Due to completing majority of my degree online from my house, I decided to focus my final major project on creating a space closer to home for designers to work, socialise and network with others in the industry. My aim was to combine the benefits of home working with office/school working as I found there was a need for this type of space.
The creative design hub is an inclusive space and is accessible to anyone involved in the design industry, whether that be students, teachers, self-employed workers, or those just wanting to find out a bit more about the industry. It aims to bring together designers in the community, give access to creative resources and provide opportunities with the hope of helping tackle social mobility and social isolation.
The project looks at regenerating a disused station building in Gorebridge, Midlothian and developing it into a space that will allow all designers an accessible, affordable and inspiring workspace as well as a place to create connections. The design carefully considers spatial planning within the building and features a range of spaces including CAD facilities, private workspaces, open/collaborative workspaces, meeting rooms and a cafe which can be opened to the public so any profits made can go back into the running of the hub.
This is one of my presentation boards which shows some of my research, planning and development throughout the project. It also shows my concept that inspired the final design and the chosen site.
My second presentation board shows my final design and how my research and planning was implemented into an end product.
This visual shows part of my major space which features a large CAD workspace area where people can collaborate and help each other, it also has a whiteboard wall behind so people have room to be creative. There is some higher more informal desks and seating running along the wall to allow for people to work either together or independently. Finally, there is a chill out area beneath the staircase which can be used to relax or socialise with others in an informal setting that may feel less pressurised to other focused work areas.
As part of our brief, we were tasked with designing a bespoke, custom-made product or piece of furniture that would work within the interior but could also be removed and function just as well separately. I decided to create a Collaborative pod which links to my brief as it encourages people to work together. To make the pod more adaptable and give it several uses, I chose to make the glass at the front smart glass, which meant it could be changed from transparent to opaque depending on the preference of the user and how much privacy they wanted. This also meant it could be used both for its original collaborative use or as a private space.
I wanted the interior to have a bright, modern aesthetic with pops of colour to encourage creativity and link to the use of the building, but also wanted to combine this with an industrial look so it would relate to the history of the building. This created a mix of traditional & modern/old & new which also linked to the hubs aim of bringing together established designers with looming designers.
