Architccture Portfolio 2018-2022 MEHR
Hi, I’m Mehr. Every space has a fable. I’m utterly mesmerized by the stories they narrate and have spent my few years of existence trying to listen to them. I’m an Architecture Student and a Multi-Disciplinary Artist. I like to create. Whether it is poetry, painting, music production, song-writing, performing, creating places – I try to intertwine all creative facets that I can to form a narrative. Every little thing on this planet excites me and I have made it my purpose in life to learn something from everyone I meet. Growing up, I always thought of walls to be my best friends for I felt really strongly that they could speak to me. Over the course of the past four years, I have managed to find the tools to interpret their tales and string a narrative that celebrates these spaces and the people that inhabit them.
CONTACT DETAILS www.heyitsmemehr.com +91 9205539625 heyitsmemehr@gmail.com @heyitsmemehr
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SKILLS & INTERESTS
EDUCATION
Reading, Painting, Writing, Singing, Creative-Thinking, Narrative Sense, Learning, Playing the Guitar & Keyboard, Producing Music. Nature inspires me.
Sushant School of Art & Architecture | 2018-2023 Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture
REFERENCES
Delhi Public School Mathura Road | 2005-2018 Class X - 9.2 Class XII - 93.5%
Ar. Amit Gupta Principal Architect & Director at Akasa Architect at Architecture Discipline amitgupta.akasa@gmail.com / +919958701177
PROJECTS
COURSES
ACHIEVEMENTS
Art Direction Project 2022 Collaboration with Artist & Photographer Oishi Mars Conceptualizing, Story-telling through Photography and Illustration
Off Campus Independant Studies 2020 Chennai, Pondicherry, Auroville
NASA Music Trophy 2019 Second Prize Au Dela - 62nd Year ZNC (Zone 01)
Poetry Zine Publication 2022 Poetry and Art fused in a Zine Format
Communication Course at Prama 2018 Present Time Awareness, Communicating Better
Artist Merchandise 2021 Collaboration with Interdisciplinary Designer Nazarbuttu Designing Notebooks, Postcards, Bookmarks, Tote Bags Website Design 2021 Designed Three Websites in 2021for myself, a writer and a company. Volunteer Work: Turn The Bus (2021) Karate Teacher (2015-2016)
Off Campus Independant Studies 2019 Bhutan
ANDC Trophy 2020-21 Top 100 Worldwide Public Mobility in the Pandemic - Destination Bus Terminus Design Rolling Stone India Interview 2021 On my single “I’ll Find You”
Figure Painting Course (2020-Present) Elly Smallwood
Xenia Inter-College Fest (2019 & 2022) First & Second Prize Music Trophy
Quadio Creative Development Program (2022-Present) An association for College Creatives in the U.S - for Music & Visual Arts
Interstate Karate Championship 2011 Silver Medal Shotokan Karate International
Human Evaluation and Understanding Course 2019 Understanding patterns and Evaluating people and their behavior
Literati Intra-School Writing Competiton 2017
COMPETENCIES also:
CONFIDENT FAMILAR AWARE STARTING OUT
AutoCAD Photoshop Indesign
SketchUp
Lumion
MS Office
Hand Drafting
Physical Model Making
Rhino
Illustrator Premier Logic Pro X Pro 2
“Every great architect is - necessarily - a great poet. He must be a great original interpreter of his time, his day, his age.“ - Frank Lloyd Wright.
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SPACES & THEIR STORIES 01: Dissertation: A Guide to Communicate with Spaces 02: Story-telling, Occupation & Situation in Place
DEMOCRATIC SPACES 03: The Gnosis: Understanding a Democratic Space 04: the_phlux: Adaptive Habitats, Trans_former
CULTURE & PEOPLE 05: Prospective Bhutan & Writing about Architecture 06: Urban Design: Social, Spatial & Economic Inclusion
MISCELLANEOUS 07: Construction Drawings 08: Art Direction, Materials, Graphic Works & Painting
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Spaces & their Stories
Preface
a back & forth process
Semester 7, Year 2022
SPACES & THEIR STORIES DISSERTATION Guide: Md Shahroz Alam
A GUIDE TO COMMUNICATING WITH SPACES
Model Sketch: “Wonderland” Semester 3, Story-telling
Model Sketch: “Hell” Semester 3, Story-telling
It is not an enhanced ability to communicate with a Space. A person does it innately and inevitably – whether you are simply standing in the middle of a room or navigating your way on a street, you are always in communication with the spaces around you. It is said that you can know about the people that inhabit the space just by perceiving the space. Every space has a story, sometimes people listen to them, but most of the time they remain unheard – or it seems. The truth is, people are always listening, always perceiving, always recording these perceptions in their memory whether or not they would like to. We often relate perceiving a space to what we see. Over the centuries we have become more ocular-centric. The visual perception dominates all the others and one fails to realize it is the most deceitful of them all. In most cases, what the space looks like is very different to what it feels like and what it does feel like is always an accumulation of all the sensory experiences and the memory recorded of it. How does one communicate with a space? How does a space communicate with oneself? What is our responsibility in listening to these spaces? What is the give-and-take that exists between people and spaces?
Model Sketch: “Illusion of Power” Semester 3, Story-telling
Model Sketch: “The Stages of Falling in Love” Semester 3, Story-telling
Why DO SPACES NEED TO BE INTERCONNECTED ? imposition of a design onto a space leads to isolated spaces NO IMPOSITION OF A DESIGN ON SPACE
Why? HOw?
Why should you listen to the stories of spaces?
understand communication between spaces & people
THE NEED TO "KNOW" AWARENESS - BIGGER AGENDA
Spaces & their Stories How do you listen to these stories?
Why?
IF THEY ARE NOT INTERCONNECTED THEY BECOME OBJECTS
Why? HOw?
IF THEY CANNOT BE INHABITED, THEY ARE LOOKED AT NOT EXPERIENCED
SURROUNDINGS, CONTEXT Why?
TO "NOT KNOW" LEADS TO SOLIDIFICATION AS ARCHITECTS, TO MANIPULATE MATTER YOU HAVE TO NOT SOLIDIFY AND BE A PART OF MATTER. ELABORATE SPACE = ENERGY = TIME AND HOW MATTER SEPERATES FROM IT
HOw?
NATURE OF CONTEXT DEFINES THE SPACE
DEOCDE THE LOCATION OF THE PLACE
HOw? THE FIRST IMPRESSION PETER ZUMTHOR
innate ability, subconsciously always perceiving
Why? through perceptions
HOW ARE THEY INTERCONNECTED?
ISOLATED SPACES ARE LESS LIKELY TO BE INHABITED
Why? HOw?
RESEARCH / THEORIES OF JUHANI PALLASMA
HOw?
through over 50 senses, elaboration of predominant 6
THE EXCHANGE BETWEEN PEOPLE AND SPACES, DISCUSS THE EFFECTS OF WHAT HAPPENS WHEN AUTHORITY IS TAKEN OVER SPACE
Why? HOw?
THE ROLE OF ALL THE SIX SENSES ELABOARTED WITH SPATIAL EXAMPLES AND THEORIES PEOPLE - PERCEIVE - SPACE SPACE - PERCIEVES - PEOPLE THE EXCHANGE
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Semester 3, Year 2019
STORY-TELLING, OCCUPATION & SITUATION IN SPACE NARRATIVE STUDIO Studio Director: Amrita Madan, Zahra Yasoom Studio Guide: Parul Sharma
STORY-TELLING THROUGH SPACES (40 x 40 cm in Dimension) I found a narrative for a space from the different songs that I intuitively picked to make models out of. I journalled my thoughts about the space while creating it - simultaneously discussing expressions and emotions while making the space. All the spaces carry a different emotion - based on the song choice and are a reflection of the state of mind they were created from. I journalled my thoughts before the space was created, while creating the space, and after it. Writing down my own emotions in that moment in general and deciphering them through architectonic elements. They centralize around a core value which is of either “Being & Passing” or “Fast & Slow” in a space or both.
“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.” - William Shakespeare 9
Model One: “Wonderland” Core Value: Being & Passing Song: “Free Fallin’” - John Mayer
Model Two: “Hell” Core Value: Fast & Slow Song: “Bohemian Rhapsody” - Queen
Model Three: “Illusion of Power” Core Value: Being & Passing Song: “Waterfall” - Mehr
Model Four: “The Stages of Falling in Love” Core Value: Fast & Slow Song: “Woman” - Mumford & Sons
Model Five: “Home” Core Value: Fast & Slow and Being & Passing Song: “Clementine” - Halsey
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Democratic Spaces
Semester 6, Year 2021
TRANS_FORMERS ADAPTIVE HABITATS Studio Director: Amit Gupta Studio Guide: Amit Gupta, Ashwini Kher, Farah Ahmed Design Partner: Ritika Prasad
the
phlux
the_phlux exists beyond a static built having the ability to respond to physical change, microclimate change, accessibility or demographics. The building is not a consumer alone, rather it follows a consumer-producer relationship. Entirely adaptive, open to change. This is the_phlux.
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TIMELINE
UNDERSTANDING DEMOCRATIC SPACES Through “THE GNOSIS” (Semester 5, Democratic Spaces Agenda)
THE AGE OF COMMAND OVER MEST (Matter, Energy, Space & Time) // Defining the Age (Trans_Formers Agenda)
COMMAND OVER MATTER: Decode Location / Mass Morphing
COMMAND OVER ENERGY: Emergent Hybrids, Energy Hybrids
COMMAND OVER SPACE: Circulation, Access, Scale, Design
COMMAND OVER TIME: Adpative Habitats Agenda
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UNDERSTANDING DEMOCRATIC SPACES THROUGH “THE GNOSIS” (Semester 5, Democratic Spaces Agenda) Semester 5, Year 2020
DEMOCRATIC SPACES ADAPTIVE HABITATS Studio Director: Amit Gupta Studio Guide: Abhishek Bij, Farah Ahmed Design Partner: Anirban Gupta
THE GNOSIS A democratic space is essentially a space designed by, for and because of the people. The degree of democratic(ness) in a space should be based on the its ability to go under constant change and creation by any person. Gnosis is the root word for knowledge. What you know is true to you and therefore, as a democratic space i was trying to build a hub for all sorts of programs that revolves around the distribution of knowledge. ERASE THE BOUNDARIES between programs of different typologies. ESTABLISH FLUIDITY amongst primary / secondary / tertiary programs.
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Entire ground floor on stilts – place for temporal spaces Amphitheatres for freedom of expression & public gathering Cycle stations on every floor to invite diverse crowds Main Program split into private, public and semi public on the three floors. Interior and exterior connection : green spaces Accessible for all through ramps Agriculture practises as connection to past A reminder of the past, a look into the future.
Workshops Amphitheatre Ramp/Atrium Book Cafe Library Green Spaces
the
phlux 16
AGE OF COMMAND OVER MEST (Matter, Energy, Space & Time) People inhabit space instinctively, they are always causing an effect in the space they inhabit by continously creating, changing and destroying. What if people had the power to alter spaces by simply commanding them to change? A command to alter matter, a command to alter energy, a command to alter space and a command to alter time. Would these help design a space more democratic?
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COMMAND OVER MATTER Parameter 1: Placing mass on site
Voxels across 48 x 48 x 90 block
Parameter 5: Sun
Voxels are stepped back in such a way that shorter side receives
Decode Location / Mass Morphing / Programs
Parameter 2: Wind
Voxels are removed to create a venturi effect Parameter 6: Visual Accessibility
Views from outside are directed along the open voids
Parameter 9: Aural Accessbility
Parameter 10: Sun & Visual
Facing north and receives light for the well
Views are created from and to the building from various open plazas
Parameter 13: Physical Accessibility
Parameter 14: Physical Accessibility
Parameter 3: Sun
Voxels are stepped back in such a way that shorter side receives south sun Parameter 7: Shade
Voxels are added along the mass facing north Parameter 11: Sun
To achieve the oblique angle facing south
Parameter 4: Visual Accessibility
Views from outside are directed along the open voids Parameter 8: Sun
Facing north and receives light for the well Parameter 12: Sun
To achieve the oblique angle facing south
Matter is possibly the easiest to command, the easiest example would be: there’s a wall in front you that’s casting out a huge shadow and blocking out the sun. You would normally remove it or create punctures. Everyone manipulates matter and so we took the following steps that defined it. South and west mass are connected
South and west mass are connected
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Agriculture
Performance
Restaurants
Recreational
Buffer/atrium
Research
Food kiosks
Shops
Exhibition
Theatres
Healthcare
Workshop
Learning center
Program essentially becomes the syntax of designing a space. A program changes itself according to needs of the people – it may vary to a single user and to a thousand.
Library Mechanical floor Offices
The program is the value that you add to the matter. In a way, you’re still manipulating it. The program is what makes you decide how you would want to arrange these blocks of matter. The following is how we arranged these - keeping the most democratic iteration in mind.
programs 19
COMMAND OVER ENERGY
This command lets the person participate in creating an ecosystem. To put life into matter. All prototypes here are kinetic, therefore he gets to constantly change what happens to this ecosystem.
Prototype #1: Ecological
Prototype #4: Ecological Light Energy
Kinetic Energy
Prototype #5: Structural Systems Light Energy
Kinetic Energy
Sonic Energy
The algae grown on the façade of the building absorbs carbon dioxide. The algae undergoes photosynthesis. Co2 intake proportional to light intensity produced.
Prototype #6: User
Prototype #2: Accessibility Sonic Energy
Kinetic Energy
The frequency of the façade matches with the noise of transit, resonance occurs which in order leads to the opening of façade to let the user in
Kinetic Energy
Prototype #3: Democratic Thermal Energy
Electric Energy
Magnetic Energy Kinetic Energy
Prototype #7: Tectonic Thermal Energy
Kinetic Energy Flaps open when human walks over the space. Each flap is connected to a motion sensor to assess human movement. This provides more light and ventilation inside the space without too much heat gain.
Sonic Energy Kinetic Energy
Site Plan • • •
Retained Vehicular Movement of the Golf Course Road. Skywalk along the metro line is directly connected to the building which the help of a ramp. Bicycle track along the site boundary connected to all the ramps Amphitheatre in the North, shaded plaza
Agrilculture on the southern end Handicraft Retail as the inviting and engaging function on the ground floor GREEN BELT
DR
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RK PA
-OFF DROP P PICK U
AD RO
AGRICULTURE
B.OUT HEATRE
AMPHIT
B.IN
HOPS
WORKS
CYCLE
PATH
GOLF
AD SE RO
COUR
Modular Pod System A combination of permanent and temporary spaces gives maximum flexibility, adaptability and Interactivity. The system works by combining vertical and horizontal units in various combinations through simple mechanisms like channels, rails and pulleys
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Rail bearing system & Particle Board
COMMAND OVER SPACE The layering of the command over space allows the user to experience and actually alter the space. Every being in one way or another changes the space they inhabit, if not consciously - on a subconscious level. the_phlux provides tools to create and alter and change the spaces according to the people inhabiting them.
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COMMAND OVER TIME The simplest but the most misunderstood concept or command is that of time. A command over time doesnt mean the building has to be completely unaffected by it. The command over time is the idea that as a built it adapts, it grows, it transforms. People aren’t static. They change from time to time. So if the space is by, for and of the people, how could it possibly ever remain the same?
the
phlux
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Culture & People
Semester 4, 7, Year 2020 2021
URBAN DESIGN BHUTAN PROSPECTIVE CULTURE Place & Memory STUDIO Studio Director: Amrita Prof. Amrita Madan Madan, Zahra Yasoom Studio Guide: Amrita Parul Sharma Madan, Prashati Dutta, Parul Sharma
Understanding Bhutan at a Room Level, Intermediate writingand about architecture level. Each space made Level Organisational being a fragment of their thoughts and ideas. Understanding Ins and Outs and Outs and Ins and the in between in a space. A strong deep dive into Cultre and for the people who are so rooted in final designing book this culture. A reminder of its past but a look into the future. t&m punkakha dzong Looking at Bhutan though five lenses: t&m sem 5 • realisation Social Context • Religion • Materials • Disaster/Climate • Identity
Writing About Architecture Bhutan became a essential study for me to write about. Through Bhutan, I started writing about Architecture. There are four papers posted on issu on the following subjects:
• • • •
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Prospective Bhutan Urban Environment Culture as an Ethical Responsibility in Architecture Midnight in Paris: Architectural Memory & FIlm
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• • • •
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Head: Religious Subhead: Main prayer hall Area: 500 sq m Element of Surprise from entrance to the main shrine wall, fluidity, intimacy.
Program: Recreational Subhead: exhibition/gallery for relics and object memories Area: 200 sq m Circulatory space, experiential in its narrow passage way and nature intertwined.
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• • • •
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Program: Recreation Space Subhead: exhibition/ gallery for manuscripts Area: 200 sq m Plan derived from “Endless Knot” signifying knowledge.
Head: Religious Subhead: personal meditation pads Area: 15 sq m Meditation Pads circling around the tree - tree symbolizing life. Community function.
• • • •
• • • • •
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Program: Recreation Subhead: exhibition/ gallery art work Area: 200 m sq Lotus signifies growth, thus signifying growth through old traditions and practises - circulatory art gallery with water channel running through.
Program: Recreational Subhead: Performance Area Area: 400 sq m “Drangyen” - oldest instrument, revived by plan. Name of instrument derived from sea monster which was used to scare evil spirits away by it’s melody – indication to water. Water channel runs across the sides and down the walls
• • • •
Program: Learning Centre Subhead: meditation room, classrooms, student exhibition, library Area: 80 sq m, 120 sq m, 150 sq m, 100 sq m From Left: Meditation Room (with tre), Class room, Library (ground floor) and Exhibition room (first floor).
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RECONSTRUCTING A DZONG Administration
Organisational Level of the Dzong, Looking at Room Level, Transition Level and the Urban Level.
Monk Prayer Hall
Main Prayer Hall
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Exhibition Area
Public Library
Leaarning Centre
Entrance Foyer •
• • • • • • • • Workshops
Performance Area
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Bhutan is the land of colour, art, music and love, Dzongs are called the “Castles of God”, if re-constructing a Dzong, the only way to rid fear is to sweep in what Bhutan is best known for – it’s history, texts, knowledge and the different forms of Art. The entrance has prayer wheels as the traditional follows There are 13 workshops for 13 art forms existing in Bhutan and kiosks consist of souvenir shops. The exhibition spaces have a very grand entrance and are placed on water over a bridged structure. The water channel runs all across - from the entrance to the temple. There are more flower gardens and now an outdoor seating space and a café! Archery ground consists in the back of the learning centre. Inclusion of green spaces, less stark demarkation of inside and outside. Library is shifted on to the top of the admin lead by a spiral staircase. Level variation, experiments with experience.
Cafe
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CENTRAL ARGUMENT “Each space I make should be a fragment of their thought & ideas” My vision for Bhutan for the next fifty years is based on the fact that I want it to be more open. When I say open it does not mean alone to allow public in but to be open about their past, present and therefore create that future. Bhutan fears change. Their original Dzongs were designed to resist wars. They need to realize that the war is over, if we bring down the walls alone we’ve taken the first step to demolish this fear. To know about a country, one must know it’s history, although Bhutan admits to be open about their beliefs, most of the religious texts that were once open to people are now lost in hidden chambers. I want Bhutan be more experiential, where each space I make is a definition and reminder of their beliefs and practices, of their thoughts and ideas. A reminder to it’s past, An experience in the present and a much more open Future.
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Semester 7, Year 2021
URBAN DESIGN CULTURE STUDIO Studio Director: Sagar Gupta Studio Guide: Swati Singh, Deekhsa Goswami, Teenu J Thaikattil Design Partners: Meghma Kataki, Ritika Prasad
To achieve a Culturally Coalescent and Imageable community, through Economic Inclusion, Social Congruence and interactive & fluid Street Network. Location: Bajghera - A mid-sized Urban Village located in the district of Gurgaon, state of Haryana in India. Site Area: 91 Hectares / 9,10,000 sqm / 225 Acres Circluation: 15% = 13.65 Hectares, Green Spaces = 10% = 9.1 Hectares, Community Use = 5% = 4.55 Hectares Buildable Area: 63.7 Hectares / 637000 sqm / 158 Acres
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Strategy Plan
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Economic Inclusion • • • •
Introduce Activities/Programs that support a more Economically inclusive environment Introducing Retail Retaining Rentals Adpative Reuse of Warehouses
Social Congruence • • •
Retaining Neightbourhood/ Unit Planning Common Community Spaces Recreational Buffers / Play Street
Fluid & Interactive Street Network • • •
Increased Footfall on primary network Vehicular + Pedestrian Friendly Live + Play Streets
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