Skamania Reflection

In need of a space that the teens of Skamania Washington could use as a recreational escape from their daily lives and mingle with other teens in a productive atmosphere, I along with a group of people worked on a design that transformed a horse barn into this type of space. This involved taking pictures of the barn and talking to the students about the type of space they wanted to have. The catch was that it had to still function as a barn for a week once a year, meaning all furniture and flooring had to be modular or able to be washed down with a hose, the walls able to handle horse inhabitants yet it still, of course, had to be visually pleasing.

I really enjoyed this because for the first time I was able to work with a real client, visit the space, and deliver something to students who were equally excited about the design! I loved being able to put my knowledge into helping out another group, it was really rewarding and a great learning experience!

WSU Art Museum and Artist Studio field trips

Last week I visited the WSU art museum and a local artist’s studio in order to gain a better understanding of the necessary physical and emotional aspects in the creation of a gallery and studio space for the depot design I have already started.

In the museum, the curator spoke of his experiences and things that worked well when designing a gallery space. He enforced the need to draw the visitors in the direction where the artwork could be presented as a story by using walls and strategic placement of the artwork to best depict what it was the artist wanted the viewer to feel. One way that the curator did this was with a huge sculpture of the Dukes of Hazard ’69 Charger crashing into Ted Kacynski’s Montana cabin. He placed it at an oblique angle which gave the viewer the choice to experience the piece in a number of ways, turning either in front or around back of the car, and then moving from there to other pieces in the museum. He emphasized the need for movable walls that allowed for a continuously changing space that gave many options for the layout of artwork. The lay of the museum was just as thought about as the artwork themselves.

The studio visit was my favorite and extremely helpful in the future design of the studio space I will be working on. Storage could not have been more important in her studio, and she really focused on that being something she loved about her studio, but wished she had more of. She gave a lot of helpful ideas when dealing with storage problems, such as capitalizing on vertical space as well as floor space. Closed and open storage as well was something that she liked about her studio, a place for the messy stuff that was out of site and didn’t visually clutter the space was important. Modular furniture, lots of natural light, outward opening doors, and task space separation were also things that she focused on in her space. This visit was extremely helpful and I can’t wait to put all that I've learned into my own design!

Gregory Residence Remodel

This residence design was created for a three person family that needed wheelchair access to all parts of the house, as well as attention to sustainable materials in their remodel. Created for the Tempe Arizona environment, natural light was taken into account and used to the advantage to reduce energy costs as well as make the home more open and visually connected to the outside. I found this design to be harder than expected because of the ADA requirements, a wheelchair is not an easy thing to accommodate into a house with limited square footage. Speaking of limited square footage, the family also required an Accessory Dwelling Unit for their elderly parents to live in, which had to be 20% of the main residence’s square footage and made from sustainable material, I chose rammed earth. Dwell magazine and spaces that had multiple uses came in very handy in creating this space. Overall I am very happy with how this turned out, I used the incident that put the mother of the family in a wheelchair as inspiration, titling my design “Intersections” because her accident definitely intersected their intended path in life, yet they continued to move forward and grow stronger as a family. My design is all out contrasting ideas, colors and lines, carried out in an environmentally friendly and aesthetically friendly manner. I am quite happy with how it all turned out, it is amazing what you can accomplish in such a short amount of time!

Final Boards:

Space Model:

Concept Model:


Inspirational Object:

Tranquil Simplicity- Bathroom Design

My inspiration behind this bathroom design was the Ash Leaf Maple’s leaves. I loved the color in the leaves as well as the repetition of geometric shapes that tiered down. I was very pleased with how this ended up because I had problems along the way as far as generating ideas and working to tie in the leaf with the final design. I have always been the type of person who enjoys the flowery, more colorful side to nature, and the leaf and tree is very earthy colored and straight edged, more of a masculine connotation, where as flowers and loose, lots of curves and very feminine. Over all I think I was able to include leaf references, yet still create a bathroom that had feminine qualities, like the slab of glass counters that I used. They are pale yellow and smooth, very contrasting from the slate tiling on the floors and shower. I also had problems creating a space that was visitor friendly according to the NKBA guidelines. Fitting in all the necessities of the bathroom and then leaving space for a wheel chair proved harder than I thought, however I think that I blended the open space nicely so that ADA accessibility did not become the focus of the bathroom. Overall I feel as though I learned a lot from this design and there are many things I will take with me when it comes time to do another!

Concept Model

Model for light studies

Child's Room

The Complete Design:

Concept Model:

Space Model:

I absolutely loved putting together this room design! The fact that it was for two twin girls that were 6 years of age made it really fun to use Thumbelina by Hans Christian Anderson as my inspiration and then take from that the aspects that I believed would be a good fit for the parents criteria for their prospective room, as well as things that the girls would be able to grow old with, yet still appreciate as young ladies.
I learned a lot about the space that is required by certain things, such as an entertainment center (something that caused some preliminary problems because of the rooms long and narrow space).
In the end I decided to divide up the room into 3 main areas: sleeping, play/entertainment/ and work. Their sleeping area is sectioned off partially by a half wall that extends from the North wall of the room, and is further concealed by sheer curtains that give the space a separation without being too intrusive. The play and entertainment area is very spacious and includes plenty of room for books, games, and a closed off TV (after all this is a Thumbelina inspired room, TVs do not necessarily go with the natural theme). Then to fit the last criteria, on the East wall there is closet space, room enough for hanging and folded clothes, and also a large shared work space the looks out a window for the girls to bathe in natural light as they let their minds wonder into homework land when the start school in the fall.
As far as the visual aspects included in the room I drew from the very natural and delicate undertones of the book. The colors are tranquil and soft, yet are contrasted by the tall vertical lines of the closets and curtains. All of the built-ins in the room are walnut stained wood to add richness and character to the delicacy of the other materials in the room. The fabric chosen is very gauzy and drapes lightly, just as the flower petals that fill every page of Thumbelina would do if they hung from their stems.
Overall I am very happy with how this design turned out. It fulfils all of the criteria and takes Thumbelina to a non-themed yet apparent level. I believe the girls would love to spend time in this room, I sure would!

Kitchen Design

This kitchen remodel was done for my sororities house mom, Patty. She desired an open space that could entertain around 4 guests, and cooking area for a family of two that did not spend much time preparing food.
Through this remodel I had to put into consideration the National Kitchen and Bath Association (NKBA) guidelines and create a space for Patty and her husband that was not only functional but also inspired by copper pots that were given to her as a gift. It took a lot more time than I expected to find a fitting floor plan that not only fit the guidelines, but also allowed enough space for Patty, her husband, and their dog to be in the kitchen at once. I realize after review however that not all guidelines were met, leaving room for improvement in the next remodel, or kitchen design that I do.
It think I did well on choosing colors based around her the inspiration, as well as borrowing the same lines that made up the copper pots. A very natural feel, something that seems to follow me in most of my designs, is prevalent in everything in this kitchen. There are large open windows that offer a plentiful amount of natural light, as well as an open atmosphere that lets the kitchen be incorporated in surrounding areas like the family room and formal dining area.

Concept Model:

Space Model:

Kitchen Study

As my first real evaluation of a kitchen as a design student I found this project to be somewhat challenging but also full of new things that I had never thought of before! Never before had I heard of a work triangle and all of the things that went into the function of it. As a group we worked together to make a meal in an ADA apartment kitchen, analyzing the good and bad aspects of a kitchen. I knew that some kitchens made more sense than others but this was especially interesting with the NKBA guidelines in mind. I feel like as a first look I learned a lot from this and I look forward to getting to know more!