Autocad Drawings

Lighting Calculations/Map

Greensboro, NC/ 8am/ overcast sky/ Dec. 21st/ working plane: 2'-6"

AGI32 Rendered Light

Greensboro, NC/ 8am/ clear sky/ Dec. 21st

Greensboro, NC/ 8am/ clear sky/ Dec. 21st

Greensboro, NC/ 2pm/ clear sky/ Dec. 21st

Greensboro, NC/ 4pm/ clear sky/ Dec. 21st

Estuary precise

Estuary images

Rendered view:  As seen from South Elm Street in downtown Greensboro.

Rendered view:  The interior of the retail space without merchandise.

Levels: The estuary contains three levels connected by ramp and elevator.  The ground level houses the dressing rooms/W.C. and retail shop.  The first level is a gently sloping performance space/promenade with staggered stages and backstage/consultation area.  The second level is a shared studio space full of natural light and an open layout.

Materials:  Recessed ceramic metal halide floods, alcoved compact florescent lighting, pendant barrels, LED sand fixtures, painted brick, "bone" tinted lime washed walls, acoustic cloud paneling, double glazed store front windows and rubber "coin" flooring.

Fixtures:  Barrel pendant lights, "dock post" pedestals and "barnacle" risers/shelving.

Window Display:  As seen from the front facade.

Guerilla Marketing:  Sand stenciling on the sidewalk.

Visual Merchandising:  A plan view of the retail space with donut circulation, central cash wrap and vertical display hierarchy.

Estuary folders

It's finally time to get the glue off my hands.  After many days of piecing it all together, I've got some models and folders to submit as my final retail design project for the semester.  Portable and packed with pretty images, these promotional folders are hoping to be placed in the hands of potential clients or investors.

Estuary schematic model

Estuary retail space

Estuary light study

What you're looking at here is about a quarter inch of white sand in a clear glass, lit from below by a soft white compact florescent.

Estuary process: Models and Sketches

Opening Day

Working alongside designers Matt Jones and Debbie Nestvogel, my retail design peers and I put together some dynamic displays... and all in time for the grand opening!  This was a project by the community, for the community and the process was inspiring.  To set up the story, Matt and Debbie (UNCG interior architecture students) transformed an empty shell of a space into a modern boutique where pre-conceived notions of used goods are shifted while the benefits of recycling are celebrated with style.  To get the whole story (process pictures included), just click here.

Throw up sheets

These are some more concrete ideas I've had concerning The Hatchery, working with An Estuary as my concept.  I've tried to create a flow in the space that moves from low to high tide-- enclosed to open, single story to double, raw to polished materiality.  I was thinking of gestures like leveling, passing through, ebb and flow... take a look and let me know if this is being conveyed in my design.

Lighting investigation

Here's my second attempt and I'm happy with the outcome.  A friend and I managed to find some larger balloons (16" diameter punching balloons) and we decided to go with white string to keep the light in the dressing room clear and bright.

Lighting investigation

I've been wanting to do this for a while, so when it became clear that the Salvation Select Store needed some interesting and inexpensive light fixtures in the dressing rooms, I suggested that I try making this  crafty Ready Made string globe pendant.  To be honest, I'm a bit disappointed with the results of this first go.  After wrapping crochet string around a balloon, I applied plenty of fabric stiffener and called a night... but the balloon deflated over the course of the evening and I woke to a sagged out version of my original orb.

The lamp below from Ready Made is what I was going for.

Digging

I've scrapped my previous notions about UNCG's off campus collaborative retail, performance and studio space (originally known as the hatchery) and am now going in a different direction.  As it goes, sometimes I jump the gun during the ideation process-- making assumptions concerning functionality or setting my heart on spacial aspects before I've fully wrapped my head around the concept.  So, confessions (and hatching) aside, I've allowed myself to step back and re-think conceptually-- and this is what I've come up with:

An estuary is a semi-enclosed body of water where rivers and streams flow into the ocean.  This unique blending of fresh and salt water results in an ecologically rich environment where many animal species feed, breed and nest.  Estuaries are often referred to as aquatic nurseries due to their protective locations, transitional waters and biodiversity.  It's these elements that led me to connect the concept of an estuary to The Hatchery.  Like an estuary, The Hatchery is designed to nurture development and provide relevant experience for those transitioning from one life phase to the next.

While thinking further about an estuary as a concept for the hatchery, I've been investigating the particulars of brackish water (the fresh and salt water blend found in estuaries).  One striking occurrence of brackish water takes place in underwater caves where it is called halocline and can be seen as a distinct layer hovering between undisturbed salt and freshwater.  The difference in density of fresh and salt water is responsible for the halocline layer which appears like an underwater mirage-- refracting light in a surreal manner.

So, pulling from this bit of research, I'm thinking I'd like to physically interpret the following elements:

-A river flowing into an ocean.

-A semi-enclosed body of water.

-Salt and fresh water.

-A halocline layer.

The first two elements in this list could be interpreted as ways to "carve" the space.

-A narrow entrance, low ceiling, and intimate lighting could indicate the mouth of a river.

-A wider space, high ceiling and ambient lighting could indicate the flow of a river into an ocean (of infinite possibilities--ha ha).

-An alcoved area (performance space?), wall washing and creative peripheral wayfinding could indicate a protected bay.

The second two elements in this list could be interpreted as material choices.

-Salt and fresh water could manifest as two different shades of the same color, a variation of textile patterning, different states of the same material (i.e. polished/honed stone).

-A halocline layer could be represented through two planes of overlapping polarized glass. A horizontal wall recess, lit in a unique way.  Suspended planes of obscured glass or loose acrylic beads inside translucent vessels.

The halocline effect.

Mangroves in brackish water.

An Estuary.

Digging

To break, release and emerge-- these are some actions often associated with hatching.  As an act of birth, there is a beautiful brutality, a fragility and strength contained in the process of hatching that is proving to be difficult for me to capture in an interpreted physical form.  The images below are some sculptural experiments with materiality.  I'm imagining large surfaces, torn and punctured to reveal a translucent subsurface or membrane, glowing from within. Here I've used clay and blown glass.

Digging

I enjoy the penetration of light in these photos of The Slit House by Eastern Design Studios.  Dynamic concentrated energy, hatching through an unmoving wall.  This is a design element I would like to include in The Hatchery.  Below, is my sculptural interpretation.

Digging

Digging

It's officially time to dig deep for those designs that speak towards some greater understanding of "The Hatchery" as a concept.  These egg-esque shelters struck me as wonderful examples of intimate spaces, capable of hatching into public arenas.

Celebrity Dairy: A field trip

This is Celebrity Dairy, a low impact, sustainable, agricultural farm where 100 Alpine and Saanen goats provide award-winning cheese and welcoming company to event goers and sunday diners.  The grounds and inn are ideal for unique events in a rural setting and I'm hoping to give a friend of mine some inspiring thoughts on the possibilities available for her upcoming Celebrity Dairy wedding.

The collage below represents the wedding ideas my friend has been mentioning.  It's helpful to lay these ideas down like puzzle pieces-- this can reveal what works well, what's missing and what should get the boot.

Elements include:

Lawn Games, Goats, Peonies, Iced Tea, Bonfires, Linen & Cotton, Handkerchiefs, Pink & Navy, Hay Bales, Goat Milk Products, Fans, Lanterns, and Feathers.