Ashley's Interior Design Portfolio

Ashley Morgan Interior Design Portfolio

Design is an evolution of thought that starts with an idea and grows into actuality. I believe that the design process should involve everyone, from the design team, to the users, and even the community. When designing, it is important to use a holistic approach, which considers not only the physical, but also the experiential and environmental context of the entire project. These fundamental layers create successful designs.

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Table of Contents Westin Hotel at DEN Airport

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The Alliance Center

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Woodward Inc.

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Fortis Private Banking Office Space

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Confidential Analytic Firm

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Nation Oceanic & Atmospheric Association

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24 Hour Competition

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Westin Hotel at DEN Airport The addition of the Hotel and Transit Center to Denver International Airport (DEN) included three independent, yet physically integrated projects: The 519 room Westin Denver International Airport Hotel, which includes a conference center, restaurant and Grab N’ Go cafe; a public transit center with new check-in stations and security hall for travelers arriving by train; and an open air public plaza to serve as a connection to the existing Jeppessen Terminal, a venue for performances and exhibits as well as a location for relaxation and dining.

I worked with designers at Gensler to model Revit families, design and document the guest rooms, suites and bathrooms, pool and fitness areas, Grab N’ Go Cafe and main entry of the hotel. I also contributed to the designs for the employee back-of-house spaces and the new security floor.

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Westin Hotel at DEN Airport One of the many challenges was determining how to configure the eight different suite types that are located on the slanted edge of the hotel. Due the angle of the east and west facade, the suites on each of the hotel floors vary in size and layout. The varied needs of each room required critical thinking and creative design solutions.

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Westin Hotel at DEN Airport When designing the pool and fitness center on the eleventh floor, we wanted to highlight the amazing views and its unique location in the building. Since it is located just under the crest of the roof’s dip, the ceiling is sloped, accentuating the curve of the roof when viewed from the street and adding drama to the space while in it. The space above the sloped ceiling was very limited, so finding recessed lights that would fit was one of several challenges we encountered while designing this space. Another challenge was fitting two single stall restrooms and a shower in the space while maintaining room for storage. Since the shower would only be for guests to rinse off before swimming, we decided to design the shower as part of the pool area and not its own room. This allowed for a smaller showering space and room for built-in storage. The elevation to the left shows a built-in storage unit I designed for the workout facility. It is completely modeled and detailed in Revit and designed to store towels, yoga equipment and a water cooler.

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The Alliance Center For this client we re-imagined how an old building functions and created a multi-tenant, sustainable hub that directly links all tenant groups to the advancement of sustainability. To achieve this, we created an open, flexible space promoting the cross pollination of ideas while encouraging spontaneous interactions among tenants and visitors.

Because The Alliance Center’s focus is sustainability, we highlighted that mission by using many natural materials and practices. I chose to use a wool felt rug in the main lobby seating area becuase its contents is rapidly renewable and recycleable. I also chose to use carpet tiles that mimic the appearance of grass and we designed planters throughout the space to incorporate Biophilic design.

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Woodward Inc.

This a unique project for a Aerospace Engineering and Manufacturing company in Rockford, Illinois. Before the design process began for this client, we completed a Workplace Analysis of their existing office space, which was very traditional and disjointed. The analysis revealed inefficiencies in the work flow between department groups and that the employees were generally unhappy with their work environment. We used this information and worked with the client to develop a new workplace strategy and create a floor plan for their new ground up headquarters campus. Our client fully embraced our suggestion of providing an open office plan to promote collaboration and integration of department groups.

Our design offered a completely open plan with small groupings of various sized conference and focus rooms throughout the office space.

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Woodward Inc. To fulfill our client’s desire for integration, we created a floor plan that offers many opportunities for cross pollination between engineering and manufacturing groups. The second floor office space forms a ‘T’ with the trunk running over the center of the manufacturing floor. At each end of the trunk are ‘Exchanges’ which include clusters of conference rooms, huddle spaces and the pantries. The idea behind this strategy was to provide visual transparency between engineering and manufacturing employees and to encourage interaction.

When designing and documenting this project, everything needed to be accurately modeled in Revit. My biggest role on this project was modeling the different design elements, one of the many elements was the Exchange stairs. We wanted to make the stairs an extension of the Exchanges and saw them as an opportunity to become a design feature. I sketched and modeled multiple layouts and design options of the stairs for the team and the client.

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Fortis Private Banking Fortis was one of my favorite clients to work with because they were open to creativity and unique design features. After completing their retail space, they came to us to design their new office space on the floor above.

They wanted their office space to coordinate with their sophisticated retail space, but also reflect the playful and competitive spirit of their team.

The client desired a casual feel to their office space while maintaining a professional appearance. We started by taking some of the materiality from the retail space and using it as a base to build our new palette, then incorporated color and texture inspired by our concept

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Fortis Private Bank We wanted to play up the details of this space and give it a tailored feel. The pantry is designed to look like a piece of furniture, instead of millwork, with a pin-striped tile backsplash and matte black hardware. They were also in the process of re-branding, so I designed a bookcase that resembled the company’s new logo.

We also wanted to showcase their competitive spirit. After seeing a new linear pendant that could be connected, I created a lighting plan over the open office space that resembles a sports bracket and the client loved it.

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Confidential Analytic Firm This client wanted to incorporate some of the industrial feel of its surrounding neighborhood. A challenge was the space and budget were relatively small so we had to be strategic with our design. Our solution was to keep the majority of this office simple and add interest to the spaces where we felt it would be most enjoyed, the reception and the break room.

The reception area is where they will meet clients and share presentations.

There was not a large space for guest seating, but we still wanted to provide a ‘living room’ feel like we had in the previous projects for this client. In order to achieve this, I extended the conference room carpet out into the seating area to soften the space and make it feel more like an area rug. The reception desk provides architectural interest with a clean contemporary line. To add texture and depth to the desk, I angled the transaction counter and selected material that gave it a modern, industrial feel. Similar angles are used in the break room to make it feel more open and ample color was used to make it a fun place to be.

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National Oceanic & Atmospheric Association This is a project that I participated in while working for Iron Horse Architects.

It was a modernization project for several facilities on the client’s campus in Maryland. The project scope consisted of assembling a design intent package to re-configure and re-design the spaces in order to make them function more efficiently and meet their modern needs. The spaces we worked on included the main vestibule, health care unit, credit union, fitness center, cafeteria, childcare center and science center.

All of the drawings were generated in Revit, and I modeled families for each of the spaces and applied finish information so elevations could be tagged properly and renderings could be generated.

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24 Hour Competition Four other team members and I competed in this global competition, in which we were given 24 hours to create a concept design for a scientific research facility on the moon that would be co-funded by space tourism; our design took first place.

After a couple hours of research and sketching we came up with an idea to construct the facilities in lava tubes that run beneath the surface. They would be agriculturally based in order to create a sustainable environment.

We considered how materials would need to be transported, and designed connecting triangular units that could be multi-functional and transported as a ‘kit of parts.’ We designed Caldera with the idea that it would attract different types of tourists as it evolved and became more established. The first tourist would be adventurous, wanting to be immersed in the development of the facility. As the settlement progresses, it would offer more amenities. Eventually, the agricultural development would allow Caldera to be a stopping point for replenishment of ships touring the solar system.

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