ABBY CHADWICK the portfolio of
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SENIOR THESIS, AUG. 2024 - MAR. 2025 RESTAURANT DESIGN, SEPT. - NOV. 2023 WORKPLACE DESIGN, JAN. - MAR. 2024
TIME WELL SPENT.
Using space to dismantle our current perception of productivity culture.
Client: the7stars Marketing Agency
Location: Bradbury Works, London
Hand Sketching/Academic Research/Professional Interviews/Illustrator
I guess this idea came about during my time studying abroad, but, if we’re being honest, it’s existed as a sort of undertone for most of my life. At the time, I was having this really special experience with really special people in really special places, but there was this pretty resounding voice in my head saying “Make sure you take this all in, because these are the things that will make you and your art better, more worldy, more interesting, and isn’t that the point of all this?”
I had managed to convince myself that the ultimate goal of these experiences would be to better commodify myself in the future; that nothing was worth having if it wasn’t useful.
I wanted to see what would happen if we challenged that idea, in all aspects of life.
I wanted to see what would happen if we recognized that we were human again.
Literary Research
“Slow Productivity” by Cal Newport and “Saving Time” by Jenny Odell were both key in the early developments of ideation and research. Newport was crucial in understanding that to reject the concept of productivity would not only be unreasonable but impossible. Instead, the concept of reframing productivity to merely be an aspect of one’s life instead of the ultimate goal seemed far more realistic. Society runs on productivity, not just the culture of it but the output it produces.
Daughter of Columbian immigrants navigating creative industries as a woman
Their “work” measurable its effects aren’t University
The Photographer
“work” isn’t necessarily measurable or tangible, and aren’t obvious
Feels burdened by the expectations of their students. family, and friends
Wearing multiple hats outside of their profession just to make a living
University
Admin. Secondary Educator Content Creator
Interviews
In every conducted interview, I found that everyone feels this internal need to prove themselves. Our histories and backstories are all unique to who we are, but the feeling remains the same.
“personally
Origin: me, just recently adjective phrase
universal”
The idea that we, as human beings, experience a lot of the same thoughts and feelings, except for reasons that are entirely specific to who we are.
“I know exactly how you feel! Not for the reasons you do, but still!”
Concept
Location
Bradbury Works Building
3 Gillett Square, Bradbury St, London N16
8JN, United Kingdom
Architect: [Y/N] Studio
Borough of Hackney
55% of the population is under 35
31% of the population is under 24
by French + Tye
Photo
Early design ideation led not to the designing of concrete, architectural features, but instead, ideologies to incorporate throughout the project.
For example:
- Complicating circulation paths, drawing upon the leisurely tradition of the “English ramble”
- Focusing on proximity in third spaces, just as a place like Trafalgar Square is rich for its proximity to cultural landmarks, this space will be “rich” due to its proximity to creatives
Trafalgar Square, London
What if there was a space for creative people to come together and collaborate on issues they felt passionate about, all the while rediscovering who they are beyond what they can produce?
Throughout the course of my research, there was this ever-present fear that the idea of challenging productivity culture was too “big.” I was so scared that I did not have the experience or the skills to bring about an idea that I believed in so much.
Fear of Cheese
Why Make a Physical Model?
So much of the program is dependent on hobby experimentation and the project itself explores an ideology even beyond physical space. It made sense then, to explore a style, medium, and way of presenting that I had never tried before. Also, it’s way more fun.
and if that sounds cheesy, so be it.
The two notebooks displayed have gone absolutely everywhere with me for the duration of this project and contain every sketch, note, and tidbit used in both the presentation and this portfolio.
Location: Peregrin Rooftop, Savannah, Georgia
Hand Sketching/AutoCAD/SketchUp/Laser-Cutting/Branding
Client: Tartine, Chad Robertson & Elisabth Prueitt
At the height of their popularity, Chad Robertson and Elisabeth Prueitt’s brand, Tartine, served as a San Franciscan landmark, known for its emphasis on locality, tradition, and their ever-present relationship with their farmers, manufacturers, and employees.
However, during the 2010s, the brand was growing, and the emphasis on the local community soon shifted to trying to capitalize on the Tartine trend before it was too late. But there was still this gap. There was a need to maybe put a pause on expanding and really work to build on what they had. There was a need to value the people who got them where they were, and not only appreciate but celebrate them.
Archer by Tartine sets out to fill that gap. It serves not only to celebrate the life and future legacy that Tartine will have,
but also establishes a more mature and self-sustaining future.
Concept
Contextually, the concept of the space is an intimate dinner party tucked inside of the walls of a museum. It’s this idea of dining with people who bring a sense of life into the present moment in a setting specifically designed to celebrate the past.
At Archer, we invite you to cherish life’s processes, for it is in the process in which we make and are made.
Furniture Plan
Tartine’s Past - The Bread Bar
Tartine’s Present/Future - Main Dining
Main Dining
The main dining experience sets out to create a new age of the brand that celebrates its past and returns to its roots in tradition.
The Bread Bar
The Bread Bar emulates Tartine’s San Franciscan beginnings and its perceived prime, when it stood as a period piece of the 2010s.
“The Case” Private Dining Room
Laser-Cut from Clear Acrylic
Furniture Plan Laser-Cut from Clear Acrylic
The Value of the Unfinished
The new dwelling place of SCAD’s Special Collections, and of its students.
Client: SCAD Special Collections
Location: Jen Library, Savannah, Georgia
Revit/Hand Sketching/SketchUp/Autocad/Procreate/Photoshop
Special Collections is one of the hidden gems of the Savannah College of Art and Design. When discussing this project with friends and peers, many had no clue Special Collections existed, which is crazy, considering the time, effort, and not to mention monetary resources poured into it each year. Andra Darlington, the head of SCAD’s Special Collections exists in somewhat of the same light.
This design is meant to shine light upon this unknown sector of SCAD, but, with this new workspace, there is also this desire to reconnect the SCAD community with the idea that we live in the process and that our work has value, well before it is ever considered “completed.”
There is value in the unfinished and beauty in the process, we just have to recognize
it.
User: Students, Visitors, Special Collections Staff
User: Students & Scheduled Classes
User: Special Collections Staff (exclusively)
Main Office
This office space is designed for Andra Darlington and her team. The slanted curtain feature allows for natural light and for connection with the rest of the space.
Multi-Purpose Area
This space serves as a collaboration zone for students. It is reminiscent of an art studio, creating feelings of inspiration rather than forcing students to feel like they “should” be working.
Don Bluth Exhibition
Don Bluth’s archives are the largest collection of works held by SCAD, so to have a display area specifically designed to hold them seemed essential. This area also looks out to Savannah’s Broughton Street and serves to attract any and all passerbys.
by
Art
Don Bluth
Break Room & Storage
A covered walk-through makes walking through the storage space an experience in and of itself, and curtain walls surrounding the custom shelving units allow the collections to exist sort of “on display,” even when they are being actively stored.
Storage Axonometric
Film photography
