Art Museum Experience

While I was home I visited the Sidney Museum in Port Orchard, WA. The type of work they exhibited was the history of Port Orchard, but also paintings from artists and a little bit of jewelry. While I was there, I talked to the woman in charge and I asked her about the barn wood walls, asking why they were there and if they were moveable, they were not moveable and she said that they were placed there because they needed more wall space. The type of lighting they used at the museum was track lighting and natural light. I asked her if the natural light coming from the windows damaged the artwork at all, and she said that they windows were made out of museum glass, which lets the light in without damaging the artwork. I was directed through the exhibits but the paths between them and the track lighting guided the way, because the museum was dark other than those lights. Another thing I noticed about the museum was the materials and colors of the walls. The floor had a brownish carpet, and the walls and ceilings were white. I think those colors were chosen to not take away the beauty of the artwork. The visit to this museum really helped me to understand a gallery space a little bit better. I will definitely incorporate what I have experienced and learned into my future projects.

Impaired Vision Experience

There are many different levels of vision impairment. In this exercise I experienced eye sight through a plastic bag, a simulator tool, and glasses with a covered glaze. Before I started this exercise I did not think that I needed to experience what it would be like to be visually impaired, because I thought I could just research about them to design a living space for which they live in. In my experience with my group we learned a lot and found out that in all visually impaired situations, light is very important, because if you see a color thats dark then it looks scary, and you would not want to go to that darker area. We also learned that it is almost impossible to read small print, sometimes it is hard to recognize people, you can see contrast between colors, eyes would eventually get tired everyday, it is hard to find the bottons in an elevator, and it is easier to see shiny things. Doing this exercise gave me just a few minutes to try an understand what it would be like to have impaired vision, I still do not understand it fully. It would be extremely frustrating, and it is important for our interiors to try and eliminate some of that frustration.

Client Brief

St. Elmo Hotel- Apartment Design

These are my design posters for a one bedroom apartment in the Palouse called the St Elmo Hotel. I started out designing the kitchen and bathroom of the two bedroom apartment as you can see below. Then moved to the one bedroom apartment. I created everything included in it and made a really detailed model. I made the apartment as open as I could. I started off by having the kitchen open up to the living room. The bedroom and bathroom doors are directly across from each other for a convenient way to enter the bathroom without having to walk through the living room. Through out the whole apartment I used a neutral color scheme with green and brown accents, to bring the whole place together. The apartment has some ADA features which include, a 5ft turning radius in all the rooms, and there is a 3ft distance from the bed to the wall for easy access. I also added a drop down ceiling in the bedroom over the bed with lighting, to add extra light to the room. Some challenges for me was arranging my poster, I did not think the posters are arranged as well as they could be, I spent almost 2 hours to find a layout for them, but I could not come up with them, and now they have a lot of white space and look every plain, even though I put a lot of work into them. My success in this project was the model, I love making models and when it's all done it is very fun to look at. I drew all the walls to the apartment in my model so the viewer can really get an idea of what the apartment actually looks like. The model is a very important element to my design.

Designer Feedback

I visited the Northwest Design Center in Poulsbo, WA. While I was there I talked to a professional designer and she gave me feedback on my floor plan and concept board on the St. Elmo Hotel I am designing. I found the visit helpful, because she gave me ideas about adding furniture in all the open spaces I had, and she told me how I could make the apartment look bigger without it actually gaining square footage. I wished that my designer spent more time with me discussing my plan more because some of the things she was saying, I had already new. But I am going to incorporate her input into my design by adding different floor levels and maybe adding a drop down ceiling to add the illusion of square footage. All in all I am glad I had the experience to meet with a professional designer and a chance to expand my resources.

St. Elmo Bathroom Design

Like my kitchen design poster, this is my process for the St. Elmo Hotel bathroom, in the two bedroom apartment. This poster was created through my process that I generated from an inspirational quote. It includes a 60" in diameter turning radius for a wheel chair, and roll under sink for a wheel chair, a front and side mount onto the toilet, and a lot of cabinet space to make it very ADA functional. I learned that time is very important when you have deadlines, and to use my time more wisely, and to not wait til the last few days to do everything, because the work piles on. I think my bathroom is appealing and very functional for any person.

Wheel Chair Exercise

These pictures are related to a wheel chair exercise I had to complete with a partner. We went around a building on our campus in a wheel chair and had to complete tasks in the wheel chair so that we would have to experience what other people who really have to use a wheel, would experience. At first I did not think it was going to be a learning experience but when I actually got in the wheel chair and performing the tasks I pointed out everything in my head that was different then walking. I could not fit in some bathroom stalls and turn around, it is extremely difficult to be in a wheel chair and it would be very helpful to have more buildings that are accessible to the needs of people in wheel chairs. It was a very good experience and an eye opener to what I need to incorporate in my designs in terms of accessibility.