Interior Architecture Portfolio
Priyanka Shah
What does this wicket door home? King, Kingdom or a Prophet?!
She said,�The key always lies within you.�
A land where the clock has no hands, and faith no end; Closed doors guard no home, and colours know no bounds; All streets grow narrow and wide, just like the cycle of lifeSuch is this kingdom with no king and faith no end.
Basic information:
Achievements:
Name - Priyanka Shah D.O.B - 18-07-1995 Address 3,Sudarshan Society -1, Near Naranpura Post-office, Naranpura, Ahmedabad - 380013 Gujarat Nationality - Indian Languages - English, Gujarati, Hindi Education Since 2013 - Faculty of Design, Cept University 2011-2013 - HSC 2010 -2011 - SSC
•Selected for International student exchange program to HFT Univeristy, Stuttgart, Germany - Winter semester 2016-2017
Hobbies: Photography, Travelling, Reading, Writing, Trekking, Laughing and Living !
Digital skills:
Awards: • Best student of the year, Cept University- Foundation year • Best student of the year, Cept University- Second year • Best student of the year, Cept University- First year Publications in newspapers: • Articles in Times of India, Sandesh- Regarding the house of Big B in Pol: Residential studio, 2016 • Articles in Sandesh, Ahmedabad Mirror- Regarding the collaborative project for potters from Gundiyali, Kutch while interning at DICRC, 2015 Publications In magazines: • Indian Architect and Builder, October 2015, pg 82-89 ( In reference to collaborative project for potters from Gundiyali, Kutch while interning at DICRC) • Insite Magazine, October 2015, pg 40-45 • Online publication in Rethinking the Future, July 2016 ( In reference to Zhi-The paper store designed during the Retail studio in 2015)
Autocad 2D-3D, Sketch up, Rhino ( basic knowledge of grasshopper), Photoshop, Indesign, Lightroom
Work Experience: • Aakruti Architects, Summer 2016: May- August • Internship at Design Innovation and Craft Resource Centre, Summer 2015: May, June • Library assistant at Cept University Library, book review done in 2015-2016 and published in September 2016
Can design be on ones’ whims’ conviction? Like a statement; ‘Design for the sake of design’ Devoid of its own inception. Functionality being its call, Cannot be deprived of pleasure at all.
Curriculum Vitae
Content
5
1 Zhi: A paper store
Collaboration with crafts
25 The Pod
Furniture Design
27 Sambandh
7
29 Capturing the essence
15
11 House for Amitabh Bachchan
Working Drawing
31 Making
Avgat
33 Assorted
19
23 Stimulated reality
Zhi, the retail store for handmade paper products is conceptualised to manifest the characteristic properties of paper through different materials and forms. Paper is a planar surface, where cutting and folding helps in transforming it into the third dimension, with every action revealing different layer. The elements of the interior space have emerged out of the same objective. The inside reflects into the two shop fronts as dynamic extruded facets, drawing attention by its stark contast with the orthogonality and materiality of the existing site. The spaces are branched, with each leading into multiple sub-spaces, progressively revealing itself as one moves around. The interior elements are such that the negative directs the person through the volumes.
Site: Block C, Mondeal Retail Park, SG Highway, Ahmedabad. (site in brown)
As paper, the space shall unfold to reveal something new...intutive yet calculated.
Zhi : A paper store 1
The facade has a very strong architectural language, facets break that language and move in to draw the attention of the passerby. The cutouts in the facade create a sense of intrigue.
Short section of the retail store cutting through the entrance, and giving a glimpse of the high end product display, furniture products, designer working and client meeting area. The staircase overlooks the workshop area and the railing transforms into the display element of the workshop area.
The store name -Zhi, meaning paper emerges out of the same facets and the language continues through the store, creating display elements, ceiling panels, furniture, partitions and the staircase.
Display continuing near the designer’s office area exhibiting his work.
Staircase overlooking the workshop, partial display in the workshop.
Ground floor plan: Area for display for space making products on the top left, high end products
A strong white colour of display enhances the multicoloured products, while secondary translucent material like backlit marble and corian highlight each product as an entity. The furniture is in various colours, so are the products and workshop walls, thus making the space lively and responsive.
a
b
c
d
e on the bottom left, workshop in centre, demonstration and exhibition area to the right of staircase.
Glimpse through the space.
a: The concept-space folds to create an experience. b,c: The workshop for demonstration and conducting workshops. d: View from inside towards the section of space-making products. e: Glimpse into the paper-shop at night.
DICRC as an organisation functions as a research centre for developing and understanding the Indian crafts. Gundiyali , a village in Mandvi taluka in Kutch district has artisans practicing pottery for generations. In this programme the idea was to collaborate with crafts people to design and make interior space-making elements instead of products. This would open a whole new persepective of the artisans by pushing the material to its potential. The internship at DICRC, was for the duration of one and a half month during the summer of 2015. The inputs included being a part of the design, documentation, making and reporting processes. Beginning with ideation and understanding of the material, a few days were spent getting familiarized with the families. Multiple alternatives for the forms, the composition, finishes, and patterns were explored and eventually finalized to make a partition. Peg board system was decided as the base and the modules were fixed in place.The installation was done at Yakubbhai’s Residence, a local artisan’s place itself. Site: Gundiyali, Near Mandavi, Kutch, Gujarat. (Location in red.)
If designers are thinkers, artisans are materializer . No dream is better cherished as when realised, and it’s they who are the realizer.
Collaboration with crafts 5
Various compositions being explored through digital mediums.
Siddiqibhai, son of Yakubbhai making one of the modules on the wheel.
Installation of the partitioning system on site using the pegboard system.
Final installation installed at the house of the artisans.
Bringing the artisans to see the value in the idea was the greatest challenge and working with them the greatest learning. Their experience enables them to understand material as an extension of themselves. The pegboard system allows for multiple arrangements by the user.
Furniture studio, is aimed at understanding various materials, techniques and forms as an ingredient for creating a good furniture piece. Through the semesters, I have worked with materials like bamboo, wood, metal, MDF. Making of furniture demands one to respond to functionality, and since it is usually of a scale that allows it to be tested, leaves no room for ambivalence.
Few exercises: 1. Exhibition stool- Using Bamboo splits and Mdf 2.. Pencil box- Using Wood 3. Replica of Radice Chair- Using Wood. 4. Seating for railway station- Using MS and Wood.
Always got your back.
Furniture Design 7
Part model of the proposed seating in actual scale for Maninagar railway station - with the idea of possibility of convergence and multiple seating postures.
Wood is an apt material with high workability to make a furniture piece.
Replica of Radice stool, by Sam Hecht in actual scale to understand the process of making.
Plan of the stool with lumber support.
Exhibition stool that can be dismantled and transported easily.
Left: Front elevation and section showing the details and hardware. Right: Side section of the stool
Idea was to design a dismantleable stool using cost efficient materials and something that is easy to transport for the temporal nature of exhibitions. Bamboo as a material was explored in form of splits giving it a very fine base but not compromising on its strength while MDF has been used vertically as a grid for the seat.
a
b
c
e
f
l with dimensions.
Processes of designing and making.
a: Bamboo and its sections, b,c: Bamboo and MDF box, joineries to understand properties of the materials, d: Metal ferma for e: bending of bamboo splits, f: Basic frame for stool.
Residence studio, covered two main projects to get us familiarised with issues of dwelling: Sambandh : Residence for Amitabh Bachchan Refugee camp : For the Amreli Flood victims My client being Amitabh Bachchan and site being a pol house, doing justice to both a strong personality and a heritage building was a design challange.. The main points around which the residence was designed were privacy and luxury. Thoughts that shaped the project: Altogether seperate is this house, Words flipped makes it seperate altogether. Oxymoron is his life passing in duality, Coexisting in paradoxes. Man with no match, with doors of his life always open but spiral leading few to his heart. Windows never latched, But the screen behind giving only the silohettes. Site : Sambandh, Gangadhiya ni Pol, Ahmedabad. (site in white)
He shall show you what he wants you to know, What he wants you to know, only he shall show you!
House for Amitabh Bachchan 11
View of the dining area on the third floor of the pol house.
Living area opening into a private garden in the pol house. The sketches are characteristic of the feeling desired to be evoked through the space.
Short section of the pol house cutting through the main areas like living room, kitchen, butler’s living area, the informal living room, dining room and bedroom.
The space planning has been done in such a way that the private areas are taken up. Ground floor has formal living area and a grand entrance, leading to the garden . The first floor takes care of the services, dining area and informal/ family areas are on the third floor and his bedroom is on the fourth floor with a terrace garden.
Plan of the ground floor of the house including the entrance and the living room.
Long section of the pol house cutting through the formal living room, the garden with waterbo
Each floor has distinct flooring, the ground floor is in black marble lit with yellow lights along the beams, ornamented with brass partitions, pots and Urli. Spaces are subtly demarcated by varying the size of tiles. The garden has a water element and flowering trees. The glass lift takes him up to the dining area or the bedroom.
a
b
c
ody, butler’s living area, the dining room and living room of Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan.
a: Characteristic features of site b: 3rd floor model c: Ground floor model
The services lie on the second floor. The dining area on the third floor has marble flooring, the Iznik tiles have been used in the adjacent informal living area. His bedroom has worship, reading, sleeping area and a wardrobe attached to the bathroom.. The furniture is modern yet blends in which is suggestive of a duality.
Somethings are just plain necessary, then why not turn them into joy too?
Working drawing 15
Interior element working drawing for the ground floor of House of Amitabh Bachchan.
Detailing the entrance and the living room area for the ground floor of House of Amitabh Bachchan.
Detailing the entrance and the living room area for the ground floor of House of Amitabh Bachchan.
Avgat meaning “aware� is an organisation which encourages and enables co-creation along with collaboration in the design process in order to design relief products for natural disasters through exchange of knowledge and skills amongst the individuals involved. Not only does this institution aim to create products but also generates awareness by conducting drills in schools, offices and other institutions, educating children about disasters in an attempt to reduce panic and saving as many lives as possible when a disaster strikes. This institute’s inception lies in the knowledge that multitudes of lives can be saved if people stick together to survive and not panic during the disaster. Also having solutions in form of camouflaged products in our routinelives help in times of emergency because purely because of its accessibility. Major undertakings at Avgat : 1. Designing disaster relief products 2. Educating children about disasters 3. Conducting drills - On campus 4. Conducting drills - Off campus 5. Exhibiting/selling products 6. Seminars by disaster victims or experts 7. Researching on the effects, needs during a disaster. 8. Small prototyping workshop to resolve design issues. 9. Collaborates with governments and NGOs and firms in times of disasters.
Creating awareness and co-creating products for disaster relief.
Right: Exploded view of the site: KCG, Ahmedabad.
Avgat 19
The present day design challenges need a different line of thinking barring the conventional designing methods. Making the users and the people with a different skillset a part of the design process allows a design to evolve which would be long lasting and more user friendly.
After thorough understanding of Co- Co by studying various organisations and spaces and the existing site as a group I started working on my individual organisation.
a
a: Ground floor plan showing the exhibition area with the retail outlet, working area for kids, cafe and administration area with a multi functional space opening to the outside.(left to right) b: First floor plan showing the studio, the meeting area and the workshop area (right to left)
Interior works as an insert in the space by taking hints from the architectural language. The space is for creating awareness and co creating products, thus is governed by educating actively through the exhibition areas, the learning areas for kids.
b
c c: Long section cutting through the studio, administration area, the exhibition area with worshop overlooking it and the discussion room beside the workshop.
Spaces are designed with the idea of convergence and divergence. The space is be humble and playful by the choice of main material as teracotta, by the way of organisation of the space and through the elements in the space. It focuses on making human interaction possible through the multiple buffer/convergent areas .
Digital Technology, is one of the means for realization of a concept in the shortest time possible. It allows the designers to expermient and atler till they achieve the desired result. In the present times, it’s the technology that is becoming a tool for designing.
Few exercises : 1. Cafe cum community space sitting in a landscape- Using Grasshopper and Rhino, and rendred in AutoCad 2.. My working space - Using sketchup 3. Replica of Chair_ one- Using Rhino
Humans made computers and now computers shall make our dwellings!
Stimulated reality 23
A cafe is sitting in the landscape, allowing the landscape to flow inside.
Replica of a chair (Chair_ one) by Konstantin Grcic, perspective front view.
View of a living space of my choice that would act as my working space too.
Plan of the chair (Chair_ one) by Konstantin Grcic.
Being able to see the ideas manifested, on screen gives a great clarity to the designer as well as the user. The above images are the glimses of the places, furniture visualised and created using different softwares.
Pod, was designed as a part of course of Material studio by us, the class of 2013-2014 as a space within a public atrium having an integrated function of banking and leisure that mainly addresses visually impaired as the user. There is so much visual information around us and we don’t find public spaces that are made using inclusive design. CNC cut pvc sheets were used to make the structure and textured Corian as cladding material. The furniture also follows the same language of the structure of the pod.
Site : GCP Business Center, Vijay Char Rasta, Ahmedabad. (site in red)
It takes a lot more than just pretty things to make a place feel beautiful ,doesnt it?!
The Pod 25
Pod with the tactile corian panels lit up.
Scaled models made after the conceptualisation by the class.
An aerial shot of the pod with the furniture in place.
On site assembly by us with the help of a team of technical consultants
An experimental structure, having an intention to create a structure that catered to the visually impaired. The structure is lit on one end and had a cafeteria with tables and chairs on the other end which is directing to the space by the tactile corian surfaces.
Sambandh, as a part of Basic Design Studio-2 designed a workspace for 5 experts who would study a wall infected with the organisms and the organisms inhabiting it. The main areas in the space are arrival area, admin, display, discussion, workspace, store and instrument room. Idea of linearity through mass has been attempted by 1. Scale of elements 2. Proximity of elements. The elements emerge out of the structure itself.
Hypothetical Site : Along the banks of river Narmada surrounded by a membrane and infront of a wall infected with the organisms.
A single stick will be broken, but when similar ones shall stay together it’ll take more than a story of valour to break it.
Sambandh 27
Section cutting through the work space, exhibition area, reception.
Plan of the experiential exhibition area on the ground floor.
Isometric drawing from a worm’s eye view.
Idea of mass through linearity has been attempted in this project, wherein the analogy taken was of a forest which is seen as a cluster.
Sketching as a tool is often used to capture our understanding of a space . Dynamics of the spaces are influenced by the light conditions, its use, its past, the stories it is made up of etc.
Its less of what you see , and more of what you percieve. Sketch on the right : Sarkhej Roza, Ahmedabad
Capturing the essence 29
Photographs capture something as intangible and profound as an emotion. Every picture talks about a hundred stories, but the idea is to click a picture that talks about the story you saw in that space. Ways of living, light, what is in itself, how it is used, what is its past, what are the beliefs linked to it, what time does it belong to etc. are few of the many narratives a photograph bursts with.
Image on the right : Adalaj ni vav
A vav is characterised by its depth and in the hot dry climates they were built as a source of water. Quenching thirst over time they became an epitome of faith. This image through the reflection of the vav in water is trying to bring forth the same idea. Coins that people throw in are shining creating a bokeh effect.
Learning by making, is the kind of learning that is not forgotten, stays as an experience guiding the maker while designing..
a
The bliss of creation is not known to anyone else but the creator herself.
Making 31
b
c
Lamp made to be lit for celebrating completion of 24 years in 2014
d
e Material explored,
Temporary addition to the existing tectonic structure.
Learning by doing is one of the best ways to learn and these are few of the materials I have explored and projects I have been a part of in the university. Few materials and techniques explored: a. Metal, b. Batik work on textile, c. Stone inlay, stone carving, d. Clay printing, Pottery e. Weaving
Various other works of my choice including subjects like graphics, Related Study Programs, and Summer-Winter School.
Different projects: 1. Mapping exercise around the jali 2. Anamorphic graphics 3.. RSP-Summer school at Rajasthan 4. Summer school at Kathmandu
Assorted-handpicked and handmade, is what they write on boxes of fine things This is no different.
Assorted 33
Anamorphic view - close to the actual graphic in 2D from the view intended.
A different technique employed to map around Siddi Saiyad Jali in Ahmedabad using footsteps as a tool to measure distances instead of km.
Anamorphic view - how it shall appear from a different view point with site taken as the Sagara basement at Cept university.
Anamorphic means intentional distortion of a graphic allowing viewer to percieve it as a 2 dimensional image only when seen from a particulat view point, or using special gadgets creating interesting patterns through the space.
Part isometric sketch of an area in ruins at Kumbhalgarh Fort, Rajasthan. The fort is under conservation presently.
Various aspects like the function, ornamentation, growth of the Amber Fort and Jaigadh Fort have been analysed, compared and studied.
Late evening sketch of the Kumbhalgarh Fort, Rajasthan which is considered to be the fort with second largest wall after the Great wall of China.
Summer school at Rajasthan, India made us understand crafts with respect to builtforms and communities. Craft being rich in hand skill, techniques and also being utilitarian, prospered culturally. Background of communities gets conveyed in form of foreground through crafts as the medium and built form as the frame.
Graphical representation of the plan of Boudnath stupa. The stupa is based on the 5 elements of life- Air, Fire, Ether, Water and Earth. Being the central point the settlement seems to grow around it radially. This settlement developed because of the stupa being the main halt in the tibetian- nepal trade route.
Top: Section along the town, Bottom: Plan, Bottom right: Clay model. The linear settlement of Thimi town is developed on the flatter part of the contoured surfaces organically. City being a small stretch doesn’t have any big public square but rather has many small temples and water tanks that act as public spaces.
Summer school at Kathmandu, Nepal aimed at unearthing the relationship of a Himalayan city through time with its immediate and imagined landscape. It equipped us to develop methodologies to quickly interpret the past and present of the cities while co-relating it with our discipline and interests.
Contact me Email:
priyanka.shah.bd13@cept.ac.in, shahpriyankar@gmail.com