Architecture Portfolio - 2022 by Anshika Srivastava

Anshika Srivastava Architecture Portfolio

CONTENTS

01 02 03 04

Sensory Garden and Educational Facilities for children with Autism and Cerebral Palsy Professional Practice @ The Blank Slate

Tactical Urbanism: Reimagining Sitabuldi Street Professional Practice @ The Blank Slate

Passive Healing through Architecture: Rehabilitation for the Deinstitutionalized Academics : Design Dissertation

Psychosocial

1993 Blast Memorial and Experiential Museum, Worli Academics : Architectural Design Studio

01 Sensory Garden and Educational Facilities for children with Autism and Cerebral Palsy @ Sanjay Centre for Special Education, Goa Professional Practice | 2020 | Institutional Architecture Role: Project Head - Research and Interpretation, Design Concept and Schematic Drawings. Fundraising Strategy and media creation This project was an exercise in inclusivity and sensory integration in design. The end-users were students with Autism, Cerebral Palsy and learning disabilities. The environment the users occupy can be used to ameliorate the difficulties they face, and I kept this in mind by creating a holistic design scheme that makes learning easy. A Sensory Garden is a space for sensorial stimulation, physical and psychological development. Exposure to an assortment of colours, textures, smells, sounds, along with the physical development areas like a jungle gym, aid in honing motor skills along with social and emotional development. With the aim of creating an outdoor space that acts as a teaching tool, the site is spatially divided into different zones knit together by meandering pathways. The peripheral stretch of the school was also developed to create hands-on workshop spaces, an outdoor classroom and a plantation space, to allow the children to develop their daily communication and life skills. The outdoor gym, jungle gym, therapy coves and multipurpose ground helps in the all round physical and mental development. Each of these zones designed to promote learning and exploration through play, help children develop real-life problem solving skills, improve their memory, wayfinding skills and develop responses to different sitmuli.

Right: 3D Render of the seating space, created by me

CONCEPTUAL FOR THIS

A. Understanding the User| Contextual Research 1. Identifying the Users

3. Translating Survey into Project Brief The survey results helped derieve programs for the design scheme. The programs have been categorized according to the skill they develop.

Primary Students Conditon: Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Learning Disablities

Support

Academic Support

Teachers

Parents

Special Educators, Helpers, Ancillary Staff

Primary Caregivers, Often accompany student

INCLUSIVE VEGETATION GARDENING

Math Games

OBSTACLE COURSE Pottery Workshop Bakery School

OUTDOOR CLASSROOM Outdoor Classroom

INCLUSIVE VEGETATION GARDENING

INCLUSIVE VEGETATION GARDENING REAL LIFE SITUATIONS TO CREATE INTERACTIVITY

Challenges

What works for the students?

How does the student percieve their surroundings?

What difficulties does the student face in learning?

Swings, slides are student’s favourites Gardening, Interacting with Animals teach responsibility Classroom activities are effective in outdoor settings Craft, Painting, Cooking Dancing, Wall Climbing help develop cognition

Depth-perception might be impaired. Stairs and level drops should be avoided Bright colours, rough textures can cause sensory overload. Children are receptive to shades like Red, Blue and Yellow. Children calm down by Playing Outdoors, Listening to Music Children are more receptive to natural flooring like Grass, Mud and Sand. Calm-down spaces can ease a sensory overload

Difficulty expressing and reading emotion Poor communication skills and Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

REAL LIFE SITUATIONS TO CREATE INTERACTIVITY Improvements

What more can the school be?

Wobbly Seating

Difficulty with Navigation, Direction and Motor Skills. As children begin to develop and grow, some face dexterity problems. Reading and mathematics are the most challenging academic sections

Jungle Gym OUTDOOR CLASSROOM

Cognitive

EDUCATIONAL ZONE

Sensory Elements like texture walls, help with sensory integration

Obstacle Gym OUTDOOR THERAPY REAL LIFECourse SITUATIONS TO CREATEOpen INTERACTIVITY WALL CLIMBING AREA COOKING/BAKING ACTIVITY AREA Climbing Wall OBSTACLE COURSE

EDUCATIONAL ZONE PAUSE SPACES FOR CALMING DOWN

Quiet Corners

AUDITORY DEVELOPMENT AREA PAUSE SPACES FOR CALMING DOWN WALL CLIMBING

Sound Area

SANDPit PITANIMAL ASSISTE Sand

TRAMPOLINE

SENSORY PATHW JUNGLE GYM

OUTDOOR THE

COOKING/BAKING ACTIVITY AREA OUTDOOR GAMES

SAND

OUTDOOR THERAPY AREA

COOKING/BAKING ACTIVITY AREA

EDUCATIONAL ZONE Therapy REAL LIFE SITUATIONS TO CREATE INTERACTIVITY Zones

WALL C

PAUSE SPACES FOR CALMING DOWN AUDITORY DEVELOPMENT AREA SENSORY PATHWAYS

SAND PIT

OUTDOOR THERAPY AREA

COOKING/BAKING ACTIVITY AREA

REAL LIFE SITUATIONS TO CREATE INTERACTIVITY HYDROTHERAPY

ANIMAL ASSISTED THERAPY

WALL CLIMBING

INCLUSIVE VEGETATION GARDENING

Subjects that children find difficult may be taught by other tools and strategies.

PAUSE SPACES FOR CALMING DO

EDUCATIONAL ZONE

The survey saw over 600 responses. The findings are summarized below. Role-playing games like shopping, doctor’s visit, etc help simulate interactions

OBSTACLE C ANIMAL ASSISTED THERAPY

OUTDOOR CLASSROOM WALL CLIMBING

We conducted an online survey with an array of questions along the following axes: Sensitivity

TRAMPOLINE INCLUSIVE VEGETATION GARDENING OUTDOOR C Gardening Therapy Role-Play Street

Physical

2. Online Survey among Parents and Teachers of students

Sp.Ed Activities

OBSTACLE COURSE

OUTDOOR CLASSROOM

WALL TactileTEXTURE Walls

Pet Therapy

JUNGLE GYM AUDITORY DEVELOPMENT AREAJUNGLEANIMAL GYM SENSORY ASSISTED THERAPY PATHWAYS BUILDING AND DIY ACTIVITIES

HYDROTHERAPY Activity

Zones

TEXTURE WALL

OCCUPATIONAL ACTIVITY ZONE

4. Design Language

Wayfinding must be AUDITORY DEVELOPMENT AREA simple COOKING/BAKING ACTIVITY AREA

Musical games and plates may enhance auditory development

BUILDING AND DIY ACTIVITIES Subjects that children find difficult may be taught by other tools and strategies.

Spaces for Pause BUILDING AND DIY ACTIVITIES

JUNGLE GYM

Meandering Pathways OCCUPATIONAL ACTIVITY ZONES BUILDING AND DIY ACTIVITIES TEXTURE WALL

OUTDOOR THERAPY AREA

Barrier-free Movement OCCUPATIONAL ACTIVITY ZONES

NATURAL SURROUNDINGS OCCUPATIONAL ACTIVITY ZONES

SAND PIT

OUTDOOR GAMES

Sensory Integration NATURAL SURROUNDINGS

NATURAL SUR

A. Design Program| Periphery - Vocational + Physical + Therapy 11

Gardening is a part of occupational therapy which instills a sense of responsibility in the child. Horticultural therapy helps strengthen muscles and improve coordination, balance, and endurance. The planters are designed to be wheelchair accessible.

Obstacle course is a sequencing activity that exercises receptive processing and teaches children to follow directions

The psychology area is a calming zone with therapy pods for students during overstimulation.

13 10

7 10 An outdoor classroom provides a semi-open environment for students to learn

Entrance Area

Bakery

3 Handicraft Store 4 Pottery Workshop

5 Role-Play Facades

6 Nursery 7 Outdoor Classroom 8 Gardening Area

9 Rain Garden 10 Calm-Down Pod

The mock facades help with social skills like conversations, purchasing, selling, visiting a bank, etc.

11 Sand Pit 12 Open Gym

13 Obstacle Course

14 Trampolines

15 Therapy Area

3 8 2

The Entrance has a handicraft store and bakery, which sells the students’ creations. The kitchen is a vocational space for children to learn baking

16 Gait Training Area

5 7 6

1 4

17 M u l t i p u r p o s e Ground 18 Pet-Therapy Area

B. Design Program| Sensory Garden

9 8

The music and auditory development area is a space to administer Music Therapy

A sensory pathway moves from smoother textures to rough textures, which helps a student develop tolerance to textures.

Students are encouraged to build and interact with the mazes teachers build to improve wayfinding

Multipurpose space congregation

for outdoor lessons,

drama,

9 11

8 10

11 6

The visual-spatial style of teaching Mathematics with multimedia aids eases up learning.

Wheel-chair friendly swing along with calm-down pods

6 12

14 5

The sand pit with wheelchair-accesible jungle gyms encourages learning by play.

1 3

The sensory wall behind the stage is a texture wall with that improves tactile sensitivity in children and helps regulate their brain’s negative reactions to external stimuli.

Amphitheatre

6 Math Zone

11 Quiet Pods

2 Sensory Wall

7 Life-Sized Blocks

12 Wobbly Seating

3 Sand Pit

8 Sensory Pathway

13 Wheelchair Swing

4 Jungle Gym

9 Reflexology Path

5 Auditory Development Area

14 DIY Seating Area

10 Activity Zone

The wobbly seating in the Entrance Corridor develops balance. The tire seating space functions as a space for interactions.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the project lost its main benefactor. I created and narrated this video to raise funds for the project: Click, or Scan QR Code

02 Tactical Urbanism: Reimagining Sitabuldi Street Professional Practice | 2021 | Urban Design Nagpur, the literal heart of the India, is a city of art, culture and oranges! Being a market stretch that has weaved itself into the lives of every Nagpur resident, Sitabuldi Street is the pulse of the city!

CONCEPTUAL FOR THIS Presently, the street is a chaotic one. It’s three elements- the market, user and vehicular mobility try to coexist, yet overpower and hinder each other’s functions. Our proposal reimagines Sitabuldi Market as Nagpur’s new shopping and cultural destination that is dynamic and reconfigures itself for various activities throughout the day and week. The design interventions aim to untangle Sitabuldi market, users and vehicles by reorganizing existing functions and proposing new multifunctional programming to create a dynamic, vibrant, secure and inclusive shopping street that encourages walking and gathering. An exercise in tactical urbanism, the interventions are low-cost, replicable and easy to execute with a plan to monitor and gauge user feedback for a permanent installation.

Team Size: 1 Urban Planner, 5 Architects Role: User Research Analysis, Design Development, Graphics and Content Writing Right: 3D Render of the space, created by me

A. Understanding the Problem | Contextual Research 1. Unchecked Vehicular Movement

User Interveiw Script

PARKING HAWKING ZONE

•

How do you travel to Sitabuldi?

•

How often do you buy from hawkers?

•

What time of the day do you shop?

• • • •

•

• • Where do you sit when you’re tired ? Are the toilets and water fountains easy to access? • • Where do you dispose off any waste? Will you be comfortable if this street had no • • vehicular access?

Do you think the market can act as an entertainment/leisure area? Does the market need designated pathways for cyclists? Will you use the yoga, cycling, etc facilities if proposed? How often do you bring your pet here? How can Sitabuldi Improve? Are you willing to participate in any DIY activities? How often do you eat street food here? What would you like to improve about the experience?

Findings from Visitor Research

HAWKING ZONE

What new activities should be introduced at Sitabuldi Street?

PARKING

Who uses the market the most? SENIOR CITIZENS

FITNESS/ YOGA/ JOGGING

STREET RALLIES/ PET SHOWS

46.9%

hawkers occupy the parking zone

carriageway used by vehicles and pedestrians

STREET PLAYS, OPEN AIR SCREENING

.2%

41.7%

55.8%

FOOD STALLS

2. Encroachment by Hawkers

32%

.2 38

SIT-OUTS/ LEISURES

22.4

68.9

Hawkers at Sitabuldi Market tend to spill out of their designated hawking zone, encroaching upon the vehicular path and the parking area.

CHILDREN

. 75

OPEN EXHIBITIONS

ADULTS

YOUNGSTERS

parking blocks shop frontage

Existing Street Section The street is prone to accidents, owing to the rampant vehicular encroachment and unlawful vehicular entry. There are no designated lanes for the two-way traffic.

Suggestions and Aspirations

Aesthetics

Organised Shopping

Shaded Walkways

Street Cleanliness

Entertainment

B. Design Philosophy | Tactical Nudging to power a Streetscape

Strategic Design Approach:

Icon

Tactical Urbanism, also known as DIY Urbanism is making use of low-cost, easy to install , temporary interventions to catalyze long-term improvements in a neighbourhood.

Re-organize and enhance functions for a liveable street

Icon

Addition of Parks and Plazas

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Creating Multifunctional Spaces

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Sitabuldi Market: A street for people

1. Re-organize and enhance existing functions Re-configuration of a shared street

Street Markers - Tactical Nudging

Proposed connectivity map - Rerouting traffic flow to pedestrianize Sitabuldi

MULTI-USE SPACES EXISTING

Lane distribution gravitates towards motorized vehicular movement, with street parking on both sides of the street.

PROPOSED Emphasis on safer streets for pedestrians and cyclists with more sidewalk space

VENDOR ZONES

SEATING SPACES

Shared parking with mall visitors

Main Market Street with interventions

With the use of street patterns, each function obtains a new identity which in turn eases out the wayfinding and navigation process for the public

Existing Bus stops

Shared parking with mall visitors

Existing Metro stations Re-routed Motorized Vehicular loop

Proposed Auto Ricshaw Drop Offs Proposed Auto Rickshaw Routes

Proposed Parking Pedestrian Approach Routes

Extended Interventions Buildings to be

Creation of a Connective Corridor

The street is divided linearly into three zones as per current pattern of use, which forms the basis of the proposed interventions and activities

2. Design Features - Addition of Parks and Plazas 2. NMV LANE

1. AMENITY PLAZA A welcoming space with essential amenities like an info guide, bike rental kiosk, bathrooms etc.

NMV lane for bikes & dedicated e-rickshaw is designed with bends at intervals to make the street permeable and introduce programmed pockets

3. HAWKERS PLAZA

A Hawkers Plaza is an extended intervention to accommodate vendors and create a different shopping experience.

4. FOOD BAZAAR A Food Bazaar in the vacant school courtyard will bring all of Nagpur’s famous food joints into one zone.

Proposed NMV lane on site Pedestrian approach routes Proposed Parking Proposed Auto Rickshaw drop offs Buildings to be face-lifted

5. SAFE CROSSWALKS

6. DYNAMIC LINEAR PARK

7. PEDESTRIAN PROMENADES

8. POP UP EVENTS PLAZA

9. DROP OFF POINTS

Zebra crossings with tactile pavings to increase safety of pedestrians

A pop-up urban park on weekends

Enhanced pedestrian access market shaded with trees

A part of the market zone near the library, transforms into a pop up exhibition / public art zone.

Designated e-rickshaw drop off and pick up points along NMV route

i) Amenity Plaza - Entry and Vehicular Drop-off

ii) Non-motorized Vehicle Lane and Bending Paths

iii) Drop-off Points

e-Rickshaw Stand

Bicycle Stand

Entry Signage

NMV Lane Covered Pathway

NMV Lane

Pedestrian walkway

Pedestrian Walkway

The entry consists of the rentable bicycle stand, E-rickshaw pick-up and drop-off, and an attractive artwork that activates the streets

The road bends at a 60-degree angle, to ensure a larger pocket of pedestrian walkway that can be used for hawking, green nodes and other essential functions.

iv) safe crosswalks

Pedestrian Walkway

Interactivity of elements at the site entry: The rental cycle stand and exhibition space are a sneak-peek into what the street holds.

Interactivity of various elements: The pathways serve both, the permanent market and hawkers

NMV Lane

Hawkers Lane Zebra Crossing

Pedestrian Walkway

The ends of the crossing are marked with tactile paving stickers, which ease navigation for the specially abled. The crates are the primary wayfinding tool used to demarcate road divisions.

3. Creating multifunctional spaces

Sitabuldi Market: Nagpur’s Own

The food plaza, unlike the hawker market at Sitaburdi, is a space for up-scale food joints and brands

Building Blocks - The Tactical Urbanism Toolkit Uniform Signboards

Tactical Nudges

Wayfinding Singage

The sitaburdi market street is also a home to short-term functions. The street can be a fitness haunt in the morning, a market street in the day, and a pop-up open theatre by the night.

Outdoor Seating DIY Public Furniture

The proposed palette of materials - a toolbox that can be used for rapidly deploying tactical urbanism exercises into reality. Following is the list of materials that are easily available and locally sourced: • • •

Traffic Cones

Bicycle Stand Pop-Up Market

•

Street Games and Activites

Reused Tyres

PopU p

Crate Seating

Pedestrian Walkway

C r a t e

Crate Seating

P e d e s t r i a n

•

Crate Seating

The dynamic linear park is an everyday market space which can serve as a space for activities like outdoor chess, hopscotch, etc,before 10AM and return to functioning as a market during the day

• Reused Tyres

Plastic Crates

Retail Cart with Safety Barrier

Barrier Elements: Plastic Crates, Plastic Crate Planter Landscaping Elements: Plastic Crate Planter Surface Treatment: Painted Tactical Nudges for Traffic Calming, Social Distancing and Street Activation Signs: Wayfinding Signage, Uniform Signboard Language Street Furnitrue: Crate Seats, Outdoor Seating on movable table and chairs Programming: Bicycle Stand, Retail Carts with safety barriers

03 Architecture for Passive Healing: Halfway Homes for the Deinstitutionalized @ Regional Mental Hospital, Thane Academics | Design Dissertation | 2018-19 | Healthcare Architecture

Mental health is marred by stigma and misinformation in India, and the mentally ill take the brunt of it. Owing to the stigma and apathy towards mental health, the mental health infrastructure is in a state of neglect to a point that the facilities built for mental healing end up deterioating a person’s health. Halfway homes are transitional spaces for people healed from their mental illness, yet are vulnerable to relaplse, and don’t have the necessary skills to be reintigrated into the society.

The total number of patients languishing in state mental hospitals of four states, despite being free of their illness

Halfway homes are at a nascent stage in India, with only a few Halfway Homes present for psychosocial rehabilitation. ‘Aftercare’ of the mentally ill has been a lesser-known concept in India so far, with no regulations about setting up halfway homes.

A. Design Concept 1. Salutogenic Design - Creating healthy environments

3. Phenomenology - Using Architecture Phenomena/Elements to create experiences

The term Salutogenesis describes an approach focusing on factors that support human health and well-being, rather than on factors that cause disease (pathogenesis). A salutogenic approach to design involves manipulating passive factors in a space, that contribute to it’s habitability, making the space conducive for healing. Factors that contribute to a salutogenic environment Coherence

Variety

Orientation

Vitality

Landmarks

Microclimate

Green Cover

There is a strong relation between the ambient temperature and humidity of any space, and the behaviour of the user inside this space.

Greenspace lowers physiological arousal. Any positive or enrichment of the environment improves the interconnections between neurons.

Natural Light

Texture

The human system evolved under the influence of the sun - our organ systems and circadian rhythms are light-modulated

Colour Associations

Materials and Texture

Years of biological conditioning has led to colour associations in humans - colours can be associated with an emotion or object

Tactile materials and complex facades make for interesting points for visual engagement. Plain facades make for low levels of arousal

2. Exploring the effect of the Built Environment on Mental Health The designed world is a set of emotional triggers. The attention that we pay to predictable and nonthreatening surroundings is minimal, hence our mind has the opportunity to relax, with an ease of adjusting to the environment. An urban environment creates a continual fight-and flight response. Over time, this response translates to mental illness.

Built enviroment that doesn’t adhere to a human scale ends up creating a space that is perceived as overbearing or threatening.

Built environment adherent to the human scale, with an abundance of greenscapes is perceived as non-threatenting, hence helping the mind attenuate to such surrounding without causing an excitatory response

B. Design Intervention Development of the Form

Zoning

m Ad es ic

n Di

Intersecting axes each hold a separate function

v er

Housing

Public Plaza

Ground Floor

py ra e h

Housing

The axes are amalgamated to create a simple circulation Public Plaza

First Floor

tio ca

The central axis acts as a bridge connecting the peripheral axes

ai Tr

Housing

Public Plaza

Second Floor Introduction of terraces by a play of levels. Introduction of voids for buffers.

Ground Floor Layout

Isometric View of the Halfway Home structure

Seating Space for Residents

Talk Therapy Room

Seating Pockets

Art Therapy Area

Vegetation Therapy Area

Residential Spill-out space

Public Plaza

Recreational Area

04 1993 Blast Memorial and Experiential Museum, Worli Academics | Architecture Design Studio | 2017 Independently designed an immersive journey into the thoughts and feelings associated with the first terror attack that shook Mumbai. The experiential space makes use of light-and-shadows and interactive moving image installations to take a user through the aspects of loss of security, damage, absence, healing and shockwaves experienced by the city as a whole.

CONCEPTUAL FOR THIS

Design Concept: Encapsulating dominant emotions By empathizing with emotions felt by victims of the attack, the goal of this project is to remind Mumbai that in terrifying times, its unity people found strength in.

vulnerability

distress

loss

solidarity

1. Spatiality to manipulate behaviour

2. Using Art to send a message

c a

a. Regulate: Rest-spaces between two experiential galleries offer respite from negative emotions. All buffers are oriented to provide a view of the Sea

1. Glass Rain: The blast at Century Bazaar caused all it’s glass to shatter and impale the people on the busy street below. About a hundred died - the gallery seeks to emulate terror the victims must’ve felt

1 4

d 3

2. Damage and Effort Gallery: Apart from a loss of human lives, there was severe infrastructural damage to key places in Mumbai. This gallery aims to use moving images and sound to show the destruction and subsequent efforts to maintain peace after

b. Confuse: Rugged and Irregularly-Spaced thorougfares, created by angular internal walls, make the visitor feel uncertain about their next step. They also emulate the aftermath of a blast

koijomilathamu jheaisalagtatha jaisemerisaarid uniyamegeetoi ruthaurrangoki barkhahaikhus koijomilathamu jheaisalagtatha jaisemerisaarid uniyamegeetoi ruthaurrangoki barkhahaikhus koijomilathamu jheaisalagtatha jaisemerisaarid uniyamegeetoi ruthaurrangoki barkhahaikhus koijomilathamu jheaisalagtatha jaisemerisaarid uniyamegeetoi ruthaurrangoki barkhahaikhus hbukiaandhihai behkihuisiabsa arihawaenhaib ehkihuisiabsaar

c. Overwhelm: Low-height ceilings of the gallery make use of scale to cause discomfort and unease among the gallery visitors.

d. Pacify: Focal point created by a singular light source to create a congregatory space for reverence and meditation. The meditation area is a peace and mutli-faith centre

3. Absence Memorial: Emphasizes loss by outlining only a person’s silhouette, surrounded by the names of the people we lost. The names act as a screen through which one first looks at the memorial

Site Layout

4. Bubble Exhibit: 1993 was the first terror attack to rock Mumbai. We lived in a bubble before that. The tiny PVC bubbles encapsulate the fragility of our secure lives - damage is just a pinprick away.

Conceptual Sketch - Visitor Journey through the Memorial

Memorial

Congregation Space

Rain Gallery

Bridge

Damage Gallery

Bubble Exhibit

Damage and Effort Gallery

Multi-Faith Centre

Concept for the Form - Shockwaves

Making use of elements of a blast - smoke and sharpnel projecting outwards, to create spaces for activity

Breaking the form into navigable passageways and pockets of spaces for different activities

Physical Model

Perforations in the building envelope to create an interplay between light and shadows in the interior

Grouping passageways into larger volumes to group similar functions together and organize user flow

3D-Visualization - Rain Gallery

Perforations in the building envelope to create an interplay between light and shadows in the interior

Making use of bare concrete walls and dark ceilings, along with a glass installation, to make this an unhappy space

Amateur Photography I like to click built spaces and skies. However, I believe true happiness lies where the two juxtapose, creating a moment that compels you to reach out for your camera and go ‘Click!’. I’ve also dipped my toes into astrophotography, trying to capture the magnificence of the night sky whenever I can.

Thank You anshika.1996@gmail.com +91 9920384133