Studio IV

This QTR includes some projects that revolve around preservation and maintaining the historic value of existing structures. Right now we are starting our program for a house on Candler St. The existing offices off 85N are currently employing seven employees. We took a field trip to their offices to document our findings. Some of us took user interviews (as seen below), some of us documented measurements to study the conditions that were currently being worked in, and other notations as followed.

Here is a photograph of my class doing just that!

 (Above) Existing office space


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Our new location in Candler Park is substantially larger and has a lot of neat historic bones to it that provide for great work. This photograph below gives you an idea of what the home currently looks like.

Most of the load bearing walls run horizontally on the house allowing for a lot of transformation to the home. The CEO, Ryan Wiedmayer, requires a small bedroom/bathroom/kitchen suite for employees to have the opportunity to sleep on nights that prove to be too late to go home.

 (Above) Candler Park Home

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    Home from the street view

 View of the home from the back facade

 VIRGINA
HIGHLANDS
RESIDENCE

Today we had the opportunity to visit a home in Virginia Highlands that was renovated within the past five years. The home is misleading... From the front facade the home looks very appropriate and harmonious with the rest of the neighborhood. There is a distinct look that the Highlands have coined that each home almost unwritten-ly abides by (of course there are ordinances and zoning issues that come about). Butttt as you walk through the front doors of this charming 1929 Bungalow, you become aware of the entire home's renovation.

Now, with stark white interior walls and high windows and skylight, the home takes on a different attitude. It is definitely business in the front and party in the back on Candler St.

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For efficient working in our studio, the nine of us have divided into three groups of three. My group is currently working on the programming from the information we have collected. Here is a sneak of what the beginning phases of functionality, spacing, and necessity looks like on desk.

The new year is for the New

Welcome January of 2012!!

Never did I think it would come as quickly as it came. I feel this way most new years. As the numbers in the date change, as does an attitude towards personal accomplishment and goals for the upcoming dozen months.

I think I hold an optimism sometimes too high for people's comfort. The ideal isn't usually the reality, I know... BUT I say, shoot high and inevitably fall higher than you originally planned to even aim. With that in mind I'm back at my last year at SCAD & I've companies to research, internships to find and be hired into, projects to ace, classes to sit presently for, etcetera etcetera etcetera.

I hope this coming year is as fantastic and full of life and knowledge and growth as 2011.

In reflection....

 

This was a small fishing village we found accidentally in attempts to find an island off Hong Kong Island. Delightful travel mistake

Standing in front of the entrance to SCAD Hong Kong in Sham Shui Po

Standing by Hollywood Rd on the oldest street in the country

First day of class over seas summer of 2011

On a field trip within the city looking at different textiles and design firms 

As a class learning about the design process from working professionals

My abroad experience was INCREDIBLE and I would urge anyone that is even mildly curious to pursue this venue!!

One Love Generation meets SCAD iDO

      The Interior Design Organization, iDO, is an organization at SCAD for the interior design department. I had the honor of receiving a position on the board as the Undergraduate Event Coordinator this 2011-2012 academic school year. 
     Being a part of a team means that ideas are a beautiful collaboration of a team, not an individual. Thus, I proposed that the funds from our bake sale not go to some haphazard cause. In doing some research I found out about One Love Generation. They are a group, here in Atlanta, and invested in helping the youth find their artistry. Mentors come and volunteer their time to assist in the company and education of the youth. Our contribution was to donate all the funds from both the Halloween and Valentine's bake sale to this organization.

 

 

As part of iDO, a bake sale was incorporated to raise funds for the club to finance future projects and events.

T-Shirts were sold branded with the iDO brand. I brought my vintage gum ball machine from home to provide some free incentive for students walking by to take a moment to stop and see what our organization was promoting. The table was located in the hub (AKA college's cafeteria).

The large cupcake, used here as a backdrop for the sale table, was made out of cardboard.
I had taken cardboard boxes, I had lying around the house, and bound them together and then painted it with acrylic paint to make a larger than life cupcake. Even though the decorations of the table do not necessarily have a part in the philanthropic mission I'm so excited about, it still none the less provided a fun approach to the previously dull iDO table.

Halloween Festivities

The festivities took form throughout the entire house. I must admit that the most effective and (quite honestly the most difficult to dissemble) were the dynamic spider webs creating an interior throughout the entire house. Hand prints on the glass windows that look like blood, spider webs throughout the house, food that looks like other things (non edible) were all included to make a Halloween never to forget! I know so, and I hope the 65 other people that came would agree!

 Halloween is a celebration many adults take part in. Post teenage years don't discourage adults from partaking in the festivities and costumes that come with the holiday. This year was a blast! I haven't personally taken part in Halloween, but my fellow classmates were itching for a break from school and... well twist my arm to get everyone together!

Stewart Wegman (AKA Pirate) hosted the party at his house. Here he is holding Duffy (AKA Little Devil) his West Highland Terrier

For devilishly good treats, these little cupcakes were made. They look like owls... but lo and behold they're delicious cupcakes and oreo eyes.

As well, this cake was meant to look creepy... Like a scary skull. That was the intent.

iF you're ever in New Orleans...

Nothing gets me more excited than inspiring others and seeing others inspire us. 

This is a cause that inspires, & they do it deep.

"Before I Die transforms neglected spaces into constructive ones where we can learn the hopes and aspirations of the people around us"

"One month and seven hours of intense stenciling later and it’s up! With a lot of support from old and new friends, I turned the side of an abandoned house in my neighborhood into a giant chalkboard where residents can write on the wall and remember what is important to them. Before I Die transforms neglected spaces into constructive ones where we can learn the hopes and aspirations of the people around us. It turns out this entire process (including obtaining official approval from many entities) has been a great lesson, experience, and project in itself – more on that later. If you're in New Orleans, stop by the corner of Marigny and Burgundy (900 Marigny Street) to ass your thoughts to the wall and see what matters most to your  neighbors."

It’s a question that has changed me in the last year, and I believe the design of our public spaces can better reflect what’s important to us as residents and as human beings. The responses and stories from passersby while we were installing it have already hit me hard in the heart. 

"Once the wall is filled, we wash the board with water and start with a clean slate again. We are documenting all responses and some will be included in a book. I have received many requests from people who’d like to install it in their city, so we’re looking into ways to manufacture an affordable stencil (I made this one by hand. It is a lot of cutting). We’re also interested in visiting your city and figuring out ways to install it together. If you’re interested in spreading the love, or if you have a site suggestion or beyond, let us know!"

Yorgo Lykouria: Industrial Poet

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  I found a Canadian designer, Yorgo Lykouria, who's design philosophy is beautiful. He approaches designs as if they were dampened hearts that need mending and uplifting.... well kind of. He uses the functionality, the problem solving, to start his designs. Like the airport design (check the link! It's really a great interview) where he began with what bothered him about check-in lines, or the departure area. He pointed out that it should be something exciting, you're about to witness something amazing... the technology that allows us to fly. The poetry seeps from his concepts so naturally; here he wants to problem solve, design, but he also considers the human experience. His new design for a sink basin uses this consideration: 
  "A metonymic approach to design is perhaps one way of describing what Lykouria does. He's concerned not just with giving form to a product, like, for example, a wash basin, but also with how his design designs the user's experience – in this case their perception of, and interaction with, water. For him, it's about reintroducing moments of conscious reflection, of pleasure and awe into everyday life, turning the mundane and the prosaic into poetry. 'For me, a precious commodity is human consciousness,' he explains."
  
  
  I love love love seeing designers use poetry and meaning and a life to their designs. Definitely hope to see more of him in the future! 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Here's an excerpt from the latter part of his interview (below)::::
  We've talked about the poetic aspect of design and the functional aspect. But there's also the issue of responsibility, is there not? In terms of your new wash basin, it's considering the usage of water. I wondered to what extent your 'Tangens' project was informed by that.
  
  To be honest, I was thinking about water not so much as a precious resource, but more in terms of a precious entity, or substance. Again, the poetry of it. In a way, they arrive at the same place but via a different road. Realising that it's precious means being aware of the fact it's not to be wasted.
• Well, maybe that's a more successful of getting people to think about the wastage of water.
  
  Possibly. It's more emotional, certainly. More impactful. I think sometimes there's a bit of salesmanship on this aspect of ecological thinking and corporate responsibility. There are companies that do these things because they have to. They wouldn't be doing them if they weren't marketable. That's the sad reality. If you're doing it for that reason, then it's too much on the nose, and if you can find a more poetic approach it might be more impactful, because it gets to people in a more subconscious way.
• I think sustainability is still at the point where it's being used by the marketing machine as a trend, as opposed to something that is innate and runs through everything.
  
  For me, it moves from the marketing side of things into the functional side of things. Of course it has to be there. It has to work, of course it has to be ecological. If you're doing something that is wasteful, you need to stop and rethink it. But for me, it's not the only issue. For me, another precious commodity is human consciousness. Just our lives. The way we live. We're driven faster and faster. We're constantly being pushed and pulled. There are not enough of those moments to enjoy where you are and what you're doing. A simplicity. That's also a precious resource that we shouldn't waste. Ultimately, when we're all at our end, looking back, what are we going to think and feel?
  
  It's like the end of the film 'Blade Runner'. Batty, the android, is dying, just having saved Harrison Ford's life, and he says, 'I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. All these moments will be lost like tears in the rain.' And, in a way, it's that. That's the essence of life. All these things that we experience are what really mater. It's not much how you accumulate. And that's what, in a beautiful way, dies with you. It's all yours and nobody else's. And that's why I design. It's for those things. Hopefully, I have the opportunities and abilities to do that in a better way each time. 

I want to know you. You right now, You reading this- I'm talking to you: I want to know You.

I think the idea of having a blog directly relating to one's work is such a brilliant idea. Truly... What better way to understand someone and what they produce than by reading their written thoughts? I suppose that's my large problem. I find myself struggling to find appropriate material to insert on my I.D. INTERIOR design blog that would be of interest. I feel pressured to produce posts completely relevant to interior design and my studies at SCAD.

Currently I've a personal blog, separate to this one, that digitally houses my conscious thoughts on a similar website. The content seems to come more naturally, and posts more frequently, because there isn't this looming expectation. Fortunately for the sake of my blog, no classes at SCAD currently require me to upkeep with specific information, and so, I'm going to take the liberty of combining the fluidity of posts and personal opinion from my other blog with the informative and directed focus of this one and Voila! I hope for writings worth reading, pictures worth saving, and ideas that fuel the creative mind.