Depot Design - Natural Movement

The Northern Pacific Railroad Depot in Pullman, WA. was an adaptive reuse project that was designed for Tom Degroot, who is a painter from Seattle, WA., and his wife, who is legally blind. The residential space needed to be <800SF that allowed universal design and accessibility.

The inspiration of the design was a flagpole holder that was attached to one of the windows at the historic depot. Degroot's philosophy statement was combined with the elements of the inspiration. The luminous, silkiness and richness of his paintings were applied to the design through the lighting and color on the walls; his abstract compositions of color and naturalistic patterns were applied to the organic and asymmetrical movement.

Depot Study Models

Before building the final model of the Depot, we had to make three study models, as shown below. These study models were very rough drafts because of the materials we used. We used trace paper and card stock paper that were easy to cut. Using these materials were so rough that it was quite hard to actually see how the space would work, but at the same time, it helped us visualize what we were working with. During this process, it helped me choose what worked for me and what didn't, such as, knowing where to place the residential, studio, and gallery. The small windows were hard to cut out, even on card stock paper. Trying to make it perfect and not cut more that what was needed was a challenge. I was aware of this and did a careful job with the museum board for the final model.

The final Depot model is shown below. Using museum board was stronger and easier to make everything stand up. Even though museum boards can easily get dirty, I made sure that my hands were clean through out the process. I used the hot glue gun because it was stronger and helped hold everything in place. My goals for this model were to end up with the clean model and clean cut lines. I used a ruler while I cut out every piece to make sure everything was straight. Also, I measured everything carefully before I glued everything together. I think that my depot model was successful because I was able to achieve my goals.

The only part that I would try to do better is the exterior landscape design that I drew. I could have worked more with the shape of the sidewalks and give it a better shape.

Depot Concept Model

The inspiration of the concept model was a flagpole holder. Movement, asymmetry, space and contrast of straight and curved lines guided the process. There was no emphasis in the inspiration piece so no focal point was added in the concept model as well. The flat metal and museum board were bent and curved to create contrast and form.

Inspiration Piece: Flag Holder



The metal and the white museum board were used to contrast each other. Both of the materials are bright and creates a nice and clean look.

Concept Model

Academic Showcase Reflection

The Academic Showcase was an awesome experience. One of the posters that I went to was #255: Greek Row Park. This particular project focused on how to bring the community together. Designers, landscape and Greek Row students came together to work on a charette. They wanted to turn one of the unused areas into a park where people could hang out and play.

The poster layout of this booth was very organized. The information was on an 8.5’x11’ poster and the writing was short, simple and straight to the point.

The second poster was #86: Linear Urbanism. Matt Milcher is from Spokane, WA and he was at the booth explaining about his collaboration with two other designers from Serbia and Brazil. This team project focused on how the cities were expanding wider. Matt researched on Spokane while the other two designers focused on Belgrade, Serbia and Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Textile Reflection

The idea generator of this textile design was a flag holder. The form givers were: movement, space, form and contrast of straight and curved lines.

Idea Generator: Flag Holder

Below are the different modules that I came up. Each one shows the elements and principles that I took from the inspiration piece.

I chose the one with different sizes of squares because it had most of all the elements and principles: movement, asymmetry, space and unity.

 
The final textile is 36'x36' and each module is 1'x1'. By making the modules smaller, the textile looks a lot cleaner.

This textile design was a great experience for me. I learned how to design my own fabric and how to get it printed.

Client Brief

This is a poster of my client brief. It talks about the philosophy of the artist, Tom Degroot, and how his strategy of art is applied into the space that I will be designing. The luminous, silkiness and richness of his paintings will enhance the space that I will be designing through the lighting and color choices that I will make.

Vision Disability Activity

My classmates and I had the opportunity to experience how it feels like to move through space as if we had poor vision. We tried different methods of looking through plastics that contained a specific disability in the eye.

Here is my partner, Megan Pharmer, looking through different plastics.

Looking through a ziploc bag that's folded in half was impossible for me to read the newspaper.

The next task was to fold the ziploc bag into fourths.

We were given a sunglass that was covered with petroleum jelly. When you can't really see, you do rely on texture to find your way around!

The stairs in the Atrium library had good contrast and texture for the blind.

The stairs in the main part of the CUB was not well-designed for the blind. Walking down was difficult because the colors were both very dark.

One thing that I never realized was that blind people uses the ATM as well! 

Here is a sketch that I drew and took notes while I was at the ATM machine.

Adaptive Re-use Gallery

This was a group project that I did with Megan and Alyx. Our subject was on adaptive re-use buildings that were turned into a museum or art gallery.

The one I chose was the Akron Art Museum. It used to be a public library before it became a museum. They had no financial support and borrowed only two rooms in the basement of the library. The workers were only volunteers and they strongly hoped for a greater plan. They bought the public library in 1950 and opened up an Art Institute but after it closed, they changed the name "institute" to "museum" because the of the great art collection that they had.

Habitat for Humanity

This design for Habitat and Humanity was a team project with Carly Gonia. Growth & Memories, Family and Protection were the definitions of home that were most important to us. We used these words as a guide in the design process.

We were given the requirements of the home from the Habitat owners. We also had a great question and answer discussion with them in order to understand the purpose and goals that they were looking for.

I had a great experience working with and presenting to real clients.     

Posters by: Nkojoua Yang