BDES (HONS) Interior and Spatial Design
Ruth Balaguer Schmidt - 40496767
design of living spaces
CAD: construction and detailing
1. Circadian Rithms (p.4-13)
2. Shelter Scotland (p.14-21)
This project consists in designing and modelling at 1:20 a modular plywood living unit suitable for entraining the circadian rhythms of the users. These living units aim to benefi night shift workers re-adapting to the day shift; travellers readjusting to UK time zones; and those with ultra-late circadian clocks (owls) looking to adjust to the earlier time-scales expected by society. Users would stay for between two and seven nights in the circadian living units, using a booking system similar to AirBnB.
The site is the portion of shore in front of the Spring Garden Care Home in Portobello Promenade in Edinburgh. This residential area is very quiet, close enough from cafés and parks and from the swimming centre.
Sleep and Circadian Rhythm Disruption (SCRD), most found in night shift workers and those with jet-lag, is linked to profound short and long-term health issues.
In short, ‘resetting’ the master clock using light exposure is of profound importance, and the project aims to create a series of environments which promote this ‘resetting’ and therefore the health and of your users.
Portobello Promenade, Digimaps
Site Picture Back View Site Picture Front View
Site Sketch ‘Entrance to the Building’
For my first manipulation, completely cut the middle piece of the box, turning a box into a 3 piece modular box.
For the second manipulation, I cut a section of two sides that turned out that worked really well as a balcony area.
For the third manipulation, created a double fold-able section that looks like a window/ceiling window.
For the fourth manipulation, cut a fold-able section that can work as a terrace shelter from the sunlight or as an entryway.
For the fifth and last manipulation, I cut a corner off of the smaller module so that could fit the middle module inside it creating more corners and fun shapes in along the process.
This concept tries to break with the usual thought of flat roof/ box that comes to our minds when we think of a tiny house, inspired by the steps at the end of Portobello Beach.
1st Manipulation 3rd Manipulation 4th Manipulation
2nd Manipulation
5th Manipulation
Promenade Steps at Joppa The Green Room
Precedent from Pinterest
Concept Model
Architecture design idea #2
This concept is a development from the previous concept, this one being more bold and out of the box with the use of curved walls.
This concept ties the curves from the architecture of my site with the curves of my design. A study of the site’s curves’ radius was carried through Digimaps.
Site Studies Sketch
Penda Casa Do Dia (Projecto Magazine)
This project is born from the idea of re-purposing empty buildings in Edinburgh by the hand of Shelter Scotland. The building below, 95 McDonald road, Edinburgh, is a former power station that now is owned by Scottish Power.
My design talks about connections being human, physical and visual. My design provides a safe place for people to recover and to rehabilitate into society forming connections with their neighbours. The shelter offers a community atmosphere where everyone helps and supports each other through rough times.
Social and public areas including the kitchen with the biggest family flats marking the perimeter. Back access to the dorms in the basement and side access to bike storage.
Annex on the left includes staff dorms, reception and consultation areas.
Basement Plan 1:200
95 McDonald road, Edinburgh. Picture by Lost Edinburgh, Facebook.
Concept Sketch: physical connections -stairs- and visual connections -floors overlapping-
Concept Montage: human connections
Ground Floor Plan 1:200
Dorms located in the basementRest of the family dorms are located in the First Floor, as well as the Education Centre. From this floor, parents are able to watch their kids playing in the Play Area (Ground Floor), as well as keep visual contact with the soul kitchen and rest of the communal spaces.
In the annex building on the left, the other two staff dorms are located.
All the studios (smaller flats, either for couples or for individuals) are placed in the upper floor. It is the furthest away from communal spaces. A floor designed for more privacy but without losing the community factor.
En Lodge Exercise- Concept Modeling
The Fonterra Centre. Auckland, New Zealand. FIRM: Jasmax.
Sibling Bedroom by @vardehaugen_arkitekter (Pinterest).
City Park. Tianjin, China. Benoy.
El Roser Social Centre (Former Prison). Reus, Spain. Josep Ferrando Architecture.
Concept Sketch: Floors Overlapping. Concept Sketch: Communal Spaces (First Floor). Concept Sketch: Soul Kitchen Distribution.
Ground floor: common areas
Ground floor: window sunset lighting Building lights and shadows at night
For this project designed a showcase display to display a personal object that relates to fashion. A personal object is used with the purpose of winning more engagement and loyalty through personal story telling. designed this display so that it would tell, through its design, the story behind my personal object: a necklace.
The display is located in the design corridor at Edinburgh Napier University, Merchiston Campus. This project was both individual and group, where me and my three classmates came up with a group concept and worked it out from the big picture design to the very small details of how our individual concepts relate to the other designs within our group and how our personal display is built/attached to the wall.
Me and my best friend Sara created this necklace at the early stages of our friendship. had changed schools when first met her, and we didn’t get along very well. But after being given a group project together, we became best friends.
Our group concept is ‘Wave of memories’. As a group, all our objects have something in common: they all tell stories of memories from which we learned and which made us grew as persons, whether it was from travelling (Lucia), from a roller-coaster of a friendship (Ruth), from family traditions (Hristina) or from quality time with family (Wicktoria).
When we tried to picture in our heads how this memories shaped and how we could draw them to express what they make us feel, we always came up with wavy shapes which show a movement through time, a flashback, a journey, a learning process or the tracks of a roller-coaster.
Group’s Front Elevation 1:50
Group’s Plan 1:50
Group’s Isonometric 1:20
Lucia Hencsei’s Project
Ruth Balaguer Schmidt’s Project
Wicktoria Wadolowska’s Project
The concept comes from the idea of how the waves would propagate if my necklace was dropped into water. This is a metaphor, where the necklace represents the moment me and Sara became best friends and the expansion of the waves represents our journey of growth together.
Having experimented with the necklace and having sketched the expansion of it’s waves I realized that it looked quite similar to contour maps. looked for different designs, especially for designs in a vertical shape and ended up finding the one below, which used for my final design.
Suspended Acoustic Ceiling
YQ Pang Pinterest
Object Shaping a Contour Sketch
Darel Carey - ART - Pinterest
Contour Map by Free Vector
Individual Design Model Isometric 1:50
Contour Sketch
Individual Design Front Elevation 1:20
28 29
Mounting to Wall System
Mounting to Wall System 1:2 Detail
Last piece composed by 2 layers. 3D Model
Top Layer ‘Lid’ 1:1
Gap for Neacklace Detail Design 1:1
Gap for Neacklace Detail Design Front Elevation
Dowling to go to first layer of Plywood
Top layer of Plywood to cover hole and create a floating ilusion.
The top layer acts as a ‘lid’ to cover and hide the hole and the rout that goes through it.º
The first layer is the one that attaches the piece to the whole design.
