GHM Presentation #2 - Conceptual Ideas

On Wednesday we had our second presentation/meeting with the GHM committee and we presented our conceptual ideas that we have been working on since the last time we met with them. Paige and I presented the Old and New board, which had a combination of ideas on it. It had a neutral color scheme with the addition of red for an accent color, my proposed desk and kiosk idea, an extra kiosk idea by Alex, then the circulation chart and perspective. They really seemed to like the ideas that we presented them with and they had a lot of helpful feedback. Here is some of their overall main comments:

• like the desk idea, its contemporary design, and how it reflects the curvature of the space
• having more than one kiosk but not so many it is overwhelming
• would the desk be able to accommodate for two people sitting behind it
• make a timeless design because these ideas may not be implemented for several years
• some said they liked Alex's kiosk idea and felt that it would draw people over to see what it is because of its abstract design whereas some felt it might not be inviting enough
• some of them said they liked the color scheme and how it can go with things such a moving exhibits and banners because of the neutral colors while others felt that the colors were not welcoming enough
• adding shelves for information pamphlets on bands of the desk
• felt that the wood idea related to our color scheme was a good idea
• wireless kiosks so that wires don't interfere with the space
• like the mobility of everything
• liked how ideas reflected each other without being the same
• they liked the interactivity and entertainment of the kiosk
• want us to think of more multipurpose things
• they liked how the red stood out in the color scheme
• want us to play around with the idea of traditional vs. modern and twist the two together to create something unique

This meeting was really interesting and informative. I feel like we got a lot of great feedback from them during this meeting and we can take what they have given us in this meeting and move forward towards more refined ideas.

The process in which we presented the information went well, however I wish that we had more time to talk with each group, because we were getting a lot of great feedback and then every time the time limit seemed to cut it short. I think that it was helpful to have more than one person presenting each board because then if one of us forgot to mention an important aspect about our board then the other person usually remembered to bring it up and we could ping pong the presentation between each other so that we could share in the presentation work. I think overall the way that we presented the information to them went really well and I think we got a lot of useful information from them that we can work off of and have even more ideas for them in three weeks when we present to them again.

D.C. Presenation

During the class trip to Washington D.C. I was assigned to visit the National Museum of Natural Science, the National Museum of American Indian, and the American Art Museum and Portrait Gallery. The thing that I chose to focus my presentation on was the circulation through the lobby spaces and the museums as well as way finding and curiosity. I chose to focus on these aspects due to the fact that these are all areas in which the Greensboro Historical Museum needs improvement. I thought that the Natural History Museum was the most successful museum, because of the successful circulation and how it was designed to show you little windows into the exhibits to draw you into the spaces and experience the museum. There were signs for clear way finding and the space was very exciting and inviting. The circulation tough the lobby space of the Natural History Museum and into the exhibits made me think of a spiral, because you have to go out around the lobby in a circle to get to the exhibits and then you have to do the same thing on the second floor. The American Indian Museum also had a similar spiral formation in the lobby but I did not find the circulation in this building or in the American Art Museum to be as successful as the Natural History Museum.

I thought that the trip to D.C. and then the presentation tying together our current projects with some of the things we saw in D.C. was very useful. I did not take the time to really practice my speech so I feel that it I had the presentation could have been much better. I need to work on not using verbal fillers such as um and just pause to collect my thoughts instead. I have had a lot of speakers from the speaking center come in to several of my classes especially in my communications class I took last semester so most of the information that they covered I already knew but it was still helpful. I did not visit the speaking center before this presentation but I have been to the speaking center before. For the next presentation I intend to visit the speaking center to get helpful advise on my presentation and to practice more to improve my speech.

Original Presentation Slide

Edited Presentation Slide

Diagram Portfolio Page

Photoshop Madness

For this assignment I had to choose a picture or pictures that I took in Washington D.C. and then alter them in photoshop. I chose to use two of the pictures that I took in D.C., one of the Capitol Building and one of a metal tree sculpture in the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden. I wanted to combine the two images so first I took away the sky in the photo of the Capitol Building to replace it with the sculpture tree. I then cropped out the extra stuff in the background of the tree photo and then flipped the image so that it looked more like lightening strikes rather than a tree. Then I combined the two images by putting the tree photo in a layer overtop of the Capitol Building background. Then I started messing around with the contrast, exposure, and brightness to see which looks I liked the most. I also played around with the alterations to change the appearance of the photos and the paint bucket to change the colors. I ended up really liking a lot of the photos that I produced so I continued to play around with it to see what I could do with it. I liked them so much I put most of them up on here because I couldn't chose just one image of my creations.

Original Photo of Capitol Building

Original Photo of Tree Sculpture

Capitol w/o Sky

Capitol Photo with Tree Sculpture

Image 2

Image 3

Image 4

Image 5

Image 6

Image 7

Image 8 and possibly my favorite one

Have you seen the light yet?

This is an photo of a staircase that I found online that I thought was really interesting. The photo was taken by Nils Eisfeld and the photo is titled "Enlightenment". I think the photo and the staircase itself are both very interesting. The photo captures the image of a lightbulb created by the staircase and the light entering the space at the top, which I'm guessing is one of the effects the designer of the staircase had planned. Whether it was planned or not thought it still creates a very interesting effect in a unique way.

Spinal Staircase

I found these images of this really interesting and unique staircase under the architecture tab while browsing tumblr.com. The staircase was designed by Philip Watts for a private client in Northampton. It is a sculptural staircase that is made of glass and timber. I think that it is a very interesting way to design a staircase and it makes it a functional work of art for a building.

Another staircase that Watts designed is the one shown in the images below that was designed to be a centerpiece staircase in a room more another client in France.

These images and images of other sculptural staircases designed by Philip Watt are available at http://www.philipwattsdesign.com/bespoke/staircase-northampton

Meeting with GHM staff, volunteers, and people from the community

On Wednesday Sept. 14th we went over to the Greensboro Historical Museum to meet with some of the staff, volunteers, and other people from the community to talk about the lobby space and the museum. Before we headed over to the museum we had a discussion among our group about what kind of questions we needed to ask them to find out more about the museum and what they wanted to see changed about the space. Some of the questions that we came up with to ask the staff of the GHM were:

• What should stay in the lobby space and what can go?
• What are the other uses for the lobby space over the course of the week, month, or year?
• What sort of budget we are dealing with for this project and how that will effect the project?
• What image should be conveyed though the lobby space?
• How does/should the lobby space fit within the image for the museum as a whole?
• What is the current amount of storage space and does there need to be more/less?

Before we presented to them what we had noticed in the space we had each of them come up with at least three things about the lobby that they feel needs improving. The ideas that they came up with were:

• make it look more like a museum
• make sure all of the systems (lighting, signs, electrical, etc.) work together
• making a bridge from the parking lot to the museum to connect the two
• create a more warm, open, and inviting space
• make parking lots more attractive so people are drawn in
• use a way finding technique such as signs so people know where to go within the space
• update things within the space such as flooring, wall coverings, and furniture
• make welcoming feature the first thing you experience when you enter the space without changing the volume of the lobby space
• improving the acoustics of the space to help with the noise
• creating seating within the lobby that invites people to sit down within the space
• possible turning the space outside the lobby into an amphitheater 
• making the space flexible for all of the different events that take place within it
• making an info kiosk in the space
• a way to control the natural light entering the space
• engaging space to make people want to go look at the rest of the museum

After we heard some of their ideas on the lobby space we presented some of the things that we have noticed and discussed about the space. I presented the information that we already knew about the GHM and some of the things we had already completed in the space. These things were looking around the space, taking measurements, drawing up elevations for walls and ceilings, exploring exhibits and discussing them, and then talked about about idea of improving the lobby space in terms of circulation, identity, and unity, which were the three most important things we found that needed improvement. 

Then we talked within our groups at our table about the questions that we had come up with before the meeting. Their answers and ideas were:

• make the staircase grander so that it stands out like it should with its large size
• change wall coverings to something more interesting while still maintaining the integrity of the space
• putting in more modern furniture
• putting in different flooring rather than tile that is there now to help with sound
• strip away some of the traditional things to make the museum more interesting
• want us to come up with conceptual and logical ideas so that there will be a variation to pick from and maybe combined together to be used
• making a method of way finding in the space so people know where to go
• the space is used for: receptions, exhibits, luncheons for the city council, board meetings, and intermission space for shows in the auditorium
• the image they are trying to show is welcoming, museum atmosphere, public place, and show what is happening at the museum with banners
• want museum to embrace the history of Greensboro
• put featured artifacts on display in the lobby to encourage people to want to see more
• fix the slope outside the entrance because it can get slippery in the winter
• having slip resistant flooring so people don't fall and get hurt
• having advertisements for the museum around the city

The people in my group also gave us two other successful places to look at for ideas and inspiration. Those two places were the International Civil Rights Museum and the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

Meeting with these people was very helpful to see what is needed and get some good ideas. I am looking forward to working on this project.