The Portfolio cmaistudio
“I am a groun-up, I’m not special.”
ABOUT ME
Chi Phuoc Quynh Mai
B 18/12/1989 E cmaistudio@gmail.com A Phu Nhuan Dist., Saigon, Vietnam M +84-989-583-860
I am no uniquely creative designer. I was born within a messy society where the fans above our head can fall and kill sixyear-old us anytime in class, where the hallway to patients’ rooms in hospital is filled with patients and their relatives lying to rest at night, where I was prohibited to question why we couldn’t have better. Since the day I was accepted a visa to study in the U.S.A., I saw and felt the freedom in making your space better for human’s health. I have been working step by step to bring cultural and traditional inspired design with in-depth concern for the environment into my works. I enjoy arts in many forms, and tolerate no plan of destruction. Little has been achieved, but I do not give in, nor give up. I am just a normal interior designer who is looking for an ultimate solution for the whole city of Saigon, if not the whole country of Vietnam.
EDUCATION
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Interior Design The Art Institute of Houston
INTERIOR DESIGN PROGRAM Pikes Peak Community College
High School Diploma Henderson County High School
3.6/4.0
MARCH 2008 - SEPTEMBER 2011
SEPTEMBER 2007 - DECEMBER 2007
SEPTEMBER 2006 - SEPTEMBER 2007
WORK EXPERIENCES SAIGON SPACE DESIGN
FULL TIME : MARCH 2013 - APRIL 2016 Interior Designer PART-TIME : MAY 2016 - PRESENT - Developing concept design & space planning drawings of Commercial Design projects ( Office, Small Bar, Apartment,..) - Meeting with clients, presenting & exchanging ideas ( with Japanese colleagues ) - Supporting other graphic jobs ( logo redrawing, logo design, business card design, managing company’s business card designs, portfolio, profiles, ...) -English translator to Japanese clients and Vietnamese colleagues / partners / contractors
YOUNGBIRDS CREATIVE NEST
Designer / Makeup Artist A small start-up that provides creative solution to beauty and professional shooting.
PART-TIME : MAY 2016 - PRESENT
HOME RENOVATION
JULY 2012 - JULY 2013 Freelance Interior Design Consultant Two-story home for a family of four is in need of remodeling due to damages from outdated construction and maintenance. The client would like to expand the kitchen and the living room with new design and new arrangement to meet requirements of their lifestyle.
TATT DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION
Interior Designer on Probation 2D Space planning, Detailing, 3D Modeling in Residential, Commercial, and Hospitality Projects
Kravet/Lee Jofa/Brunschwig & Fils - TSD Showroom
APRIL 2011 - JUNE 2011
Student Intern Sorting & distributing fabric samples, studying production lines of textiles,...
SKILLS
MAY 2012 - OCTOBER 2013
AUTOCAD REVIT 3DSMAX SKETCHUP LUMION
PHOTOSHOP ILLUSTRATOR INDESIGN PREMIERE PRO
SPACE PLANNING RENDERING NETWORKING TEAMWORK
PHOTOGRAPHY MAKEUP ART ENGLISH VIETNAMESE
“Always design a thing by considering it in its next larger context – a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in a city plan.” — Eliel Saarinen
Table of Content Tan Son Nhut International Airport -Page 5 -
Madame Butterfly Set Design Page 12
Office Renovation Page 16
Oriental Retreat Page 22
Others On The Mind Page 30
Tan Son Nhut International Airport Extended Lounge for passengers
About The Airport Location: Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam Climate: Tropical Terrain: medium-height The airport is located in the middle of the city, encompassing most old residential areas, part of districts 2 and Thu Duc, and the whole of districts 12 and Hoc Mon. The area’s height is 5-10 meters. The new international terminal opened in 2007 in hopes for a resting station, called passenger lounge for both domestic and international passengers who experienced long flights, cancelled, or delays. The passenger lounge is located in between gates for easy access from all sides, and it requires enough service and comfort for all types of occupants. Client base: Vietnameses of all age and genders Foreigners working in Vietnam of all age and genders Visitors from foreign countries of all age and genders
The Cycle of Time & Space Ancient belief in Asia where natural elements, time, and space run and progress in cycles, meaning as they return to their beginning, they evolve from it as well. Spring turns to Summer, Fall, and Winter, then comes back to Spring, but it is not the exact same Spring it had been. The airport passenger lounge will also grow to be the better, serving more passengers from across the globe. Winter Fall
Spring Summer
Water
Evening Afternoon
Morning
Midday
Metal
Tree Fire
Human Factors Proxemics The distances required between individuals or “personal bubbles� must be carefully considered due to diverse cultures, as well as unfamiliarity taking place frequently; each passengers’ own spaces must be respected.
Air quality / Daylighting Flights and delays exhaust all passengers with few exceptions, the air quality either help or worsen the anxiety happening among passengers. Sunlight and fresh air from indoor plants, and uncluttered spaces improve every activities and calm the tired passengers.
Anthropometrics The airport occupies people of all heights and weights, of all ages, of all nationalities which result in variety of reach level as their different activities. It is very important to understand and apply the accurate and best solutions for every passengers as they use and interact with the airport experience.
Acoustics For all passengers, announcements on the flights information are important ones that should not be missed. Noises from different acitivities could be uneasy and bothering to passengers that need to relax. It is essential to keep annoucements clear and free of noises; meanwhile, noises are reduced.
View From Seating Section
View From End of Lounge Ambiance To indicate the characteristics of the destination, or transit stop, the country’s culture representatives can be a welcome statement. Moreover, the space has to achieve a bridge between the particular culture and the rest of the globe to show the role of an international airport. The feelings for the passengers are also more comfortable if the space is not too cold and industrial.
Art Considerations Local arts are emphasized due to pride of the airport’s country and economic aesthetics. Flowers as art for natural aesthetics; paintings as pure art pieces to look at; calligraphy as exhibiting traditions. Also, art can be used as wayfinding based on arrangements.
Color Scheme Neutral colors ( beige, cream, white)to keep the space subtle and universal, comfortable for all sorts of passenger’s eyes. Red is the country’s favorite as well as representative color, which is applied as accent color of furniture. Along with blue and green, the three are the colors of Asian nature cycle of life, also the elements: Fire, Water, Tree. All three are used as accent colors to keep the space energetic and contemporary.
Special Considerations Children and young generations are considered with interactive play areas, hanging seating with healthy drinks service, computer stations for ease of information access. Elderly are to be respected by given a separate space for resting.
Key Products
Brit Bench, by Leland International
ECOEarth with ECOsilence pad treatment by ECOsurfaces
Heavy use, easy maintenance, contemporary, space-saving For heavy traffic, durable and easy maintenance, slip resistance, as come with table, distance between seats comfortable for sound asorption suitcases and wheelchairs
Doko by Keilhauer
“doko” is “where” in Japanese. Made with durable plastic, covered with knit and topped with cushioned seats available in a variety of neutral and bold colors, such as yellow, pink, deep blue, and red.
View to Open Seating Area
View from Entry to Lounge
Flight Information is shown on screens, which are hung on local-made standees. The standees are in steel frame, each sides are covered with printed plastics. The art is copyrighted by young local artists.
View to Children Play Area
Madame Butterfly Set Design
Poster designed by Chi Mai
Hand-drawn and Photoshopped
Madame Butterfly ( or Madama Butterfly, originally called in Italian) is one of Giacomo Puccini’s masterpiece. His work was based on Madame Butterfly short story by John Luther Long (1898). The opera was first performed in 1904 in two acts, later on revised into three acts.
AcT I In 1904, A U.S. Naval officer named Pinkerton rents a house on a hill in Nagasaki, Japan for him and his soon-to-be wife, nicknamed Butterfly. Her real name is Cio-Cio San, and she is a 15 year-old Japanese girl. To marry an American, she secretly converted from Buddhism to Christianity. Her conversion enraged her family that they renounced her. Pinkerton and Butterfly sing a duet and go on to marry. Act II Three years later, Butterfly is still waiting for Pinkerton to return, as he had left shortly after their wedding. Despite other convinces that he’s not coming back, and she should re-marry, she would not listen. The American Consul, Sharpless, comes to the house with a letter from Pinkerton to him, Butterfly becomes very excited to hear Pinkerton is coming back. She reveals that she had Pinkerton’s son after he left, but she has not told him. From the hill house, Butterfly sees Pinkerton’s ship arriving in the harbor. She and Suzuki get herself and the house ready and wait for him. Suzuki and the child fall asleep, but Butterfly stays up all night waiting for him to arrive. AcT III Suzuki wakes up in the morning and Butterfly finally falls asleep. Sharpless and Pinkerton arrive at the house, along with Pinkerton’s new American wife, Kate. He admits that he’s a coward and cannot face Butterfly, so Suzuki, Pinkerton and Kate break the news to her. She agrees to give up her child if Pinkerton comes himself to see her. In the meantime, she apologizes to a statue of Buddha, then says goodbye to her son and blindfolds him. She goes behind a screen and cuts herself with her father’s knife. Pinkerton rushes in, but he is too late.
The stage revolves around a Japanese traditional home where Cio Cio-san lived with her husband until her suicide. We were advised to install a rorating stage above the existing one to make scene changes run smoothly between each act. Two main stage to focus on was when Cio Cio-san got married, heard the news and took her life, which all happened in a traditional Japanese room floored with Tatami mats.
As the sketches were turning into prototype 1/4� scaled model, we decided to give each room different flooring to indicate difference in cultures, and the boundaries between the main character’s vision of love before and after marriage.
The final model with different lighting experiment. Lighting can create desired mood to the stage and the audience.
Real Project: Office Renovation ABE Office
before
after
About the existing office Location: VIP II Industrial Park, Binh Duong city, Vietnam Climate: Tropical Terrain: medium-height A rented office located inside an industrial park to monitor their factory daily progress. Divided into three rooms, one is for storage of large compartments, one room for both private meeting and staff meeting, and the largest room is for the Director and her 10 staffs.
Client wants to expand the office and demolish existing interior walls of the office to create a more updated design filled with daylighting. Our Problem: The office receives direct sun rays from front windows and the air is heated in the afternoon. Our solution: Cork board and double glazing.
Heat Reduction
Noise Reduction
Lazy Boy Sofa by Hè Studio
Order-to-made sofa from local manufacturer. Frame made of local wood and upholstered of woven polyester.
Glazed Taicera Tile by local re-distributor
Polished yet stain resistant, slip-resistant, easy to maintain.
Staff Task Chair by TAV Commercial Furniture Available in mesh back and upholstered cushion, stainless steel and PVC frame.
Conference Room & Director’s Room
Oriental Retreat
Hotel Room Design
The Hotel Location: Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam Climate: Tropical Terrain: medium-height The hotel is located in the center of the city, loved and visited by foreign visitors. However, due to old-fashioned design from the time of befallen Saigon, it is losing customers to newer destinations. The new owner would like to revamp the place to attract modern visitors. The client would like renovation to be minimum yet bringing in the feel of the old Saigon clashing with his origin, the zenful simplicity of Japan.
Former Conditions
Proposed 3D visualizations
The Built-in Wardrobe
A built-in wardrobe is suggested to expand visitors’ need for luggage space. The doors are made of dark birch wood designed as inspired by Japanese Shoji Sliding door. Moreover, the wardrobe is divided into two unequal parts. The accessories storage space takes up 1/5 of the width of the opening, protected by a swing door. The rest of the allowed storage space is for hanging clothes and keep large luggage inside, protected by two large sliding doors.
The Bathroom
Zen is also the key to this design.
Others on the Mind
Freelance Makeup Artist
Team mates : YoungBirds Creative Nest
Trips to the world World Architecture Festival 2013 in Singapore City, Singapore One of the largest events for architects, designers, and contractors to come and be informed of new ideas, new designs, new materials, and new products every year. The year 2013 was the first time it has ever came to Asia so I eagerly attended by myself to have met well-respected architect s from many parts of the world. I also wrote an article about the event to be published on prestigious magazine. LIGHTFAIR International 2011 in Philadelphia, PA, USA Student volunteering and attending a number of courses for new lighting technology, researchs, and reports. Met other young enthusiastic designers and enjoyed the city of Philadelphia.
Trips that I participated • Mid Autumn Festival in Long An, September 2012 • Tet at Le Petit Prince school for the disability in Dong Nai, January 2013 • Preparation for School in Kien Giang, July 2013 • Preparation for School in Kon Tum, July 2014 Event with Kim Dong Publisher 2016 An exciting events for fans of Japanese manga Sailor Moon held by the official Publisher. I was part of a teams who helped the publisher prepare materials, contents, and gifts to fans who come. For the first time ever Kim Dong got 3D visualizations for such events.
Trips to unfortunate villages 2012-present The organization is called Ban Tay Am aka Warm Hands, who focusedly love to bring school supplies, candy, toys and dry food to the unfortunate kids in distant villages. They also cook warm meals to the children, and occasionally hold small performances for kids because chances are they have never had meat or seen a show before . • Mid Autumn Festival in Cu Chi, September 2014 • Christmas with the elderly and HIV-infected children in Long An, December 2014 • Mid Autuman Festival in Binh Thuan, September 2015 • Preparation for School in Kon Tum, July 2016
cmaistudio@gmail.com