Surafel Kassa Portfolio

surafel kassa

SURAFEL KASSA

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGNER

PROFILE SUMMARY

• Internationally educated Architect with more than 6 years’ of Computer Aided Design experience.

• Experienced with computer aid drafting, including ArchiCAD, AutoCAD, Autodesk Revit and SketchUp, likewise with technical drawing instruments and equipment.

• Friendly team player and good ability to communicate effectively with co-workers and clients.

• Works well in a team oriented environment by discussing a design concept and collaboratively preparing shop drawings.

• Demonstrate accuracy and attention to detail in assigned projects.

• Enjoyed demanding work positions and worked more hours to increase productivity with an optimistic approach, if that’s necessary.

EDUCATION

BSc IN ARCHITECTURE I Arba Minch University

2007- 2011, Arba Minch, Ethiopia

MSc IN HOUSING AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT I EiABC

2012- 2014, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE

ASSISTANCE RESEARCHER I EiABC / Addis Ababa University

2012-2013, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

ARCHITECTURAL VISUALIZATION I Church 3D presentation & gate design

2018, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

ARCHITECTURAL CONCEPT DESIGN I Wolkite university community school

2018, Wolkite, Ethiopia

WORK EXPERIENCE SKILLS

DRAFTING TECHNICIAN I Premier Kitchen & Bath

Jan 02 2019 – Feb 28 2019 (2 months), Winnipeg, Canada

• Develop interior designs & detail from preliminary concept & final construction drawing.

• Operated computer aided design (CAD), mainly SketchUp & LayOut.

• Developed and prepared a design concept sketches for clients.

• Completed documentation packages and produce drawing sets.

• Checked and verified design drawings to conform with specifications and design data.

ARCHITECT I Mesfin Architects

2013 - 2018 (6 years), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

• Prepare illustrative boards and layout for work presentations using Adobe Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop.

• Independently prepared as-built drawings by measuring existing structures and reading from the old existed blueprint.

• Prepared a CAD Door and Window schedule, drawing layouts for residential & mixed-use projects using AutoCAD, including material specification on Ms Word & Ms Excel.

• Prepared a CAD construction details drawings for numerous parts of buildings.

• Inspected CAD drawings and documents to check for errors and ensure readiness for printing in blueprints and submitted them to the appropriate body or organization.

• Prepare contracts and tender documents.

INTERN ARCHITECT I AbbA Architects plc

2009 - 2010 (6 months), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

• Prepared working drawings & shop drawings according to client space necessities, from preliminary to final blueprints using AutoCAD.

• Prepared as-built drawings by measuring existing structures and independently developed a renovation design for the clients.

• Prepared CAD Door and Window schedule, drawing layouts using AutoCAD, including material specification on Ms Word & Ms Excel.

• Created scaled models for clients and design competition.

7+ Years Experience

AutoCAD

ArchiCAD

SketchUp

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe InDesign

Free hand sketch

Artlantis Render Model Making

2+ Years Experience

Autodesk Revit

Adobe Illustrator

0 - 1 Year Experience

Lumion Render

Vray Render

ACTIVISTS / HOBBIES

VIdeo editing

Photography

Degital Sketching and Painting Model making

Learn new software

Play guitar and make music

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN COMPETITION

For the Main Administration

Building Complex of Wolkite Univerity

Wolkite University is among the 10 Universities that were established in 2011/12 that made the total number of public universities in Ethiopia 31. The University is located at Wolkite town in Gurage zone which is located 155km from Addis Ababa on the way to Jimma. The University is established after the foundation stone was put by His Excellency the late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi in Novemwber 2009. The campus is located at the Gubre sub-town of Wolkite, i.e., 14 km away on the way to Hosaena and Watchamo.

The surrounding administrative societies include the Gurage zone, where the University is located in, the Silty zone, located at the Eastern part, the Yem Special district, which is found to the West, and the South Western Shewa zone of Oromia region that is located at the Northern part.

The sponsor and owner of the project is Wolkite University (WKU). The Association of Ethiopian Architects (AEA) is collaborating with Wolkite University in the planning and admivvnistration of the competition.

The Official launching of the Competition was 10 March, 2016 Gc.

A: Common Facilities

Main entrance

Conference hall and meeting rooms

Staff cafeteria

Unit 1: President's Office +

The President's Office

Public and International relations office

Legal Advisors

Gender office

Ethics & Anti-Corruption Office

HIV/AIDS Office

Acting Vice Presidents Office

Institutional Dev'ts Vice Presidents Office

Strategic Planning & Capacity Building

Institutional quality assurance director

Agriculture Enterprises

Agro-Processing Director

Business and Investment Director

Unit 2: Academic Affairs

Academic affairs Vice President's office

Continuous Education Director

Indigenous Knowledge Director

Student Dean

Central Registration Office (Registrar)

Research & Community Service VP Office

Research

Community Service

Income generation office

Unit 3: Administration and Development

Administration & Development VP Office

Main Finance Department

Project Finance Department

Purchasing and Property Management Directorate

Internal and External Audit

Human Resource/ Leadership Directorate

Facility Development Directorate

Resource Dev’t & Administration Director

Construction Coordinating Office

Sports and Recreation

Banking and postal services

Circulation Connection b/n Three Units

Unit 1: President's Office

Common Facilities

Unit 2: Academic Affairs

Main entrance

Unit 3: Administration and Development

Wolkite University, as compared to other universities, has relative strategic advantage for the nation to expand the capacity of the national higher education program due to its geographic location. Its nearness to the capital Addis Ababa, and other major towns such as Jimma, Ambo, Wachamo and Hawasa universities provides comparative advantage to access and best use of different facilities and resources, including educated manpower in the nearby universities.

One of the most acute shortcomings at present is the lack of a functional and custom-tailored administration facility. Most of the administration units are now scattered in different provisional buildings. This has in turn hindered the smooth flow of the administrative activities. Due to the increased number of students and the subsequent work load the need for a functional and representative administration block has become inevitable.

Climatic and topographic conditions, national and regional identity, spatial organization of built structures, design and functional qualities of open spaces, green areas, the head quarter relation with the rest of the university are just some of the many specific design considerations that i addressed with this original design.

The inspiration for the building’s facade is comes from Gurage traditional decorative patterns.

Those geometries are used on traditional food equipment’s and on the exterior face of the vernacular architecture houses.

CUSTOM HOOD FAN SURROUND DETAILS

103 Woodview

The project was renovating the existing old fan hood surrounding with the new proposed cooker hood. The cooker hood was selected for this design was 500 series canopy stainless steel DHL 755BUC cooker hood.

DHL 755BUC cooker hood

For this project and others that i involved during my time at Premier Kitchen & Bath, i worked very closely with interior designer Charles Kimball. I used free hand sketch to lay out ideas and then proceed to CAD. The software that i used to produce those 3Ds and detail drawings are SketchUp and SketchUp LayOut.

2019 WINNIPEG RENOVATION SHOW

Wall Art/ Graphics

When i was working Premier Kitchen & Bath I got the chance to be part of the 2019 Winnipeg renovation show that was held in RBC convention center, Winnipeg. Premier company was the one that takes the responsibility to design the lounge area and I assigned on this project. Then i come up with simple lines and light colors graphics that uses the Fibonacci sequence. Those graphical geometries they extend from the wall and merges with the floor. Even if the wall material and floor different in color and texture this graphical peters creates harmony.

When i was working Premier Kitchen & Bath I got the chance to be part of the 2019 Winnipeg renovation show that was held in RBC convention center, Winnipeg. Premier company was the one that takes the responsibility to design the lounge area and I assigned on this project. Then i come up with simple lines and light colors graphics that uses the Fibonacci sequence. Those graphical geometries they extend from the wall and merges with the floor. Even if the wall material and floor different in color and texture this graphical peters creates harmony.

I used black duct tape to create those geometrical patterns on the floor.

BRANDON MB

Logo and Bench advertising design

I designed this logo in mid-2022 for a relator Shambel Muluneh who works in a company Sutton-Harrison realty in Brandon. I tried to come up with a brand that represents his work, his identity and his location. During my research i find out that Brandon known as the “wheat city of Canada”. So i took the inspiration from that and incorporated in the design.

Those are some of the options i come up with at the process of developing the logo. When inspiration comes I use any paper around me and put my idea by some rough sketches. Later I scan it and then works on Adobe Illustrator for the final vector output.

Rough free hand sketches during logo design process

“wheat city of Canada”

I also designed a bench Advertising banner for relator Shambel in Brandon as well. This advertising used to be on the Bench of 700 block on 18th street, Brandon MB for a term of one year from January 1st, 2023 to the end of December, 2023.

For this one I come up with a red cube the have this new logo as arm rest. I used Adobe Photoshop to make this realistic as possible instead of the couch he originally sits on. Beside that I included the necessary information like his name, phone number, email, his website and his employer company name and logo.

I designed the multipurpose hall by using the Fibonacci sequence or known as the golden ratio to create the building façade and the floor. By using this design principle I am able to create a well-proportioned and functional space. The hall designed to accommodate 150 to 200 peoples.

Bzunesch

Residence Building

I used ArchiCAD for the 3D, Artlantis Render and Adobe Photoshop for post-production. For the last picture I used 3DMax to render and Adobe Photoshop for post-production.

TEKLE KHASAY

Mixed-use Building

This project located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and has a plot area of 446 m2. I design this building to a modern look with efficient space usage. It has a total of 9 floors with 2 basements. The semi basement is used for parking and below that for storage. The floors are arranged by zooning different activates in the building. The ground floor up to third floor is for Cafeteria/ Restaurant and shops, fourth and fifth floor are for office purpose and the rest floors, which are sixth up to ninth, are used for residential units.

LEGEND

-A- MAIN BUILDING

-B- GREENERY

-ST- SEPTIC TANK NORTH

JEMO SITE BUSINESS CENTER

Mixed-use Building

The project has a plot area of 1150.1m2 and total built up Area of 766 m². The site located in Addis Ababa, Nifas Silk Lafto sub city. The Building has a basement floor for parking and total of 4 floors with a mezzanine floor between ground and first floor. The mezzanine floor is used by for Cafeteria and Kitchen area for restaurant.

The ground floor, mezzanine floor, first and second floor are used for Cafeteria/ Restaurant and shops, third and fourth floor are for office. The below first and third floor plans are the same with the floor above with minor differences. As you can see on the 3D renderings the shops and the offices floors are defined with form and material.

DESTA ALCOHOL & LIQUORS FACTORY PLC

Mixed-use Building

The building has an open-down feature in the middle to create a good enough natural lighting and natural ventilation for the units and the building circulation areas.

The project has a plot area of 1856 m2 and total built up Area of 3873.61 m². The site has existing storage structure in the back and the site located in Addis Ababa, Yeka sub City with a main and secondary road on the two adjacent side of it. This forces the building to be designed accordingly.

The Building has a total of 10 floors with a basement parking and storage. The floors are arranged by zooning different activates in the building. The ground floor up to second floor is used for Cafeteria/ Restaurant and shops, third and fourth floor are for office uses and fifth up to tenth floor are used for residential units.

The open down helps the units to get the maximum perimeter for natural light exposure and most importantly for natural ventilation from the wind that comes inside the building through the void space that created in the design process.

The design gets changed at the end due to the client request to use those void space for shops and additional rooms for the resident units.