M.Arch Portfolio 2021

ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO

Somrita B

CONTENTS

DESIGN

RESEARCH

LA FILM ARCHIVE 2020 Academic project | Los Angeles

2020 SKIN OF BERLIN GAMIFICATION OF HAPTIC BERLIN

INSTITUTIONAL + TOURISM

APPROACHING ARCHITECTURE 2019 Academic project | New York

2020 DIGITAL GENTRIFICATION THE GEO - SPATIAL POWER OF RATING SYSTEMS

SCHOOL + HOUSING + PUBLIC PROGRAM

CONFLUENCE OF FLOWERS 2019 Academic project | Kolkata

2020 TURNING INDUSTRY

REDEVELOPMENT OF HISTORIC FLOWER MARKET

IN JUTE MILLS OF KOLKATA

TRANSIT ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT 2018 Academic project | Delhi

2019 IIHS CONFERENCE

HOUSING + RETAIL + CONVENTION + OFFICE

SOCIO- ECONOMIC CITY REGION LINKAGES

HANDICRAFT & HANDLOOM CENTRE 2018 Internship | Gangtok

2018 PROJECTING 2037

SITE SURVEY + PLANNING + ELEVATION + SERVICES

REDEFINING THE URBANSCAPE OF INDIAN CITIES

WORN ARCHITECTURE 2018 Fashion Show | Delhi FESTIVAL OF ARCHITECTURE AND INTERIOR DESIGN

NEGOTIATING LABOR POLICY AND INNOVATION

ARCHITECTURE OF THE BAZAAR DEFINING

THE REMOTE WORKING PHENOMENON

Los Angeles Collage of neighborhoods of aspirations and styles of architecture

Site in relation to iconic Film Buildings along Hollywood Blvd.

LA FILM ARCHIVE INSTITUTIONAL + TOURISM

Location - Los Angeles Site Area - 1,300 sqm Built up - 4,900 sqm FAR - 3.76 Academic Project First year Graduate program University of Virginia Instructor - Prof. Luis Pancorbo

The city of Los Angeles is like a collage of neighborhoods with their own distinct character.

This is due to the growth of city from different communities whose settled across the hill. The uniting element in the city is its film industry.

Inspired by this concept the form is an assembly of cubes tied together with bands symbolic of film strips.

In a city of iconic architecture, the project is an attempt to create a unique experience along the tourist circuit of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The building is a place of shade in the sweltering heat of the city where tourist can come in and rest while looking at the process of archiving. The voids create a series of terraces where tourist can rest. The lower terraces are public and the public character decreases as we move to the top with private terraces only for the employees on the private top floor.

Appearing as a stack of cube, the voids within the building are made possible by a ring of steel trussed from which the building is hung from the top. The bands around the building are supported by a frame of steel members that further stiffens the structure in the earthquake prone region.

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Urban Axonometric

Central Atrium

Corner Atrium

Entrance

ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO / SOMRITA B.

Elevation along Hollywood Blvd.

Section along Hollywood Blvd.

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Basement Floor Plan

Ground Floor Plan

First Floor Plan

Second Floor Plan

Third Floor Plan

Fourth Floor Plan

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ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO / SOMRITA B.

FACADE

FLOORING

STRUCTURE

A. Terracotta Panel B. Steel C Section C. Steel T Section D. Steel Box Section

E. Carpet F. Insulation Board G. Screed H. Hollow Core Slab

J. Steel Beam K. Steel C Section L. Steel Section

CEILING & PARTITION M. Gypsum Board Suspended Ceiling N. Light Panel O. Aluminum framed Glass Partition

Construction Assembly Axonometric

Facade and Floor details

Planter and Ceiling details on terrace

Facades and Approach along Brooklyn Bridge

Volumes and Approach along Brooklyn Bridge

APPROACHING ARCHITEC TURE SCHOOL + HOUSING + PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP

Location - New York, USA Site Area - 25,000 sqm Built up - 30,000 sqm FAR - 10 Partner - YaHsin Chiang Academic Project First year Graduate program University of Virginia Instructor - Prof. Esther Lorenz

The project is a layering of experiences at urban scales from site to city through the facets of typology, facade, program and landscape.

mitigate the contradiction between the lofty glass towers and the dense masonry buildings through elements of density, color and reflection.

The Brooklyn Bridge, as it enters Manhattan, runs past the site; the building on the site is the first building that one sees when entering the city through the bridge. It creates a layered experience in the varying speeds of the car and the pedestrian and in the downward view through the elevated corridor. The location of the bridge further delineates the three distinct urban fabrics of the financial district, the government offices and public housing where the skyline changes from mid-rise housing to the towers of corporate offices on either sides of the bridge.

The Police headquarters nearby restricts the movement along the roads and pavements due to security reasons and to accommodate parking needs of the neighborhood. Though there are a number of green public spaces around the site, due to inaccessibility and disuse they are unwelcoming and unsafe. While the site is very critically situated as a lot of people pass through it to access the only two metro stations in the area, these factors have isolated the site from the neighborhood. The project seeks to resolve the confinement and activate these open spaces with programs like cafes and retail and create a larger public realm that serves the different people of the neighborhood.

Addressing the dichotomies of these urban conditions, the project seeks to create a connection between the two skylines with the two distinct masses of the slab and the courtyard.

The slab as it occurs along the bridge creates a window to the city as it is punctured to create apertures into the city. The facade seeks to

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APPROACHING ARCHITECTURE / NEW YORK / 2019

Type A

Engaing program with voids + courtyard

Type B

Staggered rising volumes

Type C

Movement through site

Type D

Distributing public through the volume

Study of Building typologies

Built Mass negotiating the urban scales of the Financial District and the Public Housing

ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO / SOMRITA B.

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Continuity

Response

Privacy

Reflection

Contradiction

Study of Facade Strategies

Voids as public apertures for visual continuity and daylighting

The Facade is a composition of voids as public space. The glass and the red vertical louvers are inspired by the two distinct urban fabrics adjacent to it.

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APPROACHING ARCHITECTURE / NEW YORK / 2019

1. Existing Parking

2. Site boundary + New Parking

3. Site zoning

Site Zoning

4. Program Distribution

5. Site Circulation

Landscape Diagrams

Playground

Basketball Court

Outdoor Seating

Seating Cluster

Skate Park

ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO / SOMRITA B.

Site Plan

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APPROACHING ARCHITECTURE / NEW YORK / 2019

Program Distribution

Addition + Subtraction in Landscape

Public Programs

School Programs

Housing Programs

Program in Cutouts

Axonometric Diagram

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ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO / SOMRITA B.

Volume Distribution

Slab + Courtyard

Plan showing Athletic Areas

Cutouts + Second Ground

Open Ground Floor

Plan showing Cafeteria

Activating Programs

Plan showing Swimming Pool area

Integrating Program with Cutouts

A CONFLUENCE OF FLOWERS REDEVELOPMENT OF MULLICKGHAT FLOWER MARKET

Location - Kolkata, India Site Area - 72,000 sqm Built up - 41,000 sqm FAR - 2 Individual Academic Project Fifth year Undergraduate program School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi Instructor - Prof. ML Bahri, Ar. Rajesh Donge

Kolkata’s riverfront tells a tale of neglect and abandon. Along a strip on the river lies the site of the 180 year old flower market. Located at a critical urban nexus of economy and transit, where the dense urban fabric of fabric of commercial district meets the busiest railway station in India, the site is situated in a zone of transition as the bustling city diffuses into the holy river Ganga.

Bisected by an arterial local train line, it also bears historic significance in the small ghat structures embedded throughout the riverfront and looming structure of the Howrah Bridge rising adjacent to it. And beneath the fragrance of its wares, thrives this mammoth market that is one of the largest in Asia.

With an aim to revitalize the condition of the dilapidated post- industrial waterfront and re-imagine the old flower market, this thesis explores the scope for tourism infrastructure in the Mullickghat flower market as it is redeveloped as a Confluence of activities related to floriculture, with an endeavor to improve and update the functioning of the market, retain and augment the jobs of close to 3000 people, open up the waterfront to the residents of Kolkata ans create a spectacle of the flower trade.

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CONFLUENCE OF FLOWERS / KOLK ATA / 2018

Pedestran movement across the tracks

Rooftop Market - Natural ventilation - View of the river - Restricts commercial activity

Urban scale strategies

Building around the railway line

Urban Strategies

Institutional - Public transport connect - Private public spaces - Direct access to river esp. for tourist circulation

Connecting to the bridge provides direct pedestrian access from the railways station

ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO / SOMRITA B.

Indoor vs Outdoor work areas / Informal + Formal

Connecting with public transport + ease of un/loading from the river

Creating a spectacle of the flower trade through visual anchors and framed views

Recycling flower waste generated on site through handicrafts production ,etc

Site Plan

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Building Zoning

Model

CONFLUENCE OF FLOWERS / KOLK ATA / 2018

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ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO / SOMRITA B.

Facade design

Ground Floor Plan

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Shop typologies

CONFLUENCE OF FLOWERS / KOLK ATA / 2018

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ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO / SOMRITA B.

Sequence of shaded spaces creating a gradual progression to the river

Creating a walkable edge, green buffer with road

Directional Pathways creating a vista of the heritage structures

Public staircase integrated with green spaces, sit-outs and shaded areas

Expanding the colonnade to create a compact public space and increased shaded outdoors work areas

Landscape Strategies

First floor plan

Affordable + MIG Housing

Office + Retail + Convention Centre

TRANSIT ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT OFFICE + RETAIL + CONVENTION MIG + AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Location - Delhi, India Site Area - 1,19,3000 sqm Built up - 4,34,000 sqm FAR - 6 Partners - Mahalakshmi HV, Rudra Sharma, Sumairha Mumtaz Academic Project Fifth year Undergraduate program School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi Instructor - Prof. ML Bahri

Transit Oriented Development in India focuses on locating residential, retail and workplaces at a close proximity to metro stations and public transport with a good last mile connectivity in order to make easier commutes and promotes walking and cycling through strategically located mixed use developments. The site at Rohini is one such upcoming development on the fringes of Delhi. Largely an empty area at present, it is stated to grow into a lively neighborhood with a mix of residential and institutional projects.

The project focuses on site planning to create a pedestrian and cycling friendly zone by creating easily navigable routes, enhancing the walking experience through landscape and locating functions strategically to create safer streets.

Hotel - 7,000 sqm Retail - 63,000 sqm Office- 102,000 sqm MIG Housing - 1,13,000 sqm Convention Centre - 13,000 sqm Affordable Housing - 56,000 sqm

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TR ANSIT ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT / NEW DELHI / 2017

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ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO / SOMRITA B.

Vehicular

Cycling

Amphitheater

Pedestrian

Housing commons

Landscape creates a flow of space through a green corridor between the central public area, the more private housing commons and the informal market space that connects with the existing neighborhood.

Site Plan

Housing commons

Public Ramp

Retail Streetscape

Site Plan

Site Section

INTERNSHIP : PAN ARCHITEC TURE EX TENSION FOR HANDICR AFT AND HANDLOOM DIRECTOR ATE

Location - Gangtok, India Site Area - 3,000 sqm Built up - 3,700 sqm FAR - 2 Internship Project Fourth year Undergraduate program PAN Architecture, Gangtok Supervisor - Ar. Naveen Pradhan

Stage 1 The small mountain state of Sikkim is the cradle of a beautiful mountain culture and home to the native tribal populations and migrants from Nepal with their disciplined ways and colorful lives. I had always been in awe of the architecture and the lifestyles and chose to intern at PAN Architecture in the capital city of Gangtok, which is the heart of tourism. Our office was designing a network of tourist attractions in the state and I was primarily engaged with the hero project; the new commercial extension to the state directorate of handicrafts and handloom in Gangtok; a building that embodied the culture of the state.

Stage 2

Since I interned during the construction season, I worked on site survey to understand the capricious topography and created the set of construction drawings for site and presentation drawings for client meetings while working with the structural and electrical consultants. Besides the site and building planning, I was also engaged in designing the iconic elevation and the handicraft details in its elements.

Stage 3

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HANDLOOM AND HANDICR AFT DIRECTOR ATE / GANGTOK / 2017

Site Survey

Resolving Roof Truss Structure

Ground Floor Exhibition area

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ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO / SOMRITA B.

First Floor Plan

The design of the facade combined traditional Sikkimese elements with a more modern stone cladding and exposed metal frames to create an iconic elevation.

Main facade with traditional ekra windows and the infinity loop

Entry Elevation

WORN ARCHITECTURE FESTIVAL OF ARCHITECTURE AND INTERIOR DESIGN

Partner - Imdadul Hassan Professional Fashion Show

Architecture is perceived as a series of threshold soft form and light. The collection seeks inspiration from this visual aspect of architecture . Conceptions of construction and structure have been translated into the silhouettes and contours of the clothing. The materials used, their flow and the texture have been inspired by the impression f shadows and reflection on surfaces.

This has been achieved by the use of an unconventional set of materials like rubber sheets, metal, glass and plastic and exploring their sculptural qualities. Hard and soft materials have been combined in a way that is inspired by the interaction between nature and architecture to create a look that is feminine and bold

Personas of Haptic Berlin: (Right to Left) Tech Hub, Autonomen, Cultural Mecca, Weimar, Noctural, Urban WIlds

SKIN OF BERLIN GAMIFICATION OF HAPTIC BERLIN

Berlin Surveillance State Studio Second year Graduate program University of Virginia Instructor: Prof. Michael Lee + Prof. Brad Cantrell Group Research Partner - Ian MacPherson

Link to Skin of Berlin https://ssgb.cargo.site/03-Skin-of-Berlin https://youtu.be/C0lCa4FZrEE Link to Counterculture_Flux https://ssgb.cargo.site/02- Counterculture_Flux Link to Corporate Surveillance https://ssgb.cargo.site/01- Corporate-Actors

Abstract: Berlin is a city characterized and fueled

by Flux: the city belongs to the public. Narratives of resistance and upheaval over time are a catalog of caricatures that can be layered to splice together fictions more legible than present reality.

Today’s capitalist stakeholders in the city commodify these narratives, serving corporate and political collusion and providing the public with employment and pleasure. Unprecedented public-private partnerships between technology companies and the government are poised to irreparably alter the cultural fabric of Berlin.

We projected a territorial reading of the move toward public-private partnerships onto the city.

A district called The Hub, including the new concentration of tech companies amassing around the now decommissioned Tegel Airport and the historic seat of government in the city center, governs a system of surveillance capitalism that mines data from Berlin and packages it for consumers.

In our near future thought experiment, a system of surveillance governed by the Tech Utopia’s AI, called the Haptic System, converts the city into a simulation and an infrastructure of information.

Users immerse themselves within a consumable

virtual gaming platform, consent to have their reactions to haptic stimuli measured to allow the AI ​​to learn, and contribute to a living library of haptic knowledge. The AI ​​feeds users locations and interactions around the city that conform most strongly to their desired narrative, so areas, events, and people that satisfy the most popular range of narratives are the most heavily surveilled.

All social interactions are assigned a haptic point value within the gaming platform, which focuses on simulating physical space and conveying meaning through physical contact. Its aim is to break through the constraints of the surveillance screen and convert all surfaces (architectural, infrastructural, ecological, animal, human) into participants in a fully immersive, projective, and responsive ecosystem of surveillance.

Today, medical, technological, and athletic performance companies have developed wearable haptic devices that simulate the haptic in compelling ways. Our haptic interface would similarly be a wearable skin tight suit. Projecting forward from advances in prosthetics, a neural chip would fill in the gaps where simulation must occur in the brain rather than being registered on the user’s skin. Thus, the body is uploaded into the city, and the city is in turn uploaded as a game.

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Haptic reading of reality

Haptic wearables and Gamification

ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO / SOMRITA B.

Tabulation of Haptic data

Valuation of Objuects

World building and positioning of Actors

The Glitch and Infrastructure of Surveillance

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Analysis of Flow of Data with the Ring Ecosystem

Collage of geospatial segregation caused by the Ring interface

DIGITAL GENTRIFICATION

Technology and Urbanization Seminar Second year Graduate program University of Virginia Instructor - Prof. Ali Fard Group Project Partners - Irmak Fermen, Gabriel Andrade

THE GEOSPATIAL POWER OF R ATING SYSTEMS

Link to website https://gia2hc.wixsite.com/digitalrating

Abstract: The research focuses on “digital gentrification” which can be defined as the gentrification of places due to the aggregation of the inherited biases of technology and technological systems. The study analyzed how social media and online ranking platforms agglomerate the already-inherited biases under “objectivity of data collection”, and even accelerate these by the physical manifestations in transforming neighborhoods. We are particularly analyzing social/ tech platforms Yelp, Google Business, and Amazon Ring. This list could potentially be extended to many others like Twitter, Airbnb, Foursquare, Instagram, and many others.

As we found in several research studies, these platforms are based on a ‘language of power’ which we tried to identify by analyzing reviews from online network platforms and such to draw attention to the power-capital structures at play in the background and how the disproportional racial majority implements their power of influence.

Analyzing the geospatial power of these digital network platforms speculates various narratives and their power of shaping the perception of neighborhoods.

Narrative Diagram

Map of Shifting jute cultivation in India

Map of Jute mills based on their production versus their capacity at Jagaddal

TURNING INDUSTRY NEGOTIATING L ABOUR, POLICY AND INNOVATION IN JUTE MILLS OF KOLK ATA

Thesis Research Second year Graduate program University of Virginia Instructor - Prof. Ghazal Jafari Thesis Guide - Prof. Shiqiao Li Individual Research

Link to short film https://youtu.be/uNBTGxFn2vM

Abstract: The present day industry of jute is in many ways defined by the stagnation of its colonial inheritance. Jute was one of many materials recognized for its capacity to sustain British industries. The city of Calcutta, the erstwhile capital of the British Empire in India, became the focus of funnelling raw jute to the industries in Scotland and later to the proliferation of jute mills within the city. Finding use in the packaging of goods, jute became a lucrative business that sustained a global network of trade and consumption.

The process of reindustrialization of the manufacturing industry is being actively embraced in countries like India and China. Through programs like Make in India and Make in China 2025, governments of both countries are in creating new policies and schemes to support industry through the construction of infrastructure, increased ease of business, generate investment and innovation. At their core, both of them seem to seek a transformation to gain a new identity that is rooted in the present and in the future.

After over 140 years, the mechanisms of production are still the same. Most factories still use centuries’ old machinery and production technology. They operate of the factories established in the early 20th century, without concerns for safety or ethical working conditions, causing acute respiratory diseases. The labour intensive nature of manufacturing that was once profitable because a colonial government wasn’t obliged to pay fair wages has grown to point of great contention with militant labour unions in most factories. Use of labour without incurring profits has also cut back investment in t workers, forcing them into living conditions that are just as inhumane as the colonial era “coolie line” housing.

The massive amounts of waste generated is incinerated.

These vestiges of colonial industry are important sites of collective memory, employment, identity, and aspirations.

By countering the forces of demolition to give way to gentrification and imitative preservation stemming from colonial nostalgia, these sites can be reconceived through the process of reindustrialization to explore the possibilities of jute as a sustainable commodity, as retribution to the environment, and as new spaces of employment and aspiration for the communities that have sustained them.

URBAN ARC CONFERENCE 2019

Individual Research Indian Institute of Human Settlements, Bangalore

ARCHITECTURE OF THE BA ZA AR DEFINING SOCIO - ECONOMIC CIT Y - REGION LINK AGES

Study of Shop Typologies

Abstract: A wholesale market is an element which defines a larger economic transaction, social and architectural construct that is a forum for the gathering and exchange of goods as they are transferred from the manufacturer to the distributor. They play a vital role in the channeling of goods from the source region into the city. As the foundation of trade, they are shaped by and a reflection of the prevalent political, economic and social norms.

The city of Kolkata had flourished as the capital of trade and commerce during the British rule.

The river Hooghly forms the nexus that links the city to a greater region, further augmented and enhanced through the development of transit systems of rail and road. This chain of regions have a symbiotic relationship with the core and fortify its commerce that in turn thrives on the substructure of wholesale markets which have historically sustained the city and created an avenue for its growth. Today, the city has emerged

into many newer identities while these markets still survive as growing centers of commerce.

This research paper explores the market as an urban nexus that engenders linkages between the region and the city in the setting of Mullickghat flower market. As a product of its history and its location, this particular market has many layers of meaning. Due to its location at the confluence of transit lines of the city, the market demonstrates the advantages of the pattern of linkages with the greater region that sustain the floriculture trade. Like most markets in the city, it is run by communities of migrant workers and sets a unique example of the temporal nature of their habitation.

The workers inhabit the live in shops and have developed an underlying structure f residences and amenities intertwined with the market itself.

Through its centuries of history and leading to its contemporary condition, it stands as a paradigm of the complex conglomeration of a community reflective of the changing social and political conditions

PROJECTING 2037 THE REMOTE WORKING PHENOMENON

Research Seminar Fifth year Undergraduate program School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi Instructor - Prof. Rajiv Bhakat Group Research Partners - Pavan Kavikondla, Arushee Yadhav, Shivani Subba

Installation Design

Abstract: The venerated office building is an invention of the Industrial Revolution; it has outstayed its welcome. Remote working is a reality that is catching up fast with the most prominent companies in the world. Backed by the recent developments in remote communication and management software, cloud security and virtual and augmented reality, this trend is taking root in India as many people are actively considering the possibility of working from home. It is and era of new thought where offices are not limited in recruiting employees nor are prospective employees tied up when choosing offices by virtues of location or commute distances.

This phenomenon has deep ramifications on our society and environment. It negates the wasteful urban commute and freeing up the roads and reducing the pollution in the air. It allows the employees to work during their most productive time in their choice of environment and create a workflow that works for them, ensuing their

mental and physical wellbeing. The essential requirement is for the people to come to a place where other workers are present with whom they can interact with and learn from and the technological support they need to do their work is readily available. But does it require them to come to an office or business location in order to work? As companies convert to remote offices, the real estate market is set to witness a plummeting demand for office spaces as companies move out and redistribute to remote workplaces.

The seminar is an attempt to comprehend the shift in the pattern of spaces generated by this radical change in peoples lifestyle and how that change will manifest from the scale of the office cubicle at home to the new neighborhoods these workers will inhabit.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME! SOMRITA B.