Katherine Walker 2017/2018 Portfolio
Contents: Collective Tenement Retail Design Awards Design Domain Scottish Leather
Collective 2018 A workspace in the southside of Glasgow that doesn’t rely on serendipitous exchanges. It is a space that has infrastructure and intersections in order to promote connections and establish what happens when people of different disciplines come together and work collaboratively.
Ground floor Scale 1:100
First floor Scale 1:100
Second floor Scale 1:100
Third floor Scale 1:100
Tenement Project 2017 This project turns its gaze on the specifics of place and space. We were asked as students of GSA Glasgow to share our investigations into our predominant dwelling places known as tenements with our partner school GSA Singapore.
We have feelings of guilt and embarrassment if, for some reason, we are obliged to enter someone’s home uninvited when the occupant is not present. Juhani Pallasmaa, Encounters These feelings exist when you enter a tenement close uninvited, which is unexpected, as a tenement close doesn’t initially conjure up images of a stereotypical home. My research is centred around whether because these feelings exist, that means that the close is an extension of the home. I have attempted to dissect the close, through the aesthetics, objects and the boundaries. Instagram was used a platform to display this work because we were encouraged to share our findings with GSA Singapore. Instagram is an easily accessible platform for the work.
"Threshold magic. At the entrance to the skating rink, to the pub, to the tennis court, to resort locations: penates. . . . " The same magic prevails more covertly in the interior of the bourgeois dwelling. Chairs beside an entrance, photographs flanking a doorway, are fallen household deities, and the violence they must appease grips our hearts even today at each ringing of the doorbell. Walter Benjamin, The arcades project. Illustrations, photographs and writing illuminate the findings I found within the closes I entered.
Retail Design World Student Awards 2017 Consideration and assimilation of external input from a real client, this being KFC. Commercial food retail design research and design.
Attemping to change the way we eat on the go. Creating spaces in parks, high streets, train stations, airports and university campus’ that replicate the spaces we inhabit when we grab food and move. The seating offered will be designed similarly to steps and places we stop to lean or rest. It will allow consumers to have comfort on the move, but also keeps it as quick as they need. The restaurant will offer KFC’s classic menu, but in a new environment that reflects the forward thinking nature of the brand. The brand delivers playfulness with the bucket and many items on the menu, but is yet to translate these ideals into the consumers setting.
Types of clientele
Professionals
Students
Families
Requiring a quick lunch while on a break from work. The space allows them to be comfortable either in groups or alone.
Seeking a fun and different eating experience.
An exciting treat for all the family, a place for the children to play and the parents to relax.
Watching people eat on the move informed this project. I began to sketch the forms people would pause upon. These sketches were then translated into foam models to test the suitability.
Components to the sites: 1. Find the perfect location; suitable for town centres, parks and next to university campus’
3. Add a viewport into the kitchen so that customers can see how hygienic the site is
5. Add fun materials that incorporate KFC core colours but in an unexpected envirnoment
2. Add multi purpose, non specific seating inspired from places people stop to eat on the go
4. Add 2 iPads around the site to help customers decide what to order with a fun online game. Also available on the KFC app.
6. Add soft maliable furniture for sunny days for customers to lounge and play.
Design Domain 2018 A project that is research-led and practice-led. The key themes consisted of bodies, identities, action, engagement. We were asked to explore these in relation to our own specalism, that being interior design for myself.
Will body acceptance ever be on the horizon for our society?
Movements such as Purism, Cubism and De Stijl changed the way we understood space during the 20th century. Key architects of the time strode to turn architecture into a ‘total work of art.’ In achieving this have they turned us into objects of art in their environments? Does this change the way we view ourselves? How is being presented as art on a daily basis affecting our psyche? Throughout this project, my intention was to examine whether some spaces highlight and enhance insecurities and issues with self. I have inspected the dynamics of swimming pools (perhaps a space where we feel most on display) to understand how the architecture and interior design of this space affects us, and whether we should challenge and create intersections in the area to improve the situation.
‘To be naked is to be oneself.To be nude is to be seen naked by others and not recognised for oneself.’ John Berger, Ways of seeing.
The material palette has been inspired by this quote, the space is built up from nude skin tones. It is not intended to be a place that censors the body, but merely allows each individual to feel more comfortable in the space. Rails based on ripples in the water have been inserted into the environment. They are not intended to mask the swimmers, just to alter the perspective of them entering the water. When in the water, people often feel free of body uncomfortability that is why it was important to reflect on this theme. The railings also allow for towels to be placed onto them, if people so wish
Scottish Leather 2018 A live project with The Scottish Leather Group, we were asked to design a product using the propeties of leather. This product had to be suitable for either retail, domestic, travel or a product detail.
Unravel The reconstructed wardrobe project Designed to enhance and save space in studio and small apartments, this collection of objects gives all the benefits of a wardrobe whilst allowiing you to suit your style and surroundings. The project uses remnants of leather from manufacturers, therefore minimising waste.
Unravel product variants
Optional sizes 200 mm - 1000mm Available in pine and leather or steel and leather Ability to add extra hooks to each system as required
Single hooks for extra adaptability All options available in a range of colours to suit environment