Collins Tile and Stone

Hello again! Today I got the fabulous honor of visiting Collins Tile and Stone here in Lubbock. It was a great way to see where our everyday poluar stone and granites are coming from. Many granite options are out there for so many different uses. Every piece of granite or stone is unique and making it custom to each individual! I really got a lot out of some of the newer products we will be using later in our homes as well as our careers.

This board is samples of what they call the core color group. These 8 beautiful granite options are not only unique and illistrated in their own way, but thy the top 8 most popular and used options today.

I was amazing on how huge each of these slabs were and how each one of them varied in size, weight and ther overall appearance.The front one is my favorite!

The labor and cost of machinery is so much more expensive and big than what I thought it would be to take care of a slab of stone or granite. It is obvious how expensive this field can become in a matter of time.

Several examples of the granite and stone shown were the brushed finish, the limestone from big stone, and the blue bahea from Brazil. These pieces were really neat because of all the materials mixed together to make each one of these they way they are.  

Photo Analysis: Inspiration photo and Olioboard

This inspirational picture is an photograph inspiring nature. This image has seeral examples of principles and elements of desgin and the color scheme is refreshing and calm.

The elements of design including the direction of linef from the horizontal lines of the wood and the verticle nature and plants in the back give the line direction a sense of depth. Along with that the texture of the plants and the debth of wood give a sense of refreshment and warmth.  Some of the principles of design illistrate by the contrast between light and dark features that make the photo come alive. There are repition of barrels that appear closer than the repeated plants in the background. The balance of color, line quality and design are what make this picture such a great color scheme image for a nature inspired space. 

 

My olioboard was pure inspiration from my nature photo. The color scheme gives a calming and combination of your chic, nature illistration by the blues, greens, wooden accents and a rusty gold. The elements on the board are shown through mirrored furniture giving off a refreshing feel. The rustic wood and gold accents are a great addition to the blues and greens in my inspiration photo.

Leftwich Chapman Flooring

On Tuesday October 23rd I had the opportunity with my class to visit our local Flooring center, Leftwich Chapman. The Flooring center was divided into three sections of the store. They had the carpets (shaggy,pattern, etc.), the tile (used for many areas of a space), and the wood (laminent, cork, leather etc.). Not only was the building easly to follow, but I learned alot new upcoming flooring and ways to use it. The speaker was very converstaional and great at giving a better understanding on what to and not to use each material for. This was probably one ofmy favorite field trips we have taken so far.

The cork flooring was one of the design materials that I really fell in love with. The cork flooring is great for sound because it holds sound acoustically. Cork is very cool and adaptable for several spaces.

 Vinyl Flooring is becoming more and more popular as time goes on. The luxury Vinyl tile aka. LVT, is also killing laminent. It not only looks beautiful as wood and is actually okay for water while still looking like wood.

The two pictures above, are really neat wood designs for the wall. These are two dimensional wall designs for several spaces.

These two examples are my two favorite discoveries I found during my field trip. The leather flooring is my new favorite and would be beautiful for an office and several other places. Not only is it durable but is balanced by the cork backing. The cork is a very neat feature many can use in several spaces. These two are becoming more known and popular as new designs arise!

Design Day: Clarus Glassboard

The 2012 Design Day was a not only a great success, but a wonderful way to see many of the newest products.The expo provided samples, conversation, and many opportunites to learn more about the new products companies provide for our future line of work.
One of the discoveries I learned about was the Clarus Glassboards. The glassboard was destined for recycling by making things creative. The glassboard is something you can square off, polish up, and show off. It provides something new and fun and a great design feature every desiner or customer should check out.

My Unsual Material

  My Unusual Material
Emily Bickford
ID: 3311 Texas Tech University

            When you would normally think of having your trees on the outside of your house, what if you were actually inside one of those trees? Many think that only animals can live in trees and nature, but they are wrong. One of the many unusual building materials seen part of the design of homes are homes made out of trees. Not only is nature on the exterior but now incorporated on the interior. The many types of tree houses have extended the design and creativity going into building your home.                  

            One type of the many popular tree houses is the Vietnamese tree house. The Vietnamese tree house uses many of the nature elements that draw in many tourists and guests from around the world. Something I found very interesting was that you had to have permission to build a house like this one. For one example of these Vietnamese tree houses, it is used for guests to stay in the rooms overnight. To build many of these tree houses the builder goes to many extents to succeed the vision they had in mind. Saving many of the 400 plus year old trees, many suspend platforms that currently constitute the tallest “tree house”. Taking it to the next level, linking many of the trees are not only saving the natural environment, but providing more habitats.

            Growing it yourself has been another popular choice when building a tree house. A creative concept will develop and direct the growth over a period of time. The roots, vines, and trees provide flexible framework that extend these creative designs. Going green is becoming another one of the required elements when thinking of designing somewhere to live. Going green is cost savings and makes a much healthier living environment. Today many of the consumer and buyers are also demanding more green products and services. A go green home reduces pollution, conserves natural resources, contribute to the conservation of forests and wildlife, and help maintain the ecological balance on the earth. This makes all living being can survive and thrive in their natural habitats.  

            As the tree house becomes more and more popular, thriving ideas of living arrangements develop. This unusual building material is benefitting the one living there and the environment as well. With the several different types of tree houses incorporating the exterior into the interior, even though they all have something different about them they share the benefits and creativity. Tree houses are very inventive and unusual but have made our design world interesting and growing more as time goes on.

My Campus Material and Analysis Journey

During this mission to find the best and worst materials on campus, I explored and found six fabric applications. I found seating, wall covering, floor covering, paneling system, fiber based art, and window treatments. I discovered that a variety of good and bad appeared in several areas of campus. Below I have explained and shown several examples of the pros and cons of applied material. Enjoy!
                          
 Seating

This chair was found in my Architectual History lecture class and  is obvious that it has been very worn and not very durable. This was a great example of the not so good applied materials on the Tech campus.

This is an example of seating in the sub and was a good example of a correct seating covering that was applied for an area with busy traffic.

Window Covering                                                                                                                       

This window covering was applied in the Merket Alumnae building for several of the windows in the entrence. The window covering was applied to block light and heat, as well as a decorative addition to the room.

Wall Covering

This was a creative but different idea for a wall covering attatched to seating. This wall covering  appeared to block sound and vision for the privacy of who ever was sitting. A great divider that also shows an applicaiton of a wall covering.

Floor Paneling

I found that this was on the entrance of several buildings on campus. It was thought to be a great way for the students to wipe their feet and walk across before entering the tile flooring throughout the building.

The floor in one of my classrooms on campus had square floor tiles of carpet the are durable.

 

In my journey to discover the many applied materials I realized how many different ways the materials had been used. These a great examples of materials that have and have not fulfilled the requirements of the necessary qualifications. Now I know how important and crutial it is when selecting finishes and materialsfor a number of different spaces.