Last of the Prelims

K. I think I have all of my perspectives set. The order I think should go in order of the journey through the space... Pretty self-explanatory.

1. Reception
2. Conference Room
3. Office Neighborhood
4. Workstations
5. Library

As well as these fully-rendered ("rendered") perspectives, I need to have a view of a single office by itself with all furniture + details put in. A key to show what I've used in regards to Priority and Villa. Same with the workstations, probably.

Diagrams to show circulation, travel, and different "neighborhoods" (what I'm calling them) of the space.

Library.

Conference Room. (slant ceiling is up-and-coming. I love it.) 

Reception. Never my favorite part of a project, but it should be.

Time to sketch overlays onto these preliminary views...

The Beginnings

Here's what I've been doing today instead of working on full renderings... You have to start somewhere, right? I always need to start with rough sketchy perspectives with materials in and entertaining silhouettes (found these gems thanks to Google image search, yeayuh). Really puts me in the mood to continue with the design. They actually excite me... Weird, I know.

View of workstations... note the window treatment I hope to achieve.

View from inside an Accounting office, looking out. Lots of work to do for this one.

So far, I'm satisfied with the direction I'm moving. A mix of old existing warehouse with new white polished finishes (crown molding and doorways) and glass (textured in some instances). My favorite part of this whole process is to test out new textures on surfaces and see how it changes the overall appearance. So easy, yet so beneficial. Best of both worlds!

This also may be the first time I've ever used dark wood flooring. Gives a much needed richness to the space aside from existing brick and white surfaces.

Up next: Library.

Finishes?

When I begin to design a space, after the plan is documented in a way in which I'm satisfied, I can start to think about the overall visual of the interior. Usually to begin this thought process, I take a few sketchy line snapshots in SketchUp with basically the bare minimums in terms of modeling (things I probably couldn't draw freehand easily). From this, I basically use it as a coloring book and import textures, pictures, and colors into certain areas until I'm pleased with the overall look.

This can take hours upon hours, even days upon days. But to begin any type of design process, I must do this first. I like to refer to it as "collaging" but I'm not sure real "collage-ists" would be too happy with that.

For instance, I made this "collage" in the first week of the project, after looking through multiple inspiring offices and spaces on sites such as Dezeen and ArchDaily. All I knew at this point was that I'd wanted interesting ways of representing private offices, with dark wood floors, glass, and a sort of white solid material (most likely gypsum, but also maybe textured).

Threw in the Paper Chandelier just for fun because, of course, I love it. Who wouldn't love a cartoon-y white chandelier? That's sooo Jaime Hayon. Duh!

From this I started exploring the specifics of the design. Are the solid walls all the way to the ground? Or do they have a glass partition under them? Do the heights of the offices differ? Can the lighting be integrated into the office structure? What could go above the offices?

I'll start exploring these as I build in SketchUp...

Image Enhancement & Cities

The first week of this Kimball project, we were told to focus on coming up with a concept statement without even being able to see the floor plan (which, in turn, ended up being just a rectangular old warehouse in Toronto's meatpacking district). How am I supposed to play with parti's and come up with a concept statement if I can't see the floor plan?! This is what I'm used to doing. I believe a floor plan is the essential statement of a space, even though the occupants can't see the plan itself, it serves a purpose. A well-produced plan can help define your concept and design, while guiding you in the directions you should be moving.

Upon exploring the website for TheLab NYC, I got the general gist of marketing/graphics as their profession and what they do best. When I haphazardly stumbled onto their work for the movie Insidious (most terrifying movie I've ever seen), I realized they were more of graphic enhancers. Working on Photoshop, it's clear to know that all images can be enhanced with transparent overlays of the same image in a different layering technique.  I wondered if it was possible to have this same effect on glass partitions throughout the office. From one view point, you could look through multiple layers of transparency and turn separate images into something new. Does CMYK work on glass? Would it have the same effect? I can most definitely portray this through renderings (thank you Photoshop), but I'm not sure it would work in person. Working in SketchUp and moving to Photoshop, I developed this...

Of course, with Mary Blair's artwork swapped out.

I also looked at the juxtaposition of glass and solid matter in a city climate. After seeing this warehouse renovation project, I was inspired to create the same feel in my office. Having all glass walls and only a few solid walls for privacy concerns, would this help in stimulating the workers productivity? They would feel as though they each had their own space in the "neighborhood" of the "city." Their own apartment, if you will. The private offices can be grouped together in little sections based on purpose and use. Marketing, accounting, etc.

Still trying to put together a concept statement that makes sense. The original, as written in my sketchbook:

"Using transparent layers of light, color, and opacity to enhance each other and entice workers to mirror this with collaboration among disciplines."

Kimball

The project that our studio began a few weeks ago has had me in a conceptual rut. I'm not used to designing office spaces, and was actually a little disappointed when I was placed in this corporate office studio for the semester. What is there to do with workstations to make them more appealing? I thought to myself. Furniture companies will come up with grand ideas for ways to configure these work stations and office pieces, but more often than not, these people are not interior designers. They may know how work gets done in an office most efficiently and how to space plan like a god, but if they were truly designers, they would know that we have needs, too. Designers do not enjoy being given something that they cannot alter themselves.

For instance, this project is sponsored by Kimball Office. The designers at Kimball want us to create a space using their Priority and Villa collections. I believe the company as a whole is moving in a good direction in terms of style of the furniture. However, the majority of Priority's collection (other than what they call "progressive benching") is a jumble of typical corner office desk units that you would see in the most bland offices around. The first architectural design office I worked in was a small firm of maybe 15 people in a small building in downtown Falls Church, Virginia. The office itself was homely in the sense that it almost didn't seem like an office, which in turn made me less inclined to do work. I was hired as a temp to do administrative duties, so I was stuck in a back office that I shared with the queen Marianne who knew how to do everything that involved everything in the firm. The corner desk was the same that I remember my mom's office having for all of my childhood visits on bring-your-child-to-work-day (aka old and outdated).

An office is somewhere that I'd want to be stimulated by visuals and inspired to do awesome work. Sitting in a desk that is similar to the style my mom has been in her entire life as a secretary is not inspiring. How am I supposed to be inspired to make the world a better place through my work if the environment in which I'm sitting has not been improved in years?

I'm aware that most furniture is made entirely based on efficiency and not aesthetics, but I can't help but think there's a way to integrate the two. Through the use of the progressive benching collection on the Kimball website, you can build and configure workstations as you please. Differing widths, lengths, and heights allow for versatility and customization between workers. Using this as a base for designing the rest of the space, I tried to work it into my original concept.

What was my original concept? I have to revert back to the first week...