This quarter and next quarter my main focus in school will be on my senior capstone project. It's a culmination of everything I've learned, and is a design project that I've done all the legwork on, solo.
I am designing a children's library/reading room in Over the Rhine. There is a tremendous need for kids in this area of Cincinnati to have a safe and comfortable environment to retreat to and develop a love of reading. Studies have shown that kids who are read aloud to do better in nearly every stage of their development. Kids in Over the Rhine more than likely do not have the resources or the environment in their own home to have a happy reading haven. When standing at the intersection of E. McMicken and Vine, it is nearly a mile's walk to the main branch of the Public Library. Not only is there a community need, but having an environment built exclusively for children is something that all Cincinnatians can embrace and come visit.
My "client" *this is merely an educational project, and is not likely to happen!!* is the Cincinnati Public Library. I contacted their PR rep and got permission to modify their logo. This is my rebranded take on their logo for my project:
The building I've chosen to use is the former French Bauer Dairy building located at 1315 Clay Street. It's got a wider span than the majority of the Italianate style buildings that make up the building stock of OTR, and it has a fantastic story behind it. The Bauer Dairy used this building as their garage. The milk carriages were stored on the bottom floor, and the horses lived on the second and third floors! There is an existing ramp that the horses used to get from floor to floor that I will be repurposing in the new space. The bricks even have hoof prints from where they were kicked by the horses.
The idea of the horse ramps carrying children up through the space is one of the driving factors behind my design. Children interact with books in different ways as they develop, and this is manifested in each of the three floors. The first floor is primarily for young children - passive readers. They interact with books in a very social way through activities and story time. The second floor is for smaller groups with children who are learning to recognize words and still need to be interacted with - cuddle spaces for parent and child. This floor has picture book stacks. The third floor is a world for the solitary reader, with spaces for a kid to be alone with her nose in a book.
This is my first set of drawings for my space:
Please let me know what you think!! I need as much help as I can get, and any and all critique is appreciated :)