me start to think about the way that I go about designing. Design thinking to me means looking at the physical needs around you and finding ways to support those needs, or make a solution already in place better. Design focuses on making solutions rather than a so to speak "blanket" over what the problem is. I want my design to make a social change rather than just fix decorating problems. Design thinking doesn't only refer to the design itself but also encompasses things such as marketing, fundraising, and contracting. In my current studio project I am using design thinking by taking on an existing building and changing it to encompass my new design. Not only is it sustainable, but it focuses on the real problem rather than covering it up or starting new.

[Idea]tion

To better understand design and creating concepts we read chapter 6[ideation] from the book Shaping Interior Space by [Roberto J. Rengel] the following are some key concepts to know about concepts:

Ideation is one of the most critical stages of successful design.

A successful design possesses a structure that is uniquely derived from the requirements of the project and a character that reflects it's nature and personality of the users

a design concept aims to conceive a response to solve a design problem in a very particular way

in order to work with concepts, then, you have to be able to understand their hierarchy

A concept is a general strategy of approach for the solution of a design problem having specific circumstances.

The concept of fit in design refers to the appropriate correspondence between a set of requirements and the design solution that addresses them.

in the process of conceiving a design concept for a project, the designer will look at the realities of the project & decide how to express the main concept

the scheme you develop from your concept must represent an appropriate response to the project type, its particular programmatic requirements, and the context in which it occurs

Articulation refers to the modification of planes or volumes by their skillful modulation into clearly expressed subparts to facilitate legibility, add interest and afford order a greater degree of complexity.

Inflection means deviation from a given course, as when straight scheme becomes angular or curved.

Organizational concept for a project: placement, circulation, massing, geometry.

Character concept statements should not repeat the design problem but instead should say something about the solution to the problem

Obey Clothing

A few years ago I ran across a shirt with this above pattern on it and loved it. After buying the shirt I could never find anymore from the same brand which is obey clothing. After some long searching I found a few more and still look to add more to my collection. What I really like the most is the premise behind them. Their website states:

"The OBEY sticker campaign can be explained as an experiment in Phenomenology. Heidegger describes Phenomenology as “the process of letting things manifest themselves.” Phenomenology attempts to enable people to see clearly something that is right before their eyes but obscured; things that are so taken for granted that they are muted by abstract observation."

Obey placed the same sticker everywhere they could find possible. The image itself had no meaning when it started it was just an experiment to see if people realized and took account of their surroundings. People began to associate their own meaning for it, trying to make an answer for their curious thoughts. It was never meant to be anything more than propaganda of free thought. Its premise is to take a look around in the environment you inhabit because too much do people overlook what they see everyday.

Ever since the craze of "the propaganda" more and more patterns and images have been created over the years. Not only do I love the images themselves but they make me think, think about what is around me. I want to take this message and apply it to my design work. It also fits in with our recent lesson about designing big and making a difference.

look.think.inspire.change.

[photos courtesy of OBEY]

Gateway Plaza: Summing it up

This week in studio we had the chance to visit a low-income housing unit, Gateway Plaza, for the elderly in downtown Greensboro. As a class we just finished up case studies on community housing, and how they foster togetherness. The Gateway building fits in perfectly with our studies because it was a chance to have a first- hand experience with our subject area. To begin our studies we toured the entire site and surrounding area. I also focused on the parking lot and front lobby area to do an individual study. Overall, the building had poor communal space throughout, so most residents had to gather in the lobby that I studied. One resident even said, “The most fun I have is in here. Better than being stuck up in that room.” However, after looking at traffic patterns of the space it was evident that most people came through the front door and went straight to the elevator to go their room rather than gather with other residents. It was sad to see that the one space on the fifteenth floor that was dedicated to community gathering was never being used. I think that speaks for the whole building itself. Personally, I think that the space would be better utilized if it were placed in a more centralized and frequented location. Community spaces do not always have to be designated by walls, they could just as well be made by the space that they are in. What could be improved in Gateway Plaza is to have more open space that is easily accessed and shaped by what is inside rather than the shell of the building. When observing and sketching the space more I tried to focus on the form and function of it. In the lobby, there was one main entryway with two paths branching off from it, giving the residents a clear path of where to go. I think with more wayfinding techniques the flow of the building could be improved. If residents were presented with more direction they would be wiling to venture throughout the building more. I also think the building could be improved by having activities for the residents to take part in. Most residents I overheard talked about gossip of their neighbor or what they were making for dinner. I believe a cooking class would be a great way to take off stress of the workers and still add excitement. One of the biggest issues I saw was that it was very bland as well. Barely any art adorned the white walls, and the furniture was all really washed out. By adding visual interest not only will it improve the aesthetic, but it will also brighten the lives of the residents. The lobby in particular would be greatly changed by this addition. Elderly people really just want someone and something to talk about, and by just improving the space alone they will be given that. I think by making Gateway Plaza more updated and interesting the whole community would be greatly changed.

A look into my world..

The morning sun shines in from above illuminating my work, as well as bringing in the world outside. I feel at peace, but at the same time I know that studying must be done today. Inside, I am comforted by the soaring walls that secure my existence and keep me confined and safe within. I know that this is my place, where I want to be. I feel one with the earth. I am not surrounded by expensive high scale marble or massive carved beams; rather I am looking at the product of reuse and recycling. I have been given a place that inspires change and serves to help the planet I have made my own. It is often stressful where I am, balancing time and its never-ending perpetual nature. I work hard all day and all night to complete my work and with this hard work I am granted satisfaction. My emotions run wild at times, but at the end of the day I am welcomed by my surrounding cocoon and the serenity it provides.

One for One

With our recent project it has really made me think of how i could help not only locally but abroud as well. I've always known about Toms shoes but never have really checked out the website before. I did today and all I can say is im in love! Not only are they really interesting shoes that come in amazing patters and textures, but they help out children in need. The company was started to help children without shoes finally get a pair, so with every purchase that is made a pair goes to a kid in need. Hence the slogan [One for One]. It is an amazing cause and just one way that people can help those who are less fortunate than ourselves. This idea of humanitarianism can also be applied to design. Design is not always about the biggest and the most expensive, but design is also humble. It is about creating not only with what the earth has given us but reusing what we already have to save not only our planet but our fellow inhabitants. I think i'll order my pair tonight!

Check them out for yourself!