Defying the Time-Space Continuum

I don't know if you realized it - but Friday night the earth stood still.  For a brief moment in time, their was world peace.  At least at my house!  I was in an alternate universe where the Interior Designer and General Contractor were actually working together for the common good.

We were going through a set of drawings Paul was pricing.  He was trying to get the price back into the client's budget.  For example, the project has 90 doors - the specified door frame is $150, the slab $350, and the hardware was $500 per door/opening.  We were surprised that all offices had doors - when the trend is 'open/transparency.'  NOTE:  Some personal offices do need doors - but not all offices in this particular building would require doors.

We were looking at the number of bathroom fixtures.  Doing the basic occupancy load calculations - the 50,000 SQFT space needed 11 water closets for just the women!  It seemed excessive for the number of actual staff of about 100 to 150 people.  I am curious what the actual occupant load calculated by the architect was - the numbers weren't on the CDs I was looking at.

I have always felt that the Designer and General Contractor should sit down and go through the drawings together.  Paul had marked up most of the detail drawing pages.  The detail/elevation tags on the detail pages didn't always match what was tagged on the plans.  So Paul couldn't 'see' what the designer was doing or trying to explain.  I could 'see' what and where the detail drawings were showing.  So I was able to talk Paul through it - so he could then actually 'see' what was going on.  Making it easier for him to deconstruct and price accordingly.  

In the real world, in the last 10 years the amount of time a General Contractor has to look over and price a building has gone from a couple of weeks to 'needed the price last week.'  The same is true for Architects and Interior Designers - everything has to be done last week, so we glance at the drawings as they go out the door - hopefully to the right client.

So in my little part of the world on Friday night - the earth did stand still, there was world peace, and Santa was able to put us back on the 'Nice' list.  The Interior Designer and General Contractor played well together, with no fighting!!

I learned that the really cool rooms with-in rooms we LOVE to incorporate into all of our commercial design projects are actually a Fire Protection NIGHTMARE!  You have to put sprinkler heads above the structure as well as inside the small room - plus you can only have a certain percentage of run-off or 'trapping' of fire suppressant.  Not to mention - what happens if the fire suppression system has some kind of leak - you have to think about adding drainage.  So Paul has pretty much squashed any of my design dreams involving the room with-in a room trend.  That's OK though - I would furious if my award-winning design was ruined by unanticipated sprinkler heads.

FURNITURE MANUFACTUERS WITH CAD

It can be a pain on projects to determine what furniture manufacturers provide CAD drawings through their websites that students can use instantly and for free. I have created a list of some for future reference:

http://www.blastation.com/
http://www.livingdivani.it/EN/Home.aspx
http://www.hermanmiller.com/
http://www.knoll.com/
http://www.lammhults.se/
http://www.encoreseating.com/
http://bretford.com/
http://www.coalesse.com/
http://www.hbf.com/Pages/Home.aspx
http://www.hightoweraccess.com/
http://www.bebitalia.com/

Let the Sunshine in

This week I wanted to reflect on the idea of taking the outdoors in. Although it's not a new idea, this concept has gained a lot of popularity recently. From green sculpture to glass walls, designers and architects have begun to truly appreciate and emphasize the importance of nature to our well being and it is starting to show in the rest of the industry as well. Here are a few examples, past and present:

1. CREATE, Singapore, Perkins&Will

Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise at the Singapore National Research Foundation--combination of outdoor space with overhead cover and exposed spaces. successfully integrates the indoor and outdoor as well as usable transition space. Makes the outdoor feel cozier and the interior feel more spacious.

2. Green Sculpture

Great way to bring a sense of nature and complexity into an otherwise simple space. Really creates a contrast with the white as well. (what great staircases!)

3. Farnsworth House, Mies Van der Rohe

One of the originals-Van der Rohe created a space that literally showcased the outdoors and used the landscape to add to the interior.

4. 3-Form

Now has the option to incorporate natural products between pressed glass to create a more open and natural environment

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It's all about the details.....

 

Since Christmas, my husband has spent every weekend staining, applying urethane, and then installing Oak door trim and Oak baseboards on the main level of our house.  One would think this is a pretty easy task - but it has taken significantly longer than ever imagined.  Why?  Because each piece of Oak has a different grain pattern/size that takes the stain differently - we have to look at 2 or 3 pieces of trim or base at each location, determine which piece looks the best for that area, etc.  As we are going through this very tedious task, I realize that I overlook this small detail - BASEBOARDS - on all of my Interior Design class projects.

When it comes to residential baseboards, we actually have a few basic choices to make.....wood (painted or stained) or tile.  The heights are fairly standard.  The builder basic is about 4 inches tall.  As the base height increases the finish product becomes more "high-end."  My husband and I always look at the baseboards when we go into someone's home - it tells a lot about the overall quality of the home.

Why do we have baseboard?  

To cover the last of the rough carpentry. 

 

How do you determine what kind of baseboard to use? 

• For my house, we decided painted baseboards on the basement level and second floor. 
• Oak baseboards on the main floor.
• All three levels use the same trim height and profile

 

1. Retained original white painted base.Oak base against new oak floor – too much wood and very dated.

 

2. 'Quarter-round’ in addition to the baseboard. 

 

3. New oak base with new tile floor.  White painted trim would look dingy and dirty next to the tile.



 

4.  White painted base with light color carpet.  Base disappears; you see the wall color contrast against the flooring.

5. 'Quarter-round’ in addition to the baseboard. White painted base with darker wood floor. 

 

6. White painted base with carpet color similar to wall.  Gives a clean transition between wall and flooring.



  

Quarter-round is used typically with wood and tile floors when the flooring material is not tight against to the finished wall.

 

Bathrooms are difficult to determine the type of base to use, especially near toilets and showers/tubs because of all the water. 

• Tile base seems logical – the initial cost of the base is expensive; the maintenance of the gout is time consuming. 
• Painted wood base is inexpensive to install, but is quickly damaged by the water.
• Stained wood base material cost is expensive, install costs same as painted wood trim, but finish can be damaged by cleaning chemicals then allowing water to damage the wood.

 

 

 



On Stairs...

An overlooked component of my interior design education so far is the staircase. The staircase is functionally and symbolically vital to space design. Functionally, staircases transition between levels. In residential and commercial capacities this is often the transition between the public and private sectors. The function of the staircase then becomes symbolic in nature: it is a path of relief. It is the journey one takes after a long day of work to bed. It is the avenue one takes when it is 4 AM in the morning and the last of the 39 guests has just said goodbye from the 7 hour booze-infested dinner party downstairs. It is the highway from the lobby to the private offices. The staircase when designed properly can offer relief, peace. It is not a menial, tedious component structure that needs to be hidden, but an integral part of any good design. Good designers know this. As an interior design student aspiring to be a good designer, the lack of staircase education I have received so far perplexes me. I still do not know how to design them! I feel shortchanged but I digress. Nevertheless, in homage to the guttiest, most integral, potentially most beautiful component of any project, I present a collection of some of my favorite staircases, amassed courtesy of Interest and boring Friday nights...

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Denise

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This will be the domain of the JTJ group from Purdue University. We will be writing about art, design, sustainability, and every other topic we can think of! Hopefully we will inspire others to think and live design as well.