Priyata Bosamia | Design Portfolio
White wash Curation & Exhibition Design, 2021 The erasure of color from Greek and Roman sculptures and architecture has been passed down through history, contributing to creating a predominantly white aesthetic. Unfortunately, over time this whitewashing led to discrimination based on race and identity, issues we continue to face even today. “White Wash” hopes to inform the visitor of the origins of this aesthetic through a narrative that includes historical events and writings of art historians. In addition, the exhibition also encourages discourse around the issues of race by showcasing contemporary artworks and curating seminars and talks. It hopes to make the museum a more inclusive space and open for free thinking and discussions.
Layering
White washing of history
The exhibition was the result of extensive research on polychromy and understanding its origin, impact and influence over time. Readings like Racism & Nationalism put into perspective ideas on race. In the writings of art historians such as Winckelmann, Greek sculptures are romanticized and regarded as beauty ideals. By making contemporary art accessible to the present, history had been reconnected to the present, enabling us to understand the impact of this predominantly white aesthetic on our lives and the ever-present issue of racial discrimination.
The Exhibtion is titled “White Wash” connectin contemporary art. Opening it upto discussion a
Fragmenting & Revealing Talking about the issues of race & identity
Exhibition bubble diagram
ng it to the narrative of the white washing of history. The exhibtion informs the visitor about the history and connects it back to the present through and dialogues on the issues of race & identity we face today.
Exhibition Plan
The narrative connects to the present by curating contemporary art pieces that deal with issues of race and identity, opening it up to discussions. Artworks are suspended from the ceiling using metal frameworks, each paired with a fabric wall backdrop. Text printed on fabric panels that discuss the artist or their experience making the artwork.
“the human body became the predominant racial symbol” - Racism & Nationalism, George L. Mosse
The above two visuals are what the visitor encounters when they enter the exhibition, setting the tone and introducing the visitor to the white washing of history. The words and labels that have been attached to the the greek sculptures have been projected on to the sculptures. It tells the visitors that the issue is not the sculptures themselves but how they were perceived and written about and wrongly used to promote the ideas of race and white supremacy.
25mm Brushed SS rods welded to the rail and fixed into the ceiling
White cotton fabric stretched and fixed into the framework
50mm diameter Brushed SS Welded framework
The language of layered fabric enveloping the spaces lent to the idea of the layered histroy that the exhibition was narrating. Spaces which spoke about the history and forming of the aesthetic were more layered with fabric whereas the spaces with contemporary art were more fragmented and less layered. The design lanuage was very connected to the visitor’s experience of the space.
Events schedule curated to create a platform for discussions and interactions
Exhibition ticket
Detailed catalogue with all art works and information on the exhibition
The Gallery space with contemporary art pieces which dealt with topics of race and identity. The artworks are suspended from the ceiling with a metal framework and each have a backdrop of the fabric walls on the back. The fabric panels has text printed which talk about the artist or their experience while making the artwork.
AD MAGAZINE Art Direction & Set Design, 2021 The shoot for Architectural Digest Magazine was to create a series of images capturing the essence of Indian summers and the season of mangoes. India’s summers are synonymous with outdoor activities and the use of courtyard areas within homes, where the family gathers for various activities to enjoy the sun. Our goal was to celebrate those moments and to create images that do justice to all of the different moods of summer. Because the images were taken indoors on a set, light, shadow, and color were crucial to capturing the feeling of the outdoors. In each shot, different furniture pieces and varying light and shadow conditions were carefully curated.
3D visuals were created to design and plan each shot. Each image captured a different mood of summer.
Work in progress images on set. Playing Light,shadow and color to create the feel of a mango courtyard summer.
Finals images
architechture as an experience Undergraduate Thesis, 2017 The thesis is a study of various dense urban fabrics in the city of Mumbai. Tools like “derive” which is a form urban wandering and mental mapping and “detournement” which is the physical representation of these urban wanderings were used to create several maps.The dense urban fabrics which were mainly markets of the city were studied focusing on the “dispersed processes” which took place in each of them. Putting these dispersed processes together formed the experience of the place and gave it a sense of character. One such urban fabric was the area of Zaveri Bazaar, the oldest and most important jewellery market in the city. Zaveri bazaar has dwindled in the past few years due to decrease in efficiency in these dispersed processes. The idea was to recreate the experience of the market making it more efficient, inclusive and porous.
PERCEI VED
CONCEIVED
EXPERIENCED
Experiencing architecture always begins with the city. Studying groups like the Situationsts helped in understanding how people experienced cities. The tools used by them became starting points for me to become the “urban wanderer” , studying and experiencing the dense fabrics of Mumbai. The production of space by Henri Lefebvre was a great refrence for me to categorise and breakdown all my varying experiences and studies into simpler forms and categories. To bring all my studies into a physical form, the art of map making was studied which inturn helped me create experential maps of my own.
Maps reveal how people perceive space, property , identity , life cycle , popular perceptions and beyond ; and, as such , narrate even a “plot” literary and cultural developments , including travel narratives , economic developments , and burgeoning nationalism. Maps shape minds and control the imagination; and yet they also order the known and the unknown. Maps, as universally accepted are graphic recordings of a spatial construction disposed as cognitive apparatuses.
Above is a pilgrimage map from the Nathdwara temple in Rajasthan. Pilgrimage maps were typically a variety of miniature paintings; all out of a scenic view of a pilgrimage route. They were typically made on textiles for sale to pilgrims and patrons to mark their actual visit. Rich in detail, the large maps mostly captured tentative topographical details- flora & fauna, water circuits , and important temple sites. Pilgrimage maps were also known as experiential maps.
References and readers : 1. An introduction to the Situationist 2. The production of Space - Henri Lefebvre 3. Time, space ,direction -Diversities of Cognitive approach 4. Psychogeography - Merlin Coverley
Psychogeography The study of the specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behaviour of individuals.
Derive is a form of urban wandering. A walking journey through different physical areas in which one mentally records; one finds, likes and dislikes.
Detournement is a physical representation of the psychogeograhpy that took place on a derive. A map created by dismantling and recreating the exsisting maps based on their individual views and expereinces.
Markets and Bazaars have played a very big role in the city of Mumbai. They are hubs of culture and traditions that have boosted the city’s economy as a whole. They become nodes which make the dense urban fabric of the city and give it character. Three such bazaars were studied and analysed for their programmes, activities, overall structure, character and excperience. Detailed maps were created using tools like “Derive” which is a form urban wandering and mental mapping and “detournement” which is the physical representation of these urban wanderings. The maps helped understanding the dispersed processes within the markets.
Each of the units were connected at different levels through bridges. The connectors were added based on the processes and their dependencies. One of the key elements of recreating the exeperience of the bazaar, involved in making the ongoing systems more efficent.
Different scales of skylights and louvers helped bring in light and ventilation into each of the spaces. This helped creating comfortable working and living spaces for the craftsmen,jewellers and gold smiths. Multiple pause points were created to act as breakout or recreational spaces for the area.
15 Rules for Rebuilding the World Curation & Exhibition Design,2021 A retrospective exhibition at the RISD Museum on artists Zarina Hashmi and Nasreen Mohamedi based on Christopher Alexander’s fifteen rules for rebuilding the world. Relating the artworks to Alexander’s principles like positive space, boundaries, levels of scales to build an overall narrative. The exhibition itself is a journey and labyrinth-like space which relates to a lot of Hashmi and Mohamedi’s artworks.
Selected artworks prints Zarina Hashmi & Nasreen Mohamedi
DARK GREY CEMENT PANELS
CORTEN STEEL
labyrinth | experential | enclosures
Corten steel panel with text cut out
Dark grey textured cement panels
9’
14”
3’
3’ 3”
Title
s
Typography for concrete panels
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01 Levels of Scale
Typography for side corten steel panels
Bodoni 72 Bold
Calibri Regular
Futura condensed bold
Calibri Regular
train of thought Public Art Project, 2021 Train of Thought is a relational public art project sited in the space between departure and arrival. Our project consists of a Train of Thought ticket that poses the question, “Where do you wish this train were going?” This question, constructed using the subjunctive mood, sparks speculation, imagination, and wishful thinking. It aims to activate the liminal nature of train travel by transforming it into a space where any destination, literal or metaphorical, could be possible. This project was done in collaboration with Brown University student Julia Zimring.
Where do you wish this train were going?
On December 5, 2021, we distributed over 100 Train of Thought tickets on the Providence/Stoughton commuter rail. We conversed with the passengers who responded to our question in a variety of ways, some with humor, others with sincerity. In many ways, the ticket became a conduit for conversation. The dialogue and the relationships that emerged through the process became the art, itself. We collected and shared the travelers’ responses via our Train of Thought Instagram page. In some cases, we documented their responses in the moment by photographing the participant. In other circumstances, participants desired more time to consider their response. Using the QR code on the back of the ticket, these participants direct messaged their response to our Instagram.
TRANSGROMIFY Evolo Skyscraper competition, 2016 Junkspace is the space created by piling matter on top of matter, cemented to form a solid. A space which has the ability to mutate over time when required, is free of junkspace. The city of Mumbai has been inoculated by the virus of junkspace. For the longest time the mills were the economic reinforcements of the city. Large lands were allocated for production thereby increasing job opportunities. There was a major population influx in the city due to this industrial boom. In the early 1980’s the mill workers called on a strike for higher wages eventually leading to their lockdown. These spaces turned into abandoned spaces and lay as the remains of modernization. One of the well known mill lands was the Bitia mills started in 1905 which closed shop in the 1980’s after a strike between the owners and workers. This area located in the heart of the city soon got revamped to form a mall and residential complex. The mall now called High Street Phoenix has been successful but with the growth of e-commerce what is the future of such a colossal space? Does it become a junkspace? Transmogrify is a skyscraper that aims to self evolve in order to compliment the external changes. It’s sustainable yet not permanent in form. The Transmogrify helps to curb the unplanned urban sprawl. It’s structural flexibility allows the walls and slabs to be re-arranged as required. The walls and slabs are stacked and move to organize themselves to suit the program. It’s an adaptive design capable of intelligent growth through the self-regulation of it’s own system. The skyscraper as such has no shelf date and can continue changing infinitely.
The term junkspace is versed by Rem Koolhas in his publication Junkspace
Phoenix Mills, in the commercial district of Lower Parel, Mumbai is a site which has undergone continuous change over the past decade, from being Bitia Mills in 1905, to High Street Phoenix and the St. Regis Hotel.
“If space-junk is the human debris that litters the universe, junkspace is the residue mankind leaves on the planet.” - Rem Koohlas
Primary Rails & Vertical
Slabs
Secondary Rails
Walls
Industry
Housing Units
Retail Chutes
Laboratory
Packaged Food Industry Online good storage & Delivery
Complexity in natural systems Design Workshop & Exhibition, 2013 The Second Year Design Workshop focussed on structural and functional complexities found in non-living systems in nature. These include geological formations, rocks, minerals, salt, sand &quartz.Complex systems are signified by two or more components that are distinct and integrated. Systems in nature exhibit an inherent complex structure based on their process of formation. These systems react with dynamic environmental factors (such as heat, pressure and agents such as wind, water, light etc) that cause functional complexity so as to achieve a natural state of equilibrium. The studio investigated various complex systems through a process of diagrams and models to devise a dynamic installation based on specific structural complexities and their reactions to changing environmental conditions.
It is a simultaneous process resulting in an uneven framework. This formed the basic concept for the design. The natural rock surface develops into several different forms, hexagons being the most common and stable .
Honeycomb weathering occurs in sandstone. It is influenced by the salinity, moisture and sunlight levels. Sunlight being the key factor determines the opening sizes. Starting off as isolated pits the size gradually increases in accordance to the sunlight. The ones exposed to the direct sun form larger openings. These pits never intersect with each other or combine to form bigger ones. This is due to the presence of the zone of influence.
With a simple pulling mechanism with co - related elements the installation moderates the size and character of the opening (pore) being formed. These were some the initial experiments and process models to create a dynamic mechanism.
The material used are deodar wood, MS rods and plates and nylon thread. Some of the work in progress pictures of creating the installation. Some elements were CNC cut and some were handcut and the whole piece was put together by hand.
The mechanism of each module was worked out in such a way that each of them could be opened at varying degrees.
BOUND PRODUCTS Product Design, 2017 Bound Products was a product design company focused on building handcrafted stationery products. My passion for Indian textiles and hand-made products inspired me to start this company. Material palette and details were carefully selected in order to reflect the company’s desire to create minimal and functional products. A collection of diaries and roll out pouches were designed with an obsessive eye for details.
Locally sourced Ikat fabric was used for all the books and pouches. “Ikat” is weaving style common to many cultures. Ikat is an Indonesian lanuage word, which depending on the context, can be nouns : cord, thread, knot as well as the verbs to tie and to bind.
Living pods Undergraduate Design Project, 2016 The Design Studio started with a Façade study around the city, documenting it, in the form of pictures and diagrams. The “Extruded Window” which is a blend of both a window and a balcony was the element that was created through this. Different scales and geometries were used to explore the potential of this element, which led to selecting four different variants of triangular forms. These forms were combined together to create diverse spaces, which initially started off as a façade element but through the design process developed into habitable spaces, “The Living Pods”. The program, selected was of an “Artist–in–Residency”, wherein these pods were the living and work spaces for the artists.Different programmes such as common studios, art galleries, exhibition spaces, shops and cafes were created for them to interact both amongst themselves as well as with the general public. The emphasis of these pods was more so on creating an amiable space for the artist, which was designed bearing in mind the position of the northern light with respect to each pod.
Artists away fr artists p
Com in a wit intu wit
Diff for sho
The idea of the “extruded window” transformed into that of a living pod. Creating different combinations to optimize the amount of light and ventilation within the pods to create comfortable living and working spaces.
Large windows on the north to bring in diffused light within each pods.
Living studios are tucked in and rom the public programs to provide privacy and their own space.
Formation of intimate informal courtyards, providing space for the artists to interact with each other.
mmon art studios are placed a way that the public is able to tness the artists at work, this urn helps the artist engage th the public.
fferent scales of art galleries the artists and designers to owcase their work.
Public plaza for events and art installations
An “Artist–in–Residency” with living and working pods for artists.Different programmes such as common studios, art galleries, exhibition spaces, shops and cafes were created for them to interact both amongst themselves as well as with the general public.
The public spaces of the Artist - in - Residency. The common studio being in the middle allows the public to see the artists at work and create an interactive
The private spaces of the Artist - in - Residency with the different kinds of living studios for different kinds of artists.
environment for the same in the cafes and restaurants.
boat club apartments Architecture & Interior Design, SJK Architect 2017-20 Boat Club Apartment is a luxury rental apartment building comprising of four duplexes across four floors, located on a corner plot in Chennai. It responds to the site by strategically blocking some parts of the façade for privacy and opening up others and projecting out some parts to allow residents to enjoy the outside view. The façade is thus a neat composition of clean geometries and lines punctuated with balconies, niching in and projecting out.Each apartment is customized and staggered to optimize space, capture views and breezes and perform like bungalows in the sky. It was a great learning experience to be able to carry the project through each phase, from design to structural and services integration to tender and finally to civil working drawings and interior design details.
Part mock up done for openable louvers for the fixed glass plus louver typology window. Each window typology was customised and detailed to optimise the amount of light and ventilation in each space.
The material palatte for the building was monochromatic with form finish concrete walls, local grey granite and statuario marble. The wooden doors and windows made with local teak wood added that warmth to building.
Concrete mock ups made in office to experiment with different finishes
BT1
ST STORE & UTILITY LIVING ROOM PREP. KITCHEN
BEDROOM 1
R
PT
“Transitions to the outside are essential and the consequent social use of these spaces is wonderful. A traditional coastal home would have large sloping overhangs on all sides of the building and important semi-open spaces where most of the day would be spent. These elements have translated into horizontal projections called chajjas, verandahs into balconies and courtyards into atriums as we build upwards.”
R
APARTMENT A POOJA SPACE
POCKET BALCONY
SHOW KITCHEN STAFF ROOM ENTRANCE LOBBY
R
L.S
DINING E.S DOUBLE HEIGHT ENTRANCE LOBBY
MT1
W.I.W BT3
BT2 W.I.W
W.I.W
PANTRY
R
APARTMENT B STAIRCASE+ PASSAGE
MASTER BEDROOM
BEDROOM 3
BEDROOM 2
750(fixed panel)
965
2400(Openable shutter)
Double rebated balcony door with a solid shutter on the outside and mesh shutter on the inside. OUT
12mm deep rebate
55
65 50
115
165
External solid shutter
Wooden stopper to hold the door at 90 degrees
50
55
43
24mm deep rebate
IN
115 x 40mm TW rail Internal mesh shutter
1930
Concealed Tower bolt
approx.1300
1220
PUSH
eq
eq
eq
eq
eq
eq
3150
1965
1435 695 965
(glass railing)
2400(Openable shutter)
(Openable mesh shutter)
750
(fixed panel)
750(fixed panel)
1220
Openable louver till 1200mm and fixed glass above.
Double rebated external ventilation door with glass railing till 965mm . A Solid shutter on the outside and mesh shutter on the inside. OUT 55
12mm deep rebate
External solid shutter
55
“To create these homes in the sky at the Boat Club Apartments, the central connecting Core is a sun-filled atrium with a staircase that is encouraging to use – to exercise the knees, commune with neighbours and enjoy the light.”
The different window typolgies of the building helped bringing in light and ventitaltion into all the internal spaces. A strong inside out relationship.
Image credit : Nivedata Gupta & SJK Architects
Priyata Bosamia pbosamia@risd.edu +1 (401)569-6256