One Bedroom Apartment & Common Space Design

Designing my one bedroom apartment and common space taught me a lot more than I could ever imagine. It was more insightful than a lot of projects I had been working on because it is an actual space in real life located in Palouse, Washington. When designing the one bedroom apartment I found there was a lot more to think about than just the simple things like how big do you want the bedroom, do you want just a shower or bath, etc. I found the hard questions arose of where are the windows, how do they work with the new walls you have developed within the space, what materials are you going to use, how do they work with others within the space, and are they sustainable? After much feedback from various designers and colleagues I have come to the conclusion that I am happy with my design and believe it would be a well liked space. My favorite part about this project was getting to design the space as a designer and getting feedback on it- this showed me a lot and made it just that much more clear that this is what I want to do for a profession.

Designer Feedback

Looking for feedback on my one bedroom apartment design, I met with designer Heather Hanley Owner of Concept Home and The Tin Roof over Thanksgiving break in Spokane Washington.  She was very helpful as she went through my project with me as I presented my one bedroom design as a designer to her as a client.  Overall she liked my design, and materials I had chosen. She did advise me to remember to keep small spaces as open as possible as the space will appear larger.  In doing so in my apartment, she advised me to take out an existing wall to make a bar space to open the space more so from the entry way you can see the entire space which includes the entrance to the bedroom and bathroom, as well as a clear view into the open living room and kitchen area.  Meeting with Hanley was such an inspiration, and such a great learning opportunity to see what my future has in store!

Bathroom Design

The bathroom design was inspired by the song 'This House that Built Me' by Miranda Lambert.  To summarize the song the main character is trying to find a sense of themselves and felt that if they could turn to their past they would get a better sense of who they are, so they go back to the house they grew up in.  The character goes through a swirl of emotions from good to bad, and finally ends up feeling content.  Therefore, for the bathroom's design I used an array of grey colors to represent that 'grey area' the character was feeling.  I placed very little color besides that in the room focusing on the feeling within the atmosphere.  The only other color that doesn't match the grey color scheme would be a little red which I placed in the picture frame above the toilet to provide some color emphasis, as well as represent the emotions that all came from the heart.  I placed emphasis on the wall with the mirror, accenting the wall in a light reflective glass vertical pattern.  In doing this it provided an accent wall within the room to liven things up, as well as represent the big mirror to represent the characters self reflection as well as the glass which picks up the light to represent a warm content feeling. 

Seattle

 Olympic Sculpture Park

 Chair at Knoll

Seattle Space Needle

Over the course of our trip to Seattle I was able to sketch many sculptures and buildings.  While in Seattle I had the opportunity to tour different design firms as well as job shadow where I learned a lot about what I will be doing in the future as a designer.  As for the sketching portion of the trip, my favorite sketch experience was at the Olympic Sculpture park.  The sculptures here provide a sense of movement and emphasis throughout the space.  My favorite was the Eagle sculpture as it stood way above the ground and made you feeling small in the wide open space.  Also, I enjoyed sketching it because the curves provided a challenge as you have to portray them through contrast and cross- hatching.  Overall the trip to Seattle was very beneficial and provided me with knowledge for my career while kept me interested and challenged my sketching skills!

Kitchen Project



Through the process of designing a kitchen I learned that there is way more thought that goes into the placement of appliances and their different distances between them and areas within the kitchen.  In designing this kitchen I learned how different materials work in for different uses and spaces and how they don't for others.  Also, I learned what the various materials I chose were made of and how I can incorporate different sustainable materials into my kitchen design.  As the project came to a close I evaluated my work discovering that the success of the final kitchen design came from a combination of hard work through, various sketches, numerous floor plans where I placed different appliances in a number of combinations that emphasized how this layout worked the best, as well as drawing different elevations and perspectives to get a true understanding of the space I was creating and designing.  Looking back over my project as a whole I feel I did a great job in the design process, as the design layout is very functional and aesthetically pleasing. 

Study of Universal Design

After touring Carpenter Hall and Daggy Hall here at Washington State University through the perception of daily life in a wheel chair I quickly realized that most general designs in both buildings were not universally designed for wheel chair accesses.   I learned that even the bathroom stall which is meant to be designed to be wheel chair accessible is truly anything but it, as I watched my partner in this project struggle to get turned around once she had entered the stall, as well as turn around again to exit it.On top of the bad stall design, the mirror in both bathrooms was at a height where a person in a wheel chair isn't able to see themselves.  I noticed a commonality in dis-functional design when we visited the coffee shop from a wheel chair perspective.  Here I found myself looking up at the counter unable to see the top of the counter, or even reach the tip jar.  

After my experience I can definitely sum up both Carpenter Hall and Daggy Hall to not be universally designed, because the environment isn't fit for meeting the appropriate accommodations people with special needs need on a daily basis. 

As a society we are hurt if everyone isn't able to use a space, because it limits who and what activities can happen in a space.  There is hope for the future though in the sense that new technology is being made.  Such as automatic height adjustable wheel chairs, and different fixtures such as grab bars that double as towel racks and appliances that are on a levee to pull up or down to the right height to help people with special needs get to or around different spaces. 

"Home"

 Inspired by the song "This House that built me" by Miranda Lambert, I was able to create two dimensional abstractions that to me represented the song.  Taking the various two dimensional abstractions that caught my eye I took and started making into three dimensional abstractions.  By the end of this process I came up with the final model (shown in the last picture).  This model represents her song (in my interpretation) because the character she is singing about is lost and wanted to return home to find a sense of them self.  Therefore I made the upward spiral with a grey and blackish color on top to represent the grey area the character feels like they are stuck in.  Once the character goes home they are hit with a bunch of emotions.  Therefore I made the half a heart in the middle that is broken if you are looking at it vertically, but a heart rate of emotions if looked at horizontally.  Last this journey the character is on to find themselves has been painful but very beneficial to them as now they know  that the house was just a house, and although there was some hurt they can only go up from here.  Which is why there is an arrow pointing up at the end of the spiral and a purple tone underneath the spiral to represent a sense of calm and inner peace with the past.  Along with the spiral representing this, the inside broken heart if looked at vertically sideways also represents a staircase which represents their journey as the character climbs upward and grows as a person.  This project was very interesting to me, as the more and more I listened to the song the more creative abstractions I was able to come up with.  I am very happy with my end result as I feel I was able to represent all of the mixed emotions felt by the character and truly represent their home.

Sustainable Kitchen

Researching different elements of the kitchen and how different materials and appliances make it sustainable turned out to be a great experience for me.  Not only did I learn about some different appliances and the relationship they have to one another in the kitchen but I learned how having some of these appliances can benefit your health/ conserve energy.  Beyond the appliances alone I learned about the different materials and how they can benefit your health, such as silestone which is a type of granite.  Making a kitchen sustainable, energy efficient, as well as functional and accessible are all things that are needed in a universal design and will make any client happy allowing them to use their kitchen from when they are young till the day they die.  All in all this was a very valuable experience!

Hang'in out

Dressing up is always a good time! For this sketch I took each person from a different photograph I have of an event we dressed up for and combined each into this one sketch.  Although I enjoyed this sketch as it brought back memories, I felt it was very challenging to scale each person that came from the different photographs and combine them all into the one sketch.  Also combining the different people for an aesthetically pleasing look was a little challenging, since they all belong in different settings.  Overall this sketch was a new experience that I would try again.

Positive Vs. Negative

Generally when drawing something we draw the positive space of that object without even thinking about drawing the negative space.  This is a sketch I did of the bottom left picture of leaves, where I focused on drawing the negative space in contrast to the positive space.  I found this sketch challenging as it forced me to draw what I saw not what I know.  This saying I have found works in every situation, for any kind of drawing.  I am happy with the way the leaf picture turned out I feel I was successful in capturing the negative space between the leaves.

sketch reflection

"DRAW WHAT YOU SEE, NOT WHAT YOU KNOW"- unknown

Final Model!

        Left View

       Center View

 

  







      Right View


     After all of the two dimensional and three dimensional abstractions, my final model evolved.  This model is meant to provide a seat and shelter for people, as you can see through the different views.  The left view shows you how the outer bench is sheltered by the curvature of the rectangles that go at a curved/diagonal angle.  The center view shows the outer bench straight on and how it would be sheltered from the sun above it and to the left of it.  The last view I have provided is the right view showing the outer bench again, and the inside shelter and bench for the first time.

        My designer, Cynthia Leibrock, inspired this whole project designed for elderly and disabled people, which is why I decided to provide another bench.  Elderly or disabled people have trouble standing or standing for a while, by providing a second bench I am able to make sure that if the bench outside was for some reason full or not suitable for sitting on, they could sit along the bench in the shelter. 

        While designing this model I thought of the materials and colors I would use, and how they  would represent my designer.  First I decided the curved rectangles that act as the roof would be made of silver metal.  By making this shelter metal, I was able to represent contemporary/ clean cut designs, as well as give my structure a high technology/ sophisticated look, as she does in many of her designs.  Next, I chose to use concrete to make up the structures actual shape.  I chose concrete because it can be manipulated into so many shapes, it doesn't get overly hot in the sun, and still gave my structure the contemporary look I was going for.  Last, I chose to make the benches out of a red wood.  I chose the red wood because it doesn't get too hot if exposed to the sun, is sustainable and provides emphasis through the red color to communicate to people that they can sit here.

        I am very pleased with the outcome of my design and could see it virtually in any climate.  If I had to pick a designated place for my seat and shelter model I would chose for it to be in the city because the contemporary look attracts people and would blend into the city atmosphere better than that of a farming one.
      
       The process of building all the models allowed my to see what ideas worked and which didn't.  It also allowed me to learn what materials work for this structure and what ones don't.  I really enjoyed this project because I realized this is going to be a big part of my career, as I turn things I visualize into real three dimensional structures.