The Beauty of A Gallery

Bank Left Gallery

100 S Bridge Street, Palouse, WA

Type of work exhibited: Sculpture, painting, ceramic, fabric, 

decoration, furniture, glass, postcard, earring

Square footage of exhibit space: 800 sq.ft

My friends and I visited an art gallery in Palouse during our Spring break to get some inspirations on how to design an efficient and appealing gallery space. They have a wide range of art works. Some of them displayed in cabinets while some of them are placed on the top of tables. 

I realized that they tried to put artworks with similar styles together to create a harmony and unity. The yellow and orange walls in this smaller room indicate that we are entering a different space.

They also utilize pedestals and cases to show the art works. I found that pedestals is really desirable for sculpture while those small show cases are more suitable for smaller objects.The overall environmental color is clam blue-green because of the carpet. The white clean walls help visitors concentrate on the beauty of the artworks.

There is a hanging device that used to hang the doll as we can see on the right side of the picture.We discovered that there is an obvious difference between the upper part and the lower part of the wall which to me is a little distracting. The spot light on the wall lightening up particular artwork is really effective. I believe they help catch people's attention and make the artwork even more charming and valuable.

The glass show case here is somewhat not as bright as other displays but it open up the space and let people focus on the artwork. It might because the lack of spot light that let me feel this area is not as important as other area. I think it might be better if they can install some lights inside the glass cases or maybe hang some spot lights on the wall.

The ceiling is very unique and represent the architectural style of the old era. I felt that the square pattern on each of the panel echo with the paintings within the frames. The gallery is lightened up by an ideal amount of natural light and therefore I did not pay much attention on the artificial lighting features. I guess the gallery will be darker during the night due to limited amount of artificial lighting. However, consider the opening hours the gallery has, they might not require a great amount of lighting.

 

I like how the paintings are arranged and I think the smaller paintings direct people and introduce the larger paintings above. Our eye will follow the display unconsciously.

The site visit gave me a basic idea on how to arrange the artworks in a gallery space and how to utilize natural light and spot light. Though the gallery is pretty small and has limited amount of artworks, I learned from it and started to think about a successful gallery.

Impaired Vision Experience

     We got a chance to experience vision impaired. We use plastic bag, sunglasses with Vaseline applied on the inside, and vision simulator tool to perform this activity. When I looked through the plastic bag, I immediately feel that the entire world is blurry and I am not confident that I can walk by myself because there are several wrinkles on the plastic bags that cause the vision even blurry. When I looked through the layers and read a newspaper, I founded that I can barely read the big title but for the rest of the newspaper, I can't recognize at all. We then fold the bag in half to experience the vision through four layers of plastic. I already feel the blurry through two layers because I am slightly near-sighted so four layers of plastic is extremely hard for me.

     The vision simulator tool is actually fun because I found I can see through it without too many difficulties except for the bottom one. The bottom one will make me be a real blind. There are two vision that seems to tell us the difference between  the white part of our eye and pupilla. I thought the pupilla is how we can actually see because when I look trough the third one, I need to turn my eye to see the surrounding.
     After experiencing the impaired vision through plastic bag, I put on the pair of sunglasses which is already apply a thin layer of Vaseline inside the glasses and walk through the CUB. I can feel that there are people walking toward me and I am able to walk without others' help. However, I only have the vision of approximately 15' so I need to pay more attention to the surrounding area. I think I walker a little bit slower than normal because I am afraid of being vision impaired but I finally made myself in front of the elevator. It is kind of fun because other people have no idea that the sunglasses I wore is decreasing my vision ability. I then feel comfortable and push the bottom and go to the down stair.

     I tried to use the ATM machine and figured out the location of the card swipe and key-paid. I am not familiar with the ATM machine so it took me some time to figure out where the card swipe and key-paid is. It is frustrating because there are other device similar to card swipe and I can't see the numbers one the keyboard.
    Next, I went through the library from CUB and noticed that there are a divider between the door accessing to the library. I believe it is a potential danger to people with impaired vision. The floor underneath is changing and thus I was able to realize that I am entering a different space. There are black strips on the edges of each stairs which is really helpful to identify. This is perhaps the biggest discovery of the impaired vision experience. I figured out that stairs in the outdoor are usually having no distinguishable strips but some of them acquire caved strips. Both caved strips and black strips play an important role for people with impaired vision and also beneficial to add resistances to prevent slippery.

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.