Exhibition Text:
With this project my objective was to create a welcoming environment that encouraged a connection with the natural elements, stimulated creativity, and that appealed to students of all learning styles. I developed my ideas for a gazebo-like structure with embedded layered flower beds on the rooftop, modern Top Bar beehives, rolling groundlevel whiteboards as well as a sculptural Huskies structure with seating that would all be placed in an Outdoor Classroom setting. With this project I wanted to create a stimulating environment that appealed to students of all learning styles. Additionally I intended to break down the belief that vistual, and tactile stimulation in a learning environment is distracting to students but rather that this can improve students' ability to stay engaged and focused in a lesson. For this project I pulled inspiration from other outdoor designs in Milwaukee. I used a site called Photopea to create a poster to display my sketches and ideas.
With this project my objective was to create a welcoming environment that encouraged a connection with the natural elements, stimulated creativity, and that appealed to students of all learning styles. I developed my ideas for a gazebo-like structure with embedded layered flower beds on the rooftop, modern Top Bar beehives, rolling groundlevel whiteboards as well as a sculptural Huskies structure with seating that would all be placed in an Outdoor Classroom setting. With this project I wanted to create a stimulating environment that appealed to students of all learning styles. Additionally I intended to break down the belief that vistual, and tactile stimulation in a learning environment is distracting to students but rather that this can improve students' ability to stay engaged and focused in a lesson. For this project I pulled inspiration from other outdoor designs in Milwaukee. I used a site called Photopea to create a poster to display my sketches and ideas.
Inspiration
Bucks LED Sign for Arena Designed by Chicago-based Selbert Perkins Design and fabricated by Jones Sign Company of De Pere
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Bucks Deer District Seating Structure While looking for inspiration for this project I decided to consider local architecture and art that I have seen in Milwaukee. I remembered visiting the Deer District last year when I saw the large seating structure made from the Bucks letters. There are beams behind each letter that extend backwards. The beams are not really visible from the from of the letters which makes the structure feel more like an art piece then just seating and is great for taking photos. The letters also have LED lights on each side and they light up at night. I thought this was a great inspiration for a potential structure at Reagan. The design is sleek and clean but is still functional and does not look out of place in its setting next to the stadium. The sign's design borders both between playful and modern which is the same tone I wanted to incourperate in the sign I designed for Reagan's Outdoor Classroom. |
Top Bar Beehive / Layens Hive
The first even horizontal beehive was created by George de Layens in the 19th century. Up until this point beehives were created vertically with stacked boxes containing the hive called the Langstroth hive. When extracting honey from the Layens hive it is much less disruptive to the colony. The Langstroth hive also requires a lot of heavy lifting to remove each box from the other. It also makes overwintering much easier for the bees and therefore results in a better honey yield because the bees are not consuming as much to stay alive during the winter. I want to implement a Layens hive inspired beehive design into the Outdoor classroom because I think students would benefit greatly from getting to study the bee's and their fascinating behavior that scientists are still uncovering more information about. Additionally I would love for this project to help break down the fears that many possess in regard to bee's and help people to feel comfortable around them. It is very important to me that people understand how essential bees are to our lives and all the food we consume. In the Outdoor Classroom space, the beehive could serve as a visual stimulating element that could be observed by students at all times of the day. I think honey harvesting would be a great project for ESS and the opportunity for a beekeeping club would also be amazing.
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Layens / Top Bar Beehives
Based on the information I gathered from ESS students and Art Club members I created a chart to display the feedback about what was seen thought heard and felt while in classrooms at Reagan. Overall there was a shared feeling of discomfort among students regarding the seating. Students also felt the atmosphere could be improved through more artwork on the walls, more natural light, and a better placement of desks and tables. I found it interesting that the interactions between students increased in my classes that had tables instead of desks.
Planning
In my sketchbook I started designing the elements that I wanted to be placed in an outdoor classroom setting. The first item that I sketched was the rooftop planters. I sketched each element from multiple angles to allow the viewer to fully conceptualize the function and structure of the design. Drawing the same design multiple times felt very repetitive but I think it helped me to fully plan out each feature of every element including size, material, and structure. For items like the Gazebo I had to sketch out multiple design options and ideas and they all had noticeable differences. I continued to adjust and improve the design after analyzing each drawing. Despite liking the appearance and aesthetic of some of my initial Gazebo designs, I had to discard them due to their lack of practicality or limited function. I also wanted to make sure that everything I designed felt cohesive and fit together. Once I finished all my sketches I edited and refined the final designs and uploaded them to Photopea. |
Rooftop Planters
The first element that I started to work on during my planning process was ideas for planters. I knew I wanted to develop a covered gazebo-like structure so I decided to design planters that could someone be incorporated on the roof. I sketched different designs including a tiered planter that had three slanted buckets that connected to a flat board in the back. I didn't think these would look good on the roof however. For my final design I came up with a planter designs that would have hooks on the back. The hooks would slide in to specialized grooves on the roof of the gazebo I designed. I sketched this planter design from the front side and back. The planters would be made from biodegradable materials and could also be painted by the Art Club. There would be two sets of boxes (one on each side). One row would be more towards the top of the roof and one row that would hang around the bottom roof edge.
The first element that I started to work on during my planning process was ideas for planters. I knew I wanted to develop a covered gazebo-like structure so I decided to design planters that could someone be incorporated on the roof. I sketched different designs including a tiered planter that had three slanted buckets that connected to a flat board in the back. I didn't think these would look good on the roof however. For my final design I came up with a planter designs that would have hooks on the back. The hooks would slide in to specialized grooves on the roof of the gazebo I designed. I sketched this planter design from the front side and back. The planters would be made from biodegradable materials and could also be painted by the Art Club. There would be two sets of boxes (one on each side). One row would be more towards the top of the roof and one row that would hang around the bottom roof edge.
Front View of Final Planter Design
Huskies Outdoor Seating Structure
I wanted to design a form of seating that could incorporate the word Huskies to represent Reagan. I was inspired by the Bucks lettering structure located in the Deer district in Downtown Milwaukee. I felt that it would be dynamic for the outdoor classroom to have a sculpture that could serve as both an art piece and a functional seating area. The sculpture that I sketched consists of the simple lettering that is based off of the current Reagan logo. In the back of each letter would be beams that extend backwards and upwards to provide ledges to sit on. The letters themselves would be painted by the Reagan Art club and
could be an excellent photo opportunity for the school.
I wanted to design a form of seating that could incorporate the word Huskies to represent Reagan. I was inspired by the Bucks lettering structure located in the Deer district in Downtown Milwaukee. I felt that it would be dynamic for the outdoor classroom to have a sculpture that could serve as both an art piece and a functional seating area. The sculpture that I sketched consists of the simple lettering that is based off of the current Reagan logo. In the back of each letter would be beams that extend backwards and upwards to provide ledges to sit on. The letters themselves would be painted by the Reagan Art club and
could be an excellent photo opportunity for the school.
Gazebo Design
Gazebo Planning Design 1
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While planning for what I wanted the Gazebo to look like I came up with three designs. My Gazebo Planning Design 1 did not contain removable flower planters and did not have a ramp. The structure was more complex and while I liked the additional height of the upper flower bed I did not think it would be ideal for the outdoor classroom space because the flowers would not be entirely visible from the ground. My Gazebo Planning Design two was defiantly had the most complex structure. It features eight pillars instead of four like the final design. It also did not have removable flower beds. The structure contained six sides. A difficulty I later realized was the if the flower beds were not removable, they could not be easily watered if need be. I also felt the design overall did not match the aesthetic of the other elements I designed. |
Gazebo Planning Design 2 |
Beehive Design
Speaking to other art students, I found they too enjoy sitting on the floor while they work on school work or make art. Sitting on the ground rather then at a desk with a chair is actually a much more productive way to work for many students based on the feedback I received. However I noted that not one my of my classes in my time at Reagan has provided any alternative seating to either a desk with an attacked chair or a standard table with a chair. Since my objective with this Outdoor Classroom was to appeal to students of all learning styles I thought one way I could do so was through rolling groundlevel whiteboards that allowed students to sit on carpet squares, mats, or the ground while they work. These whiteboards would be large enough for multiple students to draw on them at once. I wanted these whiteboard to serve more as a fun element for students to engage in and doodle on during lectures to help them focus.
Sketch of rolling whiteboard
I created a layout sketch of what I wanted my final poster to look like. This sketch was useful for my decisions on the placement of different elements such as images and text. In this stage I also learned how we were to be breaking up the information into different categories such as Problem, Objective and Existing Solutions. One issue I experienced with this was knowing how much space I wanted to allocate to each section of text since I had not yet actually began writing anything up. So when finally building my digital poster I had to make some changes accordingly.
Rough sketch of final poster layout
Process
First MIAD Poster:
Final MIAD Posters:
Experimentation
The experimentation stage in this process was the most important and crucial step towards my final product. Since outdoor planning and architectural design are both areas I felt highly unfamiliar in I was intentionally very thorough in my experimentation to insure the final result was something that did not feel too amature. I worked in class on different practices to develop my skills in orthographic drawing.
Some of the first exercises we worked on included drawing straight lines over and over by freehand. This felt slightly unnatural to me since my lines were crooked and warped initially. However the more lines we drew the more steady my hand became however the lines were still not nearly at the level I was hoping for. Next we learned how to create simple boxes. The key element for this was using your writing utensil to measure. By deciding on one spot on my pen I was able to use this as my unit of measure for all the squares we created in this exercise. Through this technique of creating boxes we were able to begin practices that involved creating entire orthographic sketches of different objects such as a table, and a coffee mug. This then led into our study of creating entire sketches of our rooms and learning how to design a space using this method of creating boxes.
Critique
Similarities:
The Layens hive directly inspired my choice to incorporate a beehive into my Outdoor Classroom design largely due to my research that suggested it is better overall for both the bees and beekeeper. The Layens hive has the same horizontal structure as the Top Bar beehive that I eventually decided to go with and it also features the same removable wood racks on the inside. The Bucks sculptural seating structure directly inspired my Huskies structure design. They both display large 3D letters with beams that extend backwards from each letter. These beams provide seating and from the front of the structures they can both be used as a photo taking opportunity.
Differences:
While the Layens hive features a similar horizontal structure to the Top Bar beehive, it does not include the slated rooftop panels that protect the structure and bees from the elements better. Additionally the Layens hive has removable racks just like the Top Bar hive, however the Top Bar hive racks require the comb to be cut off completely since they are just a bar for extraction. While the Layens racks are in a frame-like structure and have a foundation that allows the honey to be removed and then the racks to be put back into place. The Bucks structure and my Huskies structure design vary most significantly in size being that the Bucks structure is much larger.
The Layens hive directly inspired my choice to incorporate a beehive into my Outdoor Classroom design largely due to my research that suggested it is better overall for both the bees and beekeeper. The Layens hive has the same horizontal structure as the Top Bar beehive that I eventually decided to go with and it also features the same removable wood racks on the inside. The Bucks sculptural seating structure directly inspired my Huskies structure design. They both display large 3D letters with beams that extend backwards from each letter. These beams provide seating and from the front of the structures they can both be used as a photo taking opportunity.
Differences:
While the Layens hive features a similar horizontal structure to the Top Bar beehive, it does not include the slated rooftop panels that protect the structure and bees from the elements better. Additionally the Layens hive has removable racks just like the Top Bar hive, however the Top Bar hive racks require the comb to be cut off completely since they are just a bar for extraction. While the Layens racks are in a frame-like structure and have a foundation that allows the honey to be removed and then the racks to be put back into place. The Bucks structure and my Huskies structure design vary most significantly in size being that the Bucks structure is much larger.
Reflection
My favorite part of this project was the creative freedom I was allowed. This project allowed me to take the time to consider my strong suites and determine elements I wanted to design that I felt resonated with me as well as my peers. I truly felt as though I wanted the students of Reagan to feel represented and acknowledged through my designs which made the whole design experience very surreal and exciting for me. I immediately knew when I was assigned this project that I did not want to design the layout of an Outdoor Classroom , but rather I felt much more excited about designing specific elements that I wanted to be incorporated in the space. The final designs I came up with included a gazebo-like structure with embedded layered flower beds on the rooftop, modern Top Bar beehives, rolling groundlevel whiteboards as well as a sculptural Huskies structure with seating. I took my time with each of them and found that research was critical in this project more so then any project I had ever completed in the past. This was because I wanted to insure they were each specially curated to the Reagan Student population and that I was meeting my objective to create a welcoming environment that encouraged a connection with the natural elements, stimulated creativity, and that appealed to students of all learning styles. Overall I definitely feel as though I was able to achieve this goal in my designs and I am very satisfied the influence off my research that is expressed in each element.
MLA Citations
Holly. “Pros and Cons of Horizontal Hives.” Complete Beehives, 12 Apr. 2022, https://completebeehives.com/pros-and-cons-of-horizontal-hives/.
“Top Bar Hives - Learn about Top Bar Hives.” Bee Built, https://beebuilt.com/pages/top-bar-hives.
“Top Bar Hives - Learn about Top Bar Hives.” Bee Built, https://beebuilt.com/pages/top-bar-hives.