Architectural portfolio

PIROUETTE HOUSE

Parametric architecture Wallmakers-Practise (Built Completed) 2 years

MATERIAL BASED

PROJECTS (WALLMAKERS-R&D)

2 years

1. Brick Panel

2.Curved Brick PaneL

3. Shobri wall

4.Rammed Earth Project

Pg 3 Pg 10

QUARRY CAMPUS

Rejuvenation of an abondoned quarry (Academic project-5 th semester)

NEST HOUSES

Utopian Transformable houses-Biomimicry (Competition Entry)

Pg 17

Pg 23

PARASITE CITY

Interactive cityscape Building cell (Competition Winner)

This is a compilation of my journey as a designer. The selected works will showcase my professional practice, academic works, and competition entries. Working with Wallmakers, a firm focused on sustainable solutions for modern-day problems by the development of new techniques and site-sensitive approaches gave me a lot of space to grow as a designer. I had the opportunity to work on groundbreaking techniques involving a lot of research, experimentation, prototyping, computational thinking,bio-mimicry, conceptualizing, etc., The competition projects helped me design freely without the reality obstructing my imagination. The academic project which is also selected as the best work of the batch showcases my growth and trajectory as a thinker.

TEASE ME CAFE

Clothcrete walls

Wallmakers-Practise (Interior -built)

JACKFRUIT

GARDEN

Residence in Vengola

Mud wall construction

Wallmakers-Practise (Built Completed)

NEW BEGINNINGS

GOKUL RESIDENCE

Residence on a Ramp (Handicap friendly)

Dry wall-boulders

Wallmakers-Practise (Building in progress)

MEMORY

URUVAGAM

PIROUETTE HOUSE

Curved walls . Wallmakers . Rat trap bond . Trivandrum . Fire bricks

Pirouette House uses “Last of the Mohican’s” fired bricks as an ode to Laurie Baker’s stellar practice, with spaces made exquisite by the pure geometry and patterns formed by the walls that seem to be coming alive and pirouetting about. Introducing sinusoidal walls to overcome the basic problems of a conventional rectangular grid house while preserving the preexisting trees from the property. This project though set in a tight neighborhood with houses on four sides with the play of the walls light has been brought even in the deep most of the house. The dancing walls created interesting niches for some peace and celebrated the congregation spaces with light, greenery, air, and interesting furniture. Under the guidance of Ar.VinuDaniel, Wallmakers, I had designed and implemented various aspects of this project from start to end.

EVOLUTION OF THE GRID

GROUND FLOOR

FIRST FLOOR

Simple grid plans where services occupy more space than required and no possibility for skylights.

FINAL GROUND FLOOR

FINAL FIRST FLOOR

The wave-like deviations from the straight lines solved the problem by creating adequate living spaces with niches for skylight and saving the trees by building the courtyard around them.

The site was a small plot suffocated by other residential developments on all four sides, smack dab in the center of an urban and crowded Trivandrum neighborhood. This house was built to be inward-looking, with all of its spaces opening into a funneling central courtyard. The house is oriented east-west, with openings to allow for optimum cross-ventilation. In the background of Trivandrum, which stands as a testament to many of Ar. Laurie Baker’s masterpieces, it seemed appropriate to change one of his introductions, the Rat trap bond masonry technique, in this location, which did not allow for soil excavation or the development of mud blocks. Keeping in mind that Brick kilns in Trivandrum are a dying industry with people opting out for wire-cut machine-made bricks, this was also an attempt to promote this local agriculture-based industry that is on the brink of extinction.

4.Swing made out of waste scaffolding pipes.

10.Cavity walls-Rat trap bond with fire bricks

Living Room

Double height courtyard

Toilet of the Bedroom

Swing on the Balcony

Informal Living room

Staircase grill with bamboo railings and screen

Windows of the bedroom

Central Coconut tree

Ferrocement shell roof slab with polycarbonate skylight.

The Rat trap bond with staggered courses.

6.Staircase made with scaffolding pipes around the tree while treated bamboo gives a screen for privacy

Scaffolding pipes left over from the building stage were quickly repurposed to form the central staircase and grill-work. The wooden planks were also pieced together to form part of the flooring in the living quarters, keeping in mind the idea of discarding nothing as “waste.” Cane was collected from the neighborhood, handled, and wrapped around the grill-work to create subtle privacy screens and assorted furniture. The rat trap bond has a cavity that comes in handy to hide the structural framework, electrical conduits, plumbing lines, etc,...Even the placement of the shelves was aided by the projecting bricks. The pre-cut bison panels were placed on top of the projecting course of bricks and concreted.

6 m

FERROCEMENT SHELLS-SLAB1

FCS placed on top of the beams and the slab is cast.

Polycarbonate sheet on Ferrocement shells with skylight for the

The Rat trap bond is a brick masonry wall building technique in which bricks are positioned vertically rather than horizontally, forming a cavity within the wall that improves thermal efficiency, reduces the overall volume of bricks required, and is suitable for concealing structural members and service ducts.

The concept was developed further to include a series of slanting walls that danced left and right, only converging to aid the ferrocement shell roof. Each staggered wall was custom-made to address the residence’s lack of space, intending to create greater volumes and a sense of privacy.

SLAB1 BEAMS

The slab beams run inside the walls

Sinusoidal walls engulfing the courtyard with pre-existing coconut tree

COLUMNS

Built along with each course.The rat trap bond hides the structure.

Pile depth is based on the depth at which hard weathered soil N>50 is found in the bore

3.5 m

3.5 m

3.5 m 3.5 m

3.5 m

Ground floor rectangular grid with sinusoidal walls

VIEW

7.Ferrocement shells

These wafer-like structures are steel-reinforced arched shells with an effective thickness of 2.5cm that bears the same load as the corresponding R.C.C slabs. They significantly minimize total cement usage by 40% and steel consumption by 30%. These are used in place of R.C.C. Slabs in roofing since they have a strength of 1200 kg/m2.

Since Wallmakers is a research-based, sustainable firm, I carried out extensive research and experimentation under the supervision of Ar.Vinu Daniel. The Binoy Residence was my first project with wallmakers, and it included a new type of wall called brick panels. We did about 15 prototupes, heated and loaded the panels, and tweaked the pattern until we got it right. Later, the same brick panel concept evolved into curvilear panels and experimented for a project in Thirssur. For the past two years, I’ve been working on these two designs. On two other ventures, I was also in charge of the shobri wall projects, which is a patented method used by the firm. On a conceptual level, I worked on the Casurina Cone farm house and the plastic bottle resuse method.

Car Porch Entry 2

Drawing Room

BedRoom2 Dining Store Store

BedRoom1

Stairs

Kitchen

T T

Work Area

MAIN FLOOR PLAN @ -2M FROM GROUND LEVEL

Since it was the last place in the neighbourhood to be converted into a home, it became a haven for a variety of birds, insects, and even snakes. It’s evolved into its own biosphere. When the company had to do the plan, we didn’t want to mess up the equation, so we decided to coexist. While the humans lived underground the ground above was left for the butterflies, birds, snakes, and nature. The excavations helped with the mud bricks for building. Going underground created light and ventilation issues, which were fixed by the building’s crater-like paralleogram sections.The steepness and the surface of the brick paneled buildings at the central courtyard did not let the snakes to crawl into the building ,for safety resons.Jalli’s were also created by placing glass bricks in the panel.I worked on this building from excation till working drawings level.

THE CONCEPT OF KAAVU

An alternative to the traditional 25 cm thick wall is this brick panel wall where the mud bricks made from site excavation soil are used along with reinforced concrete with the asbestos sheet as shutters. This wall is only 14 to 15 cm thick. Because of the reduced thickness, the weight of the building can be considerably reduced. This is much faster compared to the traditional method. And because of the angled placement of the mud blocks, not all the blocks are exposed to sunlight all the time. And also since it is a composite material wall with mud and concrete there is a reduction in heat transfer into the building. These panels can be of greater use for disaster relief camps where the brick panels can be assembled in a matter of days at very little cost. Inclined Brick panels of 4 to 6 m span have been successfully placed in a residential project in Kakkanad. An attempt to make curved brick panels at a residence in Thrissur is in progress. I have been a part of the experimentation, analysis, prototyping, and application of the panels in two real-time projects with the at-most guidance from Ar.VinuDaniel, We did a number of prototpes and subjected the panels to load test,heat transmittance test and shadow analysis.We achieved a u value (Measure of heat transmittance)of 3.6

STAIRS KITCHEN

BEDROOM1 BEDROOM READING ROOM

MAIN FLOOR PLAN

LIVING DINING

ROOF PLAN -roof brick panels supported beams

This east-facing home was built for an NRI family from Dubai in Thrissur, directly in front of their parents’ home. Set in a land filled with mango trees, neem trees, and other plant species. We choose to build around the trees rather than chopping them down. The client also wished to integrate the typical mughal courtyard ideas of male and female courtyards. The central staircase and curvilinear roof separated the courtyards while maintaining a visual connection. The roof wraps around the existing trees as well. The roof’s sinusoidal brick panels are angled in such a way that they shield from rain while allowing hot air to escape through the openings.

THE ROOF WRAPPING AROUNG THE TREES

THE ROOF SUPPORTED BY THE FRAME WORK

The load bearing Partition walls made of Compressed Stabilized mud blocks from the site excavtions are erected first,followed by the concrete beams and columns.The sloped brick panels are placed on structural frame work and casted.The openings on the sloped wall are given a rectangular chajja letting the wind from the side while protecting the building from the western sun.The roof and the staircase are built last.The opeings on the roof also helps in passive cooling.

(1 bag cement: 6 M-Sand:14 Unsieved soil:16 sieved soil)

(bar to be treated with SBR coating)

FLOOR LEVEL

The patented technique of Shuttered Debris Wall involves mixing cement, soil and waste materials of various sizes(coarse aggregate) ranging from 10mm -70mm skilfully to give a strong wall ( 5.2MpA compressive strength).I worked on three shobri wall projects in WM.

This residence was made as a weekend home located at the picturesque backwaters of Kakkaturuthu, which is accessible only by a ferry boat from across the river. The water being saline in nature would have an adverse effect on the mud walls so a mixture of red oxide with waterproofing agent has been applied on the rammed earth walls.The wind funnel helps in cooling effect

A quarry is a place where a hill is being eaten in pieces. This act of a man with much less regard to ecology has been balanced by nature by itself with time. The seasonal collection of water and accumulation of topsoil due to surface runoff on shallow pits exposed to much sunlight promises a future for vegetation through these marsh pits and the sparse vegetation. These fragments of green are the pioneers for ecological succession that has begun already. There are passive ways to speed up the succession process so the quarry can be reused. The campus of the center for environmental education can itself become that catalyst to this rejuvenation, so they can practice what they preach and the quarry also serves as a perfect experimentation ground.

A Centre for Environmental Education

The campus sits as a part of quarry itself encountering the seasonal changes in the flow of water and the quarry healing itself

SECTION OF RESEARCH BLOCK

PLAN SHOWING THE VALLEY AND THE BIGGER RESERVOIRS

The water is collected in the valley by creating a bund and this water is used. The water level when reaches to a high point overflows into the quarry depressions

The ecological restoration of the quarry has already happening by the process of succession where the earth heals on its own We can speedup the restoration by planting more plants and not diving the green. This restoration happens in multiple phases.by the end of the third phase the Quarry will completely be occupied by plants and trees

CLASSROOMS AND WORKSHOP AT EDGE

THE ENTRY BLOCK

SECTION SHOWING THE CONNECT BETWEEN THE RESEARCH AND THE INSTITUTE BLOCK

PLAN AT – 5 M LEVEL

SECTION OF LIBRARY AND INFO CENTER

During the rainy season the water level in the valley rises and gets collected in the bundh because of which the library block gets submerged in water .

So when we are inside the library block during that season we feel like we are under water in a glass box witnessing the changes both under and above water

AT LEVEL +.1 M

AT LEVEL -5M

AT LEVEL -8M

SECTIONAL ISOMETRIC VIEW AT LEVEL -5M

ISOMETRIC VIEW OF THE BEAMS AND COLUMS

The project unfolds itself slowly as we start moving into it .It has its surprises shocks and scares and the flow the project is also unpredictable just like the quarry itself .it uses the mystery kind of landscape to its advantage and becomes a part the quarry itself Spaces of different functions are piled up to create more of an accidental interaction with different kinds of users so that the space becomes a place. When different sets of people come together only then a campus becomes a community..

THE INSTITUTE AND LIBRARY BUILDING

Bridge

Library

Cafe Gathering spaces

Class rooms

office

Auditorium

Workshop spaces

View from the Newspaper Reading Spaces

THE BRIDGE

Newspaper section

The whole project works in section. The congregation spaces are created at different levels to create maximum interaction between people.

A lot of encounters with nature are a part and parcel of the design because of its open nature. The spaces differ with changing seasons and with the restoring quarry

THE NEST

In the near future, sensitive and transformable materials hold enormous promise for architects and engineers, providing ways of immersive and customizable architecture that, if used correctly, have the potential to significantly alter the way users interact with their built environment. The vast expansion of the capacities of touch screens and other glass-based technology has opened up user interfaces to the point that interactive cityscape is becoming a reality. The aim is to envision a Utopian housing system made of a material that responds to environmental stimuli without the need for human intervention. A plane of weave is subjected to various parameters degrees of bending leading to a cocoon-like structure that is porous and trans-formative in nature giving rise to interactive, sensitive, and customizable living units which are lightweight and do not need a fixed foundation.

CONCEPT EVOLUTION OF SECTION

The curves are placed in a systematic way to create a strong intertwined structure which makes the sphere fully accessible

CONCEPT EVOLUTION OF PLAN

The sphere being the most easy to transform structure in naturebecame the basic unit of the project.

PLAN showing the frame structure used as a staircase.

SECTION showing the functionality of a typical spherical living unit

The sphere is the easiest structure to transform in nature became the basic unit of the transformable housing project. It is also the closest structure resembling a cocoon which serves as a perfect inspiration for lightweight porous structures which do not need heavy foundations can be easily transported anywhere. Unlike birds, the only problem for us to live in a cocoon is the absence of flat surfaces. So apart from certain places, the sphere becomes inaccessible. The solution to this was to create contours on the sphere. These staggered contours not only created full access to the sphere but also became the load-bearing structure

BASIC UNIT

Scales of seed-bearing pine cone moves in response to changes in relative humidity. The closed and opened pine cones respectively.

For creating a sensitive material that responds to environmental stimuli without human intervention, I was inspired by a pine cone, understanding that pine cones instinctively open and close to shield their seeds from damp weather and enable them to be scattered when it’s dry. I was curious about how this could be replicated in architecture. Later I discovered (with the help of a knife) that pine cones are primarily made of two layers, one of which is more porous than the other. When wet, the outer layer expands more than the inner layer, leading to bending and closing of the cone. So using this concept a multilayered pine conelike building scale can be developed.

last project

Last project

A simple weave (closely knit structure) made of the pine cone-inspired twolayered material is subjected to bending along the x and y-axis to various angles between 0 and 360. The results show that at 360 degrees a plane is successfully transformed into a sphere. The new material would open and close with respect to the relative humidity. When wet, the outer layer expands more than the inner layer, leading to bending and closing of the weave plane.

This in turn may give rise to a structure that closes up during rain and opens up when the sun shines instinctively. The different stages of the transformation have been recorded so that it can also be manipulated later even when there is no change in relative humidity to create the desired result. This may result in creating customizable and interactive living units with varied functional needs and others.

After series of permutations and combinations with the results, a model living unit is designed. The same plane is subjected to multiple bending and twisting giving rise to unique and transformable structures. The living quarters have a movable deck on top which can be covered or left open with changing conditions. The three cocoons form the central living area with service in the center. The curvilinear arcs of the structure itself double up as stairs or amphitheater. These kind of houses are lightweight cocoons which can be hung anywhere to form a colony. This kind of colony does not need deep foundations. Instead of cutting trees to create a clearspaced community these nest houses can be anchored to trees or mountains and become a part of the landscape.

SECTIONAL ELEVATION ALONG SECTION I

The shell-like structure of the section can be seen in the drawing. The amphitheater leads to the structural stairwell. The Intertwining weave replaces the traditional columns and beams. The Intermediate level is the only space with curvilinear floor space with the help of contouring the space can be made useful as explained in the concept sheet.

1.The external living spaces are sheltered from rain by the weave because of the change in relative humidity

2.The weave is slowly flowering out opening up the deck to the sunshine after the rain has stopped.

Bio-mimicry-based architecture is a multi-disciplinary scientific approach to sustainable design that focuses on researching and adapting architectural concepts inherent in natural ecosystems and animals, rather than just using nature as a reference for aesthetics. Hereby following simple design concepts complex results have been obtained. The strength of a weave comes through these analyses. Repeated bending of the initial weave plane created a plethora of possibilities even within a day the building would have transformed a little based on the movement of the

3.The weave is fully opened up and the whole cocoon is exposed to sunlight. This structure may change throughout the day based on humidity level

sun and humidity level. By artificially introducing stimuli desired results can be achieved. So it is customizable as well. The resulting forms are organically formed geometries. The free-flowing spaces create intriguing living spaces breaking away from the conventional rectangles. The columns and beams are being replaced by the strength of the weave. This living space has a very unique light filtration creating all the more drama. These humble nests are unique and they become a lot more than just room. The weave becomes the furniture, bed, lighting, everything...

RANGE OF WEAVE STRUCTURES

STAGE 1

SEPARATED HOUSES STAGE 2 CREATING THE CENTRALSPACE

STAGE 3 GRID IS ESTABLISHED STAGE 4 GRID GROWS

The project is the result of the play between the old and the new. It is a renovation project sheltering two different generations. While the older structure stands as mostly untouched and in the centre of it grows the new one creating interesting interactive spaces and blurring the difference between the two houses

STAGE 5 GRID OOZES OUT

The hotter the terrace gets the cooler the first and the second floor gets because of the stack effect. The light which filters in through the structure creates drama all throughout the day The steel structure reduces the weight of the building considerably

This residence is in Ahmedabad so the building has been climatically designed

SECTION 11

SECTION 22

OVERHANG AND LIMESTONE