Robert Baker Designs

Undergraduate Interior Architect

Cine-variety House

For my grauation project, I set myself the task of producing a scheme that will see Sheffield’s Grade II listed Abbeydale Picture House restored and partially renovated to once again become an important aspect within Sheffield’s cinema, theatre and performance arts scene.

I was determined to see this historically and architecturally important building preserved where necessary but also any new insertions would juxtapose the existing details. this would create an exciting narrative of the building that would create a very unique and atmospheric environment.

Welcome to ParasportS1!

We aim to become the UK’s leading sports and rehabilitation centre for paraplegia and spinal cord injuries. We have a common objective of delivering holistic, lifelong care for patients. We claim to be the “best in class” in all important disciplines, as well as acute and long-term treatment.

As a unique centre, we offer our patients services which are geared towards their specific needs, meeting high ethical, scientific and practical demands. The ParasportS1 team makes a central contribution towards achieving the desired targets.

On the one hand, we wish to deploy our special departments as an integrated part of the holistic care we give our visitors; on the other hand, they are establishing themselves in the external market both regionally and nationally as important service providers in ParasportS1 provision.

We run ParasportS1 with highly skilled, enthusiastic employees who put their patients first, taking responsibility for the extraordinary satisfaction of our patients and their relatives. This creates a sense of purpose and personal fulfillment and creates the energy that it takes to contribute towards the development of the centre, in the service of the patient.

We nurture a corporate culture which is characterised by common values and shared objectives, namely commitment, leadership, a humane approach, cooperation, and openness and fairness in our dealings with one another.

THE SLEEPING STATION

Imagine the situation that you are in the modern metropolis, where you are not a local resident, and you have not booked a hotel. It is not comfortable situation, because in the modern, aggressive cities there are no opportunity to rest and relax. If you want to sleep, while waiting your plane or train, it may cause many security and hygiene problems. We believe that urban infrastructure should be more comfortable for people. For this purpose we have developed THE SLEEPING STATION. It provides moments of quiet sleep and rest from the city without wasting time searching for a hotel. Here are the possible locations for THE SLEEPING STATION:

- City Centres

- Rural Areas

- Railway Stations

- Airports

- Expocentres

- Shopping Centres

Thanks to THE SLEEPING STATION any person has an opportunity to spend the night safely and cheaply in case of emergency, or when you have to spend few hours with your baggage.

THE SLEEPING STATION consists of 10 SLEEPBOX’s which are a small mobile space 2mx1.4mx2.3m. The main functional element in it is a bed 2x0.6 metres. SLEEPBOX are equipped with a ventilation system, sound alerts, built-in LCD TV, WiFi, sockets for a laptop, charging phones. Also under the lounges is a place for luggage. After the clients exit, automatic change of bed linen starts and quartz lamps turns on. Payment can be made on a shared terminal, which provides the client with an electronic key. It is possible to buy from 15 minutes to several hours.

THE SLEEPING STATION is intended primarily to perform one main function - to enable a person to sleep peacefully. But it is also equipped with various additional functions; conference pod, meeting pods and break-out areas. Each varies in size to accommodate a range of groups. This means THE SLEEPING STATION is popular with organizations and companies that wish to meet with clients and customers on the go or simply away from the hustle and bustle of the working environment.

At THE SLEEPING STATION we are very passionate about hotels and we have tried to create a ‘first class experience at an affordable price’. THE SLEEPING STATION’s compact sleeping quarters may be smaller than traditional hotel rooms but through great design they offer a beautifully designed, flexible smart space to suit individual needs in which to relax, refresh, connect and sleep. We know the things that usually irritate you about hotel rooms and we’ve tried to take them all away! The compact sleeping quarters offer:

- Automated Check-in and out

- Free WiFi

- Monsoon Showers with all over body wash

- Flat Screen Televisions

- Workstations with Multi Power Points

Our stations are planned to be situated as close as possible to terminal buildings to give customers the ultimate experience of being minutes from departure and arrivals gates. Compact sleeping quarters are bookable by the hour with check-in and check-out times totally flexible.

Competitive Design: Re-Charging Stations

The following is a brief given to me as a first project at level six, third year, interior design studies. It is a competition brief that was created by RSA regarding the unused, non-operational and increasingly obsolete service stations. This blog entry is simply to give you an idea of what was asked of me, the following blog entry will be what I produced for this brief, including many visuals I have produced. Please enjoy.

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Art Deco Inspired

Here are a few items I have found that have clearly been inspired by the Art Deco movement. I am hoping that I can use many fixtures, fittings and furnishings such as the examples above within the Abbeydale Picture House renovation design.

Art Deco Restroom I was on a night out around Sheffield last week and was drinking in a pleasent bar named “The Old House”. It is a small bar and in some ways resembled a traditional pub: exposed brick walls, low lit, oak flooring and a great stone bar with a thick varnished wooden worktop. I was suprised when I entered the gentlemen’s restroom because I was greeted by a very Art Deco styled room. It was a refreshing change from the ever popular simplistic, bland and sterile restrooms seeb throughout today’s pubs, bars and restaurants. I can see this being a great inspiration for the restrooms at the Abbeydale Picture House.

Art Deco Restroom

I was on a night out around Sheffield last week and was drinking in a pleasent bar named “The Old House”. It is a small bar and in some ways resembled a traditional pub: exposed brick walls, low lit, oak flooring and a great stone bar with a thick varnished wooden worktop. I was suprised when I entered the gentlemen’s restroom because I was greeted by a very Art Deco styled room. It was a refreshing change from the ever popular simplistic, bland and sterile restrooms seeb throughout today’s pubs, bars and restaurants. I can see this being a great inspiration for the restrooms at the Abbeydale Picture House.

Cornice Uplighting

I have stumbled across these images and think they look stunning. I have seen many buildings from the same era as the Abbeydale Picture House have cornice and I think installing uplights within these can give the room a new and improved atmosphere. It lightens the room and gives it a sensation of warmth and softness. I hope to employ this lighting design as it would work well throughout the building, I immediately think it would lighten up all smaller rooms and corridors perfectly, especially those with a lack of natural light.

Guangzhou Opera House

Zaha Hadid’s Guangzhou Opera House. Utterly mind boggling! I am inspired by the shapes and forms found within this building. The use of materials in these images looks impossible. I will look closely into modern design like this and see how I can combine it with the inspiration gathered from studying Art Deco to create a unique design for the AbbeyDale Picture House. I already think Zaha Hadid could be a interesting inspiration to modernise my Art Deco theme.

Examples of Art Deco furniture that could be used as inspiration for the types of furniture I could use within my design. Looking at these I decided I may also design my own bespoke Art Deco inspired furniture with a modern twist that will fit in with my ethos and design ideas for the Abbeydale Picture House.

A Journey Into Another World

Romance, excitement and pure pleasure are all bound up in journeys that link the great European cities. The adventures of celebrated historic personalities are still palpable today, held in the original 1920s carriages with their Lalique glass panels, wood burning stoves and Art Deco marquetry.

The Orient Express is a great example of how Art Deco can still be enjoyed today as much as it was in the 1930’s. I hope to take the Orient Express as a great example that Art Deco interiors can still feel as luxurious, if not more exclusive than it originally felt for the occupants. I will be hoping to replicate the success that the Orient Express has had regarding its popularity, although I will be adding a modern twist within the design of the Abbeydale Picture House.