FINISHED PROJECT!

For my Senior Thesis/Capstone Project, I worked with the Ball State University Department of Theatre & Dance to design new facilities that better suit their needs. In the paragraphs below, I have provided a brief overview of the project and everything that was done throughout. At the bottom of the post is a presentation video that showcases and explains my final designs.

Last fall, I began the programming stage, where I set up the goals and objectives for the project, assessed current problems & solutions, researched relevant information & codes, evaluated the site & building, conducted interviews with clients, and began conceptual strategies for design. After an entire semester of hard work, I ended up with a whopping 219 page document! If you want to see the entire document, click here!

After finishing the programming stage of this project, the clients decided to throw a curve ball. After presenting the findings, observations, and plans for the new facilities at Northside Middle School, the clients decided they would like to progress with a different building altogether.

This spring, I began the design stage, where I continued my design with the Ball State University Arts & Communication Building. This building is located at a central location on campus and is currently the home to some of the department's facilities. To begin designing, I started blocking the building from scratch, leaving just the exterior walls and load bearing columns. I also added a 60,000 SF addition to the North side of the building to successfully fit all required spaces into the building. This addition increased the building size from 100,000 SF to 160,000 SF.

From there, I chose to focus the development of my design to Level 3, which houses a large amount of the academic spaces, and the lounge/entrance spaces on Level 2. I continued my designs in these spaces because of the sheer size of the project and the client's input. They were most interested (as was I) to see the development of the educational spaces over any others.

Throughout the design process, I had a schematic design review with designers at Meticulous Design + Architecture and a design development review with designers at Rowland Design. In addition to professional reviews, I met twice with faculty and students of the Department of Theatre & Dance to receive their valuable input as the users of the space. All meetings were extremely helpful in developing my design!

After finishing the design, I documented the project by creating a construction document set (see previous posts to view CD's). After completing the project, I also created a rendered video that walks through many of the spaces. This video is shown at the end of the presentation below.

I am so excited to share my work and continue into the design field after graduation! Thanks to everyone that helped me succeed along the way!

-Natalie Hopf