EMILY STANCLIFF
This is the entry foyer and office space of a family friend’s house. The large open space is delineated by three suggestive wall portions, which break the space up into a living room, an intermediary foyer/main stair, and office space. There are two stairways shown in this plan, one that goes upstairs to the second floor and the other that goes downstairs towards the basement, as accessed through the office. Both living room and office showcase various pieces of artwork, including sculptures and various paintings completed by local and famous artists. Both spaces also notably include a variety of important personal items including a Christopher Royal Bay Chair, the shared dog’s/cat’s beds, and handmade wooden ottomans with storage space.
This living room wall showcases a variety of interior design choices and personal item’s of the family’s. Most of the artwork housed here was created by local artists that are well-known to the family. The textural and colorful variety is reminiscent of the African theme that is further developed throughout the house. The mauves, crimson reds, and mustard/sand yellow provides appropriate contrast with the off-white walls and black base colors. The ceilings here are a notable 9’-0” but does have an opening up to the second-story near the main stairway/entry area.
This ANT-Diagram takes a closer look on the importance of identity in the cookie-cutter homes that most people reside. Can we determine someone’s identity - their personality, their interests, their heritage - by the objects they place/keep in their homes? How can this help to inform the architectural design process? From exploring the historical American housing context to the personal design choices/inclinations of my family friends, this board shows some of the thoughts involved in this design analysis.
This organizational diagram of my family friend’s house highlights the public versus private spaces, the inaccessible spaces, the various axes of design symmetry, and the morning/evening sunlight’s permeability through the windows.
The “public” areas - the areas one would naturally congregate without further intimate invitation - are delineated by a bold dashed line with an intermediary area showed by light dashed lines. The private zones are shown in bold solid lines with less used areas/inaccessible areas being shown with diamond crosshatching.
The main axis of symmetry lies vertically in the spaces, centered between the sofas and picture frames (from living room to office). Two horizontal axes are placed within the midpoints of the windows to the artwork placed across the room. Lastly, the morning sun is shown in yellow, while the evening sun is shown in orange. The high afternoon sun goes behind the house; therefore, not of great significance to the rooms at that time of day.
The graphic composition is composed of 14 lines and shapes. The public space is delineated by the long black dashed lines with the intermediary space shown in gray and more staggered dashed lines. The living room private space is shown by the thick blue lines, with the ends in sharp arrowheads, while the office private zone is represented by thick blue ovals. The inaccessible areas are now shown in gray charcoal brush stroke and the lines of symmetry are lavender and bright purble wavy strokes. The morning sun took on a smaller initial circle with increased opacity to the yellow coloration, while the evening sun begins with a larger circle and increased opacy on the orange coloration.
Vectors from the graphic composition were extruded to five heights: 10’, 8’, 5’, 3’, and 1’. The three axes of symmetry become the exterior “walls” of the composition, while the long-public dashed lines become the interior “walls.” The private and intermediary lines become vertical features, acting as ceilings, overheads, and floating sculptures in space. Then, the inaccessible areas become decorative features, while the various sun paths act as windows into the new model composition.
This gif set shows the more intricate back-view of the model to the “front” of the new building. The negative space in between the high-extruded walls of the interior is reminiscent of a corn maze, allowing the viewer to happen upon new spaces without actually seeing how they might get there. Overhead blocks, shapes, and ceilings characterize the open spaces down below. Lastly, the cutouts within the exterior walls create shadows within the interior space.
Taking a horizontal cut through the composition, one can get a better understanding of the interior open spaces available for viewers. “Walls” are often quite permeable and placed at a variety of interesting angles, reminiscent of the original house’s interior walls. Also of note are the variety of “hanging” elements - long rectangles and cylinders - that further remind us of the hanging art pieces in the original house.