Nnenne Freelon: Habitable wall

The main objective of this project was to design a habitable wall (not a room) for an assigned client. My client was Nnenna Freelon, a local and famous jazz singer who lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. When researching I came to the conclusion that she is free-spirited woman who loves life and children. My final model flows in a free-form motion just like her personality.









The above six images are of the first iterations that I did for the project. The last of the six, the one directly above is the form that I chose to stick with and built off of. I really enjoyed the continuous curve that was formed.


At this point I tried adding some sense of wall thickness but also bring in the aspect of lighting at the same time. I tried adding a layer of translucent trash paper to see what this would look like.


Once we were told to create a 1'': 1'-0" model this was what was developed as a result. I decided to add one more curve creating a total of four defined spaces. I also tried to create one continuous curve which by the way was quite difficult.




With this quick sketch model I was trying to see how I could add height and possibly a second level with one continuous form.


With this sketch model I experimented creating different forms with the walls themselves. I thought maybe one end of the wall could start at a designated height and then descend down towards the ground as it curved around.


Quite a change in this model from the plain white model. We were directed to add color into this model. We were required to have three main colors and an accent color. My three main colors were a light creme brown, a dark chocolate brown, and white. My accent color was the bright orange red color. The light brown represents public areas of the habitable wall and the dark brown defines the private areas designated for Nnenna Freelon. The orange red color was placed on top of the wall to show and clearly define the form of the wall. This scheme speaks of Nnenna Freelon's personality because while researching her I realized that most of her album covers and her website contain neutral colors with pops of bright colors.







This was my final presentation board I put together for my final critique of the project. The picture above it is of the entire group's boards that I presented with. One step of the project was deciding the location of the habitable wall. We were told that it would located somewhere on the third floor of the Gatewood Studio Arts Building. I chose for my habitable wall to be cornered in the south-west corner of the second year studio. My project can be seen in the rendered perspectives on my presentation board.

I really enjoyed this project especially after I decided on an idea. I liked having a client to work for and design for.

Unusual Sleeping Quarters

Source: Blizzmax

Source: Unusual Life

Source: modern mechanix

Source: astroday

Source: Up and Under

Our assignment was to research and find five examples of unusual or not typical sleeping quarters. Above is what I found and I find them quite unusual. I don't think I would want to sleep in most of them.

Bottle Caps, Bottle Caps, Bottle Caps

Capitalize on Re-use: Alexandra Camacho and Lauren Foster

Our final product is a shower curtain made completely from water bottle caps, the sealer rings first connected to the cap, plastic grocery bags, and a sheet of plastic. Each of our materials are environmentally sound because with the caps they are of a plastic that cannot be melted and re-made into another product. Plastic grocery bags for the most part are made from polyethylene which makes it a nonrenewable source. The clear plastic lining that we used is a low density polyethylene. An example of this plastic would be a dry cleaned garment bag. We chose these materials because they are water resilient. Water should not damage them.

The caps were cut in a radial motion which flattened them, giving them a different appearance instead of the known shape of a bottle cap. The sealer rings were cut in half and applied to two of the caps to create a hook that would hook onto a rod. The grocery bag was cut into stripes and tied onto the caps in a way that the joint is not seen.Making this portion of an entire shower curtain took about four to five hours total(estimated time for just one person).



Process:

This image is of the first ideas that I personally had. Clearly our shower curtain ides was inspired by the shape that I first drew out on paper.


Our first approach at gathering some supplies to begin experimenting.

This was our first idea of connecting the flattened bottle caps. We felt that maybe we could use the pull tabs on aluminum cans.


The first model gave us some inspiration for new ideas or aspects to turn away from. The way that we connected the caps was with the sealer rings that also come on the bottle. These rings created a interesting aspect that happened to make the curtain curl. We liked how this happened but we were unable to design a better way for them to connect to the cap. For this model every piece was jammed into one little slit. At this point for our final product we decided to keep the rod hooks at the top, the color combination, and the same method for flattening the bottle caps.

This was something I created why trying to get my mind to come up with a new way to join the bottle caps. This one bottle cap became quite heavy very quickly by adding five pull tabs. We felt that the weight of a final full size shower curtain would be entirely too heavy.

We then were instantly inspired by Suzanne's plastic shopping bag purse. We felt that we could use the twisting technique because it would be sturdy and strong. Twisting the plastic makes a huge different in strength compared to the original orientation of the bag. The plastic stretches way too easily and even comes to the point of ripping if a twisting motion is not taken advantage of.

Once again we had to go dumpster diving to find a even larger collection of water bottle caps. Although flattening the caps did not take too long our hands did feel like they were on the verge of falling off.


Alexandra hard at work!

Finally after several hours of tying grocery bags to the caps the final model was complete. Michelle is modeling how someone might look showering behind the bottle cap shower curtain.


We felt that sense we were not going to be able to complete an entire shower curtain for our final model we should show you what the entire curtain would look like in a bathroom environment.


This drawing show the connection made between two or more bottle caps. We drilled hole in the ring that is on the inside of the cap. Then grocery bag was threaded through it and tied into a knot. Depending on the location of the cap, some had two, three, or four holes.


This drawing shows how the hook is attached to the rest of the curtain. Small slits were cut and the sealer ring off of the bottle, after being cut in half, was wedged very snuggly in the slit.

Our shower curtain is simple and sleek. We created a repetition in our pattern layout for the entire curtain that we feel is not too distracting. Our color choices were chosen the way they were because of the type of bottle cap that they were. We found that most water bottles had similar caps that typically came only in clear or bright blue. Both these colors create a sense of flowing water.

!!PRODUCE!! - The Bell Peppers

This is a overall picture of all four group member's projects. We tried to create a display that was simple and explained our process on its own without us actually having to tell you. Although difficult to see in the image some of the pattern drawings are raised several foam board thicknesses above the others. The purpose of this is to show the change throughout the project in which different turning points occurred. The final model I created is displayed separate from the others models. I am quite pleased with my final model.



The above two are exterior views of my produce, the red pepper.


The top pattern of these two is one of the original patterns and the second one is of the same pattern but with the twisting action of pliers.



These two patterns are in the same situation as the above two. The twisting action is also applied here.



Both of these patterns are of the set where a tool was applied. The top one is being pulled from the center outer point. The bottom one I imagined the individual shapes to be as if the pliers were squeezing the direct center.



This is a haiku that I wrote that explains the overall project and the effects that my tool had on my patterns. The pattern directly above it is a three dimensional collage of one of my patterns. I really liked how this turned out but I have to admit that I did not end up using this pattern to build my 3-D model. I chose a completely different pattern that I thought would be expressed better three dimensionally. The pattern below is actually the pattern that I chose to use.

The pictures below are of the models I created in the order that they were completed. This shows the process that I took to get my final architectural statement model. The last four pictures are of the final model and they are just taken from different views.