Chapters 2 and 3 "the Poetics of Space"

Chapter 2:  House and Universe

While reading Chapter 2, I realized that Anna's class really helped me to understand how the different senses could be used (kinesthetic, auditory, olfactory, etc. ) and how important they are when designing a space.  However, after reading this chapter it taught me that every smell, sound, sight, or touch/texture brings an old memory back from different past related things in different people's lives.  For example, a piece of wood with a certain type of stain may recall a memory of an old log cabin that you and your family used to vacation at, that would make you go back to that certain place.  Every person is different in some ways, but we all have this similarity with the senses taking us back to a place.  The universe is big, however; each home has a poetic meaning (a story behind it, a memory that one can recall, etc.).  Each house has a reason for being in the universe and that is for it to be a HOME for someone.  In the book it talked about the house being like the cell of the body with the walls close together.  To me each part of the cell has an important part for something else to work right.  In a house it's in a way the same thing..... for example, the foundation of a house, helps the house stand strong and the roof protects us from storms (a shelter for us).  Every part of both things, cell and house, has an important part for it as a whole to live/stand.  To me this chapter was more about the broader vision of the world of design, whereas the next chapter talks about intimacy.   

Chapter 3: Drawers, Chests, and Wardrobes

This chapter  talked more about the intimacies of spaces.  In this chapter he focuses on drawers, chests and wardrobes.  He also mentions caskets and how one could analyze that as being intimate (very intimate-you only put one person in this to be buried).  First drawers, we look at drawers as a place to place our clothing, jewelry, junk, toys.........it is a place for miscellaneous things.  There is no specific thing for a drawer, it is however, you want to use it.  Whereas, a filing cabinet, which acts as a drawer only holds files?  The author thought that this design of the filing cabinet was a magnificent design, because people do use it as filing.  Chests, on the other hand our usually treated more intimately.  People treat chests to store more valuable things.  It was designed for storing things in which you aren't going to take out for a while, or you don't want to get dirty. Chests normally become an aesthetic part of the room, a seat at the end of the best and place for your quilt to show, etc. Wardrobe, is also treated for valuable things, but mostly your clothes.  A wardrobe is big enough though that one (child) could treat as a hiding place.  A place to get a way, but also a place to store things that you necessarily don't want to have out.  To me this chapter describes that you as a person have different meanings and places for different things.  Each object in your life goes  in a specific place.   Also, how you value a certain thing reflects on how you store it.  Which intimate place will choose for your next item you want to store? 

Root's exercise

Childhood roots! Drawings that we were asked to produced based on 2 objects of our choosing that we thought summed up our school years. I decided to choose a year book, which summed everything (friends, teachers, class rooms, proms, mascots, colors, moto's......everything) and my Associates degree in Fine Arts which summed up everything I was interested in before getting into Interior Architecture. Fine Arts to me was the achievement of my life thus far. It described me as determined, motivated, independent, goal oriented, and made me realize if I gave something my all and never give up, that I could do about anything and receive something back from it.
For this assignment we were asked to draw a certain number of drawings and pull out of each object certain things that popped out at us. We were also asked to turn the objects in different angles and views. Here is my work that I created, ending with my best 4 drawings.

Associates Degree of Fine Arts from Rockingham Community College, Wentworth NC (2005)

(Sophmore) South Stokes High School annual.

1st set of drawings:

2nd set of drawings:

3rd set of drawings:

Favorite Teacher

During grade school I had two teachers that really grabbed my attention in different ways.  

I will first talk about my 5th grade English teacher Mrs. James, who pushed me further than any one had ever pushed me.  At the time I was in her class, I hated it, but as soon as I got out of the class I understood why she was so hard.  She wanted the best for her students and pushing us to be better was her main goal.  She brought the best out of me and taught me that English, even though it was hard, could be fun to learn.  Mrs. James made me realize the little details in life. She made me realize that the more in detail you go, the more people will understand.  This is so true in what I am doing with my life now, every detail counts.  She in some ways, has made me who I am today!

Secondly, also from 5th grade, my Science and Math teacher Mr. Duncan.  Mr. Duncan has continued to be one of my biggest role models in life.  He allowed me to learn through play. We built space shuttles, broadcasted live from the elementary school, and was always learning through hands on activity.  Mr. Duncan has become a mentor for me throughout my life in many ways.  After 5th grade , he became my volleyball coach in high school pushing me everyday to become stronger academically and in my self.  During my senior year, he became my right hand man for the Ruri-teen Civic Club (where I was a president of the club) and was right there taking picture for senior prom, when I got crowned homecoming queen, and etc. Later in life we became coaches for J.O volleyball club.  During college he asked me to teach his 5th graders art, along with Mrs. James' class.  In other words, our lives keep crossing but he always treats me as a student and gives me great advice.  Mr. Duncan has definitely been a huge influence in my life and is still working to make me become a better person as a whole.

My Favorite Subject in school

My favorite subject in school was English. English to me was a way to show my imagination through stories, narratives, poems, and plays. It allowed me to express myself through writing and expression.

I believe that the reason why I loved English the most was because of my 5th grade English teacher, Mrs. James. Mrs. James taught me that going into detail wasn't a bad thing; that the more you described the better someone else would understand. She also taught me that in English that you create your own story from your inner-self, as well allow someone else to perceive your writing based on the inner-self and experiences of life.

I believe that this statement above and the reasonings above relates to the story that we are reading now, "The Poetics of Space".

favorite quote in "The Poetics of Space" by Gaston Bachelard

My favorite quote in the book is "start form the center, at the very heart of the circle from where the whole thing derives is source and meaning: and here we come back again to that forgotten, outcast word, the soul." which is found in the introduction.  The author is talking about Rouault's painting.

To me this quote describes how I design and also how I think the best way of designing is.  I think no matter what you are working on, you should always start in the center and work yourself out. This statement doesn't necessarily mean you have to literally start at the center point of the room, but one should focus on the main focus: the person/s in the space.  Also, one should express their own special experiences that is kept deep down in the center of one's heart or mind. 

Precedent study to West Stokes

ideas for Room 204 as a whole

As a group (Shannon Ryan, Rachel Walker, and I) we started looking at how to fix the natural lighting, temperature control, stands for models, and also looked at the existing interiors/structure in room 204 of the gatewood building at UNCG. We decided to look at a tracking system/window panel system for the windows on the south and west walls that would allow one to control the temperature, natural lighting, and extra pin up space for the room. We also looked at soft walls to be able to divide the room up into however many sections one needs in the room. Also, we wanted more pin-up space and break out space so we decided to make all walls tackable and created a break out space where the existing storage area is now in room 204. We decided to use cork flooring, as well as cork panels for the window panels. For the east wall, we decided to install a smart board, as well a white board.

this is the example of the floating table that is placed on a tracking system. This tracking system allows for the table to be pulled up towards the ceiling off of the floor space, to open the space up for critiques or gathering activites.

this is a drawing of the window panels, that would help control lighting and temperature control.

this shows the moveable tables for models, materials, or other objects that need to be shown or easily displayed around the room.

this shows how the window panels work. Slide into the next mullion on the window.

More ideas for Room 204--lectern and desk

Our group was asked to think about the lectern and the other areas of the room 204 of the Gatewood building at UNCG. After doing a lot of schematic lectern designs, ,we started to think about the seating of the students in the room and how we wanted them to learn. We knew we wanted to allow the students to learn through different learning styles such as kinesthetic, verbally, and auditory. One design I liked, but wasn't kept due to the high expense, was this first drawing in green, which had screens attached to the desk for easy learning. These screens would show what would usually been shown on the projection screen. This way the people in the back wouldn't have to ask what the projection screen would say, it would be right there in front of them.

thinking about technology being located on the actual desk to help users understand the material better.

trying to figure out the dimensions of the lectern, materials for the lectern and the placement of the lectern.

trying to figure out the shape of the lectern and again figuring out the dimensions.

trying to look at different functions that could be experimented with the lectern system.