I began my process by doing research on who she is and her works, as well as the site. I went with some other architecture friends to the site that we were given, took some photos, took notes on the space such as where the sun is, views, sounds, and more. I drew a site plan without my building on it. As for my research on Scher, I found that she is a famous graphic designer; she began as a layout artist for Random House’s children's books, then moved into an album cover design. She developed her own typographic solution, was the Creative Director of Esquire magazine, and has been a principle at the Pentagram design consultancy, the world’s largest independent design consultancy. She has taught at the School of Visual Arts in New York, Cooper Union, and Yale. She was the subject of one episode of Abstract: The Art of Design. She has designed logos for largely known companies, such as citibank, Windows, Tiffany and Co. and more. She was the first female principal at Pentagram, which is made up of 24 individuals representing the best in their fields. When I looked up her works, I found posters that used bright colors, unique layouts, and really drew the eye. For my parti, I wanted a central idea that I thought would convey what I thought was most important about the design. I came upon a few posters with similar layouts, mainly the one pictured below:
I was intrigued by the shape, so I created a parti that mimicked it. My parti was a central rectangle with 4 smaller rectangles protruding out from it, like how the words are coming out of the central figure in the poster. After I had the general form, I began to think about where I was going to put spaces. I created bubble diagrams to quickly sketch out the best room placement, ultimately deciding on the arrangement I have. But I wasn't satisfied with just the rectangles; I felt like I could really go deeper into my client's beliefs to capture a great space. So, I looked up quotes by her, and found a few that really sparked things in my mind. One thing that I found she discussed a lot is transformation and getting better over time:
It's through mistakes that you actually can grow. You have to get bad in order to get good. So I created some partis that focused on transformation, although still with the general form of my first one. I came up with the idea of triangles that transform in size and orientation, and placed them inside the central rectangle to make it more interesting. Another quote I found led me to the last part of my parti:
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- “[According to Swiss Modernism] the biggest compliment you could give to something was that it was ‘clean’. C’mon, there’s gotta be more than that … That can’t be it! What about expression, what about emotion, what about feeling? You had to be engaged with it in some way.
Thus, I wanted to avoid "clean" design with simple straight lines, and the best way I thought of doing this was creating some organic shapes to liven it up and create contrast. I simply drew random lines around the general form until something stuck and looked right to me; I used the shape around the balcony and then for walls in the front.
With my parti and general floor plan done, I began to think about site layout. I had already drawn it, so I just cut out a scaled outline of my cabin out of paper and played around with the placement. I decided to place it partly over the water. This creates privacy and takes advantage of the great views. Next was final room and furniture arrangement. I created multiple floor plans to help decide on each room. I placed the living room in the entrance because that is the most public space, then had the kitchen next to it for ease. I tucked the bathroom back so it would be separate from the main space but still accessible from the main spaces and the bedroom. I placed the bedroom the furthest from the entrance because it is the most private space. The indoor creative space was in the triangular main space, while the outdoor space was the balcony. My main priority for arranging furniture was to keep from disrupting the flow of the space and to allow views to be seen from almost everywhere; after all, it's on a lake! I kept the work triangle in mind in the kitchen, and used a bar set up for seating because she will be living there alone (something we were told at the beginning of the project) and it saves space. For the living room, I kept it simple with one couch and a few chairs to keep the entryway open. For the bathroom, we only needed a sink, toilet, and tub, but I wanted to provide my client with a shower as well, so I designed a space that fit all of them without being too big. For the bedroom, I created a window seat that emphasizes the view, and it was very important to orient the bed so that when she is waking up, she is looking at the view. I added a dresser as well, and a door to the balcony. I extended the bedroom space to create a narrow closet space that held ample storage. To use the triangles inside, I added accordion doors along the triangles that would allow her to transform the space however she wanted. I envisioned them being made of canvas/pinboard material that was partially transparent so they didn't divide the space too much, but would allow her to pin things up while she's working if wants. I put a desk behind the chairs in the living room, but I envision her moving it around the triangular center space to use it. Outside, I did simple chairs and a table to emphasis the views.
For the exterior form, I wanted to make it interesting. I originally had the four protruding rectangles at the same height, but later decided to alternate their heights to create visual appeal (thanks to my TA!). From the beginning of my thoughts with the triangles, I wanted to create transformation in the 3D level by also showing a progression through them. I started one higher, then the next one lower, and so on. I wanted to make it out of glass to bring more natural light (and this was okay because since it was facing the water, there was still some privacy), and I loved the idea of the forms really drawing your eye. When it came to the ways that the triangles cascaded, I created multiple options and took into account how the sun would move, deciding that my final option did the best job of capturing the sunlight for the most time.
With my parti and general floor plan done, I began to think about site layout. I had already drawn it, so I just cut out a scaled outline of my cabin out of paper and played around with the placement. I decided to place it partly over the water. This creates privacy and takes advantage of the great views. Next was final room and furniture arrangement. I created multiple floor plans to help decide on each room. I placed the living room in the entrance because that is the most public space, then had the kitchen next to it for ease. I tucked the bathroom back so it would be separate from the main space but still accessible from the main spaces and the bedroom. I placed the bedroom the furthest from the entrance because it is the most private space. The indoor creative space was in the triangular main space, while the outdoor space was the balcony. My main priority for arranging furniture was to keep from disrupting the flow of the space and to allow views to be seen from almost everywhere; after all, it's on a lake! I kept the work triangle in mind in the kitchen, and used a bar set up for seating because she will be living there alone (something we were told at the beginning of the project) and it saves space. For the living room, I kept it simple with one couch and a few chairs to keep the entryway open. For the bathroom, we only needed a sink, toilet, and tub, but I wanted to provide my client with a shower as well, so I designed a space that fit all of them without being too big. For the bedroom, I created a window seat that emphasizes the view, and it was very important to orient the bed so that when she is waking up, she is looking at the view. I added a dresser as well, and a door to the balcony. I extended the bedroom space to create a narrow closet space that held ample storage. To use the triangles inside, I added accordion doors along the triangles that would allow her to transform the space however she wanted. I envisioned them being made of canvas/pinboard material that was partially transparent so they didn't divide the space too much, but would allow her to pin things up while she's working if wants. I put a desk behind the chairs in the living room, but I envision her moving it around the triangular center space to use it. Outside, I did simple chairs and a table to emphasis the views.
For the exterior form, I wanted to make it interesting. I originally had the four protruding rectangles at the same height, but later decided to alternate their heights to create visual appeal (thanks to my TA!). From the beginning of my thoughts with the triangles, I wanted to create transformation in the 3D level by also showing a progression through them. I started one higher, then the next one lower, and so on. I wanted to make it out of glass to bring more natural light (and this was okay because since it was facing the water, there was still some privacy), and I loved the idea of the forms really drawing your eye. When it came to the ways that the triangles cascaded, I created multiple options and took into account how the sun would move, deciding that my final option did the best job of capturing the sunlight for the most time.
For the 3D model, I used medium chipboard for the walls, thick chipboard for the base, and plastic sheets for the glass. The chipboard wasn't too difficult, especially because I have experience now, and I had thick chipboard so I used it for the based. I wanted to show how it sticks out over the water, so I created a base that would cut the same way as the land would. For the glass, the plastic sheets were much less solid than the chipboard because they were thinner; as a result, they were harder to get standing and took multiple tries, hence the minor glue stains on them. The triangles were also hard to figure out because of their abnormal angles (I spent so long just staring at everything to figure out how I was going to figure out how long they were). Overall, the model was okay and would have been better if the glass had worked better, but I have taken notes on how to improve the next one. I didn't want to leave the triangles open and nonexistent like with windows in the model because they are an integral part of the model and cabin. I now have thicker plastic if I need it and know to think further ahead (sometimes I would glue things and realize that I didn't need that many pieces and could have made some bigger pieces instead).
We were not required to create a SketchUp model, but because I enjoy it so much and I wanted to have a model of it too, I created one while I was on winter break. I did the interior design on it as well, focusing on the three primary colors as accents to represent the idea of simplicity and also bring color into the space. I used light colored materials to keep the space bright, such as light birch or light concrete. For texture, I used stuccoed/plastered walls inside of the space. I carried the birch up into some walls to create a sense of cohesion. In the kitchen, I used mirrored cabinet fronts and a bright colored concrete tile up the walls and extending onto the floor. I used a rusted metal on the front for accent and to show the reuse of materials, something that I am passionate about as a person very interested in sustainability. To create the site map underneath, I used the Geolocation software on SketchUp, looked at my site plan for reference, and created different pieces and layers for each color to make it look realistic.
Overall
Overall, I really enjoyed this project and it made me even more excited to continue through architecture school! I also am proud of my understanding of the client; I feel like I really captured something that Paula Scher would like and put a lot of thought into it. As an architect, we are designing for others, so it is very important to think about the client as well as your own taste. This has always been something I really like about architecture!