Habitat for Humanity- Building house for local family in need

We got an opportunity to work on building house for local family in need. It was very nice to work with classmates, professionals, and the family who is going to live in the house. Although it is an exhausted experience, I found it very meaningful. We were trying to helping people with our interior design knowledge and strive to make the world a better place to live. We worked on insulation and doing some paint job for the exterior. The fiber glass seemed to be very soft but it is actually very stinging and dangerous. We have to wear a pair of gloves to protect our hands and glass to prevent our eyes from being irritated by fiber glass. Also we need masks to prevent us from hurting our breath system.

As the architecture on site reminded us, "safety comes first and then quality quality quality", we make every effort to meet the family's needs and architectural standards. We had a blast learning the structure of the house and having the hands on experience of "constructing" the house.

Harmony: One bedroom Apt

     My concept for the one bedroom apartment is harmony. The idea came from a home song describing a man is looking at the moon in a dark night thinking of his Mom. The three angles in a triangle shape represent the most important three elements in our life- Family, Ourselves and home. Therefore, the triangle shapes are been adopted through our the apartment. The dynamic triangular book shelf, triangular panels on the cabinets located in entry and triangular dinning area are all suggesting the connection between those three elements.  The color scheme is basically neutral color with purple pick as an accent color because purple pick represents the love from Mom associated with the home song. Because each triangle pieces are tighten together, I made each space have a intimate connection. 
     It is very hard for me to come up with an ideal floor plan with just a little try. In face, I drew lots of different floor plan and referred to accessible guide when I design the space. Besides, the 86 inches long windows really limit my possibility of design. I was very happy that the reviewer who is an architectural professor like the z zag shape along the bathroom and bedroom. I like the storage space I planted for the one-bedroom apartment. I believe an ideal amount of storage space enable people who live in the apartment to have a tidy and organized living area and thus make their living experience happier. After this intensive project, I believe I have an better understanding on how to draw elevations, sections and floor plans efficiently and effectively.

Meeting with a designer

     We got a chance to meet with professional interior designer on campus to do a review on our floor plan for one bedroom apartment. It is a great chance to grab some input and brand new ideas for improving the current design we have. Sharon Macy is the interior designer working for school facility includes dorms on campus, apartment out of campus, major dining centers and other design project.
     I was very frustrated on the living room I planed for the one bedroom apartment because it looks quite small and inflexible. Sharon suggested me to extend the wall in front of the entrance to create a more enclosed living area while add little more space for it. The original setting for the entrance is first a closet with shoe rack beneath adjoined with a sofa for people to put on their shoe. However, the adjoined part with limit the function of the closet and thus she said it will be nicer to separate them into two individual and make the sofa near to the door. In addition, the space mainly used for passing each different rooms seem to be empty. Therefore, she recommended to add a small desk for informal use. In that way, the circulation will not be interfered while making the space become more lively. The most importance improvement of the design is the advice for bathroom design. As grab bars are important for making the space accessible, the length of it and how it install become important. There are two windows on the wall where I need to add grab bars for both the toilet and the bath tub, so the best way to make the grab bars seem smoother is either make two of them into one long grab bar or make two separate bars without interfere with one another.
     I came with  new thoughts in mind. I decided to add a wall cabinet with mirror in the middle beside the front door. I believe it can not only create a sense of harmony but also enhance the number of useful storage. I also determine to add 1' wide wall cabinet at the front of living area to accommodate television and other stuff such as art works and books. I also want to add some decorative book shelf above the sofa. Since I was a little fear about not having a required distance after putting those shelves. I turned to the guideline to figure out the proper distance between television and the viewers which is 4 to 10 feet for a 30" television. I now know that I can install those shelves and still keep a nice distance. It is perhaps the meeting with a professional designer and the input of their design tastes that let me think of more possibility of my design. Making me can't help but being eager to improve and polish my design later on. 

BATHROOM DESIGN

     Designing a bathroom is a task that seems to be simple but it actually not. There are so many details and guidelines needed to be considered for designing an accessible bathroom. Learning how wheel chair people use the toilet is important for designing a considerate and user-friendly bathroom. Usually wheel chair people prefer side reach rather than front reach and they need foot-toe clearance under the sink and cabinet. Besides, since bathroom is usually smaller than other room, the tile layouts of the space will become a vital element. It affects people' feeling of the space. I explored the bathroom design in my apartment and found out that my bathroom is not accessible at all because of the narrow doors and small moving space. I also learned that we need 30" space in front of a toilet and there is specific space between double sinks. We should design a bathroom that include a 60" turning radius that allows wheel chair to move through freely and comfortably. According to the information and guideline, I designed a slide door because I think it is better than any other kind of door for disabilities and also considered both side reach and front reach and turning radius. The wide of my door is 36" wide which is the ADA guideline for a accessible door. Moreover, I made the counter and sink lower than regular height to make it accessible while appealing and functional.
     My concept is driven from the clear edge and sharp angles of a triangles. I defined the three angles of a triangle as ourselves, family and home which reveals design relationship of the space. These three vital elements are expressed in the function of the bathroom design. The on-floor lower cabinet can be used as a stool for children while the other are designed for the elders. I intended to create a space that fulfill all kinds of need because it is a family and it is home. The bath tub I chose, the wall lighting, ceiling lighting and the pink recycled-glass doors of cabinets are all revealing triangle shapes. The color application is mainly neutral color because it suggests harmony through out the space.

Client Brief

Having a interview with the client help us understand his expectation and preference. It is great to ask the client some design issues face to face because we can realize what he needs better instead of sending e-mail. We figured out that he is very conscious about being sustainable and eco-friendly. He also wanted to preserve the site as much as possible. And because it is pricy to change the position of those plumbing, we will keep the bathroom and kitchen at the same position due to the budget.  I found bubble diagram and adjacency matrix help for finding the relationship between each room. Designers can discover which king of spaces should be near to each other while some spaces should be separated significantly.

Kitchen project

Kitchen

Concept Model

We got a chance to design for a hotel owner. The hotel owner want to convert the hotel into two-bedroom apartment and a one-bed room apartment. Therefore, we mainly worked on the kitchen for the two-bed room apartment first. It was really an interesting but complicated project since we need look up books to find the actual and recommended size of refrigerator, over, dishwasher, counter, entrance and dinning table. Each decision we make have to follow the rule and regulation of kitchen design. For the work triangle, I hope to make it more efficient and smooth so I placed cook top, double sink and fridge within a L shape. The dinning table I created is inspired by my concept model. I utilize triangle to form the table. For this project, the triangle shape represent three important sides in our life which are ourselves, family and home. I try to show the harmony and contrast through out the interior. The color I chose would mainly be black and white to show color contrast and also reflect the concept model. I tried to show the harmony by symmetrical balance in living room. There are some designs I can improved such as the function of cabinet. I think I should set some of the cabinets into drawers to add convenience and flexibility.

Accessibility Sketch Journal

View from the wheel chair. We found out that it was extremely difficult for wheel chair people to order a meal from this

View from the wheel chair

     The designed environment is not work well for people with special needs as we encountered lots of challenges during our experience. There is bottom for the side door to open automatically; however, the bottom didn't work and it is impossible for disabilities to get into the building. Also, the slope which links the elevator and Daggy 1A is super dangerous as I cannot control my wheel chair at all. Part of the reason for me to have less control over my wheel chair is because that there were some people who also wanted to pass through the door and they let me feel nervous. In addition, the elevator in Daggy Hall is not big enough to allow wheelchair users to turn around, they have to move in straightly and get out backward.
     I believe that designed environment should be accessible to everyone but we still need to take cost into consideration. If the cost is not allowed to make the environment fully accessible, I would suggest to make only the main floor and entrance fully accessible. The costs to our society if everyone isn't able to make a contribution because the designed environment isn't accessible is that we can't hear from disabilities. The society lost the chance to get varied contribution from all kinds of people.
    The automatic sliding door is a great technology that make the world more accessible to all people. Also, the automatic flush system, automatic faucet also contributed the accessible environment. The elevator also let the tall building become accessible to all people. 

Showrooms and House of the Immediate Future

Knoll Showroom

     The Knoll showroom is very unique as it is a  mixture of the working area and the showroom. They have lots of functional and ideal chair design. I understood that there are so many knowledge behind a single chair.The sketch show one of their office design. I drew it when I was sitting on a chair; however, it doesn't seem like that. It might because of the wrong horizon line and I also learned that I have to take perspective skill more seriously as an interior design student.


 House of the Immediate Future

  

We were introduced to the house of the immediate future besides EMP museum. I learned to process of construct the special house and found out that the kitchen is something that has already been done somewhere and then transport to the house site to make the building process more efficient. It also reminds me of the habitat for humanity work day. I think that using volunteer labors is really beneficial since the cost of labor in America is very expensive. Besides, I like the meaningful reason behind these kind of houses.

Urban Sketchers

It is hard for me to get the line correct at my first stroke as we can see some errors in the picture. However, I believe I did a nice work because I expressed the hard mental surface of sculpture and the soft flower, grass and little trees.

I like the overall of the sketch but one thing  I figured our that I need to practice more is the tree sketch. I need to find a way to draw trees effectively. I like the small people I included in my sketch because they show the scale of my sketch.

The view of urban is really different from the scenery of campus. We developed sketch skill as we sketch one and another sketches. It is really helpful to improve the skill form drawing from life. We need to incorporate the perspective technique. I was surprised to discover that is was more difficult to apply perspective technique than I imagined.We also saw lots of great and professional sketchers over the sculpture park which was really great experience.

Job Shadow

Google Inc.  Designed by Burgess Design  (www.burgessdesign.net)                                                                                                                                                   

     We were leaded to a tall and marvelous building called Columbia Center to see the interior of the space they are going to design. I was really impressed by the curve shape of the building. The interior space looks very different from the ordinary building and also results in different design problems. As the curve shape goes, the doors and walls need to follow the curve. Besides, there is also a big structure within every floor that also interrupt the space and designers need to think about the solution to deal with it. There is one structure that is painted bright green because they said it was for the technology firm and they wanted to emphasize and take advantage of the structure.
     Then, we have an overview of remodeling project. They showed us a messy structural architecture which has lots of stairs connected to each floor but without placing them logically. Their design problem is to make the first floor more accessible to people and try to increase the usage of it. Therefore, they decided to take off all visible stairs out and add a pleasing stairs to connect the first floor and the second floor. We saw the change they made have significant impact and it did improve the space planning. However, we also learned that the budget play an important role in the design as they indicated that if the design cost too much, they would choose to remodel the necessary parts.

Feeling of Home

Home Song as a Inspiration

     The song gives me a sense of homesick cause the man is far from his sweet home and dreaming that his Mom is looking at the same moon. Moon is the connection between him, the family and the sweet home. Moreover, the song indicates that "there is no place like home."I want to emphasize the importance and unique feature of a home.

 2D Parti

     Partis I came out with is based on my observation and inspiration of the song. I mainly focus on the path to go back home, the feeling of warmth and darkness and family element. There are plenty of paths to go back home and some of them are full of challenges while some of them are very comfortable to go with. No matter which path you chose, we would get home eventually.

 3D Concept Model- Connection, Contrast, Harmony

     I chose the triangle parti since I felt that it can represent not only the path of going home but also incorporate moon, family and home. Three corners of a triangle shape represent home, family and ourselves which also emphasize the intimate relationship between each others.Although I intended to create a warm-feeling model, I end up having a black and white 3D model. I felt that the black and white model has a better connection to the song and my concept.Moon shows the connection, darkness represents contrast while family indicates harmony. I really enjoy this deep-meaning concept model.

Adaptive Re-use of late 19th centure buildings

This is my draft poster and I found that the background is disturbing and make words not east to read. Besides, there are edges around my picture but didn't fit the size of pictures which is very odd. Presenting the poster in vertical way is kind of reducing the space we can you. Then our team decided to do it landscape. 

The final poster is presenting in landscape and we changed the opacity of our background to make our statement stand our. We also made a bold and attractive title for our poster not only for arising more attention but also to incorporate our topic. We make adaptive in a front of old fashion and set the rest of our words in one modern front. We tried to indicate the transition between the old use and new use of the building. 

A Room To Read

Ron Arad is the designer who I derived from for my projects through out the semester. His design philosophy and belief help me come up with my design. When I looking at his ceiling design for the Mediacite shopping mall, I came up with a lotus flower. I can clearly see a pattern formed by several refined petals. Therefore, I chose lotus flower as my object for studying and analyzing. I  focus on the shape and form of a of the petal, the interaction between the flower and the ripple and the characteristics of lotus flower. I finally drew a 2-D concept model after the object study. The petals in the 2-D model  end up becoming the idea of making several organic shapes and let them lie on a rounded base. The color placement on the 2-D model is inspired by my color project.

Journal

 Journal 1-1

 Journal 1-2

 Journal 2-1

 Journal 2-2

 Journal 3-1

 Journal 3-2

 Journal 4-1

 Journal 4-2

 Journal 5-1

 Journal 5-2

 Journal 6-1

 Journal 6-2

 Journal 7-1

 Journal 7-2

 Journal 8-1

 Journal 8-2

 Journal 9-1

Journal 9-2

 Journal 10-1

 Journal 10-2

 Journal 11-1

Journal 11-2