CHILDREN’S VILLAGE

RECONFIGURING SCHOOLS IN INDIAN SLUMS 02

NINTH SEMESTER DESIGN | BSAU | 2018

STUDIO INSTRUCTORS: VIVEKANANDAN, SARITHA, THILAKAVATHI S.M

There are about 10 lakh government-funded schools in India offering primary education. But these schools are in extremely bad shape with some even lacking basic amenities such as electricity & water. The aim was to design a school for 400 students from grade 1 to 8 in Phulwari Sharif, Patna, Bihar. The proposed facility has areas that are collaborative, interactive, and multi-functional that can be used by the local community post-school hours.

Connecting Figure To Ground

The design employs local architectural materials and aesthetics to create a sense of home. Space is conceptualized from the “heirarchy of social spaces” observed in urban design strategies to foster a sense of belonging among the children. The form evolves to be a circular shape with an inward orientation around courtyards. The alternating peaks and ceiling heights allow daylight to stream into the corridors. The continuous roof reinforces the feeling of community emphasized by a shared school setting. The roof is accessible to the children to climb, socialize and view the activities taking place in the courtyard.

Sustainable community prototype

Sustainable farming is practiced along the circumference of the basketball court-amphitheatre. Students will engage in cultivating the farms, the produce will then be provided to the local community. The amphitheatre is activated by the locals during after school hours, vertical bi-fold louvered windows allows a flexible covered space for the community gatherings. The stepped central courtyard takes cue from the traditional step wells and the rainwater water runoff is collected and stored for community usage.

RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN | GRAD CORE 1

STUDIO INSTRUCTOR: JACQUELINE SHAW

The brief was to design a pavilion on the grounds of John Brown’s house. The sites’ racial history was an opportunity to investigate the possibilities of an inclusive post-colonial environment. The Pavilion is an interpretation of “re-formed” colonial arches. The Proposal was a manipulation of the contiguous geometry of the arch to create niches and nodes for exploration, contemplation and inclusive social interactions.

PHYSCIAL MODEL SCALE 1:8

Color And Light As A Spatial Measure

The boathouse is an investigation on gathering of color and light as way to perceive spatial measure and progression. The design began with my observation of different hues of color of the Seekonk River through the different times of the day. This phenomenon was due to the difference in the depth the water is, what is in it (amount of dissolve materials ) and the light. This was true for the architecture of boat house as well. The undulating roof and floor planes gathers different the amount of light and color from the sky, ground and reflected from the water. Roof achieves a rhythmic modulation that lets in southern light through the building’s upper clerestory. In summer, the clerestory lets in fresh air, while in winter, it allows sunlight to warm the floor slab, minimizing energy use throughout the year.

The roof meets a level edge at the periphery and deflects at varying angles towards the sky at the central spine.

The ground plane is level along the central spines and deflects up/down at the periphery to gather colors from the water and sky into the environment.

The boathouse is imagined as series of successive layered translucent and transparent planes that acts as a lens to gather varying degrees of color reflected from the water, boats and the rowers as one journeys through the environment. The transparency creates phenomenon of visual connectivity displaying all of boat house’s activities to the community outside creating an opportunity for a more inclusive environment.

Boat house acts as an instrument to gather the community

Blurred Boundaries

ELEPHANT INTERPRETATION CENTER, INDIA

THESIS | BSA

STUDIO INSTRUCTORS: VIVEKANANDAN, SARITHA, THILAKAVATHI S.M

The design aims to redefine the idea of “Fence” to translate it into a sustainable coexistence between man and elephant. The spatial narrative is a journey of ascent, descent and an introspective pause organically developed through the site’s contours. Architecture develops the unique framework of a cross-species design allowing the elephants to move freely out of their enclosures through permeable barriers with points of physical and visual coexistence with the visitors.

Recent past presents a dismal picture of declining sentiments towards elephants. In the forest fringes this is manifested in the form of retaliatory attack on wild elephants. This circumstance forces the forest department to capture elephants which are injured and orphaned. This necessitates the need for developing facilities for caring for these captive elephants under near natural settings.