IAR102-Workplace Precedent Presentation: ASOS

·       The company I chose was ASOS. It is an online fashion and beauty retailer. It has about four locations in the United Kingdom. They also they have a 24-hour customer care office based in Hemel Hempstead, UK. Their central distribution center is in Barnsley, Yorkshire, UK which is where they ship their products from. And they recently added locations in US, France, Germany, Australia, and China. Their online site targets customers all over the world including the USA, Germany, Spain, Italy and Australia to name a few. The clientele is between 18-34 years old including both men and women. They retail fashion forward clothing, accessories, and beauty products.

     

       The workplace I am focusing on is located in their main HQ in Camden, London in an Art Deco building called the Greater London House. Art Deco is a term that describes the decorative art style of the 1920s and 1930s. It’s characterized bold geometric shapes and strong colors. It was used mostly in household objects and architecture of the time. This building has an Egyptian-style theme with two large feline statues at the main entrance and boldly painted columns.

·    ASOS launched in 2000 and saw steady growth online and within the physical company itself between then and now. Its HQ were re designed and refurbished by Martha Nicholson Hart from MoreySmith in May of 2013. The areas they worked on were the café, reception, event space, press showroom, team collaboration and meeting rooms. This renovation took 20 weeks to complete and the total area was 100,00 sq ft space.

·      Many different departments are housed here including:

a.  finance

b.  buying and merchandising

c.  design and garment technology

d.  marketing and production

e.  customer care

·      Just about all are group work settings aside from customer care. The staff is made up of 1200 people starting from about age 23 on up of both men and women with women making up most of the staff (women to men ratio is 2:1). Staff are expected to be ambitious and have sophisticated skills so that they can thrive in the fast-paced environment and perform above and beyond the company’s challenging expectations.

·      Different types of furniture, fixtures, equipment needed would be

1.     Chairs (sitting, meeting, groups)

2.     Tables (writing, meetings, discussions)

3.     Adequate lighting (natural and artificial)

4.     Display boards

5.     Reception desk (telephone)

6.     Computers (a place to house and keep safe, secure)

7.     Projection equipment (runway, photography studio)

·      In conclusion I would love to work here! Not quite sure where I would fit in as an interior architect. The design of this space is already beautiful and functional. I would imagine any position that you would work here would have inspiration fueled by the décor alone. You can see below some pictures of the post renovation of this workspace.

IAR 112- Face It

Name Tag/Portrait:


























  This portrait was drawn by Taylor Ghost. It is apart of my name tag for my desk at studio. I decided to put "decals" of my top favorite places to travel and visit and other things to express who I am.


Lettering Practice:

Istanbul Public Art

I composed a 30"x30" board of public art in Istanbul, Turkey. I have depictions of 2D, 3D, and 4D art. (I also have depictions of henna tattoos for the boarder as this is a form of art that is popular to the culture of Istanbul). In order for me to understand the public art in Istanbul, I had to understand what is going on politically wise in this city. I think that public art is an artists form of public speech and a lot of times what the people have to speak about is government and other civil issues. I even came across a graffiti message on a wall somewhere that said "read walls, not books". I thought that was a very profound statement because if you want to know what the people really think, just look at the public art in and around any given city. I found that in 2000 street art increased in Europe and eventually made its way to Istanbul. Streets then became a mechanism for communication. Some current issues in Istanbul are secularism, the civil war in Syria, and the clash with religion as the government increases with islamist and authoritarian rule. This later issue increase the strength of islamic education in public primary schools. Istanbul has three major religions within it, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. The disagreements between these religions can be seen through history with changing of the Hagia Sophia from a christian church to a mosque and currently a museum. There have also been many protest about freedom of press, expression, and assembly. Based upon these findings is how I decided to focus my search for public art in Istanbul.

My 2D art selections are "Raised Fists" by Krioe, "INTI" artist unknown, and a wall painting by Franco Fasoli of two soldiers on horses. My 3D art selections are of "Stars of Istanbul" by Aziz Sariyer, "Aslan" by Salcuk Yilmaz, "1550 Chairs Stacked Between Two Buildings" by Doris Salcedo, and a pieces by Sarkis Zabunyan that is of lights situated on the side of a building to resemble a rainbow. My 4D selections were of the Hagia Sophia and the "Painted Steps of Istanbul" by Huseyin Cetinel.

Greensboro Public Art

These are some of the public art pieces that I found in Greensboro. The first image is one of four of the Gateway Cornerstones titled "Motion". I thought this piece was very interesting. It represents the importance of education and the historic railroad and highway system. The second picture is of the "News and Records Bench". Although you cannot see it in the photo, there is an actual depiction of the  NASA Challenger crash newspaper report and the Twin Towers newspaper report as well. The third picture is a part of a project that consisted of installing iron gates over pre existing doorways along the greenway underpass. LED lights were added for an interactive affect. The last picture is of the Millennium Gate that sits on the Governmental Plaza and has many depictions of important iconic events in NC history. Some of the events include the Lost Colony, a chair that represents the furniture industry of Greensboro, The Battle of Guilford Courthouse, a drinking gourd that represents the Underground Railroad, and the Statue of Liberty that represents immigration. These are only few examples of the many public arts in Greensboro. These are a couple of the ones that I found the most interesting.

Greensboro Map of Public Art

The above images are maps that we created in class that show a few of the many public art pieces located in and around Greensboro, NC. While researching for this assignment I found that a lot of the public art focused on the same couple of messages. All the art pieces reflected either education or history. There were also abstract pieces that did appear to have anything to do with those themes, but were opportunities for artists from all over to contribute to the public art movement with in the city.