The second, and final project for design was a writer's retreat at St. Mary's house off of Tate Street. This building houses an area for a church for college students, so it is set up like a casual chapel. We were to go in and re-structure the building (if we choose to do so) to set the ideal atmosphere for a writing resort.
This resort would house a writing scholar that would stay long-time for either a semester or a year. They were to have both public and private spaces for things such as public readings and meeting with students, and a place to sleep and make food. We could tear down walls and put others up, and we chose the furniture that went in.
This is where I began...
My parti was an original reflection of the furniture I wanted to put in the house. I knew I wanted to keep the floor plan open, so to eliminate the use of walls, I wanted to implement bookcases that would double as walls. The geometrical grid theme was something I decided to keep throughout the house. My original floor plan is somewhat different from the ending one because I needed to fill up more space than I originally thought.
The floor plan shows the front of the house (public space) transitioning to the back of the house (private). In the public reading space, I added a very large sectional and two side boards to the room. I wanted to keep every space "homey" so that the writer was comfortable wherever he/she went. I thought this idea was great, but I was told that the public reading space should have been more formal with individual seating, as it might be awkward presenting in what felt like a living room. I appreciated this criticism very much because it was something that had not crossed my mind.
Off the back end of the reading space was the public co-ed bathroom and public office. Off the office was a cozy meeting space with two large arm chairs and a coffee table that could be risen if necessary. The office had a modular desk so that there is plenty of room for the writer to work. I was satisfied with the public office and felt that it served what it needed to. However, after sitting in during presentations, I realized I should have taken the initiative to create gender sensitive bathrooms in the event that a male would not want to use the same facilities as a female, and vice versa.
As the floor plan transitions to the back of the house, one is directed to walk to the left into the kitchen by a gridded bookshelf that creates a divide from the public space. The kitchen takes on an L-shape with an island in the middle that also doubles as a dining space with two high chairs. I chose this because I didn't want to add a bulky dining table that may not be used the majority of the time. Standing in the kitchen, one would be looking at the living room. Here, there is one couch that has two chaise lounges on both ends and another gridded entertainment center that holds a television for entertainment purposes. Heading to the far end of the private space, there is a private office with a wall-length bookcase; and to the bedroom and bathroom.
The longitudinal section cut (top) shows how the furniture fits in most rooms of the house. It also shows how the rooms are spaced out. The transverse cut (bottom), again, shows the layout of furniture in the front part of the house, the public reading space. Looking at it now, I wish I added another section cut to show the private office and bedroom.
One-point perspective of the public reading space. I kept the walls blank so that there wasn't any extra stimuli for students to be distracted by. The colors were neutral and cool to create a relaxing environment for both the students and the writer. Although I enjoy how the room looks now, I understand why it would have been a better decision to utilize individual seating to create a more formal space.
Two-point perspective of the kitchen and living area. Again, I kept the walls blank to allow the writer to put his/her own artwork or other pictures on the wall as he/she pleased. The colors were kept very natural in cool in here as well to not only have a smooth transition from the public space, but also again, to keep the environment relaxing. I struggled with a wall color because I didn't want to keep it white, but never came up with a good color to use.
One-point perspective of the bedroom. I chose to have a very large wardrobe versus a closet because it took up space and livened up the room more than a single door would. There are two wardrobes placed side-by-side with sliding doors for easy access. The bed is a placed on the far wall so it wouldn't disturb the flow of energy (feng-shui). Again, natural colors were brought into this room to keep it less-stimulating and more relaxing.
After critique, I realized that I need to place objects in all of these rooms. Although it seems like an obvious thing to do, I was set on the fact that the writer was going to be putting their own things, that I didn't think to add any. I understand now that that would have made all of the rooms look more lived-in and believable that they were rooms TO be lived in.
This project, among others, has been a great learning process. I am now more aware of what kind of a thought process I should be going through when designing each room to create a more successful proposal in the future.
