a design portfolio bycarlie blake

My name is Carlie Blake and my passion is art, interior architecture, and design, and how merging the three has the potential to impact not only the spaces and places in our lives, but the objects we interact with as well. I am currently in my fourth year in the Interior Architecture program at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. This portfolio is a collection of projects and illustrations produced both by hand and digitally.

I am fascinated with the notion of conceptual creation whether it be through model making and sketching or digital illustration and fabrication. I am experienced with the progams Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Revit, AutoCad, Sketch Up, Rhino, and Microsoft Word.

evolution through gesture | haw river project..........4-7music & architecture | hoppipolla..........8-11

retail design | stretch..........12-13augmented opportunity | synapse..........14-15

exploration of medium | an ordinary object..........16-17movement & seriality | void..........18-19

two dimensional exploration | flat pattern..........20-21two dimensional exploration | sketch..........22-23

table of contents

evolution through gesture haw river project

Haw River Project was a second year studio brief that asked to design a space that would be used for cancer survivor patients. We took inspiration from the existing landscape at Haw River in Alamance County, NC, and used its natural beauty to our advantage. By folding, slicing, and contouring the form subtly, a space for occupants to experience a serene environment was created. By joining gestural planes in an artificial landscape, we were able to create an open floor plan defined by the manipulated folds of the roof. After various ideations of sketches and models, the form for Haw River was discovered, an evolution in itself through subtle, very gestural manipulations of folds and planes.

Gestural perspective elevations [left] were produced in graphite and conte crayon and illustrate an exploration of light and form, observing how natural light and the manipulation of folds and planes might impact our one might experience the space.

Gestural perspective sections [above] were produced in graphite and conte crayon and were an additional study of light and form, exploring how natural light would impact the space as well as how the angled glass wall invites the natural beauty of the site to the interior environment.

Elevations [left] illustrate further material exploration as well as incorporate the notion of scale and form.

music & architecture hoppipolla

Another second year IARc studio allowed an exploration of music and architecture. Design is simply endless, and this brief journeyed into the notion of conceptual exploration, both two dimensional and three dimensional was a pure experience in conceptual exploration and creation. The images [left and above] illustrate the final ideation of the song Hoppipolla by Sigur Ros in a three dimensional form that expressed the notion of creating a moment through frozen movement and form.

The illustration [far left] is the first flat pattern abstracted from the song, emphasizing the relationship between various note repetition and volume. Through this careful measurement of note and frequency, the size and length of the lines were determined. Movement, form, as well as the abstracted flat pattern were then explored through the creation of several models, crafted out of 400 1/2” wooden blocks.

This image, created in Illustrator, is another flat pattern exploration that explored the notion of how to create a chaotic moment through pattern and repetition.

retail design stretch

For a fourth year IARc studio, we were asked to participate in several design competitions. These illustrations represent my submission for the PAVE design competition which asked students to create a retail ‘pop-up’ space for the men clothing company Bonobos, incorporating notions of modularity and technology. ‘Stretch’ addressed modularity through the design of a truss system in which everything within the store be suspended, from the stretched fabric display screens to the touch screen fixtures and manequins.

The 2013 Metropolis Design Competition asked students to design a solution for a disability. Synapse is a proposal that illustrates the notion of creating an opportunity through augmented reality. Not only would the design raise spatial awareness through haptic environments, but it would serve as a method of generating self-sustaining energy. The various images and diagrams illustrate the conceptual, tactile moments Synapse would enhance.

augmented opportunity synapse

exploration of medium an ordinary object

During the spring semester of 2012, I studied abroad at Unitec in Auckland, New Zealand. For a Materials in Practice course, we were asked to explore an object that is considered ordinary through a series of sketches. Through a process of merging and layering, as well as an exploration of various mediums and rendering styles such as charcoal and pointilism, a series of unrealistic images emerged from the ordinary object. The illustrations [right] demonstrate three of the explorations, digitally enhanced in Photoshop. The illustration [left] is the final drawing, a collection of the medium explorations, digitally enhanced in Photoshop through the process of layering, rotation, and repetition.

movement & seriality void

For a Contemporary Craft studio I participated in while studying abroad at Unitec, we were asked to consider the body as a ‘site’ and to illustrate and document our process through various maquette explorations. I chose to focus on the concept of the human body as a void. The final itteration was a series of gestural human forms molded out of aluminium foil, each gradiating in size. These photographs illustrate how the human form can create void through the hybrid of frozen movement and seriality, as well as manipulation of light and form.

two dimensional exploration flat pattern

Another two dimensional exploration that I enjoy outside of Interior Architecture is flat pattern creation. The various illustrations are examples are explorations drawn in Illustrator. Each were originally based off of a linear pattern abstracted from the song Radio Ballet by Eluvium, exploring pattern creation through warping, rotating, and gradiating.

two dimensional exploration sketch

Exploring imagery, emotion, and movement through gestural sketching has always been one of my passions outside of Interior Architecture. The notion of capturing all forms of expression and motion in a two dimensional nature is illustrated through these various drawings, which were all drawn with graphite, enhanced in Photoshop.