OVERVIEW

This Harry Potter Redesign Project is created for my senior show at Art Center College of Design, which just happened in Spring 2016. The focus was to reimagine the four Hogwarts houses, specifically their common rooms. The common rooms were not featured as heavily in the movies, so I decided to give them a try. Part of the challenge was to create four distinct visual language that also belongs in the same world. I have always loved the Harry Potter stories, but never got to slowly analyze them. This was a practice to discover what I actually love about the world JK Rowling magically built. To add some flavors into these common room redesigns, I added some sort of mystery room/floor/space to each house, and also decided that each house is entrusted a certain responsibility in keeping Hogwarts running. (I think Hermione would agree that the house elves can’t be doing all the work)

Gryffindor Common Room

House element

/ Fire

House animal

/ Lion

House traits

/ Brave, Courageous, Chivalry and Nerve The Gryffindors’ elements may be flame, but instead of wild fire, Godric Gryffindor was more like a glowing bright sun, full of energy and power, controlled and respected, hence the merge of planets into his house’s common room redesign.

(open image in new tab for detail view)

The main floor With fire being its house element, the fireplace is the common room’s core, radiating its heat and energy out equally to every side of the common room. The main floor is largely divided into a lounge space and a study space. The lounge space has squashy armchairs where Gryffindors hang out, play chess, and interact. The study space are individual desks lined up along magical stained glass windows that are actually puzzles. Two stairs flank the entrance of the common room, leading to the half dome observatory, while two others that flank the dorm entrances lead down towards the floor that houses the timekeeping clockwork gears. The Half Dome Observatory The Half Dome observatory consist of a pipe organ with its keys embedded on the floor, and a giant half dome that can contain projections of planets and galaxies far far away. Gryffindors, being very structured and rhythmic by nature, play scores that triggers a projection of a certain planet or galaxy for study purposes. Ambitious by birth, Gryffindors look beyond planet Earth for knowledge and inspiration. Of course, like some Muggles, they believe magical creatures exist on other planets too. The Clockwork floor Gryffindors are entrusted with timekeeping within the Hogwarts grounds. Time runs a little magically different within these grounds as opposed to the Muggle territory. When done right (most of the time), classes bells ring when it is suppose to be, meals are served and mails are delivered on time. To achieve these, an assigned group of senior Gryffindors attend to the clockwork gears every other week. With teamwork, all gears are turned and tuned with accuracy. A little planet in the middle of the clockwork floor glows bright when the gears are done right.

What about…

the Hufflepuff common room the Ravenclaw common room the Slytherin common room