Portfolio Architecture & Urban Design
RAJIV RIBEIRO
Born and raised in the coastal state of Goa, India, I grew up during a period when the once tranquil region, celebrated for its picturesque natural beauty and idyllic lifestyle, began grappling with significant issues of corruption and political failure. Due to rampant mining, large-scale construction, and uncontrolled tourism, I saw the fields, hills, and beaches where I used to play deteriorate in a short time. Thus, from an early age, due to the backlash to these problems from citizens, I was exposed to the need to understand a community before making decisions on its behalf.
My passion for architecture and urban design is deeply rooted in activism and a desire to hear peoples stories and give them a voice. This has led me to seek diverse experiences, from engaging with communities in Pune’s informal settlements to working with Italian architects on urban regeneration in Veneto. Through these experiences, I have honed my ability to incorporate and communicate these rich narratives in my work.
WILKINSBURG RESILIENCE NETWORK
Fall Semester 2024- Columbia GSAPP
Urban Blight| Community Change| Community Identity
OFFICE A
2019-2022|Collective Project Sustainable Materials| Form experimentation
NANDI HILLS HOUSE
2020-2022|Collective Project Sustainable Materials| Local Economy| Form Experimentation
COMMUNIDADE
5th Year 2019|Goa College of Architecture
Traditional Knowledge| Climate change| New Urbanscape
URBAN CATALYST
4th Year 2018|Goa College of Architecture Oil Extraction| Sustainable Development| New Urbanscape
DESIGNING WITH INFORMALITY
5th Year 2019|Goa College of Architecture Informal Settlements| Incremental Growth
Bologna Alce Nero HQ Belluno Wellness Village Montagnana Urban Regeneration
Borca Workshop Sabionetta Workshop
Pune Designing with Informality
Ahmedabad Refining Concepts
WILKINSBURG RESILIENCE NETWORK
2024| Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania
Rhino, Lumion, Autocad, GIS, Photoshop, Illustrator
Academic- Columbia GSAPP
Team: Rajiv Ribeiro, Maissa Eid, Yasmina Hamdan & Zhongyang Huang
The Wilkinsburg Resilience Network project aims to empower the borough of Wilkinsburg to address long-standing issues such as blight, population decline, and socioeconomic disparities while preserving its identity as a tight-knit, independent community. By engaging with stakeholders such as the borough council, land bank, and young community leaders, the project proposes a sustainable, ground-up approach to urban realm revitalization to complement the work done by the land bank in acquiring titles for vacant housing. Central to the initiative is the formation of the Wilkinsburg Innovation and Resilience Collective, brings together existing community groups and universities under a common umbrella to leverage digital innovations in public space to improve the public realm.
Wilkinsburg Innovation and Resilience Collective
Per Capita Income
Urban Blight
The Land Bank and Burough Council are in the process of demolition of most of the vacant buildings in the Burough. The Network would re-purpose the building materials from these demolitions to create new public spaces.
Wilkinsburg’s Sensors
The Network proposes a new identity for Wilkinsburg’s public space, built on ethically gathering information from citizens using these spaces to foster a more resilient community. While celebrating Wilkinsburg’s rich cultural heritage and community strength, the Network also aims to create new stories and bonds within the community, enabling sustainable growth.
Creating New Stories and Forging New Connections
This is the story of the Wilkinsburg Sustainability Cafe, working together with the WIRC , polinator groups and community gardens to grow native flowers in public spaces and bring back some of the towns fauna.
The Network believes that to build resilience we need a diverse set of activities to support it. By connecting four strategic sites, the resilience knowledge network will be created.
Some of the proposals of the Network include revitalizing the historic downtown train station as a hub for community activities, establishing a food incubator and tool co-op at a pivotal grocery junction, and integrating food production areas with native plant community gardens for education and sustainability.
02
OFFICE A
2019-2022| Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad Rhino, Lumion, Autocad, Grasshopper Professional- Collective Project
Although the project is titled “Actors Office,” the building represents much more than a workspace. Designed to embody the persona of its client, a renowned Tollywood actor, this structure is tailored to accommodate a diverse range of activities—professional, creative, and recreational—it serves not only as an office but also as a dynamic hub for collaboration and leisure for the actor and their staff.
The complex program led to a design characterized by an interplay of spatial hierarchies and relationships. At its core, the structure features a large-span waffle slab supported by composite columns, lending strength to the upper levels. These upper floors, which house the actor’s main office and recreational spaces, are enveloped in cement blocks punctuated by jalis and thoughtfully positioned openings. This interplay of solid and perforated surfaces allows light and ventilation to flow seamlessly while maintaining privacy, adding an architectural rhythm that resonates with the client’s creative essence.
Circulation & Spaces
Covering 6 floors, the structure contains a wide range of spaces such as a dance floor, offices, lounges, a home theater, a living quarters, an infinity pool, and a balcony for the actor the greet his fans. The spaces are connected via a series of staircases and balconies that weave through the building and create diverse spatial relationships across various levels. The need for privacy and security for the actor added a layer of complexity to the spatial layout.
NANDI HILLS HOUSE
2020-2022 (ongoing)| Nandi Hills, Bengaluru Rhino, Lumion, Vray, Autocad, Illustrator Professional- Collective Project
Granite is a construction material that is local to Bengaluru and the regions surrounding it. Mostly used in flooring, it is highly sort after and the hills surrounding the city have become large sites of extraction and destruction of the local ecosystem. A large amount of the stone debris after extraction goes to waste and the project re-imagines a way of using this wasted granite.
This residential project is located in the scenic Nandi Hills Valley in the outskirts of Bangalore. The design strategy revolves around opening the building up to its surroundings and creating framed views of the hills beyond. The waste granite is integrated into the facade of the structure to create a monolithic design.
Waste Granite Granite Facade
Experimentations with Granite
2019| Panjim, Goa
Sketchup, Enscape, Autocad, GIS
Academic- 5th Year Goa College of Architecture
Habitation of Goa was close to impossible when the first settlers moved here, and most of Goas lowlands were primarily marshy. To make the land habitable, people found a unique system for sustainable living— and converted almost 18,500 ha of land. This land still exists today and is known as khazans. In most cases these Khazans are administered by cooperatives known as gaunkaris, and later also as comunidades. Local knowledge of the tidal clock and principles of salinity regulation played a key role in the maintenance of the khazan infrastructure. This network of bunds, sluice gates, agricultural land, and mangroves were built with the natural contours of the land and served as a protection against both coastal and stormwater flooding. In a way it served as an early example of a nature-based solution for storm protection.
However, due to pressures from the real estate industry and tourism, these communidade lands are on the verge of depletion. These lands serve as a natural sponge for Goa, protecting it against coastal and rainwater floods. With climate change making the monsoons in Goa more sporadic and intense than ever before, the need to protect these lands is dire. However, the institutions that manage and protect these lands are constantly undermined by corrupt practices and a powerful real-estate lobby. Is there a way to reimagine these commonly held lands for a modern times which has vastly different requirements? The project proposes a new landscape for Goa. One that re-thinks the way we build, as well as the way we think about our public spaces.
New Social Infrastructure
Activated Waterfront
Activated Bunds
Khazans
Catchment Ponds
Communidade Center
Panaji City Bhatlem Village
With climate change affecting agricultural production in Goa due to the unpredictable nature of the monsoons, the need for providing controlled environments that can sustainably maximize production is the need of the hour. The triangular grid enables the administration of communidades to allocate/ lease land to farmers or researchers according to their needs. The triangles provide contained units where water and soil content can be controlled.
Triangular agri-unit
supply system
house
Drainage
Service Gangway
Hydroponic Screens
2. Public Space 3. Blocks
Agri-Terraces
5. Hydroponic Screens
Communidade Center Research Center Library & Archive Museum
URBAN CATALYST
2018| Vasco, Goa
9510 sq.m.
Academic- 4th Year Goa College of Architecture
What is the relationship between the city, people, and the building? This is the question that this project attempts to explore. The project examines how to improve the quality of life of the port town of Vasco which has been ailing from various health hazards due to industries nearby. It provides a new and sustainable city center that connects the city to 4 modes of transportation and also provides new economic opportunities. The project then works at the building level to understand the building-city relationship. In a world where the way of conducting and operating businesses has evolved, the Urban Catalyst provides a new prototype for startups to research, test, and sell their products while simultaneously growing their business. It is an alternative to the conventional mall, housing, and commercial building.
The proposed urban intervention is located in the city of Vasco da Gama. 1/5th of the city’s area is occupied by storage units for the Indian Oil Corporation, which is hazardous to the residents of the city. The proposal looks to redevelop the corporation’s land to provide a new waterfront and commercial center for Vasco and allow for its expansion .
The aim was to enhance the walkability of the city by creating pedestrian zones, improving connectivity, and designing beautiful plaza spaces. Drawing from various examples of waterfront cities, the proposal looks at a way to re-vitalize the water edge and also maintain the character and grain of the city.
PROPOSAL
PROGRAM
A vital space in the building is the startup market street which contains stalls, kiosks, pop-up stores, etc. By creating a public axis that connects the riverfront shopping promenade to the main road, the market street draws crowds in and thus extends the retail zone of the city and makes it a part of the building. In addition to the market street which is designated for startups with experimental products looking to grasp people’s attention as well as reaction, the lower floors contain several retail stores that are meant for more well-established startups, looking to fine-tune their products and branding.
At the upper levels, the building works like a University rather than an office space. It has large co-working floors with lounges, recreation rooms, seminar halls, and library spaces all working as a single unit.
DESIGNING WITH INFORMALITY
2019| Yerwada, Pune
Photoshop, Sketching, Indesign Academic- 5th Year Goa College of Architecture
Slum upgradation programs have evolved tremendously over the years. Strong political will, organization at various levels, community participation, and flexible designs are essential for the success of these programs which not only provide basic services and infrastructure but also socio-economic benefits to slum dwellers. In India government schemes such as JNNURM and RAY have increased such programmes, out of which the in-situ slum upgradation programme in Yerwada is the most well-known. There is a need to find a model of upgradation in the Indian context which can be applied on a large scale and which provides maximum benefits with minimum holistic inputs.
The settlement exhibits two distinctly contrasting patterns of growth, defined by their construction systems. One follows a formal and regulated approach, while the other is informal and unregulated. These differences are evident in the spatial organization of the settlement.
The contrasting growth patterns have significantly influenced the character of public spaces and streets. In the informal, unregulated clusters, construction often encroaches upon and cantilevers over public spaces, resulting in a denser and more chaotic street environment. In contrast, the upgraded clusters maintain a more controlled relationship with public spaces. Since the upgradation process, incremental growth in the upgraded areas has been considerably slower compared to the rapid, organic expansion seen in the un-upgraded clusters. This divergence underscores the impact of regulation and planning on the pace and nature of urban development.
