Weekly Blog Post 10/3

Friday is the day we are supposed to have everything due. Meaning we have to be done with our floor plans with furniture and lighting in them. This also includes our materials.
Still cleaning things up and adding some interest to my floor plan, I am at this point:

As you can see, I have changed the staircase to be back to a more circular staircase. I found that with the square staircase everything would have been messed up. It took up more space and would be outside our area of working space for the upstairs. If I moved the staircase back, it would cut into my student cafe and the distant classroom upstairs. This could not happen because I had just the right square footage and couldn't take anymore from it. 

What I have found is that I like the curved staircase more. It breaks up the linearity of my floor plan and adds interest.I like that when one walks into the entry, the curved staircase is more welcoming and less stiff. 

For the rest of the week, I will be making my ceilings more interesting and adding different materials for the floors and walls.

Concept Statement Draft

Friday 10/31
250 Word Concept Statement Draft:

We are designing the future of higher education spaces and the main focus is designing a new and innovative learning environment that tends to each type of learning style. With the inspiration of a maritime tree, I focused on how the tree grows and how it is reactive to its environment.  Just like the tree, the students should be reactive to their environment. For positive impact, the space has the flexibility to be arranged for different learning/teaching styles, between the tools used in the classroom, and the adjustable furniture. Looking at the maritime tree, you see that it is holistic. Smaller parts are interconnected to form a whole. The space I have created comes together as a whole for a balanced space. Each space is equally important because it focuses on the students’ needs, such as personal and social learning styles outside the classroom. The goal was to blend the lines between the lecture hall, classrooms, and the student café to support the fact that learning is unwavering. Having plenty of in-between spaces conveniently located around the building for students to meet with other students, professors, or even study by themselves did this. Learning happens from other students. By recognizing this, I designed a symmetrical space with the center being the student café so students can meet together here. From the center, each room branches off for a different use.

RCP Draft

Friday 10/31 our RCP (reflected ceiling plan) was due. This means lighting should be included and ceiling types should be included. We also had a 250 word concept statement due.

Floor Plan Update

My floor plan as of Wednesday. Though all the correction Maruja gave me were minor corrections, it messed everything up. The staircase is now to big for the area and it goes past the area of work we have for the upstairs. I am now trying to figure out a solution to keep it this shape, but fit into the parameters we have for the upstairs. I can't move it back because that would then take out square footage in student cafe and the distant classroom upstairs.

Weekly Blog Post 10/27

Today, I went and talked to Maruja about my floor plans that I had turned in on Friday. I was nervous about this because I wasn't all that confident in my floor plan. Talking to my fellow classmates about their floor plans and comparing to what I went through, it seemed that I had an easier time fitting all the requirements into the space, whereas they were having a hard time fitting everything in and meeting the required square footages. This made me worry. If I had an easier time, did I do something wrong? I triple checked all my square footages, and they were all correct, but I was still stressed that I left something out. So I was pleasantly surprised when Maruja said she like my floor plan and thought my circulation was "beautiful."

Some feedback that I got was to change my grand staircase from circular, to be more linear. The half circle seemed out of place when the rest of my floor plan was so geometric and linear. This made sense to me and I have to agree that it would work better if my staircase was half of a square instead of a circle. It also gave me more space for the upstairs room. She also said that I should fix the circulation by the active classrooms and the bathrooms. People may have issues getting in and out of the bathrooms when a class is getting out. She gave me suggestions on how I could improve this and make that hallway bigger. I was also told to rework the furniture in my faculty hub. With it being so linear, she said that it would be better to have all the furniture on one side of the room to allow for better circulation within the room. I should also get rid of the walls that are dividing the large in between space and instead use different carpet of ceilings to show that it is a different space divided off, yet still unified.

Showing the new staircase and a way to solve the circulation coming out of the active classrooms and the bathroom

Showing the new floor plan of the faculty hub, a way of dividing the in between space without using walls, and opening up the student cafe

Making it Work

I have found a better way of putting furniture in the floor plan. Turns out you have to double click on the downloaded file, wait for it to load in Revit, and then click "load into project." From there you can add as many pieces of that furniture as you want.

Friday we turned in a furnished floor plan of the upstairs and downstairs as well as an additional furniture floor plan for the active classrooms, distant active classroom, and large classroom. We are also to have two section cuts showing the grand staircase, and a perspective of the staircase.

Level one 1st floor plan

Level one 2nd floor plan

Level two 1st floor plan

Level two 2nd floor plan

Section with grand staircase in view

Section with grand staircase in view

Perspective of grand staircase

Struggle Bus

Currently trying to learn how to download the Steelcase furniture we are supposed to be using in our space off of Steelcase's website in Revit format. I am finding it to be very difficult and time consuming. I have found a way to download it in a dwg file and load it into Revit from there, but I don't think it will show up as a 3D piece. There is probably a better way of doing this.

Weekly Blog Post 10/20

This week is going to be a week full of putting furniture in our floor plans and getting reviews from the professors because the furnished floor plans are due on Friday. As of last week, I am still working on my floor plan to make it the best it can be with my concept. I have been having issue, still, coming up with a floor plan that will stand out and be different from everyone else in the class and be innovative. Finally inspiration struck and I decided to add a grand staircase (the professors wanted us to add one anyway so that people would know there was a second floor when walking into the building. It was also a good way to visually connect the two floors) as well as having the student cafe in the center of the building because I wanted to emphasize with placement, that this is the most important in the building. After placing the grand staircase and the student cafe behind, the rest came naturally and everything started to go together like a puzzle.

Weekly Blog Post 10/15

Getting off Fall break, we had schematic designs due on Wednesday. This entailed us to have a finished floor plans for both the upstairs and downstairs, two sections (preferably cutting so that the grand staircase was included), and two perspectives of what the interior is going to look like without furniture. 

I found this to be kind of difficult and time consuming because I did not have a set floor plan yet. I wasn't liking any of the previous floor plans that I created and I was not happy with how they went with my concept (or lack there of). This is what I ended up with. I am still not completely happy with this and I plan on changing the floor plan to meet my concept and the square footage requirements.  did not add a grand staircase because Steelcase said we did not have to and I have not yet created space for a grand staircase. 

Level one floor plan

Level two floor plan with room divider in middle

Perspective

Perspective

Section cut

Section cut

The feedback that I got back from Maruja was: Meets completion requirements for this stage, however there is need for further development. Make sure to abide by the building's original geometry which entails a flat roof. Absence of a monumental staircase is a concern.

 

Atlanta Trip- Lets Go Round 4!

Thursday Morning: Tour of Dekalb Steelcase showroom

Touring the Steelcase showroom and getting the opportunity to see and use all the furniture we are supposed to be using, first hand was a huge help. Being able to use the furniture gave me a better understanding on why this is the new and improved classroom furniture. The furniture was designed to enhance the students ability to learn and support them in the classroom.

Seating for the student cafe that would support the public together spaces. Also would add a power source for students to plug in their devices.

Eno board (similar to a Smart Board, but better)

Furniture that could be used in the faculty hub or the distance learning classroom. Not picture was a board that connect to laptops and had a camera that would support the distant learning classroom.

Node chair

Seating that would be a good use for private together spaces, either in the student cafe or the in between spaces

Atlanta Trip- Lets Go Round 3!

Wednesday Afternoon: Tour of Gensler Atlanta office and The High Museum

Touring Gensler was the highlight of my day. Seeing the office, how they work together, and what they stand for was something that motivated me. Working at Gensler is a dream that I have.

Fabulous chairs at Gensler office. Unfortunately I didn't get to sit in these.

View from one of the side patios at Gensler office

Panorama of the view from one of the side patios at Gensler office

Having fun at the High museum with one of the installations. 

Mi Casa Your Casa,  swinginteraction exhibit 

Atlanta Trip- Lets go Round 2!

 Wednesday Morning: Visited Clough Commons at Georgia Tech

The grand staircase Clough Commons at Georgia Tech. This building was supposed to be inspiration for how new and innovative higher education buildings should be like. 

Example of using different chair and table heights can add many different options for students. Different heights make in between spaces more interesting and flexible. 

In Clough Commons there is a bean bag chair lounge. Our tour guide said this was a very popular space because many students come here to relax and take naps in between their studies. 

4th Floor view 

View from the roof top garden. This space adds a whole new dynamic and freshness to overwhelmed students. It is a good place to come here, relax, and then get back to studies. (Pictured from left to right: Kayla Carter, Alanea Kriete, Jillian Lee, and Chelsea Green)

Atlanta Trip!

This week we go to Atlanta!

Tuesday afternoon at Lithonia:

Chelsea Green modeling in the light that cant be changed to whatever color you chose. This was near the entrance at Lithonia where we toured the building to learn more about lighting and what types of light to put in our project space

Examples of pendant lighting that is in right now.

Adding this lighting effect into a healthcare space can help the healing process to be faster. A sense of nature around you is always good for the recovering body.

OLED Lighting 

Tuesday nights' adventure. The SkyView Ferris View that was across the street from our hotel!

The Start of Floor Plans!

Transitioning from the zoning diagrams, floor plans were due today. So far I have come up with two different floor plans.

This floor plan, I was trying to utilize as much space as I could for the active classrooms. What I don't like about this floor plan is that the active classrooms are beside the student cafe. Thinking about the noise level from the cafe, might affect students ability to learn. So I came up with another floor plan that would solve this problem.  

I find this floor plan to be more successful because it solves the noise problem and it goes along with my maritime tree concept better. When you walk in there is a hallway in front of you. As you progress you progress through the space, there's a different area that branches off into more spaces. 

Zoning

For the rest of Wednesday, we are to take our bubble diagrams and turn them into zoning diagrams. This means you start to layout the space with the rooms you have on the bubble diagram. The bubble diagram will lead to a floor plan. This is due Friday.

These are just a few examples on how to organize the space. I will be doing more to come up with more zoning diagrams for more variety. 

Adjacency Matrix and Bubble Diagrams!

For Wednesday, I had a lot of changes to my adjacency matrix and bubble diagram. I have one adjacency matrix with more information on it and two new bubble diagrams, showing just two of the many variations you could have.

Weekly Blog Post 9/29

What is architecture?
Architecture is organizing. It is a way to organize and shape a space.

This question brings us to what we are working on now. The next step in our progress is to complete an adjacency matrix and with it, a bubble diagram. The adjacency matrix is to help us organize what spaces need to be next to, near, or not close.

This is the adjacency matrix and the start of a bubble diagram I had for monday. After the professors went around to talk to us, I decided to go back and add some information to my adjacency matrix. This will also change the look of my bubble diagram. 

Stephanie encouraged us to go back and look at the Q&A on Steelcase's website to find further details about the space.