Gnomon Campus Redesign

In my view of the campus redesign, Gnomon would occupy the full block. Given the fact that Gnomon has a very low acceptance rate and wishes to stay relatively small, I believe the current space can house all of its facilities if the space it effectively appropriated. Hence my choice to allocate all of the campus in a single unified structure.

The building would consist of three identical floors with slight variation in the south wings of each floor. The tower would house the lab rooms arranged in a cylindrical fashion with a common cylindrical hall that connects to the North and East exits of the tower on the first floor and the lobby of the main structure where the administrative offices, restroom, elevator, and south wing are located to the lab rooms, making the transiting of the building smooth.

Two entrances to the underground parking lot are located in the least busy streets of Cole and Cahuenga to avoid traffic congestion at the entrance. The main structure and tower are accessible from Santa Monica Blvd., Cahuenga Blvd., and Cole Ave. for pedestrians.

There are three staircases: One is a spiral staircase in the tower that connects all three floors and the rooftop, and there are two emergency staircases located east and west of the south wing.

I like the fact that Gnomon is like a family. Therefore, to reinforce this idea, I have distributed two administrative office per floor, allowing for easy access to the students.

The South wing of the building will house different rooms per floor.

The 1st floor will contain the sculpture lab and the Drawing/Painting room, so that students that need to carry materials for these analog classes have easy access. They rooms will also be large enough to provide enough room for more students to work simultaneously and have lockers for the analog classes materials. The 2nd floor consists of the Cafeteria and Lounge, the student gallery, the Gnomon store, and a tutoring center. The 3rd floor houses the stage.

The rooftop will be used as an outdoors lounge area for students, and guests in case of events. The rooftop will be accessible through the elevator and the staircases in the main building and the tower.

Nap Room

I believe the tiki lounge should be repurposed as a nap room. Gnomon students spend an exorbitant amount of hours in school campus due to the demanding assignments throughout the program. I believe it would greatly benefit the students and the school. It is proven that 15 to 20 minute naps can help recharge the body and the brain, not to mention relieve stress, therefore improving the quality of work.

An art nouveau style would help provide a different feel to the cubist style of the labs and lecture rooms. That way students can completely disconnect from the work, not feel like they are in school, and relax.

Divided into two matching floors, the lower floor will prioritize disabled students while the upper floor will be available to all. Equipped with high-end sleeping pods and dim orange lighting to promote sleep, the Nap Room will hold 10 sleeping pods (4 on the lower floor and 6 on the upper floor).

All electronic devices should be turned off before entering the Nap Room, and there will be no food, drinks or talking allowed inside; rules will be posted outside the room. The number of vacant and occupied sleeping pod will be displayed on a panel next to door, so that students do not wander inside, therefore keeping the disturbance levels to a minimum. The outside gate will be a tinted soundproof glass window.

Update

I did not want to change much on the original post, but I decided to include a graphics of how the panel that shows the availability of pods inside the nap room would look like. I decided to go withe the Gnomon colors for this one. The description is included within the image.

Massage Boots

This concept is conceived thinking of people who have to stand for long periods of time or have to walk long distances while still needing or wanting to look fashionable. I also wanted to think of a unisex design for men who like platform boots.

It comes in white or black vinyl for a retro or futuristic look, and it massages the lower legs front and back while the person is sitting down. The knobs are strategically place to mimic successful hand positions and pressure points to release tension in the calves, soleus, and the achilles tendon, as well as the area around the shins.

The massaging knobs also contain sensors that detect the level of tension in the affected area and inform the user of it. It uses a gradient of led lights ranging from red to green showing the level of tightness, red being the most tense and green being relaxed. 

The message knobs are deactivated automatically if the pressure on the soles passes the established threshold to ensure that massage knobs are not activated while standing or walking. The user can configure the boots for the activation of the massage knobs to be automatic or manual.

Update

After some good ideas presented by Fabio and Kathryn about the massage on the foot as well, I knew I wanted to include it. Charlie provided the inspiration to make it a separate piece. That's how the massage soles came to be.

What is good design?

In my opinion a good design successfully executes its three main aspects: functionality, efficiency, and aesthetics. I would argue that it also tackles them in a hierarchical approach where functionality is the most important followed by efficiency and then aesthetics.

A product must be designed for its functionality, its purpose. It must carry out the task or tasks for which it was designed, even if this product is an abstract one, e.g.: Advertisement. Next a good design, makes the product efficient. It should maximize the speed and/or comfortability with which the product is used. Lastly, the design should be appealing. Since the ultimate goal of the end product of a design is to be used whether it is for mass production or not, this must be appealing for the end user. Aesthetics should also help reinforce the use of it through many artistic tools, such as shape language, color theory, etc.

To illustrate the earlier point, we can take the example of advertisement, which is an abstract concept. The function of an ad is to attract attention, convince the public. Depending on the medium (TV commercial, billboard, etc.) this needs to happen quickly and efficiently. Last the and most be appealing, attract the spectator. Now graphic design uses aesthetics and visual cues to realize its functionality, but it is worth noting that even in graphic design the concept of aesthetics and functionality are separate concepts that work hand and hand, as do all elements of a good design. Essentially aesthetic is meant to capture the viewer’s or listener’s attention quickly. However, if the two primordial elements of design, the interest of the targeted audience will be lost, and one thing is for sure, good design is timeless.

Although These principles permeate all branches of design, they manifest differently in each of those branches. We will talk about architecture, interior design, costume or fashion design, graphic design, and product design.

Architecture

I think that a good building, therefore a good architectural design is best described by Vitruvius, “firmitas, utilitas, venustas”, which means that a building should be firm, useful, and beautiful. However, there is another element equally important in contemporary architecture, sustainability. Sustainability encompasses the efficient use of materials, energy, development space and ecosystem from the building stage through the life of the building.  Personally, good architecture places a greater emphasis on aesthetic and sustainability without sacrificing sustainability and functionality. Architecture is meant to beautify the space is surrounding by.

Zaha Hadid, London Aquatic Centre, July 27, 2011, London, UK

Zaha Hadid, Dubai Opera House, 2016, Dubai, Uniter Arab Emirates.

Interior Design

In my opinion good interior design is minimal and efficient. I like to know where everything is and like to be able to move around the space. I believe that good interior design achieves pleasant aesthetics without cluttering the space; it maximizes everyday activities. 

Costume Design

Good costume design tells you, or at least is coherent with, everything you need to know about a character or performer. The design should reinforce the character’s personality. It should give you hints of the cultural background of the character (even if it is from a foreign universe). Most important, a good costume has a purpose and a story. Props, objects, weapons are part of a character’s costume and they should have a purpose to reinforce the narrative of the character as well as the story.

Anastasia Bulgakova

Graphic Design

Good graphic design communicates accurately. I believe good graphic design is timeless or can be readapted without much change of the original design. It catches the attention of the viewer immediately and it should be simple and concise.  

Carolyn Davidson, Nike Swoosh, 1971

Alan Siegel, NBA Logo, 1969

Product design

This is where the elements of good design become more evident and more cohesive. The functionality aspect is vital to me. A good product design must do what it was meant to do. It must function well and it must do it ergonomically. Aesthetic play a very secondary role in the validity of a product. However, aesthetically the product must be cohesive. It should be give indication of what it is used for and it must be appealing. A very appealing quality is being multifunctional without sacrificing efficiency in its primary function.