HS-Design

HS-Design is a really impressive firm out of New Jersey. I really admire their use of design to help people. In my opinion, working for a company like HS would be really fulfilling.

Be sure to check out the portfolio link on their website.

http://www.hs-design.com/

Texture in Architecture

I found this website about using texture in architecture that has lot of useful information. It talks about how texture's main purpose in a building's design is to create a unique experience for occupant's senses. Texture is able to show the true quality of the materials used in the design and provide a unique feel to a building. Different themes of design utilize different textures and/or combinations of textures. All buildings have texture, but it is a question of whether the texture helps, hurts,or does nothing for the design.

here is the link to the website:

http://sensingarchitecture.com/1470/how-do-you-use-texture-in-architectural-design/

Today, Lane showed by a really interesting design site called The Cool Hunter. I really recommend checking it out. There are many incredible images which include work in each of our disciplines. Scroll down the first page and there are works of architecture, industrial design, interior design, and landscape architecture.

In general, it's a good idea to navigate through these sites. They feed your curiosity and carry very inspirational pieces of work. The favorite bored-on-the-internet tool is a great way of finding news, images, and sites about the design world. "Industrial Design" and "Design" are some of my interests on StumbleUpon. Through this site, I "stumble" through so many fascinating images and articles on product design. TreeHugger is a large sustainability blog. It has an Architecture and Design section which showcases the improvements in the design world in regards to the green and sustainability movement. Another interesting ID site is Industrial Design Served which houses a collection of sites relating to new and upcoming designs and products in the industry.

Check out these images from The Cool Hunter

Texture

After making the texture rubbings this afternoon, I decided to look into textures some more and found this helpful website. It helped me to understand that everything has texture, a fact I sometimes have trouble understanding and remembering. It is easy to see that something rough or bumpy has a texture, but I never really think of something completely flat and smooth having a texture too, but it does. I also found the explanation of the difference between tactile texture and visual texture interesting and how there is texture that you can feel, like what we were using for the rubbings, and also textures on 2D surfaces, such as in photographs or drawings.

working with wood these past few weeks has been a challenge. I came into this project with the understanding that wood was a mostly stable, predictable resource. After hearing the shop guys tell me that wood can warp even over night, I had a very different impression of the material. My incredulity heightened when I learned that most of the joints had to be constructed using a makeshift procedure instead of a precise machine. Be that as it may, I learned to be very exact with my measurements to ensure that the wood joints fit perfectly. With the final iteration approaching I hope to use my findings about wood and create a successful intersection of both implied and bound planes in three dimensional space.

DC Trip

In case anyone else is interested in interior design, here's a little more about what we did and saw on our trip to DC...First we visited the Washington Nationals stadium and toured their VIP areas led by the contractors. They recently conducted about 3 or 4 million dollars worth of renovations. Then we took a tour of Fox Architects that works mainly with corporate office space and got to ask a lot of questions about how architects and designers collaborate. After, we visited Steelcase which designs innovative office furniture that is space efficient and multi-functional. There is a big stress in office design now to not have individual cubicles but move toward design that promotes collaboration. In many newly designed spaces, there is about one workspace for every six employees due to research that has shown that people can work from virtually anywhere, not just the office. Here we also had an alumni reception where we were able to speak with over 60 alumni working in the field in DC. Friday, we began with a meeting at Marriott about being LEED certified and sustainability. There is a large movement in the industry towards making conscious decisions about every aspect of the design and not designing space to last a lifetime but rather using renewable sources that can simply be updated 10-20 years down the line. Next, we visited Marriott's international headquarters where we toured their textile library, saw the designs for the next Ritz Carlton, and toured their prototype rooms for each of their brands of hotel. This was interesting to see another side to the design world apart from office space, an industry that is much more geared toward customer satisfaction and aesthetics versus functionality in an office space. Finally, we finished up our trip at Gensler, the number one interior design firm in the world. Here, they talked about how it's typically a team of directors, interior designers, architects, and engineers that work on a space. This trip was motivating to pursue design after seeing a little of how it works in the professional world.

Landscape Architecture is more than just nature.

Landscape architecture

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Central Park in New York City is an example of landscape architecture.

Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor and public spaces to achieve environmental, socio-behavioral, and/or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic investigation of existing social, ecological, and geological conditions and processes in the landscape, and the design of interventions that will produce the desired outcome. The scope of the profession includes: urban design; site planning; town or urban planning; environmental restoration; parks and recreation planning; visual resource management; green infrastructure planning and provision; and private estate and residence landscape master planning and design; all at varying scales of design, planning and management. A practitioner in the profession of landscape architecture is called a landscape architect.

Definition

Landscape architecture is a multi-disciplinary field, incorporating aspects of: botany, horticulture, the fine arts, architecture, industrial design, geology and the earth sciences, environmental psychology, geography, and ecology. The activities of a landscape architect can range from the creation of public parks and parkways to site planning for campuses and corporate office parks, from the design of residential estates to the design of civil infrastructure and the management of large wilderness areas or reclamation of degraded landscapes such as mines or landfills. Landscape architects work on all types of structures and external space - large or small, urban, suburban and rural, and with "hard" (built) and "soft" (planted) materials, while integrating ecological sustainability. The most valuable contribution can be made at the first stage of a project to generate ideas with technical understanding and creative flair for the design, organization, and use of spaces. The landscape architect can conceive the overall concept and prepare the master plan, from which detailed design drawings and technical specifications are prepared. They can also review proposals to authorize and supervise contracts for the construction work. Other skills include preparing design impact assessments, conducting environmental assessments and audits, and serving as an expert witness at inquiries on land use issues. They can also support and prepare applications for capital and revenue funding grants.^{[citation needed]}
In some states, provinces, municipalities, and jurisdictions, such as Ontario, Canada and Santa Barbara, California, all designs for public space must be reviewed and approved by licensed landscape architects.

Fields of activity

The breadth of the professional tasks that landscape architects collaborate on is very broad, but some examples of project types include:^{[citation needed]}

• The planning, form, scale and siting of new developments
• Civil design and public infrastructure
• Sustainable development
• Stormwater management including rain gardens, green roofs, groundwater recharge, and treatment wetlands
• Campus and site design for public institutions and government facilities
• Parks, botanical gardens, arboretums, greenways, and nature preserves
• Recreation facilities; i.e.: playgrounds, golf courses, theme parks and sports facilities
• Housing areas, industrial parks and commercial developments
• Estate and residence landscape master planning and design
• Highways, transportation structures, bridges, and transit corridors
• Urban design, town and city squares, waterfronts, pedestrian schemes, and parking lots
• Large to small urban renewal planning and design
• Natural park, tourist destination, and recreating historical landscapes, and historic garden appraisal and conservation studies
• Reservoirs, dams, power stations, reclamation of extractive industry applications or major industrial projects and mitigation
• Environmental assessment and landscape assessment, planning advice and land management proposals.
• Coastal and offshore developments and mitigation
• Ecological Design any aspect of design that minimizes environmentally destructive impacts by integrating itself with natural processes and sustainability

Specializations and related professions

Urban designers determine the physical arrangement, appearance and functionality of towns and cities, including circulation and open public space.
Landscape managers use their knowledge of landscape processes to advise on the long-term care and development of the landscape. They often work in forestry, nature conservation and agriculture.
Landscape scientists have specialist skills such as soil science, hydrology, geomorphology or botany that they relate to the practical problems of landscape work. Their projects can range from site surveys to the ecological assessment of broad areas for planning or management purposes. They may also report on the impact of development or the importance of particular species in a given area.
Landscape planners are concerned with landscape planning for the location, scenic, ecological and recreational aspects of urban, rural and coastal land use. Their work is embodied in written statements of policy and strategy, and their remit includes master planning for new developments, landscape evaluations and assessments, and preparing countryside management or policy plans. Some may also apply an additional specialism such as landscape archaeology or law to the process of landscape planning.
Green roof designers design extensive and intensive roof gardens for storm water management, evapo-transpirative cooling, sustainable architecture, aesthetics, and habitat creation.^{[citation needed]}

Orangery at the Palace of Versailles, outside Paris

 

Profession

In many countries, a professional institute, comprising members of the professional community, exists in order to protect the standing of the profession and promote its interests, and sometimes also regulate the practice of landscape architecture. The standard and strength of legal regulations governing HI^{[what does this mean?]} landscape architecture practice varies from nation to nation, with some requiring licensure in order to practice; and some having little or no regulation. In North America and Europe, landscape architecture is a regulated profession.^[1]