Back In Action

It is the first week back and I am already busy with work again!  This week has been filled with all kinds of work and activities.  On Monday, I had my second Materials quiz and got a 39/40 on it!  Our Art History professor announced on Monday that she was pushing back our test to next week so I now have an extra week to study! On Tuesday, I had Graphics class and we continued to work on our reception/waiting room project.  Our professors finally gave us a due date, next Tuesday!  They always wait until the last minute to tell us these things!  Then for my Residential class, we had a field trip.  The class split up into cars to all drive up to Ithaca.  We were heading to EcoVillage @ Ithaca.  EcoVillage is a sustainable community living environment right near downtown Ithaca.  The village mimics a type of suburb with the exception of more open land and smaller square footage in the houses than the average American home.  We were given a tour of the villages and got to go into two of the houses.  The community is made up of 3 villages named Frog, Song, and Tree (which is in the process of being built).  Each village has its own look to it.  And they all have sustainable devices for greener living such as solar panels, passive solar heating, growing their own food on site, etc.  It was a nice adventure and a great learning experience.  The only downfall was having to walk around in the gross rain and muddy walkways.  On Wednesday, I had Materials and Art History again.  And the weather was so gorgeous!  It was sunny and warm and it put me in a good mood :)  On Thursday, I worked on my reception/waiting room project during our studio class and out professors taught us about video presentation.  Next Tuesday, we have to present our process and final project in a video presentation with us talking over it and narrating.  I have a lot of work to get done for next week!  In my Residential class, we were given our next project.  Each person had to pick out of two bags, one containing a number and one containing a letter.  I received 5 and C.  Then our professors told us what the number and letter corresponded to.  The number represented the family type we had to design for and the letter represented the type of living arrangement we given.  I had a family of 5, with 3 children ages 7.9. and 12; and a 2-bedroom apartment!  This is definitely going to be a challenge.  But I am excited to tackle it and come up with creative solutions to achieve my design.  So for the weekend I have to research all about sustainable housing (which is the basis for the project) and about my family and housing type.  I have lots of things to do for the weekend, I will be very busy!
In other news, on Wednesday night, I went to a show in the student center called "An Evening With Andy Samberg".  Andy Samberg, from Saturday Night Live, came to speak at Syracuse!  If you have no idea who I am talking about, look him up, he is hilarious!!  The show was an interview type set-up with a student moderator asking Andy questions and we watched some clips of Andy's sketches as well.  At the end, it was opened up for the audience to ask questions.  The whole show had me laughing the whole time.  It was a last minute thing, my friend had an extra ticket and I decided to tag along.  The show was sold out so I was excited I got to go!  This is another reason I love Syracuse, they have so many different shows, speakers, and performers come to campus and its great to get a chance to see them.
It has been a long week, and its now the weekend which will be filled with homework, extra dance practices, and hopefully some sleep and relaxing time as well. :)
Have a great weekend everyone!!

I AM DONE!

The longest week of my life is finally over.  And all my hard work has paid off!  My group and I have been working on bringing our concept cube idea into reality since last Friday.  Once we got the news that the project was no longer full scale, we were relieved but still had a lot of work to do. 

Starting Friday, we went out to buy the basics of materials we needed for the project.  We built the floor and walls and the raised platform out of foam core.  We began to build the floor and walls and measured and cut everything out.  For the rest of the room, we needed to figure out exactly what materials and colors we wanted.  With seven girls in the group, it was a bit of a struggle to work around everyone's schedule and compromise each of our ideas into the space.  We worked everyday during the weekend to build the room, create the booklet of our process, and draw out all the views of our design.  It was hard work to translate our ideas into the room and make it all work.  Little things here and there had to be altered once we tried to construct it in the space. 
After lots of long days and late nights and many runs to the art store and fabric store for materials, we got our design together.  It was a complete group effort with everyone pitching in and lending their insights into the design.  The final project was a long time coming and came out even better than we could have imagined!  We used foam core for the horizontal beams coming out with plastic rods for support in between them.  We used fabric to cover the bed in the room as well as the platform.  We printed out paper in the plotting room to cover the foam core in the color we wanted for the walls and beams.  Paper was used instead of paint because paint causes the foam core to warp and bend.  Our section of the space we were designing included the door to the gallery, so we also had to construct a glass door out of plexi-glass.  Our bed in the room is lowered into the platform and had mechanics on the bottom that allow it to rock back and forth.  We used wood and foam core to build the rocking platform and covered carved out foam with fabric to create an ergonomic bed surface.  We used translucent paper to wrap around the beams of the back walls and strung lights around the back to light up the walls through holes in the walls.  When the lights shine through, it makes the room glow and really gives it a great feeling.  It all worked out and we learned what materials worked the best and what did not work.
On Thursday, we had a big critique to display all four spaces that our studio class created.  Our professors critiqued our work and expressed what they liked and what the thought should change.  It was fun to see everyone's space and how their hard work paid off and how they translated their ideas into the spaces.  We brought all four spaces down into the gallery, which was a struggle for four people to carry it and fit it into the elevator!  It has been a hard week of work but I am so proud of everything my group and I accomplished and really made our space look like what we had envisioned.  And seeing everyone's spaces in the class was great to see how far we all came.  This was our first project where we had to take a design off of the paper and make it real.  It was a stressful but fun experience and I am happy with the way it turned out.

Here's some pictures of the final product!!:

  

Change of Plans

Hey guys!
    So, remember I told you last post about my concept cube project? Well, in Thursday's studio, our professors announced they were changing the project.  Instead of us building it full scale, we would be building it at 3-inch scale (which means every foot of the room would be shown in 3 inches).  This is a little less daunting now, since we do not have to make it human scale!  However, it is not really a lightened load.  This weekend my group is trying to get the model knocked out so we can then do drawings and put together the book too!  It is going to be a lot of work but we will have a good scale model in the end of our finished work.  The smaller room will still show everything and all the right materials, even lighting.  I am excited to built this thing, but I will be spending my days this weekend in the warehouse!  I have not had a large load of work yet this semester, so all this work is even harder :(  But it will be fun at the same time as my group members and I work together to make all our ideas reality.  And learn what materials work and all that stuff.  So I hope everyone has a fun weekend, I hear the weather is supposed to be nice, so enjoy it while it lasts!

Also this weekend I am going to the DanceWorks show on campus.  It is one of the dance troupes here and their shows are really good, so I am super excited to see it!  And on Sunday, I have my ballet class again..  My teacher said we will be finishing up the dance finally and then working to get everything clean and memorized.  Our skirts for the performance came in the mail and they look so cute, I am so excited to wear them!  If any of you live in the area, you should come out to see our show in April! April 8th at 8:00pm-it will be lots of fun :)

Design Projects

Only 2 weeks until Spring Break! I feel like it is so close yet these upcoming 2 weeks are going to be filled with work! I am in the midst of 2 projects for my design classes. For my Residential class, we are still working on our concept cube project. My group and I have come up with a final design and we drew out a floor plan and sections to show our design at each angle.  We also made a model of the room in SketchUp, a 3-D design program.  Like I mentioned before, we are designing a small space that must include a place to sleep and also communicate the feelings of energy and tranquility.  Our space is really coming along and now I am excited and nervous all at the same time to actually build this in real life!  And we only have two weeks to start and finish it!  I can't wait to do it though, it is going to be so cool to have a finished product I can walk on and sit on.  I will post a picture for you all to see when my group and I have it all constructed!
In my Graphics class, we received a project to redesign a veteran's hospital for returning Iraqi soldiers with post traumatic stress disorder.  We are working on the reception area and waiting room for the office.  We have been drawing out reception desk ideas to see what we want it to look like.  It needs to be a half-circle shape, but can be made with whatever materials we choose.  The desk also has to be in compliance with ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) Standards with lowered counter heights for any handicapped patients in wheelchairs.  I am learning so much about spacial design and all the different rules and regulations that need to be followed when designing something like a medical area.  I am using the marker rendering skills I have been learning in class to show the materials on my desk design.  It is hard work! But it's what I love so its fun at the same time.
I am also working on starting my Historical Backgrounds final project which is to design a book that is a "Design Scavenger Hunt".  We have to find at least 20 examples of modern day design inspired by the different periods we have learned in class this semester.  Then we have to compile them all in a book showing what we found compared to what we learned.  And also writing how the modern design was influenced by the particular period.
Today in my Materials class, we are having a speaker come in from Armstrong Flooring and talk to us about, well, flooring.  So that should be interesting to hear from a professional in the field!
Have a great week everyone, I know mine will be a busy one! :)

'Cuse vs 'Nova

On Saturday, Syracuse played against Villanova in men's basketball. It was a big rivalry and they beat us in the game last season. We are ranked #4 and Villanova is ranked #8. Everyone was so excited for the game and tickets were sold out about a month before the game! I, unfortunately, did not purchase a ticket and then they sold out before I could! :( So me and a few of my friends all decided to watch it together on TV. The day of the game, the Dome was filled with 34,616 fans in the crowd!
Starting out, Villanova had the lead but Syracuse came back and we won the game 97-75!! It was such an exciting game. Even though I was not at the game, I felt like I was because I was screaming and yelling with my friends at the TV like I was in the Dome! I hope all of you were watching at home too! I love all the school spirit we have here when there is big games like this :)