Sweet Springs: Sketches & Layout Beginnings

It seems my professor already knew how I go about getting initial sketches of my ideas.  Build basic lines and walls in SketchUp, take 2D images in sketchy line (or just hidden line for that matter... but I love sketchy) and sketch over top of them after you print them out.  Use them as templates.  Use trace.  Go wild.  She told my class to do this for the project, and I'm glad she did because I thought people would take her up on this idea and use it to its full advantage as I do.  Although I haven't actually seen anyone doing this yet, I can only hope it's happening.

Here's my version...

RESTAURANT/CAFE:  For this space I envision a place where guests can come downstairs from their restful slumber and have breakfast, have a cup of tea/coffee, and sit down for lunch, or even dinner.  It sits on the northwest side of the building and perhaps gets the most sunlight in the evening hours.  I think this is a perfect nook for this intended purpose.

BATH HOUSE: The bath house is situated across the front lawn from the main building.  As the natural spring is sitting at a comfortable 75 degrees Fahrenheit, I can foresee it being a great spot to relax.  To enhance this relaxation and natural aspect, I hope to bring in more foliage to the tunnel/arcade and keep the light coming in.  Patio furniture will allow guests to hang around the pool/spring in comfort on an amazing West Virginia summer day. (Motif will be between arches)

GUESTROOM:  Still up in the air.  I have no designated a floor plan.  I'm not sure I will, but I know that I probably should if I have any chance of winning this competition.  So far, I have only envisioned what the bed will look like--if you watched the first three seasons of Mad Men, you will know where I got this headboard.  I envision a band of the tile motif (see below) that will wrap from the window line up to the ceiling.  The window panes are to be a pattern, similar to the motif; rectangular window panes are not what I intend to pursue.  Ceiling fan to keep air circulation well-maintained and keep HVAC use down.

RECEPTION:  Custom reception desk which reflects the abstracted mountain motif I designed.  I think the desk could really turn out to be intriguing.  To the right of the reception desk is a three-sided partition made up of the motif tile at a smaller scale (6"x6") as opposed to the 1'x1' scale at the bath house and elsewhere.  White glossy finishes on the tiles will allow them to reflect light and draw attention.  Small seating area in this nook.  Stairs TBD. 

NATURAL SPRING:  There happens to be a natural spring in the bath house, to which I intend to use as a sort of private area of reflection.  Not as open as the rest of the bath house, but not entirely closed off.  Still a place where everyone can enter--more like that quiet place in the library where everyone knows you should be quiet, but it isn't a rule.  This is the third floor of Newman library.

SUNROOM:  Yes, a sunroom.  Obviously to have a building that is a long rectangle, sitting at an angle on a map is not the best way to achieve sunlight.  Thomas Jefferson must not have thought about this when he designed the building.  Maybe he was truly intending the front of the building to be shadow-ridden at all times, maybe not.  Either way, this building has no light, and I intend to optimize the one side of the building that perhaps does get sunlight and turn it into a sunroom.  This is situated on the Southeast side of the building.  One can only hope.

SIDE NOTE FOR JESSIE OLIVER: Yes, I know I used the silhouette again.

Drawing these was a simple method of trace paper sketches on top of SketchUp views (as stated in the beginning of this post) and then bringing them into Photoshop and adding some color.  The end product is a watercolor-y effect which literally finds its way into every single one of my projects, unintentionally.

It's scary how often I use Alice in Wonderland-y colored images in my projects.  I've been told I have a very unique look at color.  I cannot argue with this statement.  It all started with this perspective I made in second year, which I referred to as the Alice in Wonderland perspective from there on out.  The colors came out of nowhere, and they did not end up being the colors I used in the final iteration of my project, but they seemed to have influenced every project after them.

Would people in Helsinki have responded well to this?

All-in-all, I can make 843029 posts about my use of color in projects.  Trust me, they will come.