Nicola Klahre
Nicola went into interior design because she has a strong passion for creating something that people will not only look at but also experience in many different ways. Nicola enjoys designing spaces that evoke emotion, are thoughtful of user experience and are out of the ordinary. Nicola likes to design with angles to enhance the spatial experience within all of her interior design projects. When Nicola is not designing, she enjoys exploring the outdoors, and doing nail art!
Project Overview
Nicola has designed a Co-learning Resource Center (CRC) that is focused on enhancing interdisciplinary knowledge between design students in college and university. This space would encourage students to teach and learn from one another, along with added resources to support their education. Nicola has seen through research that interdisciplinary experiences are lost due to the lack of overlap between different design programs in traditional design education. This proves the importance of why this type of space that focuses on the collaboration, a non-structured learning typology and uses organic learning strategies is required in design education. With the focus on evidence based design, this Co-learning Resource Center would utilize the research to enforce interaction between occupants to better the interdisciplinary learning outcome and overall user experience.
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The Co-learning resource center is a space where design students can experience the INTERACTION of all layers of the Design Industry.
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The design focuses on the interactions between different occupants and uses the ideas of interaction to support these collaborations.
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Further research was conducted on what reinforces and encourages interaction throughout an interior space.
Concept/Design Process
The conceptual approach for the Co-learning Resource Center is Interaction. With the emphasis on interaction, the CRC focuses on the collaborations between occupants to enhance interdisciplinary design knowledge. The facility has been designed for post covid design solutions, since the space has been created around the idea of students coming together to learn from one another. Overall, Interaction has been researched in different interior environments to be able to apply it within the Co-learning Resource Center to enhance the collaboration between design students in different design programs.
Site Plan/Floor Plan
The site plans highlight the location of the facility within the greater Toronto Area. These have been analyzed to ensure the location is appropriate based on demographics of the area and access for all users within the CRC. The floor plan showcases the final spatial development of the interior with links to what enforces interaction to spatially support this new learning typology.
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LOCATION; The facility would be located at 3120 Lakeshore blvd. W. in Toronto, making it accessible to students in the surrounding GTA by walking or public transportation.
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USER EXPERIENCE; User experience was a large design strategy to ensure the space benefits the main occupants in the space, from arrival to destination.
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FLOOR PLAN; The plan has been highlighted to showcase what type of interaction tool that space utilizes to reinforce the concept.
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This elevation highlights the relationship between the event space and seminar area. These spaces overlap to be used cohesively if needed for larger events.
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Custom furniture has been designed within the CRC to offer flexibility options for the users. This elevation showcases the custom bench seating feature in the collaboration lounge.
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Technology has been incorporated within the facility to support user experience and interactions both in person and virtually. Tech screens of different scales are implemented to benefit different needs.
Sections/Elevations
The elevations showcased were utilized to highlight design features within the space in a simple graphic manner.
3D Views
All 3D renderings showcase the spatial qualities of the Co-learning Resource Center interior. Some of the main design features include the angular ceilings, the biophilic plant wall within the event space and the nook seating that can be seen within the collaboration lounge and café renders. The nook seating provides a semi private collaboration opportunity along the paths of travel, which was emphasized throughout the entire facility. All renders were modeled in revit, rendered in enscape and have some photoshopped elements. Please watch the walkthrough video for an even more detailed view into the CRC.
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COLLABORATION LOUNGE AND WORKSHOP RESOURCES; The back portion of the space, which would mainly be used by design students, focuses on physically and symbollically transforming the education experience.
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EVENT SPACE; This space is unplanned to allow for many different events to occur such as design shows, industry galas, or furniture shows, as seen within this render.
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CAFÉ; The café focuses on people sitting in groups to enforce interaction. This space also has bookable meeting rooms along the front side of the building.
Walkthough Video.
Video
This walk through video showcases the spatial design of the interior by walking through all spaces within the facility. Starting from the main entrance, and ending in the student collaboration lounge, the viewer will be fully immersed in the experience within the Co-learning Resource Center.
