For the first time in a while (read: since I inhaled Oryx and Crake in June) I sat down and read something quasi-fictional in almost one sitting. I somehow stumbled upon Petite Anglaise, a blog by a thirty-something Brit ex-pat living in Paris. I was looking for tips on French education, part of my prep. work for my French ETA interview tomorrow. Is it just me or do all Brit ex-pats find their feet in Parisian dog doo?
Reading both Clarke's book and Sanderson's blog made me miss Paris terribly, feces, drunken lunatics, metro strikes and all. I am crossing all fingers and toes in the hopes that next October will see me wandering down Rue de Rivoli, revisiting my favorite merry-go-round near Rue de Fourcy, crossing the Pont Marie for that spectacular view of Notre Dame...
In other news, the quest for a suitable thesis topic might have finally been completed (and successfully, at that). I spent a long time, somewhere in the vein of five months, stuck. Not because I had no ideas, but because I had too many. I failed to realize that in one semester (the only time we have allotted towards thesis in the Interior Design program) it would be difficult for me to engage in a project of the scale I was hoping. No, I had to tell myself that as intriguing a study of the planned urban-renewal of the City of Roanoke would be, the glass slipper would fall right off.
So here's where I stand (until my thesis advisor shoots me down at our meeting tomorrow, that is). My thesis is an exploration of the role of design in the development of a "sense of community." It seeks to ask, specifically, to what extent is the design of a space responsible for its role as a "third place" (as compared to the effects of proximity and company)? Can design render a space more effective as a "third place"?
Programmatically, I will be redesigning the existing Johnston Student Center on Virginia Tech's campus. My clients are the campus community, specifically the students and faculty of the School of Architecture + Design, whose quad lies adjacent to the building. The space will house the following functions: a cafe + restaurant, study spaces, a gallery space/public space for events, lecture spaces, retail (for architectural supplies). The tools I will use to conduct my thesis will be a survey and analysis, drawings, photographs and models.
I would like to take an architectural approach, exploring the potential of three-story volumes and addressing the need for some connection to the two quads (one stone plaza and one small park space) that run adjacent to the site.
Now: to find some case studies...I already did some research into coffee shops a few years ago, I suppose I will have to dig up that paper and my resources. I'm sufficiently excited about the prospects of this project, and insist on refusing to generate any "pretty perspectives." Onward ho.
Aside: I feel like I ought to make something of an apology for not having written since February. To be fair, I have had plenty to write about, but not much motivation - more on that in some other post perhaps, for right now, I apologize to that soul, sole commenter. I will write more this year, I have been newly inspired!
