Type III: Fall 2014: 2014

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

San Marcos Public Library

The San Marcos Public Library is located on Hopkins Street in San Marcos. It serves a wide demographic of people, ranging from children to adults and seniors, people of nearly every race, and San Marcos residents, students, and families. Its mission is “to serve as a source of information, education, recreation, and cultural enrichment by providing the community with free and convenient access to books, periodicals, audiovisual materials, information services, and educational programs.”

History:
This library first began, in 1920, as a row of books of the shelf of a local grocery store. Books were donated by a local woman’s club (Brackenridge Club). Meanwhile, the Chamber of Commerce collected books in a “book shower,” and a loan library of children’s books was set up. However, in time, these books were stored away because of lack of space and help. Then, in 1925, two women’s clubs collaborated their efforts and their books, and secured quarters for a library room in the Hays County Courthouse, where the San Marcos Library began to grow. It then moved to the Central Presbyterian Church with volunteer librarians from sponsoring clubs. The need for financial support was met by several sponsoring clubs. More joined in this effort and have helped keep the library alive, including individual donations and support from the City. The library then moved to a building on West Hutchison Street, and then (as it continued to grow) to Hopkins Street, which is the library we use today.

http://www.ci.san-marcos.tx.us/index.aspx?page=194

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Downtown Austin

1. The place is located in downtown Austin, Texas.

2. Downtown Austin caters to all different kinds of demographics. Whether it's people who are working downtown, tourists, those who work in the service industry, and young people who are looking to have fun.

3. The history of Austin dates back to 1896, with Congress being the first predominant street.

4. My mission is to educate and navigate people through a certain region of downtown Austin, specifically referencing the history behind this area.

Shelby Stockman- Dallas Farmers Market

The Dallas Farmers Market is a landmark for downtown. Their mission is to educate the people of Dallas about a healthier and more balanced lifestyle. The market has been around since the 30's and has grown to the point that they need an expanded way finding system.

History:
As Dallas began to flourish in the late 19th century, farmers began to sell their produce in locations around the city from their wagons. Soon enough, the intersection of Pearl and Cadiz became the hub of a thriving wholesale business—produce, chickens, pigs, eggs and goats were all sold to the people of North Texas. But as the city grew, so did the demand for farm-fresh produce and meat. So, in 1939, the site of the Dallas Farmers Market was expanded, and the first Shed was established. By 1941, the site was officially sanctioned as a municipally owned and operated market.

http://www.dallasfarmersmarket.org/

Falls & Sayers Residence Hall

Falls & Sayers Hall , also known as West Campus Housing Complex is located here on Texas State Campus. It is very close to Harris Dining Hall and Blanco Residence Hall. Falls & Sayers just opened this Fall semester.

Falls & Sayers serves incoming students, and some returning students. It also serves the friends and family of the students because the hall has 24 hour visitation.

The names Falls and Sayers are the names of two important women in Texas State University history. The director of housing wanted to pay tribute to these women. Also, there was a hall called Falls that was demolished a few years ago.

The purpose of Falls & Sayers is to provide a safe, warm and friendly environment to a diverse range of students. An environment in which these students succeed at school and still feel at home.

Mutts Cantina

Mutts Cantina is best described as awesome and upscale dog park with a cool bar and pavilion area. It is located in the west village in Dallas, TX. It's clientele consists of more of a younger target audience (mid 20s-late 30s) and also locals who live in the uptown area. Mutts is a fairly new place but growing rapidly by word of mouth and popularity. It's mission is basically to provide a safe and fun environment for dogs, dog lovers, and dog owners while topping it all off with a glass of wine.. or two. Some of the amenities of Mutts include a bar serving wells, wine, & beer, a playful and simple menu of finger foods, and a shades pavilion and porch for your convenience and comfort while watching your pooches play!

I am seeing this as a really playful environment. I'd like to use type to interact with not on the people in this space but also their pups! I'd like to incorporate a lot of clever and interactive type!

Comal Building, Texas State University

Comal Building, exterior

The Comal building on Texas State University's San Marcos campus was recently renovated and has as a result adopted a very particular modern-meets-classic atmosphere. The building, formerly serving as the seat of the psychology department, now hosts an array of classes in the philosophy and computer science departments; its occupants, therefore, consist primarily of students and teachers of these courses.

Example of the interior

As stated previously, the Comal building was once home to the psychology department of Texas State University, though before even that it served as San Marcos High School. This was the case some time after the building's initial construction in 1918 and lasted through the 1940s and into the '50s. Texas State's psychology department adopted the space in 1977 and remained there until the building's transformation and subsequent reopening earlier this year.

Purgatory Creek

The place I chose is Purgatory Creek located in San Marcos off Hunter Road. The types of people that Purgatory serves are adventurous "outdoorsy" type people. People who love exercise and to be outside. Purgatory was purchased in parts by the city of San Marcos. The first 33 acres were bought in 1979. The previous owner then donated 93 acres. In December 2001 the remaining acreage was bought making a total of 326.3 acres. There was also an extension was added in July 2010 on Wonderworld Drive to include hike and bike trails connecting Hunter Road to the Purgatory trails. The mission of this park it to provide an area for people to exercise in and enjoy nature.

Alkek Library, Texas State University

Alkek Library is located in the heart of Texas State University, serving predominantly TSU students and faculty. While this is a fairly targeted audience, it does include a wide age-range, making it necessary to appeal to multiple generations. The library's current name was given in 1991 in honor of a prolific supporter of higher education at Texas State University (at the time, Southwest Texas), Albert B. Alkek. As stated on its website, "The University Library advances the teaching and research mission of the University and supports students, faculty, and other researchers by providing user‐centered services, comprehensive and diverse collections, individual and collaborative learning environments, and opportunities to learn, create, and discover."

Schertz Public Library

The place chosen was the Schertz Public Library, located in Schertz, Texas near Clemens highschool. The library serves a multitude of people, predominately Clemens Highschool students while also offering resources that younger and older audiences can both utilize. The library started off in the late 70's when Schertz Board members brought up the lack of a library for the cities citizens. Since then it has grown from a small 1500 square foot building to the massive 30,000 square foot space. Schertz Public Library has a pretty simple mission - "Wisdom from yesterday, knowledge for today, dreams for tomorrow."

Omni hotel Parking Garage

My place is a parking garage in the Omni hotel in Austin TX. Most of the people that park in the garage are suits and 9-5ers that leave their car their at least 5 days a week. Some are tourist or local Austinites that need a place to park to spend the day in Austin. The history is unknown, most likely built along side the surrounding buildings to support the need for parking. The mission is to create a sense of place by utilizing type to become a part of the environment with positive quotes and sayings. It will also serve as a way finding structure by using stylized maps and icons to help people navigate the city and feel more comfortable navigating the city.

Schertz/Cibolo Public Library

The Library is a department of the City of Schertz and as such operates under the ordinances and operating guidelines of the City. The Library was established by City Council in 1978 in response to a petition by a group of concerned citizens who decried the lack of library services in the city and the western end of Guadalupe County. In the years since its inception, the Library has grown from a tiny 1,500 square foot space to the current building size of approximately 30,000 square feet housing a collection of more than 70,000 items. Architecturally interesting, this location will not have a shortage of good places to design and place text.

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Austin Convention Center or Jones Hall

I have two options. The deciding factor is that I do not want to make the three and a half hour drive to Houston this particular weekend. I'm including that option just because I may do it in my spare time or decide spur of the moment that I miss my mother enough to make the long journey for less than 24 hours.

The most promising choice!
Austin Convention Center

The Austin Convention Center is located in the middle of downtown Austin and provides a large number of meetings halls, a few ball rooms, and several exhibition areas for conventions and events for all organizations. The architecture is not only interesting in shape and scale, but the materials. The building is meant to reflect the diversity of the city with its many facades and large collection of building materials from which it is made. The central location and grand architecture makes this building a landing hub for international, statewide, and local attractions. It provides a casually professional atmosphere in a fun and unique environment that welcomes events of all forms. From linear escalators to circular ceiling designs, to enchanting ballrooms and meeting spaces, this location could benefit from a typographic way-finding and place-making system that completely unifies it diverse structure and concept.

My Houston based location is quite wonderful but my dedication may be lacking..

Jones Hall and Plaza

This center for the performing arts is located in downtown Houston. The surrounding plaza takes up an entire city block with a modern environment looking onto the movable and brilliantly lit exterior of Jones Hall. With sweeping stone spaces throughout all the architecture, the environment could wholeheartedly benefit from place-making typography to fully envelop the visitor into their fine art experience. Whether a person is visiting to view a show or to have lunch in the plaza, an atmosphere of escape intellect should whisk the visitor into the world of the Jones Hall and Plaza.

So that's my dilemma. I guess we'll see what happens with Jones Hall.

Metz Park Austin - Erin Corrigan

Metz Park is located in East Austin, south of Cesar Chavez at 62 Pedernales Street and is 5 acres. It is tucked back in a neighborhood and backs up against the river and Fiesta Gardens. It's very much a neighborhood park though it offers the services of a much wider-serving park.

The park is visited by members of the direct community for it's pool, picnic tables and basketball courts and is visited on a larger scale for it's meet-up style classes. There are classes for crochet, karate, cheer leading, fishing and more. I have personally visited for an open air production of Ghost Busters: The Musical! So, the park has a wide reach in terms of activities.

The land for the park was acquired in 1933 and the present facility was built in 1972 through a "model cities" fund and was added to through the 80s. It is named after the adjacent school. In 2004, the Austin Chronicle named it "Best place to show your kids an industrial view". Thanks, Austin Chronicle!

The park serves to create a tightly bonded community in the area. There are a few parks, pools, and schools nearby. This means that neighborhoods are highly concentrated and the park can serve at a high capacity a small group of citizens relative to it's size.
The facilities built with money from the Model Cities Fund were meant to jump start civic efficacy in minority neighborhoods. Certainly this played a part in Metz's mission, though I haven't been able to find a specific mission.

I'm including a link though it doesn't specifically address the park.
http://www.preservationaustin.org/uploads/Tejano_Trail_revised2013.pdf

Austin City Hall

Austin City Hall - it's on W 2nd St.

It serves the people of Austin, city council officials, government employees. It provides opportunity for global as well as local business expansion and growth. It encourages a strong cultural economy and public service. Major government and social decisions for the city are made in within the city departments.

Texas State University Alkek Library

For the second project I want to select the Alkek library. It's located right in the middle of Texas State University. Alkek serves many people, most importantly the students of Texas State that range from incoming freshman to seniors ready to graduate. Board of Regents approved the naming of the Texas State University Library building to honor Albert B. Alkek. Who had a long history of support for higher education across the state. The Alkek library mission is to help out students succeed by providing high quality library services in many formats.