Theory In Action 2020

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  FACS Interior Design I Class

  Lisa Ann Simpson Campbell

  Students from the FACS 200 Interior Design course worked together to design projects that physically moved while celebrating one or more tenants of Gestalt Theory. Projects were displayed in the Jerry Falwell Library, and students from the Bell Tower, Dominoes, Pop-up Book, Flower Bouquet, Waterfall, and Pinwheel groups gave presentations on their work on November 10th, 2020 in the library. Each project began with a mind map to generate ideas, followed by: the Programming Phase to discover materials and explore interpretations of Gestalt Theory, the Schematic and Design Development Phase to create plans for the proposed ideas, and finally the Contract Administration Phase to fabricate the design and put the project on display.

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  Pinwheel

  Caroline Berry, Mateo Umana, Erin Hodges, and Grace Hubler

  Once the movement portion of our project was determined, our team moved to the design development stage where we began to research and sketch out our ideas on paper until we came up with our final design. We decided to create a piece of work that would contain a considerable amount of different colored pinwheels made of construction paper that would attach to fishing wire hanging from a hula-hoop. Since the piece itself would take up a decent amount of space, we knew that we needed to have it in a space where there would be room to walk around it and still view it from all sides, including underneath and potentially from the inside. This meant we would need to attach it in an open area from a significant height. We had already established that the pinwheels would spin on their own without any extra air flow, but we preferred that the structure still be located near another source of wind (i.e. an air vent).

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  Waterfall

  Boen Dober, Lauren McCraw, Damaris Brown, and Anna Greenwood

  In order to realize our concept, in the programming phase, we chose a wooden material as our stabilizing structure and a clear container to incapsulate the water and accurately reflect natural elements of a waterfall. Additionally we gathered faux greenery and rocks to create a lush setting for our focal point. During the schematic and design development phase, we sketched and proposed models for the overall construction. We then assembled the wooden structure with nails to provide a stable structure to support our continuation of floating wood stairs. Finally, a water pump inside the clear container of water ushered the waterfall to the top of the stairs and back into the container without assistance.

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  Flower Bouquet

  Ashley Powell, Krista Oskam, Sara Rye, and Cassie VanGorder

  When we started working with flower shapes, we realized we could work with Gestalt's principles of closure, continuation, and proximity. Starting with the concept of a flower vase this demonstrates Gestalt's principle of proximity. Starting with the concept of a flower vase this demonstrates Gestalt's principle of proximity. People group things together when they are close to each other and a flower bouquet is the perfect example of this. The second principle you see in our work is continuation. Continuation is the way our minds sees segments of a line as a continuous line. This is most commonly demonstrated in plaid where we see the lines of a color as one line. In our project this is used on the various flowers such as a circle on the orange flower, and the black and white fabric on the golden flower.

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  Pop-up Book

  Rachel Eshbaugh, Nate Fisher, Grace Hansen, and Samantha Carranza

  For this project, we decided to implement the law of symmetry and continuity. We showed symmetry by choosing to have a book as our project, as a book has symmetry by opening and closing evenly on both sides. Another way we showed symmetry is by having a 3D symmetrical tree in the middle of the book when you open it. For continuity, we added handing yarn to the tree branches to show aligned elements perceived as grouped together.

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  Dominoes

  Morgan Rimmer, Amanda McNally, Alyssa Bausbacher, and Jaedyn Werner

  This project is inspired by the design of dominoes in the way they fall when they are knocked over. While this project is similar in the way they fall, we were able to make it in a more creative and fun way. First, the law of continuation is seen in the way the blocks are layered and continue in a straight path. Next, the law of proximity is important for our design to function correctly. Without close proximity with one another the blocks would not be able to fall as easily, nor would they be able to be pulled back up through the use of the beaded string. Finally, we included the law of symmetry into our designing process so that our project looked organized and symmetrical, not losing focus on the actual function of the design.

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  Bell Tower

  Jarod Sankar, Kathryn Crowder, Isabel Rivera, and Zanna Trotter

  In our project, we decided to focus and corner in on the laws of symmetry and figure-ground. We felt that these laws best fit our idea and look we had desired for our project based on our mind-map created at the beginning. The law of symmetry is the idea that we are compelled to group items together to create a symmetrically balanced design. The fascia and body of the tower is all symmetrical but has diffused light inside the glass tower that are not placed symmetrically. Our mind automatically sees the tower as symmetrical and disperses the unfocused light throughout the lantern of the tower making it balanced to us. The law of figure-ground is the idea of perceiving an image that can be viewed in both a positive and negative way. We created this by coupling the bell inside the metal grate design built into the top of the tower. Looking through the slats shows the bell, but focusing on the outer part shows a metal grate design built into the metal.