PORTFOLIO
Akshita Mandhyan
URBAN DESIGN
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 11.5 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.
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
District Detroit
DESIGN STRATEGY
+ 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
Festival Street
Alleyway Network
Land Bridge
Memory Walk
String Lights
Fiber Optic Art Canopy
Store Fronts
Pedestrian Street
Pop up Events
Salvaged Furniture
Tamiraparani Watershed Study
Tamil Nadu, India
Urban Design Studio | Fall 2024
Instructor: Prof. Prof. María Arquero de Alarcón
Individual Work
Academic Project, University of Michigan
The Tamiraparani River is Tamil Nadu’s only perennial river. The River originate in the Pothigai Hills in the west and flows to the plains, fields and agricultural land in the east. The story of this river goes all the way back to ancient times. The River provides water for drinking, cooking, bathing, washing clothes and most importantly fo irrigation. It is also flanked with such a rich biodiversity which led to the government protecting certain areas that house these unique moments of biodiversity. The river is also the central spine around which many taluks and villages have grown.
WATER INFRASTRUCTURE
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.
High Density: A Neighborhood Study
Chandani Chowk, Delhi, India
High Density Seminar | Winter 2024
Instructor : Claudia Wigger
Individual Project
Academic Project, University of Michigan
1. 3 story mixed-use residentialRetail on 2 floors
Density: 20,000 people/km2
FAR: 3
Site Coverage: 100%
2. 4 story mixed-use
Retail on 3 floors
Density: 15000 people/km2
FAR: 4
Site Coverage: 100%
CHANDNI CHOWK, CENTRAL DELHI
Area: 5.6 square km
Population: 193,402 people
Population Density: 34,536 people/km2
Density: 12000 people/km2 FAR: 5
Site Coverage: 100%
Density: 0 people/km2
FAR: 3-5
Site Coverage: 100%
SITE SPECIFICATIONS
Total Site Area (sqm)
Total Built Area (footprint, sqm)
Total Greenspace/Open Space (sqm)
Area of Infrastructure (sqm)
Area Surface Parking (sqm)
Area of Water (sqm)
BASIC PROJECT STATISTICS
Gross Building Area (sqm)
Average FAR
FAR Range
Density (people/km2)
OTHER
Number
LEGEND
Mixed Use Buildings Residential Building Surface Parking
Trees, Public and Green Space
Schools, Institution, and Public Buildings
Streets Retail, Commercial, and Entertainment
First Floor Retail
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.
SYSTEM DESIGN
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.
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.
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
08
Miyawaki Plantation
Uttar Pradesh, India
November, 2021
Team: Akshita Mandhyan
Contribution: Graphics
Freelance Project
Developed graphics for Miyawaki plantation technique for a landscape architecture project to help build dense and 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
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.
VISUAL STORY TELLING
VISUAL STORY TELLING
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.
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