Week 9: Getting one step closer!

During this past week, everyone frantically worked on their Project Book and Specifications! Both of my partners finished their books over the course of the week and began picking their finishes. They also focused a good portion of their time on putting together their construction documents. This week was very busy for all three of us that we didn't get to sit down and talk as a group for as long as we would have liked. I did discuss with Alyssa the different material selections for both of our projects. We focused on the best type of material for certain spaces (my lounge and her "Library").

Following the same schedule as my partners, I also worked on construction documents and my project booklet. I finished my project book and specifications on Thursday allowing myself to really focus on my construction documents for the rest of the weekend. I was able to complete 90% of my CDs with just my finisih schedule, door schedule, and minor details to change! With this progression I will be able to stay on track with the timeline I set for myself and be printing the CDs on Wednesday!

Week 7 & 8: Construction documents

The past two weeks (three if you include spring break) have been extremely stressful and busy! I have been finishing up my booklet and getting it organized to be turned in. The only thing that I have not covered is the FF&E Specs because the task is daunting. I have found more of the codes that apply to my building and have added my design development.


The next large task I took on was developing my construction documents. This has consumed most of my time when working at studio. I have organized and laid out every page of the CDs. Each dimensioned plan, furniture plan, and fire & life safety plan is done. I am currently finishing the reflected ceiling plans and then will be moving on to millwork. I also completed the 2 building sections for the technical packet.


When I met with my group, I realized we were all on different schedules. Addie worked on her construction documents over spring break and has those almost complete. She has begun modeling so she can bring her buildling into 3ds Max for rendering later on. Alyssa has been working on millwork and details within her buildling. She mainly focused on the fireplace last week and creating the drawings for that piece. Each of us plan to finish up our project books during this week and crunching away at our technical packets.

Week 6: Finishing the Design

This week was not as productive as I would have liked it to be. I worked on modeling the lobby area along with the restaurant located in Mezzanine A. These were trickier than I thought they would be because I had to think not only about the 2D plan but what was going on around each seating area (including the ceiling, walls, etc.). When modeling the restaurant I was about to save space in areas that I did not realize needed less square footage. I also lost much of the space in some of the seating areas due to under estimating the size of the chairs and tables. After modeling the entire restaurant, I ended up only losing 3 seats in my occupancy count.

In the lobby area, I modeled the reception desk along with the 3 seating areas to create a more intimate setting while checking in and out of the hotel. I also looked into how the lobby area would be perceived from the second floor lounge. This was rather tricky since the mezzanine area has a glass railing that overlooks the lobby and the atmosphere I wanted to create in the seating areas on the first level was a more welcoming and intimate setting.

When working with my group, they helped me come up with ideas for the lobby seating areas, rearrange the restaurant seating, and came up with a unique concept for the guest check out and ticket confirmation area. I helped my group members with design ideas such as Addie's new floor plans. I helped her last week develop new plans but this week we reexamined what she had come up with and changed them up a little more. Now, her building functions much easier and makes more sense.

This week I plan to model and finish developing the lounge area, the 3 areas on the hotel floors, and the flower shop. I will also begin looking at the light fixtures that will be going in the main areas of the hotel.

Week 5: Finishing the Design and Modeling

This week has been a very busy week finishing the design of the building and beginning the process of modeling the space. After meeting with Elizabeth on Monday, I realized that there is only so much space planning I could do before moving onto looking at the space three dimensionally. I began looking at different options of how the lobby, lounge, and restaurant layouts would translate vertically.

After finishing the design and layout of One Marcus square, I began the modeling process with the hotel rooms and suites. This experience has been very interesting because I have been focusing on every detail of the room from the door placement to where the wall and exterior meet. I have modeled most of the furniture and developed the wall unit that will sit behind the bed that functions as both an intricate detail along with a head board.

With developing the room I have also found a room divider unit made by the sliding door company that I will incorporate into the design. I have chosen the room dividers rather than walls and windows in order to use the space efficiently and also take into consideration the existing exterior window placement. Other areas of development are the restrooms in each room/suite along with space planning the lounge, theater, and business area of the hotel room floors.

The meeting with my group members this week was short and productive! With Addie, we discussed the issue with her middle loft and how there was no window in the bedroom. We helped her think of the best solution for that center space and discussed placing the gym in that center space. With this, she was going to have to adjust her program, however it was important that this change be made since her building plans were not to code with the middle loft. Alyssa continued working on the development of her restaurant and lounge. She worked with Willie more on the concept for the interiors and creating a model of these spaces. We were also able to see the model that Willie created which showed the interiors and connection of each space much better than the drawings we had seen before.

Week 4: Thinking volumetrically

This week I continued to develop my floor plans more clearly. I used all the advice I received from my peers and professor to come up with the best layout for each area. After spending so much time on the floor plans and refining the details of how each area would be laid out and set up, I began to think three dimensionally. This 3D thinking turned into several simple elevations of areas. This allowed me to understand what would be going on in each area and how my ideas would be executed and where they would be going.

When refining my floor plans, I looked to my partner’s for advice. Addie looked over my restaurant with me and Alyssa helped me with my hotel rooms and restrooms. Each of them gave me great advice on the layout of the areas that I applied to my design.

During our weekly group meetings, I helped both Alyssa and Addie with a few of their issues they were having with their projects. Addie had trouble understanding the direction of the egress stairs. Alyssa and I both looked over it with her and determined the flow egress and which direction/set of arrows she needed to use in her floor plans. We also gave her the idea of using the elevators in the top story of the loft apartments. She was going to cut off all use of the elevators to the top floor but by allowing for only use of the top floor by the resident, it allows for a handicap person to live in a 2 story loft. With Alyssa, we helped her determine what needed to go in a few different areas and also helped her with some of her three dimensional ideas and how to execute them. I also helped her think of a few different ideas of what she could do for her third design area. We discussed some type of retail and came up with several different types of stores that succeed in this atmosphere. 

Week 3: Further development of floor plans

Week 3

This week I continued to develop and redefine each floor plan. I focused mainly on the restaurant and penthouse suites and came up with 2-3 more options that work better than the original layouts. These designs also are more clearly defined, especially the penthouse suites because I have picked out the furniture for these areas.

After much confusion on how a restaurant kitchen works, I did more research on how they are laid out and the process in which things are made. After developing the kitchen in a way that has access to a wet wall and access to the receiving room, I was able to focus on the development of the restaurant itself. This included a process of designing dining areas with different types of seating rather than just tables and chairs. I also learned that it is best to have tables up against the wall in order to create more floor space and seating.

The past week I helped Alyssa determine which areas she needs to focus more on when developing her floor plans. She was over in square footage and we found areas that can be out of scope but will eventually be developed with similar aesthetics to other areas within the building. When meeting with Addie, we discussed and looked at the circulation in her building, mainly with the upper levels. I also looked over the floorplans she has developed so far and commented on furniture layout and design.

Week 2 & Snow Days

Week 2 started off well when meeting with Elizabeth. I gained some good feedback on my stacking and block diagrams that I created and discovered that there are several more options that the building interiors could be laid out. I have been struggling with the flower shop's location mainly and trying to find the best place for it. One option is to have it on the 2nd level mezzanine that will overlook the lobby and could be accessed by visitors but would mainly be used for the restaurant and hotel. However, with this idea I lose the customers on the street. Another option was to bring it into the lobby and have a separate street entrance. 

After meeting on Monday, we got hit by a blizzard along with a second set of snow. This has caused a huge delay on my project and has put me behind somewhat. During the blizzard I was able detail my program which allowed me to see exactly how much square footage I needed per space. I then was able to move my car and get to studio for a day and begin working on schematic floor plans. These plans were only for the hotel rooms and suites (excluding the penthouse suite). The rooms were quite tricky to design because I had to create an intimate space that worked around windows and columns. The suites were also difficult to design because of the limited amount of space I chose to design. The section of the hotel area in which I will design has ample space for 3 suites however, because of window placement, one room will be considered a small suite while the others are large suites. 

I wasn't able to meet with my group this week however we did discuss what we had done over email/facebook. I look forward to meeting with my group next week when the snow clears out. Hopefully I will be able to get my car out of the ice and snow and get to studio tomorrow in order to come up with 3 schematic floor plans for the restaurant, 2nd mezzanine and also the lobby area. 

First Week of Reconsideration

In the past three days, I have learned a few things about myself and design, the first being that I push myself way too far and don't even realize when I have gone too far. After sitting down with my professor (Elizabeth) and later on with my critic group (Addie and Alyssa), I realized the scope of work I had planned to do would only be possible if I did not sleep the next several months and had a team of 5 people to help me!

After this discovery, I have narrowed down the amount of work I will be doing for my capstone in order to remain sane and healthy. By focusing mainly on the two mezzanine levels, the lobby portion of the first floor, and a section of the second floor, I will be able to touch on each area of design while remaining as close to, but still a little over, the required 30,000 square feet. The second floor will contain hotel rooms that can be duplicated on floors 3-9 but will not be added into the overall square footage of development.

When narrowing down the spaces, I was able to place the entire restaurant/kitchen along with the laundry, maintenance, and facilities on the first mezzanine level. The restaurant will be accessible to people on the street along with the hotel guests. I originally wanted to create a large conference/business center however, time and space do not allow me to accomplish this. Instead of a conference center, a business center with several small conference rooms and individual work rooms will be located on the second mezzanine level along with a lounge and the flower shop.

For the hotel rooms/levels within the building, I have chosen to design the southeast corner of the floor with intentions of that particular space to be mirrored for the rest of the floor. This will allow me to devote my full attention on a smaller area of the building while still accomplishing the idea of developing the entire hotel space.

My critic partners and I discussed each of our projects today at length. The talked about the pros and cons of developing only these small areas of my building but came to the conclusion that developing smaller areas of the building would allow me to design several different spaces to the fullest. Other input with my group included ideas of space planning for the mezzanines and first floor that helped organize the ideas and goals I have for the project. When discussing Addie and Alyssa's project (specifically Alyssa's) I learned that the disconnection of the spaces and pieces within my building are issues that others are dealing with as well in order to design the required amount of square footage. It is also good to get advice from people who are doing different types of projects that will be able to look at my design from an outsider's view.

Current Neiman Marcus Building 

One Marcus Square 

 Original One Marcus Square building

 Existing Escalators 

 Existing Elevator Lobby & Interiors

Location of the building (purple square)

Overview of the Project

Our senior capstone project is to take an existing building and create a new use for the structure. The building must have a multi-use function that is multiple stories and at least 30,000 square feet. The building I have chosen to redevelop is the Neiman Marcus building (One Marcus Square) in downtown Dallas. 

One Marcus Square currently houses the first Neiman Marcus store along with some of the corporate offices and Zodiac Restaurant. Since the opening of the building in 1914, One Marcus Square has undergone 3 additions and several interior renovations. The building is located at 1416 Main St. in Dallas, Texas on the corner of Main and Ervay Street. It expands the entire west side of Ervay Street and extends half a block across Main. This structure currently stands at 9 stories tall with an ornate exterior design. The additional two stories added on most recently continue with the same style exterior with less ornamentation around the windows than the original 5 stories. 

The building has a total of 279,000 square feet of rentable space, each floor spanning 31,000 square feet. With views of the north, south, and east, the users of One Marcus Square are able to obtain views of downtown and uptown Dallas. The area surrounding the square contains many corporate, offices, restaurants, and loft apartments. Two other boutique hotels are within the vicinity, however when designing the facility, I plan to take a different approach in design that will distinguish itself from the others.

The current Neiman Marcus store is known for the exceptional design of the interiors along with the preservation of the original elevator doors and escalators. These unique pieces of design will continue to remain in the design of Marcus Square Hotel. These features will unite each individual part of the building (Hotel, Restaurant, Flower Shop, Business Center) and give a greater emphasis on unity within the building and within downtown Dallas. Another interesting feature of the building are two mezzanines that sit on the south side of the building directly on top of one another, looking onto the first floor.