seemasunilsamudre
SEEMA SUNIL SAMUDRE 1021 Walnut Neck Avenue, Chesapeake VA 23320 | seema.samudre@vt.edu | 757 305 8466 EDUCATION
Virginia Tech | Blacksburg, Virginia | Sept 2011 - May 2016 Bachelor of Architecture European Residential Study Abroad Program | Fall 2014 Architecture Design Studio | Riva San Vitale, Switzerland Independent Study in Paris | Amsterdam | Portugal | Rome Greenbrier Christian Academy | Chesapeake, Virginia | Aug 2007 - June 2011 Salutatorian
SKILLS
Digital Google Sketchup Revit Autodesk Rhino AutoCAD Photoshop Illustrator InDesign
E X P E R I E N C E
Architecture Intern
PF&A Design | Norfolk, Virginia | June - Aug 2015 CAD drafting for drawings and specifications + Marketing
Business Consultant Rodan and Fields | Jan 2016 - Present
Analog
Technical Drafting Model Making Diagramming Photography Watercolor Pottery
Independent Consultant for R + F Dermatologists through direct sales Mural Design and Leadership
Extra-Disciplinary Acrylic Painting Oil Painting Competitive Piano
Norfolk Christian Academy Muralist | Norfolk, Virginia | June - Aug 2013 + 2014
Commissioned to paint two 10’ x 10’ walls (intensive detail) + Logo work (bold graphic) Oakwood Nursing Home Muralist | VA Beach, Virginia | December 2011 Commissioned to paint one 30’ x 10’ wall (intensive detail) Sentara Nursing Home Muralist | Norfolk, Virginia | June 2010 Volunteered with a group to paint a 50’ x 10’ wall (intensive detail)
Community Engagement Virginia Tech ‘Color Me Rad’ 5k Run Volunteer | April 2013
Worked with the Virginia Tech community to set up the event Virginia Tech Big Event Volunteer | April 2012 Worked to help the Blacksburg community with household jobs H ONORS
AIA Virginia Prize Competition | 2015 Formerly Virginia Society of the AIA State Level Honorable Mention AIAS member | 2015 - 2016 G.T. Ward Architecture Travel Scholarship | 2014 CEFPI VA Student Architecture Design Competition | 2013 Honorable Mention Dean’s List | 2011- 2016 National Society of Collegiate Scholars at Virginia Tech | 2011 - 2016 National Junior Club Piano Scholarship Award | 2009 First Place Scholarship Winner for piano solo
ABOUT M E I am currently a 5th year thesis student studying ideas about liminality and spatial ambiguity in architecture. I enjoy composing contemporary songs on the piano, watching Food Network shows, and participating in live art and art competitions.
Parasitic Path
Design Challenge: Propose a Blacksburg, VA center for ecological research that holds classrooms, labs, a library, and apartments. Cultivate an environment for visitors to learn and interact with research events. Incorporate structural capacities of steel through the architecture as a learning tool for guests and employees.
The Spine A path formed by glass-enclosed paired trusses relentlessly portrudes from the earth providing a glimpse into parasitic spatial volumes that house programatic events. The path ends in a scenic view of the ecological research center’s tree array. Structural Multiplicities On the interior, a repetition of thin steel, tension cables tightly pull and support access-catwalks closely against the truss enclosure that carries multiple cantilevered spatial volumes. Pressure from the tension cables against the catwalks counteract overturn of the cantilevered spatial volumes and aid in prevention of the steel truss pair collapse.
Rest Area
Design Challenge: Propose a water closet near Duck Pond in Blacksburg, VA that accommodates visitors upon arrival. Consider an environmental design that integrates well within nature.
Relief
Towering amongst the trees at the Duck Pond in Blacksburg, VA, a unisex water closet provides visitors opportunity to easily locate a place for relief and connection to the natural environment.
Connection to Nature
Within each bathroom stall, tall walls provide enclosure and a sense of privacy. The tall walls also frame a direct view of the sky, allowing one to reflect on nature. A second story can be accessed for further reflection and a framed view of the Duck Pond.
Thermal Insulation
To avoid frozen pipes during the cold, blustery season in Blacksburg, the tower is set partially into the ground for geo-thermal insulation.
Water Preservation
Featured in the center of the structure is a rain water catchment system that filters water to be stored in an underground cistern for re-use.
Meditation Space
Design Challenge: Propose a space of meditation for a street side lot in Roanoke, VA. The building should consider atmospheric qualities of space through choice of material and interaction with the exterior and adjacent buildings.
Engagement with Nature Each meditation ‘pod’ frames a tree that punctures through the raised floor and canopies over visitors, filtering light throughout the space. Material A wooden slat system encases the glass wall structure and creates privacy from the outside. The glass is frosted on the exterior for increased privacy and reflective on the interior for a meditative atmospheric quality. Selective Views Each wooden slat is oriented toward the central tree within the meditation spaces. As one passes by on the exterior, his focus remains on the tree and away from view of the visitors. This allows for public connection with the building interior, but withholds a defined private space for meditating visitors.
Gravity Winery
Choreographed Circulation Much like the spatial experience of Casa Bianchi, the circulation of this winery begins at the top and spirals downward around a core, toward the wine tasting room, allowing varying degrees of interaction with workers at each floor level.
Design Challenge: Propose a winery for the small town of Riva San Vitale in Switzerland. Located near Mario Botta’s Casa Bianchi, design a space that fits within its context.
Entrance
Office Space
Storage
Wine Tasting Room Exit
Top Level Grape drop-off
Second level Fermentation tank room
Third Level Barrel Room
Bottom Level Wine Bottling and Storage
Separation by the core With the core as an anchor, this underground, gravity winery separates function on the west side of the building and visitor circulation on the east side. Passages Visitors are able to access passageways through the core to see the winery process on the opposing side.
Thesis
In progress thesis work: A series of model studies on the effects of reflection, transparency, and layering on the visual perception of depth and spatial realities.
Water - Reflection Study
Layering Transparencies - Depth perception study
Building Surface - Reflection Study
On Liminality and Reflection Liminal space is characterized by dissolution, transition, or blurring. Through the manipulation of space and material, the perception of depth and spatial definitions can begin to fluctuate in an ambiguous relationship, thus allowing an experience of disorientation and a questioning of surroundings. A liminal experience is offered through the use of reflective materials, which allow for a dynamic tension between the perception and definition of a space. For instance, the opposition between visual depth and physical flatness of a reflective building surface communicates a state of in-between or transition. This thesis study begins to question the effects of reflective material on the human perception of spatial realities. Reflection through water, transparencies, and building surfaces is tested as a vehicle to characterize a space of transition.
First Year Spatial Construct
Thesis
In progress thesis work: Programmatic Duality | Bath House + Winery | Shared Conditions | Spatial Ambiguity
Bath House + Winery A winery program acts as a spine through which a bathhouse program threads through cultivating spaces of ambiguity and liminality. Visitors experience a breaking of boundaries between programmatic events of the winery and bathhouse. A symbiotic relationship is formed between the two programs as shared conditions of temperature, sounds, and scents overlap. The blurring of space is encouraged through manipulation of the different states and reflective qualities of wine and bathhouse water and the spatial intersections of programmatic events.
Fermentiation tanks are suspended from the ceiling over a cool ice bath.
Shared Qualities of Conditions The hovering fermentation tanks are conditioned by the coolness of an ice bath below. The heat and roasted oak scent rises from a barrel toasting below into a hot bath.
The room temperature of the cold bath keeps the tanks above cool during fermentation.
Fermentation Tank Room + Cold Bath
Concrete bathhouse volumes are inserted into winery floors by suspension
Other Works
1. French Gothic - Watercolor | 2. Roma, Italy - Pen & Ink Travel Sketch | 3. Venice - Acrylic
Thank You! seema.samudre@vt.edu 757 305 8466