ARJUN K J - Undergraduate Architecture Portfolio

P O R T F O L I O A R J U N K J

Hello!

This portfolio includes my original works and its contents include a selection of my best works produced between the years of 2019 to 2014 as an undergraduate student of National Institute of Technology Calicut I constantly push myself forward with my knowledge in Architecture seeking new and diverse dimensions where I can learn more and grow.

I am interested in the stories that emerge from the spatial explorations.

I look forward to elaborating on how my specific skills and abilities will benefit your organization.

CONTENTS

00

Curriculum Vitae

04

01

Upakrama Chennai India

08

02

Parinama Calicut India

16

03

Sanjiva Vadakara India

28

04

Aarohan Gurugram India

42

05

Anuga Calicut India

52

05

Personal

54

Arjun K J /////

Belwill house, Meenchanda, Calicut, Kerala India.

T: +91 9633293564 +918075579821 E: ajdessins@gmail.com I: @the.messed.up 23 | Male | Indian citizen

EDUCATION

EXPERIENCE

2019-2014

National Institute of Technology Calicut India Bachelor of Architecture (8.46 CGPA silver medal)

2014-2012

Zamorin’s H S S Calicut India Higher secondary education

2012-2006

St.Joseph’s H S S Calicut India High school education

2019/6-7

Creative group, Newdelhi India Architect + Interior design concepts for Varanasi international airport + concepts and schematic plans for Vizag international cruise terminal

2018/5-11

X-Architects, Dubai UAE Intern Architect + Concepts and visualization for City gateway park Abudhabi. + Palm jumeirah villa physical study models, visualizations and interior design. + Erada center design development. + UAE embassy Khartoum site study

2017

Renovation of spring valley CBSE school Design lead + Design of new block and landscape

RECOGNITION

2017/5

Insignia Architects, Calicut India Summer intern

2017-2016

Architecture Students Association Joint secretary

2019

CBTUH International tall building contest Semi finalist Renovation of spring valley CBSE school Recognition by the school manegment for excellent effort NASA HUDCO Trophy Shortlisted entry Top 10 Lowcost housing -housing for all First runner-up

2018

2017 2017 2018-2017

SKILLS

CREC SJET Scholarship winner For best performance Software Autodesk Autocad Revit

Adobe Photoshop Illustrator Lightroom Indesign

Visualisation Vray Lumion

LANGUAGE

English Malayalam

SketchUp Rhino ArcGIS Grass hopper Office

Scanned by CamScanner

Scanned by CamScanner

In-situ slum development

Chennai Tamilnadu India

UPAKRAMA [upa-kra-ma]

Towards a new life, for a better tomorrow.

HUDCO NASA competition

Shortlisted Top 10

Slums have become a pervasive feature of the urban landscape of the developing world. Slums, a generic term to describe informal settlements with poor quality housing, lack of basic essential services and often insecurity of tenure reflects inequality, poverty, and abject human misery. The number of people living in slums is about 65 million i.e. about 17% of the total urban population are living in slums.

“In-situ Slum Redevelopment using the land as Resource�, this approach aims to leverage the locked potential of land under slums to provide houses to the eligible slum dwellers bringing them into the formal urban settlement.

Semester six 2017

Context Srinivasa Puram was selected as a vehicle for this design-led research in response to the many problems the people of the slum faced in dayto-day life. By its significance to the residents, the site chosen at Srinivasapuram has the best prospects for a well-designed residential space that could enhance their nativity to the city.

The motive of the design being the redevelopment of a slum area that caters to the requirements of all the categories and classes of people, the mentioned site provides an appropriate scenario. The spaces in the slum are very dynamic, with different activities happening in every space from selling fishes to hanging clothes.

Bay of bengal

Adayar river

Site plan

Ground floor level

Ground + first floor level

Ground +third floor level

Ground floor

03 04

02 01

The dwellers of the slum have a great connection to outside open spaces. therefore these spaces are distributed over the three-dimensional space to contribute to the occupants.

The ground floor spaces are used for commercial activities such as markets, retail shops, hair salon, etc. Also, the ground floor spaces are used for services. This elevation protects the dwellers from possible flood threats.

01 Open park

03 Temple

02 dwelling 04 Bank

Third floor The structural system is based on modular construction. the occupants could purchase the elements and build their dwellings. Which makes the construction of the in-situ redevelopment faster. These elements can be attached to the basic grid to form the space. The easy attaching and detaching capability make it more flexible and environment-friendly.

Double window

Single window

Slab

150x250x15cm

300x250x15cm

300x300x15cm

Ventilator

150x250x15cm

150x250x15cm

Wall

150x250x15cm

Door

Modular housing

The unique arrangement was done to create harmonized voids.

Clustering

Each house has a front courtyard space and also has a void for future expansion.

Public

Each cluster has space which the use for their activiti

c space

s a central public occupants could ies.

Section through courtyard

Circulation

For every cluster, there is a dedicated staircase which connects to the horizontal streets.

Super block

Modular housing

Structural grid

Circulation space

Each unit has an expansion space about 16m2 which could be used in case of family growth.

The structural steel grid holds the modular elements intact.

Each dwelling has a shared frontage space of 23.5 m2.

Services

Retail stores

Shared space

All the services lines are connected to the units on the ground floor of 48m2.

Each superblock contains 60m2 of retail space.

The superblock contains a shared green space of 59m2.

layout and arrangment of spaces encourage the neighbourood and facilitate connections between people. The array of voids make the streets more interesting are lively. Also, the dwellers are offered a range of modular components to make their home more customized and to bring in more individuality. The upgraded components increase the efficiency of the space.

In a super block of 16 units there are 4 retail units, parking space and 2 dedicated units for services which holds plumbing and electrical systems. From the survey it is estimated that 3.9 person per house, there for as per design each person gets about 9m2 in the house.

At the center of the superblocks is the community park designed to contain community functions.

Community experience center

Calicut India

PARINAMA [pa-ri-na-ma]

A transformation or change, on both a philosophical and practical level.

Uru has been the epitome of craft and culture in Beypore, Calicut. Unavailability of wood and other economic condition has to lead the decline of this craft culture. The creation process of this majestic structure is considered as a ritual by the workers. A certain lifestyle that should be followed during the process of crafting.

Academic project NIT Calicut

The objective was to design a community center for making , learning, experiencing the tradition of Uru (Large scale wooden boat), which is an indegeonous craft of the community in question.

Semester five 2017

Concept The idea of the design was to convey the story of Uru making through sequential spatial experience. Architecture operands such as scale, texture, grain, material, enclosure, etc were used for the spatial experience of the visitors which symbolizes the state of mind of the master maker of Uru.

The circulation path of the visitors was divided into four Birth: the beginning of the construction, Awakening: Becoming one with the process of craft and awakening a new state of mind, Realization: the final stage where the craft master sees his final product, and Expedition: ships sailing away. These four stages symbolize the process of the craft.

Awakening

Realization

Birth

Expedition

Experiencing through architecture light levels high to low

scale of the architecture low to high

process of the craft

Realm of architecture

Circulation

Site plan

14

13 15 11

12

10

07

03 08 15

09 02

01

16 06 00 18 05 17

04 05

19

17

00 Entry

05 Uru building area

01 Adminstration

06 shops& kiosks

02 Reception

07 Expo pavillion

03 Class complex

08 shallow pond

04 Workshops

09 watch tower

10 OAT

15 Maze of awakening

11 tourist stay

16 Cafe

12 stay for visitors

17 Workers resting area

14 services

19 Workers center

13 stay for workers

18 Working area/ Classes

Spatial sequence Activities

Beginnig of the craft

Becoming one with craft and awakening true self

Completion of the URU

Letting go of the work

View scale

Enclosure and elevation elevation profile

The smaller scale and comparatively less volume of enclosure symbolize the birth or the start.

Space view

Section

A maze of vertical volumes where the visitor should find his way out on his own. this process symbolizes the enlightenment/awakening of the true purpose of craft master.

An open space surrounding the individual to experience the scale of the structure which symbolizes the completion of the craft.

Enclosure

High Low

The moment which the master builder has to let go the fruit of his efforts.

Scholars

Visitors

The Center has two kinds of entry population the scholars who research on the Uru and the people who have come to experience the center .The Circulat and only overlap is in the Uru building area where there could be possible exchange of information.

tion of the these have clearly demarked

The birth, the beginning of the journey. Surfaces are rough ,textures are coarse and scale is small.

The Awakening, the craftsman reaches a point where he loses himself in craft. Point of self-awakening. Space converses a structure of maze where one should find his way through to the exhibition space which symbolizes the creation.

The expo center is where the exhibitions occur and it represents the ultimate creation.

The realization of the craftsmen is complete, and he is amazed by it. He understands the fruit of his efforts and embraces it.

The visitor reaches this point where the scale of architecture is at its peak from the stage of awakening -The realization.

The expo center floats in front of the viewer sitting with its foot in the water. The water here also represents purity and holiness.

The center has a staircase at the core which takes to the viewing point where one could see the paths he has come through to reach this height.

The creation

View from the watch tower.

Building area

The openness of architecture and zoning of the functions helps to create sparks between individuals turn them into conversations. T keeping the scholar’s zone overlapped with the Uru building area, offers the scholar a rich environment they can learn in and prospe

Workers Visitors Scholars

These meaningful conversations, relationships between individuals of different categories of people keep the craft alive. By er.

Urban design

Vadakara Calicut India

SANJIVA [sa-nji-va]

An attempt for the revival of a glorious street of the past

Vadakara is a coastal town in Kozhikode district. Vadakara has a large portion of agricultural land and various water bodies including distributaries and canals. Vadakara beholds a glorious rich past.

Academic project NIT Calicut

The name is derived from the local agricultural produce- Arecanuts.

Nut street is the local market area which developed due to the ideal location to transport via road and closeness to the agricultural land.

This street is laden with shops selling various agriculture goods including Coconuts, Arecanuts, and Spice.

Semester eight 2018

Context Nutstreet lay in axis with old urban center also lay close the new urban corridor thats bringing new development to the city. Nutstreet holds great potential being in proximity with the urban growth axis.

But the current day scenario, nut street is a dying street with very less engagement. Other commercial activities are already on the verge of taking over the identity of the street.

Shops are closed down or began selling other goods due to less productivity in agriculture sector. Construction of modern style buildings that are out of character from the existing buildings. New malls have come up destroying the past urban cultulre and image. People are shifting from agricultural sector to other sectors due to lack of social value.

Conceptual drawing

City core

Old harbour

New city

Vadakara, 2018

Nut street used to be the urban market center where the goods are collected and sent to the docks.

Nut shops

Commercial

The new rail system cut the city into two this destroyed the existing distribution system.

Open spaces

With less production and increased competition led to the decline of the street market and the life with it.

These open spaces are the remanence of the past. theses spaces used to theworking area for nut shop workers. Now these space are lifless or less used .

Current condition

Typical nut shops have an open backyard where the drying of coconut is done. Backyard verandah is the main place for working on the coconuts.

The block outside the main shop is a kiln to fry the coconuts.

The revival

The revival is done in two phases. The first, to bring more participants to the street. The second, contolled development for the street.

0 info / parking

1 workshops 2 shops 3 walkway 4 plaza

Creating brand identity named Nutstreet 2.0 the street will be home to a wide variety of product from coconuts such as food products, craft items, toys, coir, coir mats, and other items. Through this way, an attempt is made to preserve the street’s rich culture by elevating to current times. Keeping in line with the past, backyards were turned into workshops and a parallel axis was made along the road catering pedestrians to experience this culture also to buy a piece of it . The public plaza was also made to cater to different social activities.

02 01 00

03

04 02

Exploded view of the backyard shops

03

01

Form-based codes 3.5m

plant line

pedestrain line / Bycycle line

1.8m

name line

eve line

side walk

BTL

2.5m

As the second phase of the design, FBC was introduced for the upcoming interventions in the street to keep the essence of the street intact.

The codes act as a guide line to govern the new designs coming up in the nutstreet. Thus giving the street its own character and identity.

ceiling height <=6m

eve projection >1.2

Sill height <.75

First floor height <=6m

planter height <.6

G, G+1, G+1+ m.

Part of the codes for Nutstreet 2.0

Retail / Office

Store + Workshop

Cafe

Restuarant

Office Retail+Lodge

Building typology from FBC

Multipurpose tower

Gurugram Delhi India

AAROHAN [aa-ro-ha-n]

A term descrbing the process of ascending or rising up.

Competition Entry CBTUH

Semifinalist

The site is set in Gurugram going to be the next e-hub of the city. A multipurpose complex for a group of developers and this complex includes office spaces, banquet hall, and food court.

Design proposal had an experimental process of using AI to fit right to the site constraints. the key idea was to achieve maximum design optimization based on external factors through computerized tools.

Semester eight 2018

The process Genetic algorithms are used for solving both constrained and unconstrained optimization problems based on a natural selection process that mimics biological evolution. The algorithm repeatedly modifies a population of individual solutions.

The evoution of the design has been with respect to the maximum daylight consideration combined selective radiation and wind penetration into the building.This enables the building to perform with best possible comfort throughout the year.

Massing 1 Massing 2 Massing 3 Final output

1 2 3

Low

Low

4

Illuminance

High

luminosity

High

1 Office tower A

2 Office tower B

3 Auditorium

4 Food court

Tower A

BATT insulation

Photo voltaic glass

Extened garden

dynamic panels

Dropped ceiling anchored to the core slab

Section through the tower

The inner social tower

The working environment is currently undergoing a big transformation. Adapting to a multitude of working styles present in todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s increasingly digital age. Public domains are being injected to boost the collaborations between the workers. Collectivism seems to be the key concept for the office environments of the 21st century.

The interior of the tower was designed as a mix of informal and formal spaces. With the concept of vertical streets, informal areas were injected into the typical office spaces.

The inner social tower includes spaces like print points, social/play zones, mini-meetings/ eat breaks, waiting zones, and meeting areas.

The structure stands as a symbol of future, an answer to the future of architecture. it also defines the skyline of upcoming city Gurugram.

Architecture school

Karama Dubai UAE

ARAMBHA [aa-ram-ba] A term describing new begining, a begining to the future.

The current system of architecture education which took birth in Bauhaus, Germany hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t seen much of change over the years. We are in an age where information technology is in an important topic. And the fundamental problem is how we are not reflecting this in higher education. we are at a point where we shall question the existence of these institutes in the coming years. And the question is how the academia will evolve to be still relevant in the coming age

Thesis NIT Calicut

This project takes an approach of complete transformation. From the curriculum to the architecture that house the school. A deep study was done on how architecture education should change so that it caters to the world of today and tomorrow. The research was done to find the relationship between curriculum and built a structure which further helped in transforming the project.

Semester ten 2019

we know it. so in a age where moocs are really popular what significance does academy have ? will we witness the death of academies in the future?

Revenue generation Revenue generation school-public connection school-public connection collaborations collaborations Interdisciplinary meetups Interdisciplinary meetups Understanding world problems Understanding realreal world problems Network buildup Network buildup design awarness programs design awarness programs Increased creativity Increased creativity

The major factor of the academy which makes it distinguish is the phycality. it brings people together, there is life inside academy.Where people meet .where memories are made.

A new beginging Physicality

On the other hand MOOSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gains popularity based on accesbility and affordability

TheLess conventional has to be transformed for existence. by combining the money academy and public realm in a symbiotic relationship where they coexist in the system is my proposal to address some dimension of the problem. School wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be a closed system instead it will evolve into a Design An ecosystem : Design generation powerhouse

generation powerhouse of the community .space will be interlinked with the public and boundaries of education will be blurred.

The school will transform into a place where people will learn, collaborate, socialize, exchange, etc.

so the intervention will be in a way it combines the The answer to the change in industry is the program merits of both. space graph obtained in the study.

The public realm

Legend The digital realm interactions The school realm

studio

The public realm

classrooms

Labs

Informal spaces

Library

Workshops

VR rooms

High connectivity Transalation into 3D space

Medium connectivity

Low connectivity

A program-space graph shows the connnection between the spaces and program of the school, an evolved form of the proximity diagram. A program- space graph show the spatial stucture of the school also the Academic philosphy .

Concept

Isometric view

00 01

03

04

02

The school

An open pavillion

The plaza Public

The school Students

00

Studio

01

Class

02

Lab

03

Meet tower

04

Workshop

The open Pavillion houses public activities such as exhibitions, discussions, and other commercial activities.

These spaces are zoned away from the regular school activities so there is no hindrance to the day to day activities. This open space will be managed by the school committee who conducts the various workshops, talks, exhibition, etc.

The steps

The voids

Isometric sectional view The interior of the structure was designed in a way that it creates a play voids of various shapes.

And these volume of spaces have different human perceptions which makes the interior very interesting for the occupants. As most of the space inside the structure are open spaces the change in scale of the voids demark each space from another and also the type of activity and interaction in each space discussion space Public plaza

Public Access

critic space

exhibition

The steps play a vital ro form a parabola whi attention towards the harmony of solids and v

01 02

A play of solids and voids 04

An Abstract

05

03 04

01

Auditorium

Basement floor

makers hall

coworking space Restuarant

02

Cafe

03

Gallery

04

Shops

05

Expo space

Spatial structure

08

12 07

12

06

14

05

04

02

03

01

03

Interior spaces were planned as volumes in space each with a unique solid shape and is connected through a set of bridges. At the center occupies a tower which is made of screen and is used to communicate to the student about the activities happening in the school. Also the bridges act as great architecural element to spark conversation among occupants and also provide views the different spaces.

This structure chaotic arrangment is intended to spark creative thought to the graduate student. Every angle is another visual.

11

There is an high importance given to informal spaces in the building. In a creative school these spill out space are really important. these spaces hold large critera of activies. the tone of these space were controlled through the scale of the vuolume that is enclosed in the space, proximity to the major activity center such as class.

10

09

03

03

13

01. Library 02. Food plaza 03. Workshops 04. Entrepreneurship center 05. Computer labs 06. Info tower 07. Class rooms 08. Studios 09. Students plaza 10. Faculty spaces 11. Play area 12. VR rooms 13. Admin offices 14. Environment lab

The layers of the roof The angle of the roof elements is tilted in a way that it is away from the direct sun rays so that it will reduce the amount of radiation coming inside the structure. The composite zinc panels consist of polyethylene core which helps to reduce the heat transferred through the element. Furthermore, ETFE /PTFE member cushion inflated with air will contain the heat inside the voids of the frustum volumes and only allowing the light to pass through the roof system.

west elevation

02 01

03

08

04 06 07

Section 01

Workshops

02

Studio

03

Faculty rooms

04,05

Co working space

06

Cafe

07

Classes

The Unique geometry of the structure creates curious sparks in the audience and stands out in the city as a creative power house.

Dynamic fenestraion

Calicut Kerala India

ANUGA [aa-nu-ga] The process of adaptation.

This project deals with the application of microcontrollers in environment adaptive architecture.

Academic project NIT Calicut

With use Aurdino micro controller an adaptive fenestration system is made which responds to the environment factors. In this scenario sunlight was taken as the main factor.

Semester seven 2018

The Objective The main objective is to optimize energy use in the enclosed space through environment adaptation. This is done by minimizing the amount of radiation in the room based on solar activity. The idea was to decrease the fenestration percentage when the solar gain is high and the fenestration percentage should be

high when the solar gain is too low. This aesthetically pleasing mechanism was evolved from the idea of the lotus flower which blooms as per the sunrays. Therefore the idea was to create a blooming effect in the fenestration system.

Vie w of the fenestration system

The setup Hinge Photo resistor

Thread

During the coding of the arduino uno, the important task was to remap the lux values obtained through the light detector to the rotation of the servo motors. The maximum rotation of servo motor is 180 deg and back. also to create a perfect pattern the max angle should be 60 deg for the petal. from this the maximum angle of servo motors found (also considering the lenght off the string).

Steel plate

Servo motor

Holder

Ardiuno uno MCU Bread board with resistor

Firefly, a grasshopper plugin that helps to communicate to the Arduino Uno was used to retrieve data from the device into the computer. This real-time data from the sensors were used to simulate virtual models which were made using Rhino+grasshopper. By this way, I was able to understand the possible patterns that the model could generate in the process.

And this was optimized with some tweaks to create pleasing patterns.

The Simulation

When sunlight is minimum Maximum aparture

When sunlight is medium, Medium aparture

When sunlight is maximum, Minimum aparture

Professional works

Dubai UAE

PROFESSIONAL PROFESSIONAL WORKS WORKS Collection of works done during the internship program.

Collection of works druing internship period.

is an award-winning firm established in Dubai, UAE. During my 6X-Architects months of internship, I was working on design development, visualization, 6 months of internship, I was working on design development, visualization, research, report creation, model studies, etc. research, report creation, model studies, etc.

Internship NIT Calicut

Withinmy mysix sixmonths monthsi ihad hadthe the oppurtunity oppurtunity to Within to work work the the schematic schematicdesgin desgin of Palm jumeirah villa; I was able to work on the interior create visualiztions, model studies and report creation.

I also aided design development of tions, model studies and report creation.

I also inaided in design developcenter interiors. menterada of erada center interiors.

Semester eight 2019

Living room

Upper deck living room The idea was to create minimal interiors with objects of interest. Interiors were applied with raw concrete texture with slight amounts of wood as an highlighting element.

Massing experiments

The installation is designed with the help of grasshopper software where the height parameter of the white element is controlled by the light contours. That is the portion of the face with a high amount of light will have the highest length. This system was used to create a 3D profile of the face on the wall. The same principle was used to control the radii of the circle in the installation. This further enhanced the image.

The watch towers are part of the several architectural elements in the gateway park landscape project . Elevated podiums are distributed around the tower which provides all around view in the park. The curvy form was inspired from the sand dunes of the desserts.

Thank you