IDEC: aids in south africa.

the first 2 weeks of my senior capstone studio was involved in a design competition with IDEC: and was an international competition. i worked with my two good friends, jamie and sabo and we took this competition to a whole new level. 


we decided to focus on the lost generation - we wanted to solve the problem of these kids who no longer have a childhood, and instead are focused on taking care of their sick parents and younger siblings. we made a safe, and exciting place for these kids to come and do just that - BE KIDS. it is called safe haven park and within this park is the tree of hope.

safe haven park.

safe haven park will have field for the kids to play. soccer, rugby and volleyball are huge in south africa - so to have a place for them to go and play sports is of the upmost importance. within safe haven park there will also be the tree of hope.

tree of hope.

the tree of hope will offer a fun play ground with little to no resources taken from the community. we put this design on our three boards and expressed our design very thoroughly - 

we should know by this week if we make it onto the regional competition - i will keep you all posted! hope you enjoyed :)

stewardship.

HAPPY 12!

Wanted to start off this year with a read & response to 50 pages of reading I had to complete on my first day of our senior capstone studio. Thought my faithful followers would like to see how I view stewardship, and what it means in regards to healthcare.

  

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            I believe that as designers, stewardship means maintaining the health, safety and welfare for the population and for those we build for. Stewardship seems to be greatly linked to resources, humans and the natural world. I think, especially in terms of hospitals, or healing, that stewardship means responsibility towards the environment and how we as humans interact with it.

“The resilience of the community of life and the well-being of humanity depend upon preserving a healthy biosphere with all its ecological systems, a rich variety of plants and animals, fertile soils, pure waters, and clean air. The global environment with its finite resources is a common concern of all peoples. The protection of the Earth’s vitality, diversity, and beauty is a sacred trust.” (p. 5)

            I enjoy the quote above because I believe it does a firm job of summarizing the idea that the earth is so precious, not only because it is where we live, but because it is how we interact. Stewardship provides an ethical challenge for designers and “ultimately, the built environment is the product of intentional design decisions, and waste signifies failure.” (p. 7).  I think stewardship means asking the questions such as, do we need it, is it ethical, is it safe to make, etc. I also believe that “healthcare design” should be more than solely hospitals, but it should be a way that all designers work, that our “stewardship” towards the designs we implement should be focused on David Orr’s quote, stating that “The standard for ecological design is neither efficiency nor productivity but health…” (p.3).

            I am from New Hampshire, and have grown up very “green”, if you will. My family has a cabin in Vermont where we would spend most summers and many weekends. This cabin is solely run on solar power, is deep in the woods with no “heat” or “air conditioning”, has no TV, and most importantly (although was horrible when I was in high school) no cell service. While these points do not lead up toward being a sustainably responsible individual, I feel that because my family was attempting towards living in this “less is more” way as much as possible, that it rubbed off on me.  I have always been interested in sustainable design, and last year when the LEED class was offered, I took it eagerly, excited to learn that through more education and knowledge, that I could have an impact on the built environment.

            I believe that as interior designers, we should be held to the same responsibility a scientist, or doctor is when it comes to medicine and healing. We as designers need to have responsibility in the fact that our science is in the built environment, and we need to be accountable to protect the general public with our designs. I think now it is a necessity to have knowledge in sustainable design, and it should no longer be an option, but a requirement. 

christmas in my house.

christmas came early for me ~ i got an iPhone from my parents late last night as an early present! my old blackberry had once belonged to my bf while in college, and had spent about 6 months living under a fraternity couch. after i had adopted her, she wasn't treated much better as i left her everywhere and once ran over her, accidentally. :0

i will treat this phone with much better love, care and affection.

so, since i now have a semi-good camera, i took some quick photos around the house of some of my favorite things my mom does for xmas. 

the slightly more-formal-than-we-are dining room. note: we don't normally have that many chairs squished... my parents had just had a party and rather than take away the chairs, my mom kept them seeing as how 12 will be around that table in two days. 

twinkle lights in a jar! this one is under our tv in the family room - we have them in the dining room {you can sort of see them in the corner} and in the living room on the piano. i love them!

who doesn't love a great bar? this is the old roll-top desk i was talking about - this is in a little room off the kitchen kind of adjacent to our family room that houses just this bar {and the christmas tree during the season}. during the party a few nights ago, my mom had all the wine glasses and liquor glasses against those twinkle lights in the back and put the wine on one side and liquor on the other. it looked amazing at night! on top are all her snow globes she collects.... and a little skiing moose {b/c my parents love to ski, and we have a cabin named "moosehill"} with little earrings to be in the spirit of things.

dontcha want one? are you jealous? you should be. my mom makes ahhhmazing christmas cookies - all from scratch and hand decorates. the ones to the left are a shortbread type cookie dipped in chocolate with pecan sprinkles on top. the snowflakes are sugar cookies that my mom cut out and decorated herself! not to mention they are always displayed in the cutest ways. can i be like you, mom?

christmas time is HERE.

merry christmas!

i am back in new hampshire and couldn't be happier! i've spent the majority of my christmas break in dallas visiting my boyfriend, and now am home for a little over a week to spend some good christmas time with my family :) being in dallas {in a boy's apartment, non-the-less} i haven't felt like it is christmas quite yet. bryce and josh have no christmas decorations up {not even a twinkle-light in sight} and it has been upwards of 65 degrees every day in the great state of texas. so one i landed in manchester yesterday afternoon and my brother picked me up in his trusty subaru {NO ONE in texas drives a subaru} with ski's in the back, i felt that christmas was just around the corner! the long drive home i mostly slept, but once we pulled into my driveway and came to my brother's parking spot in front of the barn, there were beautiful christmas-wreaths on either barn door, signaling the holiday season. 

pottery barn outdoor wreath
$79

each and every year we spend christmas time with my family from new jersey, which entails my grandma, grandpa, pop-pop, uncle stevey, aunt jill, michael & amy (and this year amy's boyfriend, ryan). this year christmas is at our house, so all 12 of us are under one roof. whenever we have christmas here, my mom goes all out with the decorations. stockings are hung over the fireplace, which is constantly running when the family is here, tree is decorated with every ornament we have (and yes, this includes my flashing cow lights that get strung around the tree and michael's "christmas" plate ornament with his little face in the center he made in 1st grade), all of my mom's snow-globes out over the make-shift bar (an antique roll-top desk from my late-grandfather) with twinkle lights behind them, and glass jars filled with white twinkle lights sprinkled around the house. i love it! i also can't wait for when i get my first big-girl apartment/house and can decorate it myself. dad, i might need some help, financially, on that part......

since i have no camera to take pictures of all these decorations around my house, and nor do i have a working camera phone, i am going to show you pictures of my favorite holiday decorations in other's - and what i might steal once i get old enough to do so. enjoy :) 

while this is beautiful... i'm not quite sure it is realistic.
country living

take an old chandelier, spray-paint white, add the jewels and the greenery and BAM.
itsoverflowing.com

i am obsessed with this. took reclaimed wood and mounted above fireplace. i.love.it.
itsoverflowing.com

simplicity of the red and white and little twinkle lights above table.
trendzone.com

restaurants, dallas style.

i just recently met a new friend for lunch in dallas today at central market. instantly i was obsessed. it is a mixture of a food market, and also a fresh food market, where there is a salad bar, an asian bar, sushi, sandwiches, etc. etc. it's ahhhh-mazing. once we selected our food we went and sat down to eat! there is a cute little outdoor area {sadly it was raining so we couldn't eat there unless we wanted to go swimming} and a small little "cafe" - all in all it was a very enjoyable experience! it got me thinking about restaurants and how they are designed... it is not only the food that brings us there but also the experience. below are a few finds of some meticulously designed restaurants that i want to visit - i may have to spend a fortune... but if it's research, it's okay, right?

healthcare design.

concept sketch for one of the five spaces we designed: employee dining room.

my grades FINALLY rolled in (took long enough) and i have to say i am quite pleased with the results! i did work extremely hard and while i complained about this last semester more than i have ever complained before, i am proud of the spaces i produced.

employee dining room presentation rendering.

this past semester we studied "hospitality design" and worked with a real client over at the hotel at auburn university. i was upset that we didn't get to work with the restaurant, because i think that would have been more interesting and beneficial for our understanding of hospitality, codes, restaurant design, etc. we did 5 spaces: deluxe hotel room, executive suite, employee dining room, think tank & fitness center. whew! it was a lot of work!

employee dining room floor plan. see how teeny tiny these spaces were?!

next semester we tackle the big dogs. our final semester in the program and we are doing.... healthcare design!

need i say i'm excited? i'm not quite sure why either... i'm probably going to hate it once we begin. unfortunately, we don't know what kind of healthcare design we will be doing - whether we will be doing a specific unit, multiple floors, pick our own location or work with an existing building. since i am taking a "month-long sabbatical" as my boyfriend's roommate likes to call it, in dallas visiting bryce, i might take the time and do some research on hospitals and design - maybe it will help me once we begin the FINAL semester! anyone have any info on healthcare design? wanna throw it my way??

portfolio.

i realize i just posted, and you're probably thinking "woow this girl can't get it together... doesn't post for months and is really sporadic about it and now is posting twice in one day?!"


well hush -


i have created my portfolio AND my website and i'm so proud of both of them - please visit my website *www.mholsen.com* and if you're feeling kind, send me an email on the contact page, to let me know what you think! 


bye for real -