First attempt at office

So I began my office by trying to find a suitable place in the land of Putahi, finally deciding on a level piece of land where my design could be wheelchair accessible. The floor I placed level with the ground floor for easy access, allowing it to stick out over a dip in the land.

Firstly I started with a circle which i flattened to create the ground floor plan. I decided to go with the circular shape for movement where their would be no awkward corners that would be hard to manoeuvre out of. I decided then to go for a natural walnut wood for a sustainable design with smooth floors.

To allow people to know when they have entered my office space, I then included two scripts; one that shows a welcome message of 'Welcome to the office', which is activated when an avatar comes within 3 metres. The second announces an avatar's arrival by playing a sound. This would be for the benefit of visually impaired or death people.

Next I created a central column made out of concrete for the base of the office, as well as a base for the office desk. this construction would provide stability and strength. to further enhance this I created evenly spaced columns to surround the outside of the circle for added support, as well as a frame for a handrail and roof. To highlight this detail in the construction, I lit the ground floor from below to highlight this feature.

I then established a roof that would add visual interest to the design, highlighting the framing and construction of the office. It was also made out of the same texture for consistency for those who are visually impaired, also for sustainable purposes.

For safety purposes, a handrail was added to surround the circular perimeter, and to also provide a sense of placement. The handrail is intened to visually stand out due to lighting contrast and has been designed at a similar level and same texture as the desk surface. The desk has been placed to surround the inner column for easy accessibility, plus it provides an ample amount of desk space. Originally I thought of making the table top of the desk lay on top of the circular column to provide fruther desk space. However I deemed this unnessacry as people would not be able to reach the centre of the desk anyway, especially people in wheelchairs. For storage I could possibly place something around the outer edges of the office, as I cannot place them under the desk as they would interfere with leg space.

Once I had created an opening in the handrail, so that my office was accessible, I moved on to closing up the exterior face with glass pannels that would allow for light to come into the building as a sustainable approach, as well as create amazing 360degrees views.

At the moment there are gaps between the roofing system and the glass windows for ventalation and to enhance the indoor-outdoor flow, however I may change this for a sealed office but at the moment the open spaces create interesting geometric shapes with the roof.

Inside the office

So there you have it. My first attempt at creating my architectural office space. I intend to develop and change it as new ideas and inspirations come, but this is my first general idea.

Metropolis

This magazine I found to be a good place to look for different ideas and inspiration, as it shows all the latest in designs, technology, architecture and products. It describes the magazine as examining "contemporary life through design - architecture, interior desig, product design, graphic design, crafts, planning, and preservation".

Due to this broad range of topics, I was having difficulty in trying to decide how I could effectively educate visoters to my office about this magazine, until I found the answer looking at me from every page. This magazine is almost like a shopping list for all designers, as almost every page occupies a large advertisement of a new product or design ranging in any of the above mentioned categories. While the journal "DETAIL" contains mostly writing with a few small images, this magazine has been designed for visual impact as their are large glossy pictures of designs of every page. It is very aesthetically pleasing and describes new procuts and designs through the use of visuals instead of written text.

With Architecture being a creative subject, I then thought, that I could educate visoters about the style of this magazine and how it is so effective through the use of large visuals throughout the office that would be eye-catching as well as informative. To make it informative I will combine it with my idea to educate people about the "DETAIL" magazine by using images that contain important architectural works, the history of architecure, 21st century architecture, and images that really define the meaning of architecture. For this I'm going to need to do some serious researching in the Architectural Library.