Cafe Design! Finally the project I was waiting for so long. I find designing social spaces very interesting. The first day started with the briefing and telling us the scheduled workflow of the project.
WEEK 1
We were split up into six different groups. Each group divided the tasks among the individuals and thoroughly researched each subject. Each person was required to complete one case study to better grasp the subject.
I researched the office premises' clientele and cultural context. My case study mainly concentrated on the working environment that many coffee shops worldwide produce. I wanted to research consumer behaviour as it relates to the workplace and working environment. My main concern was "Why people chose to work in coffee shops rather than offices or their homes?"
WEEK 2
We presented our secondary study this week and received feedback on it. We were asked to develop an idea after using the study as a basis for analysis. My idea was based on how people would feel after leaving their busy offices and heading for a getaway.
Keywords:
Eating
Mindfulness/Relax
Networking/Socialise
Enjoy
SITE VISIT: Max House Okhla Phase-III, Block B
Site Experience
The staircase was the first thing I noticed when I entered, and it was not very appealing.
By providing a neeche, they concealed the 90-degree intersections between the column and ceiling.
The services were concealed by a baffle ceiling, which also served as a decorative element.
Almost zero maintenance materials were used.
As the interior style was still being developed, it appeared rather plain.
Studio Lotus Presentation TAKEAWAYS
They worked on the concept of Walk Will (Site Reuse Project)
allow informal interaction in a formal setting.
the living room at the entrance.
there were two meeting rooms but I was curious to know if it would work well in a noisy environment. To which they replied that there were going to be blinds installed in the rooms to prevent any visual distractions. And as for the noise is concerned, it is a living room situation where no loud chatting will happen, rather a polite discussion. Also, the material used is somewhat acoustic.
kids-friendly space is also provided for working parents.
Gym for work-life balance: taking care of the health.
FnB: Discussion over coffee
quick grab and go.
relax and chat for a longer time.
private space in a cafe to eat privately.
gatherings on the terrace.
semi-formal meeting area.
moving furniture.
Design
demolished the shared plot area of the building because they were legally not allowed to use it.
The flat slab design used capital columns to hold the structure. This increased the size of the upper slab to sit on.
Beams are only on the periphery and around the staircase. They used steel sections as structural support which they had to demolish earlier.
low maintenance materials used:
bricks
no paint
connected the visitor with the greens, and tried to create an internal environment because no view outside.
simple shell with colour through objects and elements to create an accent.
moved the vertical circulation to the side to get more area for horizontal circulation.
Used the chiller sound as a design element—enhanced user experience with the sound of water.
WEEK 3
After taking out the analysis from what we learnt at the site, I decided to revise my list of keywords:
Interior Garden: to change the closed environment of the office workers
Parametric: Since the offices are straight-line geometric structures in general, so I decided to change that to more organic structures.
Networking: Since we have many offices rented out in the same building, people from other offices should have a place to sit together and build connections at least within different offices.
Relax: People usually need a place to relax and calm themselves down after their busy day. So the space should have that environment.
Interior Garden
Inside the cafe, the goal was to create a park-like atmosphere. I, therefore, intended to include a mound of grass and soil where visitors might sit and feel the texture of the grass. Even a picnic could be an event for them. I intended to hang swings. In the same way that there are food stalls in parks, I want to add additional volume to the space and improve the park experience by removing the first level floor slab from one end. This will foster a spirit of openness. I want to offer the idea of a juice bar where fresh juice and snacks can be served. These kitchens will be of the quick-grab variety. Benches and other design components were also considered.
I had a lengthy conversation with my faculty about how the mound will impact the weight on the floor. They demonstrated to me several parts of how to build a mound. I was asked to look into its maintenance, but I was told not to worry too much about it at this time because I should be exploring. The faculty then warned me about the dead load (load on the floor which is applied from installing a permanent structure). Soil and grass can be problematic for the basement and result in dead loads on the floor. Therefore, we got to the conclusion that the amount of load I'm seeking to apply is not much of a problem.
Parametric
I wanted to include organic parametric structure in the design aspects. The parametric and natural elements should be combined. I considered alternatives while I searched for a solution to my dead load issue. I considered building the same mound structure using a parametric design and covering it with a lawn. This will lighten it. There were, however, two issues that I encountered. One was, "Can it support the weight of people?" And second, even though it is the same, turf doesn't provide the same experience as actual grass; natural grass is real grass. But before I spent much time on this issue, my natural mound solution was deemed viable.
Networking
Most people who work in offices enjoy making new friends and learning more. They only get to engage with their coworkers when working in their respective workplaces. I, therefore, plan to provide them with the opportunity to interact with individuals from other companies.
Relax
Apart from networking, people prefer to eat quietly by themselves or in a relaxed setting. People do not have access to "me time" in offices. They are overworked and need a break when they become worn out. I want to provide kids with that environment. It's not required that this be on the same floor. On the first level, I want to dedicate a quiet area and leisure space.
Electrical Inputs
We were introduced to electrical terminologies.
Luminous Intensity
Luminous Flux
Lux and Illuminance
Power
Lumen
Lux
Plumbing Inputs
There are three sub-categories under plumbing:
water supply
wastewater disposal
plumbing fixtures
Snehanshu sir discussion
Everyone else was also considering an indoor garden, so I didn't want to settle for that. I went to the senior faculty to explore a different concept because I had one. I began by outlining my basic concept and how I came up with it. "Interior Garden" was the first keyword, and I described the mound I wanted to give.
Her: Why?
I mentioned that the offices are cramped and closed, therefore I wanted to build an inside park to freshen the atmosphere and bring people closer to nature.
He said: OK. What further components would you like to include?
I told him about the juice bar and swings.
Him: Where is this coming from? So you are thinking about health and that's where you are missing the dots. You can connect anything and everything with your idea of the park. Juice bar from the food stalls, swings from the play area.
During the conversation, he helped me understand how I came to the initial ideas. I realised that I went to these design decisions. But they didn't come from the idea of a park instead came from the idea of creating a natural space. My faculty helped me connect all the dots and told me to think in the same direction as your concept.
I DID NOT WORK IN WEEKS 4 AND 5 BECAUSE OF MY BAD MENTAL HEALTH. I CAME TO COLLEGE EVERY SINGLE DAY BUT I DID NOT WORK OR YOU CAN SAY I COULDN'T WORK.
DURING THIS WEEK MY FACULTY SAT DOWN WITH ME AND HELPED ME WORK LIKE A PRRE PRIMARY KI. IT HELPED ME ORGANISE MYSELF AND KEPT ME IN TOUCH WITH THE PROJECT. HE HELPED ME WITH THE PROJECT AT THE TIIM WHEN I WAS ABOUT TO LEAVE THE WHOLE THING. SPECIAL THANKS TO SIR.
WEEK 6
I started working on AutoCAD on my service drawings and construction plans. It was the first time that I was trying my hands on AutoCAD individually. I started organising my CAD file according to me. This took half a day but helped me with the ease of working.
Since I didn't have a laptop and I was working in the Mac Lab during the project, it became very difficult for me to get feedback. So my friend gave me his laptop to work on for the project as he had a spare one. But the problem with that was, that it wouldn't work without a charger. Even then I started working on it.
I had all my layers sorted and was working on the structural plan when
my classmate accidentally took out the charging cable and my laptop closed. I was speechless, I was about to burst out on her, but I just ran away from the class because it was not her fault. So, to not let my anger win and do something I would regret later, I went downstairs to catch my breath. I, for the first time, worked that much CAD and was starting to gain confidence, not knowing that I would hav
e to do it all over again because the file was not saved. My friends tried fixing it but couldn't, they came to take me back to the class and cheered me up to work. I sat there and tried working. Then one of our faculty came in and said I can fix this. He came as the light in dark. He recovered 80% of my work. I felt better after that.
I continued with my services as I had to change some things after taking feedback from my faculty. Again a classmate of mine took out the charging cable and my work got deleted. This time I was not that angry but was annoyed. I knew I had to work again on the plans. It took me hours to redo the work.
The same thing happened to me 5 times in 3 days which made me realise that I was unable to move forward because I had to redo my work every time. So my faculty had an idea that I use the Mac that was there in our studio for presentations. It made my life so much easier. I sped up with my work because I had to submit the work in 4 days. I changed my structure and other things the next day.
Friday was the last working day in college and the last day before the submission to get feedback from the faculty. I got to know that we are supposed to present our work in front of the jury. This made me nervous as I was way behind the class in terms of work. So I decided to check my status on the jury. To see that, I asked one faculty who knew nothing about my design, a few doubts about the structural input. In the process, I explained to her my idea so that she could comment on it. She started giving me critical feedback on my design (which was the actual point of having to start that conversation). She acted like a juror to me which made me realise where I would be when the jury will happen. After that conversation, I realised that my design is technically not good and was not very functional. I was devasted and I wanted to leave the project then and there. Then I called my friend and he told me to cheer up and just make the submission with whatever I had. But I was not satisfied as I was not confident with my design. My faculty came to me asking why I was not working and seemed too low. I told him what happened. He understood and told me to change whatever I felt was not working and make it function. He helped me out with the technical part like services. I finished my services and elevations on the same day. At the end of the day when I was about to leave at 6 pm, the light went out and the power got cut. My files were there on the desktop and I was helpless. I hadn't emailed the files to my home desktop and it was Saturday the next day.
PPD LEARNINGS
I had gained so much patience by this time. I had experienced so much data lost in a single week that I was not at all panicking and was peacefully waiting. My mind was trained to such an extent that I was ready to rework the whole thing without thinking of crying about what I had lost. I asked the guard to turn on the generator for 5 minutes so that I could email the files. He told me to wait for 10 minutes. And when the light came, I calmly email the files while one of my classmates who were there started to panic and asked me to quickly send the files. Yet I was calm and patient about it.
I worked all night the whole week on 3 hours of sleep every day. On Saturday I was burnt out. Which is why I did not work for 30 hours straight. I was supposed to collate my work and had a lot left but burnout exempted me from working. I then on Sunday started to work and collate the work as my friends told me to at least make a submission.
WEEK 7
I was relieved after submitting my work and thus wanted a break. I took off from college on Monday and went to a relaxing art class.
I came fresh to college on Tuesday, ready to work. I worked on the SketchUp model. Submitted the assignments on Wednesday and started refining my construction set for the jury.
I learned many things from other people's jury and again refined my work for my jury. Friday I came without any sleep. I entered college early to sleep. But I did not as I helped my classmates set up their boards. I was not feeling nervous at all, I was not feeling anything. I presented m work to Dr Jitin Chadha, our Director. He came to see the work so my faculty asked me to explain to him the project. Then I presented to the juror, she indicated that I had o work on the number of drawings and rest she liked the concept.
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