Ruhani Adlakha / Architecture Portfolio 2023

[ruhani adlakha]

Architecture Portfolio 2023

Selective Works

mo.ca (mobile.catalyst)

Status: Under Construction

Academic / Team Work

Spring/Summer 2023

Team : MAEBB Batch 2023

Role: Design Coordination

+ Location : Anywhere in Europe

+ Built/Assembled at : Valldaura Labs

+ Total Built-Up Area : 60 m2

The project mo.ca (mobile catalyst) explores ways of ‘being’ on the move; to connect, collect and share stories, objects and knowledge. It can be seen as a social facilitator which moves the required tools (including humans) and the ‘space’ to connect with different environments.

Spatially, the project has 2 toolkits on either ends and a central empty space which can be activated for living and social settings.

Materially, weight being one of the drivers for the design, this project explores the use of structural thin CLT (4.5cm thick) and bent wood lamellae for the envelope. The big sliding envelope becomes an important actor to open the central space in the middle and connect to the outside.

As the project approaches the construction phase, the students of MAEBB look forward to the evolution of the design and see how the project ‘unpacks’.

dwg 1.2 Folded Interior Elevation: The 2 toolboxes and the central void

dwg 1.3 plan @ +2.1m

dwg 1.1 Exploded Axonometry

dwg 1.4 plan @ +2.6m

we want

to connect - meet - share - exchange to carry heavy

to travel light : ‘digest’ ; keep nutrients & release rest

we don’t want

to collect to forget stories, people, things : listen, record, write, capture

to trace : make an impact to be separated/isolated from the environment : open to giving & receiving

to pollute negative ; non toxic material, non fossil fuel based

Img 1.1 Final Design Presentation of mo.ca in the 1:1 mock-up at Valldaura Labs

To ‘move’ responsibly: A Manifesto

[Wood]le 02

Status: Built

Academic / Team Work

Fall 2022

Team : Jackie Williams, Nishanth Maheshwaran, Sneham Pandey, Austin Brown, Indraneel Joshi, Ruhani Adlakha

Role: Design, Fabrication, Assembly, Documentation

+ Location : Font del Gos, Barcelona + Fabricated at : Valldaura Labs, Barcelona

The project ‘[Wood]le’ - a ‘Wooden Noodle’ explores the idea of steam-bending tree logs to create a self stable structure. The Woodle assumes the function of a seating area as it rests on the ground at one end and folds up to become an element that frames the valley of Font Del Gos on the other.

The project was developed over a period of a month through iterative cycles of material prototyping and digital modeling & scripting to define and re-define workflow. All the logs were pine wood sourced from the Wood Yard at Valldaura.

The project’s salient feature is to connect the logs as an infinite loop which stabilizes and maintains the tension in the bends.

Img 2.1

[Wood]le at Font del Gos

How to cook a [Wood]le?! (1)

for every log

2.1 ;Chosen Logs with Dimensions, Slice lines and direction of slice

How to cook a [Wood]le?!

(x5) Repaet for every log

(1) Choose. Trim. Slice. (2) Steam.

(3) Bend.

(4) Assemble.

(1) Connect Log B to E 4) Connect Log A to AB (2) Rotate Log B & E

(5) Connect Log D to E

(3) Connect Log AB to B

(6) Connect Log C to A&D

(7) Dowel connections and curves Joinery Detail Wooden Dowel System

Img 2.5 Assembly day; Logs in transit

Img 2.6,2.7 [Wood]le assembly at Font Del Gos

Illstr 2.5 ;Assembly Sequence

Img 2.8 Drone shot; [Wood]le as an activator of an abandoned land

Img 2.9, 2.10, 2.11 Details + Techtonics

Img 2.12 The [Wood]le Assembly Simulation at Valldaura Labs

The Arctic Onion

Status: Unbuilt Academic / Team Work

Winter 2023

Studio Tutors: Elena Orte, Guillermo Sevillano Consultants: Javier García, Jochen Sheerer, Jesús Bueno, Miquel Rodriguez

Team : Jackie Williams, Laila Nabulsi, Mariano Rodriguez, Ruhani Adlakha

The ‘Arctic Onion’ is a housing project proposal in the extreme climate of Reykjavik,Iceland. In a climate zone where the temperatures are below comfort zones almost all year round, the Arctic Onion proposes the idea of ‘layering’; of life, materials, people, clothes to be able to live according to changing seasons. It proposes cluster living as a passive strategy for thermodyamics and social aspects of living. As one moves through the different layers of the Onion, one layer of clothing is added on; the public bathhouse, the Sleeping Shelves , the Cluster Shelves, The Ramp &Platforms, the Outside.

Img 3.1 ; Collage; View from the ramp

Solid - Anchor

Suspended - Nodal

Compact - Stacked

Deviate - Non Uniform

Collecting & Converting Membrane

01. Core

02. Sleeping Shelves

03. Cluster Shelves

04. Ramp & Platforms

05. Weather Envelope

Illstr 3.1

Illstr 3.4

Illstr 3.5

dwg 3.1 dwg 3.2 dwg 3.4

dwg 3.3 dwg 3.5

Illstr 3.2

Illstr 3.3

Sleeping Shelves

MATERIAL VISION

The Arctic Onion envisions multiple lives of materials.

The Weather ‘Jacket’ made for withstanding strong winds and water, with repurposed old Sails as a cultural appropriation of the long sea faring history of Iceland. Hay as insulation layer during winter and food for the sheep during the summer. Wood sourced from construction and demolition sites.

As a simulation of these material ideas, this model has been made using all ‘discarded’ materials found in and around Valldaura.

Img 3.2 Physical Sectional Model: 1:10 Resilient Envelopes

Img 3.3 Wind Turbines and outer layer on envelope

Img 3.4: the Ramp, the hay walls and the Rain Jacket Img 3.5: Material Catalogue

A ‘SuperOrganism’ (Container + Life): A Manifesto

We don’t want to FEEL LONELY We don’t want to WASTE RESOURCES

We don’t want to DEMOLISH structures

We don’t want to EMIT Carbon Dioxide into the atmosphere

We don’t want UNIVERSAL and HOMOGENEOUS structures

We don’t want to LOSE CONNECTION to our environment

We want to LIVE in COMMUNAL settings

We want to SHARE spaces, objects and time

We want to REDUCE our impact on the environment

We want to FEEL the seasons - change of temperature - the cold

We want to CONNECT to our local territory

We want to SEQUESTER Carbon Dioxide from our atmosphere

We want spaces with LAYERS of different atmospheres: temperatures - materials - activities

Img 3.6 The Arctic Onion at the final presentation

The Transfiguring Pavilion

Status: Unbuilt

Academic / Individual Work

Monsoon 2020 ; B.Arch

Time | Public | Architecture

Studio Tutor: Dr. Kaiwan Mehta

+ Program: Municipal Ward Office & Balwaadi

+ Location : Jalahalli, Bangalore, India

+ Total Built-Up Area : 750 m2

The project locates itself on an abandoned Open Air Theatre in the old neighbourhood of Jalahalli in Bangalore, which was last in use about a few decades ago. The agenda was to activate an otherwise tranquil setting and also replenish this open air theatre. This project questions/highlights the very many architectural notions of a pavilion through its various episodes of ‘time’ and ‘public’.

This project is preceeded by a 2 month long in depth study of the neighbourhood to understand the physical manifestations of time and public through mediums like photobooks, flashcards, diagrams, designing ‘time’ and ‘public’ follies .

“Is the ‘new’ a rational construct outside the boundaries of memories or an intuitive reformation of memories and histories?“

Aerial View from East Edge: The building as a discrete set of pavilions

The building as a Pavilion

a Democratic Gesture

The Political Balcony

Hierarchy

Primitive form of Shelter

Municipal Ward Office

Enquiry Desk

Waiting Area

Cabins

Desks for Sub-Officers

Public-ness through events

Coversations - Transparency ?

Existing Elements as memories

Revival through interconnection

Fragmented Layering

Embedded + Temporary

Walls + Roofs Kit of parts from various times Contained within ‘frames’ of the structure

Re-orienting perception

Place for a pause

Revival of the existing Open Air theatre

Balwaadi

Chalk Board

In-between ness

Layered Intimacy

Discrete + Connected

TAKING FROM THE NEIGHBOURHOOD

illstr 4.2 ; Conceptual Poster 02

The Double Facade is a characterisitic feature observed in the neighbourhood.

The design takes from this concept of the double facade. Louvres have been used is the building as the reflection of the jaalis in these layered facades.

Reading Room + Mini library

Reception/Desk for librarian

Reading Spaces

Storage for Books

Walls as containers of activities

Ceremonial ‘Punctuation’

Multiplicity in meaning and function

The Play Pavilion

Lightness of being

Life of a facade?

Reviving Celebrations

The Gate: A Memory

Framing the In-Between-ness

A Political Balcony?

This poster represents the various episodes of time and public that make this pavilion transfiguring; the framed ‘memory’ of the existing gate,the pavilion coming down to become an element of play or even the playful idea of having a ‘political balcony’.

“A pavilion that is born as a new journey from an old ‘conversation’

dwg 4.2 Plan @ 4.5M

The building questions the idea of boundaries by having soft thresholds allowing the building to swell and shrink according to purpose and time. The louvres thereby become an element that defines its public-ness.

12. Open Air Theatre/ Performance Area/ Movie Screening Area 13. Balwaadi 14. Play Pavillion @ the Balwaadi 15. Sandpit and Play Area 11

10

9

13 14

15 9

12

On the lower level, the pavilion extends itself to the public to highlight its characteristic of becoming a democratic gesture.

dwg 4.1 Section @ Reading Room & ‘Balwaadi’

The Hy-par Pavilion

// Fact File

Status: Built Academic / TeamWork

Summer 2017 ; B.Arch

Exploration in Modular Aspects of Hyperbolic Paraboloid Forms

CourseTutors: Ar. Vaibhavi Agarwal & Shital Chaudhari

+ Program: Hyperbolic Paraboloid Bamboo Pavilion

+ Location : CEPT University, Ahmedabad, India

This course hyperfocused on making and studying ‘hyperbolic paraboloid’ forms; creating curves using straight lines.

Focusing of the art of making, we used materials like paper, sticks and bamboo at various scales to study the geometry and spatial qualities. In addition to this , the course also focused on aspects like adaptability, economy and constructability of the hyperbolic paraboloid forms. The course concluded with a 1:1 scale bamboo pavilion designed and constructed at CEPT University, Ahmedabad.

Img 5.13 ; With team Hy-par

a Landscape of Terraces

// Fact File

Status: Unbuilt

Academic / Individual Work

Monsoon 2018 ; B.Arch

Of Immediate and Afar 2.0

Studio Tutor: Ar. Pranav Raiji & Sagar Trivedi

+ Program: Artisanal Boulangerie for Profit & Promotion

+ Location : Old City, Ahmedabad, India

+ Total Built-Up Area 1100 m2

The studio focussed on the investigation of clues in the context of intervention as a way to engage in a scenario and questioned: “What if the built form ‘emerges’ as a result of combining individual built-form responses of the various tangible and intangible elements of the context?“

This project revolves around becoming a connector between the different staggered levels of the context; the immediate (the clustered old city), the afar (the river) and the people. The project is therefore a story of the old Fort wall, the river and the terraces.

Img 6.56 ; The Landscape of Terraces exhibited at CEPT University, Ahmedabad