Habitat for Humanity

On September 28 I was fortunate enough to go out to help build a home for a family in the Palouse area. Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit organization that builds homes for families that are in need of help. I volunteered at Habitat for Humanity that Saturday and I am really glad that I did. I learned a lot about the outside structures of houses and about the construction site while at Habitat for Humanity. We also were able to work with one of the home owners while we were there, she is a very kind lady who has two young children and really appreciated everyone’s help

While at Habitat for Humanity we were able to help build and put up the two missing walls. To do this we had to hammer done a lot of nails! While building the walls I learned that you have to check your wood to make sure that it doesn't curve in anyway, after choosing the right wood, we had to arrange the wall by its layout, and then we nailed it all down. On the walls we added a cover which is the last layer of keeping water out, we nailed that down with greenies. When the wall was all done everyone helped lift it up to place. It is a great feeling that I was a part of building the walls for a family’s new home. I think that this experience has helped me with my interior design major because I now know a little more about the way that houses are built, their structure, and what goes into building a house.

          

Sketch Crawl

During our time spent in Seattle, Washington we were able to visit Seattle City Center. In the Seattle City Center we met up with Urban Sketchers who allowed us to go out and explore the area and chose an area or subject to sketch. After sketching for an hour we all met back up and the Urban Sketchers gave us some advice and tips on sketches. It was great to see everyone else’s sketches of the area and to kind of get a glance on how they view things.  Popular sketch choices consisted of the Space Needle and EMP Museum, I decided to sketch the Chihuly Garden and Glass. This exhibition displays beautiful art work by Dale Chihuly who is a master at blowing glass; he has been able to create enormous glass sculptures. From the outside of the exhibition you are able to see some of his sculptures through the large glass windows. For this reason I decided to sketch the front side of the building where you are able to look inside the windows at his artwork. I sketched the whole surrounding area from my view and wanted to make sure I was able to add some of his work into my sketching.

Job Shadow at Olson Kundig

I had the opportunity to spend a few hours job shadowing the interior designers at Olson Kundig Architecture Firm. This firm is very well known and also very huge but in their architecture firm they have six great interior designers working with them. Each one of the interior designers I met were wonderful and they all had their own great advice, stories, and tips to share with me about my future career in design. After my job shadow I have realized that the challenges of an interior design career would be where I would like to start, within a large architecture firm, a small or larger interior design firm, or maybe even starting my own small interior design firm. The advice I was given was it would be best to start off in a small interior design firm because there are fewer people so you will have the chance to learn how to do it all. I asked them all which they preferred more residential or commercial design and why, the most common answer I received was residential design because it was more meaningful to design a home. This helped me decide that I would love to have the opportunity in my career to design residential spaces. One other great advice I was given was to network and put your work out their so others can see it. Thanks to Olson Kundig Interior Designer Team for their advice and knowledge!

Frye Art Museum

When the Frye Art Museum was being explained my favorite concept that was mentioned was that they wanted everyone to experience the building the same way and that they believe every one leaves a mark of themselves on the building in a positive way. The Frye Art Museum wanted their building to be an experience for each and every one of their visitors. When you first enter the building you go in through doors that were designed as gates, as you processed inside the entrance’s top is designed like a dome or a sphere in a half, the inside of the whole art museum uses day light to move people throughout the whole inside area. A portion of the museum is based on the golden sections. The floor in the museum is an orange color that is based off the same types of floors you would find in a butcher shop representing meat rendering. The main idea and major focus of the Frye Art Museum is daylight, day light is very critical to this building. The building is all about using daylight in many varieties of the day and to be able to navigate through the space. The Frye Art Museum shows ways that a building can be very intellectual and symbolic.

Chapel of St. Ignatius

The Chapel of St. Ignatius at Seattle University built by Steven Holl is one of the most well thought out and meaningful structures I have witnessed. In 6,000 square feet Holl manages to tell a story of “seven bottles of light wrapped in a stone box” and how each bottle of light represents an aspect of the Catholic religion. The interior of the chapel is simple but there is a reason for that, by having white walls with vertical and horizontal texture and black concrete floors the light that shines in through the windows are easily reflected off each subject to add light and color to the room. Both the light that passes through the stained glass windows and the light that reflects of the hidden sections of color is what add color to the chapel. There are direct lights, reflective lights, shade, and shadows being used to add to interior of the chapel.  Holl intentional made it so no one was able to directly see the outside world from the windows; they were mainly used for the lighting inside. In the chapel, Steven Holl made sure that every part of his structure was symbolic and had a meaning to it from the reflective pool outside to the beeswax wall that is what makes the St. Ignatius Chapel so intriguing. 

      

New Horizons Teen Center and Street Bean Espresso

The New Horizon Teen Center is a place were homeless teens can go to for temporary shelter. They are planning to remodel the shelter and we were fortunate enough to be able to listen to their new ideas they had planned to make their place safe and comfortable for teenagers in need of shelter. The space right now has a storage space for any weapons or larger items to be stored, a lounge for relaxing and occasional movie nights, a computer room, the dining area, bathrooms, laundry area, and a docking area so the teens are able to escape out of the cold a little before the shelter is open. The materials in this space must stand up to a lot of use, they have to be cost efficient, easy to keep clean, and comfortable. On average about 30 to 40 teens come in that range from ages 13 to 22 years old. New Horizon Teen Center also owns the coffee shop across the street called Street Bean Espresso. Teens that come into the shelter have the opportunity to work in the coffee shop; New Horizon does this so teens can have the chance to start being independent and being able to support themselves. The teens that arrive at this shelter have left home because they live an unsafe environment where they believe that staying on the streets is safer than being at home. New Horizon Teen Center is doing something unbelievable by allowing teens a safe place to be where they will not be victimized by adults on a daily basis.

Westlake Residence

The Westlake residence is being reconstructed to have an art facility on the first floor, add twelve new apartments, and a penthouse on the fifth floor. Before all the revising to this space occurred it was once an auto shop. The designers that are working on this building are doing their best to use as much of the original structure and materials as possible such as the concrete floors, wood decking, and exposed utilities like piping and electric. This project shows many ways to lower cost, save materials, and having less labor by reusing features of the original site, which helps rethink ways to design residential spaces. The most important idea from this project would have to be how they managed to make a small 700 square foot room look large by adding a second floor in the apartment for the bedroom, using high ceiling, and large windows for the feel of open space. Another important idea of theirs is how they can use their space wisely by adding shelves and storage around the apartment. Unfortunately the apartments in this building are not accessible for all, people that would move in would have to be informed that it is not a place to live in forever, this place would be great for those who prefer a great view and open space.  

zHome

While taking a tour of zHome I learned so much on how we can use design in a more environmentally friendly way. The philosophy of the development of zHome affects my thinking of designing for a residential area because it has shown me many different ways on how we can go green even with smaller and simpler changes around residents. By changing the types of paints used can help with fewer toxins inside or even using fiber glass for frames on windows. The best ideas that zHome provides us with is using a solar panel system to save energy, also a rain water system was added to put in use the natural water from outside. Another important idea would be to use all recycled contents for flooring, counters, etc. Also, there is no grass in this location because it is bad for the environment and needs to be irrigated, the use of low maintenance landscape makes area very appealing and easy to handle. zHome added a courtyard between all the apartments to feel more like a community to all the residence. Some aspects of human interactions with the built space to be considered are they way people move around the space, if they are also involved in recycling, what can affect the materials longevity like cleaning supplies or any type of food, and if the resident will bring anything else in that might jeopardize the idea of keeping less toxins out.