[Part Two] Floor 2 of Neighborhood C

Here are a few images from our presentation on Wednesday. I feel that our dining space could of been a bit more developed since it was last created in sketch-up. We had great ideas for the panels in that space which I still think are strong, but I wish we thought out the tables and the arrangement of them in a different way. Our strengths in the space are the planters and how they are the foundation of a system where the children come up on trips to plant seeds and take care of their plants as a responsibility and the seating around the columns. It is unusual to see steppable plants that are placed under where your feet are while sitting on a bench indoors. Weaknesses of our design would be the ceiling because I feel it could of had more movement going on up there instead of the lighting at different heights. Also some of our podiums turned out dark and not how we imagined the lighting to look in the space. We should of stated the podiums earlier. We split up the jobs for our project just to get things done faster and I have learned that it would be nicer if everyone got to contribute to the sketch-up equal amounts instead of one person making important design decisions as problems arise in the sketch-up. I think that having plants and living things that are not where you would normally see them in a space is eye-opening to others in the class. For design thinking, I used an open mind. I felt that this was really important to have when designing our space because we had to think of a way to use plants in a different way than you would normally see them. Overall we need to focus more on the clients and not how we want the space to be.

Part One: Neighborhood A analysis

[Ground Floor]

Some strengths that this group designed was their social area by the laundry room because it allows the residents to socialize and relax while waiting for their laundry. It forces communication. The color coded shelves in the store work well with what kinds of food or clothing is sold at each color. It's an easy way to organize. Some weaknesses for this design is the hardwoods on both the floors and the ceiling. I think if you saw that in real life it would not look appealing to the eye. Advice I would give is that it would be nice t see the courtyard before they talked about it in their presentation. It would be easier to view the plan on all slides to visualize where everything was because I was having a hard time seeing how all the spaces related spacially. Also labeling the rooms would be helpful as well. I loved the light blocks as transparency in the space. The colors on the presentation reflect the colors on in the space, which is nice. "Clean lines appeal to everyone" stood out to me as well as refection of bright colors because both bright colors and clean lines were definitely in their space and I do agree that clean lines are appealing to everyone even if they don't realize it.

[Floor 1]

Some of the strengths of this space include the circles that mimic a conversation and how the center of the whole floor is called the hub. The textures that were chosen create movement. I really liked how they dealt with the pathway leading to the Gateway Plaza because non of the other groups did. I found their big red line on the floor to be really distracting and that it took away from their design. I was just awkward. The circle graphics on the presentation related to the circles in their space which is a plus! I liked how all the slides were unified and they didn't change the layout for any of the slides. Labeled things and hand and podium drawings looked nice and were well laid out. The word core and direction stood out to me in their presentation because they literally made a direction in their space with the line and the core with the hub space. The direction line I feel was not a strong point and they could of made more of a direction in a different way that would of worked better for their space.

[Floor 2]

The ceiling design in their space was amazing! It created movement that was inspiring to look at. The tree graphic in the space worked because of its direction it was blowing and the concept of organic shapes and things. It would of been nice if everyone spoke up just a little bit and not spoke so quietly. The darkness of the space was not very inviting to me. Adding some more lighting would be a better fix. I liked the meditation room because it was very well thought out with not having any signs or symbols that would relate to any one religion. However, in a way it felt really off from the rest of the floor. The wood in the space made it feel spooky to me. I would not feel comfortable praying in that space. I loved the simple waves in their graphic presentation because I feel that the more simple it is the better it reads to understand. I was not so sure about the children's area because it was not enclosed anywhere and it had way too many steps. Children would fall all the time and having them not enclosed would not get them to stay in the same spot the whole time. I would advise to put some kind of enclosure so they cannot escape. The words mind, body, soul, and organic stood out to me because the organic shapes in the space really reflected their concept. I feel though that only the words mind and soul relate to the meditation room and not the other spaces on the floor, but he word body really relates to the actions that take place in their main area; exercise.

Blog 6 for Phase Two [Unity Village]

This week was busy as we had to make our model and do the final finishes to the project, which included the powerpoint and finishing podium pictures. It was so hard to get the podium pictures right since the lighting was not showing as well as we had imagined our space to look like. As it got down to tuesday night, we were rushing to get things done and the podium was still not working fast enough as we would of liked. Now we know for next projects to start them much earlier so we can assure ourselves that they will look how we imagined the space to look like. On monday night I spent my night making the model so that on tuesday we didnt have to deal with the model, it would already be done. Im very proud of my planters and the benches around the columns that I made, they turned out great!

Blog 6 for Phase Two [Unity Village]

On Friday we felt a sense of ease as Suzanne had pushed our project back to Wednesday instead of Monday, but we still knew we had lots to get done before Monday. So on Friday we laid it all out of who was going to do what and when it was getting done. I was in charge of getting the materials board done with everything chosen. I chose a chair that reflects the curves in the space and a few floor materials that went well together in color but also would be soft on the elderly's feet. I still need to pick out wall colors since we want to finish the sketch-up first to then visualize what colors would look best.

Blog 5 for Unity Village

On Wednesday, we were really focused on getting our floor plan finalized as we had changed so many things about our design in the past few days. The general store is now laid out exactly how we visioned it and there is a wall with circles in the store where you can place things on, like a shelf. I imagine we can place plants and t-shirts or food on them. The big crescent-shaped bench/plant holder is now taken away and where the columns are we are placing 3 benches around them since we are turning the square columns into circular ones. The dining area is now more confined rather than spread out all over the floor. In the dining area we decided to make panels in-between where residents will sit. These panels are neat because you can slide them away or turn them in any direction you wish so that you can create your own space to sit and eat or get on the computer or just chat with a friend.

Blog 4 for Phase Two [Unity Village]

Today our group met with Suzanne and she had brought to our attention that we needed to abstract the elements in the room. We learned it is easy to say we will put planters with plants and herbs in them, but we were not focusing on how we were going to design the platers themselves. We also need to focus on wall dividers for the specific areas of food and dining from the co-op/general store. Today I am now abstracting shapes from different plants and textures to then move on with the design of our floor better.

Blog 2 for Phase Two [Unity Village]

This is a picture of an Embassy Suites inside on the first floor. All Embassy Suites make you feel like you are in a forest and have lots of trees, plants, water features, and pathways. This is how we want our space to feel on the second floor of the Gateway Plaza: open, dining area, store, water features, plants, and trees. All of these factors will help make the short ceiling space feel open and larger than it is. Our next step today is to have our concept statement. The idea of how a flower grows came into consideration because someone has to water a flower in order for it to grow and when a flower opens it is releasing. Releasing is one of our words we are stuck to in having it a part of our concept. A flower has to have enough sunlight and care for it to grow which involves someone to care for it everyday in order to grow properly. These are just some factors which play a role in making a flower grow.

Blog 1 for Phase Two [Unity Village]

Today we got into our groups and discussed what we wanted for our the 2nd floor design in the Gateway Plaza. On this floor we are putting a general store, community garden, and cafe area. The space needs to be transparent in the way that the outdoors and indoors come together with the garden and all the plants. Words that came to mind when coming up with a concept were: pure, transparent, clean, system, symbiosis, and release. The second floor will be an inviting open space where residents can go to feel like they are outdoors and can get a good snack and take care of their plants. The growing food can be sold in the general store along with seeds to where the residents can buy them to plant and grow. Residents can get jobs and volunteer opportunities working in the garden and the general store and preparing food for lunches everyday. Lots of natural lighting will be necessary to make the space feel open and transparent. The next step is to come up with a confined concept and design and research water systems, lighting, plants, drain systems, safety issues, and ventilation.