Sarah

Abode in the Cove is a luxurious beach house with 3 bedrooms, 3 washrooms, 2 laundry rooms, 2 living rooms, large kitchen, walk-in pantry, wine-storage and music room. The home was designed for a musical family of four. The parents have the top floor to themselves, which includes a private music room where they can enjoy jamming together. The two children needed their own space to play their various instruments in peace, so their bedrooms have been placed apart from the home’s center, only attatched by corridors. The children’s bedrooms have been strategically placed as far apart as possible, to prevent any conflict. The home is located in a private cove, which allows for the family to practice without bothering any neighbours. The Gazebo and Rec House were added as spaces to perform for friends and family.

The Bayfront Retreat is a LEED-approved, 2-bedroom, 1 bath single family home. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, and it is a design tool that helps building owners and operators be environmentally responsible while using resources efficiently. This house was designed as a second home for a married couple with 1-2 foster children. They are very outdoorsy, and enjoy hunting, hockey, and gardening. The house is located in Kalowna, British Columbia, and is right next to Lime Bay. The location is within the appropriate school district for the kids, and there are enough hunting grounds and giant, beautiful public gardens to keep the parents happy.

Like the name, The West End Verve is full of spirit. It is a mixed-use, mid-rise building located in the West End of Vancouver. It’s mostly offices, but underneath is a busy farmers market, bicycle share, and urban farming! The residents of the West End can walk over, and enjoy fresh produce, or even work in a personal-sized garden on the property, where they can grow almost anything they want. The building is fully accessible, with ramps and wheelchair elevators. The employees of the building have private underground parking, and a separate entrance in order to avoid the business of the farmers market when they come into work. Every floor has an outdoor space with greenery to keep everyone feeling fresh and happy.

A large family is building a new single-family home. They need a large kitchen to accommodate their ever-growing family. They spend a lot of quality time in their current kitchen, but as their family grows, it is becoming more cramped Goal: To create a spacious and welcoming kitchen for their whole family to spend quality time in. They should be able to cook, eat, talk, and work at the same time without getting in each other’s way.

In this Thesis, I will create a single-family dwelling that will display a prototype for a new outlook on Ornamentation. People have been using ornaments in architecture as far back as our knowledge of Architecture History goes. For many years the ornaments would symbolize relevant themes for that region, the people that lived there, and the purpose of the building. They would tell stories and showcase a history. As time passed, people stopped making their ornaments so personal and relevant to the surroundings, and just copied what the architects of the past were doing. Humans have a universal reaction to technological change, and that’s our inclination to copy qualities and shapes made in the past using new technology (techniques and materials), regardless of validity. I also think these themes withstood the test of time because of their familiarity, similarity & reciprocity (which are 3 out of 7 factors of Attraction). Attraction is what fuels my thesis, as ornaments don’t often hold any structural or practical use (aside from bringing pleasure to the viewer). Ornamentation is Personalization. Humans LOVE to personalize EVERYTHING. We love to be unique and have something that is one-of-a-kind (which I believe stems from the ‘Hard-to-Get Effect’, which is another factor of Attraction). We paint our nails, we switch out our shoelaces, we put fluffy covers on our steering wheels AND we garnish our food. I will attempt to show how every person can have a beautifully-personalized and highly-ornamental home that is also efficient-in order to keep up with our universal effort.