M.ARCH UC BERKELEY ‘26
BSC. (ARCH) MCGILL UNIVERSITY ‘24
CONTACT:
MAIL PHONE
saumya_gogte@berkeley.edu 4389290072
01 UNLOAD-DECODE
Residential, UC Berkeley 2024
02 MONT ROYAL COLLECTIVE
Residential, McGill University 2024
03 POINTE ST CHARLES LIBRARY
Institutional, McGill University 2023
04 THEATER OF THE NIGHT
Cultural, 2024 CCA Charrette Winner
05 MONTREAL GALLERY
Institutional, McGill University 2022 01-05 06-10 11-14 15-17 18-20
Individual Project
Instructed by Rudabeh Pakravan, UC Berkeley
Fall 2024
The studio hypothesizes that designing mid-density housing for a varied and connective domestic and urban experience conflicts with U.S. zoning and building codes, particularly egress requirements. By temporarily setting aside these limitations and focusing on parameters like elevation and building front figure, the studio aims to improve living conditions and explore the building front’s role in shaping urban experiences. This approach seeks to develop a contemporary mid-scale housing model for Berkeley.
Initial design exercises of making an elevation from an anonymous plan, led to the conception of a bar that hugs the busy Alcatraz Avenue. A corridor runs through the center of the bar, opening up to a plaza for the residents at the corner of the two streets.
The site experiences an extreme grade change, so the back of the site and the exterior corridor are dug down to match the lowest level. The back then functions as a park for the residents, with the plaza looking over it. Since the front of the bar has no circulation, the units on the upper levels stretch across the corridor to form larger apartments. The thinness of the bar allows for light to penetrate through the units.
Third and fourth floor plan
The bar exerts a strong urban figure against the street, with a height that is not intimidating to passersby. It is almost uniform in height, creating the air of a walled street with windows looking down onto it. The back of the bar is more fragmented, with the units cutting away and angling to face the park.
Stairs regularly interrupt the building blocks. The stair acts as a social connector, with only two units opening onto every landing. An open stair also allows the Californian sun to penetrate through the housing block, creating a shaded walkway in the center for the residents to enjoy.
In collaboration with Sean Field, Instructed by Avi Friedman, McGill University, Winter 2024
The site is located in Montreal’s Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (NDG) borough. The plot houses the NDG’s YMCA 2-3 story building. Our project aims to create social places of mixed uses. Non-residential third places generating income at grade level facilities (such as shops, communal/community facilities, for example, a community garden, communal workspaces), common rooms with shared amenities to encourage neighbourly interaction while reducing energy consumption and individual costs, and open spaces and circulation. The result is a new kind of residential precinct, one that fosters interaction between a broad range of residents and visitors, celebrates local cultures, and creates a vibrant and robust sense of community.
We split our apartments into three blocks: Two four-storey blocks that do not intimidate the surrounding duplexes, and a block over the existing YMCA, that helps mitigate the harshness between the heights of the neighbourhood and the tower.
We also create a series of pavillions in the park next to our site that can be used by our housing commune and the rest of the neighbourhood.
Also, the roofs of the four storey blocks have large pollinator gardens that encourage communal gardening and rain-water retention.
The Southern elevation of the building has the largest windows to capitalise on Solar gain. The different unit types are also color coded so as to instill a sense of identity and individuality in the inhabitants-one that is often lost in apartment living.
Each unit is also equipped with a polycarbonate mini-greenhouse, that allows not only for individual gardening but also allows people to relax outside in the harsh Montreal winters.
All the upper floors have common rooms that allow neighbours to socialise with each other, and a shared laundry room. They might also have a programmed social space like a children’s play area or a rooftop terrasse.
Each floor also has a cut out that allows for social interactions between the different floors.
A semi-insulated atrium is also a central feature of our design, creating a year-round green space of relaxation within the chaos of the city.
The atrium also has a retractable roof that facilitates natural ventilation in the warmer months. It can also be left open when it rains, so the plants inside are naturally irrigated.
section
Color-coded unit types
We offer a variety of different apartment types- lofts, mezzanines, single floor two bedrooms and three bedrooms. They’re all color coded on the facade to reflect the mixing and interlocking of the different types on the facade.
We also wanted to increase the number of affordable units in the community. So, a majority of the units are microunits- a cheap way for a single working professional to participate in the real estate market. The units have pulley beds and retractable furniture that allows us to capitalise on space.
isometric
In collaboration with Sofia Usman, Arnold Amisi
Instructed by Morgan Carter, McGill University, Fall 2023
This studio delves into the potential of the community library as a democratic third place, transcending the boundaries of home and work. The building’s formal design incorporates cutouts to form breakout balcony spaces. The orthogonal structure is an ephemeral white form, akin to a paper lantern. It introduces an element of lightness and transience to the otherwise rough neighbourhood. The building also has a southern courtyard, with playgrounds and swooping bioswales a quiet green refuge from the otherwise bustling city.
Project Axometric
The site was of utmost consideration in this project. Both the existing building and tower were preserved because of historical value. The visual axis for the length of the park was maintainted as well, hence the framing of it. The landscaping strategies as well, take into account pedestrian paths, with datum lines laying down the paths on site.
Site Plan
As participants in a three-day design competition hosted by the Canadian Center for Architecture, we were tasked with addressing the theme “Beyond the Roof.” Our objective was to conceive a temporary roof structure that counteracted gentrification, situated within a location of our choosing. Opting for the working-class enclave of Pointe-Sainte Charles, our design ethos drew heavily from the realm of set and theater design.
Central to our concept were three tiers of platforms, facilitating relaxation, social interaction, and performances atop the roof. To bridge the gap between the elevated structure and the surrounding urban landscape, we integrated cameras and speakers throughout the site to broadcast live scenes from the theatrical performances above, inviting passersby to partake in the cultural experience unfolding overhead, enriching the streetscape below.
The platforms are arranged like game boards, with different stations for rest, play, interacting and void. The scaffolding allows us to create a play yard for adults.
In collaboration with Sean Field, Instructed by Julia Manacas, McGill University, Fall 2022
The assignment is to create a gallery in the Plateau quartier of Montreal. We aimed to create a gallery that not only showcases art but also becomes a vibrant hub for artistic production, public engagement, and cultural events. With a complex program on a small site, we had to explore multiple iterations of circulation and program organisation.
A network of ramps facilitates the traversal between galleries and artist studios. This not only enhances the functionality of the space but also elevates the process of artistic creation to become an art form in itself. These ramps became the main problem to resolve, its width, color, length, inclination, all being influenced by how the body would feel moving through the space.
Program Distribution
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