For our individual project ‘Inhabited Worlds’ for Design Studio, we’re required to choose a client that we would like to design a living space for. The space we design for them must be specific to their needs, hobbies, lifestyle and interests. This task is aimed to push our creative thinking to create a design that our client could spend their day-to-day life living in.
My client is Sir Richard Branson. He currently lives on the British Virgin Islands (in which he owns the islands) and he treats this as his tranquil retreat. As our designs must be cantilevered from one of the chosen Nottingham Trent Buildings, I wanted to create a living space that would draw some features from his home on the British Virgin Islands, but would be practical for everyday living.
First of all I researched what hobbies he has. I found out that aside from setting world records, Sir Richard Branson likes to do yoga with his family. I feel that having a yoga studio would be an essential part of the lifebox and therefore I researched a few homes that have yoga rooms within them. The images below are what helped to inspire my design.
My client is Sir Richard Branson. He currently lives on the British Virgin Islands (in which he owns the islands) and he treats this as his tranquil retreat. As our designs must be cantilevered from one of the chosen Nottingham Trent Buildings, I wanted to create a living space that would draw some features from his home on the British Virgin Islands, but would be practical for everyday living.
First of all I researched what hobbies he has. I found out that aside from setting world records, Sir Richard Branson likes to do yoga with his family. I feel that having a yoga studio would be an essential part of the lifebox and therefore I researched a few homes that have yoga rooms within them. The images below are what helped to inspire my design.
As lighting would be a key part of the building I did some research into windows and curtain walling that has been used on other similar shaped buildings. The images below display different ways in which glass can be used as a structural element and this helped to influence my design. In particular, I felt Richard Branson would require an office space in which he can work in. I didn’t want this space to be too large and I also felt that it shouldn’t be in direct sunlight as this is not adequate lighting for working. The image below taken within the ‘marvelous lens house’ gave me an idea to use glass as an internal wall. The reasoning behind this is that the direct sunlight coming through the external window would reflect through the internal glass wall and light up the small office space with indirect lighting.
Another feature that I felt would be necessary is a curved bathroom wall. The reasoning behind this is that more room is needed for a shower area and less room is needed next to the toilet area. If a straight partition wall was to be put in for the bathroom, the space next to the toilet would be wasted and therefore a curved structure was necessary. The images below display different ways in which curved shower walls can be used and this aided my design.
My initial design concept featured partition walls that compartmentalised the lifebox. After doing tests on my 1:50 scale model in the heliodome, I realised that my lifebox would be too dark and closed in. This sparked a thought in my head to have walls that could move, so that a space can be opened or closed off when in use. The designs illustrated below gave me options to how sliding walls can be utilised within Sir Richard Bransons Lifebox. As storage space is necessary within the build, I designed a sliding bookshelf that can be used to close off the office or yoga room and can store household items.