Aishwarya Rajasekar Portfolio 2013-2023

To improve the overall experience, create inviting environments that are also functional and engaging.

I gained a practical understanding of relevant planning and design principles for commercial spaces. capable of managing construction projects (RFIs, RFPs, submittals, shop drawings) and creating construction documents. had the chance to carry out field surveys to develop and record the conditions as-built.

Additionally, have a basic understanding of the authority and processes of the relevant building department as well as the relevant codes, such as Title 24, IBC, CBC, and ADA.

OFFICE

Strive to better serve the needs of the clients using various technologies and also provide designs through visual presentations

Schematic Design | Site Survey | Construction Drawing | Visualization

Revit | Unreal Engine | Adobe suite Twin Motion

I initially worked on architectural branding, conceptual design, and BIM documentation with the goal of gaining extensive experience and knowledge in the restaurant and retail design industries. Later, I took part in site evaluations, client meetings, prototyping, vendor management, and the creation of construction drawings. Got the opportunity to work on the project Visualization too. STK Steakhouse, Kona Grill, Fogo de Choa, and Chophouse Brewery were a few of the upscale restaurant brands I worked for.

INNOVATION AND DESIGN IN ARCHITECTURE

Office: Long Beach, USA

Restaurant | Bar | Cafe | Retail

In addition, was in charge of the company’s social media marketing and website content creation.

F.O.R.E.V.E.R

In the cit y, on the move... Here is a journey, where plastic is on a mission

Instructor : Natasha Sandmeier | Nathan Su

Storry telling | Modeling | Simulation Animation

Cinema 4d | Unreal Engine | Adobe suite

UCLA AUD M.ARCH II ENTERTAINMENT

Academic - Stranger than Fiction

Aishwarya Rajasekar | Akshada Muley | Neha Oswal

thing-ness.alive.actions

Anthropomorphic representations

We assign personhood to non-human bodies, taking them as companions and ascribing them needs, wants and spirit. Individuals have married trees, or even the Eiffel Tower - challenging the notion of what it is to be a person with legal rights and responsibilities. And at the broader, ecological scale, communities have advocated for giving citizenship to a reef, and other natural entities like forests, rivers, and lakes - in an attempt to protect them, give them agency, and in hopes that personhood will encourage pro-environmental behavior.

It is bizarre yet so common, that we associate these emotions – of love, empathy, and anger, to inanimate bodies while also framing inert environments as there to serve humanity. However, these natural environments are not the only things we share our world with, there are synthetic planetary organisms too - such as the entire plastic industry.

Our film sees this as an opportunity to reframe our relationship with plastic; one that is currently

driven by guilt and vilification, into one of empathy and responsible cohabitation. It attempts to shift our attitude towards plastic, a material made invisible through its banality. Instead, our story makes plastic viscerally and emotionally present in the city. Here plastic is no longer the muchmaligned victim, the neglected creature made to serve us, and discarded when no longer needed. Plastic here flocks together to challenge our world, on its way to building one of its own.

TRANSITION

This project looks at exploring ideas of transition in discrete parts from solids to lines and in materials from opaque to transparent.

Instructor : Benjamin Ennemoser

Kitbashing | Physical model | VR | AR

Maya Rhino | Grasshopper | Unity | Adobe Creative Suite

UCLA AUD M.ARCH II ENTERTAINMENT

Academic - TRANS.FIGURE (6 weeks)

Aishwarya Rajasekar | Chinmayi Suri | Yiyin Wu | Wenzhao Zhang

We have a central nodal volume formed with lines which are then transformed to solids and surfaces outwards. It has a central melting pot which is the origin that gets transformed into surfaces which are arranged around it.

Neena Okore

plexiglass sheet

intersection parts forming a joint heat gun

connection between the intermediate opaque and translucent surfaces transparent pieces at the end

Fabrication Strategy

Opaque and translucent filaments were used for the solids and lines respectively with 3d printed intersecting joints. Clear surfaces were moulded to recreate the character of our transparent surfaces.

The completed model was then overlaid and incorporated into a painting to explore how it could function as a form. We exploited the petal nature of the surfaces and the grip of the solid to replace Bacchus’s wine glass with a flower like form.

The object created after kitbashing was subjected to a series of transformations and modifications by experimenting with different means of modeling, representation, fabrication, animation, virtual reality and augmentation.

https://vimeo. com/392394052

https://vimeo. com/392397714

VERTICAL CEMETERY

The proposed tower would cater burials in the city, their body will be treated according to their religion and custom. They can choose to be buried deep into the ground, burnt or dispersed up in the air.

Instructor : Hari Srinivasan Afzal Mohamed Planning | Physical model | Walkthrough

AutoCAD | Google Sketchup | Lumion | Adobe Creative Suite ANNA UNIVERSITY B.ARCH Academic - Thesis/Research (24 weeks)

Aishwarya Rajasekar

Eternal embrace Nothing can soothe the pain unless it has all come to a form of acceptance.

Committal

Farthest Farewell

An instant of strengthening and bottling felt by the living for the final time as the spirit of the dead leaves the house. Transformation space

LIKE

LOOKED

Land Water Fire Air

Some places (cemeteries) where the stigma wasn’t attached, because of their design.

Concept 13 14

Architectural marker of the city to celebrate the dead

Green

I section

To create a high-rise cemetery for handling and disposal of dead bodies, which would provide storage for the dead and ensure adequate capacity to continually accommodate newly dead. Being an open structure, people know what’s happening, which helps in the removal of the stigma. The space constraint is addressed and provides an architectural example which marries poetry and functionality to create spaces which are respectful, experiential, and user-friendly.

https://vimeo. com/392391347

Conceptual Sketches

Prayer hall

Columbarium

Memorial space

Photo frame view

Burial space

Spiral staircase

Cul-de-sac

Multi-tier-vault system

Cafe

THE TETHER

To design, build and document a world within a fictional Metaverse.

Kitbashing | Modeling | UV Mapping |World building

Cinema 4d | Unreal Engine | Adobe suite

UCLA AUD M.ARCH II ENTERTAINMENT

Academic - Metaverse (9 weeks)

Aishwarya Rajasekar | Alekya Maladi

Instructor : Nathan Su

We took references of objects which contain and transmit data. Here we had the opportunity to study objects from a micro scale like a microchip to more sizable objects like a data transmitter.

https://vimeo.

com/400148915

In a land increasingly inhabited by repeated communications and amplified beliefs, where alternative ideas are not considered, lies this monumental tower that represents ground truth. It is at the target of the city, around which everything is organized. The ones closer to the tower are the purveyors of the “first claims”. They are trying to establish proximity to the reality of events by trying to get there first and communicate the truth as it is. Threads that originate from the truth spiral down further away into what becomes a maze of fabricated information. The city feeds on this information but slowly deteriorates into chaos. As we navigate through this maze, in an attempt to trace the origin of these threads, more information poses as obstacles, pushing us further away from the center and the path becomes more confusing and convoluted. Added sociopolitical beliefs, confirmation bias and discrimination make it almost impossible to reach the truth. We always seem to be approaching it but never actually getting closer. So, In a world filled with subjective reality, what becomes the truth?

As we realized the fantastical and weird idiosyncrasies of social media and content on the internet, we seeked to find a reality which is more real and an extension of our imagination. We converged data into objects and space to change the way we perceive ourselves, the social media and the information that is being fed to us. ‘The Tether’ helped us spatially visualize the shackles of this existing phenomena. Similar to what we witnessed happening on r/place, we noticed a similar phenomena take place in echo chambers where there is an increasing sense of territorial being. The composition and lighting tests made us realize the simulacrum, replacing the reality of the internet condition and the labyrinth with a representation of its breakdown into dissemination of information and data.

We aimed to create an immersive environment which would take us through a journey in the search of ground truth through information threads, similar to that of internet threads, against the barriers of corrupted data. We are marching towards a virtual world, our reality becomes a mix of virtual, augmented and mixed reality as depicted in the book and movie Ready Player One. Virtual reality games and environments are becoming new frontiers for visualization and technological innovations. The idea of shared virtual worlds is the ‘new entertainment’ and as designers we have the opportunity to be trailblazers of creating hyper real environments that substitute the signs of real for the real.

What the surfaces are made of The model is put together by using the kit pieces that depict data and technology.

TEMP HAVEN

To design a first-response modular shelter for 16 people who were forced from their homes due to floods, others disasters or evacuations.

Instructor : Hari Srinivasan

Planning | Physical model

AutoCAD | Google Sketchup | Lumion | Photoshop

shelter rest room storage clinic food storage

ANNA UNIVERSITY B.ARCH

Academic - Time problem, Post Disaster Shelter (2 weeks)

Aishwarya Rajasekar

The heaviest rainfall in over a century has caused massive flooding in Tamil Nadu, India, driving thousands from their homes, paralyzing the airport in the state capital, Chennai. This leads to this design.

To conceptualise, design and deploy a fictional space, territory or event; a place that doesn’t exist.

Aishwarya Rajasekar | Akash Ragde

Instructor

https://vimeo. com/392393922

Movement within a particular frame distorts with respect to the dominant sound in the environment. The effect is a result of spacial-time and auditory Synesthesia brought on by a drug induced hallucination, making the protagonist acutely aware of every little sound that he may hear. The protagonist also perceives distortion of time by the changing night sky, as it may happen in the state of hallucination. The entire episode takes place on Venice Beach, through the day and night. The state of hallucination rises exponentially with each scene causing a delirious state of mind.

ON THE ROCKS

To conceptualise, design and deploy a fictional space, territory or event; a place that doesn’t exist.

Motion Tracking Projection mapping | Compositing Maya | Cinema4D Substance Painter | Adobe Creative Suite

UCLA AUD M.ARCH II ENTERTAINMENT

Academic - Seamlessness (11 weeks)

Aishwarya Rajasekar | Akshada Muley | Alekya Malladi | Neha Oswal

Instructor : Nathan Su

The following are the images that we created using different techniques. These rocks and the houses don’t exist. But we tried to bring them together to make a new scenic image. We tried to merge different layers of images which were either clicked by us or borrowed from the internet or environments which were created by us.

Composited Images

ISLAMIC PRAYER HALL

To design a contemporary prayer hall with an ablution space.

Project Architect: Ponni M Concessao

Planning | Interiors

AutoCAD | Google Sketchup | Photoshop

OCI ARCHITECTS

Work - Interior Designing (4 weeks)

Aishwarya Rajasekar

Moorish and Islamic patterns were fused to create interesting patterns on the wall along with the inscriptions of the Suras.

A rich collection of wood was used for the cornice and door detailings. Jali work allows daylight into the prayer hall creating an ornate pattern on the floor enhancing spirituality through light. Terrazzo flooring adds to the aesthetics. The French window overlooks the courtyard of the building.

AMENITY CENTRE

The theme of the project is to construct a steel intensive highway amenities centre.

Instructor : Porchelvi M

Conceptual | Structural designing Massing

AutoCAD | Maya | Lumion Photoshop

INSDAG (INSTITUTE FOR STEEL DEVELOPMENT AND GROWTH)

Competition - Conceptual Designing (6 weeks)

Aishwarya Rajasekar | Ashwin Bafna | Bharath Kumar | Sanjana V

This structure is designed to have 3 layers of roof made of steel frames and glasses. The beam supports the structure. The hot air rises upwards and comes out of one of the porous vents created in the roof . The structure is made up of multiple hollow steel structures. The steel structure is well designed to carry maximum load. It has a pentagon base with hollow steel tubes connecting at one point . Then it is arranged in a linear manner to create a matrix of steel connections forming the beam of the structure. The unique feature of this design is that it carries load above the beam.

Array of spider support system

A fusion of steel structures and glass.

FUSION BEDROOM

To design a bedroom with a fusion between Classical and Moorish patterns. The design had to have chettinad elements.

Project Architect : Ponni M Concessao

Planning | Interiors

AutoCAD | Google Sketchup | Photoshop

OCI ARCHITECTS

Work - Interior Designing (6 weeks)

Aishwarya Rajasekar

Light streams dramatically into the bedroom through jali doors.

Antique sofa upholstered in cotton fabric from Chunilal Mulchand, propped with cushions from Good Earth.

DATA APOCALYPSE

If you were stranded on a desert island, what would you bring with you ?

Character Design | Rigging Texturing

Agisoft | ZBrush | Maya | Rhino Unity | Photoshop

UCLA AUD M.ARCH II ENTERTAINMENT

Academic - Character Design (11 weeks)

Aishwarya Rajasekar | Akshada Muley | Alekya Malladi | Neha Oswal

Instructor : Leah Wulfman

We are on a mission, in a post-apocalyptic data center, abandoned by corporate conglomerates. These vigilantes come to harvest society’s last bits of data. They search amongst the waterdrenched server racks for any documentation of society’s online history (from YouTube videos, memes, videos of wildfires continents away). The conglomerates no longer maintain and actively store our data, so these individuals piece together digital histories, swimming through the last server racks to access what was. The servers are still running, but just jumbled and half broken with half broken digital history that needs piercing together.

https://vimeo. com/392394346

EGYPTIAN AND GREEK FUSION

29.7 X 42 cm Pen and Ink rendering

TRAVEL SKETCH

29.7 X 42 cm Charcoal on paper

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Job Captain Wolcott Architecture, USA

EDUCATION

University of California, Los Angeles, USA

Aug 2019-Jun 2020

Master of Architecture, Post Professional Areas of focus: World building, animation, Mixed Reality and story telling

Anna University, India

Bachelors in Architecture

AISHWARYA RAJASEKAR

ARCHITECT

San Jose, California

aishwaryaraj26@g.ucla.edu

310.988.0680

Sep 2013-May 2018

Thesis: Vertical Cemetery, Future of the Past

SKILLS

Proficient Software

Revit Maya Rhino Lumion

Enscape AutoCAD Cinema 4D Twin Motion

Unreal Engine Google Sketchup Adobe Creative Suite

Beginner

Sep 2022-current

• Prepared Construction documents and assisted with commercial project construction administration

Job Captain / Social Media Marketing Manager

Innovation & Design in Architecture, USA

Jan 2021-Sep 2022

• Using BIM technology, worked on site surveys, schematic designs, prototyping, vendor coordination, and building drawings for retails, bars, and restaurants

Architect-Apprentice

DHDI Design Studio, USA

Sep 2020-Jan 2021

• Introduction to various building materials, structural engineering, and the integration of all facets of architecture, architectural acoustics, and quantum acoustics

Social Media and Marketing Volunteer

Wiser Water

• Website content creation and incorporation of study and conceptual designs

Junior Architect

OCI Architects, India

Sep 2020-Jan 2021

May 2018-May 2019

• Worked on design development and approval, form evolution, schematic drawings, and good for construction drawings as part of a design team

Junior Designer

Serene’z Realtors Pvt. Ltd, India

• Worked as a Material consultant, Façade designer, and Sanitary ware consultant

Project Management Assistant

BUILTEC Engineers and Consultants, India

May 2017-Sep 2017

May 2017 –

July 2017

• Main goal was to answer the Project Network-Events Activity, the PERT network, and the Probabilistic time estimation for the activities

Intern

OCI Architects, India

June 2016 – May 2017

• Worked on form evolution, planning, detailing, good for construction drawings, presentations, and bill of quantities

AWARDS / PUBLICATIONS

Vimeo Instagram

LinkedIn Issuu

Unity | Agisoft | Zbrush | Zuzor | Solidworks | Grasshopper | 3DSmax | Blender | Substance Painter

Technical Skills

Pen and Ink rendering | 3D Printing | Digital art | Architectural Drafting | Model making | Microsoft Office Suite

• WILDsound FEEDBACK Film Festival-BEST ENVIRONMENTAL Short Films in the World 2020-Finalist

• The Hollywood First-Time Filmmaker Showcase 2020-Finalist

• FROSTBITE International Indie Fest June 2020-Finalist

• Los Angeles Lift-Off Film Festival 2020-Finalist

• Archinect summer series thesis 2020

• Council of Architecture Awards for Excellence in Architectural Thesis 2018 South Zone

• Nippon - The Asia Young Designer Award 2018 – Finalist

• Best Academic Thesis of the Year 2018 - Mohamed Sathak Academy of Architecture