Studio Project Update- Office Space

The current (and final) studio project for this year happens to be one where we are designing a space for an advertising agency.  We get to come up with the client and I've chosen to name my ad agency that I'm designing for Sunny- Malone.  Can anyone guess where that name comes from?  I'll never tellll....

Anyhoo...the space is shaping up nicely and we recently had a critique where some industry professionals came in (architects and designers) to give us some feedback.  That was really helpful because usually we don't get feedback until the very end and at that point we all have the best of intentions in going back and improving our projects, but we have already moved on to the next endeavor or class.  This gives us the opportunity to tweak some of the space planning and conceptual framework before the final due date (May 10.)

I wanted to share just some of the ideas I've been toying with.  I got to thinking about advertising agencies and how they are similar to designers in that there is a huge brainstorming and conceptual part of their work in the beginning of any project.  With that, my biology roots got me thinking of how the brain works when ideas are firing and how the network of neurons are set up in a way to respond to one another.  The concept of network fit in nicely with this project- it can be broadened into thinking of social networks, computer networks, etc.

I still have ALOT of work to do to bring in my concept to the workspace.  We were given an existing space and floor plan and a program (guidelines for what spaces and accomodations the client may need).  Here is what I've been working on:

It's the final push.  I'm stressing out bigtime.  Doesn't help that my internship situation is still unresolved. EEK.

Second Year Thesis Show= First Year Freakout

Yep, that's right.  It's the end of April, which means the end of the university calendar and the deadline for all thesis programs everywhere.  I can hear millions of sleep deprived grad students crying all over the country as we speak....or maybe that's just a few doors down in my building.  Either way, they are done and I couldn't be prouder to call myself a Ram. 

Here are a few pictures from the Thesis show last Friday night. It gets me so excited to start my thesis year and get some research done this summer. Any suggestions are welcome- I have no idea what I want to do!

AutoCad Monkey

One of my courses this semester is a course learning how to use a computer drafting program called AutoCad.  It's not exactly the most intuitive program and it seems to crash alot.  Fingers crossed that my computer will hold up long enough to make it through the class! 
Luckily, we have a really amazing professor who has the patience of a saint.  She will literally repeat things five times if needed.  Can you imagine teaching a computer class to 30 students, all of which seem to have an individual issue every five minutes?  It's tough stuff.

She's also broken up the course in a way that makes it easier to understand how AutoCad works.  Our first assingment was set up to learn the program and use of line weight and line type.  It was a completely abstract product.

The second assignment had us reproduce our classroom.  This was where we were able to apply what we learned about line weight and line type to a real situation.  We had to measure the room and make it happen in AutoCad world.  Here are my drawings:

Hope you all have a fabulous Easter weekend!  Can't wait to see what's in my Easter basket....yes, I'm 25 and still get a basket.

Keep your eyes closed. Now draw.

Okay, it wasn't really as dramatic as that.  But, we were asked to only look at a photo and never look at our paper while we were sketching.  We were practicing contour sketches which is a type of drawing that works on hand-eye coordination.  The goal was to never let our pens leave the page and keep our eyes focused only on the screen. 
Now, you may think what I'm about to show you looks like a 5 year-old's proudest new drawing brought home to show their mommy and daddy and that's probably not so far off.  However, you try and never look at your drawing and see what you come up with!

I'll show the picture we were given first, and then my sketch...

I really like doing these drawings because it helps me practice my hand-eye coordination and become a better sketcher.  When we only have time to do a very quick sketch of a place to get an idea down on paper, we may not have enough time to look down, so this type of idea expression is worth taking whatever small amount of time you do have to do.

quick! quick! watercolor

We've been practicing getting faster at our rendering skills in graphics classes.  The goal of this assignment was to prioritize what is most important about a drawing in order to capture it in the given amount of time. 

We were asked to choose a space by someone on a list of certain designers.  I choose this space by SANAA (Zollverein, completed in 2006):

And our assignment was:
Sketch (overlap corners, fine line weight, hit-go-hit smooth lines) according to this time schedule:
sketch #1: 24 minutes to draw the space as completely as possible, 8.5 x11 minimum.
sketch #2: 12 minutes to draw the space as completely as possible, 8.5 x11 minimum.
sketch #3: 8 minutes to draw the space as completely as possible, 8.5 x11 minimum.
sketch #4: 4 minutes to draw the space as completely as possible, 8.5 x11 minimum.

Paint each image in watercolor according to this time schedule:
sketch #1: 48 minutes to paint the space as completely as possible
sketch #2: 24 minutes to draw the space as completely as possible, 8.5 x11 minimum.
sketch #3: 16 minutes to draw the space as completely as possible, 8.5 x11 minimum.
sketch #4: 8 minutes to draw the space as completely as possible, 8.5 x11 minimum.
 
So, here are my watercolors (in order as above):

Creative

In studio recently, we have been working on designing an office space for an ad agency.  The other day we took a field trip to Creative (you can visit their website here), a company specializing in office environments, to take a look around and see what's new in office furniture.  Check it out!

Mediascape- everyone can plug in iPads and laptops and hit a button, and it's on the screen.

The desktop slides out so all the cords are hidden.

Campfire line.

 Sunken spaces.

More hidden cords...

Designed to help hide all those stacks of paper (in the cubby underneath the desktop.)

The floor is raised up a foot so that the air circulation comes from the floor instead of the ceiling.  This makes it easier to get to in case of a malfunction, but it's also more energy efficient since people work closer to the ground and heat rises.

A conference room "skybox".

Who wouldn't want a pool table in their office? 

Happy Monday!