Interior ArchitectureOhio University HCIA 202, Spring 2010Grover Center W327MW 1:10-5:00 "Franklin Conservatory" by Matthew Ziff

Projects for HCIA 202 Spring 2010  

Designing requires the ability to 'create', or come up with, or give form to, the visual, built world around us.  How is this done?  Is it a total mystery?  No.  There are approaches, methods, systems of thought and action that lead to or result in visual, buildable, objects and spaces.  

The design explorations undertaken in this studio are concerned with four conceptual beginning points, each of which will be the subject of your individual design work.  Each of these beginning points can be used as a method for creating visual design elements, spaces and objects. 

There will be four projects this quarter.  Each project will be increasingly complex, and elements of the previous project will be used in the next project.

The four conceptual beginning points are:

I.  Geometry

II.  Nature

III.  Fabrication

IV.  Universal Design

Each of these represent entire worlds of exploration that lie at the very heart of what designing environments for human beings is about.

III.  Fabrication

Two Weeks 

Project due: Monday, May 10, 1:10pmStudents taking part in the Chicago trip will turn in the Fabrication Project on: Friday, May 14, at 1:10 pm.  The project is to be turned in on a cd or usb flash drive.  The final project of the quarter, Universal Design, will begin on Monday, May 10, at the conclusion of presentations of the Fabrication project work. 

Fabrication:  The Recognition, and Expression of Standard Sizes, Forms, and Methods 

In the world of built, manufactured, products and spaces, there is a tremendous virtue to being able to use standard processes and standard sizes and shapes of materials to create new and well designed environments.

Some of the virtues associated with working this way are:

Readily available materials: no delay, or uncertainty about whether or not the project can be completed on time.

Widely understood, and practiced, construction/fabrication methods.

The project can be built by the available workforce.

Cost savings: standardized components cost less than custom made, or custom designed processes.

The Project:  Three Designed Interior Components

Create  the following interior components

An interior wall to be located in an upscale Japanese restaurant located in downtown Columbus.  

                This wall is to be sophisticated and visually striking, and will separate the dining area from the entrance and waiting area of the resturant. The wall is to occupy a space that is 

                12' tall and 24' long.  You are to determine the thickness of the wall.  The wall is to contain accent lighting of some form. 

A display and storage unit to contain a collection of 200 action figures: each figure is 9" tall, 4" wide, 4" deep.  

                Each figure is to be given its own display 'place'. Electric lighting of some form is needed for this display element.

A built in dining booth in a formal, fine dining, commercial restaurant setting.  "A room within a room" is the concept of this booth. 

                The booth is to contain seating for four adults, a horizontal surface/table, at least two light fixtures to provide a pleasant quality of 

	               	lighting.

                The booth must contain hidden storage places to hold silverware, table cloths, napkins, silverware.  This is for the wait staff to use. 

The Materials To Be Used

Each project component must use at least one of the following materials as an exposed surface/skin:

Textiles

Sheet metals

Furniture grade finished woods in linear, board form, and in planar, sheet form 

Glass panels

Additional materials may also be used to construct the components but the exposed surfaces are to emphasize the required materials. 

Standard Sizes and Methods

Each project component is to be designed so that the standard nature of the materials, and the standard nature of the fabrication of the overall component are visually expressed (can be seen).  

Using the 'standard' sizes, such as a 4' x 8' sheet of plywood, means that if that large sheet is going to be cut down, to make smaller pieces, the dimensions of the smaller pieces are to be an obvious, rational, derivative of the large sheet, related to other standard sizes. 

So, a 4' x' 8' sheet of plywood may be cut into 1' x 1' squares, 2' x 8' lengths, 2' x' 2' squares, 4' x 4' squares, et cetera.  

There is, in contrast, no rational reason (assuming there is no specific project requirement to do so) to cut a 7 3/4" strip of plywood from the 4' x' 8' sheet. 

This means there are to be as few 'hidden' pieces and parts as possible:  everything is to be shown, expressed, seen. Mechanical fasteners, such as screws, bolts, brackets, cables, et cetera, are to be visually expressed.  

The standard sizes of materials in this project means standards used in the United States.  Standard sizes vary in other parts of the world but will not be addressed in this project. 

Presentation Requirements

You are to record the process that you use to generate and develop your design work.  Sketches on paper will be scanned, digital tests and explorations

should be saved, and shown in the final presentation. 

Hand drafting must be used for the majority of the presentation of at least one of the components.

Form z must be used for the majority of the presentation of at least one of the components.

Each component is to be shown in plan, section, and elevation, and either axonometric, or perspective. 

There are to be written notes describing the materials that are used in each component, and significant dimensions are to be communicated. 

Each component is to be shown with at least one human figure to communicate scale.

The three components are to be presented in a digital presentation.  Hand drawings are to be scanned.  The process that 

you employ to develop your design work is to be  included in the presentation.  

This project will be evaluated using these criteria:

Is the work meeting the functional requirements?

Is the work understandable as an expression of 'standards'?

Is the work well crafted? 

Is the work well presented? 

Reference websites that may be useful:

Minimize waste website:

http://www.smgov.net/Departments/OSE/Categories/Green_Building/Guidelines/Materials/Minimize_Waste.aspx  

Standard size framing:

http://www.calco.com.au/framingmaterials.htm

Standard mechanical fasteners: screws, bolts, etc.

http://www.mptfastener.com/index2.htm> 

Perforated sheet metal in standard sizes:

http://www.directindustry.com/prod/fratelli-mariani-spa/perforated-sheet-metal-50720-370537.html

Dowel rods in standard sizes:

http://woodproducts.caldowel.com/Cherry-Dowel-Rods.aspx