Life is too Short for Bad Coffee...or Design

I've always been a coffee person.

Ever since my grandparents started me on decaf, probably way before I should have been drinking coffee at all, I've loved the taste, warmth, and smell of a good cup o' joe. Long gone are the days of adding a gallon of flavored creamer and a pound of sugar, though. Ever since starting my job at Cafe Kubal in June of 2012, I've learned to love my coffee black and my espresso sweet. (No, not with sugar you ninny...just with superbly roasted espresso beans of course! Pssh) 

Of all the jobs I've had, this one is by far the most enjoyable, exciting, and rewarding. What's better than crafting a perfect cappuccino or smelling fresh-brewed coffee all day?

On top of over a year and a half of being able to rock it behind the bar, I recently started down another exciting avenue within the company. Knowing my background in interior design - it is, after all, what I'm studying at Syracuse - my boss came to me when it was time to redesign the SU cafe. Of course I was thrilled, and the various projects have since been completed. Check out the before and after!

New grab-n-go display refrigerator with merchandise display shelves and new, 

wall-mounted menu boards and lighting.

Baked goods display case was lowered to be flush with the existing counter. 

Hanging menu boards were removed to allow for more visual access between baristas and customers.

New lighting was installed and brick was painted to help reflect light into the space. 

New commercial grade chairs were specified to stand up to wear and tear of a busy cafe environment.

This week, I just finished working on fitting a cafe design into an existing space within a local medical center. It's been quite the challenge, with everything currently an awful shade of mauve, a focus on economy, and only 150 square feet to work with. But with some quick tricks, an eye for detail, and a knack for space planning, I managed to pull together a little design in just a few, short weeks. See it below:

What's more exciting is the cafe just opened its doors this morning. If you're ever in the Camillus area, check it out! And of course, I'll have photos of the space itself soon!

Take care!

In Pursuit of Thesis: Week Four

Somehow, the fourth week of classes have come to a close. A quarter of the way there...whoda' thunk it? Anyway, this week entailed a more formal thesis review with both of my professors about where I was with my project and thoughts about moving forward. Naturally, despite the fact that I think I'm actually in a pretty decent place, I was irrationally nervous going into the week.

Sometimes having so many ideas floating around in your brain and on a ton of unorganized pieces of trace paper can really make it feel like you haven't accomplished anything. Regardless, pinning everything up and talking about it to my friends and professors really made me realize I actually have a pretty good idea of what I'm doing moving forward.

I spent the majority of the week leading up to my review focusing on large aesthetic concepts as well as the main entry space. (Fear not, I'm still thinking about the space holistically..not just one area at a time). As I've said in previous posts, I'm really concentrating on emphasizing the existing structural elements of the space while adding a unifying element based on my conceptual work from last semester.

Here's some of my visual inspiration:

From CreativeLIVE San Fransisco: Build LLC

Eegoo Offices by dEEP Architects on ArchDaily

Arthouse Cafe by Joey Ho

Via PJHM Architects on Pinterest

My own concept model work

Looking at all of this, I decided to move forward with the idea of implementing a strongly triangular and geometric motif throughout the various areas of my design. These particular designed elements will be vibrant and colorful - whether this color is inherent in the material I chose or not has yet to be decided. Right now I'm thinking that it could be really interesting to use a color changing material or dynamic lighting to create a glowing effect like in the first image. 

Part of this thinking has to do with drawing students, parents, and the community into the space. What many, but not all, of my users (aka at-risk students in the city) are lacking is a support system from their families. With this in mind, my intent is to give families and community members a sense of prestige when they, or their children, enter the space. I want people to think "Hey, my kid goes here?! I must have done something right...I'm so proud!"...and so on. 

As an initial pass, most of the work below shows my general ideas for space planning and aesthetics - most of which will occur in the bright yellow areas on the plan. Using these vertically oriented, triangular forms, I'll create a visual cohesion between the entry (now located in the shipping and receiving dock), the reception desk, and the student lounges located in the four story building. 

After my review, I'm really focusing on the idea of the interaction of light between floors and through structural elements, visual access across floors and from different perspectives, and the physical division of spaces. Keeping all of these aspects in mind, I'm really excited to play with different angular "viewing windows" in the student lounge or class spaces that mimic the forms in the entry. (See the second and third inspiration images for more of an idea). 

Similarly, I plan to open up space between each floor of the classroom areas. At this point I've already opened up the top two floors of the warehouse space to one another and added south facing skylights to bring in more light and create an interesting focal point. Moving forward, I intend to emphasize this idea and carry it throughout multiple levels so the user can experience it visually from multiple perspectives. 

I'm really excited to see where I end up four weeks from now at the next review. Each week has brought about some tweaks here and there - from day to day, my thesis isn't the same. Hey, change is good, right?

Until next week!