3x3 leaves

Ok. For some reason Blogger.com has hated me this weekend and will not let me load and images. I'll get the leaf drawings up as soon as i can. I did turn it into the box so I guess there
s proof I did the assignment.

Design research:10 designers

1. Antoni Gaudi
Gaudi inspired me to go into interior architecture. The first time I saw his La Sagrada Familia I was in awe. I didn't think buildings could look that.....awesome. The Sagrada is very organic looking, but also has a dark feel to it, which I love. There is just so much to look at. My favorite parts are the towering spires and the doors with letters all over them. Gaudi was born in 1852. He had rheumatic health problems as a child and couldn't move much. He spent hours observing animals, plants, and stones. When he was older he moved to Barcelona to atten the Provincial School of Architecture. He often missed class and spent hours in the library. He said that design/style doesn't depend as much on aesthetics as it does on the social and political atmosphere. Gaudi had blonde hair and blue eyes and was known for his bad temper. I think he was a genius and I could spend hours looking at his buildings.

2. Mike and Maaike
Ever since I saw an article on these designers in I.D. I have been obsessed with their jewelery. There are no jewels in their pieces. Their necklaces and earrings don't look like they could exist outside of a computer. They look pixelated and when people wear them it looks very surreal. They are made of leather and would look very trendy with almost any outfit. I really loved how they used something imperfect, like something being pixelated, ad turned it into an awesome piece to wear.

3. Victor Horta
I stumbled across this designer through my art 101 class. I saw the Hotel Tassel and immediately fell in love. I have art nouveau posters all over my house and it is one of my favorite styles. His staircase looks like something out of a dream. He used very organic shapes, based in nature when designing this hotel. Victor was born in Ghent. He moved to Paris to become an interior designer. He loved using metal, glass, and curves in his work. He settled in Brussels where he raised a family. He was inspired by art nouveau. He became very sucessful after he completed the Hotel Tassel. He did many buildings in Brussels. After art nouveau fell out of trend many of his buildings were sadly destroyed.

4. Frank Lloyd Wright
How could I not talk about Frank! Seeing his Falling Water building was the first time I ever became interested in architecture. The Guggenheim Museum is also one of my favorites. It curves around, elegantly guiding you up and down. He was born in 1867 in Wisconsin. His mother was determined that he become an architect. When he was older he moved to Chicago and was hired as a tracer. there he met Louis Sullivan, the only man Frank said to have influenced him. In 1909 he left for europe for 2 yrs, with his scandalous relationship with Mamah. In 1914 a newly hired chef locked all but one door of his house and set it on fire. As Mamah and her two children fled the building he cut them down brutally. Frank was devastated and buried himself in his work. His commissions dwindled during the great depression so he wrote several books. In 1934 he built Falling Water in Pennsylvania. His popularity sky-rocketed afterwards. He died on April 9th, 1959.

5. SOM
SOM is a design firm i've run across a lot in numerous magazines. Their buildings are bold, and seem to be the future of architecture. They are currently working on several projects in Dubai, and one happens to be the tallest building in the world. Their buildings stand out in any cityscape. They have offices located across the world and work on projects internationally.

6. Bart Prince
I ran across this designer while flipping through Architectural Digest. His interior caught my eye. It looks like a jungle, with tons of different textures and wood. There is a 75 foot pool that runs through the middle. It's covered with mosaics. The living spaces are designed around the pool. I'm a big fan of anything having to do with water so this caught my eye right away. Bart was born in 1947 in New Mexico. He attended the College of Architecture at Arizona University in 1965. In 1968 he was awarded the Architectural Foundation Travel Giant award. He has been working ever since.

7.Niki de Saint Phalle
I also stumbled across this designer through Architectural Digest. Her garden that is made of mosaics and inspired by tarot cars is a dream I want to live in. She was born in 1930 in France. She was kicked out of numerous private schools. She once painted bright red fig leaves all over school statues and the school recommends psychiatric help. In 1948 she works as a model and becomes interested in acting. In 1953 she has a nervous breakdown. Painting was therapy to her so she decided to become and artist. In 1955 she visits Gaudi's Park Guell and she says it changed her life. She works as an artist and has shows and installations all over the world. In 1982 she finally begins work on her tarot gardens. She still shows her art, and does so up until she died. I was very fond of this designer. If I could have an ideal life, hers would be it. I also identified with her because i had to be taken out of public school and put into private. I've been in 7 different schools over the past seven years, so her early years inspired me and gave me hope. I think I might become a huge fan of this woman.

8. Sumo Lounge
I think that it is a really cool idea to go back to something simple(and cheap) and redo the design a little to make it look like high design. I like the multi-functionality of heir beanbags. They can be used as a chair or a love seat. I also like how they only specialize in beanbags. It's cool that they are so specific.

9. Cedric Ragot
Cedric combines creativity with industrial reality. He graduated from the French National Institute for Advanced Study in Design. He founded his own company at the age of 29. his designs are very modern looking. The design that caught my eye was his Fast Vases. They look like they are in very powerful wind and being blown away.

10. David Menting
David works for the company JSPR. He focuses on indoor and outdoor furniture. His "landscape of relaxation" is what caught my eye. It's a bunch of green chairs that can fit together in different ways and patterns. It reminds me of looking out plane windows and seeing the ground beneath you.

Design research: 2 new technologies

OK. So these aren't the two most useful new technologies, but they are very interesting and deserve to be looked at.

1. Living Surfaces or liquid lava is an unreal new technology. These tiles can be put on table tops or laid on floors. Inside the tiles is liquid that is very resilient to pressure. When any weight is put on it the colors change around it. You can literally leave for hand print on something. The imprint will last a couple seconds and then disappear. Then when ever you're ready you can start playing with the colors again. The color spread out in an amoeba-like way. You can get a variety of colors from bright reds and oranges, to a wide range of pastels.

2. DNA, fingerprint, and lipstick portraits are an exciting new way to express your individuality. I think it's a cool new way for science and design to come together. I think it is a very literal and bold way to express who you are. The DNA portrait is composed of your genetic makeup and is an exact map of who you are. No two fingerprints are alike(except for identical twins) so I would think it would be something you would want to flaunt. It's a very strong expression of who you are. The last piece is made from you kissing a sensor and then your kiss mark is blown up into a picture. This seems a very pop-art way of self-expression. It would make a perfect decoration in any bedroom. And of course they supply tou with the perfect lipstick, so your kiss will show up perfectly.

Design research: 10 websites

www.freepeople.com

This company is my favorite clothes designer(although I think they're way over priced.) this website is very easy to navigate. The site has a scrapbook feel to it. Everything is reached through the bar that runs along the top. Each section you click on breaks it down into categories to make it easier to fin what you want. I liked the cute little details they placed throughout the website.

www.urbanoutfitters.com

This is my favorite product design store. I always go here to look for ideas and to see the designs they have. This is an easy site to navigate. It has everything located on the side. There are also different ways to search for things, which makes it easier to find what you want. they also have new designs on the home page, which draws you into the site.

www.formglas.com

This is a company that specializes in making products out of gypsum, and cement. Gypsum is not flammable and very lightweight. Their products are very organic and can fir anywhere from a business to a home. Their website was easy to navigate. They explain what they do, how they do it, and show all their work. They have an impressive portfolio. When you click on a link it breaks things down into categories so it's easier to see what you want.

www.cpidaylighting.com

This company has been around since the 1980s. They specialize in using natural light, whether it be skylights, panels, or windows. Everything technical and business oriented runs along the top of the website. Things like company history, news and gallery is located on the side. Everything is very organized and easy to navigate. Their gallery of projects was my favorite part of the site. Projects were broken down into very specific categories, which made viewing very nice.

www.ivalolighting.com

This website is very sleek and clean. I think the introduction is very cool. It starts out with a grey background and lolight shines out from the background. The entire introduction takes only 5 seconds and that is very convenient. The original table of context is very easy and well organized, but once you clck on something it gets a little confusing. I didn't know what i was clicking on until i clicked on it. The products are very beautiful. Light fixtures are one of my favorite things to look for so i really enjoyed this website.

www.mikeandmaaike.com

I really love the jewlery that these designers have made. This was the main reason I went to their website. I found this website very confusing. Off to the left side is a bar with information and text on it. The only problem is everything is cut off so you have n idea what is being said. You also can;t click on it. I think the pictures they used are really neat, but pretty confusing. I don't know what it is i'm clicking on. It isn't very easy to find something quickly, although they might've wanted to make you explore the site.

www.bluworldusa.com

I love anything having to do with water, be it bath tubs, sinks, or water sculptures. I was very excited to go to this website and spent about an hour looking at all of their projects. I like how they explain all their products at the bottom of the pictures. I also like how they give the price. I think this little detail is very interesting, so i scroll down to check out how many bills people drop on these sculptures. The only confusing part was when you clicked on the picture of their products on their homepage. It takes you somewhere that i still don't know why everything is there.

www.dogbar.com

Even though my dog can sometimes be annoying i still love her, so when i see a dog couch i can't resist the urge to go check them out. The home page is hilarious. It's a bunch of dog's heads on human bodies dressed in different trends. I especially like the greyhound with tattoos and the chihuahua in a pink dress sitting on the bench. I found the dog furniture pretty easily and was surprised by all the choices. There must be some spoiled dogs out there. The layout was very playful and put you in a good mood as you browsed around.

www.plushpod.com

This website drew me in with the bubble chair, so I had to go see what else they had. This website has a lot of colors, which is nice to look at. It was very easy to navigate. They put pictures of the products next to the text, so as to draw you in. A little farther down they show what will be in each category. They have some pretty awesome designs and products. The logo at the bottom looked very modern and unique. This site is definitely getting bookmarked.

www.wallter.com

I love the designs of this website. I like that all his designs are made of two-dimensional things that are put together to form a three-dimensional piece. The color of the background works really well with all of his pictures. The pictures really pop out at you and make te products more enticing(maybe too enticing, I really want to buy the Palm Mobile.) The subtle white alligator scale shapes in the background are a nice detail. It was easy to navigate and I like how there wasn't a ton of products under each gallery. It was easy to pay attention to individual pieces this way.

design research: sustainability

design research: 10 buildings

1. This building is the signature towers in dubai. They were designed by Zaha Hadid and are 75,65, and 55 stories high. I like how they are bent out and look like they are defying gravity. they are a very shiny metal that make it look like mirrors.

2. This is the 0-14 building. It's 23 stories tall. I think the circles make it look very organic. It reminds be of a bee-comb. It looks much taller then it is. It won't be completed until 2009 and i'm very excited to see it completed.

3. Can we say awesome!!! This is the dynamic architecture tower designed by David Fisher. It will be 68 stories tall and completed in 2010. I love the spin at the bottom. It makes it look interesting, yet at the same time gives the building a sense of movement. It's in a dark brown, reflective color which makes it stand out. It all gives it a natural look, like a giant red wood tree.

4. This is Burj Dubai designed by SOM, and it's a monster. This is the tallest building in the world at a towering 160+ stories. I like how portions of the tower break off and stop short. It starts with a huge base and ends in a small needle point. It gives it a mountain like look with it's jagged plateaus along it's structure.

5. This Al Sharq and is 100 stories tall. It looks very industrial and fragile. There are 9 huge tubes seamlessly put together. It looks as if it should be very small because it's made of just tiny tubes connected. The tubes are broken up in layers, which makes it's distance look very long. there is shiny metal at the very top, which would make it stand out.

6. This is the Burj Al Alam. It starts with a wide base and curves in to form a slender" waist." this makes it slightly resemble a stretched out human torso. It ends with jagged, petal like shapes at the very top. this adds and unexpected twist to the building, like a surprise at the very end. This building will be 108 stories and completed in 2010.

7. This building is amazing! It is the Dubai Towers and will be completed in 2010. The first time I saw these I couldn't believe this was going to be a real building. These curving structure defy everything I can imagine about design. I think this is the most unique building i've ever seen. I would travel all the way to dubai just to see this building. It has a goldish color to it that give a sense of fire to it.

8. This is the Time Residence and s 30 stories tall. this is a very elegant building, and added to that elegance is the shiny black windows that cover the entire building. It looks like a cylinder being unfolded into a flat plane. It looks very unstable at the top, but that adds to its appeal. The curve at the top is very pleasing to the eye. This building would be neat to look at no matter which angle you were at.

9. This is Bayswater and is 25 stories tall. At first this building looked kind of clunky and stable. Now when i look at it, it looks like two pillars leaning against each other. The leaning gives it a tension. It looks like what a building would look like after an earthquake.

10. This is Pentonium and is 120 stories tall. It has small triangular jut outs that are on the middle of the building. It looks like waves rippling through the buildings. The blue color of it give it a classy look. This building would look very cool at night with all the lights on inside of it.

All these buildings are the buildings of the future. They will be in Dubai. I chose these ten because they were all very unique.

A different perspective: tokyo, Japan

Tokyo has always been a dream city to me. It seems to be so big that you would get lost in it. So when I came across an article that was on the design of recent developments in Tokyo I was thrilled. Japanese have always admired the architecture of New York City. They love the timeless look of all the buildings. They actually hired an architect from manhattan to build the new development in Roppongi Hills. This used to be a feudal lord's land. Then it was used for the defense system in Japan. When the city bought this land it was one of the most expensive land transactions ever. Now Roppongi Hills is a thriving business center with offices, 5 star hotels, and shopping complexes. Around 40% of Tokyo is open to the public. Thet made sure to incorporate nature into their design. They saved 170 full grown trees from the site. There is also beautiful landscape and waterfronts in Roppongi Hills. This project was supposed to get people to move back into the city. Lately there has been a trend, since the 1970s, that people are moving out of the city and into the suburbs. This space is supposed to be an incentive to draw people back into the city.

design research: 10 interiors

I love this room! The carpet gives it ons of movement, like the room is constantly shifting. the bed looks very comfortable and different. I like how the mattress sits in the bed instead of on top of it. The dark picture behind the bed draws your eye up to the ceiling. The light above the bed is the highlight of the room. I love how it looks like tons of little balls floating overhead. I think the whole room is held together by the white bed frame.

This room has a very organic feel to it mixed with and old, antique feel. They have curving structures hung down from the ceiling, which makes it look like you're under water. The bright, dramatic lights are placed throughout the balcony. They look kind of dangerous, with the sharp, straight edges. My favorite part of this room is the wall of the balcony. The layered, lighted circles are a great detail. I like the curving layers og the banister. I think this room has a very art nouveau style to it.


I'm a huge fan of japanese design. I think they always use the simplicity to it's max. At first the room looks dark and confined, but as you explore it more it looks very spacious. The round skylight casts very interesting shadows all over the room. I think the best part of the room is the smooth, white sculpture set in the corner. The roundness of this object is exaggerated by the shadows from the skylight.

The top of this structure has a very skeletal feel to it. It looks like columns split off into branches which hold up the ceiling. The frame at the top casts great curved shadows on the floor. The huge, round flag structures flap in the wind. This makes the room feel refreshing, and somewhat magical. I think it's great that they used very beautiful designs in the material.

This room is very quiet. It has a very serene atmosphere. The black rods at structure to the room, while the bamboo echoes a natural structure. The lights in the rocks on the floor give a nice, calm glow to the space. I like how the put a very natural strip into this very human space.

The colorful windows make this space very playful. The colored windows would cast awesome shadows on the ground. it would be really fun to climb the staircase and gaze out the different windows through the colors.

I love the motif of circles throughout the room. It really brings the room together. The ceiling mimic each other because they're both made out of wood. The ceiling curves up which makes the room feel very open. The striped carpet draws your eyes across the room. The main focus of the room is the gorgeous, class chandelier hanging above. I love how different this light looks.

This is part of a building built in the sixties, meant for whale gazing. There is a carved out circle in the middle that the couch sits in. There is a long table that cuts the room in half. The curved ceiling gives you a safe, protected feeling. The fireplace seems like a huge comfort and adds to the relaxing atmosphere of the room.

I don't think i could walk through this hallway without getting teary-eyed because it's so beautiful. These are some of my favorite colors. I love how the fade into different colors. The jaaged edged give it a glacier-like feeling. This would be like walking through a jem.

This interior reminds of walking on water. The carpet reminds of ripples and it gives the room a sense of movement. The bright colors are balanced out by the white walls and furniture. The furniture is very irregular and seems only held together by the fact that all the pieces are white. This is a very eye-popping room and I would really like to be in this room and enjoying the enviroment.

design research: 10 graphic designs/layouts

This is a very striking add. It has a huge contrast to it with placing something so structured into a very organic enviroment. The product in the middle has rectangles that are placed perfectly apart.

This add is very clean. The girl sitting on the couch is wearing all white, along with white hair. This is a very nice detail. A big surprise in this add is that the text is brown. I would think they would go for the traditional black text.

This add uses only the product and nothing else to guide your eye. I like all the different stripe on the couch and the pillows. The use of color helps draw you eye where it needs to go. i love the simplicity of the layout.

Flipping through a magazine you almost never see a pink add. I like the tropical feel of the add and the very casual text. I also like really cool fish up in the corner. There is only one white one, which gives it a neat pattern.

This is an advertisement that really caught my eye. All the little holes and shapes are cut out of the paper. I think this gives it a very unique look and the colors are very bold. It makes me want to not only look at it, but touch it as well. It is made of very thick paper which feels cool and makes the ad easy to find. The magazine naturally opens to this page because of how think the paper is.

This ad looks very sleek and put together even though it has tons of hearts all over it. It looks organized and like it has some kind of rhythm. The hearts are arranged in a pattern, yet they still look somewhat random. I think this ad is very appealing because it only has implied lines, and the shapes guide you eyes.

This is a layout for an article. I like the organic/teardrop shapes that hold the title. I also like how the shapes are shaded and how they fit together. The pictures at the bottom draw your eye across the page.

This ad is like eye candy. It all flows together somehow. You start with a black chair and end up with a red flower. I think the transition was done very well. You can follow it and it doesn't look like 3 random pictures stuck together. I also like how the images are seperated between a thin white line. This makes the ad look very clean.

time capsule drawings

My drawings turned out very geometric. I like how structured they are and i really tried to represent the space as best i could. The space is in the front lobby, right when you walk in. Light shining through the cut out letters is a huge part of my design so my project will be mounted in the window, second from the bottom, all the way to the left. The drawings were too small to put letters in so i made my project the darkest thing on the page so it would pop out and get your attention. I'm really sorry but I can't get my images to stay rotated, so they're all sideways.

orthographic view

I did mt drawing in 1 1/2 scale. I tried to give a sense of how the letters looked on the fabric, but that was very hard to do. My time capsule is pretty 2-dimensional so this drawing wasn't so hard from the side and the top. I tried to arrange all my drawings so they all lined up.

Zine.......that took forever

This my progress zine. I tried to lay out my zine from start to finish. It was a long process and it was hard to say everything i wanted. I struggled a little bit with bordering scrapbook vs layout. In the end i just wanted to have fun with it. I used lots of fun patterns and tons of color.
My final design is my letter box. It came from my original design and then listening to what the group wanted. I really tried to have a community sense in my piece. I wanted everyone to feel that this was their time capsule. People will be given a certain amount of letters to explain what design means to them. I think words are one of the most powerful things we posses. I also think that having your ideas carved into something gives you a sense of permanence, that people knew you were there. In 20 yrs when people come back the time capsule will be cut up and dismantled. Everyone will be given their piece that has what they wrote 20 yrs ago on it.

layouts

These are all the layouts i did. I did 15 layouts before i started on my zine. When i had 15 in front of me i started organizing how my zine would flow. I based my zine off of the layouts and only had one problem. I needed more pages then i laid out. So i put chunks of my project into the same layout.

Figures

These are some students we drew in class. I really like figure drawing,b ut find it more difficult when people have clothes on. I think it is harder to catch the gesture when people are dressed.

looks lonely

Even though the mood of this picture is depressing, i still really like it. I think the shading is very dramatic and gives it a weird tone.

shading...yay!

shading exercise

These are my shading exercises from the book. I like hatching and cross- hatching for ink. I don't like the way stipling makes the surface look. I also don't like the way scribbling looks with lead. I really liked doing the stairs because you could put you light source anywhere.

self-portrait cubed

This was my self-portrait project. I used a very basic shape, a cube. this was supposed to represent my head and the thoughts in it. I used a clear plastic so you could "see into" my
thoughts. I did eight different portraits, each one with a different concept. I liked the drawing part of this project but it was by far the most frustrating. I spent so much time drawing i didn't have much time to think about what would hold them. Unfortunately this project fell apart as i was bringing it up to my desk. I took pictures of each side.

shady

I used blending and cross-hatch to shade these. I like blending better because I think it makes things look more realistic.