Inforgraphic La Crosse WA

This informational graphic was a great way to show people the information that was being taken into consideration for our project.

Romantic Escape

The design of Rock Houses is inspired by the basalt rocks that compose the exterior. The basalt rocks have a fine grained texture that is pleasing to the touch. The rounded, porous basalt surface captures beautiful gradations of color. The basalt wall surface was hand built in the 1930s by interlocking each stone with one another like a puzzle set. The basalt buildings are transformed into a Bed and Breakfast.

The paths between the buildings on the large downtown site are designed to imitate the interlocking aspects of the rocks construction. The proposed buildings are designed to capture the aesthetic of the existing rock houses.  The central plaza in-between the rock house gives people a private environment, as well as provides an opportunity for community through gathering places around the circular fire pit.

The interior of the buildings are designed to reflect the arts and craft movement of the early 1900s with handmade wood furniture. The overall color theme is drawn from the colors on the basalt rock: browns, greens, reds, orange and grays. This design creates a romantic escape for visitors that reflect the culture of the town through its private spaces and its communal environments.

Bed and Breakfast Case Study

These three bed and breakfast business where chosen to look closely at how they run, cost, and amenities that offer for their clients.

Immersed in an Illuminated Aquatic Atrium

       Through out this project of have come to learn many things. First of all i now understand the importance of really getting an understand of what your clients wants. When your client wants something, give it to them, but do it in a way that they did not expect. At first the clients did not understand how a technology building is similar to aquatic wildlife. The building they work in house many different types of employees from coders to magazine writers. All of the professional that work their address their own problems differently and no one way is right. this is also true with aquatic wildlife. We think we understand them and then some mother natural shows use a contradicting way to live in the ocean. 

       They liked the idea of having an immersive aquarium that they will be able to visit during their break. The space is designed to let people unwind from their stressors, to be a home away from home. This is accomplished by the visitors using more then just their site to experience the space. They can not only see the beautiful fish swimming in the water, but they can feel all the different textures on the surfaces like tables, they can smell and hear the of running water. The affect that this space will give people is one of relaxation. Designing this space to be a third place is what makes it feel comfortable. Not only is it aestheticsly beautiful, but also hatpicly exciting.   

Pufferbelly Depot (A Curved Notion)

The Pufferbelly Depot was designed for Kevin Haas a Lithographers. The design of the project came from a bench found at the depot during the site visit. My concept guiding the project is bold form, elegant curves, and visual mass.The project was to design a home for an artist that is a studio and a gallery as well, but the spouse happens to have a visual disablement.  Kevin Haas uses many over sized tool to create his art, because of this space planing in his studio will be very impotent. He requested that his interior is focal points art not the walls, but the interior spaces them self. The landscape of the site is open to two different sides and because of this we have many unwanted visitor going through the site. The site is full of many problems, but that is what makes it so much fun. Using design I took a different look into solving these problems.

The client, Kevin Haas, is a man that like to have a yard, but he does not like to do to much maintenance. I desisted to give him a good amount of grass area that will not require to much maintenance. Wood chips for a larger amount of the space to give the space an earthy tone and the a gardening bed for the wife is hobby. The tree in the center of the yard is meant to be a retreat for the patrons of the home to escape too. The gardening bed also works as a divide for the public and privet parking area. Closing off the other entry way with the yard is a great way to stop any unwanted traffic to go through the site.  


The interior of the space was designed with bold vivid colors to help the spouse get around the home. The furniture used was chosen by request of the client style and atheistic taste. The colors were chosen to make their location in the space evident to people and especially the spouse. The different color flooring for the shop was chosen to direct to the spouse and people what is a safe path of travel and what is not. The spaces that uses colors the best throughout the interior would have to be the kitchen.
  




The kitchen uses many different strop colors to make a safer working environment for the spouse to use. The black laminate base cabinets show her where they are and the orange countertop shows the spouse where the working surfaces is. The white upper cabinets are easy to distinguish from the gray wall. The green stoles are easy to spout in the space. The all kitchen was design to be use for a person with a visual disability and because of the extreme color pallet it will still be usable when her vision get worse with time.  

A pattern I developed while exploring my concept was using in the interior space by the living room. The parcel wall made from different color resin was used a an element to separate the living from the hallway. The pattern is seen in the resin. This create a piece of art that call the attention to one of the main spaces in the home. The pattern was a great way to learn more about how my concept could be applied.

The master bathroom was designed to be elegant and ADA accessible. The shower uses different 12x12 tiles that show people where the shower is. The size of the bathroom can fit a built in shower bench. The double flush toilet is side access because it is one of the easiest ways to get onto a toilet from a wheelchair. Their is a 1 foot spacing below the cabinets to allow for front access for the sinks.  

This project was a great chance to test what I have learned in Interior Design. I believe that the project came out great, but their are a few things I would change. I would of liked to apply a bright color pallet similar to that of the kitchen to more spaces like the bathroom. This project was also a great chance to work with a real client. I am great full to have this opportunity.

Art Gallery Visit at the Seattle Art Museum

Site Visited: Seattle Art Museum

Looking for inspiration for my art gallery design, I visited the Seattle Art Museum to view how the museum presented different pieces of art. When walking through the museum, many different presentation styles where evident. I noticed that there where many moveable walls throughout the different floors, pedestals, class casings, stands, and various usages of lighting. 

Every floor had moveable walls that seemed as if they were permanent. They came in many different colors ranging from white to a rosy red. These different colors created a different effect. The red walls where used to complement a dark collection that was on display. This helped emphasis the dark illusion seen in the paintings.

They also had many lamps on their track lighting system with a variety of light filters. Some art pieces where lit with more than two lamps creating an interesting light composition that complimented the art pieces. The lights seemed to be mostly florescent bulbs. What was interesting was the fact that each type of art called for its own amount of light. 

They had many different types of displays when I visited the museum.

Some of the art was on pedestals,

while other works where on glass shelves, which complemented the glass collection on display.

Then I saw that some art works where on shelves,

and some where on little stands.

The museum also displayed art from walls and ceilings.

 When I was looking throughout the museum I only saw one area that had natural light. The windows had a sheet of perforated plastic over them that limited the amount of light that came into the space. However, the natural lighting was an interesting change to see in the space, particularly next to the abstract painting. 

Something that I noticed throughout the spaces and the different exhibits was a change in sitting furniture. They seemed to correspond with the theme of the art around them. They even had African themed benches to go with the African exhibit.

When I was walking through the museum I was guided by escalators from floor to floor. These big elements made it evident where I needed to go. The more permanent art exhibits where on the lower floor and the  temporary art exhibits where on the higher floors. Placing the more popular art exhibits on the top floors was an interesting way to show the hierarchy in the art pieces.

They had many exhibits there the day I visited:

African art

Chinese, South Asian and Southeast Asian Art

Decorative arts

European art

Japanese and Korean Art

Modern art

Native and Mesoamerican Art

and many others.

Each of these collections of art had their own amount of space. Some art collections had only about 400 sq ft and then their where others that had up to 5000 sq ft. The size of the exhibit seemed to depend on the size, type of art, and importance of the exhibit. For example, paintings need less space than some sculptures, and little trinkets need less space then paintings.