Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Rendering

Assignment: We had to take the rendering techniques learned in class and rendered the space.

Below: Rendered space with concrete walls and a red marble floor.


Below: Rendered space with maple/birch wood paneling and a blue tiled floor.


Below: Rendered space with a brick wall and dark wood floor.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Throwup sheet: Shelter Bus

Assignment: Create a throwup sheet that shows some of your ideas and planning for the shelter bus II on a 11x17 layout.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Katrina's Bus Shelter Redone

Assignment: To take one of the four finalist designs and make revisions to their design.

Here is our design done by Ben.



I was responsible for doing some of the construction drawings for the design.






Oasis: Shelter Bus

Assignment: To create a mobile residence for 4 hurricane relief workers. At least one component of the shelter must rotate, slide, fold out or transform.

Deliverables: Concept statement, programmatic diagram, 4 cross sections, 2 longitudinal sections, one detail drawing.




Friday, October 3, 2008

landmark: bus/shelter

The assignment: design a bus shelter for the GTA bus stop adjacent to the Weatherspoon Art Museum on Tate St. Deliverables: Concept Statement, material investigation, detail drawing, and model.












Concept Statement:

The objective of this design is to create an inventive and dynamic bus shelter that is attractive to the Greensboro Transit Authority and its riders. The concept of my design is nature, visual aesthetic, and function. These three elements have been combined to create a bus shelter that is eye catching while not taking away from the local vernacular of Tate St. and the Weatherspoon Museum.

Inspired by the triangular columns of the Weatherspoon Museum and the surrounding landscape, the shape of the bus shelter takes on a triangular shape. Three individual triangles have been combined to create a sense of community while creating the overall bus shelter. Taking its surrounding landscape into play, the goal of the design was to bring in nature. The abstract designs on the windows have been taken from the abstract patterns created from the intertwining of the leaves and branches of the surrounding trees. Such abstract patterns result in a visual aesthetic not found in many bus shelters.

The third goal of this design was function. Not only did I want to add more seating, but also I wanted to add a level of security and comfort to this bus shelter. To ensure more security, the windows with the abstract patterns will be solar powered windows that light up at night. This provides for a higher sense of security being that the bus stop is located between trees. Not only does this provide more security but comfort. Taking comfort even a step further more seating was added as well as a color scheme that evokes relaxation. The color light blue gives a sense of comfort, peace, and relaxation, which are all important to GTA riders after having such a long day from work.




Monday, September 29, 2008

Friday, September 26, 2008

Precis

Assignment: Provide a graphic and written summary of the bus/shelter and shelter/bus projects.


Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Context Presentation for Bus/Shelter




The assignment: Our symbol groups are to collect and research information on our given topic. Here is our presentation.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Communicate

The assignment: Communication is about the process in which information is being passed from a sender onto a recipient in order to creat a shared understanding. Utilizing the information gathered throughout all six charrettes, consider the following:
people
places
products
print materials
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This is the logo and motto



Image: "God Creates Man" by Michelangelo

People


We decided we would have an event called “Hands Across Greensboro.” Anyone would be welcomed to come and join hands from the bus stop to the bus depot. This would show how design in our community is impacting everyone from everywhere.

Places


We chose to take a different approach to the "place" aspect of this charrette. We wanted to created mass interest while clearly informing the community, both the bus riders and non bus riders about us. Thus we have "Ode to Christo and Jeanne-Claude". Our local version of a wrapped building or physical art. We felt that by doing this living art installation the viewers would not only get a shocking experience but they would be forced to look at the good old Greensboro Bus Depot and it's surrounding environment with "new" eyes. The ultimate goal would be to energize and excite the community to find out more about Community by Design and what we are trying to accomplish through design. The installation would only last for a few days but it would be long enough to make a great impact on the community.
It was also decided that the surrounding bus shelters be wrapped in a bright green with the same graphic wording - Gatewoods Gateway to the Gate City and our web address. It's our hope that it would allow people who wouldn't necessarily travel to the main depot to see and experience what we are doing, and again hoping to stir a natural interest in the project.


Products

The Calendar: we thought that the calendar would be a great way to promote the bus shelter project as well as promoting sustainability. The calendar will be printed on plant paper. [look further down for more info on the paper]


Print Materials

For print materials our group thought of using Grow-a-Note Paper which is a seed embedded paper that recycles into the ground naturally as the seedlings grow.
We would have the paper done in the shape of our logo and on one side we would print our slogan ("Gatewoods Gateway to the Gate City") as well as our website (http://www.communitybydesign.blogspot.com/). On the other side would be instructions on planting the paper.





We would not only hand these flyers out but also put them in the Greensboro newspaper so it could reach people all over Greensboro and beyond.


http: As far as marketing on the internet, our group decided on making youtube videos on all of our other marketing ideas and events that happen. These videos would be posted on youtube as well as our studio blog.

Events

Green Fest Weekend

The purpose for GreenFest is to educate people about the positive effects of sustainability while promoting our bus shelter project.

The GreenFest Weekend would take place around the month of August for two days. One day of the fest is dedicated to educating the community through different lectures. There will be several lectures that day, which discuss different issues of sustainability within design and in our everyday lives. The lectures will be geared more towards architecture firms, landscapers, engineers, material suppliers, designers, and those interested in coming.

The second day of the weekend will be a GreenFest carnival. The purpose of the festival is to educate the community about living green through fun filled activities and rides. The carnival will have green friendly venders as well as healthy food stations. We will also sale our products throughout the whole event. The money raised from the weekend will go towards a green friendly organization.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Codes+











Codes

Egronomic


Codes

Proxemics



Our experience with the various requirements to support human activities and needs was very informative. Much of the information that we read over was helpful in our understanding of what was needed in our models and how much we needed to change. For example the details in the Interior Graphics Standards helped us to realize spacing issues within our models. After we designed both our bus shelter and shelter bus we ran into problems. Some parts of our spaces would not accommodate wheelchair accessibility. Other issues were seat spacing to ensure comfort, and the bathroom design. Working with a small space like a bus, and having to provide care for people is a huge challenge; however codes are set as a guideline. Within the requirements we did fulfill the needs of seating, sleeping, care and comfort. These needs however must be adjusted to fit code standards. Codes are very vital in the design process. Codes are what make design functional. They give guidelines for designers to create functional environments. It was not until doing this assignment that we realized the importance of codes. Building codes allow for the designer to design safe environments. Although codes can sometimes limit the creative process, codes do allow the designer to think realistically, which is always a good thing. Building codes also prevent the designer from being selfish because it forces them to consider the needs of others, instead of just themselves. In the design process it is usually best to design without restrictions first, but to be aware of them and use them strategically. This allows for the design to reach many possibilities. If you’re only thinking about the codes and restrictions while designing in the beginning then your ending place will not be as creative as it could’ve been when focusing on the actual design. As long as you have code in the back of your mind while designing with all creativity possible, this makes design limitless. Codes won’t change your design as long as you design with them, that way they are an incorporated feature and make sense with the whole design.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

The Precedent

The assignment: In your symbol groups draw a minimum of 15 drawings from your observations of the bus stop on Tate St.















Here is our sketch model of the bus stop for spring garden and tate st.




Above picture: You can see the solar powered windows that we decided to install. This would help with the lighting of the bus stop at night to create a safer environment.