Art Gallery Experience

For my visit to an art gallery over Spring Break, I decided to think outside of the box. Since I was spending Spring Break in the backwoods of Vermont, my location hindered me from finding the typical art gallery or museum. After discussing it with my grandfather who is an avid hunter, he convinced me that the art of taxidermy would best suit my chosen artist, as well as the location of the station. During one of our trips to the outdoor emporium Cabela's, I took a variety of photos showcasing the art of taxidermy. After driving 3 1/2 hours to the nearest Cabela's in Scarborough, Maine, we found that like walking into any of their other locations, you immediately feel like your are part of an elaborate hunting cabin. Depending on the type and size of the game, certain types of material were used to display the animals in a real life form. The majority of the exhibits and animals can be moved to other areas to display different situations of the animals life. For the African exhibit, the accent lighting spotlights  established on the floor, broadcasts the right amount of light to give the appearance that the animal is alive and moving. The majority of the displayed game are on displayed on wood pedestals around the walls, except for the animals mounted on the walls from the neck up. When you walk into Cabela's you are able to go up and down and the entire store is focused around the rock and aquarium exhibit in the middle of the store. The stone floor paths and river stream running around the store, leads people to certain areas of the store, depending on what you are looking for. The mass amount of windows and skylights allow a large amount of natural light in, to give more of the appearance of the outdoors. I really enjoyed this experiment, and due to my personal likes,  and I found that my choice of taxidermy art also followed though with my chosen artist. 

Impaired Vision Experience

For the the visually impaired experience, I had to follow a set of steps to understand what everyday life for a person with visual limitations, would be like. I found that most of the steps were as expected, except for the part with the sunglasses and petroleum jelly. When wearing the glasses, I found that just walking was easy, but when it came to the stairs, your sense of depth perception is off. I might of found walking to be the easiest, but when I tried reading its near impossible to make out any of the words. All in all, I found this exercise to be very beneficial, especially because I am designing a home for some of who is visually impaired. Now I am able to design a space that will be more accommodating to their disability, rather than be a place of hazard.

St. Elmo Hotel (One Bedroom Apartment)

I really enjoyed being able to work on this project. When Seth first introduced this project, I had so many idea's for it, especially because of the location and it's historical background. I was able to use my personal design view of a rustic country look in my designs as well as incorporating Seth's taste of an upscale modern design. Given the hotel's location, the laid back farm design fit perfectly with each room of the hotel without going to country. I was able to incorporate my three design words of rustic, easygoing and natural into my design by using a variety of wood, both light and dark as well as natural earthy tones for the paint and tile. I was also able to incorporate my original concept model developed from the song "Home" by Dierks Bentley in my design. By going with a circular theme, especially in my furniture I was able to used circular and half moon tables as well as round bar stool, can lighting and a rounded couch all originating from my original concept model. 

Designer Review

For my designer review I met with an interior designer at Sechrist Design Firm in Seattle. I throughly enjoyed meeting with him. He gave me a tremendous amount of feedback which helped improve my floor plans and color schemes. I really liked being able to sit down with him one on one and have him either correct or improve my plans, due to the fact that they will help me in my design and my for my future skills as a designer. After showing him my materials boards, he helped me decide which ones were more suitable for a residential apartment and which were not. He also gave me the name of a few showrooms where i can get samples of products to use in my design that not only work but are cost affective as well. He gave me a whole new outlook on my design. Due to the fact that money was not an problem when designing my apartment and common space, I used different and unique materials. But after speaking with him about some of the cost issues of his previous design's and my material's. he helped me find materials like flooring that may look like wood, but aren't and are a whole lot cheaper. I really enjoyed meeting with him, and hope to get more advice from him in on my future projects.

Assign.5 Bath Design

I really enjoyed this project. I love being able to pick out materials and design rooms to my liking. I think my design turned out exactly how I had planned. I went with a bubble theme as my concept. I choose Dierks Bentley's song "Home" as my inspiration of home. The way he describes summer as a kid blowing bubbles, really hit home for me. So I wanted to use that inspiration in my design. My favorite part of the design is the bubble tile I used on 1/4 of the wall.

Concept Model

I found this assignment to be one of the most difficult ones we've had this year. I really didn't understand it in the beginning. But the more I talked to my professor and piers, the more I understood it's involovement in the design process of the apartment kitchen. I like my model, I feel like it represents my design personality.

Ride Don't Walk

I really liked this experiment. Even though I got weird looks the whole time, I now know the difficulties that people in wheel chairs suffer everyday. I liked being able to see how they view the world and really how difficult it is for them to get around. I never really realized how much I took my own legs for granted.