Graduation Project: Utopia Wedding Center.

Who doesn't like weddings? The white dress, romantic surroundings and the concept of a happy ever after while the bride and groom dance the night away.

But let's ask another question: who likes wedding planning and the crazy hustle that goes behind the scenes of the wedding? I can confidently say: people who make money of it. (and someone who has infinite time and resources to stay stress-free)

As I was passing through that very hustle (being engaged at the time) I took my energy and channeled it into my graduation project, creating the space and experience that I wished for.

So Utopia Wedding Center was created in 2013.

Architectural Design by Ali S. Khalid (who is my husband!)

What I was trying to achieve, is a place that gathers all of those facilities that you need when preparing for a wedding, and making it adjacent to the actual venue, which saves time and effort for everyone.

With 3 wedding venues, each that hold up to 300 guests, and a garden in the middle for an outdoor wedding party, an open office plan that includes the following business branches: wedding planning, catering, and fashion designers, as well as a wedding furniture exhibition that doubles as a space to meet weds-to-be & their families.

It also includes an under ground joint for all of the 3 wedding venues.

Zoning:

Following a case study on weddings and facilities that are constantly needed in the wedding planning, I found out that those were my most important amenities to be included within the center:

- The physical venues.

- The wedding planning and planners

- The caterers

- The kitchens

- The event designers

- The fashion and wedding dresses designers

- The lighting & sound technicians

- The bridal suites and getting ready areas.

After doing a through bubble diagram and matrix, I reached to the following result in zoning the space:

Branding and Theme:

This is one of the parts which I want to redo in my project, where my understanding of branding now differs dramatically from when I was a student 5 years ago (and I assume that the older I grow the more that evolves), but I was heading towards a whimsical-feel to the center and space, something that is dreamy and hazy, which is completely inspired by a beautiful palette of pastel colors, my style of choice was shabby-chic, because I always imagined beautiful weddings to have a classy outcome that is also saturated with history.

While I know better about how to make mood boards right now, I can confidently say that I made a couple of mistakes making this mood board, however I am patting myself on the back because after all, the aesthetics are still looking pretty darn good!

The Final Result:

I am totally admitting here that a lot of things can improve, and I might actually get those improvements done in the future (as soon as I am done with all of my other tasks and responsibilities, ya know? ) so stay tuned for that!

Sections for different areas in the project!

- Section C-C is cut throw the venues, and that theme is completely flexible!

- Section A-A is a section cut through the exhibition, the corridor to the rest rooms, and the reception area (that has a juice bar)

- Section B-B is a section cut through the open offices, brainstorming area, and another reception area for another venue!

main materials and patterns

Shabby Chic style is shown strongly in the finishes, mixed with few eclectic items.

I actually had only 1 area that is done in 3D and rendered, I wasn't so fluent in 3D software back then (but now I am trying to be as fluent as possible)

But there are the shots I could manage!

I will also add the sketches once I scan them! I have a whole sketchbook filled with details and ideas! Would you be interested in seeing that? (please subscribe to the mailing list if you do would!)

Thank you so much for being here! Have a pleasant day :)

Love,

Aseel

*Kindly note that is is a copyrighted page, you can definitely share it, but you need to credit aseelbysketchbook.com

if you have any questions about the project, I will be more than happy to answer it to the best of my knowledge, so email me anything you need. :)