Archinect - seamless

architect.

2013-09-30T21:12:12-04:00

"I love building spaces: architecture, furniture, all of it, probably more than fashion. The development procedure is more tactile. It's about space and form and it's something you can share with people." - Donna Karan

Architecture is a broad, complex and exciting subject. The same can be said for the profession. From following my blog, most of you know that I have a love for all things design. However, my career interests lie in the harmonious and successful blending of (the ideas of) interior and exterior and its immediate contextual and cultural surroundings.

From a post a few weeks ago (decorator. architect. designer.) I wrote of my beginning experiences in summer option (Auburn University CADC) and how I ended up on the side with the people-who-like-interior-design because I liked the course description. While that may give the impression that I wasn't very informed about my career aspirations - it has revealed more to me now than it did at that time. I believe ...

decorator. architect. designer.

2013-09-06T21:22:33-04:00

I am not attempting to be a renaissance women – I don’t think I have the time.

Long ago, before any talk about college or careers (we’re talking 14 years old here), I used to draw floor plans in a spiral bound notebook. That was my thing…I would spend a few hours a week cryptically diagramming out how a person would move through a space. I would close my eyes and imagine how natural light might affect a space, what changes in level would do and how activities should dictate the shape of a room. My mother saw my intense interest in this and suggested I take ‘drafting’ classes – and so I did. In high school, my drafting teacher and guidance counselor both suggested majoring in architecture.

Upon graduating high school, I was accepted into Auburn University’s College of Architecture, Design & Constructions’ Summer Option program. Summer Option was an intense 8 or 9 week program for freshmen students interested in architecture, interior design and building construc...

the mentor

2013-08-28T09:11:34-04:00

"Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn." - Benjamin Franklin

There are movies we watch that mean different things to us at different moments in our lives. In watching them you come to realize something new and different - either about the movie or you, or both. Most recently I re-watched the Karate Kid in its entirety. The first few times I saw the movie I understood it to be about a coming-of-age young man learning how to stand up for himself. This last time I watched it, because of where I am in my life, I "watched" from the perspective of Mr. Miyagi.

What was interesting about watching from this perspective is that we, the viewers, only know Mr. Miyagi as the karate master to Daniel ("Danielson") - we aren't privy to anything in his life. As the movie progresses, we come to understand that Mr. Miyagi has suffered a great deal of pain and loss. It dawned on me that even though Mr. Miyagi suffered a personally, he never let his ...

just too much...

2013-04-27T20:48:00-04:00

A wise person once told me that editing is the most important exercise of design.

Sometimes, not editing can result in a finished work that “reads” like a woman who has on too much make-up or a man who has on too much jewelry – in both cases, neither the women nor the man fully understand their natural beauty. I guess they feel the extra’s somehow make them enough.

I believe the same is true for architecture and interior design.

Recently my husband and I spent a weekend at a boutique hotel in a city outside of Albany, GA for our baby moon (short vacation before the arrival of our 2nd baby). In its attempts to be hip, cool and fresh, every square foot in the lobby of this hotel was "designed" - which, to me, resulted in a visually noisy and jarring atmosphere. A catalogue of materials – carpet, stone, concrete, metal, glass, silk, boucle, plywood, bamboo, velvet, resided in this lobby hotel (see below). The issue here is not to focus on the name or location of t...

a case for the small...

2013-02-14T09:55:00-05:00

“We are facing an enormous problem in our lives today. It’s so big we can hardly see it, and it’s right in our face all day, every day. We’re living too big lives, crammed from top to toe with activities, urgencies, and obligations that seem absolute. There’s not time to take a breath, no time to look for the source of the problem. We are almost desperate for a solution.” - Sarah Susanka from The Not So Big Life: Making Room for What Really Matters

Every year MA (Modern Atlanta) hosts the Modern Atlanta Home Tour – which leads modern design connoisseurs on a self-guided tour around some newly finished modern homes in the Atlanta, Ga area. Last year was my first year going to a few, not all, of the homes. While I enjoyed many of the homes I toured, there was one in particular that stood out in my mind in terms of its scale, unassuming street presence and thoughtful interiors.

intimate spaces

2012-12-14T11:53:05-05:00

Quick note: This is a reblog from a few months ago and have decided to repost to let my new followers (yea! thank you) know what my specific interests in the realm of design. Let me know your thoughts – if you like the post or the blog, please visit my Facebook page at: Seamless

Thank you in advance ~

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I have always been fascinated with the idea of intimate space.

The definition of “intimate” is an adjective that suggests “friendly” and “devoted”. As it relates to three-dimensional space, we can extrapolate that intimate space is a space that is familiar and close to us, dear to us. Built structures of a small scale do not overwhelm us – they welcome and comfort us…

always finnish beautifully...

2012-11-13T19:53:32-05:00

Finnish architect and designer Alvar Aalto (1898-1976) was not only known internationally for his architecture, but also for his seemingly simple and elegant furniture pieces. In designing buildings, he believed that each building should be treated like “a complete work of art – right down to the furniture and light fittings”.

read entire post at: www.dawntrimble.wordpress.com

196 and counting...

2012-11-10T02:37:00-05:00

In the Spring of 2007, an article in Architect magazine reported that of the 91,000 licensed architects in the United States, only 196 of these licensed architects are African-American women. Really?! Only 196?? Personally, I know of 7 licensed African-American architects actively practicing in the southeast.

Although we are at the close of 2012, I am hoping that despite the economy of the past few years this number has somehow increased.

If only by a little bit.

read entire post at: www.dawntrimble.wordpress.com

the scale of the detail

2012-11-05T19:44:51-05:00

"The level of detail and craft is something that's inscribed within the original design concept. And so when I begin to draw, I know what kind of detailing I want the building to have" - Tadao Ando

I am certain that I had seen many details in my life before my introduction to design, but the first detail to I actually noticed and remembered were the ironwork ‘baton’ pieces that rested angled against the outside windows of the Tea Room of the Glasgow School of Art by Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

The definition of the word detail will lead you to many meanings.

One definition states that a detail is an “attention to or treatment of a subject in individual or minute parts”, while another talks about the detail as “intricate, finely wrought decoration”. Of the numerous definitions, two that are most interesting to me for this post outline a detail as 1) the philosophy and process of detailing while another take on detail references 2) the detail itself.

The Tea Room e...

communitas

2012-10-17T22:41:24-04:00

"Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” ― Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities

In Jane Jacobs' iconic book, she discusses the viability of a city street by having the following characteristics: 1) having a clear distinction between public space and private space, 2) having “eyes” on the street by the “proprietors” of the street and the buildings on the street – the bulidings must not, in any way, turn their backs or blank faces to the street, and 3) as a way move through this city, there must be adequate and continuous sidewalks that are populated with a regularity that reinforces the life given to the street and to the buildings.

One of the many things I loved about living in Washington, DC was its pedestrian nature. After living in Atlanta, GA for a while – where it was nearly essential to have a car...

read entire post at: www.dawntrimble.wordpress.com

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helping hands

2012-10-03T14:43:39-04:00

One of the most rewarding moments in being a designer is revealing the finished project to an owner and seeing the pleasure on their face over what you’ve done. Another rewarding moment is to extend your talents to those who do not have the means to pay you…

Room Service Atlanta is a non-profit organization started by Dayka Robinson and Erika Ward in 2010 with the goal of pairing local designers with a local shelter each year to create inspiring, relaxing and functional interiors for homeless individuals or individuals (young and young at heart) in transition.

This year 17 designers from the Atlanta, GA area will lend their talented and helping hands to the United Methodist Children’s Home (UMCH) Independent Living Program in Decatur, Georgia. Six apartments will be renovated/updated and reworked to welcome the young adults into their space.

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“A room without books is like a body without a soul.” – Marcus T...

where's the love

2012-09-28T08:44:59-04:00

“Architecture is a gray-haired profession” – Roderick L. Knox, Architect

When I was in grade school, my sketchbook was an 8 1/2″ x 11″ spiral bound notebook. In this notebook I would draw diagrammatic floorplans – one after another until the notebook was filled with a diversity of planned spaces. By drawing these elementary plans, I was imagining what it would be like to move through space. To move my body up a set of stairs, down a set of stairs, move through a wide doorway and a narrow one. I loved closing my eyes and visualizing the spaces in their entirety.

In highschool, I took mechanical drafting from Mr. Brannon in a building not attached to the school, but attached to the gym. If I remember correctly, it was set up in a garage-type space with ‘store front like’ windows. Each student had a drafting desk (that was angled) and a stool. We would draw machine parts: the fronts of them, their sides and imagine cutting them down the center. I remember being f...

the narrative

2012-09-25T21:42:59-04:00

In literature, there are three main themes that help to categorize a narrative beyond its essential plot: man against man, man against nature and man against himself. Having one of these themes firmly categorized forms the structure of the story and aids in making the plot more cohesive and focused.

In an award winning movie like Schindler's List, the strength of that story engages the audience by revealing the lives and situations of the characters. In a great piece of music, say Keith Jarret's Part IIC from The Koln Concert (amazing by the way), unveils a complex and beautiful narrative geniusly making the intangible tangible.

In the case of architecture and interior design, creating a strong narrative is, I believe, one of the most exciting parts of the early design process - for you are giving "birth" to an idea...

read entire post at: www.dawntrimble.wordpress.com

it takes time...

2012-09-22T22:41:05-04:00

Great design is like a great movie, each time you see it, you experience something new.

While DIY home design movement is quite popular at the moment due its democracy and budget friendliness, I would like to make a case for the pure talent and skill that is required to conceptualize, create and in the end, construct the design of an interior. This post is not meant to raise one profession (or hobby) over another – for me, if you read my about page, it is clear that I am slowly moving towards an integrated practice. This post is simply meant to distinguish, acknowledge and celebrate the fact that not everyone can DIY-it when it comes to the design of a space. I can not preform open heart surgery or, all of a sudden decide to become a gymnast and join the 2016 Olympic team...

read entire post at: www.dawntrimble.wordpress.com

spaces of memory

2012-09-17T19:41:22-04:00

I did not grow up in Chicago, New York or Los Angeles.

I grew up in Albany, Georgia.

While I still consider Albany my home, it wasn’t exactly a thriving metropolis. Our city “center” wasn’t obvious, we had no skyscrapers and no sidewalks. There were no favorite buildings, memorable interiors or picturesque parks.

At the beginning of my undergraduate year, I was only able to name one famous architect – and I quietly felt ashamed that I had not traveled to the exotic locations my classmates had. These feelings quickly melted away as I discovered that knowing and naming great architects and their works wasn’t as important as I would have thought. What became apparent to me was how important my memories were in shaping me at different times of my design career. I will briefly share with you a range of projects that had a profound impact on me and why…

(read entire post from the archives (August 14th) at: www.dawntrimble.wordpress.com

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poetic tremors

2012-09-16T15:20:00-04:00

Even with a computer in front of me, a cell phone to my right and an i-pad to my left, I still choose to sketch. Manually.

For me, to sketch is to think.

My love for sketching began with... (read more at http://www.dawntrimble.wordpress.com)

sensual

2012-09-13T22:40:52-04:00

Comprehensive design at its best can be quite a sensual experience – calling attention to sight, sound and touch. Even our sense of smell and taste is heightened when the spaces that envelope us are considered. Our five senses (sight, sound, smell, taste and touch) are how we perceive and interact with the external world. When these senses are considered in conjunction with design, a beautiful thing happens: we become innately connected to our environment in ways specific and special to us - the end user. Simultaneously experiencing multiple senses at once is quite powerful and is instrumental in further connecting us to our surroundings...read more at www.dawntrimble.wordpress.com

intimate spaces

2012-09-12T22:22:08-04:00

I have always been fascinated with the idea of intimate space.

The definition of "intimate" is an adjective that suggests "friendly" and "devoted". As it relates to three-dimensional space, we can extrapolate that intimate space is a space that is familiar and close to us, dear to us. Built structures of a small scale do not overwhelm us - they welcome and comfort us...

By training and profession, I am an interior designer and soon-to-be architect (I must first pass a rigorous professional exam). I started my education and career in interior design because I had an interest in how we use interior space - we do, after all, spend 90% of our lives inside. I completed my education with an architectural degree because I wanted to better understand the "outer" context from which interior space resided.

This blog, seamless, was born out of a strong desire to document my love for interior design and architecture while simultaneously, building a holistic design practice - and all...