Introduction: Ultimate Engineer's Bedroom

So, this is my dream bedroom. As a young engineer, I love to tinker and learn engineering related material, such as physics and electronics. So, I've created a bedroom/workroom that would suit an engineer like me. I have put a lot of effort into designing a room that can inspire me to learn and help me focus on the task at hand.

Brainstorming:
I had a lot of difficulties designing my dream engineer's bedroom because I wanted it to be perfect. Here are a few things I wanted to make sure was in my design, and these were also the reasons why designing the perfect engineer's bedroom took long:
  • enough workspace
  • natural light flowing into workspace
  • work desk facing the room/door
  • easy for occupant to access anything (work desk, build desk, materials)
  • furniture arrangement should be kept simple enough, not too complex

Step 1: Outline

The ultimate engineer's bedroom contains the following:
  • Bed and lamp stands
  • Work desk (facing the wall of the door)
  • Build desk (next to the window/side wall)
  • Shelf (in the very back of the room)
  • Whiteboard
  • Printer/3-D printer
The room is separated into two main parts: the bed and the workspace. The bed part of the room is quite simple: a bed between two lamp stands. The workspace is more complex. The seat space of the occupant is the center of the workspace. In front of the seat space is the work desk, and on the side is the build desk, where the occupant can work on building prototypes, breadboarding, etc. The shelf is located behind the seat space and occupies the whole back wall of the room. The other side of the workspace consists of a printer and a 3D printer. Behind the build desk is a large window. I made the wall transparent in these two images so that you can have a better view of how the furniture is arranged.

Step 2: Workspace

So now I'll explain why I designed the workspace in this particular way.

The seat space of the occupant is located in the center of the workspace so that everything is within the occupant's reach. He/she can just remain on the seat and be able to access the work desk and the shelf just by rotating. In addition, the work desk is placed right next to the large window because the window lets in natural sunlight onto the desk, thus enhancing the occupant's thought process. Right next to the work desk is the build desk, and a shelf is located on the left side and above the build desk. This shelf will hold materials and tools needed when building on the build desk. It's located just nearby for convenience. Also, the shelf holds a whiteboard right behind the seat space of the occupant. Left to the whiteboard are smaller shelves. These shelves are designated to store parts. For example, I would store my digital electronic parts--wires, resistors, chips--in these small shelves. These shelves have glass doors so that the occupant can see what's inside. On the far left part of the shelf contains three medium-sized shelves with glass doors. These are meant to store prototypes or even place trophies or awards. Finally, the printers are located to the right of the seat space of the occupant. The printers are located farther away from the occupant because the occupant won't spend as much time on these printers as on the build desk, work desk, or the whiteboard. In short terms, this workspace design inspires the occupant, keeps him/her focused, and makes engineering much easier in the workspace/bedroom.

Step 3: The Art of Feng Shui

One of the main reasons I organized the room like this is because of feng shui, the art of placement of objects in order to enhance the fortune of a person. I applied some of the rules of feng shui into this room:
  • The bed is placed somewhat cater-corner to the door and is not directly facing the opening of the door. This is so that the occupant, when lying on the bed, can still see whoever is coming in. Thus, his/her chi improves because the occupant won't be surprised by strangers.
  • The work desk doesn't face a wall and instead faces the room. This is to allow the occupant to have an open mind. The placement of the work desk right next to the window also allows for natural chi to flow in to the workspace, thus making the occupant more creative and open-minded.
  • The work desk is also cater-cornered to the door, meaning that it doesn't directly face the door, but the occupant can still be aware of whoever enters the room. This is the ideal place for a work desk because, in feng shui, the person has the most control over his/her life if he/she sets the desk in the corner farthest from the door.
  • The white colors of the desk and the beige color of the walls stimulate creativity, thus allowing the occupant to come up with more unique, insightful designs.
  • The furniture are not too crowded next to each other and makes the room more spacy. An uncrowded room allow for a freer mind.

Feng Shui sources:
Feng Shui: The Chinese Art of Placement by Sarah Rossbach
http://www.9star.net/
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/203662
http://fs.99166.com/fssy/


Thanks for taking a look at my dream room!

Improve Your Room Youth Design Challenge

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