Urban Designer Portfolio - Alankrita

ALANKRITA AMARNATH

Urban Designer

Profile

I am a passionate and skilled Urban Designer and Architect with a range of experience working on Town Centre Regeneration Frameworks, Garden Villages and mixed-use residential led masterplans. With the knowledge of international practice from the UK and India, I believe that successful cities are designed by ensuring that people are at the heart of place, while the place is well within the environmental boundaries. Adept in the research and interpretation of data and innovation, I understand the need of the hour to use technology as a tool to design a socially just future.

The following pages consist of samples of my work covering both my professional and academic experience.

• Convoys Wharf Masterplan - Phase 4

• Bolton Town Centre - Levelling Up Round 2

• Tendring and Colchester Borders Garden Community

• Wakefield City Centre Masterplan

• Otterpool Park Masterplan

Professional Experience.

Convoys Wharf Masterplan: Phase 4

Client: Hutchison Property

Location: LB Lewisham, London

Deliverables: Outline Planning Application

The Convoy’s Wharf site is one of the most significant historic sites on the Thames. It was Henry VIII shipyard and has been cut off from the rest of Deptford for over 300 years. The outline masterplan was approved based upon the vision document, parameter plans and guidelines. The masterplan was designed to be delivered in phases with each phase containing character areas and a ‘place’ in every stage. Phase 4 provides an opportunity to extend the consented 2015 Masterplan and provide additional housing along with the accompanying employment space while logically following the form and layout of consented 2015 Masterplan. Providing 50,000 sqm of mixed-use development comprising up to: 48,000 sqm of residential (Class C3); up to 9,550 sqm of Industrial Wharf Use (Class B2/ Sui Generis); up to 2,000 sqm of commercial floorspace (Class E)

I efficiently Designed and prepared the Design and Access Statement, Design Guidelines and Parameter Plans for the Outline Planning submission and Liaised with the client and consultant teams to ensure the smooth day-to-day running of the project and timely submission of Pre-App and Planning documents.

Proposed masterplan - extending the principles of the consented masterplan

New

We carried out extensive public consultation and public exhibitions and worked closely with all stakeholders including Historic England, the PLA, the GLA and the Council.

A network of connected places linking Olympia building and square with the wider communities

A vision for the Phase 4 of Convoys Wharf Masterplan

Bolton Town Centre, Levelling Up Round 2

Client: Bolton Council

Location: Bolton, UK

Deliverables: Design delivery strategy & report

Bolton Metropolitan Borough is one of the largest urban centres in North-West England. The Borough covers an area of approximately 140 km2 and includes several townships of which Bolton is the largest. Bolton Town Centre is the core location in the borough for retail, leisure, cultural and civic activities. It is the principal driver for the borough’s economy. Responding to the council’s aspirations a vision for Bolton’s Town Centre was carefully developed and designed to create a place that has the opportunity for:

• A Diverse mixed-use offer

• A 20-Minute City

• Celebrating Bolton’s long-standing heritage

• Boosting civic pride

• Enhancing connections to green and open spaces

• Delivering Bolton’s Sustainable Agenda

The project was carried out on behalf of Bolton Council to support its Levelling Up Round 2 funding application, highlighting some of the key challenges and opportunities faced by Bolton Town Centre and justify how it could benefit from the Levelling Up opportunity.

I developed a strategy and narrative for this vision and ensured it was graphically well presented to highlight the nuanced understanding of the local history and community.

Bolton’s Strategic Objectives

Healthy Bolton

Prosporous Bolton

Confident Bolton

Achieving Bolton Greener Bolton Safe Bolton

Little Bolton

Bolton Civic Core - the missing piece of

Key Challenges

Delivering

1. Le Mans Crescent

2. Mawdsley Area Gateway

Change: Proposals that will unlock Bolton’s Levelling Up

3. Market Place

Conversion of the Grade II listed building into a hotel opening important heritage assets to the wider public.

Pocket park strengthening the historic link between Victoria Square and Nelson Square.

Conversion of the former Debenhams unit into leisure and culture facilities.

Tendring and Colchester Borders Garden Community

Client: Clarion Housing

Location: Colchester, UK

Deliverables: Competition Stage 1 & Shortlist

The Salstead Garden Community is about new beginnings, firmly grounded in the natural environment and the history of the area. With our ‘invisible city- visible community’ approach – the proposal will bring people on site and create a destination with minimum physical interventions. The proposal will enable one of the barns/farmsteads to become our Hub and open up the park to visitors by working on the landscape first, enabling the re-wilding of Salary Brook Country Park, expanding the walking and cycling routes and putting it on the map we can create an exceptional destination. Looking at the wider area, outside of the red-line boundary to better understand and shape the vision for a 21c garden community in Colchester and Tendring.

I collaborated and supported a multidisciplinary team entry and shortlist in the Tendring and Colchester Garden Community competition andcontributed towards developing this approach to the 21st Century Garden Community, produced illustrations and compiled the design submission through both competition stages

21st Garden Community Principles

A Country Park from Day 1

Clingoe Hill Character Area

Crockleford Heath Character Area

Allen Farm Character Area

Wakefield City Centre Masterplan

Client: Wakefield Council

Location: Wakefield, UK

Deliverables: Masterplan

Wakefield Masterplan Blueprints

Green & Blue Blueprint

Movement Blueprint

Adaptable Blue Print

Heritage & Culture Blueprint

Masterplan for city centre regeneration as a vibrant place that is fit for purpose, future proof, strengthens links between the retail core and historic heart of Wakefield. The masterplan developed in close collaboration with the Local Planning Authority, key stakeholders, landowners and potential developers. Multiple platforms for public engagement were provided which allowed for a high volume of feedback and observations.

I supported the team to produce legible material to engage effectively with stakeholders during the public consultation.

Stakeholder Engagement and Public Consultation

Cathedral Precinct with Bread Street artistic impression of a vibrant square

Exhibition banners displayed in multiple locations across the city

Social media consultation campaign

Indian Institute of Science - Stem Cell Facility

Client: IISc Bangalore

Location: Bangalore

Deliverables: Detailed Design Application

Indian Institute of Science is a public institute for research and higher education in science and engineering.

The proposal for iHub, a stem cell and research facility for IISc was a result of a competition held in 2018. Hundredhands design won this competition and is correctly working with The Society for Development and Innovation at IISc to provide a world class research facility.

The structure itself is envisioned as a robust steel building, with steel frames that create and emerge from the building. Designed to be starkly different from the rest of the building , the ‘Oculus’ or the ‘Canon’ that sits at the entry of the reception is a strong statement of this building.

As an architectural assistant my scope of work entailed, working on physical models, working drawings, 3D models and walkthroughs. The project is ongoing and currently on sire under construction

IISc is one of the oldest institutions in the city of bangalore. The older structures in the campus have charactersitic stone walls and compounds. In order to maintain the coherence in the campus but at the same time exploring a contemporary style elegant and flush security cabins were designed, the facade following similar stone slats, but with sharper finish.

The compound was designed to complement the Stem building, and not take away from its unique approach, hence it remains subtle yet strong in front of the building.

Section A

Section C

Elevation Plan

GoNative

Client: GoNative & Purple Turtle

Location: Bangalore

Deliverables: Detailed Design Application

This project is a retail and restaurant for a GoNative franchise located in Whitefield, Bangalore. The structure itself was envisioned to be open and light, since the land was taken on lease the project questions the idea of permanence and is an easily dismantled leaving little to no impression on the site. The structured is composed of metal framework that take a bold and open form. It is designed to be an open and flexible space.

As an architectural assistant I worked on producing working drawings and GFCs to send onto site during the construction phase. I also coordinated with the on site engineer and visited the site multiple times. The project went on to win the Indian Institute of Architects, Award for Excellence in architecture under the Commercial Projects category in 2021.

Academic Experience.

NutriNet - Postgraduate Thesis

Location: London

Level: MArch Urban Design

The rapid urbanization of the last decades has revealed unsustainable ecosystems, led by consumerism, along with the immeasurable augmentation of production. Now, more than ever, with climate change in the spotlight, cities need to become an integral part of their own solution, re-establishing the balance between the city-consumer and the producing countryside.

Nutri.net focuses on how cities can become more autonomous and sustainable in the production - consumption cycle. Using food to bring people of segregated and diverging communities together.

Layers of urban analysis - from macro to micro

UnDivided - Undergraduate Thesis

Location: Bangalore

Level: BArch Architecture Thesis

The cities we live in today, usually follow a very rigid form of zoning. Thus, due to zoning and bye-law regulations regions adjacent to lakes, nalas or any other water bodies are left unplanned or as leftover spaces. Thus the ‘informal’ also considered leftover parts of our society whom the city is rarely planned for, are the first to settle near the available natural resource. Eventually these portions of land end up becoming garbage dumps adding to the filth and poor living conditions for the economically weaker.

At its very crux this thesis hypothesized using design be it, architecture or urbanism as a tool to change the mental perception of the urban poor or urban informal in our societies. Theorising that, bridging this mental gap will only help to eventually eliminate the economic gap in most developing countries. Creating spaces that are truly democratic in their essence and redefining the ‘public realm’ in present day cities.

The context consists of a population of nearly 55,000 people. A large portion of the population consists of people under the age of 35. Which is a reflection of the demography of the city of Bangalore itself.

The settlement itself consists of a diverse population. A mix of Christian, Muslim and Hindu communities. Usually the community settles around respective religious buildings.

Children go to schools and colleges around the neighbourhood, there are no institutions within the settlement.

A point of concern is the lack of any safe spaces for children and women in the settlement. The nearest playgrounds and parks are 1-2km away from the settlement.

TOTAL POPULATION - 55,000 persons

Comparing densities - Formal and Informal Living

Zoning Principles

CENTRAL PUBLIC REALM

AT THE POINT OF INTERSECTION OF THE COMMERCIAL AVENUES AND WAY-FINDING PATHWAYS

WAY-FINDING PATHS

USING THE SITE AS A POROUS MEDIUM TO WAY-FIND THROUGH THE NEIGHBOURHOOD

MAIN COMMERCIAL AVENUES

MAIN COMMERCIAL AVENUES THAT EMERGE FROM EXISTING COMMERCIAL AXES.

The Housing: A composition of incremental housing units, replicating the essence of a street. Enlivened by a strong sense of community.

A Vision for Communities in Ejipura

The Public Realm: Lying in the heart of the site, this public space is a democratic and undefined space that is meant for all.

Public Parks: Informal settlements tend to sprout near informally planned land. As a planning strategy it was important to address the ‘nala’ and not turn our backs to it.

Urban Farming: The ideology of urban farming is one that is slowly gaining more momentum, where in we use urban parcels of land to grow produce and at the same time provide more breathable environs to the city.

The Commercial Street: Bringing in people to the site, the commercial street continues in the main axis of the National Games Village.