Icon Development

icon development has been new for me too. i used my diagrams to help me with the icon, once i determined the shape with positive and negative space i decided to add color to indicate diversity, the small circles represent progression.

Spatial Diagrams

these diagrams, helped me to determine where i wanted my entrance to be and how the facility circulation would flow. it has been one of the first times that i have worked on diagramming, but i feel that it has been extremely beneficial to me and my design process.

Refinement + Concept

after research of different systems i decided that plants, eco systems, and biomes, would guide me to the right concept. i feel that natural systems are the future...as designers we must recognize what nature has already designed, and use it to our advantage.

Initial Diagrams

initial diagrams to get me started on organization and layout of the mass transit design that i am working on for my thesis.

the gamma installation was quick, yet purposeful. as a fourth year, i am grateful that i have had to opportunity to give back to the interior architecture department. i have learned and gained so much in four years and only hope that the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd years can learn as much as i have. maybe i'll have the opportunity to teach students like myself, in the future.

Inside and out, Northern Guilford Middle School stands as a study of nature, where solid forms play against open spaces, stitching the space together, much like the experience of looking up into a tree and seeing the overlapping leaves and branches that weave into a seamless interior. This pattern enhances the linear corridor composition; the consistent ordering creates an underlying stability and predictability. The use of purple, green, orange, and gray, each representing a season, enhances the space by strategically adding color as a way finding technique. Each color band signals a classroom or other entrance from the hallway. The color bands also balance the horizontal emphasize of the long hallway. Color works on a smaller scale at each classroom entrance, where featured student work sits within a nook adjacent to the door. The student lockers provide another palette for color exploration, emulating leaves of trees. All in all the corridors become feeders to the adjacencies and act, as nutrients to ensure growth, much like a forest eco system. The resulting corridors feel balanced—yet stimulating and energetic—bringing students and nature into one system.

the connector hallway is just as important as the 6,7,8 grade hallways, my design intent is to create a communal atmosphere so that every student has the ability to know what the other grades are accomplishing.

color strategy for the 6,7, 8 grade hallways: purple spring; green summer; orange autumn, grey winter

making the stitch, seamless...

both of these sketches show how the stitch connects the interior with the exterior.

schematic design is the fundamental part of design. after discussing the strategy of the middle school design and creating space within the circulation spaces it only made sense to combine the wayfinding and "stitching" element together for the classrooms. this will allow the students to experience the connection of the hallways to the classrooms. good design is really about what you want the inhabitant to experience.

creativity, balance, and renewal

purple, green, and orange. the secondary colors make sense, because the students are in middle school. the three colors can provide a stimulating educational environment that promotes, balance, creativity, and renewal. while also connecting to nature and the life cycle of a tree during the four seasons. i am interested with introducing a dominate analogous color scheme in each hallway [6, 7, 8, grade] while using the other colors as an accent. this will create an identity for each grade, but will relate back to the middle school as a whole. this will also minimize the segregation between each grade and promote a smoother transition as the student ages in the middle school.

a system-from macro to micro

finally! a system. leaves, roots, and branches--the forest. the circulation spaces are not a seperate entity of the outdoor spaces or even the classrooms. so angela and worked on creating a system--a section of a leaf|veins--leaves|veins that folds around the circulation spaces and stitches all of it's adjacencies. the "u" element acts as an architectural element for ceiling, flooring, and wall planes [macro] as well as highlights spatial relationships to other circulation spaces as well as the courtyards and classrooms [micro]. the idea is to change the orientation of the "u" to celebrate a certain space as well as introduce a wayfinding technique and the metaphor of the forest.

making space

this schematic is about "making space" which allows the student to inhabit a welcoming environment and encourages them to interact and become a part of their educational environment. removing the florescent lighting overhead minimizes the elongated hallway effect. while the pendent lighting of the seating area is purposeful and welcoming. from my precedent study at the beginning of the semester, the Thurston elementary school resembled a residence because the administration felt that it would promote a smoother transition from home to school for the students. this precedent inspired me to create personalized areas for the students, just as if they were at home.

knowing + community

the courage to teach

quote] "knowing is how we make community with the unavailable other, with realities that would elude us without the connective tissue of knowledge. knowing is a human way to seek relationship and, in the process, to have encounters and exchanges that will inevitability alter us. at it's deepest reaches, knowing is always communal." pg 54

thought] that we need people, we need them so that we may understand ourselves, but we also need them to teach us new things about the world in which they live in. however, people need you, because you provide a different understanding of the world that you live in. community is necessary in order to gain knowledge.

leaves as identity

there are so many trees that grow in north carolina, but most of the leaves have similar shapes with a similar vein structure. but there are many that are different too. different leaves of trees have inspired me to create a texture | pattern on each locker of a student. both the sketch and models show how the front of the lockers would look as an individual as well as a whole grouping of lockers.