Indoor parking bays for food trucks. Work stations that swing from the ceiling. Conference rooms that resemble birds’ nests.
Those were some of the ideas recently pitched by students from an interior design studio within Indiana University’s Department of Apparel Merchandising & Interior Design, who were issued this challenge: How would you transform a historic building — in this case Bloomington’s historic Dimension Mill within the city’s Certified Technology Park (CTP) — into coworking and tech office space?
Each of the 22 students made 5- to 10-minute proposals for the building, whose open floor plan and clerestory windows makes it ideal for tech offices and coworking space. Within the ideas emerged some recurring themes, such as rounded furniture, lighting that softens the hard architectural lines and interior planted walls to take advantage of the natural light. These proposals will provide a wealth of design ideas for the private-sector developer who ultimately will be selected to rehab the Dimension Mill.
The studio project is part of a larger effort to use IU students to assist the City of Bloomington in developing a visual brand for the CTP. It was co-taught by Jon Racek and Louis Joyner, both of whom are lecturers and practicing architect/designers.
For more information on this initiative, see here. To view more student renderings of the Dimension Mill building, see here: https://youtu.be/FcvM0oR2BkM.
Leave a Reply