Best, Victoria

Throughout my life I have always taken my work very serious, making sure that I am creating a product that was thoroughly and originally done. Even though things can get tough I am persistent in getting things done while staying positive through the process. I have also found that teamwork is important with my career choice, which has made me focus on being reliable for more peers. I also find myself putting others needs before myself which shows my selflessness character and through that I have also become good at being patient with people I work with. I value the importance of creating new relationships and make sure that each person knows that I deeply care about them.

Mustapan Coffee shop

The Mustapan Coffee shop, a Colombian local bakery that has been around for over 60 years, prides itself on tradition and attracting clients of all types. Depending on where you are in the café, you can have a completely different perspective and experience. The café uses multiple typologies in the chairs, tables, and sitting areas. The shop has long-term seating, group seating, temporary seating, as well as a small entry space. Artificial light is inviting to clients offering a warm atmosphere that enhances the materiality and architecture of the space. The Mustapan Coffee shop takes into consideration human experience by providing many different spaces to adapt to customer needs.

How do you want to stay (Hotel)?

Hi Sea Floating Hotel / Balance Design

The Hi Sea Hotel located 500m from the coastline of Fujian, is supposed to resemble that of a floating island. It has no borders with the land and is supposed to be independent from the world. Because of its location, Hi Sea had to pay attention to both design aesthetics as well as safety. The space smoothly includes a living room, kitchen, and three bedrooms. Boats or kayaks can ride right up to the hotel and dock along the patio. Every room has a different scenery. The designers aimed to give maximum open space and allow as much natural light in from as many areas as possible. The interior has a simple design and warm tones of natural wood to give a friendly atmosphere. The idea that only one group of guests is at the hotel at makes the space feel private and exclusive. “The relationship between man, nature, and architectural space is quietly set up at this moment.”

How is the authority of gov. and religion expressed in space?

Wetland Research and Education Center / Atelier Z+ Built on the wetlands of the Chongming Island, this Research and Education Center is placed perfectly to be a bird observatory, monitoring and researching the habit of the surrounding area. The building was designed to be in harmony with the natural habitat around it. The pitched roofs were inspired by shacks between scattered mountains. The architects wanted to minimize the impact on the ecosystem, so they built a floating platform above the water and hidden among the reeds to house the five different building types. The structure of the saw toothed roof gives the effect of space lifting up and pressing down in different areas with scale differences where multifunctional programs are present. There is no clear boundary between the different functional spaces as there are a variety of uses and flexible ways to arrange each enclosure.

Ylivieska church

When the historical church of Ylivieska burned down in 2016, K2S Architects were hired through a design competition to design the replacement church. In the midst of an urban setting, the church serves as a visible landmark and representation of history. From the exterior the three main parts of the church is visible through the gables of the roof. The first gable is the entrance lobby, the second gable is the parish hall, otherwise known as the vestry, and lastly the third gable is the church worship hall. The entry is angled diagonally to form a entry plaza that is lined up with the ruins of the old church. Behind the diagonal entry, the rest of the building is straightened out and orthogonal so that spaces flow smoothly.

Where do you want to live?

Santa Monica Greenhouse / Cactus Store

This Santa Monica Greenhouse converted a large industrial complex into a retail and office district. The shop is connected to a warehouse that has been converted into an office building. The greenhouse contains a collection of cactus stores that sell a wide range of cacti from large cactus to small succulents. Each shop in the greenhouse is separated by egress paths that are covered under one singular roof. The egress paths line up with the entries to the office, causing the series of “terrariums” to have varying sizes. Every shop or “pod” has two operable sliding doors which creates countless possibilities for closed in, connected, or open spaces. These doors also create ever-changing paths for circulation. The roof plays into the idea of solid/ void, transparent/opaque that the greenhouse is exploring. The roof is transparent above the areas that hold plants but solid steel above circulation pathways.

Boulders House / The Ranch Mine

This home in near Scottsdale, Phoenix was built by Boxwell Homes. The builder said the home was inspired by a large rock formation they saw on a site visit. The rocks were stacked in a way that provided shade and protection. The home mimics this by having two-bedroom wings on either side of the home that are rotated 90 degrees, creating a central courtyard area with a variety of views. The progression between spaces is simple yet functional. It flows smoothly from the entryway to the more public spaces like the kitchen and living room and then to private spaces like bedroom and bathroom.

Which space do you think best embodies equity, inclusion, and social justice?

Paudalho Popular Houses / NEBR arquitetura

This social housing build in Brazil is a proposal for affordable housing in attempt to solve the housing deficiency in the country. The house is designed to be a simple and honest home. The plots of land are very small and the houses on them modest. Each home has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. One could argue it has the bare minimum, but all the necessities for living. The spaces flow smoothly with an outdoor transition space before entering into an open family room and kitchen floor plan. There is a precise rhythm of straight lines that creates a formal balance throughout the spaces and on the exterior.

What is the composition of the process of travel through a transportation facility in your memory?

Oertelplatz Square / Pool Leber Architekten

This transportation center in the square in Allach, gives the city a “new urban heart”. All around the transportation center is shops, residential buildings, marketplaces, cafes and restaurants. But specifically on the north part of the square is where all modes of transportation meet. There is a bus station, a bike park, a railway, and taxi rank. Oertelplatz smoothly integrates all of these transportation elements and combines them into an architectural design. The roof is uses differences in height to designate where the entry is and where the edge of the square is. It also extends out further to shelter other things like bicycle stands and charging stations.

What is your plan after this semester? -> I have a summer internship with Ennead Architects in New York City.

In the field of interior design (or in your major), what does it mean to learn about Human Factors for Design? -> As an architect and interior designer, human factors of design will be apart of my everyday life and something that I have to consider in every single design that I implement.

During your learning inside and outside the classroom, did you encounter any difficulties? -> I don’t feel like i necessarily encountered any difficulties. When thinking about human factors, I generally just put myself in the place of a person inside my design and think ‘what would I want here?’

Hayy Jameel Cultural Center / waiwai

Hayy Jameel is an arts cultural center in Saudi Arabia that allows for a wide range of artistic activities including art, music, film, and architecture. The building is focused on the idea of making art accessible to all people. The courtyard in the middle of the center acts as a programmatic driver. The architectural volumes are staggered, reacting to the context of its surroundings. The building takes into consideration 4 main things. The first thing is agora, a gathering place. The second is light, both conceptual and fundamental to the concept of the building. The third being courtyards, bringing in plant life and giving a central visual component. And lastly blank canvas, acting as the façade which can commission public artworks.

What is the space of your desires?

Dream Space

When thinking about what my dream space would be, i first had to consider what attributes are the most important to me. Narrowing down a large list of qualities, i was able to take my 9 most important, and find these attributes in different projects and spaces around the globe. To then create one final dream space, I chose to reimagine my “caring” healthcare space, UBS Parque Do Riacho. I took the most desirable attribute from the healthcare facility of the innovative form, with a slanted roof and central courtyard to encourage healing through biophilia. I then improved the space by combining it with the desirable attributes from the “hardworking” retail Santa Monica Cactus Store and the “positive” Hayy Jameel Cultural Center. These two additions to the existing form created a mutation of a center that encourages culture, art, healing, local businesses, and community. In the axon of the space shown, it portrays the form and the slanted nature of the healthcare facility, in communion with an art gallery and multiple vendors cacti shops. After the adaptations, this space is the place of my desires. I desire all these attributes to be in one facility.

What did you learn by examining the interaction between behavioral and environmental factors? -> I learned how many different ways there are to do something successfully, but some are preferred more than others.

What would you like to tell your instructor? -> Thank you!

MAP of Adding Value Beyond Implementing Client Needs to Wants

Introduction As designers, it is our job to go beyond what a client has asked for and/or thinks they need. We have the ability and opportunity to help people in a way they did not know they needed. When considering human factors of design, we are able to offer solutions to problems and resolve issues in a way that improves peoples’ lives. For instance, housing. Housing, or a lack thereof, has become an incredibly prevalent issue across the United States. People are describing it as ‘the housing crisis.’ Housing, in other words shelter, is a foundational human need that people instinctively strive for. (see Figure 2 above) The dictionary defines ‘shelter’ as “a position or state of being covered and protected,”(Merriam-Webster, Shelter Definition 2022). Although the dictionary describes shelter as the most basic of things, as designers, we consider it so much more than just being covered or protected from the elements. In the following, I will take this issue of housing and use it as an example for how designers can add value to people’s lives and go beyond clients’ needs or wants.

Description Shalom is the Hebrew word meaning peace, harmony, wholeness, completeness, prosperity, welfare, and tranquility. The idea of shalom is that there must be balance in everything and that when things are balanced properly, it brings about peace and harmony. As designers, we should aim for shalom within our designs, therefore creating a sense of shalom in the inhabitors’ lives. Housing is one of those things that people consider very fundamental to life. A place to sleep, a place to care for hygiene, and a place to prepare meals are the three spaces that make a shelter livable for anyone. And many times, those are the only three spaces that people can afford. In low-income housing, for example, people look for a home that encompasses those spaces and no more as to not waste money. But as an architect designing low-income housing, and only considering those three spaces, how do we go beyond the few needs? The UDBS architecture studio this semester looked at that question exactly. The studio is designing low-income housing for the workforce population of the Northwest Arkansas Region. Currently, the average workforce income for the area is $16 per hour. At this income, with current building costs, a person can afford approximately a 400 sqft home. In the next section, I will show how the studio decided to consider human needs, a bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen, and go beyond that to what the client believes they want.

The Canopy House The following project, titled “The Canopy House,” (see Figure 3) looks at what a low-income family would need after they have acquired their kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom. In the plans below, (Figure 4 and Figure 5) it shows two houses laid out on a large column grid. The whole grid is covered by a roof, structured with the column grid. However, the footprint of the indoor ‘conditioned’ space is only 480 sqft. This allows a family who can only afford a small home at the time, to grow and expand at very little cost, as their family needs. The idea looks at a large population of low-income families and where a large portion of their struggles lie. As their family grows, but their income does not, families can run out of space very quickly and find themselves in an overpopulated home with no sense of privacy or peace. Families who cannot afford to buy new and bigger homes, now have the option of growing within the home they already have. Figure 6 and Figure 7 are examples of a space under the roofline before and after an addition is put in. This is one of the many ways designers can help ordinary people add value beyond implementing clients’ needs to wants.

Conclusion In summary, people do not always know what they need or want in a space. As designers, it is our job to take creative liberties and go above and beyond what was originally imagined. We have an obligation to do this. It creates better lives for those inhabiting the spaces we design.

References Bartuska, T. J. (2007). The Built Environment: Definition and Scope. In W. R. McClure & T. J. Bartuska (Eds.), The Built Environment: a Collaborative Inquiry into Design and Planning (2nd ed., pp. 3–12). Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Shelter Definition & meaning. Merriam-Webster.

Introduction “There is a secret that all attentive architects know: Don’t give your client what they ask for, give them what they need. Better yet, have them be a part of the design process” (Life of an architect). Traditionally, architects looked down from their high and lofty positions and dictated a plan that they wanted to implement. Architecture was considered an art and no one told an artist what to create. In today’s culture, this is no longer enough. An architect can no longer be an isolated artist. A good architect must see the whole picture. An architect must look at all the pieces of a puzzle and put them together, understanding them as a whole. In architecture and design, this concept is called systems thinking. Systems thinking is a way to understand the world. It defines how we integrate our designs to meet the needs of the client yet still preserve the environment and enhance beauty. Designers use systems thinking in their everyday lives, the best designers understand that the process can never be compartmentalized. The process must run like a well-oiled machine. No part is greater than the whole. The whole cannot exist without each of the parts fitting perfectly together. The advantage to a systems thinking approach is that it is human centered in the way that it accomplishes the tasks or solves the problems that are presented quickly and efficiently.

Description An additional advantage is recognizing there are a plurality of approaches to solve any problem. Knowing your client will help determine the right approach to the design and meet the wants of the client while most importantly giving them what they need. This complexity can be daunting yet exciting as the designer puts the “pieces” together. In construction and design, an army of people are required to accomplish a large and complex task. The designer needs the contractor just as much as the contractor needs the engineer. The engineer needs the electrician as much as the electrician needs the designer. They must work together for the “well-oiled machine” to function. If one fails, all fail; if one succeeds all succeed. In building construction, each individual project follows it on a timeline of events. However, all projects follow a similar sequence of events being a client going to a designer and discussing wants and needs. The designer then analyzes the site and surrounding conditions to come up with a design proposal for the client. After a design proposal has been accepted the designer and client then go to an engineer to ascertain the stability of the project and then together all go to a contractor to begin the process of building. Once a contractor has been involved he pulls all the rest of the working pieces together; the plumber, the electrician, the framers, the painters and so many more.

Conclusion Today’s built environment is much more complex than anything that was imagined in the past. The moving parts have multiplied and there are additional dynamics to consider. The definition of the “built environment encompasses places and spaces created or modified by people including buildings, parks, and transportation systems.” In recent years, public health research has expanded the definition of built environment to include healthy food access, community gardens, walkability, and bikeability (Ielts International). “The reality of the built environment needs to adapt in order to accommodate this change. It needs to mend the disconnect between the traditional approach to architecture and dynamic social and technological systems...Systems thinking presents a lens to recognize and see how our built world exists within social, environmental and business realities, which are changing at a rate that traditional architecture can no longer support” (Systems Thinking & Architecture).

References Borson, B. (2018, January 23). Designing for others: Life of an architect. Life of an Architect -. Building Construction Project Plan - Bing. (2021). bing. ieltsinternational.com. (2020). Ielts International. Just a moment. . . (2021). Science Direct. M. (2018, September 7). Systems Thinking & Architecture - (MK)Think Pieces. Medium.