Resume and Architectural Portfolio

BHARGAVI LALITHA MURTHY

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN PORTFOLIO

SELECT ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL WORK

contents resume sanctuary an arts’ centre in boyle heights, los angeles.

de-containing digital art design research on spaces and phenomena.

peepholes a low-cost rural school in Melanikuzhi, India. material fantasies design research with upcycled materials.

bhargavi.mrth@gmail.com

EDUCATION

Master of Architecture (2022 - Present)

The University of Virginia School of Architecture

Departmental Merit Aid Scholar (2023)

Chair of the Michael Owen Jones Committee (2023-24)

Co-curator: ‘Almost Useful’ Exhibition (2024)

Bachelor of Architecture (2014 - 2019)

Rashtriya Vidhyalaya College of Architecture

First Class Honors

WORK EXPERIENCE

Next Cities Institute at the University of Virginia (June - Aug 2023)

Research Assistant | Prof. Ila Berman and Assoc. Prof. Mona El Khafif

The University of Virginia School of Architecture

• Student Instructor Assistant (Fall 2022 and 2023)

Arch 1020: Lessons in Making | Prof. Sanda Iliescu

• Student Research Assistant (Winter + Spring 2023) ‘Type V City’ (upcoming publication) | Assoc. Prof. Jeana Ripple

Independent Architectural Consultant (Aug 2019 - May 2022)

Collaborations:

• 1LeapingFrog Architects (Sept - Dec 2020)

• OSAAT India (Sept 2019 - May 2020)

• GN Heritage Matters (Aug - Oct 2019)

Pratyush Shankar and Associates (Aug 2018 - June 2019)

Intern + Research Assistant on History of Urban Form in India: from beginning to 1900s, New Delhi: Oxford University Press (2023)

SKILLS

Design Software

AutoCAD | Rhino | SketchUp | Revit | Photoshop | InDesign |

Illustrator | V-Ray | Lumion | ArcGIS

Design Research

Literature review | Writing | Illustration | Data-visualization

Wood-working | Crafting by hand | Public speaking

REFERENCES

Dr Ila Berman

Elwood R. Quesada Professor of Architecture, The University of Virginia School of Architecture iberman@virginia.edu

Sanda Iliescu

Professor of Architecture and Art, The University of Virginia School of Architecture sdi5h@virginia.edu

Devin Dobrowolski

Architect, Elliot Architects devin@elliotarchitects.me

SANCTUARY

Almaraz Arts’ Centre in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles

GRADUATE | SEMESTER 2

Mentors: Edward Ford, Luis Pancrobo

In a notoriously ungentrifiable neighborhood, this project creates serene spaces for woodworking, painting and making ceramics a. It relies on varying degrees of transparency and permeability to invite residents to “come take a peek”, with the idea that literal visibility will be most effective in encouraging engagement.

A view of the Arts Centre Building from the street beside the Mariachi Plaza in Boyle Heights

Left: Design iterations explored through scale models.

Right: Site Plan of the neighborhood of Boyle Heights around the Mariachi Plaza.

Process sketches and that explore function, structure and movement, to test out possibilities of transparency and permeability.

A view of the final iteration: glass, polycarbonate and alumnium composite panels are set in a steel-frame structure.

LONGITUDINAL SECTION TAKEN ACROSS THE COURT

Braced frame structure with frosted glass

Combination of opaque composite panels, frosted and clear glass with steel frame

Steel framed structural system

Sawtooth Roof for Diffused Lighting

A view of the inner court and makers’ space which acts as an open-air workshop as well as a gallery.

De-CONTAINING DIGITAL ART

How can spaces for an embodied experience of digital art transcend the mediation of the “container”?

GRADUATE RESEARCH | PRE-THESIS

Advisor: Ila Berman

Instructors: Nana Last, Bradley Cantrell

This project creates a framework to understand how and why physical spaces must exist to facilitate embodied experiences of art and architecture. In a world where most things are digitizable, it is an endeavor in understanding how truly digital forms of art have the power to materialize data into tangible things and shift our perception of it. Various artworks are studied for the modes in which they are made, and the spaces in which they are exhibited. Based on these studies, architectural spaces are envisioned which seek to blur enclosures and create a series of thresholds between privacy and publicness, inside and outside, and light and darkness.

Claude Monet, Waterlilies, 1915

Pascal Dombis, Irrational Geometrics, 2008

Refik Anadol, Paladis: Data Universe, 2018

Vera Molnar, A la Rechere de Paul Klee, 1970

Marina Zurkow, Earth Breathers, 2023

Refik Anadol, Infinity Room, 2015

Sougwen Chung, Gestures of Becoming With, 2023

Tyler Hobbs, iostream, 2022

Desmond Paul Henry, Mechanical Drawing Machines, 1967-70

Krzysztof Wodiczko, Hirshhorn Projections, 1980

Bill Viola, The Veiling, 2023

Bill Viola, Pneuma, 1994/2009

Harold Cohen, How to Make a Drawing, 1982

Harold Cohen, AARON, 1982

Neri Oxman, Biocomposite Sculptures

Nam June Paik, Megatron Matrix, 1995

Nam June Paik, TV Buddha, 1974

Marina Zurkow, Post-Pastoral, 2022

Carlos Cruz-Diez, Chromosaturation, 1999

Patterns and colors coded by hand into numerical list.

Parts assembled into a drawing machine (AARON).

Sheer fabric screens are vertically hung.

A scaffold structure with projectors attached.

Two perpendicular screens with a pulley system.

Camera, lighting and film production equipment.

Testing equipment for light projection.

Drawings and prints on paper.

Robotic parts and painting supplies.

A la Rechere de Paul Klee Vera Molnar, 1970

Sistine Chapel Nam June Paik, 1995

The Veiling Bill Viola, 1994

How to Make a Drawing Harold Cohen, 1982

Box, Bot and Dolly 2013

Fidenza Tyler Hobbs, 2022

Le Random Sougwen Chung, 2023

Infinity Room, Refik Anadol 2018

Irrational Geometrics Pascal Dombis, 2008

DEGREE OF HUMAN MEDIATION

2.

REQUIRED DEGREES OF ENCLOSURE

PERCEPTUAL FIELDS OF ARCHITECTURAL PRECEDENTS

1. Framed works need one fixed opaque surface with variable ceiling height.

Installations (static) need one fixed and one variable opaque surfaces with variable ceiling height.

3. Installations (dynamic/robotic) need two adjacent fixed vertical surfaces with variable ceiling height.

4. AR worlds need two fixed and two variable opaque surfaces and can be skylit.

5. Screen projections need three fixed opaque surfaces with variable ceiling height.

6. Holographic projections need three fixed and one variable surface with variable ceiling height.

7. Movie auditoriums need a specific ceiling height but the size of the room can vary.

8. Light projections and installations require all surfaces to be fully opaque and of specific dimensions.

Hirshhorn acts as a fortess to the outside, with its internal court allowing light.

Pompidou creates a technoinfrastructura field across floors for art to “plug into”.

Kanazawa has an interplay of opaque and transparent surfaces to move between.

The Broad creates a highly controlled pattern of movement between light and dark.

Maxxi has braids that link up internal movement with the urban grid of the neighborhood.

Museumplein Limburg creates various gradient zones of lightto-dark transition.

CAC Cincinnati creates zones of interference between galleries, in trying to activate the city.

Eyebeam Institute (DS+R) proposed an infrastructural “ribbon” to wrap around galleries.

A SERIES OF SPECULATIVE ROOMS TO REIMAGINE THE CONTAINER

03 PEEPHOLES

A Low-cost Primary School for Melanikuzhi Village, India

PROFESSIONAL | PRO BONO

I led this project on behalf of a nonprofit called One School At A Time (OSAAT) India. My role involved site surveys, documentation and design, ranging from creating conceptual proposals with community members, design and construction drawings to arranging for labor and local materials. Owing to supply-chain and labor-related issues during the pandemic, this project is unrealized.

“THIS is our school, the school of our town”, a sign proudly reads in a nearby village.

Every surface in a classroom is used by teachers to create low-cost learning tools.

In many villages, secondary schools double up as community gathering spaces in the weekend.

Indian Patent Stone is a type of polished concrete floor which is durable. Image: Auroyali

Compressed Stabilised Earth Blocks can be chapely manufactured in-situ. Image: Auroyali

Dyed concrete is an easy way to bring vibrant hues to the interiors without the need for paint.

An early concept sketch showing the strong relationship between the inside and the outside-- learning spaces need to be conscious of the climate and the role of exterior spaces and natural elements.

An 18” x 18” x 20” tea table crafted for a post-human tea ritual based on the principles of mindfulness present in the Japanese tea ceremony.

MATERIAL FANTASIES

Projects which re-imagine our relationship with everyday materials and rituals

GRADUATE | DESIGN RESEARCH

These projects, made over multiple semesters, are a part of my independent research as a graduate student. They combine my learnings in contemporary philosophy with various processes of making that are integral to design. Through the use of material and methods of crafting, they are intended to evoke a consciousness towards more-thanhuman agents who we share the world with.

FOUND SAMPLES

Among several “found” materials foraged, the three that proved most exciting were discarded tea bags, dried-up seed pods and discarded cuts of live-edge bark.

MAKING BUILDING MATERIAL

Material prototypes were created to test two ideas: porosity and flow. Each prototype can function as building material by itself..

PROTOTYPES FOR CONSTRUCTION

Pushing our testing process a step further, we created scale models of a table that would embody both ideas: porosity and flow, without using all the same materials.

Re-CHADO

A tea table is crafted by hand from discarded, termiteeaten pieces of bark which allow water to flow through. For the table-top, pieces of wood are deliberately arranged to direct the water towards the center, while slowing percolating through the pores and reaching the ground. The “ritual” of watching the water flow into the ground, while activating the scent of the wood, creates a new type mindfulness between the participants. Since no adhesives are used in making the prototype, the “tea” will slowly break down the table over time, making each experience ephemral and unique.

COLLABORATOR: Juwuan Wright

FACULTY ADVISOR: Katie MacDonald

STATIONERY ENSEMBLE

These assemblages are an experiment in creating 3D physical models, ubiquitous to the architectural studio, out of excess material. Breaking from the tradition of using new materials that will yeild to the agency of its user, these models attempt to build through the act of playing with found materials. Even though these models are only abstract spatial compositions, they are highly useful in the design process to test out initial conceptual ideas. In many cases, negotiating the properties of the objects itself use will yeild unique spatial forms that new materials may not.

EXHIBITIONS:

Material Realities, UVA School of Architecture

FACULTY ADVISOR: Sanda Iliescu