A Place to Bathe

There are many buildings that are out there in the world today that are handicap accessible. However, many of these facilities were not totally designed for the physically less fortunate people. To be specific many building have ramps that are available to those that are wheel chair bound whether it is temporarily or permanently. Some of these ramps seem like they were added on to a facility without full consideration of what it's convenience could be. Therefore, we have the opportunity to design a facility or place to bathe for people that are wheel chair bound. To further elaborate this place to bathe is not your typical thought of a place to bathe, however we had to research other cultural traditional rituals of bathing. After researching I found that Jewish have a traditional bathe that is considered Bath of Purification. The Purification ritual was fully for the honoring and nurturing of women. It was a way to give a woman a place in the world when others are being so demanding of them. These women would go attend the Mikvah (bath) after milestones in their life, such as menstrual periods, divorces, before or after childbirth. They would also attend the Mikvah before their wedding day. It is a way if cleansing your previous identity, to start a new and refreshing life. Recently men have started to attend the Mikvah before Sabbath (a day set out for worship) and Holidays. Ancient Mikvah were filled by natural spring or cisterns were filled directly by rain water.
Baths today are more inviting, they have a modern spa look, as show in the photo below.
Baths today still carry the meaning of the tradition of the Mikvah. A Mikvah is a spiritual ritual bath for married Jewish women who follow the ancient traditional laws of family purity, which guide the intimate relationships between husband and wife. Unlike an ordinary bathtub or swimming pool, a kosher mikvah must contain a certain quantity of ‘Mayim Chayim’ (living waters) – gathered rainwater.
Modern day mikvahs are equipped with filtration and purification systems. They are chlorinated and kept at a comfortable warm temperature, and are always connected to the Mayim Chayim.

Urban Pathways

I really enjoyed this project which was learning the function of adobe Illustrator. In the beginning I encountered many frustrations, leading to restarting multiple times. However, I am happy with the outcome of the above photo.

Dining-Open Opportunities

Wall Section of Louvered Wall


When first encountering this project, which was the designing of a dining space, we as a class had to choose a chair. As you can see above, the chair that I chose was a Klaussner Dining Side Chair. The second step was to design a side table as well as a dining Table to place in this dining space. I approach the assignment by designing the dining table along with the side table, base around elements from the dining chair that I chose. Then I took the approach of developing the the space using the same technique. As I went along in this project I found that I had not formed a concept to base my design around for the final touches of the dining space. So I took that into account and started to think about the space, in the mind frame of a dining experience, I came up with the phrase an Open Opportunity. I found the concept statement or phrase to fit well broadly, due to the fact that when people are dining you may have many options (open opportunities) to choose how you would like to dine. You may choose to dine in the dark, or take the Japanese experience and sit on the floor, etc. You may also at a dining area have the opportunity to sample a variety of foods as well listen to the open conversations that is shared around the table. The the element of having opportunities are developed through my space through having a louvered walls that gives one option to close the adjacent room off from the next, or open them wide to give an open plan to the next room. There is also a skylight above the dining table to give the option of having a dinner in early evening to use natural light. However there are also lights hanging above the table that hang from the central spine of the skylight that also gives one the option to give a late evening dinner and the choice to use artificial lighting. The idea of the louvered wall came from the beams that are underneath the table. The skylight is a replica of the design of the table. The indention which is a pass through to the kitchen in the left (west wall) come from the voids that are portions in the dining chairs.

Scene Discourse