Relavent and Interesting

National Arts Club Showcases Student Interior Design Projects
Projects include a sugar factory turned recording studio.
by Mairi BeautymanInterior Design -- 3/22/2007
From March 27-April 4, 15 student interior design thesis projects will adorn the National Arts Club in New York, as part of “Thesis 2007: SVA Interior Design.”
Conceived by students graduating from the BFA Interior Design Department at New York’s School of Visual Arts, the residential, corporate, and commercial projects include a sugar factory turned recording studio, a children’s summer camp, the re-design of a luxury cruise ship, and a hotel spa off of Staten Island.
The exhibition is curated by National Arts Club Gold Medalist and Interior Design Hall of Fame member Neville Lewis, and Anthony Lee, design director of the New York office of Gary Lee Partners. Jane Smith is Chair of the BFA Interior Design Department at SVA and founder and managing principal of Spacesmith. A reception will be held Thursday, March 29, from 5:30pm-7pm.
The National Arts Club is located at 15 Gramercy Park South. Hours are Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 10am-12pm, 3-5pm; Tuesday, 2-5pm; Saturday and Sunday by appointment, 212-475-3424.

Sites

So,

I am seriously thinking about doing my project in DUMBO. I guess I don't know NYC very well and it is hard to create a community within a community if you don't know the area. Besides, the problem that I identified and am choosing to explore in my thesis project was a direct result of and inspired by living in DUMBO. There is no, or very little, sense of community here. I am not sure if that is because it is a new neighborhood.....

Anyway, I have 4 sites that I am looking at and trying to obtain plans for. Since I am interested in doing a project for environmentally minded people, it only makes sense that the building be re-use of an old structure. Access to nature both from the front door and the roof top are critical. In terms of size, I think a mid size building is good. There needs to be enough room for the community/retail aspects as well as the individual apartments.

Option 1: 25 Washington Street

I like this site because it is located on the most developed Street in DUMBO. In addition, it has a nice roof top and easy access to the park along the river. Noise is something that I am concerned about here since it is located directly under the bridge. I do yoga in this building and it can be noisy.

Option 2: 39-83 Water Street

This site is interesting to me because it is big and seems to be filled with potential. The views are spectacular. Access to the park is immediate. The roof top potential also seems to be good. I also like that the building is only 4 stories tall.

Option 3: 123-143 Plymouth Street

I like this building because it is located along the water. Eventhough it is not on the park, it does have some under utlilized water front space in front of it. There also seems like interesting potential for retail space on the ground level. I am not sure if the retail/communal aspects of the project should be completely internal or accessible to the greater neighborhood thus weaving the community with the larger community.

Option 4: 141-163 Front Street

Not sure why I like this site. It is not as close to the park or the water as the others. Noise is an issue here as well. I think what draws me to it is the potential for retail on the ground level as well as the fact that Superfine and all organic restaurant is across the street.

Sites in Red Hook

Lexie,

I know that students have had thesis projects done at these two sites in Red Hook. Therefore, it should be easier to obtain site plans.

106 Ferris Street (4 story building, about 7000sq ft on each floor)

479-499 van Brunt Street

Sketch Problem 2: AREA RUGS.............

A-R-E-A….R-U-G-S…..The name really suggests the function. Area rugs are rugs that define spaces. These spaces do not have walls or doors. They are simply defined by where the edge of the rug and the surface below meet. The change in material delineates the space.

My apartment has five rooms two of which are bathrooms. Of the five rooms in my apartment, the three main rooms all have hardwood floors.

The largest room in my apartment has several functions. It is a multi purpose room. When you enter the apartment, there is a small entrance area that leads into the cooking/eating zone and then to the living area beyond. None of these spaces are divided by physical partitions. Prior to moving in, this was one free flowing space. Zones were implied, but not defined by flooring materials or personal belongings. However, with the simple addition of area rugs, spaces and where they stop and start have been defined.

At the entrance, there is a small rug to take your shoes off.

Once you have moved off of that rug, you are no longer in the entrance. At this point, you are presented with a choice. Option one is to go right around the kitchen. If this is the path you choose, you are in my one and only hallway.

A runner defines this main circulation space. The form of the runner reinforces the idea that this is a long (by New York terms) path. It is not a place to loiter or for two people to inhabit at the same time shoulder to shoulder. Moreover, it is not possible for one person to be eating and another to pass behind easily and comfortably. If you choose option two and go left at the island, you are in my kitchen.


Here there is a small rug in front of the stove, sink, and dishwasher…..You guessed it, this is my kitchen. At the end of this space, there is a large rug on which a sofa, trunk, and chair are arranged. None of the other rugs have anything occupy them permanently except my feet and my cats paws while in transit. This rug is special in that way. It is also clear that this is a special place because of the size of it.




The size of this rug relative to the others implies that this is the area where you are supposed to sit and stay a while. More than one person can share this space comfortably.

The rugs in my apartment tell a story. If my apartment was stripped of all of my personal belongings, it would still be easy to see how I used the space if you study my rugs. The texture relative to the hardwood floor, the pattern, the directionality (of both shape and pattern), and the size all provide clues as to what is supposed to happen in the space. I use the phrase “supposed to happen” because my apartment is very conventional. I have adopted standard conventions of living. I have not broken any cultural rules or norms. I live very much like Perec described in his book.

Sketch Problem 1: Chairlifts

What is a ski lift? Ski lifts come in all shapes and sizes. There are rope toes, Pomas, T-Bars, Single Chairs, Double Chairs, Quads, Six Packs, Gondolas, Trams, etc. The most basic one, the one that I am most familiar with, is the chairlift. It essentially is a suspended bench that transports six people from one place to another. It is not a confined space by any means. The metal structure is simple: the frame, the bench, the safety bar, and a few odds and ends to connect the chair to the cable. There is some foam padding on the seat to provide minimal comfort as well as some protection from the coldness of the metal seat. Every component of the design has a function. It is a machine designed to move people quickly and efficiently. In that way, it is very much like McDonald’s.
Despite its minimal structure and lack of enclosure, a ride on a chairlift is a safe and restful experience. Once one sits down on the chair and lowers the bar, there is a clear sense of enclosure although your feet are dangling high above the ground and you are suspended on a seemingly small cable. It is like you are in a bubble.
Even though the structure helps to define the chair in physical space, what really makes a chairlift a space is the human interaction that occurs while riding up the mountain. It is a space for people, old friends and new, to come together. Prior to getting on the chair in the very mechanical, impersonal corral, it is possible that none of the six passengers have ever met. For those five minutes, six potential strangers come together in one location and communicate with one another. There is no physical escape from one another. They are suspended in space together. All sense of personal space is dismissed. The void between people is minimal. This may be an uncomfortable experience for many. Touching strangers is not a common or comfortable practice for many. Ironically as soon as you get to the top of the mountain, this rather intimate experience is over. Everyone gets off of the chair and goes their separate ways much like the subway.
Conversely, one can have a very different experience in this space if riding the lift alone. The space can become a refuge. It is not only a place to rest your tired feet, but it is also a place to be alone with your thoughts while in nature. Often times, this can be a lonely experience if you are used to riding the chair in larger groups. The normally small void between you and another no longer exists. It can be cold and incredibly quiet.
Regardless of how many people are on the chair with you, the chairlift and the air that circulates around it is a very real space. To me it is almost like a second home. The whole process of going to the chairlift, getting in line, bending down to unbuckle my boots, seeing acquaintances in the lift line, saying hello to the lift attendants, sitting down on the chair has become my memory of the space. The chairlift is really a way to weave together and strengthen the mountain community.

Assignment 1: the canine in the window

Windows frame a view, or frame us as a view. In the dentist example, I connected this framing to a built-in empathy system for the patient, and, conversely, to the patient's sense that this is a transient experience --soon s/he will be walking outside, too. Transparency is connected to privacy, movement, and time.

outside-in, inside-out, or outside/inside?

In the first two assignments I studied various aspects of transparency on vertical planes that form a boundary between the inside and the outside. This boundary can be rather multi-faceted and it can generate different intents/functions/meanings:
-it can allow the outside to manifest its presence to the inside
-it can allow the inside to be revealed to the outside
-it can merge the inside and the outside
-the boundary itself can form an intermediate, ambiguous reality where the play of light, reflections and refractions from the inside and the outside fuse together.
-as a result of the play of light and the treatment of light on this transparent boundary the reality of the outside can be altered as it filters through to the inside.
These qualities promote or inhibit human interactions: does transparency bring us closer or does it keep us apart?
This inside/outside relationship is also important in my thesis research: architecture, and psychology, and an architecture of psychology, deal with inside/outside relationships in many ways.

mind/space/time/filmic narrative

I've been listening to a recording of a lecture entitled 'Outside/In: architecture, psychoanalysis and spaces in-between' at the Freud Museum.
In a therapeutic environment, we can think of the mind relating to physical space using a filmic metaphor: the mind projects outward memory, dreams (past), imagination (present) and hopes (future); there has to be a receptor of this projection, a screen, that enables these outward manifestations to materialize and to be re-viewed by the projector, the mind. but because the contents of the mind have been allowed to externalize, when they are bounced back they are received with a different perception. hence time, and space, enable transformation and healing. also, much like current films, the narrative of the projection of the mind is not necessarily linear: past, present and future are projected not necessarily in a sequential manner.

the haptic and ceremonial threshold

for esther

the image on the far left shows a key that is also a door knob. carlo scarpa, left, has investigated thresholds in interesting ways.

Thresholds

So, I have done some research over the past few days about R.M. Schindler's House in California as well as on Andy Warhol's Factory. The research on Schindler was particularly interesting because it reminded me of Wright's approach to residential design.....specifically his prairie style houses. Many of these are centered around a communal feature, the hearth, and pinwheel out towards the landscape from there. I think this is how I see cohousing projects. They start from a center, or spine, and progress from public to private accordingly. In thinking about this, it seems clear that transitions from public to private and thresholds are incredibly important. I almost feel as if things have come full circle. In the chair lift project I was interested in a space that was not defined by any real physical boundaries. In the area rug project, I was interested in implied spaces created by area rugs. Both of these are spaces that are implied, but are not defined by physical boundaries. There were no walls; just changes in material or forced space between you and the ground. Brad's work on walls is also very informative as different kinds of walls can be different barriers. Now the trick is to figure out how to start diagramming spaces that are there, but not physically blocked out.