architecture
A compilation of artwork displaying a range of skills: photography, sketches, paintings, sculptures, installations, textiles, and research-based studies.
Dossier
NANDINI GOEL
Text
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29/12/17 14:18
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MYNAMEISNANDINIMYNAMEISNANDINIMYNAME ISNANDINIMYNAMEISNANDINIMYNAMEISNANDINI MYNAMEISNANDINIMYNAMEISNANDINIMYNAME ISNANDINIMYNAMEISNANDINIMYNAMEISNANDINI MYNAMEISNANDINIMYNAMEISNANDINIMYNAME erratic incessant irrational thoughts / my mind has been a workshop of chaos / creation and destruction / i’m infallible / i’m flawed / i’m uncertain / i’m unstoppable / can i save the world? / can i fix everything that’s broken? / i want to be so much at once / a creator / a thinker / a saviour / the protagonist / who’s writing the story? / i’m still learning how to spell / my name is nandini.
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Nandini Goel 26/02/2000 I n d i a n EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS CBSE 10th Grade – 10/10 CGPA G.D. Goenka Public School, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi
TECHNICAL SKILL SET - Adobe Indesign - Basics of Adobe Photoshop - Basics of Rhino - Construction of isometric projections - Construction of machine assemblies, screws, nuts, and bolts - Usage of mini drafter for construction
CBSE !2th Grade – Final examinations due in March 2018 G.D. Goenka Public School, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi I’M A SELF-CONFESSED... Environmentalist Artist Philosopher Reader Perfectionist Writer Designer Achiever 3
departure |.\4
VISUALISATION OF THOUGHTS In an attempt to visualise my thoughts, I maintained a ‘thought diary’ for a month. I created a system in which I would rate the absurdity of my thoughts at the end of the day. In doing so, I discovered that the thoughts marked as most absurd were actually days when I was the most productive. To make matters a little less ambiguous, I ventured to define absurdity in a set number of terms which were as follows: “Absurdity (n.) A state of mind in which realistic elements appear or seem to appear more and more surrealistic and abstract.”
subjection vs objection: can absurdity be defined? 5
THE STRIVE FOR ABSURDITY After discovering the key to productivity, I strove to achieve absurdity every day. I have always liked to experiment and turn mundane things into something extraordinary. This search for the extraordinary in the ordinary is what cemented my passion for architecture. With an amalgamation of love and hate for entropy harboured in my heart, I decided to get the best out of both. To create chaos in a manner that is orderly according to its functionality but uses complex systems to accomplish simplicity. WHAT MAKES US ALL DIFFERENT? Picking up from where I left off, I decided to study and observe the idiosyncrasies of human bodies. In order to understand what made us all different in every little way, I documented a number of my thoughts.
our style? / study in gouache 6
our cultures? / a collage of fineliner sketches of objects seen around delhi
our emotions? / quick study of auguste rodin’s DESPAIR at the victoria & albert museum, london
our position in society? / study in gouache
our aspirations? / study in acrylics
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our identity? / curves and swirls of fingerprints
our views? / deconstruction and reconstruction of a study in acrylics 8
reinvention alters certainty. Is there a definitive answer?
WHAT MAKES US A:LL THE SAME? The question of what makes us different led me to think about the attributes that we all share. The things that make us similar; a singular group of organisms.
our bodily movements? / photographic study of the movements of the human hand with the help of wire
our bone structure? / study of the movements of the human spine displaying flexibility in rigidity 9
journey -}/_ 10
LEGO BLOCKS
CITY SKETCHING
My interest in architecture started developing at a very young age. It all began with my fascination with lego blocks. I always enjoyed building quirky structures that were far from functional.
As I grew up, I expanded my horizon from lego block structures to actual buildings. I started sketching street views and started working on the way I represent three dimensional structures.
the colours of my childhood / marker and pen render of the haphazard structures i built as a kid
perspective / fineliner sketches of the streets around connaught place, new delhi 11
dreams in technicolour / street perspective in water colour of a dream that i had
looking out at the world through windows / fineliner sketches of different windows from my trips to various cities 12
SHADOW PLAY AND SYMMETRY I click a lot of photographs of any shapes or structures that I find interesting. These photos were taken on trips to Chandigarh, Madurai, Mussoorie, and Jaipur respectively.
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LIGHT AND DARKNESS One of my favourite things to click is light, expecially in dark, nighttime settings. I experimented with different camera settings to understand how light is captured in each process. The first three photos were clicked in New Delhi and the fourth one was clicked in Bali, Indonesia. 14
TIBETAN ARCHITECTURE On a visit to Mcleodganj, a hillstation in India that reflects its rich Tibetan ancestry even today, I photographed a number of structures and streets. The temples are all built in the traditional vibrant colours.
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ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE My fascination with the science of architecture began on school trips to historical monuments. New Delhi, my home city, is full of extravagant examples of Mughal architecture. The simple yet advanced technology that the architects of those eras employed for these structures exemplify efficiency and sustainability working hand in hand. These photographs were clicked at the Thirumalai Nayakkar Mahal in Madurai.
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MODERN ARCHITECTURE I studied these interesting structures and attempted to understand the strong lines and shapes that are being made use of. These photographs were clicked on a trip to Singapore in 2016.
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ARRIVAL \[/ 18
do my thoughts define me? / i have a tendency to romanticise everything / my observations / the world / everything that isn’t / everything that could be / metaphors / bright colours / fancy words / but can everything be painted to look beautiful? / is ugliness not a more accurate representation of who we are? / the deteriorating world / the extenuating circumstances / the depleting environment / breathlessness / a word associated with euphoria / more relevantly pertains to asphyxiation / words shiver and dance out of my reach / i’m a lone leaf / i’m drifting / i press pause and then rewind.
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CRUMPLED STRUCTURE Inspired by a crumpled piece of paper, I designed a prototype model of a rooftop structure. The basic idea that stuck was that when a paper is crumpled, the surface area increases for a given volume. In order to replicate that, I sketched out a rough model using a simple grid system and made the isometric views of the model. I added hatching lines to better understand the angle at which I would have to place a certain piece to achieve the desired effect.
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(Starting with the picture in the top left corner.) After cutting pieces of cardboard, I glued them together. I added pins on the surface and created an interwoven thread structure. The purpose of the proposed roof is to be multifunctional by making maximum use of the space available. It was an experiment to study spatial spaces and their maximum possible utilisation.
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CRYSTAL CLUSTERS Stemming from my fascination with light and its various effects, I developed an interest in the natural phenomena of reflection and refraction that takes place within the faces of a crystal cluster. To study this further, I photographed crystal clusters and tried to understand their structure. I sampled different kinds of crystal clusters such as amethyst and quartz. Then, I roughly sketched an outline of crystal clusters in the way I perceived light should hit one of their facets with the help of a diagram, illustrating the TIR effect. 22
CONSTRUCTION OF A PRISMATIC RAINDROP Working on the principles of the total internal reflection effect that I observed in the crystal clusters, I attempted to replicate the structure of faces of the crystal and observe the effect by passing light through it, thus hopefully producing a prismatic raindrop. I used polycarbonate sheets to construct the pseudo-crystal. I then arranged them in a manner that the angle of total internal reflection is large enough to not be refracted. On passing coloured light through it, however, I could observe no such effect. Despite the failure of the experiment, it helped me understand natural phenomena better and in a broader and clearer persepctive. I then used these inferences to conduct an ongoing study on the possibility of convex lenses being used in windows to increase capture of light. 23
SPIRAL STRUCTURES On my trip to Pune last year, I noticed the spiral structure of the ant hills. According to my programme mentor, ants build spiral structures to help with circulation and for better connectivity. I studied the structure further and tried to apply the same design to a sketch. I found out that structures like The Colosseum have been built on the same basic foundation because of the efficient circulation.
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I continued studying spiral structures with the help of spiralling staircases. I made sketches to try and break the staircases into simpler, more basic shapes. Starting with a rough flow diagram, I tried to grid the structure of a spiral staircase. Neither of these helped me understand the structure. I then sketched a skeletal model of a section of a spiral staircase. To elaborate on this, I used compact discs and cut them into quarters. I then glued the quarter segments together in a spiral structure, putting pieces of cardboard between each quarter segment or “step� to give the staircase height and to create a level difference between each step. This helped me understand spirals and how to break a whole programme into simplified parts. 25
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TESTING OUT NATURAL FIBRES In my attempts to be environmentally conscious, I experimented natural fibres of leaves and vegetables. I formed a structure using lemons and green chillies by arranging toothpicks around them in different ways. It helped me understand the nature of the material and gave me an understanding of spherical surfaces as in the case of the lemons. I used cotton thread and embroidered the details of a leaf onto an actual leaf. This helped me test out the strength and the softness of the material that leaves are made of and allowed me to work with a delicate hand on the fragile layer of skin of the leaf. 27