Article Question and Answers

1. How would you feel after reading the article as an occupant in the San Francisco Hall?

I think that I would really like the new renovated hall because they still kept old materials and cleaned them. I like the feel of old buildings that feel clean and new on the inside. I would love to see the hall for myself one day because Anthony Irons says that after it was renovated, the philosophy was to create "a continuous visual experience." I want my city hall to have that same feeling everywhere you turn and look. I love the skylight idea and how the building only has to keep one type of light bulb since all the lighting is different but at the same time is uniform.

2. What types of lighting were discussed and how can it help the Chatham County City Hall project?

There were lots of types of lighting discussed including natural sunlight, direct light, indirect light, uplighting, downlighting, tungsten-halogen lamps, accent lights, LED, ambient, task and downlighting. I would really like to research Peerless lighting more because they do lighting a different way. They design an indirect fixture to add direct lighting that is projected beneath the fixture. They have uplight that is balanced with the addition of controlled downlight. I like the idea of this so that there is not a bunch of hard light of direct lighting everywhere. Its softens the room without having a lot of glares and harsh shadows.

3. What seemed to be the largest dissatisfaction with the office types and how would that affect the City Hall?

The largest dissatisfaction with the office types is that with the open office, most employes complained about the noise level. Having a high noise level while working makes it hard to focus and causes distractions. There is little privacy and I think that every employee wants to have some sense of privacy no matter where they work. I will definitely keep in mind about how to lay out my offices when designing the city hall.

4. Is the courthouse appropriate for a dominant daylight system? Explain.

I think the courthouse is appropriate for dominant daylighting, but I do think there will be areas that will not have window/natural lighting access just because of what has to be crammed into the small building. The windows in the courthouse are definitely large enough to cover a large amount of space, but for the interior rooms with no windows I will have to use some kind of artificial lighting.

5. What are the benefits of daylighting?

The benefits of daylighting are that it helps to keep everyones mood up and there is also health benefits to having daylight throughout your day. It also helps you to see better with your eyes. It doesn't strain your eyes as much unless you are facing the sun.

6. Do codes matter for lighting design?

Yes, codes do matter for lighting design but they are not strict.

7. Is lighting objective or subjective? Explain

I think lighting is both objective and subjective because I believe an experience has to be both. In a well designed space, the lighting has to look like it was meant to be in the space and also make light that makes you feel good for that type of space. If the light made you feel good, but the light fixture itself looked horrible then I don't think you could feel good about the light in that space in general only because it looks bad even if it makes you feel good.

8. How does the information in the articles apply to my programming for the City Hall?

Everything that I have learned from reading the articles will help me in my designs for the city hall. I can now add a lighting section to my programming document since I now know about how lighting affects the different office types.

9. Does Cooper lighting make indirect lighting?

Yes the do! They make direct and indirect lighting.

Pittsboro City Hall Precedents/Concept Board

I chose the Newcastle City Hall as one of my precedents because I was really interested in how the floor layouts connected with the building. I was surprised at how the performance and gallery area is on the third floor and that it has natural acoustics. I will definitely be looking into that when I start designing the Pittsboro City Hall. For the Norfolk City Hall, I was interested in all the materials and how they brought in the arches from the exterior into the interiors. I like the idea of having a skylight open to all floor levels because that keeps the space lit and open, which is what I'm going for in the Pittsboro City Hall.

My concept is the Game of Jenga and how it relates to the old Courthose of Pittsboro. The action of burning and building back up connects the building to the concept. I want strict clean lines and a space that is always balanced and flexible. Jenga is always changing so having a flexible space will will be challenging for sustaining proportion and balance within the City Hall.

Final Boards for CRH and Parrish Street Projects

Our final project of the semester was to design a mixed-used space at 106 Parrish st. in downtown Durham, NC. The first floor had to be a wine retail space and the upper two floors had to be apartments. Brittany and I decided to have 4 apartments to make better use of the space and to make them less expensive for the local buyers. Half of the first floor and half of the second floor are used for the wine bar retail space where there is a bar, a small kitchen, an event area for wine tastings and couches for comfortable seating arrangements. Our concept was a Bazaar and all of our design decisions were based on that.

Here is my final board for The Central Regional Hospital for the three pcu's. We presented them at the hospital to executives who work there and we got really good feedback. They loved our ideas. For mine, they really loved the furniture and the feel of nature coming indoors.

Seth Riskin Lecture

Last week I had the opportunity to hear Seth Riskin speak in our auditorium at UNCG. He has studied something that all of us don't stop to really think about, light. Seth was a past gymnast and has used his ability in his recent works of art. He uses the light through lasers, cameras, holograms, reflections, rainbow transmissions, and much more to portray his work. He dresses up in a special black costume that has lights on it and he dances as the lights move in different ways to create things that have never been seen before. It's hard to imagine viewing light in a different way than we know it. Seth has also experimented with sky dancing where he is up in the air as light is projected from him.

His studies consist of the history of light itself. He talked about the anthropology of light and how a light-body is the identification between light and life. Light has been talked about in the Bible and how God says he is light. Light is used through fire during certain kinds of worship. Fire dancing can be seen in Hindu, India, which is where Seth got his idea for light dancing.

Seth linked how design and light are connected. As designers, we need to think about how natural light and artificial light can work together for the spaces we design to help best define the space that it is being used for. Light is not something that you just add to a room, but it is something that helps define the room by the mood and feelings you get from their luminosity. Seth showed us a quote by Louis Kahn that said, "A great building must begin with the immeasurable, must go through measurable means of design and in the end must be immeasurable." I will think of this quote every time I start a new design project.

To see more on Seth Riskin, go to his website at www.sethriskin.com .

Design Development 2 [Central Regional Hospital]

Design Development 1 [Central Regional Hospital]

On Monday, we each presented our ideas we had for the three wards at the Central Regional Hospital in Butner, NC. Here are shots from my presentation. I have decided that I want to go with a different concept and have light transparency be more of a focus instead of metamorphosis of a butterfly. My hallways need more development as well as my bedrooms. Some strong ideas that I will keep are the carpet walls in the bedrooms and group rooms and making two different areas in the activity rooms. These are just ideas and they are all subject to change.

Peer Response

Kalani Gonzalez has started his design off by his concept of an ecosphere. He wants to focus on the three layers of our ecosystem, water, land and sky. I think this is a great way to help distinguish between each ward because it will help with wayfinding throughout the hospital. I love how he even related the characteristics of an animal that lives on each water, land, and sky to the characteristics of the male adolescents, female adolescents, and children. The only thing that I want to know more about is the materials and fabrics because the light fixture for the male adolescent ward would probably not work since it is hanging and that would cause a problem with trying to reach it. Also the fabrics in the female adolescent ward are complex and I feel they might cause a bit of anxiety because of how much detail they have. I would recommend something more simplistic that would put the patients at more of an ease. I love the aquarium idea for the children's ward. It will be cool to see how it all comes together.

Tracey Wright's concept is all about creating a sense of place. She wants her spaces to be flexible so that transformation can take place. She focuses on making personalized places to hang the artwork of patients in the hallways throughout the wards. This will make the patients feel more comfortable with their surroundings and feel like they have a special place in the ward itself. I like how she makes each door entrance to a bedroom personal with the use of color. The bench connected to the bed in the patient bedrooms is a great idea because it makes the room feel more home-like. I would explore color more by the hues of blue and yellow. In the sketches they are very bright. Something that has a darker hue might work better.

Concept Exploration + Schematic Design

When I was thinking of a concept for the 3 wards in the Central Regional Hospital in Butner, NC, I really wanted to bring the outdoors in. After all the studies we have done, it looks like bringing in nature is what will make patients feel more at ease and comfortable. Roger Ulrich did a study on how patients who could see a tree from their window, as opposed to those who only saw a wall, had a faster recovery rate. Nature makes you feel so relaxed and I want the patients at Butner to feel the same.

The first three images are from my sketchbook on all three of my concept ideas:

I chose the metamorphosis of a butterfly because it is all about transformation and a freeness of spirit.

The following images are of my schematic designs I have quickly sketched out. I address circulation, ideas, materials and bedroom ideas.

Site + Program Analysis

The site and program analysis are important when beginning to design because you first have to know about your building in depth. Last Friday when we toured the hospital, we got in groups and each group took notes on a different aspect of the building. My group had to focus on wayfinding, climatic and geographical aspects. Here are images from my groups presentation.

Precedent Study [Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas]

The following images are from my presentation about the Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas. Our next project is to design an existing psychiatric hospital in Butner, NC. It is very sterile and dull with little activities to do there for the patients. As designers for the third year students, we are to help make their environment more pleasing to be in and not feel so trapped and locked-in. I did a study on this hospital to find information about how they made their hospital environments pleasing to the patients. It is studied that patients who have views to nature or get to go out into nature have a faster recovery than those who don't have access or views to nature. With the Dell Children's Medical Center, they have really done a great job in bringing the outdoor nature in. They have a healing garden and six courtyards.

Powers of Ten [statement and write-up]

Powers of Ten is relevant to design and how we view the world around us. Mirrors positioned at angles show us distance, time, and scale just like the Powers of Ten. Sometimes the man looks closer or farther and smaller or larger. Time is infinite as everything repeats itself and goes on forever. Mirrors in design make a space look larger than it actually is.

How the Powers of Ten has changed my perspectives as a designer:

The Powers of Ten video by Charles and Ray Eames is all about connections. After watching 901, it is very evident that the Eames’ took their design work to a whole new level. Design was their life as they brought life into their own designs. Their Powers of Ten video shows you how time, distance, and scale are all linked together in our very own world and body that we live in. Zooming out every ten seconds we see a whole new perspective on things. Earth soon starts to appear small just like stars that we see and then soon we do not even see Earth anymore. It is hard to imagine what is outside of this planet because we do not think about it everyday even though we know there is much more out there that we do not know about. Same goes for when the video zooms into the human hand. We cannot see what is inside of us, but we know there are lots of cells, atoms, protons, etc that make up who we are.

It is crazy to think that this Earth we live in is connected to the galaxy and that our cells make up our bodies. Everything is linked, which makes us not feel out of place. Everything has a specific place for a specific purpose.

As a designer it makes you think how things are connected and how perspectives are different. When we design a space, we must think how it will connect with the space adjacent to it. Everything is connected. The Powers of Ten video makes us realize that design comes from the world around us from everything that is seen with the human eye to everything that is unseen.

Powers of Ten model

I decided to make a 3D model with my mirrors having them placed at angles that bounce off each other to make the man in the middle reflect off all the mirrors to make several of him. Here are some of my practice and final pictures of my model.

Powers of Ten precedents

I came up with a mirroring idea and making one object have multiples and farther away then they actually are. Here are some of my precedent study pictures:

Powers of Ten

In class last week, we watched the Charles and Ray Eames video of The Powers of Ten. The Powers of Ten shows you how everything is connected in our world and our own bodies. Everything has a purpose.

My bottom sketch are three words that I thought described the video well. Time, distance, and scale were all things that were evident in the video. From the video we had to come up with a project that presented our ideas on the Powers of Ten. First I thought of making something that dealt with scale and playing with the idea of making something small that you would normally know as big. I got stumped and couldn't think of how to do that well in a design manner. Here are some of my sketches that show scale with space and objects.

Happy to ReDesign

Here is a bedroom that I would be happy to redesign. I chose it because it has some good bones to start with. There is a fireplace that could be emphasized more and there are great white panels on one side of the walls in the room that would look great if they were seen better. It is a very bland room and it could use some tender, love and care.

Happy Design

We have been talking about design happiness in studio this week and were made to find a picture of a thing or place that makes you happy. I knew exactly what I wanted to post. This is a picture that I took last summer in Martha's Vineyard. It is in Edgartown, one of my favorite towns in the world because it is so charming and friendly. I have always loved New England homes like this one especially ones with gamble roofs that are all of wood siding. This place makes me happy because I have always wanted a house like this on a cute street that has a porch to look out onto the ocean to watch the boats and sunrise while swinging on the porch to feel the breeze and the smell of the ocean.

Unity Village Phase 3 Reflection

Phase 3 of Unity Village was a success! I did however run into rendering problems that kept me behind the last few days before it was due, but as always it got done. I am very happy about my design and have learned that the most important thing is designing for the clients in mind at all times, not yourself. I can just imagine myself meeting with clients and asking about their wants and needs for a space they want me to design. As for my design, I wanted to make the foyer feel big when you first walked in. The ceilings are not very high and I wanted to have an open floor plan so it felt bigger than it actually is. The girls Sara and Karen love hosting small dinner parties and cooking so the kitchen is emphasized by it being on the curve wall of the space and has plenty of counter space for serving and cooking on. The dining, living room and kitchen are all open to each other to better entertain. The bedrooms have personalized casework pieces like the dance shoes displays and the desk for recording music. The colors I have chosen are soft and relaxing because after a long day at school it is nice to come home to a place that is relaxing and refreshing. I will continue to develop my designs based on creating community for any client.

In Memory of Cameron Wagner

My boyfriend's brother died at age 20 two years ago yesterday (April 17). His name is Cameron and he was an amazing guy with a smile on his face at all times. A few months ago, I was thinking about Cameron and how he has impacted my life as well as many who knew him so I decided to make a handmade book filled with stories about Cameron so that they will be shared and lived forever. I asked all his friends and those who knew him to write their favorite memory or story of Cameron. I got several responses back, but not as many as I had hoped since I sent out about 400 messages to people. Im guessing no one reads their inbox messages on facebook so I am sending out more reminders this week for those who did not see my message before so more stories can be added. Today I gave my boyfriend (Grant) and his family this book. I feel so blessed to have met Cameron! He sure was a great guy who knew how to live life to its fullest.

This is the cover of the book made of chipboard and this nice paper I found.

Here is the inside of the first page. On the left it says, "Memories of Cameron Wagner fill these pages so his stories will be shared and lived forever." There is a spot for where the pen goes so people can write their own stories about Cameron. The first page is a picture of Cameron with his Z28 Camaro that he loved to work on in the garage and take to the drag-strip. Grant now drives it and is the one sound of Cameron's that is still alive.

I made 5 of the pages with a pocket since one friend wrote hers and sent it. It is big enough to put pictures in or any keepsakes.

Here is a picture of what most of the pages looks like with stories that people have sent to put in this book. Some of the pages are blank so that they can be filled in with more stories.

The binding is of hemp string and here is the back of the book with the knot that holds it all together.

Concept for [Unity Village]

Rhythm and flow create an oasis that connects music and dance coming together as one. Dance and music have rhythm and flow as does an oasis has orientation.

Cassandra's Design Strengths

In studio, our assignment was to ask someone in our class what their design strengths are that is different from ours.

Cassandra sits next to me in studio and sometimes we get each others opinion about design decisions. I know each time we talk about design we have completely different opinions and design approaches. Cassandra says that she has the ability to take things she has seen from her past and incorporate them in her own designs. Her experiences that she has had in her life become inspirations for her in new designs of her own. She will apply things she has seen from traveling the world as inspiration and abstracts things she has seen used in spaces before in her designs. She loves to travel as do I and I will start to see things I have seen as inspiration to me in my designs. I probably don't do enough of inspiration on my own from things I have seen and it's a good idea to start to make that more of a habit. Thanks Cassandra for sharing this with me.