Design Portfolio 2009-2017

ANERI MEHTA 2009-2017

Portfolio

Instructor: Pravir Sethi Material/s: Bamboo Technology: Arduino with DC Motor and Photocell Software: Arduino Scripting Undergraduate Thesis_Aneri Mehta Project: Academic Site: Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai, India

Spider Crawl A major part of Human history has been about conquering and taming nature in order to survive. There have been wars all along, man conquering man, man conquering nature. In order to create any civilization nature had to be pushed back for buildings, roads, and water projects. Forests have always had to be cleared in order to plant food crops. Mostly everything we do has a parallel in Primate behaviour. But do we need to destroy our own habitat for our survival? And to what extent?

What I’m asking is; Is it now part of our genetic programming to keep fighting nature even though we have obviously won the battle for survival?

It is today, not our necessity but our greed to grow; to deforest and reclaim more land, to build more, to develop and multiply our empire. We transform countryside to cities, forests to industries and all of this is achieved by in some way harming our environment. Man in his greed has exploited nature so much that the balance of nature has been greatly disturbed.

Urbanism has encroached and eaten up into the natural surroundings to an extent that what is left of nature in the present scenario is merely an”encroachment into the city”. “It’s about too much development and too much fire suppression building up fuel over the past 50 years... In some ways this is the great war that will be fought here in the 21st century.”

This project is neither a recrimination of ‘cultural evolution’ nor a dark criticism of the errors committed by mankind since architecture and city planning moved ‘against nature’ It talks about nature’s vengeance and how as an architect I would play a small role in helping nature with the same. This could be either by creating a space we can breathe or by carving out a space where nature not only enters the domestic world of a city but dominates it.

Since we have now reached a point where we have exhausted our natural resources. and all the destruction and the attacks on nature will be answered to. We have tested Nature’s patience for too long, and it is time she hits back. And when a force as powerful as Nature hits back there is nothing the human species can do. Nature has a way of setting things right. Just the way wounds can be cured naturally, diseases can be created naturally too. If the ecology is forced to change from its main course, then nature can find ways to adjust it. But man, will be on the receiving end of this fury of Nature.

A render of the Spider Crawl proposal

Disruption Strategy 11: Green Bombing the city // trasnforming the skyline from an urbanscape to a wild, green landscape

Disruption Strategy 1: Pipe Bursts through the city

Design Strategy 11: Spider Crawl // A device which fixes itself onto glass facades

Design Strategy 111: Reimagining the Dharavi Slums as a part of the green fabric of the City Design Strategy 1; A sensory street light providing defense against encroachers of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Mumbai

Design Strategy 11: Spider Crawl // Elevation

Design Strategy 11: Spider Crawl // Section

Design Strategy 11: Spider Crawl // Materiality

Design Strategy 11: Spider Crawl // Component Renders

Design Strategy 11: Spider Crawl // View of module on existing buildings

Spider Crawl: Using the Arduino to make a working prototype

Design Strategy 11: Spider Crawl // Behavior of each Component

Design Strategy 11: Spider Crawl // Using Solar energy to operate each module

Arduino Connection Arduino Circuit

Design Strategy 11: Spider Crawl // Joinery

Instructor: Sean Ahlquist Material/s: Elastic Knit, Cable Technology: CNC Knit Machine Software: M1 Plus, Springform, Processing Scripting Team: George Keppler, Aneri Mehta Project: Academic and Research

Technology Processes Explorations in textile-­based material systems The project investigates modes of computational design which place materiality as an a­priori agent in the generation of complex structural morphologies; the generation of form is defined via the repercussions of material behavior. In order to explore the relationships of material and form, we engaged methods of form­-finding through both physical prototyping and computational simulation. A critical aspect of the project was to understand the primary relationships between modes of design both virtual and real, understanding that material inherent form can only be devised through a series of interrelated methods, rather than in a single linear process. The studies in complex structural morphologies took place through the use of differentiated textiles developed through manufacturing on the CNC knitting machine.

The project focused on (i) CNC knitting and translation to materialization, (ii) physical and computational form-finding and, and (iii) interaction design and sensing/feedback.

Technology Processes: Physical Prototype made using cables with a CNC Knit Textile

Technology Processes: Methodology used for project

Technology Processes: Computational Design using Springform and Rhinoceres 3D

Technology Processes: Computational Design using Springform, Rhinoceres3D ad Vray

Technology Processes: Physical Prototype using Cables with CNC Knit Textile

Technology Processes: Images of Prototype with an Interactive Projection scripted on Processing

Morphable Architectures_Research With Prof.

Sean Ahlquist This research is focused on the development of physically transformable architectural systems by exploring a range of material scales in the composition of textile-reinforced composites and pneumatic actuation, through a collaboration between architecture and aerospace engineering.

Fiber-reinforced composites, primarily made with loose fiber or woven textile reinforcements, have a growing attraction in architecture focused primarily on their ability to be designed for any shape. Composites developed through tailored fiber placement using the robotic extrusions primarily address structural constraints through minimum material usage.

The Morphable Architectures research seeks to merge skin and structure, where the material architecture can adapt through changing its geometry without the means of mechanical actuation.

Investigations include robotically-controlled deposition of thermoplastic matrix (binder) materials onto differentiated CNC knitted textiles - tailoring stiffness to drive the hybrid composite material to self-actuate from a initially flat state into a complex 3D structure.

Morphable Architectures: Pre-stressed Textile to be used as a base to Robotically extrude TPE

Morphable Architectures: Knit Structure of textile designed using M1 Plus

Morphable Architectures: Composite of prestressed textile with thermo-plastic elastomer

Instructor: Jonathan McGee Material: CFRTP & Flexible PLA Technology: 6-axis Robot & extruder Software: SuperMatterTools, Grasshopper, Rhinoceres 3D Team: Aneri Mehta, Drishti Haria,Yu Hsu, Fangzheng Dong, Hyejoo Son Project: Academic

Material Engagement Incorporating material feedbacks Industrial robots are highly flexible tools, acting as a platform on which a virtually endless array of processes can be developed. This first project served as an introduction to the small robots along with the small extruder in order to understand how various process parameters are determined.

Successful additive manufacturing processes require a tightly controlled choreography of motion and tool parameters. Additive Manufacturing technologies have created an entirely new class of materials, allowing for functional geometries to be embedded within homogenous materials. These functional geometries can perform in ways that are rarely seen in typical materials. One example, known as “Auxetic Materials,� possess a negative poisson ratio.

Further, these technologies enable properties to be varied across a monolithic part, simply by changing the macro-structure of the material. This project explores the potentials of how varying the geometry of a part can create interesting or unexpected behaviors, with the potential of improving structural performance or inducing kinetic behavior with minimal moving parts.

Material Engagement: Robotically extruded CFRTP

EXTRUSION 1 Material : Carbon Fibre Reinforced ThermoPlastic CFRTP Fabrication: Six-axis Robot Extruder Cntour height: 1mm Extrusion Value: 0.5 Tool Path: Muitiple tool paths

Material Engagement: Polymer prototypes 3D printed using Kuka 7Axis robot

EXTRUSION 2 Material : Flexible PLA Fabrication: Six-axis Robot Extruder Cntour height: 0.8mm Extrusion Value: 0.7 Tool Path: Muitiple tool paths Nozzle cooling : On

Material Engagement: Kuka Robot extruding geometry developed using Super Matter tools

Material Engagement: Polymer prototypes 3D printed using Kuka 7Axis robot

Instructor: Cathlyn Newell Material: Shape-memory Polymer with thermoplastic Elastomer Technology: 3D printer Lulzbot taz5, 7 axis Kuka Robot Software: SuperMatterTools, Rhinoceres 3D Capstone Research Project Project: Academic

Synthetic Ecologies The project focuses on developing a network of thermo-responsive systems using a composite of a smart material, shape-memory polymer with thermo-plastic elastomer (TPE). The project combines form-finding, advanced materials, computational form generation and digital simulations to visualize a skin advocating a symbiotic relationship between its two materials.

The study involves understanding of material characteristics combined with an understanding of form to create a textile-like system which relies on environmental data to exhibit a performative behavior. The main objective is to advance a developing typology of responsive systems; a dynamic architecture which is sensitive to its changing environment.

The prototypes consist of grided, textile-like surfaces which change shape on application of heat, transforming a two-dimensional surface into three-dimensional flexible environments.

The research of Synthetic Ecologies aims to advance the developments made in material research by finding an application for such materials in the field of Architecture. The use of smart materials - to develop an architecture which is sensitive and adaptive to its surroundings – surpasses the need for robotics and bulky mechanical components to create performative systems while using additive manufacturing methods to create a working prototype which can be easily multiplied. Introducing a smart material which has its own shape-memory gives way to a new kind of adaptable structure which does not rely on any form of electrical energy but solely on environmental data feedback.

The project contributes to trajectories in material study, fabrication and geometric development. Material study involves understanding the strengths and limitations of a smart material, namely, shape-memory polymer and its relationship with another material. Fabrication methods involve testing and 3d printing the two materials independently as well as together to form a hybrid surface. A geometric iteration-based study is used to find the most suitable form responsive to tensile forces.

Synthetic Ecologies: 3D printed Auxteic Geometry

Synthetic Ecologies: 3D printed SMP deformation on application of heat

Synthetic Ecologies: Composite behavior of SMP with Auxetic Thermo plastic elastomer

Synthetic Ecologies: Robotically extruded Auxetic Thermo plastic elastomer

Synthetic Ecologies:Varied Grids Tested

Synthetic Ecologies: Grid Prototyping and stressing

Synthetic Ecologies: Morphing of grid on application of heat

Synthetic Ecologies: Auxetic Grid Morphology

Synthetic Ecologies:Textile morphing on application of heat. From flat to 3D

Instructor: Dipal and Atrey Chhaya Material: Wax with cardboard Technology: Laser Cutting Software: Autocad, Adobe Photoshop Project: Academic Site: Hotel Watson, Mumbai, India

Adaptive Re-use The project is based on a study of the encroachment of commercial activities in residences.

It is based on the addition of markets to a building and the spatial changes created thereby.

The case study chosen for such a phenomenon is Zaveri Bazaar.

The main program of zaveri bazaar was originally residential. But over the years, with commercial growth taking place in the city multiple layers of programs were added, thus changing a single programmed space into a multi-usage space. The multiple programs in the buildings make it extremely dynamic spatially and in function. This spatial exploration is then applied to heritage site - Hotel Watsons, which is experiencing a similar situation. Illegal trade has been taking place inside the dilapidated heritage hotel for the past few years. An art gallery and workshops and a residence for artists is proposed.

The project brief also states that the Watsons property on the plot be retained upto 50 percent and the proposal for an art museum to be built around the retained bit of this dilapidated property. Hotel Watson is a heritage hotel built in colonial India which is now filled with illegal criminal contruction. The project proposes an Art Gallery and residence for Artists in this dilapidated heritage building. While the planning is rearranged, the essence of the Heritage Hotel is maintained.

Adaptive Reuse: Hotel Watson, Heritage hotel Drawings

Adaptive Reuse: Conceptualisation for re-using existing fabric

Adaptive Reuse: Sections // Rearrangement of spaces to revive the lost importance of a historical Architecture

Work Experience: Cadence Architects Software: Autocad, Photoshop Site: Bangalore, India Team: Aishani Nath, Silambarasan, Aneri Mehta Principal Architect: Smaran Mallesh Program: Kindergarten Status: Completed, Built

Planet Kids The brief required us to design a primary school on a tight site in an urban residential neighbourhood. The program, comprising of classrooms, library, multipurpose space, activity rooms and various play areas, demanded the building to be comprised of five floors including the basement.

We decided to articulate the program in a playful manner from a child’s perspective. The school was conceived as a conglomeration of myriad child fantasies . The technique of a collage was used to bring these fantasies together, each form representing a discrete experience. A particular form was chosen for each activity, the spatial qualities of the form were studied and translated into a spatial experience, setting each space apart from the other. These included letters coalescing to form the elevation, to little nooks and corners for children to hide in, to little peep holes in every door and multiple other experiences. All of these experiences brought in together formed an ensemble.

The colours green and pink have been extensively used in the interiors. Other than bringing vibrancy to the space, green also compensates for the lack of natural green environment, making references to zoos and forests. And the colour pink evokes empathy, creating a calming atmosphere in the otherwise charged environment.

To create an intimacy between the children and all the elements, the openings, railings, staircase, niches and furniture were scaled down to form an anthropometric space.

Each program requirement was seen as an opportunity to create a distinct world for the child. This colourful assemblage of different worlds and experiences is then connected with a staircase and a spatial void that cuts through the building in section. The staircase behaves like an architectural promenade along which these diverse worlds unravel themselves. The sculptural void also enables visual and spatial interaction between the different levels.

Instructor: Priyank Mehta, Hemant and Renu Purohit Material: MDF, Styrofoam Technology: Laser cutting Software: Autocad, Rhinoceres and Adobe Photoshop Project: Academic Site: Nariman Point, Mumbai, India

Cave hotel Brief The area for this hotel project is 10,000sq.mts. The aim of the project was to design a boutique hotel with an attached entertainment sector to fit in the downtown business district.

Proposal The hotel is designed to replicate a water-eroded rock.

The theme for the entertainment section is to create a bath and spa hotel. The main idea was to bring back the long-lost ritual of public baths into the 21st century, where these can be used as places of relaxation and for social gatherings.

Being a Bath and spa hotel the design had to be “water-driven� and so water erosion of rocks was studied. The hotel has been designed to resemble a rock that has been carved into, by water. The voids in the spaces are the areas through which the water flows connecting pools at different levels.

Various concept model were experimented with to give the design an organic and flowing form. A block was sculpted through, sliced and directly translated into plans to create organic spaces. The plans and sections have been derived directly from the process models to recreate the oraganic spatial quality.

Cave: Image of the final prototype representing the top view of the project

Cave: Progressive development of plan // concept translated into form

Cave: Sections highlighting organic quality of spaces

Cave: Final physical prototype of the project

Work Experience: Menis Arquitectos Software: Archicad, Rhinoceres and Adobe Photoshop Site: Lijiang, China Team: Zuzana Tomeckova, Quentin, Matina Maier, Aneri Mehta Principal Architect: Fernando Menis Program: Residence, Guesthouse, Private Club

Villas in China In ancient China, Taoist scholars and mystics developed a profound understanding of life based on minute observation of nature. The ancient Taoists observed a pattern of expression in nature that they interpreted as and named, the Five Elements.The Elements are represetations of the transformation that occurs in the world around us; they are metaphors for describing how things interact and relate with each other. The three structures namely- Water Villa, Hill Villa and Tree Villa directly represent elements of nature. The main requisite of the three villas is privacy. In order to provide privacy, we moulded the terrain to shape a private valley. The valley is secured by a wire fence that is almost invisible because it is hidden by the vegetation. The views are controlled by the planted trees on the protective wall between the lake and the pond.

CONCEPT FOR THE VILLAS The houses are designed such that they are one with nature. The exterior and interior are overlapped and merged, blurring the distinct edge between them. Nature also plays a role as a connector since the vegetation and position of rocks create a sense of unity between the structures and their exterior spaces.

The Water Villa is a private outhouse for our client in Lijiang, China. The Hill Villa, a luxurious private club and the Tree Villa being a guesthouse for visitors, all form vantage points into the lake. Each house also includes a water element in its design, since water is symbolic of intelligence and wisdom, flexibility and softness in the Chinese culture.

The ramp leads to the entrance gate (control point) for cars while the staircase is for the pedestrians. Further down are five parking slots with a shelter embedded in the landscape that includes the services for the house. The houses are also built keeping in mind the privacy that will be required from the north side which holds the public part of the lake. The protective wall which bears new planted trees controls the view from and to the villas.

China Villas: Masterplan of the three Villas on site

China Villas: Render of the Hill Villa // Private Club

China Villas: Plans of the Hill Villa // Private Club

China Villas: Open Elevation of the Hill Villa // Private Club

China Villas: Section of the Hill Villa // Private Club

China Villas: Plans of Water Villa// Residence

China Villas: Rendered Views of Water Villa// Residence

China Villas: Section of Water Villa// Residence

China Villas: Plan of Tree Villa// Guesthouse

China Villas: Section of Tree Villa// Guesthouse

China Villas: Rendered Views of Tree Villa// Guesthouse

Work Experience: Menis Arquitectos Software: Archicad, Rhinoceres and Adobe Photoshop Site: Puertito De Adeje, Tenerife, Spain Team: Zuzana Tomeckova, Matina Maier, Nithya Subramaniam, Swati Sheshadri, Aneri Mehta Principal Architect: Fernando Menis Program: Resort with Hotel, Apartments, Beach, Lake Winner of Competition

El Puertito De Adeje The main requirements of the project were ; Extension of the beach of Puertito, To introduce beach clubs to attract people to the beach. Propose a hotel, private villas and aparthotels and to propose green public spaces.

While designing the main objective was to retain the natural beauty of the site. To create minimal architecture which blends into the landscape. The proposal was part of a competition.

Puertito De Adeje:Wind Analysis

Puertito De Adeje:View from Apartments

Puertito De Adeje:Vantage Points

Puertito De Adeje:View from Apartments

Puertito De Adeje: Boardwalk at the beach

Work Experience: RA Design Software: Autocad, Sketchup, Adobe Photoshop Site:Mangalyam Meadows,Valsad Team: Pooja Dalal, Anushka Narayan, Palak Goradia, Aneri Mehta Principal Architects: Rajiv Achari and Pooja Dalal Program: Residential Township with Clubhouse and Villas Project completed in 2016

Mangalyam Meadows Spread over 23 acres, Mangalyam Meadows is a neighbourhood in the green belt of Gujarat.

The neighborhood consists of Residential Villas (outhouses) and a clubhouse in the centre accesible to all its residents and members.

The Clubhouse named “the Woods” is a 50,000 sq.ft structure which presents the ambience and aura befitting the most luxurious residences. A perfect blend of leisure, sport and entertainment, the clubhouse inlcudes an Auditorium, Kid’s Theatre, Discotheque, Swimming Pool, Restaurant, Spa, Games Room, conference room and library.

My role as an Architect was to monitor the site on a monthly basis, coordinate between the consultants (MEP, Structure, Acoustics) and the client. The interiors of the auditorium, restaurant, kids theatre, conference room and spa were the spaces of the building I worked on directly under the principal Architect, Rajeev Achari. The project was carried out right from the design and conceptualisation stage to the execution stage during my time at the firm.

RESTAURANT

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AUDITORIUM ...................................

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BANQUET

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DISCOTHEQUE

SWIMMING POOL

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SPA

...................... KIDS THEATRE SPA- ELECTRICAL PLAN

GROUND FLOOR LAYOUT AUDITORIUM

CONFERENCE ROOM

KIDS THEATRE

RESTAURANT

RESTAURANT - REFLECTED CEILING PLAN

Work Experience: Cadence Architects Software: Autocad, Sketchup Site: Talera residence, Bangalore, India Team: Silambarasan, Aishani, Aneri Principal Architect: Smaran Mallesh Program: Residential villa Status: Completed, built on site

Talera Residence The Talera Residence is a 3 storey residence in the heart of Bangalore City. The concept of the design was “inside out�. The facade acts as a buffer between the interiors of the building and the exterior environment. This buffer creates a smooth transition and acts as an extension to the living room.

My role as an intern at the firm was to assess the structural drawings, MEP Drawings, door-window drawings, gate design and detail, facade design, stairacse details and fabrication on site.

SITE PLAN AND SECTION DOOR WINDOW DETAIL

COMPOUND GATE DETAIL

COMPOUND GATE DETAIL

Instructor: Karl Daubman, Cathlyn Newell, Erik herrman Material/s: Salt Block Technology: Angle-grinder / Chisel Project: Academic

Salt Experiments A major part of exploring salt as a material was to understand how different tools left a distinct mark on the block - textures. Water gave it an undulating but smooth finish, while the chisel left hard, aggressive cuts into the block. The angle grinder on the other hand, left flat cutout traces. The tool helped remove large chunks of the block and carve it in a more planar way, but this left behind flat, uneven textures on the block. With more experience with the angle grinder and by trying out various extensions (sanding head v/s cutting head), I developed a method to create a more controlled , stepped texture. It wasn’t always possible to achieve this texture, especially in the smaller spaces where it was impossible for the tool to reach. But most of the volumes were cut out using a stepped process which left the block with a continuous, smooth, layered surface.

Three dimensional spaces subtracted from a block of salt is the basis of the project. The former part of the project was more about exploring salt as a material to work with. Trying various tools and methods to create textures and to carve out chunks of salt.

Salt Experiments: Carving out spaces in a salt block

Project : Cut, Cast, Cut, Repeat Material: Plaster Formwork: Fabric, Styrofoam, Cardboard, PETG Sheets Technology: Robot Hot wire cutter, CNC MIlling, Zund Knife Cutter, Laser-cutter Software: Rhino, Illustrator, Grasshopper, Super Matter tools

Cut, Cast, Repeat The MS Practicum program at University of Michigan, consisted of hands-on work with plaster. The program was designed in a way to encourage interrogation into varied spatial qualities (voids and solids), gain experience in a material (plaster) and to understand the workability of industrial technology like the CNC Router, Robot, zund knife cutter, etc.

Plaster as a material has dual properties. In its liquid form (mixed with water) it is extremely flexible and will take the shape of the formwork it is poured into. Whereas, when it solidifies, it becomes rigid and strong. When working with such a material, often the challenge lies in developing the right formwork. While plaster is a flexible material, most times the formwork adds limitation and rigidity to the process of casting, leading to a static, monotonous final product.

Projects were an investigation into the relationship of two extreme paradigms, flexibility vs rigidity. Each of the projects explores how plaster as a material reacts to a change in formwork, steps are taken towards developing a flexible formwork in order to see their integration.

Various materials were experimented with to create molds for the plaster to be cast in.

Some of the materials are: fabric, styrofoam, cardboard. Technology used for the

Plaster Explorations: Using various materials and technology to create molds to cast plaster