CARA SKETCHES

View Original

GLASS CITY

BALLROOM & EVENT CENTER DESIGN STUDIES

TOLEDO, OHIO

HELP THE TEAM REVAMP THE ENTRANCE TO THE BALLROOM WHILE TRYING TO KEEP THE COSTS AT A MINIMUM

I was brought onto this project early in the DD phase and the project team was looking to add life to the Monroe street entrance of the building. They wanted a fresh set of eyes on the project while they worked through the tight budget. I was also tasked with considering the lighting conditions of the main ballroom entry stair.

MY ROLE

Create design sketches and studies for the monroe street entrance.

Color changing LED light strips just inside the frosted glass would emphasize the entrance at night.

Facade study concept sketches and parti diagrams

When I was introduced to the project I noticed that the entrance wasn’t very obvious and the composition of the facade was repetitive.

To fix the horizontality problem and locate the entrance I sketched out a parti diagram that breaks the horizontal datum at the entrance, drawing the eye to the point between the horizontal and vertical elements.


lighting design

Exploded axon sketch - lava lamp concept

LAVA LAMP PRECEDENT IMAGES

ENTRYWAY LIGHT PROCESSION sketches

In order to make the procession from exterior to interior more interesting and cohesive I designed a continuous recessed light that starts at the stair vestibule and makes its way up through the lava lamp space to the stair landing at the ballroom.

This concept was well received and determined to be very cost effective.


results

Monroe street facade after extensive VE process still utilizes vertical strip of frosted glass to emphasize ballroom entrance.

(Rendering not by me)