Interview Portfolio

PORTFOLIO JAI PATEL

BSc Hons

Welsh School of Architecture

I completed my bachelor’s degree in Architecture at the Welsh School of Architecture in May 2013, which helped me develop a rounded approach to design, encompassing concept development, response to context, form-finding, technical considerations, sustainable design and design to completion.

I have been involved in retail, residential, education, restoration, airport, workspace, environmental, cultural and masterplanning sectors. For example, my projects include mixed-use developments in Cardiff, Swansea, Kuala Lumpur, Delhi, Shanghai, and Jakarta; an arts centre in Barry, Wales; schools in Bristol and Birmingham; casino renovation in Macau; restoration projects in central London, Swansea and Staffordshire; a new airport terminal in Singapore; and an urban masterplan for Swansea.

Working in a team has been integral to many projects I have worked on as part of my education and professional development and I believe that I am able to work well both collaboratively and individually. I make it a point to be well organised and methodical in my approach to tasks and proactive in my tackling of them. One of my university projects involved the design and construction of a pavilion within strict parameters. The experience taught me valuable lessons in teamwork as well as what it means to take a project from initial concept development to completion, and the considerations that must be made along the way.

The following is an extract from a testimonial from one of my employers: ‘Besides being easy to work with, Jai is a proactive person who was able to communicate his ideas well with his colleagues. He was also able to adapt to the demands of the projects he was involved in and significantly contributed to the concept package which was well received by our client.’

– Victor Habana, Senior Associate Director, Benoy Hong Kong I have experience drafting and designing by hand, as well as physical model-making, and producing designs at 1:1 scale. Furthermore, I have trained in BIM (Revit), 3D visualisation using a variety of packages including the Adobe CS suite, 2D and 3D CAD packages, 3DS Max, as well as parametric design via scripting. In the following pages I have included my CV as well as examples of work to document my range of technical skills and abilities. More Examples are available if required.

CV Date of birth:

18th October 1992

Nationality and right to work:

British Citizen Permanent Resident of Hong Kong Overseas Citizen of India With a right to work in Britain, Europe, Hong Kong and India.

Address:

75 The Ridings, London, W5 3DP

UK Tel:

+44 (0) 7979422324

SG Tel:

+65 65220630

Email:

jpatel1810@gmail.com

Website:

cargocollective.com/jaipatel

Skilled in:

Architectural Design Sustainable Design Hand Drawing 3D Modelling Model Making 3D Visualisation Digital and Hand Drafting Concept Development

Employment September 2012 Internship, Horsely Huber Architects, London

Education September 2010 to 2015 Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University, Cardiff

Working primarily in the education and conservation sectors, I was asked to independently Completed a BSc (Hons) degree in Architecture, graduating with a Second Class Honours, design a new entrance for a school in Birmingham and create client presentations Division 1 (2:1) degree comprising of modules in design, architectural technology, history, for the renovation and restoration of Middle Temple, London, among other work. practical management and economics, environmental design, and issues in contemporary architecture. Emphasis on thinking in 3D, through drawing, model-making, and digital design. Dissertation assessing how cultural memory is addressed in the re-imagining of August 2012 our world’s post-industrial spaces.

Internship, Benoy, Singapore I had the opportunity to work on a variety of projects in the this rapidly expanding office, including mixed use projects in Delhi, Jakarta and Singapore, as well as the successful August 2008 – May 2010 tender for Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 4. I was working primarily in AutoCAD, IB Diploma at UWCSEA, Singapore Photoshop and Sketchup, as well as working on hand-drawn perspectives. I achieved a score of 39 out of 45 studying the following: Higher Level: Physics, Visual Arts and Spanish Standard Level: Mathematics, English and Psychology August 2011 My Extended Essay was on New Brutalist architecture in post-war Britain and why it Internship, Benoy, Hong Kong Working on the concept design of a mixed-use project in Kuala Lumpur as well as interior was considered a failure. This research paper explored the external factors that make enhancement and the design of an extension for a casino in Macau, working primarily in architecture successful and the levels on which architecture interacts with its users.

AutoCAD, Photoshop and Sketchup but also contributing to design via research tasks.

International Experience:

July 2009 AA Summer School, London

A three week long design course resulting in an installation entitled The Monument to the I have been lucky enough to live in London, Cardiff, Hong Kong and Singapore. As part Defining Moment. of this I have had the opportunity to travel, as part of holidays and study trips, around America, Europe, Asia and Australasia. This has given me an awareness of other cultures August 2006 – June 2008 that I believe would help me work on projects worldwide, and the ability to pick up IGCSE at West Island School, Hong Kong languages with relative ease. I am fluent in English and Spanish with some ability to speak 5 A*s, 3 As and 1 B achieved in Mathematics, Double Award Science, Design Technology, Gujarati, Hindi and Mandarin.

Spanish, Art, English Literature, English Language and History respectively.

Proficiency in the following design & presentation software: Adobe Creative Suite Google Sketchup AutoCAD Microsoft Office 3DS Max Design Revit MAXscript Ecotect Analysis VectorWorks

Referees:

Peter McCaffery Director Benoy Hong Kong peter.mccaffery@benoy.com (+852) 22507222

Joe Huber Director Horsley Huber Architects London joe.huber@hhastudio.com (+44) 2088111400

Wassim Jabi Senior Lecturer Welsh School of Architecture Cardiff jabiW@cardiff.ac.uk (+44) 2920875981

ALCHEMY: Stratification of Memory

Urban Masterplan for Hafod, Swansea

The Copperworks that used to populate Hafod made Swansea a global superpower in the 19th Century, and made it as rich as New York City for a time. The copper industry was centred im Swansea at it was conveniently located close to vast coal reserves. Copper ore was shipped up the river Tawe from as far as Austrailia and the final product was then exported worldwide. However, In the early 20th century, it became more feasible to smelt copper locally and the industry in Swansea collapsed, leaving a city without its major source of income. For the next 70 years, Swansea struggled to regain its feet economically, and Hafod was an ecological and social wasteland. Recently, attempts have been made to begin repairs to the ecology and Swansea council is looking to gentrify the area. This masterplanning proposal looks to regenerate the area economically, socially, culturally and ecologically by reinstating the site’s historical footprint in new programme.

Residue Disposal

Water Intake Biofuel Condenser Water Release

ALCHEMY: Stratification of Memory Copperworks Heritage Centre

Key to the masterplanning strategy is establishing a heritage centre to the site’s turbulent past with exhibition spaces for contemporary activities on site.

Built over the ruins of two engine houses that remain on the site, the heritage centre design is based on the bricolage evident in the remaining walls, where various eras of construction are clear in the different types of stone used. My intervention makes up a contemporary layer in the construction and primarily sits above the ruin and is made of vertically stacked glass. This coupled with the route of vertical circulation dramatises the ruin and enforces a journey from the past to the future; from dark to light.

ALCHEMY: Stratification of Memory

Materials Workshop and Laboratory

The laboratory and workshop are built over the remains of a locomotive shed in the same aesthetic as the heritage centre on the opposite end of the site. Respecting its past use, the layout of the workshop and lab are based around linear process. Frames protrude from the roof and house exhaust for the furnace, which is cooled through a waterbed, producing a steam cloud reminiscent of the smog that used to hang over the site when 150 furnaces would be at work in the forgotten copperworks. This nod to the industrial history has the benefit of condensing the exhaust residue such that it can be removed from site without creating air pollution.

Vertical Studio: Big Span

WSA Summer Pavillion

The studio aimed to simplify the process of architectural design by imposing a series of voluntary restrictions. Inspired by Studio in the Woods, which is hosted

by Studio Weave, we wanted to explore ideas of movement and rest, rhythm and pause, threshold and dwelling by appropriating space within a simple enclosure generated from simple and repetitive elements; a truss with an movable joint so that it could be quickly altered into different configurations. The pavillion was designed to be placed in the Temple of Peace gardens, next to the Welsh School of Architecture, to provide a quiet place where the temple’s employees could enjoy their lunch break or some time in the sun.

Housescapes: Tafoni Complex

Retail & Residential Development for Cardiff City Centre The primer for this mixed-use residential and retail project was tafoni: a rock-weathering pattern that was investigated via physical and digital modelling. From this, porosity was drawn as a driving factor behind the design of the development, with routes and views carved from the massing allowing the public spaces to be interconnected with the surrounding urban fabric of Cardiff City Centre.

Apartments are stacked on top of a retail block at ground-level, and the building shelters an internal public square from road noise. The internal square is designed to accomodate weekend markets among other public events. The apartments are designed in 2-storey blocks so that each has doubleheight spaces and can both north and south light, with each apartment having a view across to Cardiff Bay.