In week 9, i was tasked with creating moodboards that can show my design’s materials and atmosphere. As i got 2 floors in my plan and they do not share the same function and atmosphere, i decided to create two board, each representing one floor. The first board shows my design idea for the basement. I chose concrete to be the floor and the base of the board. It is mainly because facilities like workshops and gyms are located down in the basement, in this case, wooden floors will be easily damaged. The light-coloured tiles and wood planks represents the materials for the gym and bath, so that the well-being zone can be separated from the basement’s working atmosphere. The dark-coloured wood will be the materials for the individual working booth, the dark colours will make people concentrate and provide the user a sense of privacy.

The second board represents the ground floor. Unlike the basement, where the atmosphere is designed to be serious, the ground floor is planned to be more relaxing. This is because of facilities like cafe and rest zones are mainly located there and the less-serious atmosphere can potentially catalyze employees to work together and generate creative ideas. According to this design theme, i introduced a lot of light-coloured wood into the board, as wood itself holds and provides people a sense of nature and relax. Darker wood are used to represents furniture like tables and workstations, this will emphasize their existence and provide the space a sense of depth. Dark blue fabrics represent the carpets, because their colour property are between the dark wood and the normal wood, they can provide connection to the dark colour furniture and the light-coloured space.

In week 5, after a short site research review, we were introduced to a unique practice. Out tutor tasked us with creating three sketchy plans and a more refined plan, so that we can have a initial idea of our further development. After the practice, a chance was given to us for commenting each others’ work. Most of the comments that i got praised about my clear client movements and the high-efficient site space utilization. However, some of them pointed out that some of the facility arrangement may have a negative impact on some certain facilities’ functionality. I think that will be the main concern when i am starting my very first plan.

In week 2, we went to two different office spaces to observe and learn from designers’ experience. These examples provide useful and inspiring information. The first office that we visited is located in a building that was not originally designed for office use. The building was once a ecclesial property, hence the interior space is irregular. The most interesting part for me is that the designers of the office planed and used the spaces efficiently. They constructed a structure that is mainly made with steel and wood, this structure provides them a new level of extra space, while supported a staircase that is easy to access for the employees. Comparing the first office, the second office that we visited is considerably larger. It is located in a office building and they can use the space with less restriction. Due to this reason, i spotted various of different decorative design approaches that can enrich the atmosphere. On top of the ceiling, the designers decided to use wood planks that were from scaffolds to make the decoration. After carefully calculated the space, they painted some specific planks and hanged them on to the ceiling. This design reused the resources from construction site and due to the gap between each plank, ventilation and wiring works can run through, reducing the influence of them on the aesthetics.

Week 1 Site Visit

The visit of the Scottish Design Exchange was participated in Wednesday. By using a tape measure and laser measurer, i documented a series of information about the site. The interesting part of the site is its roof. As it is uneven and irregular, some part of the site have a considerable vertical space for further designs. This feature provides the possibility for me to plan a new layer for the ground floor. Along with its massive vertical spaces, the works that were made after the building construction are also thought-provoking. The real site and the plan drawing  that we get have a lot of differences. Many corners and spaces were occupied by facilities like shelves and small compartment, i do wonder if they were originally designed like that and can i somehow replace these facilities.

In a nutshell the visit is enjoyable and useful. However, although i gathered many useful information about the site, some part of the site still needs a further measurement. I might need to plan myself another visit to the place.