Tía Tia Interiors

Sustainability Sneak Peek

Fri, 10 May 2013 03:15:42 -0400

Any day now I’ll be able to post more about last terms projects, including a fully-sustainably-designed ranch in the hills of Tehachapi, California. A sneak peek!

loveid: uma casa na Australia // a home in Australiavia...

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 00:48:24 -0400

loveid:

uma casa na Australia // a home in Australia
via 79ideas

For anyone in the Beaverton, Oregon area interested in the...

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 14:00:38 -0400

For anyone in the Beaverton, Oregon area interested in the city’s sustainability future, there are several symposiums coming up. I hope to attend as many as I can!

See you there?

The Halfway Mark

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 03:04:00 -0400

Over the past few months I have been working on my midpoint review presentation, which includes a thesis proposal and portfolio review. Tonight I finished the second of two primary components. Now, I just have to practice, practice, practice my oral presentation to go with the 70-something page book, and powerpoint presentation of nearly the same length.

If you see a random girl talking and gesturing to her own reflection in a shop window, or the forward facing camera of her phone, you can be sure that’s me, working towards passing as confident, and credible in front of an impending panel of professionals and professors!

Here are a few pages, a glimpse into the project that will govern my sleep cycle, social life, and access to daylight for the next year and a half.

(Click for redirection to larger versions.)

“Response” House, PART 3! Third, and final, these...

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 13:28:00 -0400

“Response” House, PART 3!

Third, and final, these are the renderings of the downstairs to the Response House. Aside from the bedroom and bathroom, everything else in this space (that includes the office area, family room, and walk-in closet) was added in as a second evolution to the house.

At first I felt a little resistant, admittedly, to expand my quaint little pocket-sized house. The added room really wouldn’t be needed for a small household of two. But once I got into the digital demolition and rebuilding process, I became addicted. It’s really tremendous what else can fit into a still-small space, and how that added maneuvering room can change the character and possibilities of the house overall. I feel that if this house were an existing location, the added basement area would be quite the basement-level oasis - especially what with that long window peaking out just above the terrain level outside for a view of the trees beyond. What a sweet and well-shaded spot.

I also really enjoy the bedroom. It’s tight, that’s for sure. Nothing but bed in there (oh, and a small under-the stairs storage area, I suppose). What a great way to encourage interaction in other areas of the house? Not to mention interaction with related, but subtly new adjacent areas, like the bathroom with its glass tub, and mirrored accent walls, or the long, yet cozy walk-in closet. But my favorite part of the bedroom is the built-in shelf behind the bed that leads up to an angled wall and refreshing skylight. This window brings in southern exposure to an otherwise solar-isolated basement space. The window would, of course, in this hypothetical scenario, have an easy access privacy shade as well. The best of all worlds, I say!

"Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say and not giving a damn."

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 20:38:11 -0500

“Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say and not giving a damn.”

- Gore Vidal (via thatkindofwoman)

“Response” House, PART 2! I’m thrilled to show...

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 00:39:00 -0500

The west-facing sitting area enjoys a green view of that nice hedge, while the hedge itself blocks intense afternoon light that can cause overheating, and can bleach furniture or textiles.

The south-facing portion of the house opens up to bring in light, and to let the stone floors and wood-burning stove absorb as much heat as possible.

Kitchen and dining spaces serve as an integrated area for hosting small dinner parties or a large buffet-oriented gathering of friends. The large deck outside pulls guests to more seating and views.

The hall bath divides into two spaces: a private shower/toilet area, and a large sink shared with the adjacent studio space. Glass walls/doors in bathroom and studio allow for light and visibility.

A birds-eye view of the great room, front deck, as well as a portion of the hallway which leads back to bathroom, studio, stairs downstairs, ladder to lofted storage and guest spaces, and the garage.

“Response” House, PART 2!

I’m thrilled to show you a bit more of the interiors to my “Respond” House. Contemporary art specifically chosen for the home of two contemporary artists is more visible, as are many sustainable-design principles used in the design of this small home.

I could easily point out to you all the little details I would work further on to fix, but, baby, I’m happy I got this far!

What do you think of the two seating areas? Awkward or socially helpful in large-party situations? Would you do something differently with the entryway? How do you like the shared sink between bathroom and studio spaces?

“Response” House PART 1 This home is designed for a...

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 18:35:00 -0500

“Response” House PART 1

This home is designed for a pair of contemporary artists, and set in Portland, Oregon, on a corner lot in the West Hills. All aspects of the house are intended to provide questions, or an opportunity for response. This intention is reflected in the materials and color palette which mixed metals, stone, glass, and mirrored surfaces, and vibrant, slightly dissonant, teals, greens, oranges, as well as brass, and silver tones. An exterior-facing moisture-activated LED-embedded water-wall provides a point of inspiration for users both inside and outside the home. Expansive social spaces in the interior great room, as well as outside in the front and back yards, invite users to sit, stay, and chat a while. These spaces also provide the forum for new connections to be made between users and neighbors or passersby. Finally, and perhaps most notably, the slanted architecture of the home’s center piece creates a dynamic, forward-moving statement, as does the entirely green-wall encased garage.

It was required that the home be relatively small in size. The initial draft of my model did not exceed 1200 square feet, but included a full living room, dining room, kitchen, hall bathroom, studio, guest loft, storage loft, garage, and the master bedroom and bathroom, both of which were found in the basement. A renovation of that model required an additional 600 square feet, and provided the space for an enlarged great room upstairs, as well as the inclusion of an office space, family room, and walk-in master closet downstairs.

Best of all - in my eyes - is the inclusion of various important sustainable design principles. First of all, living small. Even a conventional home can save vast amounts of energy and resources as compared to a highly sustainable home, so long as it is short on the square footage. This home was particularly efficient space-wise in its first iteration and did not actually need to be enlarged to suit the needs of one couple with occasional guests. Second, southward-facing orientation in combination with thermal mass, thermal insulation, strategic windows and a few other elements help to make this home highly efficient at keeping its own temperature regulated. Western and northern faces especially were attended to, mitigating overheating from the summer sunset on that western side, and keeping cold northern exposure at a minimum, while using even northern light to the home’s advantage. These and many other details make this home appropriately sustainable designed for its Portland, Oregon setting.

•

Now, all that’s well and good. The real catch to this project is that, not only were we to design a proper home that adequately responded to program requirements while suggesting thorough, cohesive, and innovative design choices, we had to do it on an entirely new-to-us 3D rendering software, ArchiCAD.

It took diligent effort over the course of many, many weeks to even hope we would accomplish all that was required! I can’t tell you how many late night texts were exchanged between myself and a few classmates about how the devil to “make this one thing do that, and the other to do this.” Meanwhile our families were soundly tucked into bed, none the wiser.

You know those memes that go around about architecture students whiling away the wee hours in search of nigh-well unattainable perfection? Those are accurate.

But, hey, in the end we managed to pull of stuff like this. While it’s not perfection by any means, we molded an idea into digital reality.

Here’s to our amazing, patient professor who tolerated, even encouraged (and responded to!) all of our one thousand questions (I’m really not even sure that number’s an exaggeration), and the magic that is ArchiCAD. Magic.

Look out for PARTS 2 and 3! This project is not even close to the end of its 15 minutes.

One can always do with my practice in perspective....

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 00:57:43 -0500

One can always do with my practice in perspective. Always.

designed-for-life:

Billy Madison voice “Back to school”

Perspective Class

De Nuevo

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 18:24:25 -0500

Finals ended…ohhhh, a good six weeks ago. I have, since then, successfully - and finally - cleaned my office, done laundry, cooked a delicious meal from scratch, spent time with friends (truly! that happened!), had a full conversation with my mother, (almost) made it out the door on a date with my husband, and slept a full eight hours in a row. It is astounding to see what life is like outside of graduate school!

In that time I have also rested and recuperated, and mostly regained the energy to attend to my extracurricular pursuits, like this humble design blog. :)

(Distractions, however, never stop: over the baby monitor, my two year old is just waking up from his nap to the tune of the ABC’s, in an order that basically resembles the intended sequence.)

So, here’s to the hopeful collection of spare moments in the coming months that give me a chance to share another post here (including some works in progress, like a dear friends’ basement bathroom soon-to-be in-home spa/resort/oasis!). I’m fairly sure I can find those spare moments - at least until the next big hurdle, the Midpoint Review. But more on that later. :)

May your day be joyful, and your home bright!

Looking Up

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 17:33:51 -0500

According to ASID (the American Society of Interior Designers):

“As the economy recovers and demand for design increases, there will be a gap in the number of designers needed to meet our clients’ growing needs. For example, experts have indicated the construction industry is posed to reach $1 trillion over the next three years alone!”

Things are looking up, post-graduation-wise. Cheers to that!

Old.

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 14:57:55 -0500

Old.

Recovery

Sat, 19 Jan 2013 01:55:26 -0500

Finals Recovery. It’s a thing. I’m almost at the point where I can think about being…”productive.”

In other words, right around the corner I will finally (finally) get around to posting the work from my term projects that I am oh-so-proud of (mainly because it reached relative completion status by the deadline) for your viewing pleasure.

Thanks for stickin’ around. You’re a bunch of dears.

Studying at my favorite nearby cafe for a change of pace. Thank...

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 12:47:28 -0500

Studying at my favorite nearby cafe for a change of pace. Thank God for this place; the alternative is closer but painted blue and black. I can’t be mellow, or productive in a place that’s painted blue and black! (at Insomnia Coffee Company)

The Plumen, the compact fluorescent homage-to-Edison light...

Sun, 16 Dec 2012 15:40:01 -0500

The Plumen, the compact fluorescent homage-to-Edison light bulb.

I’m already daydreaming about where and how to put these all over my house. Though, at $29 bucks a pop, I’ll be thinking rather strategically. At least they cut down on energy by up to 80% compared to incandescent lights (I’m not even sure what the comparison would be to an old school filament bulb…2000% energy savings?!).

A sneak peek.

Sat, 15 Dec 2012 14:37:49 -0500

Today’s goal is complete this restaurant remodel project, one of my two finals due Monday.

Here’s a sneak peek of what was finished by last night, after some additional color tweaking this morning.

My thoughts, in someone else's words.

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 16:38:19 -0500

“The social dislocation of children in our time is a sure mark of a society in decline; this condition is not, however, confined to any race, class, nation or economic condition—it cuts across them all. It grieves our hearts to realize that in so many parts of the world children are employed as soldiers, exploited as labourers, sold into virtual slavery, forced into prostitution, made the objects

of pornography, abandoned by parents centred on their own desires, and subjected to other forms of victimization too numerous to mention. Many such horrors are inflicted by the parents themselves upon their own children. The spiritual and psychological damage defies estimation. Our worldwide community cannot escape the consequences of these conditions. This realization should spur us all to urgent and sustained effort in the interests of children and the future… Children are the most precious treasure a community can possess, for in them are the promise and guarantee of the future. “

—Universal House of Justice, Ridvan 2000

Just enough quiet to let me think; enough bass to keep me moving...

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 22:38:08 -0500

Just enough quiet to let me think; enough bass to keep me moving forward. #musictostudyby

Finals motivation in ten words and that smokey stare....

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 18:48:04 -0500

Finals motivation in ten words and that smokey stare. ;)

sansscriptstories:

Thanks Ryan Gosling.
You always know just what to say.

<3

S

theabsolution: Oscar Niemeyer (1907-2012) Not only Brazil, but...

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 23:41:04 -0500

theabsolution:

Oscar Niemeyer (1907-2012)

Not only Brazil, but the world has just lost one of it’s most brillian architects. During 76 years of production, Niemeyer designed over 130 building worldwide and won 10 awards, including the Pritzker Prize in 1988. He died in Rio de Janeiro at 104 years old and left a huge legacy to architecture.