What's Going On

We just returned from Spring Break. It feels weird to have spent my last Spring Break, or general break, and only have a few weeks left of school after being in school for approximately the past 19 years! It's about to hit big time. While on Spring Break, I was in Ft. Myers, FL and went into a design center/furniture store. I saw it and absolutely HAD to go in. I saw the Eames Molded plastic chairs and Wire Chairs through the window. It's cool to see things like that when I've been seeing them and specifying them in projects. They also had some REALLY cool light fixtures that I took pictures of. One of them looked like it was cut pieces of paper with 3 'finger-like' things and each of the fingers were hinged to a different finger of another piece. It resembled popsicle sticks put together. Anywho, enough of talking about Spring Break happenings.
On the first day back here, I feel like I've finally made some progress! I got a good portion of my hotel floor plan figured out. I need to finish it and make a few minor adjustments like furniture choice. I also found some neat room dividers for my suite rooms. They are called Aparo Dividers. I have yet to find out where to get them or their dimensions, but I think it would be a really unique feature to having movable walls, or dividers, for privacy when necessary. I have integrated the front curve of the Galloway building into my hotel room design. All of a sudden I feel like I finally have ideas that I can work with, and they are pouring in to the point that I haven't even written all of them down. Thank goodness.
Although, I feel better about the situation, I realize we only have about 12 more studio classes left before we have to be completely done and ready to print it and hang it. I still have a lot of work to do, but hopefully I'll keep having productive days like today.

Field Trip

Monday, the class took a field trip to Nashville to visit the Aloft Hotel. This chain of hotels are boutique hotels. They are also very modern and very innovative. I thought it was really neat, but I just wonder how well these kinds of hotels are going to do without things such as room service. The room layout was really neat. I've never seen a hotel bed actually facing the window (that I can remember). It actually does look like a personal residential loft (which they are called Lofts instead of Rooms by the hotel itself). It was interesting to see furniture that I have specified in other projects. The woman who gave us a tour noted how Aloft Hotels are all about affecting the senses. There is a distinct scent in all of the htels and the music & lighting in the lobby are based upon the time of day. I've never thought about the possibility of using the human senses in such a way throughout a space. In between their hotel space and their recreational space, there was a patio area for guests with an outdoor fireplace and seating. Although it was not a covered area, I still like the idea of using a fireplace in between my hotel space and my business space. I may even make it where the large pieces of glass going from floor to ceiing act as windows and can be opened at a diagonal to let fresh air in on a really nice Kentucky day. Another thing I liked in the rooms was the armoire in the sink area that had many cubby holes and places to store clothes and travel supplies. It was very compact, yet pleasing to the eye and including enough space for a guest's belongings.
At the hotel, the woman giving the tour also mentioned the reception/check-in desk being round as to allow for it to be approachable by guests from all angles. That's a nice feature. The one thing I really did not like about the hotel was the elevators. They were extremely dim-lit and felt more like a nightclub than a hotel. There were also quilted blanket-like pieces hung on the walls in the elevator. It almost seemed as if they were trying to cover an imperfection up the easy way. I was not keen on the elevator in any way whatsoever.
That about sums up the field trip to Nashville. It was fun and enlightening.