Posted in Design Guide

Design considerations for a Science Museum

How to design a Science Museum?

The design of a museum depends on the kind of exhibits. Galleries for the exhibits must be designed suitably. In a science museum the basic exhibition galleries that you can target are:

  • History of science in India
  • Human Biology
  • Prehistoric Life
  • Fun Science
  • Space Science
  • Emerging Technologies

The aim of designing a science museum should be to:

  • Teach children science in an interesting and practical way
  • Divide the exhibits in proper sections so that people can view the desired sections with ease.
  • Presenting and displaying information in a way that helps people understand what the exhibits are all about.
  • Design the museum in such a way that it becomes a learning/discussion centre for people in the city who are interested in science
  • You can also conduct special lectures/presentations on a periodical basis

 The spaces in a science museum can be divided as:

  • Exhibition Galleries & Exhibit storage areas
  • Administration Areas
  • Non Museum Spaces
  • Supporting services
East Hall Science Museum

East Hall Science Museum

Admin areas in the Museum

The purpose of creating a museum is to give the visitors a feel of the world of science.  Therefore the journey of a visitor through the museum should be continuous and undisturbed by spaces that distract a person from the exhibits. Thus, the administration area should be removed from the exhibition gallery areas and should be located in a secluded space away from the crowd. The people working in the offices should be able to access their work area directly without facing the necessity of going through the museum galleries.

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How to design a 2BHK Courtyard House?

How to design a Courtyard House?

Courtyard houses are large houses with a central open space in between surrounded by the main part of the building. Most of the rooms in the house open in the central courtyard. The central open space serves as a place where the family gathers for chatting and spending time together. Generally, the exterior walls of the rooms that open to the courtyard do not have windows. Their lighting and ventilation happens through the courtyard. In the sixteenth century, noblemen in England stopped building castles and preferred courtyard houses.

Granada Alhambra is an historical structure with a central courtyard.

Granada Alhambra is an historical structure with a central courtyard.

Things you will require for the design of a courtyard house:

Step One:

Listing requirements

  • 1 Master Bedroom
  • 1 Attached toilet
  • 1 common toilet
  • 1 kitchen
  • 1 Hall
  • 1 Dining

Step two

Spend some time visualizing and sketching your ideas of a courtyard house.

Step three

Begin designing with a bubble diagram. It ensures efficient connectivity between different spaces of the courtyard.

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How to paint a Playhouse? | Design Guide

Playhouse Design

Playhouses are loved by both girls and boys. They imagine the playhouse as their very own castle where they could invite their friends to play and eat. Selection of colour is very important and has to be done carefully. Lighter shades should be preferred so that it looks lively and bright. If in case there is no electricity in the playhouse, darker shades would end up making the interiors of the playhouse dark even during the daytime. Selection of colours for the playhouse will also depend on the age and gender of your child. If it is a girl child, then you could go for colours in red, pink, purple and yellow whereas if it is a boy then you could prefer using combinations and shades of blue, black and white.

Bright colours make the playhouse vibrant and attractive.

Bright colours make the playhouse vibrant and attractive.

Things you will need:

  • Exterior caulk
  • Electric Sanders or sandpaper
  • Paint brushes
  • Primer
  • All exterior paint

Step 1

Exterior Caulking

Use the exterior caulking tubes to seal the cracks around the doors and windows of the playhouse so that the rain water does not seep into the playhouse.

Step 2

Electric Sanders or Sandpaper

After having sealed the cracks, use the sanders or a medium-grit sandpaper to smooth-en the exterior and interior surface of the playhouse. Also, rub around the edges so that they are smooth to touch.

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How to decorate a White Bedroom?

Guide to decorating a White Bedroom

Decorating bedrooms is a very interesting and creative opportunity for you to explore your ideas. White bedrooms reflect sophistication. You can be creative with the blank walls and give a warm, relaxing and spacious feel to your bedroom. Personalize your bedroom by hanging your favorite posters or paintings or a cork-board where you could pin up your schedule.

Black duvet covers serve as a focal point in the white bedroom.

Black duvet covers serve as a focal point in the white bedroom.

Hanging Posters or Paintings

Frame the family and friends photos and hang them in your bedroom to personalize it. You can also pin the motivational posters, movie banners or the posters of your favorite movie stars. Buy an art book from a second hand store and frame the pages and hang them on the wall. Make it thematic by selecting the colors of the posters such that they complement each other. Make sure that the walls are sturdy enough to support the thick nails for your frames.

Placing Mirrors

Decorate the bedroom by placing a mirror on one of the walls. The wall across the window is a prime position for placing a mirror so that it receives natural light and reflects it into the bedroom. This is a good decorating trick for a small space. Apart from making the bedroom bright, it gives an illusion of spaciousness.

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How to design a Duplex? | Architectural Design

Guide to designing a Duplex

Duplex is a term used for a household with different unit configurations. This term is used in different countries to convey different meanings. In densely populated areas such as Manhattan and Downtown Chicago, it refers to a single household unit spread over two floors. This is the category of Duplex design we will focus on in this article.

There are two major steps in designing a Duplex

  1. Conducting a casestudies of Duplexes
  2. Designing

Designing can be further split into three phases:

  1. Conceptual Sketching
  2. Developing Single line plans
  3. Developing Double line plans

Four things you would need for the design of Duplex:

  1. Willingness to do the live casestudies of duplexes
  2. Online research
  3. Paper, Pencil for conceptual sketching
  4. CAD software

We need to conduct case studies of individual duplexes or apartments that house duplexes. You might wonder, why is that required? Let me remind you that case studies are the backbone of our design. When we design, we begin with listing out requirements. For example, if we are designing a building and have no clue about its requirements, we might have difficulty getting the functional aspect of the design right.

Following aspects have to be studied whilst conducting a case study of a Duplex:

  • study the circulation,
  • the requirements,
  • calculate the number of people it caters to;
  • calculate the areas of individual spaces such as bedroom, bathroom, Hall, Dining, Kitchen, Utility etc.

Studying the above mentioned aspects will help you with understand the requirements for Duplex design.

Also, the study of connectivity of the spaces is very important and has to be done in order to get the functional aspect of the design right.

“Efficient connectivity is the soul of any design”.

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