Walls

I felt that my office needed some form of wall/division so that if could be clearly seen, and there was some form of separation from the surrounding environment and the office itself. However, I didn't want my office to be a closed in or 'boxy' as I want people, to some degree, to interact with the natural environment around them while they are in my office (i.e. hear, see, smell, and in some cases touch). Hence why I didn't want to put in rigid walls in - closes off the potential person-environment interaction. This was a bit of an issue for me, as I needed to find the balance between the limit at which a wall isn't considered a wall anymore and the amount of interaction I wanted the occupants to have with the surrounding environment. Here I am referencing my Research Design Connections Journal, as they published a quote that stated 'how people interact with the man made buildings and the natural environment'. I found this quote very interesting, and it has influenced my design a lot so far as I am thinking about how people would interact with the space I am creating.

My first attempt at making the wall. In theory it could work, but visually there was something wrong with it. It didn't work.:

I tried moving the wall I had made onto the other side, but even then - it visually did not look right.

So I decided to manipulate the wall a bit, and I came up with this design which is now one of the walls of my office. It gives the appearance of a division without excluding what is beyond the boundary all together.

- NB: materials for 'actual' design would be coloured perspex (i.e. transparent perspex with the green vine pattern printed onto it) and white/light silver hexagonal wire netting.

Night Shot

This night shot, shows the lamp that I have added to my design. I think that I might add a script to it so that it can change colour as it will create a bit of excitement and interest to my design.

I have also added steps which lead to the water. I came up with this solution when I was thinking about how my office will interact with the natural environment around it. As well as creating more seating spaces (if desired people can sit there and look out onto the water) this solution has created a smooth transition from my office floor to the water below.

However, at the moment my office looks a bit Caveman meets old Roman Bath ruin. So I think I may need to work on the design a bit..

Progressing the design

Floor and part of the seats have been added to the design

This shows how I intend people to sit in my office. They can sit anywhere along the 'L' shaped seat.

I was considering placing seats opposite the large 'L' shaped sofa, but I realised that as I was using a small space - the whole office would be taken up with seats and would make the area feel and look very cramped. So I decided on keeping the one seating area.

Floor design

To be in keeping with the rustic look I have started with the arch entrance, I decided to make a ground texture which had the same feel to it. The material I made looks like a large marble tile with engravings on it. The engravings are actually part of a hand-drawn construction drawing - hence why they look a bit 'rough'. I manipulated the image on photoshop so that the drawing itself wasn't so obvious as I didn't want the connection to myInfo-Link Journal to be so literal.

Archway

I decided I wanted my office to have quite a rustic entrance. Taking references from my Art and Archaeology Technical Abstracts Journal, I came to the conclusion that I would use an old stone arch. I have done this because the Arch structure has been used for 1000's of years, Ancient Roman architecture is a good example of this and many of the arches built by them are still standing strong till this day.

Showing views of the two faces of the arch

- I made this arch using photoshop alpha channels.

What is an office?

So, what is an office?

"A room, set of rooms, or building where the business of a commercial or industrial organisation or of a professional person is conducted."

"A room assigned to a specific person or a group of a person in a commercial or industrial organisation"

There are different spaces within an office; areas where the client's can see (i.e. reception areas, negotiation/meeting rooms) and areas where the clients can't see (i.e. employee's workspaces, the 'break' rooms/kitchen areas).

I am going to be designing an office space which focuses on the meeting/negotiation aspect of a professional office (e.g. law firms or accountants). The clients will be able to come and discuss their projects with their professional in an intimate and relaxed environment. Meaning that the client will not be limited in where they are able to go in my office (i.e. no areas which they can't go/explore). As I want my office to be intimate, it will be relatively small compared to some of the other offices on Putahi - I don't see this as a bad thing though :)

New Design

I have realised now, after doing more research into my journals, that my office currently doesn't represent them very well. So - I can either continue changing the office I currently have, or I can start again with the new knowledge and ideas I have got from reading into my journals more. I think I will go with the latter option, it does mean I will have to start fresh, but I think that as I researched more I will have a greater sense of what I want my office to look and feel like.

The ideas I am considering pursuing:

• Merging the old with the new - i.e. have old stone (maybe ruins?) buildings with new glass facades. This could be difficult to pull off successfully - but not impossible ;) - Could also incorporate videos/film as the 'modern' aspect.
• How people interact with the manmade building and the already existing natural environment - i.e. water and land
• Restoring vs. Weathering. i.e. conservation (preserving) vs. what will the building look like in 50-100 years time. I reckon this could be really effective, i.e. to design something which has the sense that it has already aged - of course the design would be what I personally predict would happen (i.e. weathering, like everything to do with nature is unpredictable), so probably wouldn't be what actually happens in real life - but I would try my best :D