Landscape Architecture Portfolio | Aastha Singh

LOCAL .

NOUS .

MODERN . GLOBAL . LOCAL .

POSTCOLONIALISM . INDIGENOUS .

ONOMYVERNACULAR . .

PEOPLE . ECONOMY .

FORMAL PUBLIC INTEREST DESIGN . INFORMAL

ION . NEOLIBERALISATION .MUNITIES . INFRASTRUCTURE . SOCIAL CIAL

RIVERS .JUSTICE . ECOLOGY . WATER . RIVERS .

OGY TECHNOLOGY MODERN . GLOBAL . LOCAL .

POSTCOLONIALISM . INDIGENOUS .

VERNACULAR .

PEOPLE . ECONOMY .

PUBLIC INTEREST DESIGN . INFORMAL .

NEOLIBERALISATION

. COMMUNITIES . INFRASTRUCTURE .

AASTHA SINGH SOCIAL JUSTICE . ECOLOGY . WATER .

ARCHITECTURE | LANDSCAPE | URBANISM RIVERS . TECHNOLOGY 1

AASTHA SINGH landscape architect | architect | urbanist

Landscape Architecture is for the Global Citizen. This Global Citizen is rejecting and redefining her identity, and consequently the way that she relates to the physical spaces around her.

The elements that activate a public space are no more water bodies and artworks, but technology and symbols of modernity. At a time when our core user is a multi-tasker, it is becoming increasingly imperative that even our physical spaces multi-task. Simultaneously, the changing world economy has created a new form of urbanism, especially in the postcolonial neo-liberal cities that brings the spotlight to transit-oriented development. It is time that we bring deconstructivism to landscape architecture, not only to redefine and readapt its core elements but also to explore and understand the changing relationships within the discipline to create a new semantic for landscape architecture. Landscape Architecture derives from the words and theories established by notable figures such as Frederick Law Olmsted, Jane Jacobs, McHarg, and William H. Whyte , by either adhering to or rejecting them. Their theories are the ones that inform the way landscape architects think and design. However, this very core is at the risk of becoming obsolete as the relationship between space and its user is changing.

It is this new semantic that I strive to explore. Instead of fighting a battle against modernity, I want to find that nirvana where the beauty of our past and the promise of our future find harmony.

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aastha.singh89@gmail.com www.linkedin.com/in/aasthasingh-landscapearchitect www.issuu.com/aastha_singh (Design Portfolio - Online)

education MSLA, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, USA B.Arch, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, India

2016 - 2019 2007 - 2012

academic work MS Thesis | Using the Paranoid-Critical Method to explore Neo-Liberal City-Making in the Global South through the lens of Post-colonial theory | Gurgaon, India Thesis Advisor : Prof. Peter Aeschbacher

2016 - 2019

Research Assistant | Case Study Investigation for Landscape Performance Series | LAF Research Fellow : Prof. Lisa DuRussel

SP/SU 2018

www.landscapeperformance.org/case-study-briefs/west-point-foundry-preserve-phase-1# www.landscapeperformance.org/case-study-briefs/hunters-point-south

Research Assistant | Gowanus Roofscapes, a typological research of drainage conditions in Brooklyn Research Fellow : Prof. Jennifer Birkeland + Jonathan A. Scelsa with Andrea Kelly

FA 2016

Graduate Assistant | Dept. of Landscape Architecture, The Pennsylvania State University

2016 - 2018

professional work Landscape Designer | Horgas Landscaping, Pennsylvania, USA

SU 2019

Research Assistant | The Pennsylvania State University | Impact of Community Engaged Practitioners on Public-Interest Design

Research Fellow : Dr. Mallika Bose

SU 2019

Senior Architect | Integral Design, New Delhi, India Principal Architect: Mr. Samir Mathur, MLA, ASLA

Responsibilities: Landscape conceptualization, design development, coordinating

services, creating budget estimates and schedule of items, curating vendors,

creating construction drawings, and site coordination during construction.

Experience: 3 Completed Projects, 7 Under-Construction

2012 - 2016

softwares | proficient

softwares | working knowledge

AutoCAD Google Sketchup Pro, Lumion 3D Adobe Creative Suite

ArcGIS Rhino 3D Revit 3D

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CONTENTS

ACADEMIC WORK | MSLA 01

Using the Paranoid-Critical Method to explore Neo-liberal City-Making in the Global South through the lens of Post-colonial theory | Gurgaon, India

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02

Using Digital Media to track Landscape Performance | LAF

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PROFESSIONAL WORK 03

Re-claiming Public Space by re-interpreting the street pattern of a city to create a place- specific design language for the urban landscape | Delhi, India

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Creating multi-user, multi-scale, and climate responsive landscape for high-rise residential towers | Gurgaon, India

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Contemporary re-interpretation of the Vernacular Architecture of Rajasthan to create a resilient landscape architecture vocabulary | Neemrana, India

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ACADEMIC WORK | BARCH 06

Creating a new typology for the Shopping Mall to re-activate a public space and re-integrate it into the city | Delhi, India

PERSONAL WORK 07 Photography

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01

ACADEMIC WORK | MSLA

Using the Paranoid-Critical Method to explore

Neo-liberal City-Making in the Global South through the lens of Post-colonial theory | Gurgaon, India

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Using the Paranoid-Critical Method to explore Neo-liberal City-Making in the Global South through the lens of Post-colonial theory | Gurgaon, India Thesis Advisor

Prof. Peter Aeschbacher

This thesis is a ‘Surrealist Object’ that allows its reader to envision a way of thinking abstractly about the future using information from the past. The future refers to the ‘anticipated’ avant-garde reaction to neoliberal city making in the ‘Global South’ and the past refers to the avant-garde reactions to WWI and modernism in the form of the birth of Surrealism and Postmodernism respectively. For the purpose of this thesis, the Paranoid-Critical Method allows us to create a wormhole in time through a ‘weird’ design competition in Gurgaon (an Indian city that is the archetype of neoliberal city making) and its design entries that were submitted by three European Starchitects: Rem Koolhaas, Bernard Tschumi and Daniel Libeskind.

The main framework of this thesis, the Paranoid-Critical Method was a Surrealist technique developed by Salvador Dalí as a means to look beyond the rational foundation of civilization that lead to WWI and the massive destruction that followed by tapping into the unconscious. The Surrealists believed that experiencing the shock of the irrational juxtapositions of unrelated objects was the most effective means to unleash the repressed desires of the unconscious mind. Dalí, who was an active member of the Surrealist movement, defined his method as a spontaneous method of irrational knowledge based on the critical and systematic objectivity of the associations and interpretations of delirious phenomena.

In the 1990’s, post globalization and the liberalization of the Indian economy, Gurgaon provided the most favorable conditions as a site for rapid urbanization that responded to the demands and requirements of global capital and the private sector. As a city, Gurgaon is also a site that completely skipped the phase of modernist planning and consequently acted as a blank canvas to observe the evolution and patterns of neoliberal city making. Due to the lack of a transition phase, there was an immediate contact between ‘local’ and ‘global’, ‘eastern’ and ‘western’, ‘indigenous’ and ‘modern’, and ‘traditional’ and ‘urban’. The engagement between these dichotomies further enhances the relevance of Gurgaon as an ideal site to launch an inquiry into the subject of my research.

By looking at the design entries of the competition through the lens of postcolonial theory, the Paranoid-Critical Method enables us to envision a new typology of the ‘urban park’ in the neoliberal city of the 21st century. At the same time, it facilitates a commentary on (i) fragmented urbanism, (ii) the Architecture of Exclusion and (iii) Indigenous Modernity, themes that are recurrent urban issues associated with neoliberal city making in the Global South.

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Academic Work | MSLA | Urbanism | Project 01

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Design Entries for Serendipity Millennium Park | A Design Competition for an ‘Urban Park’ in Gurgaon

rivate Com l v/s P a ple m xe or f s In

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A re

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ban Growth |

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016

Fragmente pping dU Ma rba nis m

C nd its ontext a te Si

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e site in Gurgaon

Academic Work | MSLA | Urbanism | Project 01

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Critical Analysis of the Design Entries and the three themes of Neoliberal Urbanism through the lens of the Paranoid-Critical Method By situating moments where the themes of neoliberal urbanism unfold, their impact on the site can be explored.

Research Methodology

Fragmented Urbanism

Architecture of Exclusion

Indigenous Modernity 12

By using the theories and existing European projects by the Starchitects (Rem Koolhaas, Bernard Tschumi and Daniel Libeskind), the design entries are explored through the lens of post-colonial theory to understand the application of their Avant-garde ideas in the context of Gurgaon. This process, in turn, informs the three takeaways for neoliberal urbanism practices that address the rational responses to the imposed hegemony on the city.

Instead of avoiding complexity, or to try to segregate different infrastructure, bring them together as a KNOT of Infrastructure and use the VOID to reveal the multiplicity and dynamism of the city

Habitable bridges provide a condition for a bridge to perform a new urban event.

Deriving from the culture of informal street vendors, the bazaar bridges function as a manifestation of desire lines.

It is possible to resist erasure of history while opening up a city to the future at the same time, where lines on the landscape can manifest memories of the city and the programming responds to the needs of both the past and the future.

Academic Work | MSLA | Urbanism | Project 01

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The performance of Jamer Hunt’s four steps for application of the Method:

Step 1 | Original Delirium

Step 2 | Systematic Associations

The Lobster Telephone

Serend

Surrealism | Post-Modernism | Su The Paranoid-Critical Method | Post-modern

Step 3 | Rational Architecture

Culture of Congestion

Step 4 | Concrete Evidence

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[UN]Imagining the Bazaar

The use of the KNOT and VOID

Habitable bridges as a new

to tackle the multiplicity and

urban event. The bazaar

dynamism of the congested

bridges function as a

neo-liberal urbanism of the

manifestation of the desire

Global South.

lines.

ompetition beco nC me g i s st De he e h

ct

T

w

The Palimpsest City

je Ob t s ali re r Su

ne

e

Su rre

t | The Lobster Te jec l e ph Ob o ist al

urrealist Objects nism | Neoliberal Urbanism

The Paranoid-Critical Method

dipity | Design Competition for an ‘Urban Park’

Resist the erasure of history by fusing the grid of indigeneity and the grid of modernization.

Academic Work | MSLA | Urbanism | Project 01

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ACADEMIC WORK | MSLA

Using Digital Media to track Landscape

Performance | LAF

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Using Digital Media to track Landscape Performance Case Study Investigation for Landscape Architecture Foundation Position Duration Research Fellow

Research Assistant SP / SU 2018 Prof. Lisa DuRussel

The Case Study Investigation (CSI) program initiated by LAF (Landscape Architecture Foundation) is a research collaboration between LAF-funded faculty-student research teams and leading practitioners to document the benefits of high-performing landscape projects. The teams develop methods to quantify environmental, economic and social benefits and produce Case Study Briefs for LAF’s Landscape Performance Series.

Our Research Team worked on the adjoining two projects with a focus on using Digital Media to track Landscape Performance. By mapping geotagged metadata from sites such as Flickr, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram we can begin to qualitatively understand how a visitor engages with, moves through, and potentially values designed public spaces in a way beyond simple observation.

Link: https://www.landscapeperformance.org/case-study-briefs/west-point-foundry-preserve-phase-1 https://www.landscapeperformance.org/case-study-briefs/hunters-point-south

Research Process Project Goals

What to Measure

Performance Objectives

Environmental

Metric Design Intent Expected Outcomes

Social

Economic

Method

Case Study 1 | West Point Foundry Preserve

Provides scenic views that are ecologically and culturally significant for the visitors as demonstrated by 1,789 posts on various social media platforms.

Provides educational opportunities for 560 students in 2017 through educational programs in collaboration with the adjacent Putnam Museum. The educational mobile app has been used by 9000 people since it was launched in 2013.

Case Study 2 | Hunter’s Point South Waterfront Park Creates iconic views of Manhattan as demonstrated by 11,037 social media posts from 2013 to 2018.

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Research Methods using Digital Media ‘Tagboard’ is an online tool that helps find all the posts across Flickr, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter that have used a specified hashtag or geotag. Using Tagboard, we found the number of posts on social media for the adjoining hashtags and geotags.

Using a combination of Drone Imagery and Gehl Institute’s ‘Stationary Activity Mapping Tool’ to understand how visitors use the park during a typical June Day. Using web traffic data for the educational mobile application developed for the site to evaluate social benefits.

Hashtags: #westpointfoundry #westpointfoundrypreserve #westpointfoundryreserve #westpointfoundrypark #licwaterfront #hunterspointsouthpark #hunterspointpark #hunterspointsouth #LICLanding #liclandingbycoffeed #hunterspointsouthwaterfrontpark Geotags: West Point Foundry Preserve Hunter’s Point South Waterfront Park LIC Landing

Academic Work | MSLA | Published Research | Project 02

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PROFESSIONAL WORK

Re-claiming Public Space by re-interpreting the

street pattern of a city to create a place-specific design language for the urban landscape | Delhi, India

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Re-claiming Public Space by re-interpreting the street pattern of a city to create a place-specific design language for the urban landscape | Delhi, India Location Area Status Role

Chanakyapuri, New Delhi 5.45 acres Design Proposal Landscape Design Concept

In an effort to reclaim a lost public space of the city, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) approached the design team to ameliorate the District Centre for Chanakyapuri (Yashwant Place Commercial Complex) without disturbing its existing program and function.

Due to the site’s iconic location in the heart of Lutyen’s Delhi, where the wave or modernism originated in the city, the primary goal was to create a quintessential design language that could be modulated in other public spaces in the city. This was achieved by combining the horizontal street patters of Lutyen’s Delhi and adapting it to create the vertical ‘jali’ (screen wall) patterns.

Streetscape, connectivity, creating pedestrian-friendly spaces, and place-making were some of the key aspects of this project.

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Site Boundary Existing Retail buildings Proposed Tensile canopies and Screen walls Paved areas Greens Softwares used: Sketchup, Rhino, Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop

Professional Work | Urbanism | Project 03

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Design Intent

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Connectivity | Establishing Two Major Axes

Greens | Screening and thermal comfort

Vehicular Circulation | Limited to site periphery

Trees | Retention of trees, regulate heat island

Pedestrian Circulation | Unrestricted movement

Canopies + Facade | Extensions and Screening

1 | Streetscape | Urban Bazaar Tensile Canopy

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False Facade to screen external services

Bazaar Street

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2 | Place-making | Stepped plaza as a public space and amphitheater Street Restaurants

Stepped Plaza Amphitheater

Main Plaza Alfresco extension Pop-up Market

3 | Connectivity through existing atrium Stepped Plaza Amphitheater

Existing Atrium

Planting for Screening

Planting for Screening

4 | Detailing the Boulevard Planting for Screening

Walkway

Central Lawn

Walkway

Softwares used: AutoCAD, Sketchup, Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop

Professional Work | Urbanism | Project 03

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Design Detail

The Hexagon as a ‘Module’

Module 1 Screen Walls

Module 2 Seating Plaza

Module 3 Stormwater Drainage G

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Grating

Softwares used: AutoCAD, Adobe Illustrator

Professional Work | Urbanism | Project 03

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04

PROFESSIONAL WORK

Creating multi-user, multi-scale, and climate

responsive landscape for high-rise residential towers | Gurgaon, India

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Creating multi-user, multi-scale, and climate responsive landscape for high-rise residential towers | Gurgaon, India Location Area Status Role

Sector 81, Gurgaon 15 acres Completed Design Detail and Construction Coordination

Being developed as a high-end housing, the landscape design was conceptualized to provide usable spaces for all age groups to make it a coherent housing. The aim was to create a large expansive green in the center to respond to the architectural scale, while still being able to create more intimate greens in the smaller open spaces between the towers. The larger spaces were designed for active recreation while the more intimate spaces focused on passive recreation. The central spine, which divides the overly large greens, bifurcates on one side to create a large, but shallow water feature to manage the micro-climate of the landscape area as a response to the extremely hot and arid climate.

The scope of work included conceptualization, design development, coordinating services, creating budget estimates and schedule of items, shortlisting and finalizing vendors, creating construction drawings, and site coordination during the construction stage.

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Softwares used: AutoCAD, Adobe Photoshop

Professional Work | Residential | Project 04

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Design Development

Master Plan | The design interventions come together cohesively to create spaces that respond to the architectural scale as well as the human scale.

Green-scape | Combination of expansive central greens, inter-tower pocket greens, and club-related activities and play-courts.

Water-scape | Built on a podium, a shallow central water feature helps mitigate the microclimate of the site.

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Vehicular Circulation | Limited to periphery of the site.

CONCEPT

ZONING

Pedestrian Circulation | A hierarchy of pathways for experiential diversity on the basis of usage.

AREA DETAILS

Softwares used: AutoCAD, Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop

Professional Work | Residential | Project 04

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Project Evolution

Design Visualization

Construction Coordination

Post-Occupancy Assessment

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Professional Work | Residential | Project 04

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Site Photographs | Post-Construction

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Professional Work | Residential | Project 04

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05

PROFESSIONAL WORK

Contemporary re-interpretation of the Vernacular Architecture of Rajasthan to create a resilient landscape architecture vocabulary | Neemrana, India

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Contemporary re-interpretation of the Vernacular Architecture of Rajasthan to create a resilient landscape architecture vocabulary | Neemrana, India Location Area Status Role

Neemrana, Rajasthan 13 acres Under Construction Design Detail and Development

Being developed in the upcoming business district of Neemrana, Rajasthan, the project is a mixed use development with a shopping mall, studio apartment residences and a hotel. The project caters to ex-pats who travel to this industry-based city for long durations.

Due to the extreme climate of Rajasthan, the vernacular architecture of Rajasthan has been reinterpreted through the landscape architecture to create a resilient, contemporary design vocabulary that responds to the context, wherein the large spaces were fragmented to create smaller, more intimate spaces.

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Image credit: NSP Associates

Professional Work | Master Planning | Project 05

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Site Planning

Hotel Drop-off, Entrance Court and Outdoor Dining

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Sky Garden | Upper Level

Sky

y Garden | Lower Level

Mall Drop-off and Entrance Plaza

Softwares used: AutoCAD, Adobe Photoshop, Google Earth

Professional Work | Master Planning | Project 05

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Design Strategy Developing a ‘Contemporary’ traditional vocabulary for the project Traditionally, the ‘jaali’ (screen wall) was used in all typologies of vernacular architecture in Rajasthan. On the one hand, they provide shade from the sun, while at the same time, a network of these ‘jaalis’ creates a ‘tunnel effect’ which results in a light and calm wind flow through the enclosed spaces.

These traditional patterns where re-interpreted through a contemporary approach to establish a uniform vocabulary for the project. Subsequently, the design goals were achieved through the use of this re-interpretation and the use of shallow water features, which moderate the micro-climate of the open spaces.

Responding to Climatic Context through Landscape Design

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Creating an Urban Oasis

Softwares used: Sketchup, Lumion and Adobe Photoshop

Professional Work | Master Planning | Project 05

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Design Conceptualization Landscape design for the courtyard using the traditional step-wells, or ‘vaav’ (as they are locally called) as inspiration. Due to the limited amounts of rainfall in the desert regions of India, the step-wells were designed as a means to maximize the capturing and storing of rainwater for long durations. The extreme depth of these wells minimizes evaporation of the stored rainwater.

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Design Conceptualization

The screen wall is a crucial element of the traditional architecture of Rajasthan, which is where the site is located.

This screen wall is used as a part of a sequential series in the built system to create a an internal wind flow for improved circulation in the otherwise very dense built form.

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Design Conceptualization

Taking further inspiration from the vernacular architecture, a series of water features was placed in multiple landscape areas to simulate the ambiance of an oasis. The water features are all shallow (with a depth of ~12 inches/ 1 foot) to minimize the water usage and yet reduce the microclimate of the open spaces.

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Professional Work | Master Planning | Project 05

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Material and Planting Palette

Dholpur Sandstone

The design detailing for the external open spaces was also based on the climatic context. A ‘Xeroscaping’ approach to design was implemented through the choice of material (gravel, pebble beds, and local sandstones) and the planting palette, which was mainly comprised of local succulents.

Cassia angustifolia (Senna)

Agra Sandstone Tradescantia spathacea (Rhoeo discolor)

Ocimum tenuiflorum (Tulsi)

Commiphora wightii (Googal)

Nerium indicum (Kaner)

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Leptadenia pyrotechnica (Kheemp)

Jaisalmer Sandstone

Bidasar Marble

Rajnagar White Marble

Andhi Marble

Kota Limestone

Pebble Bed sourced from local river bed

Euphorbia caducifolia (Thhor)

Asparagales barbadensis (Aloe Vera)

Cylindropuntia fulgida (Jumping cholla)

Professional Work | Master Planning | Project 05

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ACADEMIC WORK | BArch

Creating a new typology for the Shopping Mall to

re-activate a public space and re-integrate into the city | Delhi, India

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Creating a new typology for the Shopping Mall to

re-activate a public space and re-integrate into the city | Delhi, India Location Area

Chanakyapuri, New Delhi 2.5 acres

The project undertaken was the redesign of the Chanakya Theatre Complex to convert the old cinema hall into an Entertainment Centre comprising of a Multiplex, Shopping Mall, Fast Food Court and a Gaming arcade. The original theatre was an iconic landmark of the city and the complex was an active public plaza attracting users from all across the city. However, after the demolition of the theatre complex, the number of users reduced considerably.

Consequently, one of the major design goals for this project was to re-activate the public plaza and re-integrating the site with the rest of the district center complex. The re-integration was achieved through the landscape, and extending the function of the context into the site.

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Academic Work | BArch | Urban Plaza | Project 06

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Design Evolution

The massing of the built form was designed so that the open public spaces receive the appropriate amount of shade during the evening hours.

4:00PM | December (Winter)

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4:00PM | June (Summer)

The open spaces were oriented along two major axes and the character of the context was extended into the site in the form of retail on the ground floor.

Traditional ‘jali’ (screen wall) was re-interpreted to provide shade to the outdoor walkway.

The axes were used to activate the public space and open up the site to its context to create a cohesive public space for the users.

Informal shops were added across from the anchor store to emulate the ambiance of a traditional Indian bazaar and activate the axis.

A central water body and a series of raingardens were added to manage the rainwater and the micro-climate of the open spaces, and create a relaxed informal ambience.

Landscape in the central courtyard acts as a congregational area and also as a tapestry to be viewed from the above floors.

Academic Work | BArch | Urban Plaza | Project 06

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PERSONAL WORK Photography

Iphone 7Plus, Nikon D5200 (AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-105mm F3.5-5.6G ED VR)

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Personal Work | Photography | Project 07

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MODERN . GLOBAL . LOCAL .

POSTCOLONIALISM . INDIGENOUS .

VERNACULAR .

PEOPLE . ECONOMY .

PUBLIC INTEREST DESIGN . INFORMAL

NEOLIBERALISATION .MUNITIES . INFRASTRUCTURE . SOCIAL .

JUSTICE . ECOLOGY . WATER . RIVERS .

TECHNOLOGY

MODERN . GLOBAL . LOCAL .

POSTCOLONIALISM . INDIGENOUS .

VERNACULAR .

PEOPLE . ECONOMY .

PUBLIC INTEREST DESIGN . INFORMAL .

NEOLIBERALISATION

AASTHA SINGH

landscape architect | architect | urbanist

. COMMUNITIES . INFRASTRUCTURE .

SOCIAL JUSTICE . ECOLOGY . WATER .

RIVERS . TECHNOLOGY aastha.singh89@gmail.com

www.linkedin.com/in/aasthasingh-landscapearchitect

www.issuu.com/aastha_singh (Design Portfolio - Online)

_aastha.singh_

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