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.

Community Assignment

Daystar Christian Fellowship is a great way to get to know other people. People are motivated to come to Daystar because of its warm welcoming and how it is not like any other church with a steeple. Walking into Daystar is like walking into a movie theater from the dark lit entrance and the floor lamps that have blue light bulbs in them. The sanctuary is also dark with black ceilings and blue and green lights down the sides leading up to the stage. The stage is set up like a concert. There are stage lights, a drum set, guitars, a keyboard, and microphones. The basement is for the children, youth, and college students. It is filled with a small stage, lights, graffiti walls, several sets of tv’s with xbox’s, pool tables, couches, and even a small café to get snacks from.

All of these design decisions help in making the space feel like a place that is familiar to everyone and not set up like a usual church. It is geared to grab young adults’ attention because of why Daystar is so different from other usual churches. Its location across from Grimsley High School helps attract teenagers. It is for the people who think that church is not for them because of its very different experience.

Daystar is all about relationships. Daystar helps in making a stronger relationship with God and with others. Everyone craves relationships and this is the place to find long-lasting friendships and a life changing relationship with God. Outside of church, Daystar offers small groups that will help you grow in your relationship with God and with others. These small groups meet once a week and are always full of fun, support, and excitement. Daystar also offers opportunities for everyone to serve and become a part of a bigger picture to feel a sense of belonging. Daystar is where ever-lasting friendships grow.

[Unity Village] Design Development 1

Design Problem Definition:

Create a social Oasis that combines a General store/restaurant encompassed by atriums.

Concept Statement:

Design a co-op General store that promotes socialization and a sense of community through residential interaction of the Greenhouse/Atrium, and slow foods cookery. Space will be defined by large planters, cobble stone pathways and tranquil garden styled elements.

Sketches:

Collage of Images/Precedents:

Standards:

-Water system- soaker hose... needs to be hooked up to a water line to where it can be turned off and on

-Indoor Gardens(pg. 1334), plants(pg. 1339 & 1330-1332), large pot holders(pg. 1350), drains(pg. 1334), organization(pg. 1335), and soil(pg. 1334) .... refer to book: Interior Design and Space Planning second edition by Joseph De Chiara, Julius Panero, and Martin Zelnik

Unity Village

As a part of our project for Unity Village, we had to make two models, a digital model, and do programming. Go to this link to view the elevation views of our groups digital model: unity village

Wesley and the Fortuitous Ants

As we are studying communities, we had to get in groups and create a video about our interpretation of what community is. When viewing the video my group made, think about how chance relationships happen. Click here to see the video. Enjoy!

Pruitt-Igoe, St. Louis, MO

· Completed in 1955

· 57 acres of cleared land

· Two segregated complexes one for black and one for white

· 2,870 apartments

· 33 11 story buildings

· Architecture by Leinweber, Yamasaki, and Hellmuth design firm

· Yamasaki also built the twin towers

· Built in the De-Sotto Carr neighborhood a black ghetto in an effort to revitalize the area

· The design proposals were a mixture of walk-up, high rise, and mid rise structures. (American Architectural History by Keith L. Eggener 2004)

· This proposal was to expensive so they were forced to build 33 identical 11 story elevator buildings. (American Architectural History by Keith L. Eggener 2004)

· Skip top elevators

· Glazed internal galleries to create “individual neighborhoods”

· The anchor floors hosted the garbage chutes, communal rooms, laundry facilities.

· Stairwells and corridors attracted muggers

· Ventilation was poor and nonexistent central air

· Parking and recreation facilities were inadequate

· Deliberately small apartments

· In 1956 Pruitt Igoe was desegregated and became a mainly black community

· The quality of the hardware was so poor that doorknobs and locks were broken on initial use… Windowpanes were blown from inadequate frames by wind pressure. In the kitchens, cabinets were made of the thinnest plywood possible. (American Architectural History by Keith L. Eggener 2004)

· The buildings remained vacant and the whole complex was never more that 60 percent occupied

· By the end of the 1960s Pruitt-Igoe was nearly abandoned and had deteriorated into a decaying, dangerous, crime-infested neighborhood. In 1971, Pruitt-Igoe housed only six hundred people in seventeen buildings; the other sixteen were boarded up.

· Died of social isolation

· Inadequate maintenance and increased poverty of residents

· Writers said the not meeting resident’s needs were typical of modern architecture.

This is what part of Pruitt-Igoe looks like today. A bunch of planted trees and weeds.

Koyaanisqatsi- Pruitt-Igoe

Darst-Webbe, St. Louis, MO

• The Darst building opened in 1956 and the Webbe buildings opened in 1961
• 6 9 story towers and 1 12 and 1 8 story tower
• A completely African American community
• The St Louis Housing Authority is notorious as the city’s biggest slumlord allowing Darst Webbe to go to pot. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri) November 29, 2003 Saturday Five Star Late Lift Edition]
• The Darst-Webbe complex originally contained 750 units, but at the time of demolition, only 220 of those units were occupied. Of those displaced, 96 families moved to the Clinton-Peabody housing development, while the rest found shelter at other St. Louis public housing sites[St. Louis Daily Record/St. Louis Countian (St. Louis, MO) August 14, 2003 Thursday]

• Discriminatory effect on the basis of race, familial status and gender, because it provided for so few replacement units that would be available to people that are eligible for public housing for very low-income families[St. Louis Daily Record/St. Louis Countian (St. Louis, MO)August 14, 2003 Thursday]
• African Americans occupied 95.62 percent of the neighborhood, which consisted of 78.65 percent of female-headed households with children under the age of 18 years. [St. Louis Daily Record/St. Louis Countian (St. Louis, MO)August 14, 2003 Thursday]
• Of the 560 occupied housing units, renters occupied 541 units[St. Louis Daily Record/St. Louis Countian (St. Louis, MO)August 14, 2003 Thursday]

Makeshift Shelter Pictures