Sem 1 M.Arch (Urban Design) Portfolio

Ravjyot Kaur

date of birth:

August 26, 2000

address:

V.P.O. Aut, (Distt.) Mandi, H.P., 175121, India

contact: +91-85808xxxxx

e-mail: ravjyot.kaur@gmail.com

Hello!

I am an Architect and an Urban Design student with a passion for learning and documenting urban phenomena. I embarked upon this journey of living, breathing, documenting, and photographing urban spaces in the form of an Urban Design Course. Since research and writing have always been my forte, this journey has proved to be even more meaningful.

I can often be spotted setting up a tripod, making a poster, attending photo walks, sketching urban life, attending climate debates, reading tales of people on the “Humans of Bombay,” penning down thoughts in my diary, journaling, sipping Cappucino or making Arrabiata Pasta.

Education

Master of Architecture (Urban Design) | 2022-present

School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal | 8.92/10.00

Bachelor of Architecture | 2017-22

Malviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur | 8.28/10.00

AISSCE | 2017

Sidana International School, Amritsar | CBSE | 82.6%

AISSE | 2015

La Montessori School, Kullu | CBSE | 10/10

Skills

Softwares

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Indesign

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Premiere Pro

AutoCAD

Depthmap

Google Sketchup

Lumion

MS Office

QGIS

Space Syntax

V-Ray

Languages

Hard Skills

Creative Writing

Drafting

Model-making

3D Modeling

Rendering

Sketching

Social Media Handling

Video Editing

Web Content Writing

Work Experience

Greyt Designs (Content writer) | Apr 2022present

Karyashalla (Content writer) | Feb 2022- present

Mandviwala Qutub and Associates, Mumbai (Architectural Intern) | Jan 2021- June 2021

Design Centre Architects & Engineers, Bhuntar, H.P. (Architectural Intern) | May 2019July 2019

The Post Mayor, Jaipur (Content Writer) | Apr 2019- May 2019

Freelance content writer (Self-employed) | Jan 2018- present

Formative Experience

Environmental Impact Assessment- NPTEL (Ongoing certified course) | 2023 Walk at Bhoj Wetlands attendee | World Wetlands Day, 2023

Social Media Content Creation, Handling for SPAB Urban Design Department

Instagram, LinkedIn Content Creation | 2022-Present

edX Product Design: The Delft Design Approach (certified course)| 2020

Social Media Management

Concevoir, Blitzschlag, Annual Cultural Fest | MNIT Jaipur | 2018

Zonal NASA Convention

Workshop on Architectural Journalism | Gwalior | 2017

References

English | Hindi | Punjabi | German (beginner)

Ar. Qutub Mandviwala

Principal Architect | Mandviwala Qutub and Associates, Mumbai

Contents

Redensification to Recreate a lively, walkable neighborhood

TT Nagar, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh | Urban Design Studio- I | Sept-Dec 2022

Understanding Urban Networks and Ecology of Peri-Urban Areas

Laharpur, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh | Urban Networks and Systems- I | Sept-Dec 2022

Interpreting Phrases from the book: 101 Things I learned in Urban Design School;

Interpreting keywords on the ‘Public Realm’

Urban Design Methods and Techniques | Aug-Dec 2022

Miscellaneous

Competition Entries | Writing About Cities | Model Making | Photography

Redensification to recreate a lively, walkable neighborhood

Urban Design Studio- I

Program : Envisioning the future built environment to recreate a lively, walkable neighborhood blended with natural surroundings

The studio focused on the design aspects of Urban Transformation withing the existing urban area. The area was designed almost 50 years ago based on the neighborhood concept, but this essence is slowly getting lost.

Location : TT Nagar, (Tulsi Nagar, Shivaji Nagar) Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India

Area: 255 hectares

Type : Group of 5

Software used : QGIS, AutoCAD, Photoshop, Illustrator, Sketchup, Lumion

Methodology

Perception based Mapping of Visual Quality: Studying the Intangibles

The study was based on Perception Based Mapping of Visual Quality. It was done with the help of actual street images.

4 key elements affecting the visual quality of streets, including the building frontage, greenery, sky view, pedestrian space, and motorization were considered.

All the parameters were graded on a 1 to 5 scale.

GIS Workflow

Greenery

Sky View Factor

Building Frontage

Visual Quality on a scale of 1 to 5 w.r.t. the following parameters

Motorization

Overall Visual Quality

Heat Maps showcasing Visual Quality for different aspects in TT Nagar, Bhopal

Devolution of Dwelling Units

Dwelling Units

Section AA’

Section BB’

Section CC’

View showing the New Scape: Redensified area with preserved greens

Centrally Located Neighborhood Market

Understanding Urban Networks and Ecology of Peri-Urban Areas: A case of Laharpur, Bhopal

Urban Networks and Systems-I

Program : Peri-Urban areas offer a mix of rural and urban characteristics. Laharpur is one such area, which also happens to be ecologically rich. Home to hundreds of species of flora and fauna, the Laharpur Biodiversity Park is also a tourist spot. The area’s evolution began with the ribbon development along the Katara Hills main road connecting Hoshangabad Road to Laharpur. The motto of the exercise was to understand the urban networks, ecological layers and their intersection in this peri-urban area. In the end, as a synthesis of the study, recommendations/ proposals for preserving its ecological character were needed.

Location : Laharpur, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India

Area: 675 hectares

Type : Group of 3

Software used : AutoCAD, QGIS, Photoshop, Illustrator, Sketchup, InDesign

Evolution over the years

Decoding the greens and built form of Laharpur, Bhopal Housing

Greens

Gated Communities

Marshy lands

Neighborhood Parks

Agricultural Fields Biodiversity Park Cricket Ground

Bungalows Semi-Detached

The Self-Made: ‘Kachi Basti’

“Neeche Dukan, Upar Makaan”

Buildable Area as against existing Built Mass

Planimetric Sections

Section AA’

Section BB’

Section CC’

Section DD’

Recreational Pockets with Waterbodies

Bioswales along the Roads to reduce rainfall runoff and improve stormwater infiltration

03.1

Interpreting Keywords describing the Public Realm

Urban Design Methods and Techniques

Exercise : Choosing a writeup that discusses the Public Realm, followed by thoughtfully choosing keywords. Thereafter, interpreting the same in a suitable area in Bhopal.

“

From being overlooked as residual spaces of architectural creations, the public realm is now being recognised for what it really is – an amalgamator of human potential, an equaliser of social disparity, a driver of real estate value, a benchmark of community pride and even a peek into a culture.

The chaos of the realm can be a source of entertainment, provide solace, a platform or a voice even as homelessness, public ablutions and settling of scores can blur the lines between private and public.

~A Place for all: A study in the great wide Public Realm by

Freddie Ribeiro

Location : Upper Lake, Bhopal

Type : Individual

Software used : Photoshop, InDesign

03.2

Interpreting Phrases from Matthew Frederick and Vikas Mehta’s book: 101

Things I Learned in Urban Design School

Urban Design Methods and Techniques

Exercise : Choosing a phrase from the book

101 Things I Learned in Urban Design School. Thereafter, chosing an area/ precinct in Bhopal whereby the phrase can be applied suitably.

Location : 10 No. Market, Bhopal

Type : Individual

Software used : Photoshop, InDesign

PUBLIC REALMORDINARY LIFE ISN’T BORING.

The GREAT GOOD PLACE

‘‘Cafes, Coffee Shops, Community Centers, Beauty Parlors, General Stores, Bars, Hangouts, and How They Get You Through the Day

The Great Good Place, by Ray Oldenburg, 1989

“ Ordinary life isn’t boring. ”

ORDINARY ≠ BORING

2.

PUBLIC REALMORDINARY LIFE ISN’T BORING.

3.

WORK

PUBLIC REALMORDINARY LIFE ISN’T BORING.

10 No. Market, Bhopal

The GREAT GOOD PLACE

Coffee Shops, Community Centers, Parlors, General Stores, Bars, Hangouts, They Get You Through the Day.’’

Great Good Place, by Ray Oldenburg, 1989

The core setting of Informal Public Life

SECOND PLACE COMMUNITY

MAPPING ACTIVITIES OF THE THIRD LAYER

The GREAT GOOD PLACE

THIRD PLACE

COMMUNITY HANGOUTS

‘‘Cafes, Coffee Shops, Community Centers, Beauty Parlors, General Stores, Bars, Hangouts, and How They Get You Through the Day.’’

The Great Good Place, by Ray Oldenburg, 1989

ORDINARY ≠ BORING

1.

2.

HOME

1.

DISTINCT FROM HOME AND WORK

2.

WORK

ORDINARY HOME

FIRST PLACE

SECOND

MAPPING ACTIVITIES OF THE THIRD LAYER

10 No. Market, Bhopal

FIRST PLACE WORK

3.

SECOND PLACE COMMUNITY

THIRD PLACE

COMMUNITY HANGOUTS DISTINCT FROM HOME AND WORK

MAPPING ACTIVITIES OF THE THIRD LAYER

Market, Bhopal

setting of Informal

Street life is ordinary life observed by people with Time to Kill

The core setting of Informal Public Life

the Physical Centre around which we center our comings and goings

A. The layer called ‘Home’

FREDERICK AND VIKAS MEHTA’S THINGS I LEARNED IN URBAN DESIGN SCHOOL

Street life is ordinary life observed by people with Time to Kill

The truest urban culture lies not in special events, but in the buzz of activity that enlivens some streets and districts unusual is going on

the Physical Centre around which we center our comings and goings B. Work, transit, and daily Urban

’’

The truest urban culture the buzz of activity that enlivens

Urban Residents generating primary activity by Shopping

C. The commute to ‘work’. Urban Life.

Structural Details: Floating Deck

Structural Details: Temporary Structure

Writing about Cities: Personal Essay

Punjabi Refugee Colony, Sion, Mumbai

The partition of India and Pakistan is often regarded as one of the most extensive migrations in the history of humankind. Henceforth, it isn’t wondrous that the partition has been a recurring theme in the literary work of many writers.

From the instant I learnt that the City of Dreams houses a Punjabi Refugee Colony, I felt much more than a strong urge to experience the place. On one fine Saturday in February 2021, I decided to travel to Sion from Worli, where I lived. Getting on the Mumbai local was out of the question due to the CoVID restrictions. Hence, I merrily opted for a kaali-peeli until Bandra and then hopped onto an autorickshaw, where I got to do my favorite thing: watch the meter change numbers!

The Punjabi refugee colony is located in Sion, Central Mumbai, a lively neighborhood northeast of Dadar. Also known as GTB Nagar (Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar, if you ask a Punjabi about it, they will tell you with the biggest and brightest smile on their just lit-up face that they have lovingly christened it Mini Punjab and prefer to call it that! The inhabitants here are mainly Punjabi Hindu and Sikh refugees who relocated to this land from Pakistan. While they had to kiss goodbye to their homeland, the tales in their heart, their upbringing, and all things intangible moved with them to Bombay. Even today, these partition stories pervade the air here.

Within a minute of getting down from the autorickshaw, I had already spotted women adorning salwar suits and men dressed in crisp white kurta pajamas and colorful turbans, as is typical of followers of the Sikh faith. Perhaps they would have had them stitched at the Colony’s tiny tailor shop. To explore and understand how life looks for these residents today, I chose to walk to the Dashmesh Darbar Gurudwara in the hope of overhearing conversations post the evening prayers.

Heading towards the holy shrine, I caught sight of some informal vendors selling sought-after banta soda. I could see some more permanent shops selling nitty gritties used in Sikh households. Situated close to the Gurudwara, these shops offer items such as kadas (a steel bracelet worn by people of the Sikh faith), hair fixers, turbans, phulkari chunnis, spices, and masalas used in typical North Indian cuisine. On my trip to one of these shops, where I halted to get a new kada, I could hear a lady ask for Rajmah and Punjabi Chole Masala in her slightly Punjabi accent, unlike the voices I was accustomed to hearing. A shaded walkway with a trussed roof led me to the holy building’s white marble steps. The almost G+2 structure boosts a simple yet very inviting facade. I walked upstairs, did my prayers, read some sacred chants, and walked outside the darbar. As I inferred about the history of the same from the incharge sitting at the entrance, I learnt that the Gurudwara was built to extend help to the victims of the 1968 Koyna earthquake.

Surrounded by slums and tucked in a backdrop that speaks of immense disparity from sky-kissing buildings to tiny slums, the Refugee Colony is a world of its own! Many food walks are synonymous with Sion. Unsurprisingly, a food blogger acquaintance recommended I visit Sion for good Punjabi cuisine, further strengthening my resolve to let my taste buds witness the same. As one walks past the unavoidable and enticing aroma of tandoori chicken, one can sense that what the workers and owners of these famous food joints have managed to retain goes beyond a source of income or a meal! Getting interviewed by a bunch of journalism students, the owner of one of these food joints, with the slightest change of expression, began to narrate the tale that many asked him about. He mentioned that the Punjabis from Pakistan, particularly those with no relatives in North India, chose to board the train to Bombay. It was in 1957 that the government allotted the refugees 360 sq. ft houses each. In about 25 buildings,

the then government explicitly prepared 1200 apartments for housing over 1200 refugee families. While the per sq. ft price in the 1960s in Sion was something like 14-15 rupees, today, the same sq. ft easily cost between 20,000 to 30,000 rupees or even more.

Today, declared dilapidated by the BMC, these buildings have been vacated because they have lived their life and are now beyond habitation. A notice on a modest-sized flyer written in Marathi hangs outside a rusted metal gate and reads that the buildings are dilapidated; hence one must not go near them. While the inhabitants have vacated and relocated to other areas in Mumbai and even abroad and are now paying heavy rents, it is still undecided who will redevelop the area. I could hear a 30-year-old describing the saga of the redevelopment of their Colony was well something that they have heard from their childhood, but the actionable part of it is yet to happen. Living here for decades, these families have even witnessed the transition from Bombay to Mumbai in 1995 but are now clueless about what the future holds for them.

Mumbai may be one of the world’s most populous cities, but it always welcomes everyone with open arms, and before you know it, you’ve fallen in love with the city. Immigrants from around the world populate Mumbai, significantly strengthening and enriching its fabric.

Model-Making | History of Architecture

Sem IV, B.Arch

Metz Cathedral