DESN 230 — VISUALIZATION FOR INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE | FALL 2019 | T/TH 1:00–3:45PM | RM#
P3 | MATERIALITY & MODERN FURNITURE
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Imagine. You came across a particular furniture designer's work and want to get hired by them and work on their next commission.
Choose a specific designer from one of these four luxury brands:
Ligne Roset (choose a specific designer from their roster),
Roche Bobois (choose a specific designer from their roster),
B&B Italia (choose a specific designer from their roster), or
You will design, ie. propose a new line of custom, modern furniture you believe that designer/company would be interested in.
Basic/Primitive Forms Review. Students MUST incorporate, ie demonstrate competent understanding of each of the 6 principal geometric forms through their designs. Note that most designs often contain at least two principal form types.
Materiality Studies. Your designs should show off your ability to represent a variety of different materials, textures, etc. therefore all pieces must incorporate at least two different materials and textures.
Your designs should be unique.
- Base Model. Use SketchUp to build a base model, arrange your forms, etc. but do not apply materials and render in SketchUp, simply use it as a base model to be printed and used as an underlay for tracing to Marker Paper. Print several different views. You will need at least 2. Once up to speed in SketchUp, working quickly one should be capable of modeling the basic block elements in an hour or so.
- Render. Trace your base layout(s) and forms on Bond, Marker Paper, Trace paper, Canson or similar. Sketch, don't trace, quickly and confidently, and with correct perspective rules and principles. Add details and render your forms, applying planar contrast values, and materiality textures by hand technique, traditional methods of sketching with pencils, ink, markers, etc. to render. Working quickly, one should be able to render 6 forms in less than 2 hours.
- Refine. Use Photoshop in the end to enhance and do subtle refinements and cleanup work, feel free to add in textiles or other fine attributes, but 80% of your base work should probably be done by traditional media—generally its faster.
- Pull it all together. Create a Final presentation layout in InDesign to present to your client.
Show at least 2 views (1 Perspective, 1 Orthographic—usually a front elevation) of your designs.
Add shadow casting to the best of your abilities, and ground plane (vertical) reflections for added character/personality. Shadows should be indicative of the designed form logic.
Site Visit
If you live in Orange County visit SOCO/TheOCMix off the 405 in Costa Mesa. Visit Design Within Reach, Pirch, HD Buttercup, Roche Bobois, and Ligne Roset.
If you live in LA, visit the intersection of N. Robertson Blvd and Beverly Blvd where you'll find Roche Bobois, B&B Italia, Kartell, Poliform, and others. A short jump north of there and you can visit the Pacific Design Center, and/or go along Melrose, East of La Cienega Blvd and check out Kelly Wearstler.
METHODOLOGY
Students who have trouble with scale, proportions, foreshortening, etc in perspective may need to use a 2-PT Perspective Grid system to control your objects and proportions. There are a variety of systems used by designers that have some variation, but all good grids generate a good proportioning and control system for drawing. Use a system you're most familiar with.
HOWEVER, it is strongly preferred that you dispense with rigorous traditional mechanics and develop your sketching ability.
TUTORIALS & HOW-TO GUIDES
PRINCIPAL FORMS
- Cube/block
- Sphericals
- Cylinder Vertical
- Cylinder Horizontal
- Pyramidal, and
- Conicals
COMMON MATERIALS (to be considered),
mix and explore variety
- Fabric, including Carbon Fibre
- Polished, Reflective, Chrome, Brass
- Wood
- Antique, Patina'd or Aged Metal
- Stone
- Leather
DELIVERABLES
2-3 - 11x17" sheets, may be inkjet or laser printed from Photoshop or InDesign layout in the end.
Annotation text indicating the known name of the piece of furniture and designer. Errors will result in grade reductions.
Include your name on your sheet using Exceptionally well crafted designer's lettering, or type set digitally.
Include logo of your Furniture company and indicate the designer(s) you're aspiring to work for, associated with the furniture company, ex. Lignet Roset / Quaglio Simonelli
Evidence of your base plane "grid" must remain evident in your final.
Include Shadows and Reflections (into the ground plane) to the best of your ability to demonstrate your knowledge of these.
PROCESS / SCHEDULE
Week 1: Layout Sketch Construction (underlay)
Week 2: Articulate (draw) Design choices
Week 3: Layout and Rendering for Presentation - Photoshop and InDesign
See Class Schedule / Calendar for actual due date.
RESOURCES & REFERENCES
See right side bar menu for grid construction, materiality, reflections, etc.
Interior Design Illustrated: Marker and Watercolor Techniques. Christina M. Scalise. Bloomsbury Publishers. ISBN-13: 978-1609019174. Preview Sample Available Here
Sketching Interiors: From Traditional to Digital. Suining Ding. Fairchild Books.
ISBN: 978-1-56367-918-6
Design Graphics: Drawing Techniques for Design Professionals. Peter A. Koenig. Prentice Hall.
Portfolios for Interior Designers. Maureen Mitton
Perspective and Sketching for Designers. Jessica Newman, Jack Beduhn. Pearson Publishing. ISBN 0-13-257494-2
Drawing and Designing with Confidence: A Step-by-Step Guide. Mike W. Lin.
Wiley Publications
DESIGN ICONS EXAMPLES
CUBES
Stefan Zwicky. Concrete and steel re-interpretation of Corbu's iconic arm chair.
Le Corbusier arm chair
Wicker "cubes" with rounded edges, Ottoman's at Hotel Maya, Long Beach. designer unknown
PYRAMIDALS
Designers unknown
CONES
Cone Chair, Verner Panton. 1958
Kone Dirt Devil vacuum by Karim Rashid
CYLINDERS, VERTICAL
Eileen Grey end table
Walnut stool by Charles and Ray Eames. 1960
Left: Tulip Dining table with marble top by Eero Saarinen with Eames bent wood chairs.
Right: Saarinen Tulip coffee table and stools.
Tulip Dining table and chairs by Eero Saarinen. Notice the mirror reflections in the black surface!
CYLINDER, HORIZONTAL
Mies van der Rohe Barcelona daybed. Uniformly divided plane with horizontal cylinder head rest.
Le Corbusier (Corbu) chaise lounge with cylinder head rest; natural cow hide (right); black leather (below).
Aarnio Ball Chair
SPHERES
Arne Jacobsen Egg Chair
STUDENT EXAMPLES
Notice both of these examples have strong application of shadow casting and the bottom case includes reflections in the floor. Both of these are marker, Prismacolor Premier pencil, and ink, on trace paper. 14x17".
DRAWING AND RENDERING STUDY EXAMPLES
See more material representation under the Materiality Matrix section of this site.
STUDENT LEARNING OBJECTIVES (SLOs)
- Introduce students to important designers through iconic modern furniture.
- Challenge students to make choices and develop surface
changes based on core shade and rendering logic. - Challenge students to commit to strong line development.
- Develop student's understanding and development of primary form logic.
- Challenge student's imagination in creating material representation.
GRADING AND EVALUATION RUBRIC
The following Rubric will apply in assessment of the student's work product, presentation, and/or process:
* Estimate only. See instructor and calendar for specific due dates. Summer Session schedule is more compressed with one week equal to approximately two and half semester weeks.
CSULB | COTA | DEPARTMENT OF DESIGN | BIO
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