The Opposite House Hotel Restaurant Design.

This restaurant design in the Opposite Hotel in Beijing reminded me of a piece in the Susan Hiller Exhibition and I thought it was an interesting technique the designers used when considering the lighting. Because the lights are all positioned at different levels, it makes the room more spatially interesting and it also makes use of the ceiling height, which is something I must consider when designing.

Via.

The Coat Hooks.

Some research into interesting coat hooks to for inspiration when designing the cloak-room:

1) The use of hands as a means of communicating emotions and messages is widespread and instantly recognisable.

These hands grow from the wall in a series a familiar gestures portraying welcome, pleasure, farewell and indeed hostility to create wall art or somewhere for your coats to call home

Via.

2) These Sparrow Hooks give a decorative lift to the conventional coat hook, and look equally good perched on their own!Each set features two hooks. To attach to a wall the branch insert is screwed on to a wall and the branch inserted over so no fixings are shown. The Sparrow Hook is then inserted into the branch to secure the whole thing.A great design to bring you one step closer to nature Sparrow Hooks are available in green, pink and white.

Via.

3) Designed by Seletti, the Hamlet coat hook can be fixed to the wall to save on floor space.

Via.

4) The 'Six Coat Stand' is made from six precision-formed segments. There are six hooks facing inwards and six more hanging points at the top of the segments, giving this coat stand a large capacity as well as a compact footprint.

Via.

5) The Giant Paperclip would make an interesing contrast in scale.

 Via.

6) 'Rack Oh Deer Antler Coat Hooks'

Via.
 

7) An assortment of coat hook/coat stands

Via.

8) A natural, tree inspired coat hook, the giant fly could inspire the idea of changing scale.

Via.

The Merry-Go-Round Coat Rack

Described as a "spatial ballet for coats," the Merry-Go-Round can be found at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, the Dutch port's History of Art museum.

It was designed by Studio Wieke Somers, the Merry-go-round is attendant free. It works via a hook and pulley system – whereby the visitors to the museum simply hang their coats on a hanger and use a pulley in the middle to hoist it up into the air.

Entrance to the Coat-Room.

The coat can then be kept safe with the use of a lock and key.

Via.

The Visit to Shunt.

Just a quick post about the visit to Shunt Lounge off Bermondsey Street.

© Genevieve Edelmann

It was an interesting start to the project because it defined the idea of working with a performance structure and constructing/designing it to fit into a given space so that it provided an area for the performers, seating for the audience, refreshment area etc which were all aspects to consider when designing a public performance space.

Although initially, I found it hard to be inspired by the visit, however, looking back to it I believe that my initial idea for creating a space for the user to move around in was subconsciously inspired by my visit to Shunt. This is because the artists decided to create a space for the audience to move through in in order to view the different performances that are taking place throughout the massive three-storey structure.

'As the audience is led inside, the action starts to unfold around, above and below them, revealing a world on the brink of collapse...' via.

The key element is that performances are taking place all around the audience, consequently making the space a much more interesting place to be in and move around.

An aspect I can refer back to when designing my own space is how the audience views the different performances (through glass, looking up, looking down, through doors etc.) and how they access them (steps, doors, windows, mirrors etc) making it so different to the conventional method of viewing a performance. In some ways it can be said that the structure itself is more of a performance than the activities that take place within it...

http://www.shunt.co.uk/
http://www.shuntmoney.co.uk/

The Tutorial 25.03.11

Notes I took from the tutorial with tutors on the 25^th

I had somewhat come to a halt with designing because I was struggling with the concept of working ‘spatially’ and I felt that I had lost my intention for the project. I was beginning to feel uninspired and stuck…

What does it mean to ‘design spatially’? What is ‘Spatial Design’?

            Spatial Design: It concerns the relationship of people to environments - how do people move and interact with the space?

The notion of design and spatial (space)

The notion that people, design and environments are all connect together is the primary idea behind spatial design.  It represents an active response toward the creation of efficiently operating environments that serve the purposes and needs of people. 

Via.

Therefore, it suggests that I need to explore the emotions I want the customer to feel as they are moving throughout my space and start designing what the room looks like and the type of things that will go inside it.

How can I create innovative and interesting spaces without sticking to the original/given layout of the three tunnels?

            It was suggested that I tear pieces of paper (that are roughly to scale) to create ‘spaces’ or ‘rooms’ and arrange those different pieces to form new layouts.

Other things to consider:

• When arranging/designing rooms that require pipes or water connections (i.e. toilets or kitchens), these should all be placed on similar walls to avoid having piping all over the room.

• I need to clarify the ‘story’ of my restaurant, by illustrating through words/drawings/collage/photos etc what is happening in each tunnel and how the customer moves throughout.

• I also need to take into consideration how the space is used by the passer by, the waiter, the chefs and the customers. How do these people move about the space? How do they feel when moving through? How does the space affect the way the user moves?

• Spatially I need to consider levels, so that the activity is not concentrated to the floor of the tunnel; this could be achieved through the use of ramps, slides, stairs etc

With thanks to Harriet for making a clear initial ‘To Do’ list, to help me focus on what I should be aiming to achieve:

*Design arrival point to the building

*Design arrival point to the restaurant (tunnels)

*Think about the journey around the space

*Think about the idea as a sequence of events of experiences, rather than a stage set.

The Brillare Dining and Party Space

Forgot to publish this post.

Whilst doing research for dining spaces, I came across a Japanese dining and party space that was designed as an addition to the Risonare Wedding Resort. 

I was initially drawn to it because of the long dining tables which are reminiscent of the Mad Hatter's Tea party and I wanted to incorporate an element of nature (perhaps continuing this from the previous project?) whereby the building would have a 'natural' flow to it and this building is surrounded by trees and contues the natural patterns for the interior design, thus creating an a smooth flow from the outside elements that are reflected in the mirrored outer walls, to the interior which incorporates a botanically-inpired ornamental pettern that stretches the length of the ceiling. 

What is really interesting about this room is that it is designed around the 18m long table, that seats 44 people. This table gradually becomes narrowaer towards the end, which allows the person who is seated at the head of the table to see everyone, and as a restult it creates the illusion that the table seems to go on forever. This is something I will want to consider when designing my own space in order to incorporate the idea of altered or distored perspactive and also the theme of the Mad Hatter's Tea Party whereby everyone is seated at the same table.  

   

Via.

Klein Dytham Architecture

The Anthony McCall Exhibition.

© Genevieve Edelmann

 

Earlier in the week I decided to visit the Anthony McCall ‘Vertical Works’ Exhibition, which I found to be an incredible experience. His work was so much more than ‘four light installations in a big dark room’; I thought I was amazing how he managed to create an incredible sense of space through the simple and minimal use of light and smoke. McCall manages to evoke a sense of intrigue because of the delicate barriers or ‘walls’ that he creates, it would suggest that one is stepping into another room, however, these walls can be broken so easily, it becomes almost unnerving when you walk into the smoke screen.