Matt Jones IARC

"here i go again on my own"

2010-03-06T19:27:00.000-08:00

Well, much has taken place since the last time even I visited my own blog. I spent the summer working on my thesis project with my partner in crime Debbie Nestvogal. Since graduating, I have been running the wood shop for the Iarc department here at UNCG.

The past few months I have been very busy working on designs for new funiture pieces.

here is one example photographed by some of my dear friends Edgar and Suzanne. More to come soon. I promise!

crunch time.........again

2009-05-01T22:29:00.000-07:00

I have been super busy in studio as of late working with my group to refine our building shell design as well as work on the atrium that i am designing. With all of this have to managed to neglect my blog for a few days now. It's time to catch up.

The design work is done for the most part, if that ever really happens. I've been working on my presentation drawings for the past few days now. Also started on our final model this afternoon and should be finished by Sunday afternoon. I also hope to complete a larger model of the atrium staircase surround to show some of the details. The detail drawings have been fun to work out, Thank God for Graphics Standards. I have been trying to place these images or at least place holders in our presentation template try and find a way for this thing to be as exciting as I think it is.

I really want to throw out some of the same ol same of presentations like boring plans and interior elevations, yawn. I hope to finally be able to visualy explain what we have spent all this time working on. With so many layers built up to make this space I plan on using a series of axons that show this process. Also I hope to include an exploded perspective view of the circulation core and foot bridges.

Man, I need to get back to work I want to leave with a few drawings that have helped me figure out some proportions for my models and computer models.

inspiration hits 1st thing in the morning

2009-04-22T22:27:00.000-07:00

As I woke up this morning the sun was shining in through my window, of course right on my face. It got on my nerves at first but then I realized how the leaves were blowing around in the wind and filling my room with all of these wonderful shadows. It immediately reminded me of my studio project and how light and movement have played such a key role in the overall design of the atrium so far. I have been struggling with ways to dramatically filter the light coming into this key area of the building. I'm not really sure yet how the maple tree outside my room and it's early morning choreography will help influence these design decisions but it sure got me excited about he whole day.

Say Cheese

2009-04-20T09:35:00.000-07:00

I was looking at some random blogs the other day and found this picture, it was taken from an article in Playboy magazine. This site has work from thousands of designers from products to art pieces and back again. If you have a few minutes I would recommend taking a look.
www.lushpad.com

Round 3, Here We Come

2009-04-19T13:09:00.000-07:00

Thursday we had our last group review before the final. Now it's really time to turn it up a notch and change gears from the group work and focus more on our individual work. These images begin to show a more refined version of my previous post. We have managed to filter and refine our concepts and establish an architectural language that can carry throughout the entire building as well as define the interior space.

I am working on the atrium of the studio arts building as I have mentioned before. Since this space houses much of the buildings vertical circulation as well as the main entrance everyone that comes threw the building will interact with this space. Since the atrium is more of an enclosed space between the two classroom wings not a key structural component of the building I want to focus my work on a design that embraces this fact.

Some of the components that need to be within the atrium are.

-vertical circulation
Stairs/elevators
-foot bridges from the studios to the classroom wing
-observation deck
-main crit. room

I have spent a great deal of time working with my group to develop a material language for the building and specific spaces that help to inform the students and visiters of their uses. I hope to continue to play off of this palette of materials and forms to create an atrium that maintains a similar design language as the exterior to truly empisize that the idea of being a break between these two buildings.

Core No More

2009-04-08T18:36:00.000-07:00

Through our group design work thus far, the idea of having a central core for circulation has given way to more of an open atrium space within the main studio building. This space will still act as the main entrance and hold the main vertical circulation but will no longer act as the anchor point for the structure.

These images show how the structure of the building will begin to frame this open space/atrium. This has given me the opportunity to work outside of the constraints of the building framework and core. As a group we have worked towards a more simple form that can act as a pallet for more organic interior gestures and forms. We also feel that if we could find a way to showcase and record the movement of the students and guests that would change day to day, it could bring an artistic life force to the studio building.

Group meetings, round one

2009-03-25T17:20:00.000-07:00

Here are a few of the schematic drawings we worked on tues.night for our groups shell and form of the studio arts building for studio.

More to come tonight!

The studio wing as well as the classroom wing were elongated to take advantage of the views toward campus and down town as well as to allow for more natural light. Also the core has been enlarged to allow for more of a gesture of a gateway.

one more material

2009-03-23T18:13:00.000-07:00

Jimmy reminded me that I had forgotten a few of the materials that I had been researching. I can't believe these slipped my mind.

You can always use extra security, or just a good laugh. Any way you look at it lasers are awesome!

sunny = sketch

2009-03-21T21:50:00.000-07:00

Friday was such a nice day outside and I had found myself with a few extra minutes to spare. With some persuading from Suzanne and Patrick, I decided it was time to do a little sketching. It's not a masterpiece but it was fun.

A nighttime shot of the library entrance from a few weeks ago. I really liked the light qualities and I was already talking about the library anyway.

materials study

2009-03-21T21:38:00.000-07:00

As a charrette, we were asked to research six materials and incorporate them into our group's design scheme. As reference for my fellow classmates I am posting my information. Good luck.

Travis Hicks has to be one of the coolest teachers ever!

2009-03-18T18:49:00.000-07:00

On St. Patricks, our professor Travis came to class with two amazing gifts for our studio. He had cleaned out his desk at work and brought us several boxes of old magazines Metropolis, Architectural Record, Interior Design among others. Thanks. The other gift, that was what sealed the deal. Travis walked into studio carrying under his arm a black box that appeared to be an instrument case. He then told us that if we did well in our reviews he would show us what was in the case. I guess we did ok, the following video says it all.

Thanks Travis for sharing something so special with us.

A Little Something to Think About

2009-03-12T14:58:00.000-07:00

Over the break I have been looking over a lot of the old magazines I have massed over the years and found one that could prove to be rather resourceful for our studio this semester. In the Aug. 2004 issue of Architectural Record there is a rather lengthy article about campus buildings, The New Academic Village. Here are a few images from one of the buildings, The Smith College Campus Center by Weiss/Manfredi Architects in North Hampton, Mass.

Birthday Review with Paula

2009-02-26T21:30:00.000-08:00

On feb. 19th our studio had a review for the design work completed thus far on our current project. We had been given a week to individually produce ten initial schemes for our Lee St. studio project. Our critique went well, and we were fortunate enough to have a special guest, Paula Carr, to sit in and give everyone some great feedback. Paula, an alum. of Iarc, was in town to give a talk at UNCG about design and the excitement and passion that drives us all. It is always refreshing to see someone that was in our shoes not all that long ago doing so well and enthusiastic about the design world. So many of us become bogged down by the pressures of school and lose the spark and passion that brought us here. For me, Paula's visit to our review was encouraging and informative.

For the initial context and layout of my work on this project I began by taking into account what I felt to be the strongest connection to the community that the site has to offer, the surrounding views of the city. Since the entire site rests on somewhat of a ridge, there is the opportunity for multiple vistas.

The diagrams below show how the building orientation was inspired by the line of site to several local icons, Downtown, Koury Convention Center, UNCG's campus as well as several of the surrounding neighbourhoods.

These site lines began to define the shape of the building forms. Footprint, volume/building height, and orientation were all influenced.

These images are from the pin-up and aim heavily towards the process of the forms and spacial considerations of the ten schemes. Some of the forms are variations of each other exploring different avenues.

2009-01-27T10:39:00.000-08:00

After a brief brainstorming session this morning we began to highlight gathering spaces on campus as well as major pathways and bus routes. we gathered images from other edges of campus, aycock st., spring garden st., tate st. and market st. to document how signage and campus image is manifested in regards to the public.

We also finished our topo. model of the site and here are a few images.

2009-01-26T09:55:00.000-08:00

Working in the shop today to finish the topo model for class on Tues. Sara and I also hope to map out some of the transport routes for students, park & ride, HEAT and the city bus, as well as walkways and bike lanes. we hope to find out how these stops relate to the other edges of campus and see how well new stops and routes could be integrated into our programing. I hope to post some photos and our findings later today.

2009-01-25T22:13:00.000-08:00

Found this last night looking for info about studio, pretty wild.
www.hobonickels.org

2008-11-19T10:46:00.000-08:00

The lab is going gonzo with so many people doing renderings for there finals, here is a rough sample of what I have been thinking about. I would like to use several composite drawings both in my digital presentation as well as my booklet for details and sections/ perspectives, etc... With so many details within the space There will need to be great deal of referencing to other drawings so this layering of information should prove to be helpful. This Image still needs a great deal of work but let me if it makes sense at all.

2008-11-17T07:15:00.001-08:00

Some work on branding from over the weekend. Please comment there are more on the way.

2008-11-14T03:50:00.000-08:00

I was begining to get a little bogged down with things, but this exercise helped move things forward. These are a few ideas for some of the display areas within my market space. Some of the things I still need to resolve are branding for the products as well as storage of goods. hopefully today in studio Some light will be shead on these areas.

2008-11-07T03:42:00.000-08:00

A few more images from the past few days.

2008-11-07T03:26:00.000-08:00

Some of the work from the past few days.

Things have been slow coming this week until yesterday afternoon. I was becoming rather frustrated with myself and decided it was time to go for a walk. I didn't have to go far to find just what I needed. I hope to share my find with my classmates today in studio!

2008-11-02T18:59:00.000-08:00

FREE YOUR MIND......

With a market place that carries produce from all over N.C. I feel it is important that the architecture of the space speak the same vernacular and regional architectural language. Not exactly the same materials used in the same manners but perhaps old building systems with new materials or the other way around, reminiscent of my concept overdrive project with the use of materials in ways they may now generally be intended. Also I would like to use textures, colors and forms from nature. I would also like to use agricultural architecture, barns, greenhouses and silos to give a few examples but put a more modern abstract twist on them. Think of the features that really make them recognizable and try to incorporate these into the retail space I am working on. After a discussion with Suzanne on Friday it became apparent that this space would ultimately tell a story of the people and places that the produce are harvested. This could really help bring life to this space and give it a soul that would really help the customers relate to the products carried here. I REALLY want to strive to recreate these iconic forms and design elements without reproducing them piece for piece. I don’t want to reproduce a barn or greenhouse but capture their essence in order to create a market place. I feel that my concept as changed a great deal from using nature as a palette to more of an abstraction of vernacular farm structures. These structures often do use natural materials in there construction so I may not stray to far from using nature as a palette but focuses more on the materials that are relevant to this particular space.

2008-10-30T21:07:00.000-07:00

If I keep working, something might happen.

2008-10-28T18:28:00.001-07:00

Case Study # 3
A Very Yummy Weekend

This past weekend has been an opportunity for me to travel around the state a little on a mission to find the most amazing specialty food stores around the triad as precedence studies for our upcoming studio project. After visiting several locations around Greensboro I began to feel a bit daunted about adding another notch to the post but after doing some research on the Greensboro GIS website, http://images.greensboro-nc.gov/maingisviewer/ , I realized that there are no grocery stores of any kind in the vicinity of Revolution Mill. This information reenergized my pursuit.
In Greensboro I visited Deep Roots Market, Cariceria El Mercadito meat market and Spring Garden Bakery. I chose these three locations because they are privately run establishments that have been a part of the community for several years and cater to specific markets. I also visited several larger corporate grocers such as The Fresh Market, Whole Foods and Harris Teeter since they have a local produce section now. Surprisingly each market handled the display of goods in very similar manners. I feel that this has a great deal to do with refrigeration of food as well as dealing with the shear volume of dry goods and produce.

The Deep Roots Market is a co-op run grocery market that specializes in organic goods. The layout and design of the space seemed very utilitarian and tight.

Spring Garden Bakery is a bakery and coffee shop with a small indoor dinning area as well as a few tables at the storefront. Many of the bakeries goods are carried at several other establishments around town, Tate St. Coffee as well as Deep Roots. The bakery takes up a majority of the space and the dining area seems a little cramped and eclectic.

The Hispanic meat market I visited was full of fresh meats, seafood and cheeses as well as unique produce and spices common in Hispanic dishes. They also have a restaurant that uses the fresh meats and produce in there dishes.

I also made a trip to Chapel Hill to visit A Southern Season and Weaver St. Market. Weaver St. was very similar to Deep Roots in the products that they carried as well as size and consumer base. The layout of Weaver St. was typical of a grocery store full of isles and coolers stocked with goods.

http://www.carrboro.com/wsm2001.html

The most exciting of the stores I visited was A Southern Season. This store has EVERYTHING one would ever want or need when it comes to food and preparation. It seemed a little overwhelming to be honest. The layout of A Southern Season was the most interesting though still somewhat typical of what one could expect at a grocery store. The shear amount of products that this place had was amazing.

http://www.jsarc.com/southernseason/image5.jpg

I am hoping to create a space that can carry products and goods from all over North Carolina and cater to several target markets simultaneously. I hope to also come up with some creative ways to display the produce and goods in an interesting manner because everywhere else I visited didn’t really blow me away in that dept. I am aiming for something between Southern Season and Deep Roots when it comes to size and product selection. I am currently searching for co-ops and production facilities within the state to find what kinds of goods could be included. Look for future posts with this information.

here we go again!

2008-10-22T10:31:00.002-07:00

It’s time to catch your second wind I suppose. After a nice fall break we were welcomed back to class with a new project, I guess that is why we are here after all. Our project now is to design a single retail store within one of the two proposals for revolution mills. We were told to decide on the products that will be sold within the store by today.
This was quite a task, we all bounced ideas off each other for several minutes but I spent the whole class trying to decide. After talking to my classmates I was able to decide on a store that carries specialty meats and produce as well as food preparation and serving utensils.

This kind of retail space would be perfect for Revolution Mills because it could relate to any target market because it is food, come on!

This space could carry food from local farmers as well as specialty items from around the state and region.

Display / demonstration areas could be very interesting and interactive.

Process work at the mill.

2008-09-29T07:39:00.000-07:00

2008-09-28T19:26:00.000-07:00

Where did I put my soapbox?

It was very refreshing to see so many great ideas from my fellow students in studio this past Friday. Nice work guys! I was having a great deal of trouble finding a good place to begin. After hours of aimless sketching I finely found a decent starting point and began to expand on this idea of new materials growing into the existing structure and framework of the building. During a discussion between Ashley and I, we began to use the term “healing over”. The idea of any alterations that are to be made should speak the design language of the 21st century not that of the original mill and how these two come together should respect the materiality of both time periods as well as act as reference points for the additions that are to be made.
I heard a great deal of talk about removing columns and existing walls and floors in order to begin with an absolutely clean slate so to speak. I personally can’t understand how this could be helpful in any way if a designer’s intent is to preserve the history of the mill. After several discussions and debates, (Jimmy and Emily) about to what depth we should exercise historic preservation and its true meaning; I have come to the conclusion that the path I have chosen could have merit as a strong design. As Lynn described, the architecture of the mill was directly related to the function that the space was to be used for. The story of this space should be able to live on and if too much of the original design is compromised then how will anyone ever see it. The machines and workers of the mills yester year are long gone; this past life is just that, in the past. It is now time to begin a new life for Revolution Mill to once again be a beacon of prosperity for the city of Greensboro and the people that call it home. The idea that the new and the old could and should exist in the old Revolution Mill is wonderful and I personally look forward to the great ideas that my classmates and I come up with this semester.

Revolution Mills Photos

2008-09-18T14:07:00.000-07:00

concept overdrive

2008-09-17T10:09:00.000-07:00

2008-09-16T23:51:00.000-07:00

A second industrial revolution for local Greensboro mill

Being familiar with the story of the Cone brothers, Moses and Ceasar and how they transformed the city of Greensboro into a major textile production center of the south in the early 20th century, as well as knowing people that work at the mill today, it seems Revolution Mills would be a special place for me. In the early 1890’s Greensboro began to catch a glimpse of the Cone brothers vision of a textile empire that could bring life to the rural south. The Cone brothers brought there dream to Ashville North Carolina in 1887 but quickly realized that in order to compete with the mills of the north they would need to be located closer to the farms and transportation. This decision brought the brothers to Greensboro where they soon built several mills and finishing facilities. Revolution Mill was built to become the first modern flannel mill in the south and it later became the largest exclusive flannel producer in the world. Operation of Revolution Mill continued until 1982 under the Cone Mills name. Afterwards the mill changed hands several times until early 2003 when Revolution Studios, LLC, purchased the facility. The renovation of the mill has since expanded to a $40 million project including office and residential spaces.

My friend of several years Christine Chapman is a project designer for Revolution Mill Studios and has worked closely with this project for a little over a year now. She is also my roommate so I get to here all of the latest news about what is going on at the mill on a daily basis, (I feel this is about to come in real handy). Also my brother works at the mill on one of the construction teams, so I get to here the story from both sides. He has told me several stories of his time at the mill and about the rich history within this space.

I look forward to having conversations with these two about our upcoming studio work and about what is going on at the mill. I feel that the Cone brothers, who gave so much to the city of Greensboro in the early 1900’s, would be proud to know that their dream was still alive a century later at Revolution Mill.