Proud Mom Alert

My son Caleb graduated college yesterday.  You can imagine how proud we were watching him receive his degree!  It was a long journey, both for him and for us, with many eventful periods along the way, but he stuck with it, and we are so proud of him.

He has a BAA-ID degree - Bachelor of Applied Art - Interior Design.  I like to call it Mini-Architecture. 

When he receives his professional designation (after  working at accredited firms and taking the professional exam), he will be licensed to design and build edifices up to 3 storeys tall, and up to 20,000 square feet per storey.  That's 60,000 square feet of building - that's HUGE, man!

That's anything from mid-sized shopping centres, professional office buildings, restaurants, homes, apartment complexes, museum additions (and small museums) - WOW.

The design includes all aspects of architecture - electrical, structural, engineering, materials, equipment and HVAC, ideation, renderings, CAD plans and the psychology of usage and workflow. 

 (It is NOT interior decorating - I am so upset with the TV shows that don't make the distinction, and lead people to believe that it is decorating)

To give you an idea what REAL interior design is all about, I've attached some pages from his portfolio, so you can see what he's about.  You will be amazed, as was I, at what he can do.  NOTE: I don't know how to attach a PDF of his portfolio to this blog entry - so sorry for the multiple files.  If they don't show up on your emails, please click the link to this blog and see them all here.

Government Office fit up:

This is the rendering for a large technology division fit up.

If only government office spaces could look like this - wouldn't we all want to work for the Feds!

Here are the working drawings - all the plans, materials, etc.

A High-End Nightclub:

This is a conversion of an existing building space into a multi-storey high end nightclub. 

Of note here is the ingenious design of the staircase support (top right) - it was actually reviewed by an engineer to verify that Caleb's design was feasible -which to the engineer's surprise it was, and very accurately so.

Here's the gorgeous design rendering of the restaurant.  Wouldn't you love to be able to go to this place for a special occasion? 

Pediatric wing of a Hospital

This has to be one of my favourites - the pediatric wing of a hospital where the design is based on the maximization of the well-being of the patients by taking into account their mental state during recovery.

It includes a theatre area where the children can watch performances or perform themselves, a Snoezellen room, a pottery/sculpture area, an art gallery, as well as the traditional treatment areas and recovery areas.  How much faster would our children heal in a place like this!

He's also an artist - but I know he's working on his own website, and I've taken up too much space being the uber-proud Mom here. 

Next post will be back to all things Art.

Have a great weekend!