Time Capsule Layout

Below is my page layout for my Time Capsule.

I have also included my orthographic drawings of my time capsule.

Ten Design Firm Websites

Below are the ten websites of design firms and organizations that I have visited, and my constructive criticism of the quality of the website.

1. Ai3
http://ai3online.com
The clean lines of the website really make the layout stand out because the eye can easily navigate the page. The web page opens with the companies background and goals, and at the bottom of the each page is their contact information. I love how you can scroll the mouse over the topics on the home page and it is followed by a solid orange line. It is a simple addition that really helps the websites composition. Overall Ai3 did a very good job of creating their website to be user friendly and attractive to the eye.

2. Triad Design Group
http://www.triad-designgroup.com
Located in Greensboro, this home town company is known for their spectacular work with the Grandover Club House & Piedmont Triad International Airport Renovations. Their website is very user friendly which helps a lot because you can find the information you need quick and easy. The page consist of a simple blue and purple layout that is able to catch your eye beside of the architectural lines across the pages. All of the section titles can be easily read but the font size for the descriptive information could be a little bigger. The fact that it is really hard to read the small paragraphs in blue is the only problem I see with their design firm website.


3. Pink Door, Inc.
http://pinkdoorinteriors.com
Also located in Greensboro is the design firm of Glen Lavinder called the Pink Door. They have become well known all over the world for their passionate all inclusive interior design services. Their website is wonderful because of the strong contrast in the lettering color and the beautiful pictures on every page.


4. Brett Climan Design
http://www.brettcliman.com/bcgraphixlogo.htm
I love this website because it is what I think of as digital eye candy. This very interactive site is creative while keeping the theme of modern design. All of the links load quickly and the user is able to read the fonts with ease.


5. Urban Interiors Florida
http://www.urbaninteriorsflorida.com
This sleek website is layed out very well because of its. The simple yellow squares and 4 picture a page layout helps keep the web pages consistent and modern. The text is all readable for the titles as well as the paragraphs and I think that the font that they chose is perfect. Everything just mixes together and forms the perfect user friendly website.


6. Greenough Interior Design
http://www.greenoughinteriordesign.com

This layout is similar to the other websites because it has the section titles at the top of the page and the information that loads underneath it, such as pictures and paragraphs. I don't really like this design because it is kind of boring. The colors do not match very well and the font in the paragraphs alternates between blue and black lettering. It distracts the eye from the true concept of the page. Other that that this website works good and gets the companies point across.

7. Chase Collaborative
http://chasecollaborative.com
This website is wonderful! I love the page layouts with the beautiful interior design pictures. This very interactive site is simple and sleek where you can find quickly exactly what you are looking for. The pictures alone make you want to explore the website further. The text size and color is perfect and readable.

8. Fletcher Design Consultants
http://www.fletcherdesignconsultants.com
Compared to the other websites I have commented on this one is more words than pictures. I think it actually hurts the pages because it is not as pleasing to the eye as the other colorful ones are. The navigation tools work but they are kind of hidden on the right side of the page. It looks like the web page was put together in a few minutes due to the fact of the lack of extra options and pictures.


9. Cippananda Interior Design
http://www.cippananda.com
There is only one word that can describe this website... SIMPLE!! When the homepage opens you only see four things the three topics and logo for the company. The other pages however are similar but have a few added pictures of their designed rooms. I kind of dislike this website only because you do not get a feel for what the company is really like.


10. O Design Solutions
http://www.odesignsolutions.com
I love this elegant website. It catches your eye while keeping your attention on the rooms they have designed. The navigation is very simple and has clean lines a the top of each page to keep the pages consistent with the rest of the website. All of the text is readable on the white background and overall the site flows very well.

Two New Technologies

When looking at the field of interior design you can see how quickly technology is changing. Each and every day there are new inventions that makes work quicker, easier and more energy efficient. Below are two examples of new technology in the design field.

1. Adobe InDesign CS3

This new professional page layout program delivers new features that allow you to explore more creative possibilities, experience greater productivity ad streamline repetitive tasks. It was released in April 2007 and offers upgraded programs such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat, InCopy and Dreamweaver. For around $699.99 you will get an amazing package of programs that have been specially designed to run on Windows Vista and Intel Macs. This package is being innovated into the environment we inhabit by allowing designers to better develop web sites, page layouts and be apart of an online community forum called CSS advisor.

2. Genius PenSketch

PenSketch is a new high resolution design tool for professional artists. The cordless digital pen and mouse is used to draw and illustrate effortlessly and process the images more precisely and rapidly. This product by Genius cost about $49.99, but it also comes with a Adobe Photoshop CS (trial version), Corel Painter IX (trial version), and Adobe Photoshop Elements (full version). This PenSketch drawing pad is innovated into the environment we inhabit by making it easier to quickly transferring a drawing or hand written paper into the computer. It makes our society much more efficient.

Ten Sustainable Designs

After searching through dozens of research journals I have come up with my final definition of what a sustainable design is, it is essentially designing objects and their built environments which both comply with the principles of social, economic and ecological sustainability.

1. The Journal of Sustainable Product Design

This wonderful quarterly journal put out by The Centre for Sustainable Design not only stresses the importance of economic, environmental, ethical and social issues in product design and development but also the assessment of dematerialization and system changes. JSPD aims to initiate leading-edge thinking in eco-design and sustainable product development and design. It also provides a platform for organizations and individuals to discuss new solutions to complex issues surrounding sustainability.




2. Scarpa & Brooks Firm

Lawrence Scarpa sees strong solar architecture as the ultimate solution to the debate between the pros and cons of solar energy. While remodeling, Scarpa became a serious sustainability pioneer by reinforcing that solar panels should be treated as art objects. He later was a finalist in the 2003 World Habitat Awards for his inventions.

3. HOK
I love how HOK embraces their responsibility to advance sustainable design for every building type, geographic region and budget level. Their approach to sustainable designs includes limiting the consumption of resources, improving the building performance, and promoting health.



4. Sustainable Design Group
This very active group is devoted to helping you design buildings or renovate your home to make it as energy efficient and harmonious with the environment as possible. The designs try to incorporate nature and self sufficient in energy, water, waste and food production, with the use of solar, wind and biological cycles.


5. Syska Hennessy Group
The Syska Hennessy Group is well known for their work on the Santa Monica Library because of the sustainable mechanical, electrical, and plumbing that they added into the building. The library contains high efficiency lighting systems, underfloor air distribution, demand-controlled ventilation and many other features that make this library truly stand out of the ordinary. They strive to establish sustainability goals and to implement green building strategies.


6. American Society of Landscape Architects
This professional design group is committed to ecology based planning and design. They create landscapes that balance the needs of man and the environment while benefiting both. While trying to balance the needs they also plan to advance the theory of sustainable design in landscape architecture and planning.


7. Sustainable Suites Initiative
This partnership between the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, and the United States Botanic Garden to develop guidelines and standards for landscape sustainability. Their services provide climate regulation, clean air and water, and an overall improved quality of life.



8. Sustainable Web Design

Not only do we need environmental sustainability but we also need web design sustainability which is offered by the Sustainable Web Design Group. Their guideline is that the web should be an informative, lively place that includes as many individuals as are wiling to participate.

9. Solar Power
Solar power is more widely used now because it has become cheaper and people have figured out that it has no negative effect on our environment.






10. Geothermal Energy
This method of heating emits only minimal amounts of gases into the atmosphere making it a very reasonable source of energy. It actually keeps the water below ground above boiling point and the pressure from the heat causes it to stay in the liquid form underground. When the water is pumped out of the ground it reduces the pressure which causes the water to flash into steam and turn a turbine to generate the needed electricity.


One of the biggest challenges of sustainable design is blending it with architecturally appealing and interesting design. Would you rather live in a house without windows that may be more energy efficient or in a house with windows?

Tiffany Layout

In class today we made a composition layout of our subject Tiffany. We drew her with 4 different styles we have learned this semester.

Le Corbuiser Sketches

My favorite sketch I did of the Visual Arts Center by Le Corbuiser was of the stone corner with the pipes hanging out. Below is my rendention of his picture.

Project 6: Time Capsule

I was really excited when we got this project because I have always been interested in what a time capsule is and what goes in one. We have broken down this project into 4 phases so we can keep to a schedule and get this done by December 3.

Phase 1: Conception

For the beginning of our time capsule project we had to create a parti, an ideation and a statement of understanding and intention. For my parti I tried to answer the following questions in order to come closer to finding a better understanding what a time capsule truly is.

• What is the capsule going to be shaped like?
• What will go in the time capsule?
• Where will it be located inside of the studio building?

Phase 2: Research

I was in Group 3 for the research part of the project and we were responsible for interviewing the faculty. Lindsey and I chose to interview John Rife, Stoel and Robert Charest, to find their views on the department and design as a whole.

Phase 3: Synthesis

Friday 11/9

Today we were asked to present the sketch models of our ideas and a refined parti with defined parameters, concept and goals. I made 5 different models that each represent time, and pictured below are my time capsule ideas.

I took some pictures of my designs to show my progress from my sketches on my parti to my final products.

Monday 11/12

Below are my revised models I made over the weekend, the first one is still the cluster of balls but I added paper mache to it to give it the feeling of being like a pinata. The second one is where I combined my hour glass model and my clusters to make a tower looking object that houses the spheres with the artifacts inside. Also pictured are my shaded sketches of my models for drawing class.

Wednesday 11/14

Today in class we made a detailed charette of our final model. My model showed how the spheres is connected with toothpicks, basically the simple design I drew earlier on trace paper. I cut out the inside to show how the spheres will connect.

Friday 11/17

Today we turned in our two detailed models that show specific parts of our project and how they are connected. While doing my first model, which shows how the two spheres are connected with two nails, I realized that I wanted to do more of a free standing model for Monday that incorporated the bowl like features that will hold little spheres. The spheres would be something that we could all contribute to, rolled up journal entries where we write to ourselves in the future about things that are happening to us this year.

Monday 11/19
Over the weekend I was able to design a new time capsule idea that incorporated my cluster of spheres and a couple of new ideas. The shape of the spheres basically resembles how we come into the IARC program as first year students and learn to branch out from one another and find out who we really are.

Tuesday 11/20

Today I turned in my Time Capsule Process Zine which included my 15 thumbnail sketches and my prototype layout of one of my thumbnail ideas.

Phase 4: Design

Due on November 30, 2007 is our full-scale prototype and a composite drawing of our final time capsule.