a writer's retreat

[1st floor] floor plan

[2nd floor] floor plan

when I first began thinking about creating a writer's retreat, I wanted to not do anything too different or out of the ordinary that a writer wouldn't experience in other settings.  I thought that they have spaces that they are comfortable writing in and where they are most inspired, so I didn't want to have them feel out of their element in an out of the ordinary designed space.

as you enter the front door, you are immediately in the reading space.  there are two coat closets to either side of you, and a raised podium area in front of the fire place where the writers would read. the next room back is the meeting area/personal office that has a connecting fire place to the reading area.  it is relatively tall, so it creates more of a connection between the two rooms because you can see more of the other one.  this room is also lined with floor to ceiling bookshelves on two of the walls, and has an L shaped desk that is connected to the wall.  the next area you enter is the private area.  it is an extremely open space that has a closed off bathroom and a counter that divides the corridor kitchen from the living room area.  the wall that divides the inside from the outside has a floor to ceiling window and two glass doors that lead to the patio.

longitudinal and transverse sectionals and perspective of reading nook

perspective of reading nook

transverse sectional

key plan

the staris gradually get larger as they lead up to the loft, which is the most private area in the building.  the chimney is in the center of the room, with the bed to one side of it and a large skylight to the other side.  the deeper you go, the more private it becomes.  the very back of the lofted floor is the reading nook, that also has floor to ceiling bookshelves on one wall and a small area for the writer to sit and reflect.

two point perspective of living area

one point perspective of reading area

one point perspective of loft

st. mary's house parti

in my writer's retreat, I want to emphasize books by having spaces with wall-to-wall bookshelves.  reading other authors works provide inspiration for the writer, so I wanted to make books very available.  I made my parti like a book and divided it into four chapters: st. mary's house, inspiration, materials, and proposal/circulation.

dining space

for my dining space, I chose to do a circular room with three doors leading into it.  I wanted to make it circular to emphasize unity and a connection between the people who use the area. I also wanted to create a very intimate setting, and chose to use a circular table that had a circular booth-like seating around it.  the seats begin apart around the border of the room, but once everyone is seated they join around the table.  this will be a unique experience that will create a sense of unity and interrelationship between the people.

above the table, there will be a raised, circular skylight that will move up as the chairs come together.  this skylight will mirror the table, and emphasize the presence of a circle in the space.

theory reading: a whole new mind

the design journal
ed. Rachel Coope
established in 1998, The Design Journal is an international refereed journal covering all aspects of design. the journal welcomes articles on design in both cultural and commercial contexts. the journal is published three times a year and provides a forum for design scholars, professionals, educators and managers worldwide. it publishes thought-provoking work that will have a direct impact on design knowledge and that challenges assumptions and methods, while being open-minded about the evolving role of design.
http://www.bergpublishers.com/BergJournals/TheDesignJournal/tabid/3650/Default.aspx


interior designer
http://www.interiordesign.net/
this magazine covers interior products, including building products, flooring, lighting, furniture, kitchen + bath, outdoor, textiles, wallcoverings, and more.  it also does projects educational, green, healthcare, hospitality, institutional, kitchen + bath, office, residential, and retail spaces.  there is also a daily blog on the website, and many other sources you can chose from.


fresh home: interior design + architecture
http://freshome.com/
this is a really entertaining website I found that doesn't say a lot about design + architecture in text, but has a lot of really interesting pictures of spaces and buildings.

theory reading: a pattern language

a pattern language by christopher alexander explores the different levels of a building and breaks them down into very basic ideas that have very basic rules of etiquette to follow.  he talks about the intimacy gradient, indoor sunlight, common areas at the heart, entrance room, the flow through rooms, short passages, staircase as a stage, zen view, and tapestry of light and dark.  for intimacy gradient, he says "unless the spaces in a building are arranged in a sequence which corresponds to their degree of privateness, the visits made by strangers, friends, guests, clients, family, will always be a little awkward." for this he speaks about the flow of the way people enter a house or room and how it usually becomes more intimate the deeper you go into the building. when speaking about indoor sunlight he stresses how important natural lighting is and how it can change the whole mood of a room.  for common areas at the heart, alexander says "no social group-whether a family, a work group, or a school group-can survive without constant informal contact among its members. "  when speaking about the entrance room, he hits on six points; the relationship of windows to the entrance, the need for shelter outside the door, the subtleties of saying goodbye, shelf near the entrance, interior of the entrance room, and and area to store outside things.  he speaks a lot about the flow through the room and how much they effect social interaction within the room or from room to room.  for short passages, Alexander talks about the effect of furniture, bookshelves, windows, and the type of floor will effect the space.  while speaking about stairs, he says "the stair is itself a space, a volume, a part of the building..."  he closes by speaking about how the designer should embrace a beautiful view, and also how people are drawn to well-lit spaces rather than dark ones.


this reading is very relevant to our studio project right now because these are all aspects we have to consider while designing the writer's retreat.  we have to consider what parts of the building we want to accentuate and how the writers are going to experience the space.

light box

for this assignment, we were told to make a five-sided box of corrugated cardboard or foam core.  the interior of the box should be white and the dimensions should be 12" x 12" x 18" with one 12" x 12" end left open.  by using a remote light source that shines through a series of openings in the pox, create a pattern of light within the box that divides the space into four parts.  we were then told to articulate and modulate selected planes of the space to reinforce or compliment the illuminates parts of spaces we created.  we could used white bristol board and/or bamboo grilling skewers to articulate or modulate the planes.

for my project, I really struggles with finding ways to incorporate the bristol board and bamboo skewers.  in the end, I just decided to use the bristol board in a very minimum way.  at first I messed around a lot with a lot of different types of cuts and holes, but in the end I decided I wanted to make the pattern of light very simplistic and clearly divided the light and dark spaces into four sections.

I chose to make the intersection of the four lines in the corner because I thought it was a very important part of the effect.  I didn't like the way it looked on the sharp corner where the three boards met, so I put a piece of bristol board to soften that edge and put even more importance on that moment.

this shows what the top of my box looked like to make the pattern on the inside.

these next two pictures are of my trial boxes and show how I experimented with different types of cuts.  in the end though, I decided to make very simple and direct cuts on the top of the box to make the light pattern.

what is this a room for ants!?!

theory reading: personal space: the behavioral basis of design

The reading this week, Personal Space: The Behavioral Basis of Design by Robert Sommer, really helped in figuring out what things are important to having a comfortable and intimate dining experience.  At first, it defines a group a group as “a face-to-face aggregation of individuals who have some shared purpose for being together.”  In my dining situation, there will be a group of eight people gathered for a very intimate dining experience.  Sommer also mentioned social increment and social decrement.  Social increment is when people perform better when someone else is present, and social decrement is when they perform worse.  This could be relevant in a dining situation if there are customs that people are not used to or familiar with and they try to impress the people around them.

Sommer had a couple of very useful diagrams that deal with seating arrangements. 

The studies show that people are more comfortable being diagonally across from a person they are engaging conversation with rather than directly across from them.  I think this level of comfort will be achieved in my dining space because the table will be large enough so you won’t be close to the person directly across from you.  Also, the circle table will make it so there is a good distance from everyone else at the table.  It won’t be so tight that people feel claustrophobic, but not so far that people feel disconnected. “…ratings of less acquaintance, less friendliness, and lower talkativeness, except where increased eye contact counteracted the effects of increased distance.”

What I hope to achieve in my dining area is a setting where people feel closely connected to one another.  I want there to be a sense of unity and intimacy by using a circle table, circular seating, and a circular room.  Also, I want to use nearly all natural lighting by the use of a circular skylight that mimics the table size and by using candles on and around the table.

sketch model for dining area

For class on Monday, we were assigned to make a sketch model of our dining area.  I wanted to make mine very basic and clearly show the idea of a circle and unity in the space.  I made the "chair" forms and table out of foam board, then drew the walls of the room around that.  The object sticking out of the wall is supposed to represent the sideboard.  I have three doors that lead to the room, possible representing the kitchen/serving area, the restroom, and the entrance that people will use.

three precedents

For my three precedents I chose an average dining area for the dining space, a bungalow for the social space, and a Japanese dining area for the dining ritual space.  

For the dining space, the intention of social media in the setting is to connect a family using technological interactions.  This could be used in any average home, in a very informal setting. 

For the social space, I thought a bungalow would be a perfect place to use social media.  In this situation, the electronic screen could wrap all the way around the inside of the bungalow and everyone inside f it would be able to interact through the media.  This would create a very personal and cozy setting to interact.  

For the dining ritual space, I chose a Japanese dining setting because they have many different dining rituals.  It is not uncommon for people to remove their shoes while eating, and to wipe their hand or sometimes face with a hot towel.  There are many movements you can do that mean something else, and could offend someone.

dining together day: table and setting

            The other day I started looking up things about the winter and summer solstice and because very fascinated by the different meanings they have and their significance.  Solstice derives from the Latin word “stop” or “to stand still”.  This idea is also shared with dining.  It is a time for everyone to join together and stop their lives for an hour or so and just enjoy himself or herself.  I want to bring this idea to my dining area and make it more than something we must do to nourish ourselves, but rather have it be a pleasurable experience.

            This idea of the summer and winter solstice also made me think about how important the connection between people is.  Through social media, you could connect people from two completely different parts of the world and bring them together for a meal.

            Summer solstice is said to be a time of light and fire, and a time to reflect upon the growth of the seasons.  The winter solstice is the shortest day and longest night of the year.  It appears as if the sun and the moon stopped in flight across the sky.  I want to combine both of these ideas in my dining area.  I want the summer solstice to be portrayed in or on the table, and the winter solstice around it.  The light, possible created by a fire, would be at the center of the table and the source of all the life around it.  The winter solstice would be portrayed around the table by having it be much darker, creating a more intimate setting and putting emphasis on the light and what is happening at the table.

            In the dining space, I think a circle table would work best because it signifies unity and togetherness, two concepts that are very important in my dining area.  This idea of a circle would be apparent again in the table by using a tree stump.  It would have many rings leading to the center of the table, where the light source is, and would bring nature and growth into the setting.

            For chairs, I was thinking of something like a circle booth, or a bungalow but connected on all sides.  The chairs could dethatch from one another, but when put together would make one continuous circle.  I would want them to be cushioned and very comfortable to help more with a relaxed and intimate setting.  Here are a few chairs I was thinking about: chair one chair two chair three chair four chair five

            The sideboard is where I am running into the most trouble.  I’m still not sure what kind I want it to be or where I want to have it, but I don’t want to put a lot of emphasis on it and take away from the center of the table.  It could be more in the shadow since I want the outer area to be much darker than the light from the table. 

            As for time of day, I was thinking closer to night so it is dark.  I think it would be interesting to have a large skylight in the shape of a circle, possible the size of the table.  This would be another way to incorporate nature into the setting, although I’m not sure how much moonlight would affect the setting.  Although the area could be used during the night, it could also be designed to work during the daytime or the summer solstice.  In this case, the emphasis would still be on the center of the table, but the outside area would have more of a presence than if it were just in shadow.  The natural light coming from the circle skylight could produce the lighting for the room and shine down onto the wood table.

            

dining area parti

social networking model

This is my model of my product that would enhance social networking.  It will create an area that will allow an individual or multiple people to browse multiple sites on the internet, skype, or do a multitude of other social activities in privacy.  Once you enter the space between the two standing forms, a shield will go all the way around you and allow you to access any form of social networking you choose, all touch sensitive.  The product can expand at the top to make it large enough for multiple people to share the experience together.

The first model I made was out of clay and vellum.  I shaped the clay into an arch and waited for it to dry, then tried to glue the vellum to the inside, but it didn't stay to the clay.

The second model is made out of wire, rope, and vellum.  I curved two pieces of wire and made a circle at the top, the wrapped rope around it to cover the wire.  I then glued a sheet of vellum to the inside  rope.  This model was much more successful and stayed together very well.