I believe in repair. Repair is not just for things and places, but also for cities and societies, and as a way of living and growing towards sustainability and resilience. As designers, we often get obsessed with designing ‘new’ and being ‘innovative’. But isn’t repair also a form of innovation? Having practiced architecture for 5 years in India, designing spaces—private, public, and everything in between and across scales ranging from a 100 sq ft kiosk to an 11-acre public park, I have observed how the needs of individuals especially women and marginalized groups were often overlooked in favor of creating something cheaper, faster, or deemed “better.” These experiences sparked my interest in advocating for repair and inclusivity over renewal and exclusivity. With this awareness, I have spent the past year in an academic setting, exploring and experimenting with ways to address equity in design, whether it relates to climate, sustainability, technology, housing, or society at large. I believe that when the voices of any community are suppressed for the sake of unchecked progress, no one truly benefits in the long run.
AKSHITA MANDHYAN
akshitam@umich.edu
Linkedin Profile
EDUCATION
MUD University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Master of Urban Design - 12/2024 (GPA - 4.0)
Co-President, Matters of Urban Design Student Association (MUDSA)
B Arch National Institute of Technology Raipur, India
Bachelor of Architecture - 04/2018 (GPA - 3.6)
SKILLS
Software - ArcGIS, Auto Cad, Revit, SketchUp, Photoshop, Illustrator, Rhino, Lumion, Premier Pro, InDesign, Zappar Languages - English, Hindi, Sindhi (oral proficiency)
WORK EXPERIENCE
Graduate Student Instructor
Arch 411 : Becoming Digital University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 08/2024 - 12/2024
Project Architect/Designer
Buildkraft Engineering and Architecture Raipur, Chhattisgarh 08/2020 - 07/2023
• Lead weekly discussions and assist students with reading comprehension
• Grade students and assist the lead instructor with organization of course materials and class preparation
• Managed client relationship and consultant co-ordination
• Led a team of architects for design and execution of various architectural projects
• Worked on projects of varying scales and typologies such as Government office, public park, public library, residences, adaptive reuse project, etc
• Project Design Lead for 5 residential design projects
• Produced a prototype for the design of commercial kitchen of the food retail chain
• Responsible for branding, design, 3D visualization, relationship management, consultant-coordination, estimation, site supervision, and execution of their various food retail outlets (kiosks and stores)
• Delivered conceptual design through drawings in Auto Cad and 3D visualization in Lumion
• Prepared and released of construction drawings for residential projects
• Organized internal office database and material library
Issued by Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning
Secured a Research Grant at the University of Michigan to conduct field work in India for Graduate Thesis Research toward improvements in safety and inclusivity for women in Public Spaces
Top 10 (58th Annual convention of National Association for Students of Architecture)
Special Mention (57th Annual convention of National Association for Students of Architecture)
Selected Works (2018 - 2024)
Re new pair Detroit
Detroit, USA
Urban Design Technology Studio | Winter 2024
Instructor: Prof. Cyrus Peñarroyo
Team: Akshita Mandhyan + Cameron Blakely + Ehsan Alam
Academic Project, University of Michigan
Well before the “digital age”, Detroit was experimenting with innovations like the automobile and Technologies like the highway. However, urban renewal, redlining, and urban freeway construction created an unequal impact of these technologies and instead lead to displacement and a loss of opportunity for many Detroiters. Today, the city outwardly seems to be making a comeback, but revitalization projects like District Detroit and the University of Michigan's Center for Innovation (UMCI) continue to ignore harmful legacies and, in many ways, only exacerbate the sense of exclusivity downtown. What could be a counter proposal to the UMCI and District Detroit?
Salvage Decor
Salvage Furniture
Salvage Architecture
Salvage Computing
University of Michigan Centre for Innovation - Interior Proposal by KPF
University of Michigan Centre for Innovation - Counter Proposal
Rather than blindly embrace innovation as our only way forward, can we instead foster a culture of maintenance and repair that reflects on our history and empowers communities to be able to shape their own futures?
Innovation, Maintenance, and Repair
+ Redistribution of UMCI & District Detroit Programming to decentralize development
Retail Reservation (75% Black Owned Business )
Affordable Housing Reservation
+ Reparations through Retail Reservation (75% Black Owned Business) and Affordable Housing Reservation
+ Remembrance through physical ways of recording oral histories of displacement while creating an infrastructure that addresses repair
Graphics by Cameron Blakely
Storm water
String Lights
Fiber Optic Art Canopy
Black-owned Store Fronts
Mesh Wifi Network
Permeable Alley
Pedestrian Street
Pop up Events
Salvaged Furniture
Salvage Bins
Rain Barrels
Assembly Shop
Memory Signage
Vegetable Gardens
Community Cubes
Wetland Habitat
Capped Highway Trail Network
Historic Building Footprint
Flexible Park Space
Through reporgramming, reparations, reconnection, and remembrance, this counter proposal aims to repair some of Detroit’s urban injustices while simultaneously attempting to construct social and economic resilience. From reactivated streets and alleyways to reprogrammed buildings and new transit connections, this alternative District Detroit acts as a network that interacts with and draws in existing communities dispersed throughout the city. Through these attempts, we propose viewing innovation not just as new, but as a complementary step, along with maintenance and repair, to create a stronger and more resilient Detroit.
THROUGH THE SEASONS Current Reality
Fall Festival
Picnic Spot
Sledding Hill
Ice Skating Rink
Black Business Owners
Towards Resilience
Detroit, USA
High Density Seminar | Winter 2024
Instructor : Claudia Wigger
Individual Project
Academic Project, University of Michigan
Dequindre Cut Greenway which was formerly a GrandTrunk Railroad line is a two mile greenway which was opened to the public in May 2009 as a result of a public, non-profit, and private partnership to create a pedestrian link between the East Riverfront, Eastern Market, several residential neighborhoods and sites in between. One of these many sites which is south of Lafayette Towers sits between two beautiful green spaces - Dequindre Cut Greenway and Lafayette park. This site is a massive parking lot with an unimpressive strip mall but I wonder if this could be more than that?
This proposal for a high density development on this site in Detroit is inspired by the mixed-use neighborhoods in Central and South Delhi which are walkable and diverse. The project proposed retail uses on the lower floors to activate streetlife and plaza environment, residential in the middle floors, the office or commercial uses on the top floors, and parking in the basement. While ensuring a blend of architectural aesthetics, my attempts are mainly directed towards a mixed-use composition of every building to ensure more economic and social resilience.
Towards a mixed-use programming of every building to ensure diversity and economic and social resilience.
Miyawaki Plantation
Uttar Pradesh, India
November, 2021
Team: Akshita Mandhyan + Anshul Gupta
Contribution: Graphics
Freelance Project
Developed graphics for Miyawaki plantation technique to help build dense, native forests. The plant growth is 10 times faster and 30 times denser involving planting dozens of native species in the same area which is practically maintenance-free after the first three years.
Large Canopy Trees (Mango, Jamun, Neem)
Medium Sized Trees
Small Trees
Shrubs
NATIVE PLANTATION a typical section
PRESERVING NATURAL ECOSYSTEMS
a wetland section
PATHWAY a walkway section
Peripheral Urbanisms
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Public Design Corps | Spring 2024
Instructor: Prof. María Arquero de Alarcón
Individual Contribution: Mapping, Photography, Fieldwork, Informational Video for the project ( Click here for link )
Public Design Corps, University of Michigan
In Spring 2024, I participated in a Public Design Corps field trip to Sao Paulo for 3 weeks along with 12 other students. The purpose of this trip was to document ground realities to countermap PIU Arco Jurubatuba project which threatens the existence of Favelas (informal housing) and those residing in it. This was done in partnership with several local partners in Sao Paulo which included several housing rights movements, community leaders, popular lawyers, and architectural firm such as Peabiru who work to raise awareness on housing rights amongst people residing in informal housing.
Alternate Imaginations: Women & Public
Informal India
Independent Study | Fall 2024
Advisor: Prof. Sharon Haar
Individual Research
Academic Project, University of Michigan
Alternate Imaginations is an ongoing visual investigation into the relationship between women and the public in Informal India. This particular part in the portfolio is a series of postcards that tell the background, circumstances, and story of a public space on the fringes of the Hi-Tech city of Hyderabad, being claimed, unclaimed, and reclaimed by men and women. It all started as an inquiry driven by anger from personal urban experiences as a middle class cis gender Hindu woman in India. Over the years, this investigation has narrowed down my scope and broadened my perspective. I have not only been challenged but exposed to layers of complex social lives and identities of women and their existence in cities and the fringes of it.
Missing Mobile: A moving interpretation center
Thirupuddaimaruthur, Tamil Nadu, India
Propositions Studio | Fall 2024
Instructor: Prof. María Arquero de Alarcón
Team: Akshita Mandhyan, Haley Cope, Virginia Bassily
Academic Project, University of Michigan
The studio is set and conducted in partnership with a local organization that have been in the site for years: the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE). The task assigned was to co-design an interpretation center Thiruppudaimarudur Bird Conservation Reserve (TBCR) located in Tamil Nadu in Southern India. This proposal for interpretation is not about designing one permanent center. It is about creating multiple centers. It is about embracing the impermanent, kinetic nature of interpretation.
GEOGRAPHICAL CONTEXT
DECONSTRUCTING THE MOBILE
This diagram shows the deconstruction of this mobile vehicle which is made up of simple components capable of being configured in ways that can be facilitators of different activities.
UPTURN
UPRIGHT BENCHES FOR SHELVES SCREEN
CONFIGURATIONS OF THE MOBILE
The configurations of the mobile are of two kinds - one is the dynamic kind which moves and engages with women - it gives and gathers. The other one is static which will be deployed at the TBCR site which is more for interaction with the visitors For every dynamic configuration, there is a corresponding static configuration that is deployed or displayed at site.
MOVING: GIVING AND GATHERING
STATIC: DEPLOYED AND EXHIBITING
Socialising/Screening amongst women
Skill Sharing amongst women
Store at the TBCR
Story Forest at the TBCR
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT, TRAINING, AND MANAGEMENT MODEL
This mobile system is very intentionally designed to encourage training and building capacities of local people in a way that makes it resilient and adaptable. Once funding is secured from companies, international, or national organisations - local NGOs such as ATREE and women’s self help groups work together to train and encourage local people to take control and run the system with minimal guidance.
SPECULATIONS AS AN EMERGENCY INFRASTRUCTURE
Bastar Trade Fair
Jagdalpur, India
2021
Team: Akshita Mandhyan + Isha Riza Khan
Contribution: Concept Design Development
Professional Project (Buildkraft Engineering and Architecture, Raipur, India)
Bastar Trade fair is a project with the purpose of promoting indigenous art and culture of the city. As the city grows, it requires a public place that amplifies its identity and gives the people a sense of belonging. The key considerations of this project were accessibility, inclusivity, and safety. Located along NH 30(National Highway 30) in the developing city of Jagdalpur, this project takes a site with some existing development to be merged with a landscape and public utilities. The existing developments include a sports complex, a toy train, and vending kiosks. The new developments include a Bazaar(market place), an OAT(open air theatre), parking, and landscaping.
A
Section
Bakehouse
Raipur, India
2020
Team: Akshita Mandhyan + Isha Riza Khan
Contribution: Design Development and Execution
Professional Project (Buildkraft Engineering and Architecture, Raipur, India)
This 300 sqft gazebo is located in the lush green lawns of a private residence in one of the posh localities of the city. Through a process involving design and dialogue with the clients, it was converted into an intimate baking place with minimal intervention to the structure and the landscape surrounding it. For the interiors, a very neutral color scheme dominates the space which blends in with the greens of its immediate environment.
Professional Project (42mm Architecture, Delhi India)
Nagpur is the third largest city in the state of Maharashtra. It has a dry and semi-humid climate, witnessing extremely hot weather during summer months(March to June). It is imperative to use passive cooling solutions to reduce usage of non-renewable resources of energy. This 14 acre site has a rich green environment, an existing waterbody, a Gaushaula (cow stable), and a Biogas plant. The entrance to the site in the Northeast is done as per Vastu Shastra(traditional Indian system of architecture).
The client brief was to design a house which is connected to nature. The Courtyard House conceptually is an earthy built mass which uses passive cooling techniques and interacts with its unbuilt surroundings visually, physically, and experientially.
Cross ventilation section: maximum performance when inlet and outlet are placed at diagonal in both plan and section
Cross ventilation plan: wind wall size should be 0.5 - 1.0 x width of window
Greens -
Layer 1: external large and medium deciduous trees for privacy
