Center for Student Innovation | RIT
Built with the sole purpose of fostering innovation, the Center for Student Innovation at RIT is meant to be a melting pot of ideas and a focal point for multi-department collaboration. The space must perform many functions; from housing classes and formal presentations, to providing work space for student entrepreneurs and innovators, the innovation center must remain a flexible and easily adaptable entity, able to reconfigure for any occasion. My goal as a designer was to create an easily interchangeable, mobile, modular, and storable environment, completely adaptable to anyone’s needs.
Configuration 1 shows the furniture modules laid out in a way that provides adequate seating for a lecture or presentation. Excess modules can be stored off to the side, providing visual privacy for office entrances, and also reducing glare from the floor to ceiling windows. A ceiling will be dropped over the office, storage, and prototype lab spaces, providing the acoustical privacy the space previously lacked. Carpet tile will be used near the spaces entrances, helping to reduce noise from circulation.
Configuration 2 illustrates multiple ways the modular furniture pods can be arranged. Figure 8 shows a gallery space that can be arranged to display student work. Figure 6 shows the various ways the modules can be moved to create more private study & meeting spaces. Excess modules can be placed in the middle, forming a visual and acoustical privacy barrier. Small lounge-like areas, illustrated in figure 5, provide casual seating.
Multi-Purpose Apartment Building
Syracuse, New York
This brick building, located in Syracuse, NY, contains a basement floor as well as three other floors. The basement and first floor are to house rentable commercial spaces while also providing secure entrances for residents. The second and third floors are comprised of one and two bedroom apartments, each with their own laundry, a walk in shower, and sizeable balcony area. The second floor also provides two ADA accessible apartments. Two elevators, a refuse shoot, and a recycling shoot are located at the core of the building.
This perspective of a two-bedroom model apartment gives a view into the kitchen & living area. Two double doors allow access to a sizable balcony and bring in an incredible amount of day lighting intended to reflect off the light colored walls and surfaces. The maple ceiling over the living space helps to create a warm comfortable atmosphere. A wall-length concrete gas fire place stretches across the room, creating a visually striking mass that is reflected on the opposite wall between the two double doors. Bright yellow kitchen cabinets, patterned pillows, and colorful accents bring vibrancy into a space that is otherwise comprised of natural muted materials.
The commercial lobby was designed to give each tenant opportunity for window displays, showcasing of goods, and day lighting. Curtain walls allow the space to have the same visibility as a bustling market, stimulating and capturing the attention of potential customers. The tile floors mimic the texture of wood and the planked ceiling helps bring warmth and a feeling of comfort into the space.
The building section cuts through the living spaces and bedrooms of the building’s one bedroom apartments, illustrating the large french doors, side lights, & fan lights that will bring a large amount of natural light into each apartment. A perspective sketch of a one bedroom apartment bedroom contains built-in storage for maximum space efficiency, and direct access to the balcony.
Healthcare Design | Adirondack Orthopedic Center
Saranac Lake, New York
Adirondack Orthopedic Center, located in Saranac Lake, NY overlooking Lake Colby, is meant to provide specialty care to rural Adirondack residents across the area. A variety of specialties will be housed in this facility: physical therapy, pediatrics, radiology, bone & joint, and an area for minor procedures. Every exam room has a view of the surrounding area, helping to ease the stress of both patients and staff. Each specialty has its own waiting area, organizing the flow and function of the facility.
The second floor houses the bone & joint area, the radiology area, and the minor procedure area. Patients can easily circulate from one to the other, depending on their needs and the reason for their visit. The building corners are left deliberately empty, instead used to let natural light into the corridors and serve as a small seating area for staff or patient families. A check-in and check-out at each reception desk will help organize circulation and decrease congestion. Each waiting area has an adjacent men’s and women’s restroom.
A small cafe area will be visible directly upon entering the facility. This will be a place for patients or patient families to relax, or for staff to grab coffee, fruit, baked goods, and sandwiches. The center’s rural location makes a place for patients and staff to purchase food and beverages necessary. The cafe area also helps convey a welcoming atmosphere to patients.
The pediatric area will be hosting young patients who may be unable to read. This wayfinding system, comprised of Adirondack animal silhouettes, simplifies the space for children, easing circulation. The silhouettes are to be painted on each exam room wall as well as etched onto the corresponding exam room door. The patient will be able to recognize their exam room quickly and easily based on the animal.
Nurses stations are to be located directly across from exam rooms and directly adjacent to the corner seating areas, filling the nurses stations with daylight. All to often, medical staff are forced to the core of a facility, limiting their access to views and natural light. This plan allows for a central nurses station with direct access to patient rooms, while still giving staff the benefits of daylighting they deserve.
Each exam room and casting room will utilize the Nuture Folio casework system. The system has a variety of options; we chose an option that raises the casework up off the floor, providing easy access to the floor for cleaning & sanitation purposes. The tops of upper cabinets will also be a downward angle, therefore more easy to wipe down and clean. This casegood selection puts patient safety and health first and foremost, ensuring each patient will be entering a sanitary environment.
Two procedure rooms will accommodate patients needing minor procedures such as spinal injections or carpal tunnel surgery. A change in flooring creates a psychological and visible barrier between the procedure table and the rest of the procedure room. Recovery areas will be located outside the procedure rooms, complete with built in seating for patient family members, storage for personal items, moveable patient recliners, and direct views to the surrounding landscape.
Kitchen Redesign
Office Design | Bright Device
Denver, Colorado
Bright Device, a small start-up engineering firm specializing in solar powered devices, is looking to create an office that reflects their mission of, “Providing safe, healthy, and energy efficient technology to simplify the lives of the common man while protecting the well-being of our planet and future generations.” The office, to be located in a high-rise building in Denver, Colorado will take up approximately 6,000 SF of the 19th floor. The interior is meant to reflect the culture and ideals of the progressive company, providing functional collaborative spaces for 36 employees.
The design of this space will invoke the unrefined simplicity found in the natural world. Calming rhythms, comforting textures, and self-sustaining systems provide the inspiration necessary to create a base for this progressive company. The office’s design will encourage comfortable collaboration between employees and departments. The goal of this design was to create an efficient office ecosystem. Shared spaces are nested inside private spaces. Informal and flexible meeting areas can be utilized for any purpose necessary. Layered acoustical panels dropped over common lounge-like areas create a more intimate setting.
Views of the lobby and CEO office show the use of round globe lights. These lights are to be placed sporadically throughout the space, used both on the floor and as pendants. All employees will have views of the surrounding landscape and enjoy the benefits of natural light. Polished concrete, glass, and carpet tiles will be used throughout the office. Exposed duct work will line the ceiling. Organic rippling lines helped shape the finished floor plan, dictating the free form flow of the space.; Inspiration was drawn from surrounding topography and rock gardens.
The Steelcase Avenir system is to be used throughout the office. This system fits the collaborative nature of the company, giving private work areas to each employee, while providing room for guests or small meeting tables. They system is flexible and adaptable to a variety of different uses. A custom reception desk will greet clients as they enter the office. The reception desk is meant to contrast a rough concrete texture against the smooth reflective glass top.
Perspective Rendering
A variety of interior perspective renderings done by hand in prismacolor marker.