The Three Essentials

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Residential Spaces: Private Space

One of my assignments for this session was to design forward thinking, grand and sustainable residential spaces for an exhibition. The space we were given was a 4 x 6 metre pavilion to realise our concepts about residential design. I chose to focus on a bedroom space, a living space and an outdoor space. Wehave already presented for an academic submission but this is also a competition so we have to present again in just under 2 weeks time so I'm still working on them.

My concept for the bedroom space is based on daily cycles. Drawing on the fact that few people actually follow the sun's daily cycle any longer the idea was to create an artificial sun cycle within the room while still creating a warm and soft interior environment which would cushion the inhabitants both physically and psychologically. I drew on colour trends which are leading towards warm metallics, warms whites and deep warm grey tones as new developments within metallic paints and sustainable paint ranges. Here is my inspiration board for this space.

Paint colours above are:

Dulux Grand Piano

Dulux Judah Silk

Murobond Aqua Glaze Pearl Lumiere

Murobond Bridge Paint Relic

Murobond Aqua Glaze Pearl Sari

Below is my original design that I submitted for my academic submission. I'm currently working on refining this design:

I would post up my sketches on what I'm changing but I dont have a scanner and photos of the sketches are coming out horribly. Hopefully I'll have the new design done in a day and I can post it up then.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Self drafted twist front top

I drafted this top using the instructions from the book Pattern Magic. I picked up the English version towards the end of last year from Tessuti. The twist front top is the first project I've tried from the book. I used a fairly basic shirt pattern from BWOF 02/09 as the base for the pattern and followed the instructions for converting the front pattern piece into a double twist front. After some fiddling it worked out quite well. The top is made from a black 100% cotton rib jersey which breaths really well. I used the same cotton to make a polo shirt for my brother for Christmas last year.

My only issue with it is that the neckline is a little wide and can show my bra strap which is fine at the moment because I'm almost always wearing a scarf with the weather the way it is at the moment in Sydney. I think next time I make this pattern I will bring in the neckline a little to stop this.

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Peanut Butter Cookies

This post has been sitting as a draft for quite some time. We made these peanut butter cookies a few months ago when I discovered Smitten Kitchen's Peanut Butter section. It was one of the first recipes we made from her website and since then we have made many more. These cookies turned out slightly differently to how they appear on the smitten kitchen website but they were delicious and I will definitely be making these again.

We made these as a spur of the moment cookie making on a Sunday afternoon so we didn't have any chocolate chips around and I'm not certain that peanut butter chips are even available in Australia, although they seem like an awesome idea, so we omitted both of those. Otherwise we kept the recipe exactly the same. You can find it here.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

RnB Events Management Office

These are some renderings of the office space I am working on for uni. These aren't finished but they are getting there.

Workspace

Bar/Breakout Space

Breakout Booths

Workspace and Breakout/Meeting Booths

Entrance Hallway

The idea for the space was to show the two different sides of RnB the glamourous side and the street side. The main work space is inspired by a streetscape while the bar, office area and chill out zones are inspired by a club aesthetic. A breakout booth/meeting space divides the two aesthetics while still giving visual penetration into both spaces.

I am working on finishing the 3D model up now and making a physical model for the presentation.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Strawberry and Cream Cheese Tarts

I've recently been on a bit of a desert making spree. During the Easter/Anzac Day long weekend I experimented with two different types of tarts. I don't normally do deserts entirely without recipes, I normally just bend and tweek but I was feeling adventurous and I had leftover cream cheese so I just sort of winged it.

I love the light crunch that puff pastry brings to a dish and by brushing a little sugar syrup over the puff pastry before baking the shells take on a lovely light sweetness to compliment the cheese and strawberries. These tarts are really simple to make and can be whipped up within half an hour. Making them perfect for an impromptu desert.

Makes 8

Ingredients:
2 sheets frozen puff pastry
1 tbsp white sugar
2 tbsp boiling water
250g cream cheese
12 tbsp icing sugar
3 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp grated lemon rind
12 strawberries

Method:
Preheat oven to 200ºC. Cut each sheet of puff pastry into four squares. Grease a muffin tray and press each piece of puff pastry into a hole. White sugar and boiling water and brush over each piece of puff pastry. Place in the oven and cook until golden.

Meanwhile place cream cheese, icing sugar, lemon juice and rind in a mix master or food processor and beat until well combined. Cut each strawberry into four.

Remove pastry casings from oven and allow to cool slightly. Add 2 tsp of cream cheese mixture in each casings. Place 6 pieces of strawberry onto and serve immediately.