H A N S H AG R AWA L
| Selected Works
I believe that life is a balancing act - one where I grow by nurturing a dialogue between multiple activities and interests. The chosen projects, from my undergraduate education, depict my journey through various design approaches; modes of discovery, ecologies, and scales of engagement. They reinforce my urge to re-interpret and re-invent preconceived societal norms. In addition, I continuously strive to expand my understandings of architecture through travel and research.
SKILLS Digital Design Revit ArchiCad AutoCad Adobe suite Rhino MS Project Navisworks Sefaira
Analog Design Sketching Graphic design Hand modeling Ceramics Laser cutting Screenprinting Wood shop Metal shop
Languages English, Hindi, Bengali, Italian
H A N S H AG R AWA L E D U C AT I O N
RECOGNITION
EXPERIENCE
Virginia Tech, School of A+D B. Arch, 20 Univ. Honors GPA 3.81 Dean’s List, 2015-20 Blacksburg,Virginia
Krob Delineation Competition Finalist - Student Travel sketch Published and exhibited, Dallas 2019 | 400 participants
Mayberry Workshop Junior Designer San Jose, August 2020-present
The Doon School High school, 2015 GPA 3.87 Dehradun, India
Ideas forward 24 hr Competition Honorable Mention - Babel Published and exhibited, Portugal 2019 | 24 hrs | 450 participants
AC A D E M I C EXPERIENCE
A+D Fifth Year Competition Winner - DWR champagne chair 2019 | 2 days | 147 participants
Accademia di Architettura European exchange program Mendrisio, Switzerland 2018-19 Studio Mumbai, Bijoy Jain Intensive studio + travel Mendrisio, Switzerland 2018
A+D Third Year Competition Second Place - Virginia Tech 2018 | 1 week | 147 participants AIA Virginia Prize Finalist - 1/13 selected to represent Virginia Tech 2017 | 2 days | 400 participants
House+House Architects Travel Study program Center for Architecture Sustainability + Art, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico 2017
A+D Drawing Competition Finalist - Virginia Tech 2016 | 1 year | 10/147 selected
St. Andrews College Bilateral exchange Grahamstown, South Africa 2013
State Squash Championship Winner - U-19, Uttrakhand, India 2015 | 100 participants
RESEARCH
INTERESTS
Spatiality of Festspielhaus, Germany Survey in Germany and work under E.M.Boesch Architekten Mendrisio, Switzerland 2019
VT Squash Club Captain, 2015-20
Doors of San Miguel Photo re-portage in Mexico Exhibition at the School of A+D 2017
+1(540)-252-9692
House + House Architects Architectural Designer San Francisco, August 2020-present Build-n-Eco Co-Founder Creating awareness to connect sustainable building practices and inhabitats, Online, 2020-present Amber Book, Michael Ermann Illustrator | International Marketer Designed diagrams for ARE prep Launched + led sales\outreach for South Asia-Pacific region Blacksburg,Virginia 2019-2020 Columbia University Teaching Assistant - Intro to Architecture: Studio and Theory Helped students develop designs New York 2018 Gorsia Design and Furniture Architectural Intern Schematic design to completion for a multi-family house Kolkata, India 2016
Travel 20 countries across Australia, Asia, Europe, and N. America Theater Actor - Director, 2009-2015
SUD663@VT.EDU
WWW.ISSUU.COM/SUD663
C H A P E L O F R E- C O N C I L AT I O N Krob delineation competition
Finalist, Student travel sketch | 400 entries Published and exhibited, Dallas 2019
01 R E - N E W E D W AY S O F L I V I N G Undergraduate thesis (in-progress) |
02
RE-BUILDING COMMUNITY Mudslide disaster response |
03
04
09-12 2018
RE-CYCLE
13-16
Temporary recycling education center |
05
R E - P O R TA G E Doors of San Miguel |
05-08
2018
CO-EXISTENCE Red and yellow fire station |
01-04
2019
2017
17-18 2017
00
R E - N E W E D W AY S O F L I V I N G Undergraduate thesis (in-progress) Prof. Henri de Hahn, Virginia Tech, 2019 | 16 weeks | Blacksburg
If the way we have been living has brought our world to a tipping point, how can a built framework provide a renewed model of life that induces accountability and awareness of our actions? Freedom in a commons (ref. Tragedy of the commons) has brought about the climate crisis. We have separated nature from culture and prefer the over-stimulation in hyper-modernity to sensory integration in nature. We have scarred the ground we tread on and our house is on fire! It isn’t much longer till there is no turning back. Throughout history, we have seen people accomplish great feats. They had a collective meaning which kept their inner fires running. We need to be free and accountable and believe that we can produce change. But it isn’t until there is an “avenue for people to utilize their agency that true differences can be made.” A sense of accountability will only be produced when people understand the value of natural resources. A sense of accountability towards natural resources will only be produced when people understand the value of natural resources. This thesis postulates that in a house where no resources are available, the built framework strives to work with the inhabitants to sustain the basic necessities of life - water, food, and energy. (right images) The shower investigated for how we could be made aware of our water consumption
Current way of living
Re-newed way of living
01
02
Constructing nature, planting the tower The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. Is there anthing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? It hath been already of old time, which was before us. Ecclesiastes 1:10,11
We have separated nature from culture and prefer the over-stimulation in hypermodernity to sensory integration in nature. We have scarred the ground we tread on and our house is on fire! It isn’t much longer till there is no turning back. The tower of Babel was built by a pure drive to reach the Gods, the skies. The tower today should be built by the same yearning to bring nature closer to our urban fabric. Years later, we see the city of Babylon prepare for another journey. Slowly, a frame rises above the city, giving way to a new ground. Here, people and nature come together as one.
Our tower is the monumental effort to reach the Earth, to reach Mother Nature
Constructing nature, planting the tower Babel tower of today If ideas forward competition | Honorable mention | 10/400 entries selected 09.2019 | 24 hrs a collaboration with Aayush das Anat
03
Re-wilding the city The founding ideas of my architectural thesis were developed at the urban scale. Competitions are a tool to test and further the scope of my understandings and bring forward a new perspective. (Above image) Micron on paper
04
RE-BUILDING COMMUNITY Mudslide disaster response Prof. Katie MacDonald, Virginia Tech, 2018 | 10 weeks
Wedged between the Californian mountains and ocean, Montecito was affected by a major mudslide caused by heavy rainfall following the widespread forest fires. Integral parts of the community were destroyed, and a disaster response was to be designed, which would account for future mudslides. The project was divided into two parts : a) master plan for the town (in collaboration with Jordan Reuter and Peter Daian) b) individual intervention in the master plan. For the master plan, in light of the unstable climate of California, we took to a passive solution of landscaping a park. As the grounds were reclaimed by nature, the community was woven together by built and natural interventions. Following a road trip along route 101 and experiencing the monotony of the american highway, I decided to intervene in Montecito at the intersection of the park and the highway. Similar to the longitudinal void through the town caused by the mudslide, I saw the transverse void—the highway—as an opportunity to weave the town together. Challenges of the project were to maintain the essence of the idea while working at multiple scales. (Right image) Master plan with interventions responding to various scales - individual, community, nation, planet.
05
Hiking shelter
Hiking trail
Community theater
Retaining walls mediate slope to create level fields
Route 101 observation deck
Playful rolling hills slow mud
Cenotaph to primal man
Montecito, CA
2018 mudslide debris flow highest risk area
Area of highest destruction
06
Proposed park
Proposed community amenities along the park
Mountain
Ocean
Site plan
Section reveals the pattern of filtered light
Highway observation deck The park weaves its way through the topography, bridging the void made by the highway. At the constructive scale, the design is resolved by gabion blocks—made of rocks gathered from the mudslide.
07
Flat metal sheet roof Metal angle with bolts Expansion gap
Gabion infill: rocks from mudslide
End of gabion basket #2
End of gabion basket #1 Steel column and beam, 3’ o.c. Gabion basket: 3’x3’x1’ 2.75mm galvanized wire Metal angle Base plate on grout with anchor bolts 6” polished concrete slab on vapor barrier on perimeter insulation Asphalt concrete road paving #4 continuous, 18” o.c. Concrete foundation #4 verticals, 48” o.c. Perimeter drain Concrete footing
Wall Section III-III
Section I-I
Re-interpreting observation A broader sensory observation is achieved by questioning the different scales of observing—in addition to the sounds of cars, obscured views, framed views, and directed views.
08
CO-EXISTENCE Red and yellow fire station Ar. Bijoy Jain, Mendrisio, Switzerland | 2018 | 10 weeks
The studio was framed by events of mass displacement happening all over the world. In the abandoned city of Consonno, Italy, collectively the studio was form a city for the displaced. In such a climate, how could we accommodate for the forced migrants? To confront this reality, it was imperative for to understand and accept myself. The exploration began with sharing a personal object—a captivating red water bottle which expands and contracts based on the amount of water that is in it. This led me to a study of my love of colors—precisely red and yellow—and how they co-exist. An exploration of the two took the form of a fire station. The fragile process of translating the essence of the object to the building unfolded a whole new way of thinking about design. Immersion in the colors induced resonance between different parts of the design process while nurturing formal and ideological precision and clarity. (right image) Exploration of co-existence of red and yellow leads to the concept of a fire station. oil pastel on 12”x18” paper
live work
live
09
water work
10
Inter-scalable resonance
Working simultaneously in plan, section, elevation, and detail were critical to developing the idea at all scales of design. (bottom images) The white lime-plaster facade accommodates two doors of color. The small yellow(live) door suggests a private space while the red(work), facing the street, suggests a more public space. oil pastel on wood 3.5’x2’
11
01
02
03 04 05 06 07 08
01 02
03 04 05
14
12 13
10 11
07 09 08 09
06
Wood screw Ridge/hip capping / mono ridge capping Additional batten Angle bracket Batten Rafter Anchor bolt Wall plate
15
01
26
27
28
29
07
05
15 04
16 17
25
09 Damp-proof course 10 Red/yellow bricks 11 Peripheral reinforcement joint or capping beam)VERSION PRODUCED BY (in ANbed AUTODESK STUDENT 12 Tie between masonry 13 Masonry anchor 14 Facing bricks with white lime plaster 15 Interlocking profiled ceramic tile 16 Additional blocking for support 17 Blocking between roof framing
PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION
Details
06
19
23
21 22
24
20
Snow-guard mounting Snow-guard Clip Hip batten, tilting board Flashing Fascia board Sub fascia Metal plate with anchor bolt Wooden column Window Window frame Top plate
01 18
26 27 28 29
18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION
PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION
Livability A smooth transition from private to public—sheltered private, semi-private, semi-public, and open public space—and the blue well strengthen the co-existence between the living and working volumes. (above image) oil pastel on 6’x6’ paper with AutoCad overlay
12
RE-CYCLE Temporary recycling education center Ar. Steven and Cathi House, San Miguel, Mexico 2017 | 3 weeks
Any object goes through three stages in its making: raw material, process, and product. Entering the space, one comes in through a long gallery of recycled objects. In them one sees hope and change. Enveloped by the diffused light from the colorful tarps and recyclable walls, one sees how the objects are produced and then the raw materials available. Lastly one learns to make things from the neighborhood and continue their journey - from picking the raw materials to producing it and finally exhibiting it in the gallery. Located in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, this temporary enclosure is aimed at inducing an awareness for re-cycling in micro-communities. It strives to instill a practice of recycling by engaging and exposing the community to the process. Moreover, it offers a re-newed notion of education, free from that of the typical classroom, as one learns by seeing, making, and above all, constructing the space itself. The project reveals a new process of design—one of obsessive iteration—while offering a shift from orthogonal to skewed geometries.
13
14
Up-cycled material assembly detail
The section, grounded on mexican culture, reveals the process of recycling
Learning from the locality (top detail) The temporary enclosure is assembled by the community using colorful tarps and PET bottle wall-screens. Both are tied to the neighboring walls and a system of columns using ropes and hooks.
15
Re-inpreted brick module
Scales of engagement Working simultaneously at the scales of research/documentation, site, enclosure, and detail unveil a cohesive design. (top detail) Placing PET bottles in various orientations reveal different degrees of transparency—a measure of privacy. The bottles form a curtain and act as a rain and wind screen.
16
R E - P O R TA G E Doors of San Miguel a collaboration with Jordan Reuter | 2017 | 3 weeks
The door, meaningless in singularity, acts as an integral shift between the known and the unknown.
Link to full portfolio