Floor Plan and Development of Spaces

This project has presented many challenges because of all the different types of spaces.  The various types of spaces include:

• Administrative
• Professional Services
• Counselors
• Legal Services
• Nurse/Visiting physician
• Communal Spaces
• Chapel
• Dining Hall/Kitchen
• Small Group Meeting Spaces
• Gym/Fitness
• Educational Spaces
• Adult classroom
• Homework centers for elementary and youth age groups
• Nursery classroom
• Toddler classroom
• Preschool classroom
• Play spaces for each age group both indoors and outdoors
• Apartments for the women and children to live in for a full year
• Maintenance Spaces

The unique shape of the building presented both great opportunities and some huge challenges.  The different wings of the building allowed for more spaces with window.  However, these same wings made it difficult to get uniform apartment spaces.  My overall plan changed from the original zoning diagram first presented.

The solution is still evolving. Modeling in Google Sketchup has proven to be an effective tool for dealing with the changes in ceiling heights as well as the more thematic elements in the project.

Amiee Thibodeaux, interior designer at Chasm Architecture in Baton Rouge, has been invaluable as a mentor this semester.  She has shown  me how to "massage" the floor plan until it is successful.
Tracy Burns, one of the principal interior designers at Commercial Design Interiors, also assisted me with the early education childcare spaces. These are much more involved spaces than initially thought.

Of course my instructors, Matthew Dunn and Phillip Tebutt continue to push me to finalize the vision for Dream Builders.

Logo: Original Digital Art Project

This is the digital art project entitled "What is Love?" It was created with Adobe Illustrator from the doodle that is also posted.  The colors and text really make this a wonderful piece, both fun and friendly.  This did not translate as well into the full logo; hence, the transition to find other elements to work with the central icon.

Logo Original Doodle

This is the doodle that started it all! Sharpie marker on a magazine subscription insert card.  All it took was a telephone conversation and some time sitting at the drawing table to create this now important icon.

Logo Design

The logo for this project began as doodle.  This doodle became a very strong graphic element which  translated into a digital art project over the summer (2009).  In the fall, it became the main element in the Dream Builders logo. This spring it was reinvented again through many variations of color, text, and contributing elements.  The final logo is strong and represents the spriritual evolution of a mother and her children as they rebuild their lives and create violence-free homes.  The deep warm bright pink is both strong and feminine, symbolic of the mother taking a leading role in her life and no longer seeing herself as a victim.  The orange is a color of activity and energy which symbolizes the path that will take all of them there. The white represents their spiritual nature which is transcendent throughtout the healing process.