L A U R A C O L E - S E L E C T W O R K - 2 0 1 5

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LAURA COLE SELECTED WORKS

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CONTENTS

VISUAL RESUME

PROFESSIONAL WORK

TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

STUDENT WORK

CREATIVE WORK

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05VISUAL RESUME

The following spreads present select projects from my work in profes-

sional practice with the interiors depart-ment at Perkins+Will (P+W) Chicago. My first few years of practice were defined by applying standard specifications to Westin Hotel chains. This presented my first opportunity for learning about pro-fessional practice in a world-class firm

and with an international brand such as Starwood Hotels. In 2005, I was put on the Haworth account, and it was this work that would help me to cultivate skills in design, graphic presentation, client meetings, and the process + spec-ifications required for LEED Commer-cial Interior projects. During my time at P+W, I achieved LEED Professional

Accreditation and NCIDQ Certification. I also worked on office interiors for the Bank of America and Bloomberg Chica-go. Many of these projects were collabo-rations with the Branded Environments group at P+W, which expanded my un-derstanding of the intersection of design and corporate identity.

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PROFESSIONAL WORK

Haworth Chicago Showroom Display Window

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Bank of America -- Associate‘s Hub (Concept Sketches -->)

BANK OF AMERICACharlotte, North Carol ina

Project Type: Office Renovation (Floor 19 Pilot Project)

Date Completed: Fall 2006

Design Team: Perkins+Will - Eva Maddox Branded Environments

My Role: Architectural Finish Selection & Documentation to meet LEED goals; Conceptual design work completed for the Associate‘s Hub; Support with office furniture layout.

Sustainability: LEED-CI Silver

The Bank of America corporate office design by Perkins+Will

was a study in balance between permanence and flexibility. The plan concept was to create a space that adapts to high churn rates with minimal abrasion to building systems such as floors, walls and ceilings. The materials and furniture selected had to meet these challenges and those of the fine-tooth comb of sustainability as defined by LEED. Furniture and finishes contributed to points such as recycled content, regional materials, certified wood and points for indoor air quality.

The sketches shown here are process work for the Associate’s Hub, an amenity area located on each office floor. This area is designed to be a cafe setting for associates and visitors, an alternative worksite for impromptu meetings, and a design focal point for each office level.

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Bank of America -- Office Corridor

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Haworth HQ: Office Attrium

HAWORTH CENTERHolland, MI

Project Type: Office Renovation (300,00 SF)

Date Completed: Fall 2007

Design Team: Perkins+Will - Eva Maddox Branded Environ-ments

My Role: Architectural Finish Selection & Documentation to meet LEED goals; Office work-station layout based on work-style typologies; Furniture fin-ish specification to align with architectural finishes.

Sustainability: LEED Gold

Featured as Interior Design Magazine‘s Best of the Year in

EcoCorporate (Volume 75, No. 15, December 2008), this project dem-onstrates an architectural interior renovation of significant propor-tion. The south wall of the previous structure was removed to overlay an L-shaped glass atrium that pro-vides expression and daylight to the original office interior. The de-sign objectives for the office furni-ture were two-fold: 1) the furniture would support the great diver-sity of workstyles present across Haworth departments, and 2) si-multaneously show the strength of Haworth products in accomplish-ing this goal. In other words, the entire office acts as a functional showroom for Haworth product. Product variety and graphic mes-saging further aided the design by creating visually novel experienc-es across an otherwise uniform architectural rhythm.

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Haworth HQ: Attrium Exterior Haworth HQ: Entry-level Lounge

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DALLAS SHOWROOM

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Designing furniture showrooms not only gave me the chance to deepen my understanding of branded environments, it also forced an intimacy with the notions of modularity and detailed furniture connections that are hall-marks of well-designed systems furniture.

Furniture showrooms have notoriously short shelf lives. This is a fact that com-

plicates sustainability endeavors, but pres-ents an opportunity to push creative design ideas for office interiors. We were constantly challenged to elevate product to its finest, connecting design to economic scenarios and regional trends. Over three years, I was deeply involved in the design of three differ-ent furniture showrooms for Haworth: Chi-cago, Los Angeles, and Dallas.

Each project earned LEED certification. In each city, we sought to provide new experi-ences in existing spaces, preserving the ar-chitectural bones to minimize waste. This goal was typically achieved through creative use of Haworth product and finishes, and with the layers of original graphic messag-

HAWORTH SHOWROOMS

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CHICAGO SHOWROOM L.A. SHOWROOM

Chicago Palette Chicago Plan Diagram

WESTIN HOTELS

Pictured: The Westin Seattle and the Westin Chica-go, Michigan Avenue

Project Type: Two interior renovation projects, and one new construction project that ended in design development due to economic conditions.

Date Completed: 2003-2005

Design Team: Perkins+Will Interiors Department

My Role: FF&E specification and documentation; application of brand standards; construction docu-mentation.

During my time at Perkins+Will, I worked on three different hotel projects. Between 2003-2005,

I was the junior designer involved in renovation projects at the Westin Seattle (Lobby, Restaurant, Guestrooms, and Guest Corridors), and the Westin Chicago on Michigan Avenue (Guest Corridors, Banquet rooms). My role was to draft specifications closely following Westin standards and to put together construction documents for the various interior renovation projects.

I took a hiatus from hospitality projects while working on the corporate and showroom projects previously shown, and I again returned to hospitality work between 2006-2007 to lead the FF&E effort for the Soleil Center hotel + residential tower in Raleigh, North Carolina. This project, never built, was a victim of the economic downturn brewing at the time.

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ELEMENTS OF AN EMERGENT TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

Our world is one with no shortage of problems. To choose an academic

career is to acknowledge the power of the arduous and gradual, yet critical, pursuit of higher education – even when this process is seemingly at odds with the immediacy of social and environmental crises that surround us. I believe that innovative teaching methods can relieve some of this tension between scholarship and action. Educators can craft the learning environment as an incubator for intellectual grounding; but we can also offer a launch-point for community service, impactful research, and creative work that contributes to human and ecological well-being. Together with aesthetic training core to any design program, I believe that additional learning goals for design students include: understanding theory + research, and the abilities to apply knowledge and think across systems.

THINKING + DOINGIt is not a leap to imagine active engagement in the context of design school. Making

and doing are hallmarks of design education. However, what we use to think with is perhaps more difficult to pin down compared to other disciplines. This is an intriguing question for me, and one that I bring into my practice as an educator in studio. I experiment with ways to integrate theory, reflection, and evidence-base into the design process while maintaining an imaginative space for curiosity and creative expression. The studio projects featured in this portfolio show complex design projects that involved much programming and research in the initial stages.

S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y+ E X P E R I E N T I A L LEARNINGExperiential learning methods present an incredible opportunity to embed learning in real world cases, and in a way that allows students to view a singular case through many different lenses. Teaching environmental sustainability can involve abstract ideas, especially in lecture format. Offering linear, bulleted lists and tidy frameworks is a compelling place to start. (I myself have taught this way in a LEED for Interiors course.) What is much more difficult to teach, however, is the complex interrelationships between sustainability concepts or the trade-offs that practitioners must make every day – in other words, the messiness of it all. Experiential learning not

only increases understanding of complexity, it can also offer an emotional connection to people and places. The Bartlett-Yancey Science Wing and the Ann Arbor Center for Independent living are two studio projects where we advanced ideas for real clients. The “Delray Corridor Plan” project in this section on Student Work also exemplifies my emerging philosophy about place-based experiential learning.

EMBEDDED PRACTICESIf designers are to participate in solving tough social and environmental problems, there is a ‘powers of ten’ challenge in design education. On one hand, the interior designer needs to understand connection details on a singular piece of furniture. On the other, the designer benefits from understanding the social and ecological systems that both demand and make our finished products possible. A challenge for educators is to help students move across these scales -- from gaining a specific, bounded expertise to embedding that expertise within the larger systems in which it thrives. While I attempt to cross these scales in all of my courses, the “Post Oil” design seminar featured in this portfolio demonstrates on exemplar course for engendering cross-system thinking for design students.

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STUDENT WORK

Students conducting neighborhood survey for the Delray Corridor Plan -- Detroit Studio, 2011

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICESPersonal Marketing Materials

COURSEProfessional Practices for Interior DesignSpring 2014University of North Carolina @ GreensboroMy Role: Primary Instructor

STUDENTS FEATUREDAyten NadeauPaige HohltLakiesha WhiteBlakeni Walls

This course provides students with a context within which to understand interior design

as a professional practice and covers aspects of personal career development such as educational requirements, internships, certification, and licensure. Students are exposed to a variety of career paths and asked to do self-examination in order to define career options. As part of this exploration, they are required to generate self-marketing materials such as resumes, portfolios, and business cards.

„This class was successful at teaching me how to present myself as a professional. I was also able to put together a successful portfolio, cover letter, and resume which led to an internship.“

„Taking Laura for this course made me want to continue taking courses with her due to the knowledge and positive learning environment she provides.“

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SMALL HOUSE COMPETITIONCOURSEInterior Architecture Studio IISpring 2014University of North Carolina @ GreensboroMy role: Primary Instructor

STUDENT FEATUREDAnnelise Tikkanen

An emerging cohousing community in Franklinville, NC was the site for this project. Cohousing community

members put together a small house competition to generate and share design ideas for small house living. My students were asked to create 500SF designs based on the competition guidelines (small, affordable, energy efficient, can be replicated). In route, we studied a range of green building technologies, green materials, site conditions, and Christopher Alexander‘s A Pattern Language to help students guide the development of their house designs. After individual designs were complete, students were grouped to prepare detailed budgets and specifications for select projects. My student David Kendall submitted his project for the competition and won first place.

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Annelise‘s design concepts were protection, incubate, nutrients, life, translucent, efficient, and natural. This design features rammed earth construction walls. An-nelise studied passive strategies for heating and cool-ing. Prevailing winds were examined, and the position-ing of the structure allows for a collection of summer breezes for passive cooling, and the north walls shield

from the harsh winds of winter. Along with the angle of the house, the windows were placed to capture the most winter sun whilst shading from the hottest sum-mer sun. She also choose patterns from Christopher Alexander‘s A Pattern Language to enhance her design.

SMALL HOUSE, CONTINUED

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Kitchen and Dining: The kitchen is designed to be a functional space, but also a corridor that connects rooms.

Living and Dining: In this space, she wanted to keep an open plan to provide for more maneuverability for any possible residents with disabilities. Annelise took on the challenge of making her small house also ADA compliant.

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SCIENCE WINGBARTLETT-YANCEY HIGH SCHOOLCOURSEInterior Architecture Studio IIIFall 2013University of North Carolina @ GreensboroMy role: Primary Instructor

STUDENTS FEATURED Jack KennedyAlexandra PokasBlakeni WallsAmber Wineman

For this studio project, we partnered with science teachers at Bartlett-Yancey High School in

Yanceyville, NC. The teachers hoped to begin fund-raising for a science wing renovation, and our goal was to assemble inspired, evidence-based, and conceptually driven design ideas to help teachers define and promote the project. Students did the architectural programming in groups and then completed individual design proposals. The four best designs were chosen by teachers, and these four students evolved their ideas into one final project that included detailed plans, perspectives, elevations, with FF&E specifications and budget.

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The design of the Bartlett Yancey Science Wing is founded upon the idea of Coalescence. To Coalesce is to grow together and unite a combination of dis-tinct elements as a whole. By taking this idea and applying it to building design, we have provided an environment that unites teachers and students in a constructive and collaborative way. The classrooms

provide a space that is versatile and adaptable for multiple uses. One key element for this adaptability is the student desks.

The students implemented an ADA compliant space with safety features required for science laborato-ries, such as safety showers.

SCIENCE WING, CONTINUED

FLOOR PLAN

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The students delivered a 60-page booklet to the high school that included the design drawings, including plans of the various classroom configurations. The booklet also contained detailed FF&E specifications with a budget.

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CLASSROOM ELEVATION

FF&E SPECIFICATIONS

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CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT LIVINGCOURSEInterior Architecture Studio IIWinter 2009Lawrence Tech UniversityMy role: Co-teacher

STUDENT FEATUREDShawn Calvin

Working with the Ann Arbor Center for Independent Living (AACIL) gave our students the ability to

explore workplace design in a doubly challenged scenario: universal design on a not-for-profit budget. This project allowed students to move from client interaction and site surveying to conceptual design to design development. We endeavored to balance studio assignments to meet CIDA requirements with the reality of a client, while also creating a space for imaginative design concepts. Student Shawn Calvin, whose work is shown here, was one of my students who pushed herself through the technical and creative challenges of this project, which resulted in a design that was both expressive and workable.

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DELRAY CORRIDOR PLANCOURSE

Sustainable Neighborhoods:Experiential Learning & Active Engagement in Detroit

Winter 2011University of Michigan

TEACHING TEAMFaculty Lead: Larissa Larsen

Co-instructors:Krista BadianePaul CoseoDarshan KarwatLaura Sherman Laura Smith

Students of the environment are well-versed in the 3 E‘s triple bottom

line framework that emphasizes the intersections of environment, economics, and equity. Arguably, the third E of equity is the least understood, and its accomplishment can often be at odds with economic prospects and even investment in long-term goals for environmental sustainability. The impoverished Detroit neighborhood of Delray presents an ideal setting for teaching and learning about the messiness of sustainability endeavors. Bringing our students to this neighborhood helped a local non-profit to advance their cause to advocate for Delray in the shadow of a looming international bridge project.

This undergraduate service-learning studio was designed collaboratively by an urban planning professor and five graduate students from several

different departments including urban planning, architecture, natural resources, engineering, and earth science. Although this course was ultimately an urban planning studio course, it was designed iteratively over a two-year period by utilizing our collective experiences teaching service-learning courses, studios, and scientific field courses. Our primary objective in designing the studio was to enable the undergraduates to interact with residents and to experience the local environment as much as possible. Additionally, we sought to inform students’ personal experiences with information from local experts and community organizations. Finally, we hoped to assist the students to create a meaningful land use plan for the Delray community that accurately reflected residents’ priorities and could be incorporated into a future community benefits agreement.

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Final plan presented to the community

Above: Delray Corridor Plan; Below: Student images depicting ideas for neighborhood improvements. 31

POST-OIL DESIGN SEMINARCOURSEDesign in a Post-Oil WorldSpring 2009Lawrence Tech UniversityMy Role: Primary Instructor

STUDENTSJustin FinkbeinerJake FinsethEric KloosterLillian KusmierzBen LoznakJohn NametzChristine Sass

It has been said that the twin hydro-carbon issues of peak oil and global climate change may be the two greatest oversights of our times. Resource constraint and global conflict exacerbated by a changing climate may comprise some of societies’ most perplexing challenges in the not-so-distant future. Will built environment professionals – such as designers, architects, engineers, and urban designers – become more vital and relevant as we “sleepwalk” into this oil-deprived future? How can the built environment support the changing life patterns that accompany decreasing carbon footprints? Is the designer of the future more likely to respond to resource constraints through processes such as reuse, retrofitting, and reassembly? This experimental course explored the role of the designer in a post-peak oil world. The course began by grounding students in current literature across disciplines (from green design to climate science to psychology) and engaging students in a variety of visioning exercises by topic areas of: transportation, energy, water, food, goods/services, and housing.

This course was an experimental seminar taught in the spring of 2009. The course was inspired by a seminar on Localization

that I had taken at the University of Michigan. I adapted material for students of the built environment. The premise for the course was slightly provocative: we imagined our work as designers in a future that is severely constrained by energy availability and an unstable climate.

A major feature of this course was the translation of ideas to physical reality. Throughout the semester, we used the iconic Fisher building in Detroit to ground course concepts in a building sited just north of downtown Detroit. Students ran weekly charrette-style meetings, where we overlaid the week‘s topic over the Fisher building. The final deliverable was a group project that involved analysis of the building (and surrounding areas) for survivability in a post‐oil world. Students made projections about the future use and operation of the project site (circa 2050) based on a series of assumptions that included: 1) a major downshift in per capita use of fossil fuels, 2) a need for buildings with low to no carbon emissions, and 3) a potentially frail economy that does not assume major investment in downtown Detroit. Vignettes from the students‘ analyses are shown here.

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My education in design has been employed beyond the conventional

studio in many ways -- from collaborative design projects to painting to planning community festivals. I have continually sought outlets for my creative energy. A thread that courses

through almost everything I do -- from teaching to research to creative work -- is an affinity for the social. This portfolio shows a few pieces of solo work. Truly, though, my preferred creative setting is a collaborative one.

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CREATIVE WORK

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PHOTOGRAPHY

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COLLABORATIVE PAINTINGJames Cole and Laura (Smith) ColeColo.1, 2012. Acrylic on Canvas, 56x60

Late one night, my partner and I asked our-selves what would happen if we started a

canvas together, using it as a space to commu-nicate to each other without words. This piece was the result of our first collaboration.

In a way, the painting mimics, in acrylic, a cer-tain reality. Under this layer of paint, there are so many iterations, so many communications, that no one else will ever see. We were alter-natively careless and calculating, each staying up at night imagining our next moves -- asking ourselves what the canvas needed, and some-times surprising each other with color and movement. Announcing a finished result took many months, and felt almost arbitrary. Work like this isn‘t so much done as frozen in time.

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MOBI‘S WORLDArcheworks Project2003-04

TEAMWilliam BouvelKristian EspinozaAmy FergusonKara KotwasLaura Smith

My design contribution:I designed and constructed the red display box and sewed the 36“ tall stuffed animal, both pictured right.

Archeworks is an alternative design school in downtown Chicago that

offers a post-professional certificate in socially conscious design. It attracts students across design disciplines and beyond to conduct a 9-month community-based project -- where students are given an open-ended assignment, intellectual support, and a small budget.

My team‘s assignment was to employ a design solution that would foster disability awareness for school-age children. One of our first challenges was to overcome the saccharine tone that dominates communications of childhood disability. We didn‘t want sadness or pity to be the launch point, and instead endeavored to deliver a product that was -- yes a little weird -- but also we hoped spontaneous and fun. Our mascot for the effort became a lovable above-the-knee prosthetic leg named Mobi.

Mobi had crazy friends, including an zippy inhaler and a pair of bashful eyeglasses. He also had a dopey villian nemesis named Phantom Pain.

Over 9 months, we developed Mobi‘s World -- which included engaging characters, a story line, and a pitch for a complete edu-tainment package that involved books, a video game, and a website. Our process involved focus groups with children both with and without prosthetics, consultation with children‘s book writers, the piloting of a basic video game, and regular communication with a doctor at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. The ambition of the project was to move it to the point where it could inspire further funding. Unfortunately, despite our efforts, the project froze in design development.

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42 THANK YOU

To the reader: thank you for taking an interest in my work.

Nearly every project shown here occurred within social dy-

namics that I either created, stewarded, or benefited from.

I offer my thanks to the many collaborators over the years:

employers, professors, colleagues, and students alike.

<3 Laura

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