CONCEPTUAL

When looking at projects, I enjoy the process of dissecting it to speculate and retrace the thought process of their designers. Every design is a functioning piece of art; it expresses a sense of purpose and tells the story of how humanity lives in this world.

Conceptual: Services

PROGRAMMING ANALYSIS

387 QUEEN ST W, TORONTO, ON

OLLIE QUINN STORE

This project studies a real operating retail store in Toronto. Ollie Quinn is a Canadian eyeglasses brand that manufacture and sell its own products. This particular store while has the same hallmark aesthetics as the other Ollie Quinn stores, it is especially narrow and limited in space which makes it an interesting project to study.

Conceptual: Projects

Site Visit

Site Photos of the exterior and interior.

Programming analysis

After visiting the eyeglasses store as retail design case studies, I started thinking about the activities of the clients and the staff within the space. Studying how people interact with people and with merchandises and with the street, I sketched up this diagram.

Being such a narrow space, the circulation and the process of making a purchase become one in this store.

Re-imagining the space with a self-created brand

Rough schematic design of the space with an arbitrary optical brand named Pupil, branding students as its target market.

STUDY ON

PIKA HOUSE

SELLDORF ARCHITECTS

Pika House by Selldorf Architects is located in Dunton Hot Springs, Colorado, USA. Overlooking Dolores Mountain, the house takes the aesthetics of a log cabin. The house spans upward standing among the tall pine trees on the mountain slope. It provides the residents with clear vantage point at the surrounding forests and mountain on all levels. It is built to endure both the heat of the summer and snow in the winter with the aluminum shutter system that can open up the interior space to the exterior or enclose itself completely. The house makes its inhabitants live like pikas, a small mountain-living mammal that is active all year round found above treeline. Due to it being a response to the tall treeline around, the house itself becomes one of the trees amongst the forest.

Conceptual: Projects

3D recreation of the Pika House

3D model of the Pika House's exterior and interior.

Re-imagining the Interior Space

The Pika House is a retreat for a multi-generation family in the wintertime. It acts as a lodge for the family to rest in when they are not out skiing and hiking.