Bathroom Project

Bathroom Project

This bathroom project, as the previous kitchen project, was challenging and new to me. Designing a bathroom that meets ADA standards, while still keeping it aesthetically pleasing and incorporating my design concept is a challenging thing to do, yet the struggle made me realize and learn more about design, especially bathroom design.

This bathroom is part of St. Elmo Hotel, Palouse, apartments, and it is located in the same place as the kitchen, below. It is important to carry the design aspects of the kitchen to achieve a harmonious and holistic design in the entire apartment.

As I mentioned before, this is my very first time designing a bathroom, and it is incredible to see the amount of information, specific standards for bathroom design, that I learned in such a short period of time. I built my knowledge by first learning about bathroom design through reading and keeping a record of that information, which later I put into practice. I designed around the ADA standards and sustainability, some people might see this as a challenge, yet this is when true inspiration and creativity kick in, to please the client and produce a functional and aesthetically pleasing design. The client asked to re-use the most possible of the materials in the building, this is when I decided to use lath, one of the most abundant materials in the site, in one of my bathroom walls, it became the main wall, representing the key element of the project, sustainability.

It is amazing to see my design transform, from a parti sketch, a concept model, to later develop into a bathroom design. It is fun to see the transition from my kitchen design to the bathroom, how the use of different materials and location does not affect the cohesive relationship between the two.

 

Bathroom Project Poster

 

It is very important that, after all our hard work and effort, this information is presented in a clear and readable manner. It is important for the client to visually see and understand all the phases of the project. For this poster everything was drafted, and then all the work was scanned and arranged in InDesign to produce a digital poster.

 

 

Volumetric Bathroom Model

A volumetric model helps us visualize the space created in a floor plan, 2D drawing, in 3D. It is important to understand the relationship between 2D and 3D drawings and the correlation in the actual space.

In this image elements in the shower can be appreciated, a 5' turn radius allows a wheel chair to enter the shower. The toilet is also ADA accessible, allowing a side approach!

 

 

Kitchen Project

Designing a kitchen is a very complex task, and a few days ago I came up with my own design. This is a very challenging task since there are many considerations that need to be taken into account, little things such as 3 inches clearance to open a cabinet door so it won’t block any other doors is vital. Or having a 5 feet turn around for accessibility.


The owner of St. Elmo Hotel, Palouse, asked the WSU interior design sophomores to design a kitchen for his hotel, and sustainability and accessibility are key components in the design.

 This was my first time designing a kitchen; it was very interesting and educational to see the design come together. Learning about all the clearances and all the things that need to be taken into account goes over the aesthetics of the space, things such as programming, surveying the owners and understanding what the needs of those occupying the space are very important. Aesthetics is just a minimal part of the whole design process, I knew it was beyond that, yet I did not know to which extent. I have learned to appreciate design in a deeper level, and now I over analyze things, and think of their functionality. After dealing with all the design aspects of the kitchen, it needs to be presented to communicate ideas in a clear manner. This was the second part of the project, organize and communicate our ideas.

 Poster composition is very important, as well as the quality of drawings, elevations, sections, plans, and perspective sketches. Everything has to come together in the final presentation, since this is when all the hard work shows off and communicates our ideals. Producing high quality work takes time and effort something that can’t be done overnight. I learned that the hard way, and managing my time is very important and crucial.

 Volumetric volumes are also part of the design process, this helps us see ideas in paper in 3D and allow designers to visualize the space biegn designed.

Accessibility Sketch Journal

Ride, Don't Walk

One challenging experience was to ride on a wheelchair, to experience how people with disabilities view the world, and how the world looks at them. For one it was very interesting to notice how people keep staring at other people with disabilities for a long period of time, making it very uncomfortable. The other aspect is to notice how many buildings are not suitable for Accessibility, especially old buildings, which don’t even have big enough doors to allow people in a wheelchair through.

Doors in Daggy Hall, WSU Pullman, had barely enough clearance for the wheelchair, yet no clearance for my hands, hence I'd hurt my hands rolling  the wheels while going through the door.

  Elevators are also a problem when it comes to accessibility if they are very confined, not enough clearance and space to move around. This was my first time getting in an elevator using a wheelchair, a small elevator I have to say, and it was very challenging, as it can be appreciated in the image above it was hard to enter the elevator and little clearance made it hard to maneuver the wheelchair, to the point that the doors were closing on me, if it was not for my classmate helping me, those doors would have bruised up my arms.

  

I had to exit the elevator by backing out in reverse, since it was hard for me to change my position once in the elevator.

 
Entering a restroom was hard, yet trying to enter a bathroom stall was even harder when it is not accessible. The clearance behind me, was not enough to turn and the stall was not big enough, period.

I was not able to get all the way in, this is the farthest I could get into the stall, if it was a real emergency, I don't know what whould have happened.

One more thing in accessible restrooms other than enough clearance, is to have space under the sink, which in this case it did not became an issue, there was enough clearance underneath, yet the mirror is not tilted, I had to stretch my neck to see my reflection in the mirror.

When asking for a cafe in our Expresso Bar, it was hard to see beyond the counter, my view point is very low, compared to the people standing behaind the bar.

This is the first thing I saw looking straight at the bar, I had to look up to see beyound this point.

People behind the coffee bar had to stretch over the counter to see me.

This sketch shows all I could see after looking up, I do not see any of the appliances behind the counter, not even the big refrigerator, all I see from it are the red and yellows stripes on the back. It was also hard to read the signs.

  This was my second try at entering a bathroom stall, an accessible one, there was enough clearance for the wheelchair, yet I found it hard to turn around.

After this exercise now I understand why ADA stalls are so big and usually the toilet is at the corner, before this I had never really paid attention to this fact.

Opening the door was hard, as it was before entering the bathroom, the handle is in a very awkward position and as it can be appreciated in the image above, reaching out to it was hard as opening the door was blocked by my feet and wheelchair.

This experience taught me a whole lot, not only as a designer but a human being as well. Design is for people, and its major goal is to be functional for everybody not only for certain people, design needs to be universal, and I am very glad that in recent years people have become more conscious about this issue. Personally, I have a friend with a disability and it is irritating when design does not accommodate to his needs since it's hard for him to accommodate to design. I have a new respect for people with disabilities, since they have being adapting to design, and this is very hard.



Showrooms and House of the Immidate Future

Attending showrooms was one important aspect of the study tour in Seattle, we had the opportunity to attend many including Knoll. Here we met the representative of Knoll and had some time to sketch furniture in the showroom. We also visited the House of the Immediate Future, which was designed with sustainability in mind.

During the Knoll visit, I learned a lot of office design, specially furniture and textiles. Knoll has great desks chairs which allow for comfort in the work place, which nowadays is more open and cooperative; hence furniture is designed around these specific needs. Walls are lower to allow communication in the work space, and storage space is maximized.

  These are some of the sketches in Knoll showroom.

One of the many visits in our study tour was the House of the Immediate Future. A prototype house honoring the 50^th Anniversary of the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, which commemorates the houses of the future, latest technology.  This house is a display to showcase the work and passion that goes into building these houses as well as the energy-efficient aspects of the prototype home. One very interesting feature in this particular house is the “Wet Block,” a yellow block in the middle of the structure, where all the plumbing, and wet aspects of the house, connect to. This is very efficient as well as the thick walls filled with insulation to keep cold air entering the house. Big windows that run all the way to the floor allow natural light to come in the space, maximizing natural light and minimizing the use of artificial lighting.

House of the Immediate Future Exterior

This sketch shows the House of the Immediate Future's exterior, just behind the samller house, horizontal lines that go from top to battom of the side of the house can be appreciated, this is the Wet Block I mentioned earlier.

House of the Immediate Future Kitchen

This is the kitchen in the house; here once again we appreciate the yellow wall, the Wet Block. I like the white cabinetry it is very clean and interesting. The window right next to the kitchen allows a great quantity of natural light to come into the house, as well as the other windows in the hallway to the left. Do to the width and thickness of the window this could work as a sitting area or storage.

Urban Sketchers/Seattle

During the Seattle study tour, we had the opportunity to sketch with Seattle’s urban sketchers at Seattle’s sculpture park. This opportunity allowed me to keep improving my sketching skills from live which can be a little tricky for me, and what best way to keep learning then to have the urban sketchers around us. I spoke to one of them, and her sketches were amazing, as I approached her in astonishment, she kindly told me that all it take is practice and learning to see things around us, which after analyzing made me realize this is very true. When sketching, we need to observe and record what we see, hence learning to see the world around us, this means noticing shapes, color, shadows, surroundings, texture, little things that we take for granted.

This is my sketch at the sculpture park, and i have to say that I am very proud of it, as one of the sketchers told me is all about learning how to see things, and I payed attention to my surroundings, then I reallized that the building windows reflect other structures.

 

This is the view I sketched from live in the Sculpture Park,. People kept moving around, and that is why I did not draw them in my final sketch. 



Job Shadow

NBBJ Job Shadow

I had the opportunity to job-shadow Ashlee Holtman who is part of the interior designers working at NBBJ, Seattle; this design firm has done plenty of work in Seattle and also internationally. This was a wonderful experience since it was a glance to what the future awaits for me as an interior designer.

One of the first things we got to do at NBBJ was to meet Joyce Romanoff, the president of Maya Romanoff; a company specialized in surfacing materials. She presented the new line for wall coverings and provided some free samples. This was much unexpected and the privilege to meet her would have not being possible otherwise. Ashlee also offered a tour of the studios at NBBJ, which are divided in sections, healthcare, accounting/human resources, etc. for ease of communication in common projects.

 Other designers also offered their time to talk about their experience and projects, which just blew me away, since what I learn in class everyday and how I work in studio is very relevant to what designers in the field do. It was very exciting to see a poster they were working on, which had images of the concept for that particular project, had images of finishes/furniture and annotations, sketches, perspective drawings, we are currently working on a project in which this type of work is what we do.

One specific thing these experienced designers mentioned was that hand drafting is important and it is nice to have that skill and continue to practice it; overall it just enhances others skills such as design software. Time management is something that is very crucial for this field, as well as team work, which is the base of any project. None of the designers worked on their own for a project, there was a group of 40 plus people, this shows the importance of team work and how valuable it is for work in a design practice, as well as networking.

Overall I had a wonderful time visiting NBBJ and learning from firsthand what the field awaits, this opportunity is something I will never forget, and keep dear in my heart since it made me realize, once again, why I love this field. Thanks Ashlee and NBBJ.

http://www.iida-northernpacific.org/slide/design-inmass

Seattle Children's Research Institue is one of the many structures the NBBJ frim has designed.