Hanlon, Mia

My love for artistic pathways and ideas since a young age, allowed for my DEVOTION to transform into a career path for design. As a highschooler, I knew Interior Design would be my route, provoking me to make a DRIVEN effort towards success. As a freshman, continuing up until senior year, I took Interior Design-specific classes that were offered by my high school to prepare me for college. A mixture of Architecture classes, along with the others, granted me to have a better understanding and CLEVERNESS of the field before committing. While searching for the right college, I consulted teachers, friends, and family on their opinions of each possibility, COLLABORATING to determine the right fit for me. Decision-making can be tough whether in the design field or not, therefore maintaining OPEN-MINDED to new ideas was a trait I learned early-on. Entering my first year of college, as most students must learn, STABILITY is an imperative role to embrace. Living on my own in a new state required me to gain skills to maintain not only my academic obligations, but also learn how to manage my time. My passion about design has kept me motivated and WILLED me to succeed, and I gained the willpower to accomplish projects I once feared. Although the program is intensive and occasionally soul-crushing, it has taught me to embrace being HUMBLE in its most educational form through RESPONSIBILITY. Criticism is no longer intimidating, but rather constructive towards my progress as a student and the GENEROSITY life deals to me. I look forward to the rest of my schooling, approaching it as a genuine inquiry to my future in school, and eventually my career.

Kindergarten St. Laurentius / goldbrunner + hrycyk In urban terms, the building positions itself in a heterogeneous environment as a self-confident block. The ground floor is set slightly down to the street level in order to capture the forecourt situation of the kindergarten and create a split level situation. The kindergarten opens with its adventure hall and multi-purpose room in the upper floor to this forecourt. A generous cubic section in the south at the main entrance ensures sufficient shading and a roof for talks and meeting. All group rooms are oriented to the north and east to the extensive natural space. The secondary zone with the line, kitchen and toilets is zoned to the west. The two integrated escape staircases create exciting direct references from the upper floor to the forecourt and outdoor area. The building was realized in solid wood and passive house construction. Wooden surfaces and natural materials define the atmosphere. Many play niches and climbing opportunities are integrated into the furniture or under the main staircase. The house is surrounded by a game of slightly iridescent wooden slats with open and closed areas. Behind the more open wooden slats are the windows of the secondary zones.

Where is your memorable cultural place?

From Mud Design Studio / Rawan Muqaddas

The zen workspace draws inspiration and texture from the beautiful craft of clay and its simplicity. The studio’s holistic approach is conveyed through clean lines and a soothing palette that reflects the binding theory behind the studio’s own ethos. The inception of From Mud started with the observation of the movements taking place while creating with clay; from the ceramist own motion to the fluid lines formed by the clay itself. One of the most inviting features is the light distribution that mimics the building’s concrete façade and casts uncomplicated shadows on the space, allowing privacy through the fluted glass. As a continuation of the façade itself, the perimeter shelving combination of steel and maple wood creates a calm and functioning environment that reinforces the young potter’s mission of making clay art accessible to everyone. In an urban sense, the building From Mud calls home was once the largest shopping center in the city. Today, we see the retail vendors have remained on street level, however, the upper floors have fallen tired. Spaces such as From Mud, are shifting the urban fabric and introducing young energy bringing an audience up into rather neglected spaces. The façade of the building is protected from Kuwait’s harsh sun by concrete plates that one cannot help but imagine as a reflection of the fabric palettes sold downstairs. This was translated into the adjustable shelving in the interior as an ode to the exterior.

BAJA CLUB HOTEL - LA PAZ, MEXICO

Baja Club is located in La Paz, Mexico, entailing a 32-room lifestyle hotel and located on the historic center of the city. This reuse of a pre-existing colonial-style villa that dates back to 1910, contains a four-story extension that includes a basement with guestrooms, suites, a spa, and a rooftop bar. Vertical circulation is solved in the helical staircase that is positioned between the old and new wings, acting as a sculptural element and a centerpiece. They drew inspiration from the nearby Sea of Cortez with subtle nautical connotations with curved timber bulkheads, built-in tables, and horizontal streamlining. The project preserves the landscaped areas and native vegetation with outdoor spaces, and the guest rooms with open-air corridors and numerous water elements.

Reef Store / say architects

The idea of Reef was born out of the three owners’ vision of a barbershop space. They wanted to emphasize the social attributes of a barbershop and let the space itself promote the correlation and penetration of different functions between the interior and exterior so that barbering is no longer the purpose of a hairdressing space but a choice of multiple behaviors in the space. From this idea, Say began to conceptualize the reef. Say wants Reef to reflect this organic growth as a barber collection space, rooted and growing in the original building, with the interior and exterior spaces flowing within and outside the reef, forming a strong permeable relationship. Behind the grid system are the three main spaces of Reef, the men’s barber, the women’s salon, and the coffee area.