Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Starbucks Coffee Stores - Fashion Island

By: Zoreh Azarbaeijani

This research is about new design concept for Starbucks Coffee stores. Starbucks was established in Seattle Washington in 1971, and today is operating 23,768 locations, including 13,107 in united States. (1) Beside product evolution from coffee to verity of hot and cold drinks, prepackaged food items, drink ware and recently added beer, wine, and appetizers, the brand is fully committed to create a welcoming, inviting and familiar place for people to connect. Starbucks designer studios are located around the world and designers are creating designs to reflect the unique characteristics of each neighborhood. (2) The new store in Fashion Island is a great example of a customized design for beach city of Newport Beach. The Tuscan beige and rusty color of exterior with tall columns matches perfect with the mall exterior. The new tile flooring in a light beige color with light wood color on walls and kitchen bar replacing rough wood flooring with dark basic colors brings a relaxed natural look to the store. Floor-To-Ceiling glass windows are one of the main elements of design to bring natural light all day long. Tan leather banquette seating with wood and metal bar stool creates vibrant environment that invites, stimulates and make you stay! The outdoor patio overlooking the water fountain gives the customer a chance to people-watch while enjoying the weather and gentle breeze of beautiful Newport Beach.










Monday, May 9, 2016

Soco collection, Costa Mesa,

Soco collection, Costa Mesa
Anh Ta

I had a trip to the Soco collection, Costa Mesa, which has a variety of Interior Design stores. 




This dining room located in SOCO collection, Costa Mesa. I love the Golden Green Travertine tile floor which is perfect for the room. The variations on the tiles make each square of travertine a piece of art; the background colors vary from olive green to tan and pools of rust and orange lay over top cream colored clouds. Also, the tumbled finish gives the travertine a rustic feel that makes the dining space become cozy and friendly.






The combination of the grey porcelain tiles and brown tiles brings a very relaxing feel to the corner of this bathroom. The floor is darker than walls, which will visually enlarge the bathroom in general. The tiles have matte surface which is slip resistant.





This kitchen is also in SOCO collection. I’m interested in this classic white backsplash. The white brick tiles are simultaneously on trend and timeless. In addition, the way the designer combines the white brick tiles with dark range and countertop makes a beautiful and strong contrast for the design.

Zinc Cafe Los Angeles, CA


Gratitude Café in Newport Beach

Gratitude Café

I had already fallen in love with the design of Gratitude Café in Newport Beach before I had even stepped inside. The architectural aspects of this vegan café are so stunning, modern, and rustic. The combination of metal and deep woods caught my eye almost immediately. 

When I first walked in, I was greeted by a friendly hostess, white ship lapped walls, and hanging, circular light pendants. The warm, neutral color scheme inside helped to lighten the atmosphere. 

The wood floor panels were laid diagonally, directing your eyes to the focal point—the bar. This bar brought the perfect amount of flare to the café; without this, the design may have been bland. Patterns were brought in through fabrics and tile mosaics (inside and outside). The oversized, abstract light fixtures above the bar completed the look and style of the café. 

Everything about Gratitude Café was cute and funky! I would recommend stopping by for a quick healthy bite in a stylish environment.

That Rainbow Building in Anaheim


That Rainbow Building in Anaheim
Aya Miyawaki

The city of Anaheim is a town in Southern California and most famous for “The happiest Place on Earth”, Disneyland Resort. However, today I will tell you one fabulous place you should see in Anaheim besides Disneyland Resort!

If you drive on the 57 freeway or anywhere near there, you will probably see a huge unique-shaped building with fluffy-cloud-looking things on top of it. If you drive at night, you will see the night version of it, a beautiful translucent structure illuminated in rainbow colors.

The Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center, known as “ARTIC”, is an intermodal transit center, and one of the most recent “green” building projects in Orange County. ARTIC is located between Honda Center and Angel Stadium of Anaheim, where is considered as a center of Anaheim. It links six different transportation facilities such as Amtrak, Metrolink, OCTA bus service, Anaheim Resort Transportation, Megabus.com and Greyhound.

The project was collaboratively done by HOK, Parsons Brinckerhoff , and BuroHappold Engineering in 2014, and for its great energy efficiency and outstanding design, ARTIC has achieved LEED Platinum certification, which is the highest level of certification in LEED, and other numerous awards such as United States Green Building Council Eco City Award, AIA Los Angeles Design Awards, and many more.

The building is structured with steel arches and covered with a 200,000-square-foot (about 4 1/2 Football Field) ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) roof system, which diffuses sunlight to illuminate the interior space of the building through rice paper. ETFE is a lightweight
fluorine-based plastic with high corrosion resistance and strength over a wide temperature range, and considered as a sustainable material because it also has a high-energy radiation resistance properties and as a result, it is able to reduce heat gain while maximizing the light flooding into the center. It also helps lower the cost. This material has a lot of benefits in terms of environmental and economic consideration.

More interestingly, as briefly mentioned earlier, the building reveals its another look at night - 1,354 LED lights mounted on the diagrid structure illuminate the building in various colors. LED light bulbs are considered to be sustainable because they are extremely energy efficient and last long. For example, a LED bulb can cut energy consumption by over 80% compared to conventional light bulbs, and besides, it can last up to 25% longer. The use of LED light bulbs was really successful on this project because this simple yet unique shaped building shows the beauty of LED lights very effectively while saving energy and money.


 The entrance with 120-foot-tall glass curtain walls provides an open feeling and welcoming atmosphere. Exterior glazing at the north and south elevations have low-emissivity coatings which helps reflect unwanted sunlight in the infrared range and reject radiant heat captured by the glazing assembly itself.

After entering the building, you will notice that interior space of the building provides even more open feeling because you can see the sky through the roof. The interior space remains the sense of the exterior of the building: clean, light-scaled, and simple. There is a seating area around escalators that leads to the second floor. The chairs which bring natural texture to this minimal style space are from Grand Rapids Chair Company in Michigan, and the stainless steel outdoor tables are from Forms+Surfaces in California. The combination of the two gives a great modern harmony.

Beautiful shining terrazzo flooring is used throughout the whole building and gives clean looking to the space. Terrazzo is a sustainable material. It is a hard material composed of an aggregate and binder that has infinite design possibilities. Typically, terrazzo floors last the lifetime of the building, which is approximately 40 years.

In the restroom on the second floor, there are pretty, green-color-scheme tiles and white tiles with matte texture on the wall. They are put on the wall very well balanced: the green tiles fill up the negative space and white tiles line up very neatly remaining the cleanness, which is necessary in restrooms. Another flooring material, concrete, is used for outdoor space.


           
After all, this building is just fabulous both in architectural and interior perspectives. 
            ARTIC will continue to improve regional connectivity attracting people with its beautiful appearance and sustainability. You will be amazed by the great structure and how different it looks at night.

References:



Sunday, May 8, 2016

Oceans and Earth Restaurant, Yorba Linda, CA





Oceans and Earth Restaurant
Yorba Linda, CA
 Rebecca Koos



            My project was done at a new, family owned restaurant that was designed mostly by the owners and employees. I decorations are warm, creative, and beautiful, giving the restaurant a rustic and coastal feeling.  The flooring was a dark brown espresso color that hides dirt very well. My favorite part of the restaurant is the accent wall made of driftwood. I also loved how they did the lighting, with dimmers throughout the entire restaurant by using recessed fixtures. I feel that they did any amazing job incorporating everything into their theme, which is also the name of their restaurant. The booths are green to add a little bit of color, but do not overwhelm the setting. I think they did a great job to make this business look successful, and can’t wait to see how they add to it in years to come. 




Yard House

Yard House
Morghan Isenga

            This restaurant is close to home with entertaining happy hours offerings and a clean modern design. The facility has used multiple amounts of stained wood throughout the entire establishment. They have over 100 beer taps situated around a rustic concrete bar. Yard House also took it a step further by letting the customers be able to peer through large open style windows into their keg room. They made the room like a wine cellar but for your favorite beer!  
    
At the entrance, staff that is awaiting your arrival immediately greets you. A large desk makes it easy to locate staff for any questions you have.


The design of the multiple beer taps may give it a crowded feel at other bars, but here at Yard House they are situated along chrome backing giving a clean, easy-on-the-eye look.
                                                                                                                                               

The sign on the outside may be my favorite part. It is a typical restaurant sign but with an accent background that really shows off their name and artsy building. The lighted boxes really show power and give the feel of strength.

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