BuildSkillsetKnowledgeDi

Medicare for women

Provides free medical assitance to women, several of whom have no access to toilets or post natal care in semi urban India

Art Display

Provides a platform for victims to display their skills and change their identity from victims to artists and activists

2. Ecological Revitalization of Chateau

Care, maintenance and design of the Three Rivers Heritage Trail precint Carnegie Mellon University Spring 2019

Team: Abhinavv Singh, Jinhan Liang

Contribution: Research, GIS Analysis, design, presentation drawings

Systems studio investigative project aimed at reconnecting the deserted and neglected industrial neighborhood of Chateau to the surrounding communties and fabric by emphasizing the role of the Three Rivers Heritage trail as an ecological connector. Primary aims included GIS Analysis, toolkit design and creating connections to trail neighborhoods by diversifying and expanding trail accessibility for users from 8 to 80 years old, In addition to the brief, underlying research revealed the need for expansion of basic facilities, creating trail awareness & encouraging sense of ownership by local residents

The city of Pittsburgh is profiled by the Allegheny, Monangahela and Ohio rivers. The rivershed has carved an interesting topography over the years which governs the builft fabric of the city. At the same time, it also makes the low-lying riverbeds potential flood proze regions. The loss of pervious surfaces over the years fueled by the growth, decline and eventual resurrection of the industrial city gives us an opportunity to fix this relationship through a holistic ecological lens.

ArcGIS analysis is carried out to study the neighborhood through the lens of the triple bottomline parameters of Ecology, Economy and Society. Topographic, transportation and demographic information helps to understand the patterns in development and the underlying loopholes

Three different typologies of buildings were carefully studied from the context and designed to be reintroduced into Chateau- Housing, Institutional and Industrial Adaptive Reuse

Institutional structures are designed as focal points inspired by Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning

The housing has been designed as mix of market rate rental, home ownership and affordable housing components to foster a diverse community

Problem: The city displays a pattern of isolated developments devoid of ecological relationships to the riverfront. The route 65 highway has compounded the problem by cutting off the neighborhoods from the riverfront turning Chateau into a desolate, crumbling neighborhood.

Solution: Recognizing the potential of existing dense development as an opportunity for adaptive reuse and turning them into flexible programs like offices, retail, workshops tied together by an activated public realm.

Problem: Chateau is faced by the highly green neighborhoods of the East side on the opposide side of the river. These neighborhoods are underbuilt and propogate suburban sprawl

Solution: Best practise interventions would suggest a complete ecological revamp of the neighborhood which would be economically unfeasible, hence merging the ecology with the built programs and reclaiming the riverfront for ecological restoration would solve two problems at once

3. Water Resilient Koliwada

Master of Urban Design Thesis: A commoning approach to adapting Mumbai’s Koli communties to sea-level rise

Integrating social, economic, spatial actors and proposing a design framework that combines data-driven, computationally generated, inventive ecological, and contextual infrastructural interventions. Tapping into the existing commoning practices inherent to the community can address their myriad water issues while aiding them in adapting to a new way of living through building new skills thereby making them more resilient

T1 Ecological levees and dikes

T2 Incremental housing with social distancing provision

T3 Integrated community amenities

T4 Simulated floating typology and aquaponic living system

After

4. LIFLOW: A Parametric approach for the revival of Bhaucha Dhakka, Mumbai

The design esquisse challenge as part of the generative modeling class called for urban analysis that would lead to a computationally designed solution within a two week period. The site chosen was the Bhaucha Dhakka Ferry wharf on the eastern seaboard of Mumbai, What served as the erstwhile portland for the city and the catalyst for its metamorphosis into a global metropolis, today lies in a state of neglect. The site displays tremendous potential as an untapped urban resource for the land starved city of Mumbai.

The design implements Autodesk Flow and CFD analysis to restructure the jetty based on sea currents as well as adopting a parametric approach inspired by local elements to generate a daylight responsive facade system with the intention of placing Bhaucha Dhakka on the cusp of a revival and catalyzing a new paradigm for design and urban regeneration in Mumbai.

The concrete tripods are synonymous with urban waterfronts in Mumbai. They line the sea walls to break the waves and counter the rising sea levels. Patterns in their design can be studied and optimized

The grasshopper script that generates the pattern for a parametric facade system that uses a sunpath as an attractor to automate the shading device and respond to glare the way the tripods break the water

Autodesk Flow analysis is conducted on the jetty structure to analyze the patterns in the waves due the artificial harbour and the analysis is used to inform the location of a new jetty structure.

Expanding the scope from the micro to the meso and macro scale, an iconic fluid form is designed a canvas for the parametric facade.

5. Computing Urbanism for an Eco Downtown,Pittsburgh

Finding order in disorder through a computational urbanism approach Carnegie Mellon University Spring 2020

This aim of this course was to develop our own procedural methods for reordering the urban fabric, analyzing the performance of design decisions. Using Downtown Pittsburgh as the site, the focus was on augmenting existing networks, reconfiguring urban morphology, and expanding the public realm. while learning the fundamentals of using urban data, multi-dimensional scripting, and specialized analysis tools.

Network Analysis and Flow Simulation

Height field

Based on the network analysis and flow simulation, a custom algorithm is developed that returns specific nodes in Downtown with evident lack of public furniture, flood problems and scant vegetation thereby providing an opportunity to introduce a public amenity that addresses all the above issues delicately. Algae and moss filter out billions of tonnes of CO2 every year. Algae is considered more efficient than trees since it covers a lot less footprint. The component is designed to generate light by harnessing energy which is then used by algae in the process of photosynthesis thereby absorbing more CO2.

Toilet

Discussion

6. Miamorphosis

ULI Hines Competition Entry 2020

Team leader, designer, illustrator

Team: Abhinavv Singh, Suprima Joshi, Michael Rath, Jayesh Khushalani, Vishal V

MIAMORPHOSIS is an inflection point for Midtown Miami. While real estate development in the region typically looks to the oceanfront, MIAMORPHOSIS recognizes the opportunity and promise of the Wynwood and Edgewater neighborhoods as engines of cultural and economic growth in Miami by emphasizing responsive density and leveraging the advantages of a new train station.

Mobilize will capture the intrinsic potential of a new mass transit stop by harnessing the newly generated commercial activity and residential demand and the tax incentives that accompany it

Station View: Tuttle Plaza Station helps to ignite the area’s change by allowing the exchange of people through the transit services and the strong green connection across the city.

Metamorphing Miami: Pushing on the levers of residential, commercial, and community growth in an intentional manner creates sustainable and harmonic progres

Merge focuses on channeling the change begun in Mobilize into mixed-use developments that benefit both new residents as well as existing ones to ensure that all benefit from the transformation

Magnify allows for the full realization of the transformation. With additional density being constructed, the impact of the development will be amplified even further as more people live and work, continuing to propel Midtown forward

Phase 1- The most obvious and significant markers of this phase are the Sunrise Building and Spark Tower to mobilize residential and commercial activity, along with Tuttle Plaza Station that catalyzes the whole development.

Phase 1- The most obvious and significant markers of this phase are the Sunrise Building and Spark Tower to mobilize residential and commercial activity, along with Tuttle Plaza Station that catalyzes the whole development. Additionally, preserving the collection of the Nader Latin American Art Museum in the new cultural building and the adaptive reuse of the future Cocoon Makerspace shows current residents that they can have faith in the development

Phase 2 – Many facets go in which increase the livability of the site including restaurants, fitness centers, and additional parking. Most importantly though, is Paseo Mayor which is the woonerf that merges the site together. Additionally, there are buildings that push for the fusion of existing and new residents, including the Wade Language Institute and Trade School that ensure that all can communicate and pursue their economic goals.

Unlevereged IRR: 11.85% Site Value Increase: $997 million

Miamorphosis’s success lies with its focus on responsive design, both architecturally and financially.

Ensuring that the plans identify gaps in what the community needs and what is currently available and filling those in a sensitive and equitable manner will result in a development that is vibrant and buzzing with life while being economically profitable.”

Levereged IRR: 38.74%

Miami: For more than just the beach

Phase 2 – Many facets go in which increase the livability of the site including restaurants, fitness centers, and additional parking. Most importantly though, is Paseo Mayor which is the woonerf that merges the site together.

Phase 3- more focused on the developments happening in Midtown, greater density allows for the capturing of the value that Miamorphosis has created

Phase 3 – Phase III magnifies impact by increasing its scope. With the attention of Miami and more focused on the developments happening in Midtown, greater density allows for the capturing of the value that Miamorphosis has created in the area.

Winter Spring Summer Fall

7. Bloomfield PLUG-IN

Carnegie Mellon University Fall 2018

Lead designer and researcher

Team: Abhinavv Singh, Wenzheng Wu

The first year of the Master of Urban Design Studio required the students to work with the Bloomfield Development Coorporation to resolve a challenging 5-way intersection that would also act as an entrance to the Bloomfield neighborhood in Pittsburgh. The site model above shows the tricky topography and built morphology that needed to be considered as actors in the development

Studying the patterns of Bloomfield that defined its signature characteristics as a neighborhood- Its roof dormers, flat connections, the empty lots, the porches and stoops, street patterns and rich network of alleys each has defined and shaped the neighborhoods culture

Strategies to reduce the expanse of the intersection: eliminate sliplanes and reconnect alleys to connect greens & facilitate pedestrians

Fill the urban form with responsive density that caters to mixed use development and creates a feeling of entry

Retain existing important community elements on site and design the building typology as a mix of old and new with frontage