Marilyn- The Lipstick Table Lamp

While attending SCAD a few years ago and taking a course on lighting for interiors, I was assigned a project to create a luminaire that could be marketed to a lighting manufacturer.  A classmate (Melissa) and I developed the Marylin Lamp- paying homage to Pop Art, Andy Warhol, and Claes Oldenburg.  Here are some photos that show our process.

Dreaming of a Beach House

Here is a design of a dream beach house I completed several years ago. Of course, It would be located in beautiful Laguna Beach, California.

Presentation Board

Beach House Model

Living Room on second floor, Bedroom on first

Stair Detail

Bird's Eye

My Thesis: Technology and Low-Income Communities: An Interior Design Model that Fosters an Integrated Environment for Education, Community, and Technology

Technology and Low-Income Communities:

An Interior Design Model that Fosters an Integrated Environment for

Education, Community, and Technology

One of the themes of the literature review for my thesis concentrated on the theory of "third place." Here 

is a section of my thesis that highlights this topic.

Third Place and Place Attachment

    Third place is defined as an informal gathering place which fosters community through

social participation. It allows for the expansion from the two-stop model of daily life in America.

Third place provides a meaningful addition to the two locations of existence from the womb

(home) to the rat race (work). Third place is a generic designation for a great variety of public

places that host the regular, voluntary, informal, and happily anticipated gatherings of individuals

beyond the realms of home and work (Oldenburg, 1989, p. 16).

    Place attachment is critical to the development of a third place. Low (1992) stated, “Place

attachment is the symbolic relationship formed by people giving culturally shared emotional/

affective meanings to a particular space or piece of land that provides the basis for the

individual’s and group’s understanding of and relation to the environment” (p. 165). Place

attachments are positive bonds to physical and social settings that support identity and provide

other psychological benefits. Place attachment has the potential to offer predictability in a daily

routine, a place to relax from more formal roles of life, and the opportunity for control in various

areas of life (Low & Altman, 1992). The social relationships that can occur in an interior space

can establish this sense of place attachment critical to human bonding. Oldenburg (2001) indicated, 

    “We may not need third place association to build a town hall anymore, but we sorely

need it to construct the infrastructure of human relationships” (p. 2).

This “sense of place” and the intangibles that make such a place are difficult to quantify.

The actual process of making good food and drinks is important, but in reality, it’s the

easiest part. The atmosphere, both physical and social, is the trickiest and most essential

part of creating a warm and welcoming third place. Both need constant attention and

periodic tweaking. Both show signs of neglect and fatigue immediately

(Futrell 2001, p. 29).

   Although, Oldenburg (1989) asserted, “What attracts the regular visitor to a third place is

supplied not by management but by the fellow customers” (p. 33) has strong validity but it is just

one component for an inviting third place. The interior designer can play a large role in

establishing the environment that serves the community successfully. The designer must

understand the social and physical characteristics of place. According to Waxman (2006), “By

better understanding those components that contribute to positive place experiences, designers

can create spaces that promote comfort, a sense of belonging, and a bond between people and

place” (p. 38).

Cultural Comparisons

    The American way of life is in stark contrast to that of many Europeans’ approaches to

the balance of personal and work lives. Whereas the typical American devotes extreme amounts

of hours to his work day and the remaining hours to home life, the French and English balance

between first, second and third places to establish a strong foundation to their lives through this

three legged place attachment. The Frenchman’s daily life sits firmly on a tripod consisting of

home, place of work, and another setting where friends are engaged during the midday, evening

aperitif hours, if not earlier and later. In the United States, the middle classes particularly are

attempting a balancing act on a bipod consisting of home and work (Oldenburg, 1989, p. 15).

    Oldenburg (1989) declared, “The pub is the average Englishman’s third place. Most pubs

are built to the human scale. They are intimate, even cozy settings, designed more for an

immediate neighborhood than a horde of transients and sometime visitors” (p. 125). The corner

pub has always been the essential connection to community for the English. Although the setting

is essentially an establishment selling alcoholic beverages, its connections to the community go

beyond that beverage service. The English pub, however, has always been able to cater to those

of many walks of life residing within or passing through its locality (Oldenburg, 1989, p. 135).

Oldenburg, R. (1989). The Great Good Place, New York, NY: Paragon House.

Oldenburg, R. (2001). In R. Oldenburg (Ed.), Celebrating the Third Place, Inspiring stories

about the “Great Good Places” at the Heart of Our Communities. New York, NY:

Marlowe & Company.

Oldenburg, R. & Brissett, D. (1982). The Third Place. Qualitative Sociology Autumn (pp.

265-284) Kluwer Academic Publishing (Springer). Human Sciences Press.

My Thesis: Technology and Low-Income Communities: An Interior Design Model that Fosters an Integrated Environment for Education, Community, and Technology

Technology and Low-Income Communities:

An Interior Design Model that Fosters an Integrated Environment for

Education, Community, and Technology

The field of interior design is closely tied to home and work. Residential interior design

impacts individuals’ personal lives through the design of their home and commercial interior

design impacts their world outside the home through the design of classrooms and the

workplace. In America, the design of the home, also known by the term “first place,” and the

design of the workplace, known by the term “second place,” is well researched, documented and

developed. “Third place,” the social surroundings separate from the two social environments of

home and classroom or workplace, is a concept that evolves the community but has not yet been

developed, nourished and encouraged to a large extent in America today.

Americans have not taken the time to understand the benefits of third place that other

cultures cherish. The French, for example, perpetuate their culture in places like the Parisian

café; the British have relished in the English pub; and Germans hold their ‘beer gardens’ in high

cultural esteem. Perhaps one of the reasons ‘third place’ in America has been disappearing is

because technology essentially has created a replacement or a kind of virtual third place. This

replacement of physical third place has further disconnected multi-generational and multisocioeconomic

groups in the urban setting. Although physically close in proximity, these age and

social groups tend to rely on technology devices (smart phones, tablets, and laptops) to

communicate and interact. The disconnection is further advanced due to the fact that the

American way of life is embedded in an extreme work ethic. Americans devote most of their

time to first place (home) and second place (classroom or workplace) but have not discovered the

importance of third place. The development of third place provides a healthy alternative to home

and work. In the absence of an informal public life, Americans are denied those third place

means of relieving stress that serve other cultures so effectively.

A healthy community establishes positive places where individuals from diverse cultures,

generations and socioeconomic backgrounds can come together and establish a sense of

belonging and bond with each other. A community which has a strong sense of self can alleviate

many of the social problems that often affect urban America today.

Technology plays an important role in all phases and places in American life today.

This study will analyze third place in urban America and the growing trend of the sole reliance

on technology to be connected for personal and work lives. Banerjee (2001) asserted, “....the

dizzying pace of the information and communication technology revolution is contributing to

profound changes in the traditional concepts of place and community, local versus global

interests, individual and group identities, and the nature of daily commerce and social

relations” (p. 10).

With the evolution and distribution of any new technology, a social problem develops

when there is not equal access to these new developments. A division to the access among

socioeconomic, culture and racial groups leads to the phrase “digital divide.” Although

improvements have been made since this phrase was coined more than a decade ago, access to

today’s life blood of technology has a long way to go to achieve equality for low-income

communities. This situation is most critical for the latter half of the generation known as the

Generation Y or Millennials (in 2012, ages 13-18). The tech savvy counterparts of the

Millennials have had access to technology since birth; these less fortunate struggle to be on the 

same playing field in education and then later in the workplace. The connection to technology,

the internet and virtual social relationships are essential for all aspects of daily lives including

education and career development. The “have-nots” find themselves quickly falling into a chasm

that will become extremely difficult to overcome in the future.

This study will evaluate current trends in the design of the education setting. It is critical

to determine if design approaches are successfully being adapted and employed to integrate

technology into the built environment. Incorporating the analysis of learning styles of technology

will be critical to the research methods.

Infusing third place theory into the research process, the study will evaluate and

determine if a strong physical third place can be developed for low-income teenagers that can

incorporate technology, education and community. Through investigation, data collection and

research of these topics, this study will answer the following question:

• Can the development of a strong interior model for a physical third place infused with

technology attract, engage, and educate a demographic of low-income teenagers, whose ages in

2012 are between 13-18?