Sketch Series 3

Lighting plan, Tele/Data Communications Plan, Reflected Ceiling Plan

Gatewood Analysis: Response

Gate Wood Building Analysis

Nicole Ware

December 12, 2011

Although defiant to start this project, I came to see the importance of what we were learning through the process of our task. We were not just learning about our building we were learning about the systems that make up our structure and how they all come together to make a cohesive and sturdy building. These systems; plumbing, electrical, heating/cooling, air, structural, fire suppression, and acoustics don’t only apply solely to our building. Their technologies can be applied to many other buildings as well.

One thing that I learned from focusing on the fire suppression system was that it has to have a visual system and an auditory system. They both are important because if you have someone that is visually impaired they use the auditory cues to exit the building and if the person is hearing impaired then they can use the visual cues, like the strobe alarms that are located at the exit access stairs.

After looking through my classmates’ presentations I also found out some additional information that I was unaware of and some new innovative ideas that could be improved in our building. For instance in Michelle and Austin’s project I learned that for the plumbing we have inoperable chase walls. Which means that if a pipe were to break it would be very difficult to get to the source of the problem. To me that seems like a bad design because in a few years something could corrode or burst and major repairs will have to be done in order to patch where the plumber had to cut through the wall. I was also unaware of the Variable Air Volume system we have, which maintains the air temperature in all areas of the building. I learned this from Jamaan and Dajana’s project. In their project they also proposed that the building should use a Demand Controlled ventilation system, which will not only control the temperature of rooms but will also maintain the quality of the air.

Overall, I found this project to be very resourceful. I can go back to all of these projects and reference some of the information to use in future tasks. I also discovered that it helped solidify what we learned in class because sometimes diagrams and definitions don’t always clarify everything but to actually see the systems at work made everything very clear.

Suspending Roots Board

Suspending Roots

Layers

Cafe Create is a project that where I am designing furniture to go into a new shop in the Spring Garden Apartments. The idea is to create a retail space where faculty, students, and alumni can show off their craft to the student body. It will be a space that will challenge sustainable design and bring it to another level.

Disintegrating Table Series

Lighting Plan

Light Sketch Series 4

Stairwell in Gatewood Studio Arts Building

a. Type of luminaire: Semi- direct

b. Mounting type: fixed mounting

c. Lamping: Fluorescent tubes

d. Construction: 2 Piece

e. Manufacturer: Lamar Lighting

f. Lumens: 47.9

g. Material and Finish: Brushed aluminum

h. Lensing: Transparent with serrated face

i. Function: Fixed semi-direct lighting

j. Ballasts: 2lamp ballasts

k. Environment: Circulation/ stairwell

l. Shielding:none besides the lensing

The purpose of the space is for circulation throughout the building as well as safety because it is a fire stairwell.

The purpose of the lighting fixtures in the space are ambient and they provide a proficient amount of light for egress.

To improve the lighting in the space I would suggest that the landings of each level in the stairwell are brighter so it clarifies where each floor is, instead of the whole stairwell being a consistent brightness the whole way through.

Light Sketch Series 1

Impact design

An up and coming design firm is making an impact on environmental design with recycling in mind. The company's name... Grey Pants. I love their designs and everything their company stands for.

Light Sketch Series 2

Color Play

wi 10: Connections

Wi10

In the beginning of the semester we were asked to write down goals that we wanted to achieve by the end of the year. Some of the goals that I jotted down for myself were to hone in on a specific area that I wanted to study, work on my time management, explore new hand rendering techniques, and improve my writing skills. Overall, I feel that I have touched on all of my goals to some degree. Time management was one of the things that I was forced to work on the most because of all the group work and the limited time we had to complete projects. Before this class I never took the time to sit down and plan out a schedule of what needed to get done in order to move forward with the project. Now I know that I need to move quicker with some things in order to give more attention to detailed deliverables. Being more organized when I tackle a project has also aided me in scheduling other work for the rest of my classes. Although I did explore some hand rendering this semester I didn’t do as much as I would have liked to. This will be something that I will investigate in my free time over the summer.

Over the course of the semester we were challenged with different lessons that would help us move on to the next phase of the project and ultimately build us up to take those lessons and continue on to third year. Some of those lessons we learned were being able to take individual ideas and weaving them together with multiple other concepts to make a cohesive whole. We also learned about means of egress and designing them to be ADA compliant, understand circulation of spaces and buildings as a whole in order to have a design that is easy to navigate, and being able to present these ideas in multiple forms (through speech, writing, drawings, diagrams, and boards). I feel that one of the most important lessons was presenting our work, because we can do all of the components to the project with great effort and detail but those drawings and models can’t speak for themselves. There will always be questions about our designs and we need to be able to “sell” them to the best of our ability and through any means possible. I think this class has touched on many ways to present ideas and has given us the tools we need to represent and explain our projects in the media that we see fit.

As much as we all whined and complained about group work, in my opinion it was one of the best lessons we could have learned. Of course when I work individually I get to focus on what I want to do, when I want to do it, and how it will be done. However, we have this studio to learn from other people. You can only push yourself so far when you work by yourself. That’s why I think group work is so important; because we get to learn different techniques in drawing, organizing, model making, writing, and computer skills. When I started this semester I had no idea how to computer render or schedule my time, but through observing and learning from my team I became proficient in computer aided rendering and most definitely improved my time management. Although we all have our little tiffs at times for the most part it was great working in groups because we all developed the best work possible and brought the best out in each other. Learning how to work in groups now is so crucial to our futures because we will always be working in teams for the rest of our careers.

Because this class was writing intensive I was a little bit scared because I have not always been the best of writers. Nevertheless, I went full steam ahead and tackled all of the writing assignments and found them all to be extremely relevant to everything we have accomplished in the class. They were integrated well into our design process and helped me understand my own projects more thoroughly. Also the writings where we had to either asses others or ourselves really helped me understand my own concepts and then after analyzing others I would get more ideas for myself or our group.

Looking back now through this part of the year I can see how much I have grown from the beginning of the semester. I have become more efficient on the computer, my writing has improved, I feel like I could work in a group of 30 if the challenge arose, and overall I think I have become a better designer. Even through all the group work where sometimes-individual personalities can be lost, my design voice stood strong and I improved my own design process. Thank you to Patrick and Claire for all the wonderful times, intriguing lessons, and the motivation you both provided this semester. I will always cherish this knowledge and passion you have given me.

First Year Reviews

Reviewing the first years was a great experience and a true eye opener for me. As we flew through second year I never got the chance to stop and take a look at how much we have accomplished in the past two years. The lessons, techniques, and knowledge that I acquired in first year became very relevant in second year. They helped me define a style for myself, hone in on some specific areas of interior architecture and made me view design in a different light. Seeing the first years’ final project, I was very impressed with the work they produced. It seemed as though they put a lot of thought and time into their work. If I could give them any constructive criticism it would be to stand proudly next to their work and speak clearly and confidently about what they have produced. As we all know in Iarc we give a lot of time and effort to these projects and it is our job to “sell” our work to the audience. Many first year mistakes (and I am guilty of it too) are that when we present we don’t give enough attention to what we are going to say about our deliverables and we leave our reviewers with minimal descriptions of the project. My advice is go watch some of the upper classes present and take notice of how well some of them know the project, the language and the descriptiveness in which they speak about it and the confidence they have while presenting. Over all everyone had great deliverables you just need the confidence when speaking about your work.

Ayten, you had a beautiful project that was very easy to understand and presented well. You spoke clearly about your work and very confidently. As I said in the reviews work on how you display your project. Start to develop hierarchy among your deliverables so that your presentation starts to tell a story. I would go to Google and type in competition boards and you will see how other designers display their work so that it flows nicely and how the composition of the different drawings can enhance their project. Don’t ever lose your ability to hand draw, in second year you will probably be pushed towards computer rendering. However, it is an important skill to have. I would encourage you to continue with it and also explore different medias. Also learning how to enhance your drawings using Photoshop or illustrator will be a great tool to have. Keep up the great work and don’t ever hesitate to come and ask for advice!

Have a wonderful summer,

Nikki Ware

Lovell Beach: Precedent Study

For our final Project in Jonathon's IAR 212 class, we had groups of three that researched different famous works of architecture. My group (Sharon Frazier and Melanie Grumieaux) Decided to study the Lovell Beach House located in New Port Beach, California and designed by Rudolf Schindler. As a team we studied the structural system of the house. Our board and model diagram the planes and columns that make up Lovell Beach House.

Top 10 tips to stay on top in Iarc

On Monday in Patrick's studio we were paired in groups of 2 to make a ten minute presentation on a topic that we are excelling in. I was paired with Abigail Buchanan to give tips on making successful graphics. Examples of our advice include...

Create Hierarchy
Keep text and fonts consistent
Use a good gradient of colors
Get advice from professors and peers
Take breaks from your work

The top ten tips of the day in my opinion are as follows

Get inspired: Blakeni + Alyssa
Work smart and diligently
Purge your sketch up files: Phillip + Brian
Have fun: Patrick
Eat, sleep, and shower: Corry + Casey
Layer colors for rendering: Cassie + Kelly
Speak clearly and confidently: Audra + Jamaan
When modeling, take your time and be precise: Justin + Sharon
Go with your gut: Alyssa + Blakeni
Take your time: Breathe and collect your thoughts: Audra + Jamaan

Jenga 6.0

Design: Anna Behrendt Rendering: Nikki Ware
Design: Cassandra Brunson Rendering: Nikki Ware
Design: Justin McNair Rendering: Faith Ramsey

Brochure: Cassandra Brunson

In this iteration of the Jengas' our team moved our structure to Zermatt, Switzerland on lake Rifflesee. Here we focused on some key public areas and created a dynamic presentation to show off our structure.

Jenga 5.0