Crossroads Lounge: Universal Design

Equitable Use -
The space is useful to people with diverse abilities, for example, a wheelchair. People with different abilities can access the work surfaces as well as pull into the lounge area. The tackable surfaces and shelves are also low enough (and high enough) for all different heights to reach.

Simple and Intuitive Use -
The layout of the space is simple and the circulation throughout the space helps to guide users throughout the lounge. The functions of each space are also easily understood because of the components that are visable.

Flexibility in Use -
The furnishings allow users the option of doing their task in several different ways, depending on their needs.

Low Physical Effort-
Multiple tasks can be done in this one room. These tasks can include designing, collaboration, critique, relaxation and many more in this multifunctional lounge.

Crossroads Lounge: Intellectual Works

“In the case of paths that pass through the served spaces, there is a planned, intentional intrusion. In these cases you, as the designer, have determined that the resulting integration between the path and the served space or spaces is desirable or, at least acceptable.”
Page 77 “space/path relationship and level of autonomy”

“In the case of superimposed spaces, two (or more) spaces are literally superimposed over one another, creating a new spatial definition and geometry. Depending on the treatment of the surfaces and ceiling planes, both spaces can have equal dominance or one can dominate the other.”
Pages 77-78 “the art of joining spaces”

“Passageways can be either tunnel-like adjoining passages between spaces or merely openings in the wall that allow movement between spaces. In the first case, they invite movement; in the second, they allow it. Many modern interiors rely on wide passageways as a way to move between spaces. Openings allow movement between spaces, but the user relies on other directional cues from the furnishings or other objects to know which way to go.”
Page 44 “passageways”

With the way these spaces are laid out, it allowing natural movement of people through the space. This works within my design because I want people to go in the lounge to see what it is and experience the space. The kitchen area separates the lounge into sections but also keeps the entire space a whole. Because it is so open, the dropped ceiling acts as a cue to tell the user where to go. They can either follow it to enter the kitchen, cross through it to enter another lounge section, or use it as a leader to find the lounge - depending on the direction they enter from.

Crossroads Lounge: Brand Reading

In Chapter 10 “Function Melts Form”, Brand discusses a technique used in newer office buildings that have the open-office idea. He refers to this design technique as the “Cave and Commons”. He says that with these open office plans, people desire to have privacy (mainly acoustic privacy). The open office area becomes the “commons” and Brand discusses how newer office facilities give their employees a private office “cave” of their own which surrounds the commons. By doing this, they have the option for privacy but can also be more social.

My design uses a similar idea. The current design of the studio spaces is very open with little privacy. Students sometimes need a place that they can retreat to for a break from the openness and to get some privacy. This is what my designed lounge would do. It would’t be a completely private space - more like a public cave. But it would over semi-privacy that is needed.

Crossroads Lounge: Core Values

Community
This space showcases community in the ways that it brings the two departments in Gatewood together. Currently, IARc and Art are very separate - different sides of the building, different floors, different people. My design of a Crossroads Lounge bring the two environments together. My ideal hopes are that this lounge will be designed so that it is comfortable and inviting for everyone in the Gatewood building.

Authenticity
I think it is important to keep the authenticity of the Gatewood building in my design of the lounge. With my concept of crossroads, I chose to use both the current style and merge it with a new style. I kept parts of the current design such as the coffered ceiling and concrete flooring to remind the users that this is a room within the Gatewood Building.

Innovation
My idea of innovation is taking something that already exists and doing something new and creative with it. I am designing a lounge and kitchenette in a location that currently is a version of that. Today, it is a small lounge adjacent to a vending room. My design merges the two to form a fully functioning collaboration center with a food prep kitchenette with room for dining. By doing this, it transforms what was “just a lounge” into something much more useful and innovative.

Stewardship
My design promotes collaboration within this space in the studio. When students chose to work off campus instead of at studio, they lose the ability to go to classmates for advice. I designed the space with different media to give students a comfortable place to work together and help each other. This is my definition of stewardship - helping others.

Studio Research Summary + Ideas

With all of the research that was presented to the class on Friday, I feel like I have a much better understanding of the studio project now. Before, I had no idea what I might do the project on. But now, I have a much more clear idea.

Many presentations throughout the day interested me and helped give me some ideas. The survey group started off explaining the surveys that were taken by students in the department. There was a question about what people wanted to see in a new design for the studio. Answers such as outdoor space, rendering lab, different library, kitchenette, café, lounge, mobile desks, and more color/interior architecture signage, were given.

I was interested in the statistics about how many people spend time in the building. The number seems to lower as students get older and more advanced with the program. In my opinion, I think it is a combination of students getting bored with the space and uninspired, and the needs of students change as they get older. When students come in as freshmen, many of them live on campus, like I did myself. It is hard living in such a small space, with really only one room. I liked to hang out at studio first year because it was big. It was also a place that I could gather with my other pals, since our dorm rooms were so little. Many students move to a house or apartment in the 2nd or 3rd years and the need for this hang out space lessens. And in many situations, students moving off campus find a place in the dwelling to set up workspace for studio assignments. The need to go to studio to work lessens here too. I find that now as a 3rd year student, I really only need my computer to get things done. So I would much rather cozy up in my apartment on the couch than sit in horribly uncomfortable chairs at studio.

So after all this consideration, I have found where my project lies. I want to design a student lounge and potentially a connected café/kitchenette that will reside in Gatewood. I want this space to be somewhere that reminds students of home. I plan on designing the space with comfortable seating such as couches and armchairs. And also maybe some desks that are different than those in the studio. I want it to have an overall feeling of being home, but in a space that still allows for collaboration with classmates. It will be a perfect combination of the two, a home-away-from-home even. I see this space being located on the 2nd floor in room 203, where the current “lounge” is. I also wish to open it up to the vending area and make that into a little kitchenette with a few small appliances. I plan on choosing materials that are different than the concrete rooms surrounding to create a sort of retreat for students to go to when they need a change of scenery.

Visual Explorer Connections

The values of community, authenticity, innovation, and steward ship, all connect in ways that I connected to the Gestalt Theory. One main concept to this theory is that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Each value represents this in a way. With community, people are needed to make up this community. Each member is a significant part to the group. With authenticity, it takes something to be different and stand out. Without the contrast of the authentic versus the fake, there would be no authentic, it would be just one thing. Therefore All parts are needed. Innovation represents this concept because to be innovative, an idea must be taken from something that already exists and then it can be improved upon. Lastly, with stewardship, more than one person is needed to be a steward and show hospitality. So with all these four themes, more than one part is needed to make up the whole.

Visual Explorer Exercise

COMMUNITY

When I think of community, I think of people coming together to do something. This picture, to me, is an example of community. It shows woman as part of a rowing team on their boat. I have never done this sport, but I understand that it is very challenging and everyone must work together in order to make it successful.

AUTHENTICITY

When looking for an image for authenticity, I looked for something unique and eventually came upon these zebras. To be authentic means to be real and genuine. One way that I looked at it was that their patterns cannot be duplicated exactly. Today, we see zebra print everywhere; on rugs, clothing, bags, and in other fashion. The print isn't authentic, the zebras are. Also, it has been said that no two zebras have the exact stripe pattern. Therefore, each zebra is unique and authentic to it's own pattern.

INNOVATIVE

The work innovative, to me, means something unique and creative. In class, we had a discussion about how an innovation means taking something that is already and improving upon it. This picture was a unique example of what innovative housing is. This is certainly a unique way of living. Whether building this house on this ledge was applied, or land was stripped away due to natural causes, the homeowners chose to live this way. It is an old house, but the concept is new and innovative to me.

STEWARDSHIP

The idea of stewardship is doing things for others who cannot do it for themselves. This picture shows a baby being fed by an adult. The baby cannot feed himself therefore an adult is showcasing great stewardship by feeding him.

Feedback Loop 2: Nikki Ware

Looking at Nikki Ware’s redesign of the Music Library at UNCG, I really appreciate the progress she has made since day 1 of the design. Her first go at the space was very bright, creative, and loud as an overall design. While this was a unique approach, I think her second design really fit the needs of the Music Library. Nikki’s concept was encapsulate and the idea of “binding together the physical forms of knowledge with the technological forms and encapsulating the users into an engaging and interactive environment”. Yes, that is a lot of big words. But Nikki brought this concept into a simple, clean, yet thought out design.


One thing that I noticed that really “encapsulated” the space was the use of rhythm. Rhythm is everywhere and I think that’s what makes her design strong. It keeps your eyes moving throughout the space while keeping everything together as one design.I think one of Nikki’s challenges may have been use of color. There is a lot of it. Her color palette suggests Chartreuse, Sea Foam, and Orange – all pretty bold colors. These three colors look great in the materials board, but then in some renderings, there seems to be more than just those three colors in some of the scenes and it gets a little too colorful. With the rhythm throughout the space being an obvious success for Nikki, I don’t think as much color is necessary. She could try celebrating the rhythm and put the focus on those elements instead of taking away from it.
I also think annotations would be helpful and maybe little keys to show where the renderings were taken from.

Overall, I really did enjoy Nikki’s design. This rendering (above) is my favorite because it shows how multi functional the space is and how the materiality works in the space with rhythm and encapsulation.

Jackson Library Conceptual Models

This model shows the single curve in my design that represents the "Stream" of reference. It has 3 openings to get from one side to the other. Two on either end for circulation between the learning commons and one centrally to the learning commons and also the vestibule and auditorium.

Here is a simplified example of what one of the ceiling panels could look like

This final model shows the main axis represented by the black line. It shows how the space is broken up into 3 sections (offices, central connector and access center, learning commons) yet connected all throughout.

Jackson Library: A Multi-Functional Learning Commons

Throughout this project, we studied a lot of precedent work and successful libraries that are already built. I became fascinated with the "learning commons" which is a growing design technique in libraries across the globe. In redesigning the first floor of the Jackson library, I transformed the Reading Room, Reference Room, and everything in between to a multi-functional learning commons. Perhaps the most diverse feature of my design is a space I call the auditorium. It is in the center, joining where the reading and reference room used to meet. During the average use, students can take a seat on one of the 3 foot wide ledges to relax or get some studying done. There are about 60 booth style seat backs that easily pull out of the base to create a comfortable and customizable environment for the user. Whenever the library staff bring guests to give lectures or hold events, this auditorium is easily transformed into an event space. With the seat backs pushed into the base, this 2-sided auditorium easily holds about 100-130 guests. A multi-functional space where students want to spend time at was something I really wanted to bring to the Jackson Library. I hope that my design portrays that.

As you see in the plan above, I relocated all the offices throughout the first floor to where the super lab is currently. By doing this, it opened up the remaining space and allowed all of the librarians and library staff to work in the same space. The circulation desk is approximately where the bathrooms are currently. It fits in between the elevators and staircase allowing direct access for the library staff to their office area which is also where the sorting room is.

This view takes place where the Reference Room currently is. There is a series 20 booths in this space that give people acoustic and visual privacy. Also, each booth has a tv monitor installed so students can hook up their computers and run a group study session.

This view takes place where the Reference Room and Reading Room currently come together. Coming from the College Avenue entrance, it is the room after the vestibule and before the entrance to the room with the EUC connector.

Next Steps in Re-Redesigning the Jackson Library

So on Friday, everyone came to class with their ideas on how to design their assigned library yet again. After talking with my peers, I have some great new ideas to develop. My concept being "water flowing and the flow of knowledge carrying users throughout the library", I struggled with how many curves I should input into my design. After our discussion Friday, I decided on one slight curve through my newly planned learning commons. This curve will encourage users to circulate around the curve to see what may be behind it. I was also really interested in designing a multi functional space that can be transformed into an event/lecture area for guests. My idea is to have a large stadium-like seating in two bracket forms in the main axis. During average use, students can hang out here for casual reading or meeting with friends. When there is a guest speaker, the seating will be closed off to passerbys so people have to walk around it instead of through it. My main design steps are to work on the design of this raised multi-use seating and also the learning commons. The learning commons needs to accommodate for people wanting to be by themselves, with others, on the computer, and more.

"Feedback Loop": Anna Behrendt

After getting a closer look at Anna Behrendt’s redesign of the Music Library at UNCG, I absolutely love its potential. I think with some more development, it could be really great. Her concept is reverberation. This goes perfectly with this music building and her design shows it off with a repetition of forms throughout the space.
In her design, she uses these awesome curved units that provide shelving on the bookends and a private space in the middle. I think the function of these “nooks” is great, but they take up a lot of space and could be used in a better way.

Looking at Anna’s floor plan, these units are all in the center of the room, avoiding the perimeter. While this may work for circulation being able to walk around them, I think they just take up too much space this way. Maybe she can have some up against the wall, and do something else with the center of the space.
Her design focuses on maybe three needs of users: the lounger, the “head-in-the-books” student, and the book-browser. I haven’t done as much research on the music library as Anna has, but I might suggest adding some space for group study/tutoring. I think she could look more into the learning commons strategy that we discussed in class on Wednesday to help provide to the needs of more users. This could help fill up the space if she were to move around the study units.
Another thing I noticed is that while she excelled in the design of the main study units, she really lacks attention to the ceiling and floor. I think doing this would help pull her concept together. Overall, I thought Anna was really creative in her design and I loved her color scheme. I think that if this design was matured to it’s full potential, Anna would have an amazing design that the librarian staff and users would love!

Learning Commons

For a practice of giving 90 second speeches, Jamaan and I reviewed an article called "7 Things you Should Know About the Modern Learning Commons". A learning commons breaks the idea of a traditional library. It combines full-service learning services, research facilities and project spaces for student use. The Jackson Library needs to accommodate the needs of all types of students. With it's current layout, it doesn't do that. A learning commons could eliminate the poor use of space and transform it into a multi-functional student center. Learning commons would be a great addition to university libraries because they promote learning at different paces and provide customizable services. At the Jackson Library, a learning commons could incorporate the superlab, reading room, reference room, and more. Above, is a composition of a few learning commons that Jamaan and I felt were successful and inspirational. The image on the top left is a learning commons proposal for University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, the top right is a proposal for Missouri State, and the 2 images on the bottom is the fully functioning Victoria University Learning Commons in Australia.

Space Plan

In redesigning the first floor of the Jackson Library, I focused on the concept of flowing water and the idea of knowledge flowing from the library onto campus. I separated the first floor into 3 main sections; all offices will be held in the west section (currently the superlab), the main access desk will be in the middle section along with study tables and entrance to the EUC and tower, and the student center will be in the east wing (housing the reading room/reference room/ superlab extravaganza). The central axis from one end of the building to the other will still be used, but in a different way. This includes separation of boundaries by transparent plastic walls instead of the non-welcoming walls that are currently there. Within this axis, I designed a series of curved ceiling panels that will help users with the circulation throughout the first floor in a more natural flow through the spaces.


The plan above shows the separation of spaces with the offices highlighted in light orange, access desk and study tables in light red, and the student center in light violet.




Not only would the ceiling feature help guide users throughout the space, but it also helps lower acoustic levels.

Freelon Group + Paula Carr

I really enjoyed our visit to Freelon Group on Wednesday. It was the first firm that I have been to their building and I thought it was a great experience seeing the insides of a company and how they work. I enjoyed hearing how the interior designers work throughout the project and not just at the end. That was one thing similar to what Paula Carr had to say about tvs design. While at Freelon Group, I really appreciated their advice on what they look for at interviews. Although some things mentioned were contradictory to what some of the professors have told us, I was still open to hearing their opinions.

Following our visit at the firm, we traveled to the Durham County South Regional Library, designed by Freelon Group. This visit was inspirational not only because we are looking at this library in our IAR 311 class, but also our IAR 302 Studio where we are redesigning the Jackson Library at UNCG. My favorite part of this library was the slatted wood ceiling that peaked out around the edges of the interior. I also loved the colorful furniture throughout the library which really brightened up the space and turned a library into a place that I would want to be in.

I think these visits with professionals help a lot to inform us students of what it is like in the professional world of design. When Paula visited us, I thought she had a lot of interesting information to share. What stood out most to me was the way her design process worked. She sketches a lot to get ideas across quickly so that inspired me to sketch more at the beginning stages. Then she puts her ideas into the digital world and models many of the different ideas until they eventually pin them up to talk about as a group.

Peer Review: Faith Ramsey

This week, we were asked to develop 5 concepts for our library design based upon the systems of structure, lighting, water, electricity and technology. Then we were asked to review the concepts of a classmate. Faith Ramsey brings to our class a colorful and abstract view towards design that is appreciative to those of us who aren't so gifted at being abstract. For this assignment she brought some great ideas for concepts. The one I thought was most successful was her relationship of technology and the library. For this one she she focused on one diagram on the page to show how the concept showed parts making up a whole and connections. Her diagram shows main parts in red with breakout sections that make that up. I think this could be a great concept because of the connections she diagrammed. My only suggestion would be to add annotations to the diagrams which I think would help communicate the diagrams without being there.

View Faith's blog here.

Systems: Conceptual Development