Artist in Residency

San Diego, CA

This is my final project in my Resident Interior Design course at San Diego State. The goal of this project was to redesign the interior of an under-utilized building on campus. Re-imagining it as a living space for future “artists in residency”, artist from around the world who would stay on campus to further study their chosen medium. We were allowed to do nearly anything except for take up a larger floor area or build higher ceilings.
We must keep in mind the different types of artists who would potentially use this space: painters, dancers, photographers, sculptors and everything in between. A few key aspects I felt important to a living space for a majority of artists would be natural light, open space, space for storage, and the potential for a change of environment.

The following is a sketch of the building and it’s surroundings.

Charcoal Sketch of the Space

The original structure had a pitched roof with a ceiling, leaving unused open space in the attic. With addition of a skylight and exchanging the current solid concrete wall for one made of glass, I decided to remove this ceiling in order to open up the space and allow for more light to be brought in. The ceilings were high enough to add a second level, to be used for sleeping and as an extra work space. This allowed for a change of environment and for a majority of the space downstairs to be left open for the artists to work. This also gave me space to include the restroom and potential closet space, under the 2nd story.

Floor Plan – Upper Level

Floor Plan – Lower Level

The most visually detailed part of my presentation was this digital interpretation of the space, utilizing AutoCAD, Revit and Photoshop. I wanted to show an artistic impression of the space while maintaining realism and scale.
This was my first time using AutoCAD and Revit so I had to teach myself a lot, I thoroughly enjoyed this process and it excited when I began to realize the power of the combination of these programs.

 

Overall this was likely my favorite project while at school. I loved the freedom of design and expression, but enough structure to give a purpose. It allowed us to present our ideas how we felt best and encouraged us to use multiple mediums. It excited me for the future potential of transforming space and the power of architecture along with interior design.