My Place

After visiting the three sites. I have decided that personally I would like to work at the WAM or IOB. These two spaces were my favorite ones.

WAM I would like to get more hands on building training, that is something I have never really done before. I also would really like to work on conceptional ideas on where to put the chest and what ideas it could be used for. I haven't heard a true idea on what to use, and I would like to be involved with that project as well.

At IOB I greatly enjoyed the idea behind the factory, their history, and the possible concepts for designing that space. I felt the possibilities were endless there. I still struggle greatly witch sketches and drawings, but I would love to come up with ideas for them. Concept work would be amazing at this project. I would love to think up ways to relate the design ideas to the ideas the company holds in their long history of operation.

GHM was not so much a favorite place to visit. Where I like the shape and design of the building, and coming up with possibilites of what could be sound amazing, it just didn't make my top interest. However given the chance to work there as well would be an amazing chance no matter what.

I believe my strengths lie within being able to come up with creative ideas to help building the project. I think I am a very creative mind, and I find working with materials, and looking at colors, and possible design ideas, give me the most inspiration and help me work at my best.

IOB Narrative and Diagram

The Industries for the Blind, INC. has a 78-year history in Greensboro. When the company first began it gave jobs to the blind to have them feel as though they had a civil service duty in society. They made mops and brooms. It was a non-profit organization.

Today they make profits, pay wages for the seeing impaired employees, have huge accounts with the United States military, and employee over 215 people. They employee people from all walks of life, and even from other nations; most with sight disabilities.

With such a long lasting relationship with North Carolina and Greensboro, it is amazing we know very little about them like we do… Well, they wish to change that.

The idea for the space is to open it up to the world, both physically and metaphorically. The space lack very few windows, a sign of former management that didn’t quite see the employees as the people they deserved to be seen as. They felt too much exposure to the world, would limit their ability to work more productively.

When entering the space we are met with the bright morning sun shinning over the building and the parking lot that we stand in. It gives the building a bright feeling, but all of this is quickly lost.

When we enter we have a small lobby, very vacant of color, and even personality. The front desk is behind a glass window, and the door that leads beyond is locked.

After being buzzed through we come to a small stairwell. Elevators are also located here. In a corner we see an indoor garden. It feels very tacky and lacking in much taste to be as honest as I can be. It is a nice touch though. It is the first real moment of the space as a whole, a true moment of “Zen” if you will. This becomes more justified the deeper I go on the journey.

Up the stairs is where offices and conference room is located. This space has much more natural light coming in from windows, but still is outdone by the ultra-violet ceiling lights.

Through the offices we enter the factory. We see storage rooms, vast rooms with crates and shipment ready to send out, work areas alive with machines and workers. This area resembles more of a beehive of activity. Everything feels alive. Through this Journey we circle back around and come out at the indoor garden once again.

And as promised… Zen.

Zen gardens are to allow for tranquility to find meditation possible. I feel the factory, as a whole, is in somewhat meditation.

The workers, many of who are seen to be disabled too much of society are allowed to work and be fully functioning members of the world. They go to work everyday, make wages, and learn skills. They are proving lack of sight does not have to be a set back in being a person in society.

Just as mediation is to teach one the way of the world, the meaning to life, so does this company. It gives these workers a chance at their own life. That is why I feel that indoor garden is such a useful tool for this space.

This space should be more open. Allow the world to see into the space. It is an amazing space with great potential to not only these people’s lives that work within, but also the meaning of their work to the world.

GHM Narrative and Diagram

A spiral in from the world, we find North Carolina, then even smaller into Greensboro, deeper that we go we find downtown, and centered within that our spiral brings us to the Greensboro historic museum.

Curves and spirals is the first taste I get of the space walking up to it. The building has a dome like shape and all the windows are curved and arched with circular shapes within them.

Upon entering the lobby we are met with a curved with light shinning in from the huge curved windows I mentioned on the walk in. I large curved wall, with a spiral staircase leading up stairs to the exhibits.

The room lacks warm colors and is mostly dark green walls and tan title floors with a little mix of dark red diamonds within them. The only bright colors we see are the banners of history on the walls, and these feel mute in the large space.

To the left we find a small exhibit showcasing one of the larger exhibits upstairs, but it feels very cramped in the space. There is also an auditorium off to this side in the back of the space, but the path of travel there is not quickly noticed.

On our right we find a small and somewhat out of place welcoming desk, the large spiral staircase that leads up to both a dimly light 2nd floor mezzanine floor and on to the third floor exhibit rooms.

Straight ahead is a small cove, the offices of the museum to the left, restrooms to the right.

The space is large and has many possibilities, but it seems lacking in the purpose and use of the facility, to showcase the history of Greensboro. It could also benefit from the large windows providing natural light. The interior lights are odd shaped and lack to add any purpose to the space. The colors in the space could become warmer to enhance the area and make it more inviting.

More of my process on the space to follow… To be continued.

New Year, New Projects: Narrative and Diagram of the Weatherspoon Art Gallery

I was part of the team to come through the courtyard side of the building. When first entering one can see many pieces of art surrounded by trees within the walls of the courtyard. There was strange sounds coming from speakers that gave the area an odd feeling.

Walking under the covered walkway leads into a small hallway where the elevators and the restrooms for the main floor can be found, the lobby can be seen through the glass doorway, along with the gift shop.

When inside of the lobby the feeling changes into more silence and a darker, cooler feeling. Light quality is much less in here, except for a rounded out opening leading up to a sky light, the rim of the opening is covered with crude human figurine sculptures.

To my left I see the stairs leading up to the second floor galleries, the check in desk and the entrance from Spring Garden street, to my right the doorways into the auditorium and classrooms along with a long, dark hallway leading to galleries, and a strange human sculpture in front of a glass window at the end of the hall. The scene is some what powerful and eerie.

The walls are plastered and the floors are dark marble, which gives the space both a clean and cool feeling.

In my diagram I wanted to focus on the paths set up to led people around the space. It is a very defined line and axis that is set up for people to follow that is very similar to cathedral lay outs in Europe during the dark ages. This I find somewhat ironic, since this is perhaps a temple of art. I also felt that the materials where something to be focused on.

a reading space, a writer's place... st. mary's house final project

Persepective of Public Library Room

Section A

Section B

Plan

 

Color and material idea palate plan

Perspective of Writer's bedroom and of Reading Room

A reading space… a writer’s place

MFA Creative Writing Space in the former St. Mary’s House

“Written and illustrated by cory odell”

The MFA Program for Creative Writing at UNCG has chosen to expand their possibilities and create a space that both serves the students of the program and a living space for visiting writers to live while they are staying at UNCG.

The campus has chosen to remodel the former St. Mary’s House to accommodate these needs.

The newly created space offers living quarters for visiting writers and public spaces for meetings and public readings

Due to the rules of the historic college hill neighborhood, interior only was changed.

“The Inspiration”

When designing this facility, I drew a lot of inspiration from nature. Throughout time many people, not just writers have turned to the natural world for inspiration. You can find many elements of this. Different woods were used throughout to add different colors and textures to rooms.

Many of the wall colors were of earth tones. Many greens, browns, and dark reds can be found throughout.

Stones and rock tiles used to add the elements of the natural occurrence found in nature.

A large circular patio is located out back for public usage so readings and writings can be done directly in the natural world.

“The Spaces”

Many of the rooms serve as multi-purpose rooms. The front room can be a study area and also a meeting area for students and faculty. A wall of screens can be opened up making the second room part of the first, allowing for large public readings to take place.

The third space found in the facility is a library that can be used for both studying and writing. All three of these spaces make up the public use spaces of the building.

In the back of the building are the private quarters for the resident writer.

A Kitchen/Sitting area, a living room that opens up slightly to the library serves as a living room. Located in the back of the house is a room for sleeping as well as an office for working.

There is 1½ bathrooms in the complex. One located off the library for the public and one located in the bedroom for the private quarters.

Behind the home is a space for the writer to park an automobile, a patio for both public and private use, and small gardens.

 

Blog Post 14: My Special Building, Space, Object, and Place

Building: St. Basil's Cathedral

I have never been to this place in person, but I have been in love with it since a small child. I love the shape and colors of the building. It has always made me think of ice cream. I remember first learning about this building when I was a kid and I was looking at photos of it in a national geographic that belonged to my grandfather. I thought it was some type of palace and I wanted to live in it and be the king of Russia.

Space: Lobby of Greensboro's Proximity Hotel

I think this is such a cool space... and it makes it even cooler that it is in our very own back yard. It feels very hip and modern and something that one would never expect in little old Greensboro, North Carolina. The entire hotel is "green" and it actually ranks up as one of the greenest hotels in the world... A pretty fine achievement if you ask me.

Object: iPhone 4

I have one of these. I have spent my life dealing with bad cell phones, over and over again. I have never felt that they options they offered fit for me, or they worked as well as they were suppose to, until I bought this phone. I cannot tell you how much this phone helps me in my daily life. I can check my email, use it for my homework, listen to my favorite music, watch movies or play games when I am bored, or keep in touch with all the people I know and love. I use to think people were lame when they said things like "I would be lost without my phone", but I know exactly what they mean know.

Place: Iceland

I would love to visit this place so bad. I have never seen a photo of the landscape that didn't take my breath away. It is such a clean nation that has such a unique way of life and such a special looking landscape. It is one of the youngest pieces of land on the planet and as we speak it is growing and changing. They call it the land of fire and ice... now that sounds like a pretty cool place to see.

Unit Summary 3

As we come to the modern ages, we have seen many styles of design come and go, show back up, come totally left field, and hit us with a bang, but never really catch on. All these things are what make modern design what it is today.

One of the biggest aspects I saw in this chapter is how modern designers used elements from the past and mixed it into a hodgepodge to make their designs work in the new age world.

Fallingwater House

First person who comes to mind for this is Frank Lloyd Wright and his homes that he designed.

Robie House

These house have a modern look, but they both have connections to traditional Asian designs that have been seen for hundreds of years already.

We also saw in Europe the Bauhaus school and how they felt to be modern things needed to be functional for design to properly work for people. Things needed to be simple, but they needed to fit for peoples everyday lives. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe for example spread his influence around the world with buildings that were now being known as high rises. They took inspiration from former design elements, but instead of building out, they began to build up, and I do mean up.

Lakeshore Apartments in Chicago

Interiors became much more important to the overall designs as well. People saw that if the exterior was the face that was shown to the world, the interior could add even more to the people who lived inside. They began to mix match styles of interior design and furniture and would bring in old styles and mix them with the new as well too.

Gamble House

We may think of this as what it is to be modern, but honestly it is all but modern. If it is anything it feels like what we know as the modern world of design is nothing more then calling on all things we have seen over the course of design itself. We have taken a collection of the old, made it fit to the new slick and clean idea of the new and what we have is modern design.

I find this a very fitting end to our time together in design history. It truly does feel like the world has come full circle, and as we look to the future we see even more changes of design as we move forward faster and faster into the ideals of what it takes to be design of the computer and technology age.

Cyber Egg Sturcture in India