Interior Design students’ backstage pass to the new Ballston Center

By: Laura Saunders and Raelynn Maier

Photos: www.marymount.edu

This past fall semester the Interior Design 101 course was given a “backstage pass” of the newly built Ballston Center and to its Designers/Architects at the firm Gensler.

A backstage pass is an employee pass which allows its bearer access to employee only areas at a performance venue. These are most commonly associated with rock music and concerts.

This past fall semester the Interior Design 101 course was given a “backstage pass” of the newly built Ballston Center and to its Designers/Architects at the firm Gensler. We were given access to not just the finished spaces but also to the unfinished structure and systems of the building.

We then went to Gensler to hear the decisions behind the design solutions of the “Rock Stars” of designers.

Laura Saunders:

Prior to visiting the Ballston Center, I didn’t know what to expect. A building similar to the main campus interiors? Simple, plain classrooms? To my surprise, this wasn’t the case.

Upon arrival, my eyes were instantly drawn to the decorative elements and professional feel the space presented. From the large, open staircase to the varying ceiling colors on each floor, the composition of the building became like eye candy.

Every step I took, I was amazed with the modern and creative space. Coming from classrooms with plain, white walls and little to no decorative aspects throughout the hallways, I was shocked that the Ballston Center was a building I could call my school.

Throughout the space, the concept of light was strongly evident. The classrooms and study areas consisted of large, floor length windows, which filled the spaces with natural light.  The lobby held an attractive, glass staircase, which not only brought a massive about of light into the front of the building, but also served to promote Active Design.

This type of design is based on encouraging the users of the space to become more active, as a way to decrease obesity and health risks. Aside from natural light, the building also includes the perfect amount of artificial light. My favorite light fixture was a decorative feature on one of the walls. It consisted of multiple straight lines that would subtly transition through the colors of the rainbow.

After touring the space, I was filled with pride, knowing that my school has such a well constructed facility to learn in. It also left me wondering on why certain things were made and designed the way they were.

Raelynn Maier:

I would describe this field trip to the Gensler Firm as a “backstage pass”, because of the opportunity that we got to participate and hear about the “behind the scene process” that took place when building the Ballston center and the different steps that were put into the project.

From having classes in the Ballston Center, I knew what the building looked like but was interested to hear the process they went through from creating the idea, planning it, executing the construction to the final details finishing up the building.

Gonzalo Gomez and Mayre Perez sat us all down and started presenting the building to us as if we were there on the committee that was producing and building it. From learning the struggles of keeping everything in Marymount’s budget to the reasonings that the ceilings were different colors throughout the building.

It was interesting to hear the situations that they faced and how they worked through them. For example, Gomez told us that the glass between the classroom doors and the wall originally had the intent to do a customized pattern for the film, but instead a standard product was used to keep the rest of the budget in check.

They explained their process of the ceilings on each floor being different. Originally, they were supposed to be different gradations of blue.

“If the University expanded up to  the floors above, it would be hard to keep the gradation going darker as we would most likely end in black. That’s when we explored using different colors,” Gomez said.

So they came up with the gradation to go from yellow to green to blue to allow for expansion.

Going to Gensler has given me more of an understanding and appreciation for all the hard work that was put into our building to create a welcoming and successful space for students and professors to be in.

According to Moira Denson, Associate Professor of Interior Design, on Wednesday May 2, 2018, Interior Design students and faculty had the joy of witnessing the Gensler team accept the IIDA (International Interior Design Association) Mid Atlantic Chapter Award of Honor in the 60,000-100,000 SF category for MU’s New Ballston Center. ID graduate student Lisa Ferguson also won an award for her Steelcase NEXT Project.