Construction Documents

Now that I have complete the design development phase of my senior project, I now have to create construction documents. I selected five major spaces to document the finishes, furnishings, and accessories in the building I had designed.  This required looking back at the FF&E board I created for the senior presentations.  I organized the FF&E into a Finish Legend, Furniture Schedule, and Accessories Schedule.

FINISH LEGEND 

FURNITURE SCHEDULE

ACCESSORIES SCHEDULE

Pin Up

A Place for Hope was a design that I hold close to my heart because of all the hard-work and tears that were put into the project.  When it finally came time to present my project to a board of professionals along with my professors and classmates, I was nervous and a little excited to show what I had accomplished.

While I presented, I felt like I was talking to fast and fumbling over my words.  However, my audience did not notice my insecurities.  They actually enjoyed the presentation and thought I was very professional, and could clearly understand my project.  What a relief! However, the critique went on to discuss some other possible design solutions that I could have done better or changed.  

I am so glad that the project is over and now I can focus on graduation and a career!

A Place For Hope

I finally finished my senior project! This week has been full of sleepless nights and a lot of caffeine.  However, I am pleased with the outcome and I feel like it was completely worth it.

LEVEL 1

LEVEL 2

LEVEL 3

SECTION CUT

ARRIVAL

LIBRARY

CONFERENCE

SECRETARY WORKSTATION

CORRIDOR

WAITING AREA

WORKSTATIONS

LOUNGE

Crunch Time

My senior project will be due in a week, and progress is slowly but surely being made.  I have further developed my perspective drawings and furniture plans.  Soon I will be using Photoshop to enhance the drawings, and make touch ups to the images.  Here are a few updated renderings that I have created this week:

ARRIVAL SPACE

LIBRARY

CONFERENCE

Rendering

This week I have been working in Revit, and figuring out how to render perspectives.  It's been a challenge trying to get the lighting in the space right, and importing all of the materials into the space.  Here is what I accomplished:

ARRIVAL SPACE

LIBRARY

CONFERENCE

SECRETARY WORKSTATION

WAITING AREA

LAW ENFORCEMENT WORKROOM

INTERVIEW/INTERROGATION ROOM

THERAPY ROOM

LOUNGE/BREAK AREA

FF&E

Throughout the semester I have been compiling all my furnishings, fixtures, and equipment for my senior project.  This week I have organized and assembled material boards that contains the ff&e of 10 different spaces in my design.  

WAITING AREA

LIBRARY

LARGE CONFERENCE

SMALL CONFERENCE

SECRETARY WORKSTATION

WAITING AREA

LAW ENFORCEMENT WORKROOM

INTERVIEW/INTERROGATION ROOM

THERAPY ROOM OPTION 1

THERAPY ROOM OPTION 2

BREAK/LOUNGE

After presenting these boards, I have discovered that there are minor changes that I need to make such as including more patterns into the materials and adding softer furnishings.

Double Height Space

Recently, I have been thinking about my double height space. It is located on the second and third level of the facility, where the third level overlooks the second.  I found space layout challenges concerning what the third level will look down on, and what activities can be placed out in the open.  

Below is my ideation sketch of this space on the third level. The pathway will be used as circulation and a lounge area where the employees will have a place to work outside of the office or take a break.  The ceiling will be suspended, but open in the double height space.  Hanging from the ceiling is a large scale sculptural element from Studio Lilica that reaches into the second level.  

IDEATION SKETCH

Here are photos of the Studio Lilica sculpture and the table and chairs that will be in this space. 

STUDIO LILICA SCULPTURE

COALESSE CAPA CHAIR

COALESSE EMU SQUARE TABLE

Back to the Drawing Board...

Believe it or not, I have decided to revise my floor plans after corresponding with my mentors. In order to successfully portray the concept of freedom, the layout and spaces needed to be opened up and less structured.  The problem I was having with the original set of plans was that the spaces were confined and crammed together.  As a result I decided to utilize not just the first and second level of the facility, but the third level as well.  Shown below are the new layouts.

FIRST LEVEL

SECOND LEVEL

THIRD LEVEL

Arrival

This week I have been contemplating the arrival space of my facility.  The entrance contains a lot of daylight due to the curtain wall in the front of building.  However, the rest of the facility does not allow as much light as the entrance does.  Therefore, I wanted to incorporate interior windows between the entrance and the rest of the facility. This way natural daylight can easily filter throughout the interior spaces. 

Arrival Space Sketch

The ceiling height in the arrival space is around 11 feet high.  In order to create a more intimate space for visitors and employees who enter the facility I included suspended ceiling elements.  This will bring the ceiling height down to around 8 fee allowing the area to become more personal.

Planning

As I was planning out the individual spaces of this facility I decided to place the more public areas on the first level and the private areas on the second level.  The first level will allow the public to access the facility for classes, training sessions, and research.   The second level contains spaces designated for therapy, medical examinations, and evaluations.   Patients will enter through the back entrance near the elevators so that they do not have to travel throughout the first level.

I have posted images of the two floor plans below to show a possible layout of these spaces.

FIRST LEVEL

SECOND LEVEL

Structured

As I am working on the floor plans for my project, I am discovering that the building is very structured.  There are load bearing walls stretching across the interior spaces of the facility.  Therefore, it is a challenge when I am space planning because there are limitations for the location of specific rooms and areas.  In addition, the center space of the first floor contains structural grid columns.  As a result, it is going to be difficult to have large open spaces, and create direct navigation throughout the space. These structural challenges are shown in the images below.

First Floor Plan

Second Floor Plan