Madhuri Shashidhar - Portfolio

madhuri shashidhar selected works ’09 -’17

MADHURI SHASHIDHAR +1-217-904-5956 | shashid2@illinois.edu

experience

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS RailTEC Department September 2016 - Present

DDIR ARCHITECTURE STUDIO Bangalore, India 2014 - 2015

DDIR ARCHITECTURE STUDIO Bangalore, India 2013 - 2014

SEKOS ARCHITECTS Bangalore, India June 2010 & June 2011

GRAPHIC DESIGNER At Rail Transportation and Engineering Center - Designing the NURail Center Annual Report 2015 - 2016, brochures, flyers, conference schedules, holiday card, video editing.

ARCHITECT Worked on residential, mid-size commerical, office, cafe and remodeling projects. Responsibilities included producing and revising construction drawings using Autocad, 3D digital modeling using Sketchup, 3DS Max and AutoCAD 3D, preparing bill of quantities, training interns, interacting with consultants , preparing presentation for clients.

INTERN Worked on residential, interiors and remodeling projects. Responsibilities included producing and revising construction drawings using Autocad, 3D digital modeling using Sketchup, assisting in making presentations, recording minutes of meeting during site visits and client meetings.

INTERN Responsibilities included producing and revising construction drawings using Autocad, 3D digital modeling using Sketchup, making physical models.

education

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS at Urbana-Champaign

BMS COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Bangalore, India

MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE Expected date of graduation: May 2017 GPA: 3.63 out of 4.0

BACHELOR OF ARCHITECTURE Date of graduation: May 2014 GPA:8.35 out of 10

others

SKILLS

COMPUTER-AIDED AutoCAD 2D & 3D, Sketchup, Sketchup Layout, ArchiCAD, Revit, Rhino, V-Ray for Sketchup, Lumion 3D, Photoshop, Indesign, Microsoft Moviemaker, MS Office.

SUSTAINABLE DESIGN & ANALYSIS Diva for Rhino, IESVE, Therm, Wufi

CO-CURRICULAR

ACHIEVEMENTS AND LEADERSHIP Awarded a scholarship by J.N. Tata Endowment in 2015 and 2016 http://www.jntataendowment.org/ Led a team of 5 in the documentation of Koti-Theerta Tank for Louis I. Kahn Trophy in India (Among shortlisted 10 in the country) Member of National Association for Students of Architecture, India : Active participant in annual events and workshops conducted by them.

Led a team of 12 in the neighborhood documentation of J.C. Road in Bangalore, India.

PERSONAL Date of birth : 20th May, 1991 Languages: English, Kannada, Hindi

The Radiant Vault

Rare Book & Manuscript Library University of Illinois

Garden 360

High Rise and Habitat Studio Streeterville, Chicago

Backpacker’s Australia Traveler’s Inn Australia

Deployable Structure Experiments with Steel Structures

Port between Hills

Integrated Facility for Fishermen Amdalli, India

Heritage-ville

Cultural District Bangalore, India

Courtyard Warehouse

Denim Industry Bangalore, India

Elevate

Luxury Condominiums Bangalore, India

Kothari Residence

Single Family Residence Chennai, India

academic works

The Radiant Vault - Rare Book & Manuscript Library Graduate Studio Project - Individual

The Rare Book and Manuscript Library of the University of Illinois is one of the largest and most distinguished special collections in the country. The proposal is for a stand-alone, purpose-built facility, when filled with the collections and public programming, to make the RBML a center of campus life and a destination for citizens from around the state. The client describes the RBML as the jewel of the campus and there are very specific temperature, light and humidity needs for these manuscripts to be preserved with care.

With focus on energy, materiality and tectonic expression, the conditions and potential for environmentally resposible building designs was explored.

Site plan

The library has been designed using the vault as the single, stand out feature which shimmers and draws one’s attention due the glossy white brick veneer used. Due to different temperature and humidity requirements in the stacks which requires conditioning through out the year, it is designed as a separate body within the library. This makes the conditioned spaces compact and secluded, resulting in lower energy usage per annum. The vertical shading device on the west facade reduces the solar heat gains while maintaining transparency of the building which is made of slender steel structural members.

The public areas are on the ground floor. The entry to the stacks and the reading room are placed on the first floor to have secured areas for the valuable collection. Overall, the minimalistic plan simplifies the movement patterns and facilitates easy maintanence for the staff.

View of west facade

Basement floor plan

First floor plan

Section looking East

Section looking North

Second floor plan

Interior view of second floor corridor and vault Exploded view of structure

Detail of suspended slab

F

Fixing detail of skylight to green roof

In winter, low angle sun rays can enter through south facade. Photo voltaic panels are placed on the shading device on the south to provide larger area for energy generation. During summer, 3 to 5 pm sun rays need to be shaded on the west facade. Glazing has been minimized on this side to minimize solar heat gains A shading device on the west facade made of stretched fabric - helps reduce the solar heat gain from the low sun angles during summer evenings.

View showing space between building and shading device

Section of west wall

Garden 360 - High Rise and Habitat Studio Streeterville, Chicago

Graduate Studio Project - Team of 3 The project is to design a high-rise hotel / condominium tower for a site that is a prime location for additional hotel and housing units given its proximity to the Loop, Navy Pier, and the Miracle Mile. The site is located on Chicago’s Streeterville District, on the north bank of the Chicago River immediately to the south of the NBC Tower, and is bordered by North Cityfront Plaza Drive on its western edge.

Even in the current recession, this is an area of growing demand for housing and hotel accommodations. The proposed tower has 82 floors, includes a Marriott business-class hotel which occupies 1/3 of the tower with the remaining floors dedicated to residential functions.

View from N Michigan Ave

Concept and Evolution The form was derived from the flow of the river intending to portray movement. A twisting tower is unique to Chicago and a site by the river is the perfect site for this tower. It blocks the least amount of sunlight to the adjacent buildings and provides views all around.

Site plan

Section looking west

Section looking north

Floor 8

Sectional view of base

Floor 14

Floor 15

Floor 32

Floor 33

Floor 34

There are two main entries to the skyscraper.

One from the river walk level (Level -2) and the other from East North Water Street (Level 0). One coming in through Water St. entry is led through the lobby spaces to the top of a 3-storey atrium with a panoramic view of the riverwalk.

Instead of forcing program into the preconceived elliptical floor plates, individual floor plates have been modified according to required areas, while keeping the exterior building skin as it is.

Curtain wall design: The double skin curtain wall creates a thermos effect for the building. The inner skin is cylindrical while the outer skin twists with the floor plates. The space between the two skin is a communal green space at some levels and private green spaces for individual apartments on some floors. This acts as a filtering element for light ad ventilation.

These spaces create vertical zones, creating the concept of neighborhood within a skyscraper. One does not have to go all the way to the ground floor to experience the street.

Curtain wall structure: A horizontal perimeter girt (elliptical in plan) is connected to the floor plates by horizontal struts (220mm diameter). The strut-to-girt connection is hinged (with neoprene pads) and strut-to-slab connection is fixed, which allows for movement of the exterior facade. High strength rods carry the gravity loads of the facade and the facade structure.

The structure consists of a concrete core and floor plates for gravity load, belt trusses at three intermediate levels (mechanical floors) and twisting columns to take the lateral loads.

View of riverwalk level from N Columbus Dr.

View of atrium at riverwalk level

Backpacker’s Australia Traveler’s Inn Graduate Studio Project - Individual

In recent years, UNESCO has identified a number of vernacular environments and cultural landscapes as World Heritage sites.

While this designation was intended to protect global patrimony, the effect has been to attract international visitors to these sites.

How architects and developers acknowledge, respect, and sensitively relate to such treasures is a charge to the design profession. This project focuses on the design of a traveler’s inn for backpackers who travel around Australia. In recent years, Australia has attracted lot of backpackers and it is seen that these backpackers have a positive impact on the local communities because of their sensitivity to the region. So, Austraila is working on bringing in more backpackers into Australia.

A room was first designed as a basic module. Australia, being the land of the Aborginal tribes, the idea was to be sensitive to their beliefs. The main concept was to blur the lines between interior and exterior to get the feeling of being in nature. Being inspired by the aborginal saying: “touching the earth lightly�, the units are designed to do minimum harm to the existing landscape.

Instead of leveling the ground, the units are lifted off the ground.

Provision for suffient cross ventilation is made by providing blinds and louvres.

Unit section

Unit plan

Variations

Lifting the units off the ground accommodates for the shifting sand levels in Fraser Island. Louvres are provided for cross vetilation while preserving the privacy when the units are placed next to each other.

Interior view

Exploded view of unit

Plan at ground level

Plan at second floor

Roof plan

Section through site

Here, the units are stacked to reach a height comparable to the punu trees. Voids and spaces created between the structural grid. The site has minimal slope. Hence the roof has been made accessible to get a view of the sunrise and sunset.

Uluru is a large sandstone rock formation in central Australia. The sandstone formation stands 1,142 feet high, rising 2,831 feet above sea level with most of its bulk lying underground, and has a total circumference of 5.8 miles. Both Uluru and the nearby Kata Tjuta formation have great cultural significance for the Anangu people, the traditional inhabitants of the area, who lead walking tours to inform visitors about the local flora and fauna, bush food and the Aboriginal dreamtime stories of the area.

Deployable Stucture -

Experiments with Steel Structures Independent Study Instructor: Sudarshan Krishnan

This research is directed towards studying various structural systems in steel to get a good understanding of the versatility of steel and the potential structural systems. The study will extend to the discussion of construction methods and connection details.

The studies terminated in the creation of this model to analyze how steel works in deployable structures. Drawings were made to create a structure which spans a small part of a sphere. Steel members were cut, pressed, drilled and fixed to each other with cable ties as per the drawings made.

Member types and sizes

Port between Hills -

Integrated Facility for Rehabilitated Fishermen, Amdalli, India Individual Project The projected aims to study the life and culture of the fishing community and developing an understanding of their problems and needs and to address the infrastructural needs of the fishermen and train fishermen in modern fishing methods, improve socio-economic conditions of fishermen, increase GDP of state and eventually the country, provide jobs for fisherfolk even during off-season and finally, organisation of fishing ports.

Karwar has largely been affected by the coming up of ‘Sea Bird‘ - The Indian Naval Base. Many fishing villages were moved out of their homes and rehabilitated elsewhere. One such fishing village is Amdalli. The fishermen settled here were originally residents of the region where ‘Sea Bird’ is now set up. These fishermen were then shifted to Amdalli which is 30 kilometers from the town, and housing was provided. This entire community is greatly affected by this shift of their base. Their homes, family life and profession was disrupted and their lives took a drastic change. Amdalli still needs to develop and place itself as a fully functioning fish landing port.

Lack of facilities forces them to spend a lot of time and money in travelling to the nearby towns. The brighter side is that it is a community under development and has scope to be developed in a better way in the future. However, this development needs to start immediately to provide better living conditions, facilities and income for the future generations. The younger fishermen are drifting away from this profession due to the many problems the fishermen are facing at present. By improving these conditions for one community will encourage their kids to keep this profession going forward.

The concept was developed by drawing perpendicular axes from the two major entry points.

The main building is placed at the junction of the two axes. The orientatio of the building is set as per sea breeze. Rest of the buildings are placed as per zoning and proximity. Below is the masterplan hence derived.

Site potentials: The village is in the start of its development, hence new concepts can be introduced & new jobs can be created. Due to the natural harbor created by the Western Ghats, it makes Amdalli an apt fish landing port. The untouched natural beauty of the place will attract tourists. Site is well-connected to all means of transport. Distribution of produce can be done with ease. The terrain is almost flat, making it advantageous for the construction of port decks.

Site constraints: Soil has low bearing capacity, making constrcution challenging. There is need for strong pile foundation to bear the load. Erosion due to winds and floods need to be considered. The Hight Tide Line is only 50metres away from the site. If flooding, occurs, structures might get harmed. Hence, provisions for disaster management needs to be made.

Study of existing Baithkol port: Interacting with the fisherfolk to understand their daily life, practices and problems led to the above analysis. This acted as a base for the requirements for the design of a new fishing village.

Fish oil industry

Dwelling unit

Pre-school

Ground floor plan

The main building consists of the exhibition space, library, admin and visitors’ center. It is located at the junction of the two axes, hence in a prominent position.

Viewing deck

Plan - Kitchen, dining, multipurpose hall

Section through main building and multipurpose hall

The community kitchen-dining and the multi-purpose hall are placed in the same building.

The multi-purpose hall serves as a spill over space during events. It is sea-facing. The kitchen-dining and the multi purpose hall together is 2000sq.m. The restaurant is designed as a secluded space mainly to attract tourists staying in the guest houses or traveling on the National Highway which is 2.1km away. A long walkway along the beach leads to the restaurant, giving the tourists a great view of the beach with the mountains in the backdrop. This allows the fishermen privacy in their dining spaces.

Sectional view of guest houses

Longitunial section through main building

The fishermen are deeply rooted to their culture and are proud of their community. The built form should not defy their life and culture. If so, they will not accept it as their own.

The site is open largely to the sea, with the masterplan running along the coastline. This will lead to the building being very close to the HIgh Tide Line. Hence, provisions for disaster management has to be done and measure need to be taken to protect the structures from flood. The soil is sandy and has very low bearig capacity. Hence, deeper pile foundations are provided.

Heritage-ville

Cultural District Bangalore, India Context mapping - team of 60 students Individual design project An urban scale design project aiming at studying the context of the site based on various parameters at the site, neighborhood and city level. My role was in leading a sub-group of 12 students in mapping and analysis. This study eventually led to an individual design of a space that represents the culture and traditions of the city.

The concept was to break the length of the site by punctuating the main access path using plazas. Plazas are interactive spaces that can be used for various activites. Hence, it is perfect for the everchanging activities in the cultural district. The programme includes exhibition space, galleries, workshops and other interactive spaces like grafiti wall, plazas and spaces for fairs and weekly markets.

The masterplan was developed from the concept, including interactive plazas with elements like graffiti walls and open areas for performances and street plays. The design was to go hand in hand with the three ‘Giants’on the same site - the existing Ravindra Kalakshetra, Kannada Bhavan and the Town Hall.

Masterplan

Entrance plaza

Design to blend with surrounding heritage buildings

1 kilometer radius around the site was documented and mapped. This led to an in-depth analysis of the site surroundings and the existing buildings on site. The site consists on Ravindra Kalakshetra, Kannada Bhavan and Town Hall, which are all heritage buildings built between 1935 and 1965. Culturally significant activities happen here throughout the year. Some of those activities are vernacular dance performances, theatre, protests, processions, rallies, seminars and similar stage shows.

Town Hall

Section through exhibition space

Ravindra Kalakshetra

Kannada Bhavan

The projetc intends to create a contemporary space for these activities. Different activities happen everyday and hence, many open spaces, multipurpose and flexible spaces are provided to provide the users the freedom to change the space as per their requirements.

The diagram above shows an elevation of all the heritage buildings on the site.

Courtyard Warehouse Denim Industry Bangalore, India Individual design project An existing garment industry was first study to understand the process of demin manufacture and the area requirements. The building codes were then studied to understand the prescribed area requirements according to the number of people working.

The main challenge in an industry is to provide large columnless sppaces for the functioning, while making the space more “workable“ for the employees. This was achieved with a narrow plan, which allows for more daylight to enter into the workspaces.

Courtyards are introduced to make the industry more lively. The main idea was to break away from the stereotypical industry where people do not enjoy working. The demin industry was designed for 600 workers in a plot of 10.8 acres. The built-up area of this industry is 7560 square meters. The plot is located in the industrial area in the outskirts of Urban Bangalore, in an industrial area.

Decision was taken to go against the slope to locate the building was done to have the best orientation avoiding the harsh western sun from falling on the longer side. Large columnless spaces are a requirement for the large machinery. Opening these large spaces into refreshing, bright courtyards was done to make the space more active, so the employees are not dissatisfied.

Masterplan

Plan of Level 0

Plan of Level -1

Longitudinal section through workspaces

View of one of the courtyard from the corridors.

The courtyards bring the exterior to the interior and funtions very well in tropical climates where there is sunshine throughout the year.

Section throught the courtyard

professional works

Elevate -

Luxury Condominiums for Assetz Group, Bangalore, India Design head: Dominic Dube Role: Producing and revising construction drawings, preparing presentations for clients, coordination with structural engineer and site engineer.

Project status: Under construction This building, a true depicton of the firm’s style of works, is simple and elegant. Supported mainly by the central exposed concrete core, it is a columnless structure.

Second floor plan

Sixth floor plan

Roof plan

Section through core of the building

Bathroom details

Plan

Section

Section

Kothari Residence -

Residence in Chennai, India

Design head: Dominic Dube Role: Producing and revising working drawings, interacting wih structural consultants for the structural details of the building, guided 3D visualizer in digital modelling.

Project status: Construction phase With ‘Space and Light’as the concept, a 5-bedroom house in the city of Chennai was designed. A neutral palette, yet full of character. The white mass of the house sits harmoniously with the green all around.

Basement plan

First floor plan

Second floor plan

Door details

Section