DESIGN 3102 Process BookEmily Khoury

Autumn 2015 | Susan Melsop

PROJECT 1Visual Literacy

Emily Khoury | Design 3102 | Autumn 2015 | Susan Melsop

Understanding Design Principles and Employing Design ElementsImages from Nature

Pen Drawings

Project DescriptionProject one is a four-part exercise that includes seeing, sketching, composing, and two-dimensional building. The project investigates the fundamentals of design principles, design elements, and figureground relationships. I explored through various drawing and model makingtechniques the nature of design elements to define, create and a manipulate space.

“Space is the raw material of interior design, yet it is interdependent with form and surface articulation. While space is all around us, in interior design it becomes defined, organized, and imbued with idea. Form, space and order work together to create spatial compositions.”

Throughout this project, understanding the natural order of nature and translating it into an organized space with specific intents and purposes was essential to understanding and creating a poetic space. The first segment of the assignment was to find radial, centralized, linear, and cluster patterns in images of nature. The images were cropped into sqaures and printed out in black and white.

Process In this part of the project I identified organizational structures and patterns occurring in nature. The patterns that I identified consisted of centralized, linear, radial, and cluster. After the natural patterns were identified and translated into black and white images, I practiced drawing techniques using black Micron pens of varying weights on vellum paper to achieve the desired appearance, a simplified line drawings highlighting the organization in each of the natural patterns.

ReflectionWorking on this part of the project, I learned that identifying only one organizational structure in natural patterns is more difficult because they are usually a combination of several organizational structures. For instance the above flower pattern is both centralized as well as radial. By creating the simple black line drawings it becomes easier to clearly identify the organizational structure.

Design Principles and Elements of Design: On-The-Wall Classification

In Class Exercise: Sorting and ClassifyingThe objective of this in-class group assignment was to understand the design elements and principles and how they overlap and relate to one another. The correlation between the elements and principles is present in each of the various patterns and organizational structures. It becomes a matter of identifying and articulating the presence of each element and principle and the relationship it shares.

ReflectionThe connection between various structural organizations and their relationship to elements and principles is easier to understand when a visible expression is accessible. It was challenging to find a single dominate element and single dominate principle in several of the images. However, by discussing each image as a group, as we placed them on the grid my understanding of each image was heightened. Next time, I would gather a larger variety of images to understand the relationship further.

Design Principles and Elements of Design: Concept Development

Figure / Ground Compositions Paper Relief Models

ProcessIn order to make the figure-ground compositions, I first decided what the object or figure was going to be based on the pen drawings and then I composed them in such a way that when the figure-ground image was reversed a strong composition could still be achieved. To make the relief models, I imagined the figure-ground compositions being stretched two inches off the page. This allowed the figural object and the figural void to really come to life.

ReflectionIn this step of the process I learned that it is necessary to employ a little more imagination and design thinking when translating a two-dimensional composition into a three-dimensional composition for model making. I faced some challenges in craft working with the curves and ellipses. However, the figural object and figural void of each of the figure-ground compositions translated clearly into the relief models.

ObjectivesThe objective for the figure-ground phase of this project was to create compositions using only white and black Canson paper which illustrated the positive and negative space of the selected pen drawings. By reversing what was considered the figural object and figural void each image could be translated differently.

The objective of the relief models was to translate the two-dimensional figure-ground compositions into three-dimensional models.

Design Principles and Elements of Design : Design Developments

Translating 2D to 3D Interior Design2 Models @ 1/2” = 1’-0”

Expanding The Scale1 Model @ 1” = 1’-0”

ProcessFor this phase of the project I implemented various modeling methods and practices. For example, I measured, cut, scored, andglued the bristol and foam board. I was concerned about the creation of light and shadow in this particular phase. The way the light came through the oculi and struck the floating objects was important, but the shadow they created on the floors and walls was also important. The shadow was intended to be an abstracted repetition of the two-dimensional pen drawings on vellum, only translated into the three-dimensional space.

ReflectionIn working on these models, I learned that the working with circles and ellipses are significantly more difficult to model in a space and maintain the level of accuracy which was desired. I believe that I successfully translated the two-dimensional image and pen drawing into a three-dimensional form by creating forest like space that captures the radial and centralized forms of the anemone cluster pictured in the two-dimensional pen drawings.

ObjectivesThe objectives of creating the smaller models was to ideate and translate the relief models into a human scaled interactive space. The objective of the larger model was to refine the ideas from the smaller models and to highlight and bring to life the design elements and principles that we have been consideringthroughout the process.

Design Principles and Elements of DesignObjectivesFor this phase of the project, the objective was to create hand drawn plans and sections of the large model at 1” = 1’-0”. The goal was to make the unconventional model into a conventional plan set, or as conventional as it could be.

ProcessIn order to complete this phase I made an imaginary cut four feet off the ground in the model and a plan was drawn from that. Each opening in the plan or object that appeared in the plan, as well as the sections I measured to obtain accuracy. I altered somemeasurements to create a more ideal plan. Section A-A and Section B-B were selected as the vantage point which displayed the most representative angles.

ReflectionIn this phase, I learned plan, section, and reflected ceiling plan conventions and applied these conventions to a model that I had already constructed. It was challenging to apply these conventional methods to a model with so many unconventional practices. The sections both turned out particularly well and captured the model in a dynamic and interesting way. Next time, I would compose a more dynamic and interesting floor and reflected ceiling plan. I will also work on the craft of the lines, especially the ellipses.

Plan Reflected Ceiling Plan

Section A-A Section B-B

PROJECT 2A Single Chair Museum

Emily Khoury | Design 3102 | Autumn 2015 | Susan Melsop

INTRODUCTIONPrimary ObjectivesProject two is a multi-part exercise in drawing, abstract and conceptual thinking, model making, and creating orthographic and perspective renderings of an interior space. The project investigates the ideas and tectonics of a single chair and how these ideas can relate and be translated into an interior space. The site and interior conditions of the space were predetermined for this project and are listed here.

Site ConditionsEntry sequence and circulation 675 sq. feetReception Area 75 sq. feetPublic Gathering Area 350 sq. feetStorage Space 100 sq. feet

Total 1200 sq. feet

“ The very essence of Architecture consists of a variety and development reminiscent of natural organic life. This is the only true style in architecture.” -Alvar Aalto

RESEARCH

Alvar AaltoFinland b.1898 – d.1976Modernist / Humanist 1920s-1970s

“The very essence of architecture consists of a variety and development reminiscent of natural organic life. This is the only true style in architecture.” - Alvar Aalto

Paimio Chair 1931-1932

Tank Chair 1936

Career and Zeitgeist Alvar Aalto was a famous Finnish architect and designer during a time of economic growth and industrialization in Scandinavia. In 1918, when Aalto was just entering the Finnish School of Architecture, his studies were put on standby while he fought in the militia for Finland. Eventually, Finland declared its independence from Russian and Aalto was able to become a licensed architect by 1921.

His career spanned from the early 1920s into the 1970s and his style of work reflected this fivedecade long career. His earliest work was influenced heavily by Nordic Classicism and his later work was to be considered more Scandinavian Modern, but still possessing the organic forms present in his earlier works.

Aalto, like other notable designers of his time, had a concern of the total work of art, the gesamtkunstwerk. This lead him to design not only the buildings but each of the fixtures and furnish-ings that were to go in the building. Alvar Aalto often worked in collaboration with his wife, Aino Aalto, to accomplish this gesamtkunstwerk.

Tank, 1936The armchair known as the Tank was made in 1936 for the Milan Triennale. This chair made of form pressed birch wood, foam, and upholstery. It is known to be a milestone in furniture design of the 1900s. The chair was different from any of Aalto’s other designs. The first thing that made this chair different from his others was the fact that it was not made for an actual destination it was only made for an exhibition. Another way this chair was different then his others was the Tank was more massive and the barycenter was made lower. Despite its massive look, it is known to be very comfortable. Thoughtfully created, its bent arms, solid wood frame with metal springs and classic zebra-print upholstered foam cushion give the armchair a substantial feel. The low-slung sled base has earned it the nickname of the “tank”.

Paimio,1931-1932The chair known as Paimio was made between 1931 and 1932 for the Paimio Sanatorium. This chair is made with bent plywood, bent laminated birch, and solid birch, and was inspired by Marcel Breuer’s tubular-steel Wassily Chair of 1927—28. The Paimio is also the precedent and inspiration for bent plywood chairs and furniture created for the Eames collection. This chair was created for a patient lounge in the Paimio Sanatorium and the design was meant to ease the breathing of tuberculous patients. The Paimio is among Aalto’s most recognizable pieces of furniture. The chair is part of the Gesamtkunstwerk and also aligns with Aalto’s philosophy of organic forms in architecture, as the arms and seat of the chair curve and bend.

Above is an image of the Paimio Sanatorium and the patient lounge the the Paimio chair was first seen in.

Above is an image of the Triennale that the Tank chair was designed for.

By Emily Khoury and Re’Maile Ferrell

OBJECT ANALYSISObjectiveThe objective of this step in the project is to be able to draw and understand the proportions and the structure of the chair. This is a vital phase in understanding how the chair occupied space and related to the human body. This phase acts as a construction phase which is instructional for the next phase, which employs the use of abstract and conceptual practices to deconstruct the chair and the philosophies of the chair.

The image below is a sketch of the chair as it relates to human scale. It shows someone sitting in the chair and someone standing next to the chair.

Paimio ChairScale 1 1/2” = 1’ - 0”The images above shows the Paimio chair in a front

elevation, a side elevation, and an axonometric.

CONCEPT STATEMENTDesign IntentionThe intention in the design of the Paimio Chair Museum is to allow the museum patrons to have a visceral experience of walking through a space that mirrors the design intentions Alvar Aalto applied to the the original chair. The Paimio chair was first used for tuberculous patients in a Finnish sanatorium, the ergonomics of the chair are emphasized to enable the best breathing position for patients.

How is space used to achieve objective?The museum space takes patrons on a curvilinear path from the entrance to the displayed chairs. This path is reminiscent of the curves that can be seen and experienced in the Paimio chair. Patrons experience the breathability of the chair as they walk through compressed and expanded spaces. The ceiling reflects the compression and expansion by rising and falling as the path progresses towards the chairs. The volumes in the chairs resemble the volumetric voids that are present in the Paimio chair and they overlap and become implied enclosures in the same way the voids in the chair create implied enclosures.

Principles of DesignFor the Paimio chair there were many design principles that could be applied to the design, many of each I explored. However, the principles I chose to emphasize are asymmetry, rhythm, and repetition. I decided on these principles because they were principles that were most evident in not only this chair, but in the Alvar Aalto’s body of work. These principles highlight the theory and aesthetics of the time.

Design ElementsFor the Paimio chair there were many design elements that could be applied to the design, many of each I explored. However, the elements I chose to emphasize are line, plane, volume, and datum. I decided on these elements because these elements best complimented the selected princi-ples. The line was present in the space via the circulation path to the chairs, planes partitioned and divided space, and volumes emerged from the voids of figured in the ceiling and on the walls.

CONCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENTS

The images to the left are examples of an “on the wall analysis” completed during this project. They express some principles, elements, and key design components present in the Paimio chair design.

The diagrams above show the design principles, elements, organization and division of space, and circulation pathers within the Paimio Chair Museum.

These images to the left are three examples of the study models I completed for this project. They explore the curved nature of the chair and compression and expansion of space.

DESIGN DEVELOPMENTS This images below are sections of the physical model of the single chair museum, as well as details in the model.

plan, reflected ceiling plan, section A-A, section B-B, perspective drawings (with human scale)

REFLECTIONThis semester I have relearned the principles and elements of design, but I learned how to apply them to a new orig-inal interior space. In the planning phase I learned that preparing a formatted research poster, or notes page to refer back to is helpful for later phases in the design process. It also keeps the work focuses and on track. I learned that by identifying organizational structures from natural patterns, or existing objects (for example a chair) can guide the organizational system in my own design in a more clear and efficient manner.

Repetition is key in designing, repeating sketches, diagrams, or ideas can clean them up and offer a more refined idea. I found making quick study models to be the most effective way to brainstorm ideas. The less finely crafted they are the more I can do for a project the better. Study models offer insight to building material, function, and space that sometimes paper and pen just don’t do justice.

Discussing ideas with other people is also a method that proves to be helpful to stay on track. Especially this semes-ter, I’ve found that if I can’t explain my ideas clearly to other people in a short time then that means I have gotten off track with my ideas or that they are just wrong and I should reevaluate the approach I’ve chosen to take.

I’ve working on various drawing techniques learned from this class and over the course of the semester. I’ve been sketchy and diagramming ideas more then just writing them down. The diagrams can communicate quicker and convey much more than a few scribbled notes or explanations.

I’m still working on improving many things that will help me down the road in interior design, such as drawing plans, section, axonometric, and perspective drawings and renderings. I’m also working on picking an idea earlier on in the design process and focusing on that, instead of holding on to too many ideas for a project for longer than necessary, those are the things that bog down the design process and make working on a project take longer than it should.

Everything I’ve learned this semester will be applied to future endeavors in interior design and I will continue to build on the knowledge I’ve gained from this semester.