build process week of 8.24-8.28

i stopped by the store today to check on the progress of construction- and i was very excited to see that the wall has been demolished! just by knocking down two portions of the wall- it completely opens up the space. all the framing is complete and passed inspection today. drywall is expected to start the end of this week or the beginning of next. the secondary drop down ceiling has also been installed.

view of front of store from store's entrance
note:: the wall that separated the two leased spaces have been removed! :)

newly paved ramp at the drop off area

children's section

dressing rooms

the wall in the backroom that has finally been removed!

build me up buttercup... build process week of 8.17-8.21

matt and i visited the site earlier this morning to check in with the process of te construction and talk with the contractor on site. as of now- they are framing the interior walls for the dressing rooms, bathrooms, office, and lounge. it is very exciting to see it all come together. we are going back to site early next week to take some more pictures and talk with the contractor on a more finalized schedule of their work so we know when we can come in and start installing our fixtures.

matt and i have been working on flyers and a temporary sign to be placed on the road sign by the store to start informing the public of the new store opening. [graphic will come later.] we are also in the process of putting a schedule together for us so we know when each stage of the project will be complete. more of that later to come...

entrance looking left

entrance looking center by the bathrooms and dressing rooms

entrance looking center where the cash rap will be placed

entrance looking right where the children's section will be plus the women's section that will be placed where the wall will be demolished

dressing room framing

bathroom framing

back entrance for the donation drop off from the interior

standing by the back entrance looking towards the front of the store

standing in the back looking towards the office and lounge

back entrance for the donation drop off

median for possible placement of donation drop off sign

FINAL drawings

yesterday marked the last day of classes and the end of PHASE 1- design complete! the images below explain our design of the sales floor and back room. the back of the house is an area that we will be working on a little bit more by collaborating with the existing manager at the lee street location to ensure an efficient working space. so now PHASE 2 begins....

store axonometric view

view from entrance-- cash wrap

view of women's and children's section from entrance

view of children's section

view of entrance and women's section from cash wrap

view of men's section from cash wrap

working up a storm

debbie and i have been hard at work this week preparing for final presentations next tuesday. we are also busy getting our boards ready to print so that the salvation army can use them this weekend during a donation drive at the grasshoppers game.

this axon view shows the entire store where the renderings will focus mainly on the sales floor.

update on schedule!

as thesis is coming to the end [yay!] we are preparing for our final presentation and completing our presentation drawings for our review on july 28th. matt and i have been busy this week deciding on color and material applications for the store as well as details for the store fixtures. we are planning to have our presentation boards completed and printed by this saturday because the salvation army is having an event at the greensboro grasshoppers baseball game this saturday and we wanted to have the boards there to promote the new store.


last friday we had a meeting with salvation army in which we discussed the project schedule from now until the opening so we had a better idea as to what our fall was going to look like since matt and i are planning on seeing this project to the end. we are currently waiting on approval for the budget from the salvation army headquarters so we can go ahead and tell our contractor to proceed with the construction. we hope to receive approval within the next week and have the design sent to the city with their approval. within the next couple weeks-we hope to have the construction up and running and lasting for around 5 weeks. then for the next 4 weeks- we will be detailing the interior: painting, merchandising...etc and this is when matt and i will be building the built in fixtures that will be placed along the wall and in the middle of the sales floor. then we are shooting to have a soft opening sometime in the beginning of october and grand opening in mid october-- yay! cross your fingers all goes according to plan....

gate city signs meeting

as we get closer and closer to the opening date- we realized we need to step outside of the store walls and consider the exterior signage for the building. matt and i had a meeting with gate city signs today to discuss our ideas and some of the options we have for signage. even though the name of the store isn't completely decided yet- we can still move forward with gathering options. as of now- the name that we are leaning towards is the salvation army SELECT store.

during our meeting with jim from gate city signs- we were able to show him our design ideas and discuss our options according to our designs. he was extremely helpful and very informative about the directions we could take- all depending on budget [of course!]. the first thing we needed to check on is the exterior signage guidelines established by the building's leasing company. some places only allow signage with a raceway [which is a strip in which is attached to the building and then attached to the letters] or just have the channel letters applied directly to the facade. we also have the option of having some or all of the sign be lit up during the night.

we discussed a lot about the main sign [ideas shown below] but we also discussed the secondary sign to direct donors to the donation center. jim suggested the idea of not placing the donation center sign on the front of the building but rather placed in the ground so it doesn't take away from the main sign.

we will meet with them again soon-- but first things first....we need a name!!

budget meeting

Yesterday morning Debbie,Suzanne and I meet with Major Egan and Ivan at the Center for Hope, to discuss the quote that Bob Isner had prepared for our plans thus far. All things seem in order to begin construction. We discussed having The Salvation Army contact directly the suppliers that Bob works with to see if they could reduce the costs of these materials for the cause. We contacted Bob this morning to ask him to e-mail this information to us. Also Ivan is contacting several members of the board to acquire donations of goods or services. Debbie and I are preparing a budget for the Major so he may acquire the necessary funds. So far so good, with a few more signatures we should be ready for ground breaking.

p. diddy to the rescue...

today was an extremely productive day [i love it when i have these] in terms of our thesis paper. since the beginning of this project- we have been knee deep in the design process due to time restraints and deadlines. so needless to say- we have some what neglected our thesis paper because we have been working completely backward compared to a typical design thesis project. to help jump start our writing engines again- matt and i met with patrick [another professor in our department] today and brainstormed for over an hour a solid thesis statement that each of us can focus on throughout our papers.

we then set a schedule for ourselves [another thing that made me feel productive] for the coming month so we can pace ourselves and make sure we accomplish not only our thesis paper but our design of the store as well.

we need sage to spice things up a bit

This afternoon Debbie and I meet with local artist Sage Hanna at the Green Bean to discuss her possible involvement in our project with The Salvation Army. We first came across Sage's work during our visit with Scott Richardson at Revolution Mills. She painted a large wall mural as well as several hanging canvases at ENVY salon in the mill.


After we all ordered a drink, Sage began to tell us a story of her education and where she is today with her artwork that was quite varied across disciplines and media. After explaining the project and filling her in on what we are looking for she was eager to join. Sage will be working on several ideas and hopefully within two weeks time have a color palette as well as an estimate for us to review with the board.

round TWO...

TODAY we had our second design meeting with the new store committee of salvation army. we presented to them our more finalized design for the store along with details regarding the wall and mid floor fixtures. we emphasized the importance of details because they will set this store apart from the current salvation army family stores.

our final plan diagram breaks down all the spaces that have been incorporated into the design. since we have moved forward with scheme 2- we have designed the store by placing the entire sales floor towards the front of the store and the donation center and storage will be placed in the back of the store. this creates a fluid and accessible circulation plan and also emphasizes the importance of the merchandise.

within our store layout- we have broken up the apparel sections into men, women's, and children. the fixtures that will hold the clothes and accessories will be placed along the walls and continue into the middle of the sales floor to delineate space. we have also proposed a drop down ceiling above the circulation pathway from the store's entrance to the cash wrap to emphasize it as a main focal point witin the store. the drop down ceiling will create a transition for the customers to experiecnce once they enter and travel throughout the store. the ceiling will have can recessed lights to illuminate aid in wayfinding but will also have track lights beside it to illuminate the jewelry cases placed beneath it. there are also two area within the women's and men's section to act as a flex display space for multiple pieces of merchandise to be displayed for shorter periods of time. this flex concept will allow for the merchandise to be exchanged out quickly as they store fluxuates with volume of merchandise.

a custom built mid-floor fixture is going to be placed within the men's section of the store to create an addtional display unit for clothing and accessories. the unit will have a clothing rack as well as a shelf above the rack for merchandise but there will also be a table that will extend from the unit to create another focal display for specific merchandise. the fixture will be covered in slats of wood that will extend and then cut off to create the shape of the salvation army sheild [note the black and white line drawing above].
the wall fixtures will also case the merchandise similarly to the mid-floor fixture but will have a smaller application of wood onto its face. track lighting will be placed above the fixture to illuminate the products within the case. we have thought of incorporating color into the space by painting the backdrop to the inside of the cases different colors to allow the merchadise to stqand out.

we presented to the board members at the presentation a WISH LIST for the project-- materials and serives that we are searching for either donations or reduced prices. that way we can save money and be able to put it towards other details in the project.

salvation army were pleased with the design and approved for it to move onto the next phase. so as of now we are on a waiting platform until we hear back from our contractor in regards to the cost estimation from the design. once we have a better idea of how much everything will cost- we then can proceed with more details of the interior and START CONSTRUCTION!