design portfolioCHELSEA KIRK

CHELSEA KIRK703.901.5583 chelsea.m.kirk@gmail.com

Chelsea began her career early as a club house and fort designer. She was nine years old. She has since nurtured this calling by earning degrees in art and design and exploring many avenues of art and creativity along the way. Gaining inspiration from her other artistic outlets, Chelsea’s designs are clean and functional while maintaining a sense of fun and originality.

bio

Virginia Commonwealth UniversityBachelor of Fine Arts in Interior DesignDepartment of Interior Design, CIDA accredited

Lord Fairfax Community CollegeAssociates of Arts and Sciences:Liberal Arts with Fine Arts Specialization

education

AutoCadGoogle SketchupPhotoshopIndesignHand rendering

skills

Interior Design AssistantJuly 2010-May 2011Contract Furniture Options, Inc.Potomac, MD

Interior Design and Sales SupportMay 2011-Present Washington WorkplaceArlington, VA

employment

RetailM.A.C. Cosmetics01 Healthcare

Mobile Medic Pods02

RestaurantBooth Concept03 Restaurant

Richmond Organic Bakery04

01PAVE national store planning design competition challenged students to design a “store within a store” for Macy’s cosmetic department. I chose to design a store concept for M.A.C. Cosmetics that uses bold color, light, and graphics to cre-ate a new and innovative retail environment.

M.A.C. Cosmetics products feature raw col-ors and dramatic application techniques while emphasizing glamour and modern style. By in-corporating imagery and elements that define urban living, this store within a store draws in customers and provides fun and interactive ways to invite them to stay.

The form for M.A.C. Cosmetics store came from early inspiration from Japanese bento boxes. After researching bento boxes and their origins in Japanese culture, I became drawn to imagery relating to Tokyo. The graphic signs and use of neon lights reminded me of urban graffiti. The use of radiant color on raw surfaces such as concrete or the sides of buildings plays into the act of applying makeup to bare skin.

Three large canopies extend from the product display tables to create a feeling of being enclosed but not cut off from the rest of the department store. The glow of pink neon lights define the edges of the space and references the neon lights found in urban areas.

18”x18” promotional graphics slide into the front of each push-to-open storage cabinet located on each product display table. These handle-free doors help streamline the fronts of the tables while providing ample storage space for products and supplies.

A mobile point of sale device provides a scanner, credit card reader, and point of sale system in a hand held device. This decentralization of the cash wrap allows for faster and more efficient customer service. A register station is available for cash purchases and provides space for gift wrapping and other services.

Large graphics adorn the outer walls of the store, displaying the lights, colors, and high-pace energy of city life. These graphic films provide flexibility for the store to display seasonal graphics as well.

A large, super-human version of the classic “Lite Brite” takes up the entire back wall of the store. Hundreds of plastic, multi-colored pegs fit into self-healing holes, providing a fun and interactive activity that not only draws customers into the space but invites them to stay and play.

White epoxy on all wall and display surfaces

Concrete floors

02For this studio project, students were asked to design a healthcare facility of their choice. In an attempt to do something different, I chose to redesign a stan-dard shipping container into a pre-fab medic pod that can be transported to areas in need of temporary medical facilities.

The emerging population of aging baby boomers, the increasing level of natural disasters and war all re-quire the need for more patient clinics and medical facilities. The Mobile Medic Pod utilizes every inch of a 40’ shipping container to create two patient rooms and one shared bathroom. Built-in furniture, cabinets, and fixtures makes each pre-fabricated pod a sturdy, easily transportable medical facility.

Shipping containers are practical and sustainable building materials that can easily be converted into structures for human occupancy.

Each room has a clinic space and a separate patient quarters with a curtain for privacy. The clinic space has a large work surface, multiple storage drawers and cabinets, and a sink for hand washing.

The patient area has a built-in bed with ample room for bringing in a gurney for transporting patients to other areas. A floor to ceiling cabinet allows patients to store personal items as well as any clothing they might have.

Solar panels line the tops of each pod allow the pods to be energy independent. A separate support pod con-nects to the group of medical pods that is stocked with a back up generator, water cistern, and solar battery array.

Sliding glass doors and frameless glass walls shelters the patient quarters from the outdoors but still provides natural light to infiltrate the space. Glass walls also allow nurses to have full visual access to the patient when not in the room with them.

Solar panels line the tops of each pod allow the pods to be energy independent. A separate support pod connects to the group of medical pods that is stocked with a back up generator, water cistern, and solar battery array.

B Clinic area

D Patient’s personal storage cabinetA Patient bed

C Shared bathroom

E Side wall of pod folded down

A

B C

D

E

The side wall of the shipping containers fold completely flat creating a built-in corridor when the pods are arranged together. Recycled rubber flooring creates a non-slip surface perfect for caregivers to transfer patients.

There are endless configurations and layouts that the Mobile Medic Pods can be placed in to create a temporary medical facility.

Recycled rubber flooring

Bamboo veneer

Stainless steel

Sustainable textile Recycled rubber flooring

Recycled glass tile

03Students were challenged to design a restaurant booth, create construction documents for the design, and build two scale models of the booth using the construction documents as a guide. My goal was to design a booth that solves many of the problems that standard restaurant booths have. Inspired by enclosed arcade game booths, the gathering booth is a fully contained space made from one continuous form.

Inspired by enclosed arcade game booths, the gathering booth is a fully contained space made from one continuous form. A cantilevered table, appearing to be peeling away from the back wall of the booth, eliminates the need for table legs and gives guests more foot room. Underseat storage provides a safe place for bookbags or shopping bags while the space behind the seats offers custom hooks to hang coats and hats.

Two models of the gathering booths were made at 1”= 1’-0” scale using chipboard and carved styrofoam to simulate a stress-skin panel. Building the first model allowed me to learn how to manipulate the materials to portray my ideas without worrying about it being perfect. I then took what I learned from working with the materials and built the second, more finished model.

First model attempt Final scale model

Final scale model

Using the construction documents as a guide, the models allowed me to see what had to be changed or added to the documents in order to build the booths correctly. Those changes were later red-lined into the construction documents.

04For our senior thesis project, students were challenged to create a program, research a cho-sen site, and design a space for a client of their choice. I designed Richmond Organic Bakery, a bake shop that specializes in creating organic baked goods using local ingredients from the Richmond, Virginia area. The goal for the space is to redefine the standard bakery to create a new and interactive experience for the customers.

RICHMOND ORGANIC BAKERY concept development

2,763miles 2,668miles

2,668miles811miles

2,763miles 785 miles

= 100 miles

In the United States, produce travels an average of 1,500 miles from the farm in which it is grown to our re-frigerators. This transportation of food across great distances, using refrigerated trucks, planes, ships and air-planes, burns an enormous amount of fossil fuels that contributes to global warming. Eating food that is grown within a 100 mile radius of where you live is a great way to curb these emissions.

This chart shows how many miles these items travel from the farms they are grown in to be sold in Virginia. Most of our produce comes from the opposite side of the country and beyond, even though all of these items can be found within a 100 mile radius of Richmond, Virginia.

KITCHEN

STORAGE

DINING

RESTROOM

SERVICE

1

2

3

4

5

Square

Foota

ge

Adjace

ncies

Public

Acc

ess

Private

Special Equip

ment

2,3

1

1,4

3,5

4

Plumbing

No

Yes

No

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

No

No

No

Yes

400

100

200

300

100

No

Existing spaceFirst Floor

Second Floor

Inspired by an amuse-bouche, a bite-sized appetizer a chef serves to “amuse the mouth”, the design concept is to stimulate the customer’s senses. An open bakery case allows the customer to pick their baked goods themselves, creating a more interactive experience. The open kitchen provides a visual connection between the private and public spaces, allowing the customer to see the pastry chefs baking and to smell the freshly baked goods.

Sketch models were made to explore the concept of an amuse-bouche.

A Bakery display area

B Kitchen

C Dining area

D Tasting table

E Recycle/Compost station

F Work surfaces

G Restroom

A

B

C

D

E

FF

G

I chose to demo the second story of the existing building to create an expansive 24’ tall space. To utilize and showcase the height of the bakery, an open air storage system was installed in the kitchen providing storage space without using any square footage.

Changes in materials, from the raw, unfinished wood in the storage area to the glossy, dark-stained wood in the bakery display area, creates a visual and tactile experience and gives cues to the baking process.

Located next to the large window opening to the streets of Carytown, a private tasting table provides select customers the opportunity to sample the newest menu item. This allows the customers with one-on-one time with the pastry chefs and creates visual interest from pedestrians passing by the bakery.

CHELSEA KIRKchelsea.m.kirk@gmail.com

703.901.5583