Nashwah Ahmed Portfolio

NASHWAH AHMED nahme104@syr.edu +1 (929) 316-0663

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your stuff is here, where are you? still from animation

NASHWAH AHMED

nahme104@syr.edu +1 (929) 316-0663

SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE| SYRACUSE, NY

EDUCATION

SPRING 2020

EXPERIENCE

FALL 2020

ELIZABETH KAMELL ARCHITECTS | SYRACUSE, NY

FALL 2018

KOHN PEDERSEN FOX ASSOCIATES | NEW YORK, USA

BACHELOR OF ARCHITECTURE GPA 3.80, magna cum laude with Renee Crown University Honors, Dean’s List Semester abroad in Florence, Italy Affiliations: Peer Advisor, 2016-17

Student Mentor Squad, 2019-20 Thesis: Hidden Realities: The Politics of Aesthetics, in collaboration with Prerit Gupta

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN CONSULTANT Designed and produced an architecture construction set for a summer cabin in Sodus, NY. Assisted in the specification of materials and other building products required to complete the project. Constructed digital models for client meetings.

ARCHITECTURAL INTERN Provided creative and technical support on the renovation of an office building in its schematic stage by working on plans for demolition, marketing, and testfit in AutoCAD and Illustrator. Iterated perforated metal fins and 3D printed samples of the fins for a physical model. Prepared presentation drawings for client and consultant meetings

SUMMER 2018

KILLA DESIGN | DUBAI, UAE

SUMMER 2017

RAW-NYC ARCHITECTS | DUBAI, UAE

FALL 2015

ARCHITECTURAL INTERN Developed digital models for 3D printing, to be used in a short movie presenting the Museum of the Future. Collaboratively worked on developing the concept and schematic design of a five-star hotel in Dubai, preparing presentations, diagrams, and drawings for clients and competitions

ARCHITECTURAL INTERN Prepared and presented a thorough analysis of the project site for a residential tower and worked iteratively to design an initial landscaping proposal for an outdoor recreational area in an ongoing residential project. Offered graphic and representational support on multiple projects

INTERTEXT AT SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY | SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY, NY

CONTRIBUTOR Reviewed Rotimi Fani-Kayode’s photographs for Intertext, a Syracuse University Publication

SOFTWARE

SKILLS

Rhino, V-Ray, Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, After Effects, Maya, Photogrammetry, DIVA, AutoCAD, Revit, SketchUp

FABRICATION

3D printing, Laser cutting

RECOGNITION

2020

CITATION FOR EXCELLENCE IN THESIS DESIGN | SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY, NY Awarded for the project titled “Hidden Realities: The Politics of Aesthetics” by a jury of faculty and guest critics to recognize the best final projects among graduate and undergraduate students

2019-20

SOURCE ACADEMIC YEAR GRANT | SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY, NY

Awarded $10,000 to support creative inquiry and research for undergraduate thesis in recognition of scope and originality for the project titled “Hidden Realities: The Politics of Aesthetics” 2019

KING + KING ARCHITECTS DESIGN COMPETITION | SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY, NY Third place; awarded in recognition of excellence in comprehensive studio

your stuff is here, where are you?

A spatial experience addressing the subjects and objects remaining in a scene, in a fleeting moment, when the human is no longer present. The domains are explored using precisely curated camera movements through a series of 3D scanned and digitally constructed domesticated spaces. Tension emerges between commodified environments and our lived-in, intimate, but devoid-of-human spaces. collaboration with Prerit Gupta and Eliza Williamson

CONTENT behind the curtain

01

SPRING 2019

near west side art center

13

FALL 2016

everson museum plaza

19

SPRING 2017

self-storage

27

FALL 2017

jamaica bay wildlife experience

37

FALL 2018

work experience

47

2017 - 2020

analytical drawings

57

SPRING 2018

hidden realities: the politics of aesthetics THESIS 2019 -2020 Website: www.hidden-realities.com Book: https://issuu.com/nashwahahmed/ docs/hiddenrealities

59

01_BEHIND THE CURTAIN Location: Auburn, NY Year: Spring 2019 Program: Public Theater Instructor: Terrance Goode All aspects of the project were collaborated on with Hao Zheng

‘Behind the Curtain’ explores the potential for the mysteries of the theater’s inner workings to become part of the performance, or spectacle, where architecture facilitates impromptu performances and unexpected encounters. The strict boundaries that distinguished the public from the private are deliberately dissolved, allowing program to extend into open and exposed territory. Set items such as props, backdrops, wigs, costumes, and accouterments are curated and exhibited, while conventionally private programs such as the orchestra pit and rehearsal space invade the lobby, creating multiple levels of engagement between the theatergoer and the performance they will ultimately experience. An orthogonal steel grid frame structure supports the “tail” end of the project that primarily houses offices and classrooms with more conventional forced-air systems, while the “head” is a nested, rotated volume that houses the column-free theater with its own air-handling system to accommodate the needs of the theater stage and house. Performative rain-screen fiber cement panels clad the exterior echoing, in a more contemporary manner, the brick and stone buildings that are characteristic of Auburn’s urban environment. The corrugated glass that encloses the theater space is a transparent drape that serves as a beacon for the city, signaling for visitors to go behind the curtain to experience performance in a new way.

spring 2019 _____ 02

beacon in the city the theater as a focal point for Auburn

behind the curtain

ground floor plan lobby as a juxtaposition of activity, where unexpected encounters are staged

spring 2019 _____ 04

pulling back the corner testing potential interventions to bring the sidewalk into the project

behind the curtain

lobby and theater plans performances bleed out of the theater

spring 2019 _____ 06

84’-0”

60’-0”

55’-0”

44’-0”

30’-0”

30’-0”

14’-0”

14’-0”

0’-0”

0’-0”

-14’-0”

longitudinal section through the theater relationship between the theater and the lobby

behind the curtain

patterns of movement overlapping paths of access for staff, performers, and visitors allow for a new understanding of performance

spring 2019 _____ 08

systems and flows the “head” and “tail” are distinguished by independent structural systems and mechanical controls

behind the curtain

the curtain sheets of corrugated glass wrap around the theater lounge

the curtain sheets of corrugated glass wrap around the theater lounge

behind the curtain

behind the curtain activating the threshold between interior facade and exterior curtain wall

spring 2019 _____ 10

the auditorium rehearsal as an impromptu performance for an informal gathering of people

behind the curtain

two performances the stage and the orchestra pit are distinct, offering two ways to experience a single production

spring 2019 _____ 12

two performances extension of the theater

02_NEAR WEST SIDE ART CENTER Location: Syracuse, NY Year: Fall 2016 Program: Community Arts Center Instructor: Timothy Stenson

The Near West Side is a low-income neighborhood in Syracuse, New York, where all notions of community life dissipate under the rampant frequency of street violence. Local schools are severely ill-equipped to offer adequate educational and creative support to students, and public amenities such as galleries, libraries, and community centers are palpably absent. The Near West Side Art Center aims to empower the local population with resources that are fundamental to the growth and advancement of any community. It is optimistic in its intention to create a congregational space within the neighborhood, lending towards safer street life.

The form of the building uses the local residential type as a point of departure, borrowing, adapting, and rearranging the three crucial elements of the traditional residential type - structural frame, containing volume, and traditional pitch. The potential of these modest elements to serve at a larger scale while respecting the context, the relationship between them, and their ability to accommodate the diversified functions of a community center, are explored in this project.

fall 2016 _____ 14

activating the community the community center as a hub for gathering

near west side art center

tectonic assembly strategies for composition

fall 2016 _____ 16

the skin interplay of frame, skin, and volume

near west side art center

fall 2016 _____ 18

transverse section showing the distribution of program library, studio, and exhibition

03_EVERSON MUSEUM PLAZA Location: Syracuse, NY Year: Spring 2017 Instructor: Jonathan Louie

The iconic Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, New York is a sculptural, Brutalist structure fronted by a plaza furnished with a reflection pool. The use of concrete, both as a surface applied to the plaza as well as a conceptual block from which the museum is carved, unifies the two elements. The material singularity and modernist lack of accessory effectively contribute to the bleak, desolate nature of the site. Additionally, the inclement weather experienced for much of Syracuse’s long winter discourages any possible use of the plaza. Despite bearing the burden of being the solitary ornament in the plaza, the pool remains drained for most of the year, an unintended, permanent void embedded into the ground. In the hopes of restoring activity to the plaza, the proposed installation of planes draws from and amplifies the transparent and reflective qualities of the pool. The illusory view of the museum and its surroundings through this curated lens contradicts its reality, offering a distortion and collage of the building and context. The forms in the plaza facilitate a curious experience where people can simultaneously observe and occupy the sculptures in various ways. As a result, movement and activity are amplified.

spring 2017 _____ 20

sculptures at the plaza alternative ways of experiencing art

everson museum plaza

supersize sculpture garden plan showing art and performance at the plaza

spring 2017 _____ 22

occupiable sculptures sculptural marketplace and cafe

everson museum plaza

the montage multiplying and replicating imagery

spring 2017 _____ 24

everson museum plaza

the montage designing through episodes

spring 2017 _____ 26

the montage fragmentation of the context

04_SELF-STORAGE Location: Queens, NY Year: Fall 2017 Program: Mixed-use self-storage Instructor: Gregory Corso

Fueled by consumerism, the present-day hoarding epidemic is architecturally manifest through a collection of shed-like buildings that litter the outskirts of the city.

While the act of self-storage has gained widespread acceptance among urban dwellers, its physical expression - the bland warehouse building - has been less warmly received, banishing the typology to the peripheries of urban life. Where storage facilities filter into the city, they exist as oversized, internalized boxes designed for efficiency rather than experience. The present attitude towards stuff is somewhat paradoxical - defined by the desire to live a minimal lifestyle, while simultaneously displaying or glorifying the treasures of the everyday. To sustain this contradictory lifestyle is to inaugurate the typology into the city and to dispel the current perception of storage as a clever use of awkward corners and interstitial spaces. The extroverted storage facility provides an environment where people and their belongings can coexist, offering an interactive, continuous surface that wraps around the building form, enabling activity to occur along the envelope. It offers strange and unique spaces for the objects themselves, encouraging users to display and celebrate their collections. The frequent overlap between spaces for stuff and spaces for activity introduces a new sense of dynamism to the previously dormant typology.

fall 2017 _____ 28

the urban object interaction of storage with the city

self-storage

diagramming storage in the city defining the boundaries between behavior and misbehavior

fall 2017 _____ 30

storing confetti relationship between content and container

self-storage

figural objects final model images

fall 2017 _____ 32

ground floor plan organizing activity between accumulated artifacts

self-storage

massing, orientation, and use sculpting and adapting the form based on site and program

fall 2017 _____ 34

the vertical park wrapping acivity around the surface

self-storage

fall 2017 _____ 36

longitudinal section showing storage in red adjacency of storage and activity and the exhibition of storage

05_JAMAICA BAY WILDLIFE EXPERIENCE Location: Broad Channel, New York Year: Fall 2018 Instructor: Angie Co and Lizzie Hodges All aspects of the project were collaborated on with Prerit Gupta

This project addresses the issues of climate change, sealevel rise, and diurnal tidal flooding in Broad Channel, New York. The complex wetland landscape on site is composed of several bands of varying endangered ecologies. This proposed extension to the existing Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge elevates a submerging ‘backyard marsh’ to a zone for ecological exploration, by means of a highly experiential discovery trail, which meanders across these zones. A series of follies, positioned along the trail, aim to connect, protect, and celebrate these diverse ecologies by offering a space for visitors and wildlife to coexist. Two major programmatic nodes - a boating center and a research facility - anchored along the trail, provide alternative methods to explore the wetland during flooding and complement the program of the existing wildlife refuge. A series of experiments simulating flooding and sea-level rise scenarios allowed for assessing ideal formal characteristics. Through this iterative process, it was determined that the scooped form is ideal for catching, retaining, and directing water.

The building and follies explore architecture through this formal language. Furthermore, the temporality and perception of follies as ruins are captured and exaggerated through materiality.

fall 2018 _____ 38

taxonomy lineage of forms

jamaica bay wildlife experience

simulated flooding scenario 1 rainfall

fall 2018 _____ 40

simulated flooding scenario 2 sea level rise

jamaica bay wildlife experience

mapping ecological zones designing two trails that traverse various ecologies

fall 2018 _____ 42

ground floor plan transitioning from street to pier

jamaica bay wildlife experience

low marsh

seasonal marsh reconfiguring spaces for summer and winter use

high marsh

northeastern old field

fall 2018 _____ 44

reed marsh

maritime shrubland

hardwood forest

the tidal marsh landscape endangered ecologies; ambiguity of the ground plane

jamaica bay wildlife experience

follies with a purpose retaining and sustaining critical ecosystems

fall 2018 _____ 46

follies as “ruin� stages of weathering

06_WORK EXPERIENCE

collaborators: elizabeth kamell, prerit gupta summer cabin in sodus, ny: process the main volume is framed to create a series of layered thresholds that sequence from the street to the Great Sodus Bay. The process involved designing the most cost-efficient cabin with the smallest footprint

ongoing _____ 48

schematic design: plan + section co-designed and produced an architectural construction set for a summer cabin in Sodus, NY. The private and communal spaces of the cabin are separated in two distinct volumes perched atop a steep incline.

kpf

* image courtesy of KPF included for reference

kpf: renovation of existing building and addition of a tower Renovation of an existing 8-story office building with a tower addition. The primary objective for the project was to integrate the tower into the existing base in a seamless manner. This was achieved through unique structural and design solutions. Programmatic section produced in AutoCAD and Illustrator

fall 2018 _____ 50

kpf: physical model collaborated closely with a team of model makers working on a presentation model for an Investor Conference. 3D printed models of sample perforated panels, researched and recommended materials, and marked up reference images communicating design updates.

kpf

kpf: plans The demolition and renovation processes were sequenced carefully to arrive at specific structural solutions. Updated plans for demolition, marketing and testfit in AutoCAD and Illustrator.

fall 2018 _____ 52

killa design: museum of the future

* construction photograph from 2019 included for reference

killa design: digital model prepared a complex digital sectional model of the museum of the future for a collaboration between Killa Design and Ultimaker. The building is considered to be one of the most complicated built projects, owing to its unique form, facade, and superstructure.

summer 2018 _____ 54

killa design: 3D prints 3D printed fragments of the facade and structure of the museum of the future to be used for marketing the project.

killa design and raw-nyc

killa design: competition entry for a hotel Illustrated sections in Photoshop for the competition submission. The scheme involved carving out of the form to create circulation paths through the building. Prepared presentation drawings illustrating these routes in Illustrator and InDesign.

summer 2017/18 _____ 56

* rendering by RAW-NYC included for reference

RAW-NYC: residential tower Produced drawings illustrating features of the site. Developed massing studies exploring possible shading strategies

07_ANALYTICAL SKETCHES

elevations clockwise from top left: palazzo valmarana, ca’d’oro, chiesa san giorgio maggiore, sant’andrea

spring 2018 _____ 58

spatial clockwise from top left: il redentore, villa gamberaia, palazzo chiericati, tempietto

08_HIDDEN REALITIES: THE POLITICS OF AESTHETICS Website: www.hidden-realities.com Book: https://issuu.com/nashwahahmed/docs/hiddenrealities Year: Fall 2019 - Spring 2020 Advisors: Gregory Corso, Kyle Miller, Daniele Profeta All aspects of the project were collaborated on with Prerit Gupta This thesis uses pre-existing local phenomena to construct a near-future scenario where political systems are exploited to demonstrate the politics of aesthetics and their ability to alter a context and its existing socio-economic infrastructure. By imposing unfamiliar forms and systems, familiar aesthetics are recast to redistribute the sensible and create a new reality out of underlying social, economic, and cultural power structures. As a result, form, composition, and aesthetics can begin to operate politically to uncover hidden realities and project alternative futures.

Characterized by a unique system of governance emerging from a conflicting political agenda of autocratic neoliberalism, the city of Dubai offers a lens to demonstrate the politics of aesthetics and their ability to alter a context and its existing infrastructure. In Dubai, the agendas of autocratic neoliberalism extend far beyond politics, encroaching upon the responsibilities of architecture and urban planning by reordering the city into an aggregate of discrete zones - the zone of exception, the zone of labor, and the zone of excess, visibly separated by seams of landscape and infrastructure. Each zone is governed by a differing degree of autocratic neoliberalism, resulting in palpable seams of political tension between the zones.

In a near-future reality, the inconsistent social, economic, and cultural power structures across these zones are exploited to purge zones of exception of the violence and lawlessness associated with their current enclave form. Zones of exception migrate to the city and collide with the existing culture of material excess creating an opportunity for zones of labor to be included in the global image of the city. The collision of these hidden phenomena redirects material and labor flows to impose a new unfamiliar, highly political form which subverts familiar aesthetics to alter perceptions which redistribute the sensible, creating a plausible near-future reality where form, composition, and aesthetics operate politically to instigate change.

thesis 2020 _____ 60

Jurisdictions of the Zone

thesis preview please visit links on adjacent page for more on the project

NASHWAH AHMED nahme104@syr.edu +1 (929) 316-0663

concrete apparatus tchotchke container