Timeless Design

This semester, I focused on the Pufferbelly Depot in downtown Pullman. In my design, I transformed this historic building into a residence, studio, and retail space through the concept of timeless design. Taking inspiration from the worn brick platform outside of the station and considering ADA/UD and adaptive reuse aspects, I created a unique and traditional design perfect for my client, jewelry designer, Rachel Ryen. 

During the project, the inspiration object, concept development, bench design, final floor plan, and final perspectives were the components that I found extremely vital to the success and completion of my design.

The worn, herringbone brick pattern outside of the depot that inspired my design

The inspiration object that I based my design around was a worn brick in a herringbone pattern, found outside of the Pufferbelly Depot. This was the basis of my entire project and without it, I would have no purpose to any of my design. After exploring my inspiration object, the concepts of meeting, movement, and unity stood out to me and inspired my parti and textile design. I had never gone into such detail with a concept before, and I believe that it is a valuable process and I learned a lot after spending time exploring with it. I will definitely continue to use this process in my future design projects. 





My final parti after concept exploration



My parti, derived from my inspiration piece and concept words, had a big influence on my design this semester. I had created the parti based off of movement, unity, and meeting. Meeting can be seen in the joints and intersecting points of the parti shape, unity can be seen in the different shapes and curves working together to create one, and movement can be seen in the shape as a whole. The color blue was used in my parti due to the fact that my client is inspired by blue and I wanted to incorporate her into the design process. I found that creating this parti was very enjoyable and I am extremely happy with the final product. The parti's that I have created previously have not been this thought through and I am proud of the depth that I put in to this one. 

My final, scaled model of my bench design

The bench design was something that I had never done before. I created a bench based off of my final textile pattern that was derived from my parti. This pattern can be seen in the shape of the "bench" that is made out of poured concrete. I am extremely proud of my bench design because I thought it was something that I wouldn't be able to succeed at. I had never gone that in depth into designing something of this magnitude. While it was challenging to me, the result was something that could actually be created and I think that is the best part.

My final furniture floor plan, rendered



My final floor plan for the Pufferbelly Depot was obviously an important part of my final design. This was the largest and most complex floor plan that I have created as a student and I believe that it was a very well thought out and planned design. I took ADA and UD design aspects and created a floor plan that would be accessible to all people and would especially be designed for the visually impaired. Through  this and applications of movement, unity, and meeting, this floor plan is such an important part of my growth as a student. I was able to learn a lot about ADA and the visually impaired that I did not know before. This will help me in my future designs so that I can plan an environment for everyone to use safely. 

Lastly, the final perspectives that depicted my design, were components that I felt to be very important to the project. Without them, you would not get a chance to actually see what my design would look like. I created five perspective of my design. Large perspectives of the retail space, the kitchen, and the living room and two small perspectives of the master bedroom and master bath, really brought my design to life. Using what I have learned about drawing perspectives, I was able to draw a render these, creating some work that I am really proud of. I spent a lot of time perfecting each and I think it shows. Without these perspectives, my design would be incomplete. In the future, I will continue to draw out my designs and work my best to show my clients what they will be receiving. 

After this semester, I think that I have grown as a student and as a designer. I have learned a lot about ADA/UD design aspects and I will continue to research and try to incorporate that into my designs. I have learned how to make better floor plans, perspectives, and concept development. I have grown as a designer and I think that I have really advanced myself in terms of what I can do. I have worked really hard and I can only hope that it shows in my work. I have had a great year and I cant wait to see what I do in the future.