RA SI KA P A T I L
ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO
B AC HE L O R OF AR CHI TECTUR E 2 01 4-2 01 9 0.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I F A R M T O FO R K S em e s t e r 1 0 1-6 II R E F U R B IS H I N G B O WR I N G S em e s t e r 8 6-10 III E D IB L E L A N D S C A P E S em e s t e r 6 11-13 IV URBAN HAAT S em e s t e r 5 14-15
SEMESTER X Design Dissertation The beginning of this dissertation started from semester 9, where in after alot of research and study a root cause was detected to address an issue that i felt had the need to be undertaken and looked upon further to come up with a design solution. Thus the base started a semester in advance in which the focus was to create a thorough research and database required for developing the entire project from just a small idea. Semester 10 focussed on designing the project from the conceptual stage to execution stage with all the technical details required. This project basically refelects everything that i have learned in 5 years and applied it in one project. This reflects my ideologies and interests as a person and how they have developed in the entire process.
1.
FARM TO FORK: AGRO FOOD HUB A Rural-Urban Project.
The design idea was to bring farming to the peri urban areas where both people from rural areas and urban areas can participate and involve in understanding how their food is made. Thus, to involve people the space had to be permeable enough and also use modern technology at the same time. The challenge was to design a space where the skills and crafts of our ancestors can be recreated. Also create spaces where the farmers can be taught and introduced to new technologies. An intervention which has hands on and brings together the farmers and the consumers in one space, where people can learn how to grow their own meal through various workshops. And explore different means to farm in an urban context. Thus, the intent was to create infrastructure and facilities for the farmers due to which the whole process of agriculture falls into place and change the way we look at cities as the consumers translate to be the contributors. And this will help in enhancing the Rural Urban drift.
“Building resilient food systems for the future through integrating rural and urban areas and strengthening their linkages will benefit both small farmers and the urban poor�
ILLUSTRATION OF THE EXISISTING SCENARIO IN FOOD INDUSTRY
2.
PROGRAM SYNTHESIS
INTENT
As the project catered to different user groups with varied activities and purposes, it was important to understand their role with each other and how they would respond to spaces. This was neccessary to derive the program for the entire site.
SPATIAL MAPPING
MASTER PLAN OF THE SITE
The site was developed in phases and the intent while laying out the master plan was that the people travel through the landscape and experience the food processing whilst moving from one space to another. The multiple access to the sites were provided due to multiple users arriving on the site with different purposes. Also the planning was affected and reflected the site context within it.t
Experimental farms were a part of the program and acted as a landscape for people to travel through and connect to other spaces. These farms were for the farmers to experiment also at the same time for the visitors to practice hands-on farming as a part of the awarness program so that they can carry out the same on a scale at their houses. These experimental farms also act as a beautiful backdrop to the amphitheatre and is a connect between the public promenade and the processing and production units.
3.
ADMINISTRATION BLOCK
The access to the site happens through this built with neccessary punctures that open up for the variety of user groups to access inside. It is one built with multiple green courts for access. The entire arrangement gives a grandeur opening to the park.
FARM STAYS
Inspired by traditional houses of Kutch, Gujarat, these farm stays bring people a little closer to the roots and adds on to the experience of food production, flanked by farmlands on two sides.
INTERPRETATION CENTER+GREENHOUSE
The first structure onto the journey of food that visitors come across is the interpretation center connected internally to the greenhouse, where in people understand the gist of the whole project and process in a go. Also the greenhouse is meant for applying modern techniques of growing food.
RESTAURANT
The inner core of the site is mainly the recreational public area. The restaurant is on the first level and is at the core so it overlooks the promenade and is the ultimate center of the journey.
4.
STREET MARKET
The beauty and essence of shopping is in the street style market and thus designing modules in a way that it communicates more easily with people. They are at a node for the ease of access for people while entering and leaving the site.
RESEARCH AND TRAINING BLOCKS
These units are meant for the farmers and visitors for experimentation and workshops. All the structures are designed with a similar pattern of the greens puncturing through the structure. The central court has an access to the processing unit directly.
PROCESSING UNIT
The people visiting the site need to have a visual understanding of the final step of food processing takes place. Thus this demo unit has an acess through the service greens with the help of a mound which takes you to a level within the unit to have a clear view at the process and acitivity inside without hindering the process directly. The overview bridge inside gives an entire tour of the process. The mound connects the training blocks and directly opens upto the promenade.
OVERVIEW OF THE SITE The structures on the site flow along with the waterbody and everything then converges to the the nodes. The ultimate food journey goes around through the site but has intermediate links and connects with the spaces through the landscapes.
5.
The site is designed in a pattern to be self sustainable. There are techniques used in the planning to harvest rainwater and renew energies within the site and hence channel everything inside the project making it self sustainable. From using bioswales and retention ponds for harvesting water, to treating waste by dewats and reusing the water also biogas plants to treat solid waste and use as a fertilizer or manure for farming. Thus the chain of all these process are explained below.
The observation deck is the highlight of the site, for visitors at the end of their journey to have a overview of the site and also overlooking through the promenade. Basic design principles were used for efficient energy consumption. Also the material palette was selected with a conscious attempt for minimalising the use of energy.
The food park successfully aims at creating that platform for farmers and visitors from urban context to have a first hand interaction. Also an opportunity for the farmers to develop and enhance their skills. This food park is that community space which was missing in the neigbourhood for people to come together and celebrate.
SEMESTER VIII Architectural Internship
My internship at Pragrup: Architecture and Urbanism, Bangalore mainly revolved around one project which involved the refurbishment of Bowring Institute. It was in its initial stages when i joined in and had the chance to work directly under the principal architect and got to try my hands on designing the landscape for the masterplan. The firm worked on instituional as well as residential projects. The other projects that i worked on involved 3 residential houses all of them on different stages. This internship helped me get my first hand experience of the real world and also shaped my ideas and thoughts on the kind of work i wish to do in the near future.
6.
REFURBISHING BOWRING: MasterPlanning and Restoring Bowring Institute.
Bowring Institute was founded in 1868 by B. L. Rice CIE, Director of Public Instruction, Mysore and author of the Mysore Gazette and other works on Mysore State, and was named after L.B. Bowring. What began as a modest spattering of guest room was soon envisaged as a potential would play host to many of the member’s guests visiting the city. The institute originally consisted of what is now called the Heritage Building. The building was built using Victorian style architecture. All the abetments and extensions to the buildings were added to the building over the years. The other buildings in the institute were also built over the years and newer styles were used in the construction. The refurbishement project involved facade treatements of the buildings, beautification and landscaping of the entire masterplan and rebuilding the sports complex. Also relocating and masterplanning of other smaller structures was the intent of the refurbishment.
7.
CONCEPTUAL PLAN OF THE SITE
The central green space didnt exist in the initial plan of Bowring. The club was in need of a space for communal gatherings, weddings and parties in the open as the weather in Bangalore compliments to such spaces. Thus the main focus of the refurbishment comprised of creating green pockets to connect and enhance each individual structure.
IDEA DEVELOPMENT OF THE SITE
This institute has a heritage value and to reflect the indian culture and roots within the landscape, the central green was designed in accordance to the same. Taking inspiration from the national flower lotus, the main garden was designed with petals reflecting in the plan. The petals creating levels just like in an amphitheatre creating a beautiful frontyard for the main Heritage Building.
This hand-done model by me and my colleague represents and signifies the refurbishment. Apart from the landscape and masterplanning, the sports complex was proposed which didnt exist in the first place. Initially it consisted of only courts, but the proposal of an entire sports complex is in progress.
8.
MASTER PLAN OF THE SITE
ST. MARKS CIRCLE
The refurbishment focused on restoring the heritage structures and also structures which aren’t in a dilapitated conditions. The rest wer courts and punctures and retaining the existing trees on site. The main focus was the central green as it is highlighted by being right op
re proposed to be rebuilt. Apart from this using landscape and enhancing the setting of the built and giving it a new finish with green pposite the heritage building, also the main large scale functions are supposed to be taken place in here.
9.
THE DESIGNING OF SPORTS COMPLEX
ROOF PLAN
GROUND FLOOR PLAN
FIRST FLOOR PLAN
FRONT ELEVATION
10.
SEMESTER VI Landscape Design The design brief focused on redsigning a public space using landscape as the tool in and around your city and change the approach of people in terms of the utilization of the space. Thus, looking out for such spaces in the city of Mumbai was the first task to achieve. Another criteria while choosing the site was that the space should be such that after the design intervention has a strong impact on the users and their life. This studio exercise brief was the same as another Landscape Design Competition by NASA and this particular intervention won Juror’s recommendation award for this idea.
11.
EDIBLE LANDSCAPE: An Alternative Livelihood
Change is in evitable. Everything in this world is evolving and under gradual transformation. Landscapes, as part of nature keep continuously changing and evolving. But can this temporal nature of landscape be used not just as an aesthetic quality which changes with time but as a medium to change the life of the people consuming it? Today, with more than half of the population in Mumbai living in slums with no income source and employment opportunities and less than 1.1 sq.m of open space per person, it is vital that every sq. m of open be wisely used. The changing nature of landscape provides an opportunity of utilizing the same space with changing functions. The idea is to transform waste unproductive open space into productive land through the concept of edible landscaping. The project intends on applying urban agriculture as a resource for personal consumption and alternative income generation. As a part of nature, landscape is with us. And, through living in it, the landscape becomes a part of us, just as we are a part of it.
The site was chosen to be in the famous Dharavi slums of Mumbai. The organic growth of slums usually doesn’t have pockets or breathing spaces within the houses as they are closely packed. Also people in the slums tend to interact more on the outside with their neighbours because of the friendly atmosphere, but do not officialy have a designated space for the same.
The potter community in Dharavi used to carry out the activity of pot making within certain pockets in the community. Now a days these pockets having kilns are dead spaces because the acitvity of pot making has stopped.
So, taking these dead spaces and reviving them to be spaces that can be as a hub for their communal interaction and also become the alternative source of livelihood for the potters. Designing a single module for one central space and thus repeating the same in the remaining pockets of the coomunity.
12.
Creating an entire program as of how to grow plants and what could be grown and the aftermath of the produce is all conveyed to the people. Transforming the entire space by giving them alternate means of livelihood and a interactive community garden for the people living in the community.
CONCLUSION : AS A PART OF NATURE, LANDSCAPE IS WITH US. AND, THROUGH LIVING IN IT, THE LANDSCAPE BECOMES A PART OF US , JUST AS WE ARE A PART OF IT.
13.
RP R A S IK A R A J U P A T I L S E L ECTED WOR KS 2 01 4-2 01 9 +9 1 9 8 6 7 9 2 2 3 5 9 | rasika. pat il8@ gmail. c om 16.