Dr. House

During college, my roommate used Dr. House as her subject for a long psychology paper- and in the process we watched every single episode at least once. So, taking a page from her book- I decided to use Dr. House as inspiration for the design of my new studio project, an office!

If you've ever seen an episode of House you know that there are two factors that are always present in his problem solving process. The first is the use of a dry erase board to brainstorm ideas. In a recent episode, House even found a way to turn a glass curtain wall into a dry erase board- flexible, dynamic brainstorming at its best. 

The other factor that is always present in House's problem solving, is seeking inspiration throughout the hospital. In almost every episode Dr. House ends up observing someone in the hospital and then bam, inspiration hits when he realizes that someones toupee has reminded him of a novel genetic disorder. 

Even out of the hospital context I think that these problem solving strategies are something that could be useful to think about in designing an office for any discipline. Brainstorming in a way that puts all the possibilities visually in front of you, and in front of your peers for input- and seeking inspiration through novel stimuli, are ideas applicable to a wide range of businesses. 

New Apartment!

At the beginning of October I moved into a studio apartment in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. I had a 45 minute commute last year to and from campus, and so I was looking for something more convenient, and my new 10 minute commute really fit the bill. 

I faced a big challenge that is a common one for urban dwellers - carving out space from a tiny apartment. My floorplan is 200 sq ft maximum, so it was important for me to create the feeling of different "rooms" while also making the space seem as large as possible. 

This is what my apartment loos like when you step through the front door:

This is my "reading corner" where two stacked Ikea units create a partition that divides the "bedroom" from the reading corner & kitchen:

The chair is an old one that my friend Hannah had in college and I inherited afterwards. A vintage lamp from my grandmother's house stands behind it. The display on the wall is crafted from two different Ikea shelves, as well as one of the Umbra invisible floating bookshelves that they sell at Urban Outfitters:

I have two reproduction Soviet Posters framed, and a Walton Ford reproduction print, all in brightly colored bold frames. 

I really love this invisible floating shelf, I went for a yellow theme, and then displayed an Annunciation Icon that I bought in St. Petersburg and my Tigers Eye "Golden Egg":

Seriously, how cool is this egg?

I hung a tapestry across the top of my Ikea four poster bed to create an intimate cozy niche atmosphere. The light fixture is a common paper lantern with a pink lightbulb, which I decorated with butterflies that I printed. It gives it a really cozy warm feeling. 

One of my favorite touches in my "bedroom" are these three hanging cubes I got from Target. I needed somewhere to put a glass of water during the night, etc, and I thought these were a really cute solution. I recently put a 8x10 picture of my boyfriend and me in the rear of the largest box and I think its a really neat personalization. 

With such a small space I knew from the start that mirrors were going to play a crucial role. I had an old mirror from my grandmother's house which I had spray painted silver. It was so heavy that I was afraid to hang it on the walls, but luckily I had an old easel that I could display it on. It stands next to this amazing mirrored end table that I found in Newport RI (its twin lives with my parents in midtown). On top of it is a lamp which used to belong to my grandmother.

 In order to multiply the natural light, and optically multiply the space, I created a wall of mirrors. I bought LOTS mirrored tile from IKEA and fitted the squares inside the molding on the wall facing the window. On the neighboring wall I made a gallery of black and white frames displaying pictures of friends and family.

I got this chaise lounge (with storage under the seat cushion) from Target! The half-round table is another inheritance from my grandma, the vintage reproduction fan is from Restoration Hardware and I got it 50% off because no one buys fans in October. The half-round table is another inheritance from my grandma that I painted black and topped with many glistening layers of clear polyurethane lacquer. the Eiffel Tower lamp is yet another great find at Target.

I really don't like the light fixture that the room came with. The quality of light it gives off is so harsh and cold that I literally couldn't stand it even the first night. But it looks hideous to have it sitting there on the ceiling even if I never have to live with that clinical hospital light it gives off. So I decided to disguise it beneath a hovering cloud of butterflies. They are strong on copper wires in a halo around the ceiling fixture, a few more settling each day as I slowly work towards obscuring it completely:

 These are just some silly self-portraits I took looking into the mirrored wall at the weird distortions that form:

Residential Redux

Today I presented the second Studio project of the semester, Residential Redux. It was, as the title suggests, a residential project for a fictional client family in one of the Meier towers on the Westside Highway:

Our pretend client had "purchased" the second and third floors of the north tower to house himself, his adult daughter, and her husband and two children:

 

And yes I stole the name of one of my Dad's best friends for the Grandfather, and used some names from the Outlander series (shoutout to James Alexander Malcolm Mackenzie Fraser)

Here are my final plans, with most of the public activities of the household (cooking, dining, practicing piano) taking place on the lower level, and the more private activities (sleeping, bathing) on the upper level:

When you enter the apartment on the second floor (the lower level of the apartment) you experience a view corridor which highlights the grandfather's ceramics collection, displayed against the glass curtain wall:

There is a special reading chair where the grandfather loves to sit, from here he can monitor his grandson's piano practice as well as keep an eye on the happenings in the kitchen, living room, and dining area:

Flanking the opposite side of the apartment another view corridor is flanked by ceramics displays:

When an adult is walking up the stairs, upon reaching the landing they are able to get a glimpse down  this corridor through the grandfather's office and out to the balcony. If you are shorter than 4'6", you can't see the adults outside taking a smoke break, but if you're an adult like the children's mother, you can see your father and go out and join him for a nictoine fix: 

In a humorous nod to the serious display cases where the grandfather keeps his ceramics collection downstairs, upstairs in the family's suite the display cases house children's toys- and even the family cat:

Mr Smith and Ms Meow Go To....

Lately for people's birthdays I've been photoshopping images of them into funny situations or costumes. For my Dad's birthday last month I sent him and my cat on a trip around the world. Luckily I already had a picture of my Dad with my cat on a leash, so working from that I sent them:

To the Great Wall of China:

Verailles:

The Pyramids:

The Taj Mahal:

and finally, into the movie 'Casablanca':

(this one is my personal favorite)

First Project of the New School Year

The new school year has begun at Pratt and we're full throttle ahead! Our first project in studio was a quick 3 week project to get everyone warmed up. We were charged with designing a "Space for Reflection" at the Whitney Museum using their downstairs lobby and courtyard.

When I thought about a space for reflection, the first image that popped into my head was the Cathedral of St John the Divine in Morningside Heights where I used to go and sit while I was in college.

On the other hand, when I asked my Mom to describe where she would go to reflect, her immediate answer was to an arboretum, or out into nature. So I knew right then that my challenge was going to be to meld the notions of a sacred space with the idea of a natural space.

And when I considered what linked our two, seemingly very different, spaces, what I realized it boiled down to is that they are both spaces that help put our lives in perspective. When our daily anxieties and stresses seem to grow to monstrous proportions, we seek out a space of reflection to help us realize that in comparison to the scale of the universe, our problems are smaller and lighter than we'd thought. Like the moment of awe that this little boy feels when contemplating the vastness of a whale, and the ocean, and the world:

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From the very beginning, I knew that I wanted to use a single simple gesture to express this idea: inserting a plane of glass at street level into the "moat" of the Whitney, upon which a small shallow sheet of water will be allowed to collect:

From street level, it would transform the Whitney into a reflecting pool, a gesture that played on the title of the project, as well as referencing many historical spaces of refection including the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial:

Once inside the Whitney, when visitors go downstairs and out into the courtyard they will be bathed in rippling moving light, and gaze up through the water at New York City above them:

Here are my renderings, walking through the space like a visitor.

Encountering the Whitney Museum Moat from the North

Walking downstairs from the lobby

Looking from inside towards the courtyard downstairs

Sitting in the courtyard under the pane of glass

Looking at featured artwork "1st Light" Installation by Paul Chan

Sitting inside on benches

By the time the visitor walks back upstairs and out onto the street, I hope that they've seen New York through a different lens, one that helps them put it all in perspective.