Thursday, December 3, 2009

celebrity kitchen composition

This is a final composition of my celebrity kitchen project for client, William McDonough. For this assignment, we were to provide elevations, a floor plan with section cuts and elevation tags, an axonometric view, sections of cabinet walls (or in my case, my custom shelving unit), and an exploded structural detail (custom shelving unit). Each image was to be placed in a thoughtful manner, with the final board conveying a sense creative risk, readability, consistency, good representation of materials and textures, and show care and quality. I feel my composition is a great example of each of these design elements. My favorite part about the overall design is my creative risk, of creating a circle pattern super-graphic.

SYTYCD : cd cover

For our last "So You Think You Can('t) Draw" assignment, we were to create a cd of all our SYTYCD projects from the semester and create a cover for the cd. This is the cover that I created in Illustrator. It is a digital composition of my work, so I thought titling the project "Kristen Sylvia : a drawing experience" was an appropriate title, along with the artist photo of myself.

kitchen axonometric view

This is a hand-drawn and rendered axonometric view of my celebrity kitchen that I designed. Along with my other hand-rendered drawings, I wanted to capture the essence of the material used and how the light would interact with the space by providing spading. This view was used only for my Visual Communication kitchen composition.

kitchen detail explosion.

This is a model that I created using Sketchup. It is an "explosion" of my custom shelving unit that is designed for my celebrity kitchen project. The purpose for this model is to show all the individual pieces that make up a buildable structure. Each set of pieces is spread out or "exploded" from its connecting pieces. This image was needed for my Visual Communication celebrity kitchen composition.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

concept composition

For this Visual Communication assignment, we were to take our concept from our Design Studio "Celebrity Kitchen" Project and create a composition without titling it with our concept. We were to include two hand-produced images, two pictures taken from the internet or other resources, and provide 4 descriptive words about the project or concept. My concept was a cherry tree, with which I created a silhouette of a cherry tree branch, a set of pendant lighting that I originally was going to use in my space that I designed, graphic images of a cherry and a painting of a cherry tree. The words I used to describe my ideas were reuse, nature, diversity, and light. These words were used very much in my original design. Everyone was able to guess my concept from looking at my composition!

celebrity kitchen [floor plan]

This is my floor plan for my celebrity kitchen design for client, William McDonough. The organization of space is very diverse and allows the kitchen to function in a very practical manor. The main traffic flow enters from the living room (on the bottom) and travels past my custom designed shelving unit to the right into the dining room. Or from the living room to the laundry/mudroom straight across, past the breakfast bar to the top of the drawing. None of these main paths will cross and bother the cook, which works around the inside of the "L"-shaped counter-space and the island. Originally, the plan included very narrow, standard door sizes to all of the surrounding rooms, however, I chose to expand the dining room and living room entrances to allow more of a connection between the spaces and allow for more natural light to flow from the large span of windows to the surrounding spaces. The overall layout I have created is very dynamic, diverse and functional -- the way a kitchen should be.

celebrity kitchen [elevations]



These cabinet wall elevations are of my celebrity kitchen design for client, William McDonough. The cabinets are all pull-out or drawers to make the kitchen more efficient than standard cabinets that you have to basically climb inside to get something. In addition to these easy storage options, I also designed a custom shelving unit with sliding doors for more storage. The shelves are only a foot deep, making it easier to grab items from it. This is a more dynamic style that I can see McDonough using. To further enhance a unique kitchen design, I chose the bold color red to create an even larger impact when someone was to walk into this space. Very bold. Very new. Very efficient.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

rendered material board


The materials I decided to render were bamboo ring ecoresin, reclaimed wood, glass from a light fixture, and fabric. I rendered each material three times: one pen, one pencil, and one markers and colored pencil. According to scale: one full scale, one 1/4'' scale, and one 1/8'' scale.

SYTYCD : celebrity kitchen detail

For this week's "So You Think You Can('t) Draw", we were to create a detail of something that is in our Studio celebrity kitchen project. This could be either a furniture, fixture or electrical element. I chose to draw my custom shelving system that has two sliding doors on a track. The doors are made of a somewhat see-through resin material, which I captured in my rendering. I used markers and colored pencils.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

kitchen detail.


I pulled this quick drawing out of my sketchbook as a detail of my celebrity kitchen project in process. When I designed this pendant light fixture, I had in mind the concept of a cherry tree. Using the vibrant color of red in my space is being used in details spread through out the room. I used pen, colored pencil and marker.

SYTYCD : kitchen logo


I tried to create a very active, vibrant, dynamic logo that represents my client for our celebrity kitchen project, William McDonough, completely. I designed it with three circular rings representing cyclical movement that captures the symbols of the three concepts McDonough lives by : solar income, diversity, and waste = food. Each of these three concepts are activities that are meant to be continuous, which will improve the quality of our Earth and ourselves. The colors I chose are eye-catching and work well together, which represent the reaction McDonough gives creates and the benefits of his ideas. McDonough says that "design is intention". Every part of this logo has intention and represents my kitchen design and McDonough very well.

SYTYCD : recreate a week

This was a unique "So You Think You Can('t) Draw" contest week because we were to recreate one of the previous weeks' contests. I chose to draw another joint composition. For this drawing, I reminisced to summer memories and drew a man fishing in a lake, hoping to catch that one fish! I focused on line and form the most in this joint composition with minimal shading. Adding an element of depth with the bobber being close and the fisher in the boat being further away creates visual interest. I think this drawing is fun and I'm pleased with how it turned out!

SYTYCD : haunted house

For this "So You Think You Can('t) Draw" contest submission, we were to create a well-composed rendered elevation of the front of a spooky haunted house that we design. To go along with the drawing, we were to form a story that went along with our spooky place. I envisioned my haunted house to be a place where little trick-or-treaters found themselves going to far down the street...to where they did not want to end up. My narrative describes the adventure the three children on the bottom of the page had on their Halloween trick-or-treating night. I provided grand, dark gates with gargoyles perching on top as my super-graphic. By drawing the three children at the base of the page, it provided distance to my drawing and also moves the viewers eyes from the children through the gates to the story to the house (the climax of the drawing). I decided to render this image using graphite instead of more complex, bold colors that markers create because I wanted to create a dramatic black and white composition and I simply wanted to experiment with pencil rendering for a change. I had a lot of fun being able to be completely creative and not have many guidelines with this project. I love how my drawing came out!

case study : case study [composition]

To wrap-up the case study : case study project, we were to take a piece from various steps of the process and create a complete composition of our hard work. I chose to represent my creations in a simple but well-read grid format. In the composition, I was to include a floor plan, axonometric view, elevation, section, and perspective. Although each of the pieces are equally important and well-drawn, I decided to create my floor plan as a super-graphic because it shows a complete view of everything in the entire case study : case study house. The way I arranged all of my items highlights consistency, care and quality. The title is located on the datum line that adds interest and contrast, leading the reader across and down the page. I feel the composition is creative, easily read and visually appealing while still focusing on the actual work.