JHANANI PALANISAMY
2 College St, Box 2540, Providence RI 02903
| jpalanis@risd.edu | (248)331-6884
CONTENTS DICHOTOMY 1 - 12
LAKSHMI AGHAM 13 - 26
CULTURAL RETREAT AT SIRKAZHI 27 - 34
SURFACE TENSION 35 - 40
KINETICS & PARAMETRICS 41 - 42
PARAMETRICS & FABRICATION 43 - 46
FABRICATION & TEXTILES 47 - 48
TEXTILES & COMPUTATION 49 - 50
COMPUTATION - WEIGHT OF LINE 51
Dichotomy
Jump Tower on River Spree
RISD Spring 2017 Proposal - Kinetic Floating Dock Berlin - Germany Prof. Ralf Petersen di·chot·o·my noun a division or contrast between two things that are or are represented as being opposed or entirely different. The idea of two parts that exist seperate from each other yet feed off of one another is the premise of “Dichotomy”. The inital impression of Berlin was that there are always two parts that compliment and affect change in one another. Whether it be the shared and seperate political history of East and West Berlin, or the rivers Spree and Havel that frame the geography of Berlin, or at the site level - land and water, work and play. This led to a search for a way to express this phenomena architecturally and formally. The blooming of a lotus from within muddy, murky waters is a metaphorical reflection of the spirit of the people of Berlin who have rebuilt their city, culture and life.
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Patterns in Nature are varied and have an underlying logic. They can be mathematically expressed as well. The resulting geometry is very organic and effortlessly weaves into the water. The challenge in this is simplifying the construction details, assembly and controlling the types of modular units. Mathematical Patterns help in controlling the typologies of the modular units. It allows for easy mulitplication and different combinations. Through several iterations, it was realised that an organic pattern with an underlying mathematical logic is necessary to arrive at a satisfactory configuration.
Pattern making paved the way for the next stage of the process, which was an exploration of kinetics. Different configurations were studied and movement in terms of different axes were analysed. The Hoberman sphere was studied and several iterations of it were made. The range of movement displayed by the Hoberman sphere was best suited for this project.
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The frame of the kinetic structure gave a clue as to the design of the skin of the structure. Mapping the motion of the structure, led to the understanding of available anchoring points for the skin and also the amount of folding required to accommodate the skin in the smallest configurations. Through iterating crease patterns from origami, I was able to arrive at the final most viable solution. Now all that remains is for the dock to be able to float and link to other docks. This was achieved through a simple solution of using floatation devices attached to a base of metal. Simple hooks help to tie the docks together and if needed the docks can be allowed to float out on their own too.
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Lakshmi Agham Residential Project
Live Project Chennai - India Involvement : Lead Architect & Interior Designer Architectural Design - Turnkey Work- Completed (2015)
“ This project is one of the most fulfilling design exercises that I have been through. I have been priviliged to work with some of the most dedicated men and women - from my brick layers, carpenters to the many contractors that I have liased with in the duration of this project. � The residential neighborhood of Anna Nagar in Chennai, is one of the few places that has pockets of individual houses still. This means closely spaced houses in cosy, tree lined streets. The building has a skylight courtyard that ensures climatic responsiveness - light and good ventilation is a premium luxury in the fast growing metropolitan city of Chennai. Features of South Indian Vernacular Architecture were incorporated in a contemporary context.
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Construction Process To be involved in a project right From the outset, opened up different ways of thinking in terms of design and execution. It was an iterative process in certain instances like the staircase design, or even the stone facing work on the facade.
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First Floor Plan
Second Floor Plan
The entry emulates the “ Thinnai � feature of traditional Tamil Vernacular Architecture. This is an informal seating area where the clients can socialize with neighbors and friends.
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The site is graced by an old copper pod tree (Peltophorum pterocarpum), it being in the middle of the entrance gave rise to the idea of embracing it as part of a design strategy. So what could have been a distracting element was turned into a central theme for the entryway.
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The staircase is the pièce de ré·sis·tance for the central skylight courtyard. The metal railings resemble the roots of a banyan tree. The wooden treads are inlaid with banyan leaf shaped rosewood pieces. The handrails and veneers are teakwood, the tread is a local dark wood called “ karrumaruthu ”.
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The central skylight courtyard functions as the formal living room and it doubles up as a large prayer hall when the doors to the altar are kept open. The two toned wood treatment goes well with the traditional “ Athangudi � cement tile flooring. The tiles were custom made for this project and traditional artisans were employed to lay them and polish them. The double height space is topped with a flat roof with punctures to let in light. The client mentioned that as a small boy, in his village, they could tell time by the position of the light streaming through the small roof openings. The courtyard links all the spaces of the house. It also serves as a tall chimney that sucks out the warm air through the clerestoreys at the top.
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The altar doors compliment the decor of the space, and the carved panels were designed and custom made in Burma Teak. The Mondrian wardrobe is a dual toned, wooden wardrobe, with draws, closet space and display niches. The second wardrobe was designed with the intention of hiding all hardware and developing a monolithic look in teakwood.
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Cultural Retreat at Sirkazhi Bachelor of Architecture Thesis
MEASI Academy of Architecture Thesis Studio 2013 Proposal - Budget Hotel and Resort Sirkazhi Temple Town - India Prof. Ar. J. Subramanian
“ Religious tourism is something that Indians undertake every year, there is an increasing awareness amongst the younger generation to patronize establishments which promote Indian Vernacular Architecture � Sirkazhi is one of the smaller temple towns which is inbetween the larger well known temple towns of Madurai, Kumbakonam, Thanjavur and Trichy. It acts as a connection between these major towns. This set the stage for a proposal for a budget hotel and resort on the Chennai - Nagapattinam highway. The vernacular architecture of these temple towns of Tamil Nadu were meticulously studied and documented. My thesis was based on these intial studies.
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The stepped volume of the budget hotel is an ode to the classical buildings which promote the idea of reaching a higher spiritual plane through the steep vertical structures.
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The budget hotel is designed based on the idea of stepped concentric squares.
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The restaurant for the retreat was designed around a courtyard, there are indoor as well as outdoor seating options. The restaurant’s decor and architectural style is based on the traditional houses of Chettinadu, the ancestral kingdom of the merchant caste in Tamil Nadu. project.
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The furniture, lighitng, flooring was all custom designed and detailed for this
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Surface Tension
Making of Design Principles Studio
RISD Fall 2016 Proposal - South Indian Marriage Hall Providence - Rhode Island Prof. Gabriel Feld
“ In order for the ink to mix with water, it needs to overcome and pierce through the intial surface tension of water� The focus of this studio was developing on tectonic concepts through various explorations. Movement of ink through water was mapped and worked into different materials and ideas of tension and compression. This hands on approach and moving back and forth between the real world and model space resulted in a set of tectonic principles which were incorporated into a program of my choosing. I analysed and created annotation drawings of a tradtitional South Indian Tamil Wedding ceremony. It was an interesting exercise to incoporate a very region specific program in a global context using the newly discovered tectonic concepts.
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The initial impression of the movement of ink was recorded using charcoal. This progressed into developing three dimensional studies using elastic thread, bristol and balsa wood. The idea of surface tension and ink piercing through was studied.
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A final study model was developed to embody the characteristics and behaviour of the ink in water. The tension and compression was well balanced that the model when pressed down from the top, could regain its intial shape on it’s own.
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Entryway
“Pandal”
Skywalk
Spillover Space Ceremonial Hall . Bride’s Room . Groom’s Room . Dining Hall + Kitchen
Prefunction Area
Site Providence RI
Model Space Interpretation of Ink in Water
Annotation Drawing of Tamil Wedding
The exercise of recreating the path of ink in water in model space was important because it helped examine the process or order of the ink spreading and piercing through the different layers of water. The next stage involved analysis and annotation of a traditional South Indian Tamil Wedding. I chose a very specific type of marriage ceremony associated with the Tamil farming community called the Kongu Vellalars. This ceremony involves people from both the bride and groom’s side. The ceremony starts with the setting up of the “pandal” and ceremonial spaces by the bride’s maternal and paternal uncles. The site was chosen such that the project straddles both sides of the South Main St in Providence, Rhode Island. The site is naturally contoured and it was necessary to work on and within the landscape. The final sequencing of spaces and the form of the structures was based on the principles learned from the ink in water study.
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Entryway
“Pandal”
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Kinetics & Parametrics
Kinetics though not associated with architecture in the traditional sense, is often harnessed in small scale applications like kinetic facades, kinetic bridges and the like. In order to realise movement, I exlpored the concept of using scissor joints to facilitate movment in these two exercises. In the second iteration I worked on integrating textiles with the intial kinetic framework.
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Parametrics & Fabrication
Parametrics helps to develop a system by which we can control and examine effect of different materials and appications. The translation of these studies is made possible through the use of 3D printers. Joints can be developed and 3D printed in order to produce more efficient designs. Here I explored different 3D printed joinery. Both in normal as well as kinetic applications.
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Fabrication & Textiles Textile Origami
Paper as a medium is extremely versatile. It has very good “memory” in the sense of retaining deformations or “creases”. Hence in the world of origami, the idea of “crease patterns” is a very powerful tool. One of the simplest crease patterns to study is the chevron crease pattern For all the versatility that paper displays, it does have it’s limitations. I tried to examine the capacity of paper in terms of creasing, how much is the depth of a crease and what happens when the thickness of paper is gradually increased. This learning was necessary to deal w ith the transition from paper to textile.
Different thicknesses, densities of the extruded material and settings of the 3D printer were explored.
3D printing origami textiles has brought computation and parametrics to fashion design. With this project, I wanted to explore a kinetic textile system that could be applied on an architectural scale The PLA filament of the 3D printer interacts with textiles much in the way heat pressed surface designs work on fabric. The issue here was to find a material which will not burn or warp under heat and at the same time acts as a viable medium onto which the extruded filament could adhere. Muslin as a natural weave was a good choice due to the gaps in the warp and weft which allowed for proper bonding between the extruded material and fabric.
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Once the material interaction with the 3D printer was studied, the next question was how to scale the technique and work beyond the limitation of the Makerbot base plate size. At this point the ideas of modules, gliding joints and attaching support elements was explored. The idea of paper having a “creasing memory� was incorporated here to develop a more robust memory of creasing in the textile.
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Textiles & Computation
My interest in Computational Design begins in Architecture and branches out to other allied and inter-disciplinary fields. One such exploration is “ Digital Embroidery �, in collaboration with the Textiles Depratment at RISD. Material exploration is dependent on the interaction between thought- machine- handcraft. While familiarizing oneself with the capabilities of a machine, the limitations should be considered as opporutnities. Here I made use of the digital embroidery machine and its associated software called Tajima inorder to realise this embroidered piece. The design is inspired by my study of patterns in nature.
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Computation - Weight of Line
Creation of space and drawings are interrelated and as a designer the age old question of which comes first – drawing or space was what I wanted to explore with this piece. For this exploration, Zaha Hadid’s Library and Learning Center in Vienna was chosen. Due to the building’s oblique perspectival shape the axonometric drawing of the building provided a wealth of information that I wanted to harness to produce my final piece. The first thing I did was to map all the supposed “vanishing points” and the steps taken from that point onward related to the relationship of each space with the respective vanishing point. The result of this experiment was that through this computational method of analysing a drawing, I was able to create a space.
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