SURAMBIKA PRADHAN PORTFOLIO 2016
SURAMBIKA PRADHAN
surambika.pradhan@gmail.com 312-758-3818 3050 S Parnell Ave Chicago IL - 60616
EDUCATION
ACHIEVEMENTS
Illinois Institute of Technology
M.Arch
National Institute of Technology
B.Arch
Chicago, IL
(2015)
Jaipur, India
(2009)
Peter Hans Prize for Excellence in Visual Training (Photography 2014) Illustrated Hagia Sophia for Harry F Mallgrave’s new anthology Project mentioned in an article in Journal of Architectural Education Event Coordinator for Museum of Muslim Arts, India Executive member of the Fine Arts Society, NIT, Jaipur for 3 years National level prizes for painting, calligraphy, sports and creative writing Selected participant - Annual Open House at COA, IIT
EXPERIENCE
SKILLS
RGLA Solutions, Inc.
Associate Architect
Chicago, IL
Olsen Vranas Architecture Chicago, IL
(March 2016 - July 2016)
Intern Architect
(April 2013 - December 2015)
Harry F Mallgrave (Phd Hon FRIBA)
Teaching Assistant
IIT, Chicago, IL
(August 2012 - May 2014)
Marg Institute of Design and Architecture Swarnabhoomi, Chennai, India
JDS Architects Chennai, India
Architecture Paradigm Pvt Ltd Bangalore, India
Public Works Department Chennai, India
Asst Professor
Design Software: Revit
AutoCAD
Rhino 3D
Grasshopper
Sketchup
3D Max
Graphic Software: Adobe Photoshop
Illustrator
Lightroom
InDesign
(April 2011 - July 2011)
Junior Architect
(February 2010 - April 2011)
Intern Architect
(January 2008 - June 2008)
Summer Intern
(June 2006 - July 2006)
Other:
Painting (Oil, Ink, Watercolor, Graphite) Photography
Language Proficiency:
Woodworking
English
Hindi
Bengali
Oriya
Emotions + The Berlin Wall Collage
LIST OF CONTENTS
ACADEMIC PROJECTS DISAPPEARING CITY LAND PORT OF ENTRY MERIT MUSIC CONSERVATORY THE WING PROFESSIONAL PROJECTS AMY MORTON RESTAURANT ART PHOTOGRAPHY FURNITURE & WOODWORKING
Disappearing City
Cloud Studio Fall 2014 (with Cameron Cortez, Keefer Dunn and Michael Finn) Studio Assignment: To give an plan, with a 1 mille x 1 mile square plot example,how cities will change in around 50 years, showing the changes in culture, politics and economy through a documentary.
Around the Block Ink and Pencil color on Paper
The Answer: While a dystopian future was not the option we wanted to pursue, the answer was that the city will become dysfunctional, operating as a giant museum to show how the past was. While the trade and commerce is focussed on the internet, maximum development will take place in the suburban region where people prefer to live. Another aspect of our answer was redefining the elements of the built environment today to make them cohesive with the future. ‘Fundamentals’ (roads, vegetation, fences, cul-desacs, big box buildings, walls, street lights, etc) as we call them, will change, and the overall plan is a result of all the fundamentals combining to form the built environment.
STUDIO PROJECT: DISAPPEARING CITY
Cul-de-Sac Vegetated Land
Fences
House
Parking & Roads
Utilities
Fundamentals
Site Study
STUDIO PROJECT: DISAPPEARING CITY
Signages & Billboards
Openings Model showing vegetaion extent
Model showing building coverage
Sculpture, Public Art, Traffic Lights and Street Lights
Land Port of Entry Fall 2012 Grand Portage, MN
Concept: Land port of entry at Grand Portage in the state of Minnesota deals with small but important traffic coming from and going to Canada.There is a lot that goes in to planning and designing a border control station, as it deals with emotional state of the users. But as the technology advances, the borders and the emotional tension attached to them are vanishing making the path across the world infinite. This idea of infinite is reflected in the plan of the building. It gets modified as the building reacts to the site, the terrain , the river, the view and orientation. The building becomes a part of the trail running through the state park where it is located making it a part of the surrounding forest. Structure and Material The structure is simple cast in concrete walls and columns. The facade however is made of local wood planks, which are held together by clips acting as a rainscreen and also having slit openings giving the whole building a glow in the dark but still discreet. The slits also let diffused light in during the day.
STUDIO PROJECT: LAND PORT OF ENTRY
View of the transit booths
View in winter
Site and Form development
STUDIO PROJECT: LAND PORT OF ENTRY
Rainscreen detail
Conceptual forms
Ground floor plan with overlayed motion plan
Building Model
STUDIO PROJECT: LAND PORT OF ENTRY
Elevation
Transverse Section
Cross Section
Merit Music Conservatory Fall 2012 Chicago, IL
The concept of the design is "Transition through Spaces: Filtering as a mean of Progression". The process of making music happens in steps and these steps need specific spaces. According to the function of the spaces, there are only specific people who use them. The idea was to place these spaces in a level of hierarchy in a way that in becomes a continuous loop of composing and performing music. Practice is the major part of becoming a musician and practice rooms are a major part of the program as well. Hence, the practice rooms are intended to guide the students from one space to other. Showing them in spirit, the importance of practice.
Model View Massing Model view from the streets
STUDIO PROJECT: MERIT MUSIC CONSERVATORY
Concept: Transition while progressing
Plan: Ground Floor
Side Elevation
100 Practice Rooms
Auditorium: The entrance is on W. Monroe Street as it is one of the major streets in Chicago hence accounting for street presence. The approach to the building is through a curtained porch into a grand lobby, leading to the auditorium. Music college: The music college begins at a mezzanine floor accommodating the administration. Half a floor up, the practice rooms begin, leading to the classrooms, and then it becomes a continuous band of spaces rising half a floor at each ascension. At any point of music college one can see rows of practice rooms. The space between the bands is a green roof/ terrace garden which acts as a civic space meant for interaction of the students. Sructure: The structure of the building has been kept as minimal as possible. There is combination of braced trusses and Verendeel trusses. While the auditorium roof is supported by six feet deep braced trusses, the cantilevering practice rooms are hung from two Verendeel trusses which are three floors high, on each side. The same structural vocabulary has been extended to space in the front and back with three floor high trusses supporting three floors by two feet deep beams running between them. The remaining two floors are hung from the trusses above by cables. Facade: The facade pattern brings out the idea of progression, same in spirit but different in execution. The curtain wall is made up of double-paned glass wall. Some of the panes have Aero-gel in between them instead of air to account for translucency and sound barrier along with insulation. The panes are placed in a patter which shows a transition between floor, more opaque at the bottom, getting less dense as we move up. The front porch and the side entrance to the auditorium have slit walls in front to generate a sense of entrance also inculcating a sense of intrigue of the spaces beyond.
View from side
STUDIO PROJECT: MERIT MUSIC CONSERVATORY
View from front
Floor Plans: Mezzanine, Second, Third and Fourth floor
Auditorium
Sectional Model
The Wing
Spring 2012 (with Kuan ju Chen, Weiben Li, Caitlin Mehta, Elliot Stevenson, Tim Wang, and Tongyu Wu) The studio assignment was to design and construct a mega structure, 60’ x 15’ out of wood in a span of two months. The model was an active display at Open House Annual Exhibition 2012. The project was also mentioned in an article by Prof. Catherine Wetzel in the Journal of Architectural Education (link given below). http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10464883.2012.715980
STUDIO PROJECT: THE WING
Concept Photos
Top beam
Cantilevers
Design: The construction project began with the idea of a simple arch in form of a Vierendeel Truss, spanning around 60’, from ground to top of the doors of Crown Hall. Several modifications and structural development led it into being a double cantilever. Each bay has a central rib of two Vierendeel Trusses connected by a beam. These trusses have beams in the bottom from which there are cantilever members attached. These trusses form the compression members. Hence to balance them and make it into a closed system, tensioned cables are introduced. Structure: The ribs or the centra Vierendeel Truss are joined by moment connections at the top beam and the bottom beams. The wings which are tapered to get a lighter structure have webbing in them to prevent buckling. They are joined to the bottom beam of the Vierendeel Truss by moment connections. At the centre there are compression members spanning accross, connecting the top arch. There are members connecting the two bottom arches as well.
STUDIO PROJECT: THE WING
Details
Amy Morton’s Restaurant
Evanston, IL Olsen Vranas Architecture (Ongoing)
The project was to turn a run down barn into an upscale restaurant for the famous Chicago restaurateur. The scope on the work included design drawings, detail drawings, permit drawings, code matrix and conceptual perspective views.
PROFESSIONAL PROJECT: AMY MORTON’S RESTAURANT
Bar Perspective
Interior Perspective
Ground Floor Plan
Mezzanine Floor Plan
Restroom details
People #2 Chicago, IL 2013
Clicked as a part of an assignment, this photograph was one of the winning entries of the 2014 Peterhans Prize in Visual Training (Photography). The assignment was to photograph two people to capture, in a subtle manner, the emotions in their body language rather than expressions.
PHOTOGRAPHY
Sears Tower Kemper Tower, Chicago, IL
People #1 Oak Park, Chicago, IL
Who I Am Bridgeport, Chicago, IL
Crown Hall IIT, Chicago, IL
ME #7 Bridgeport, Chicago, IL
Study in Movements #2 MTCC, IIT, Chicago, IL
Hagia Sophia, Istanbul Illustration - Ink Fall 2014
The freehand illustration of the Great Museum of Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, was done to be included in Harry F Mallgrave’s new anthology, ‘Critical Concepts in Architecture’, set to publish soon. The illustration was required to be made by hand and showing both the beautiful facade of the building and magnificient interior details of the building, which probably has the most illustrious history in the built environment.
ARTWORK
The First Glance Watercolor and Graphite on Paper
The Cat Watercolor on Paper
Skeletons in my Closet Ink on Paper
Green Ink on Paper
Diomira - from Italo Calvino’s Invisible CIties Ink and Pencil color on Paper
Pantheon, Rome Illustration - Ink Fall 2014
This was another illustration done for Harry F Mallgrave’s new book. The illustration was to capture the intricate details of the interiors of the Pantheon in Rome, while showing the form of one of the most famous temples of the world.
ARTWORK
Seasons Oil on Canvas
Seascape Oil on Canvas
Desk with collapsible Easel Red Oak Fall 2014
The idea of the desk came from the personal struggles of managing to fit and store a piece of furniture to accomodate every tool of painting material I need. This desk is compact when the easel is down and the surface are not extended out. The advantage of keeping it compact is it is easy to carry and fits into that corner of your small city apartment but still lets you indulge in the art of painting. The planks connecting the easel and the desk act as a storage space for canvases.
FURNITURE & WOODWORKING
Ulmer Hacker Stool Red Oak - Reproduced as a studio assignment
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin Lamp Red Oak - Reproduced as a furniture assignment
Pine candle votives Pine wood
Tea bag dispenser Zebra wood
3 layer bowl Walnut - Mahogany - Purple Heart
Soy sauce bowls Mahogany
Seat4One - Piano Stool
MDF Board Studio Project Fall 2012 (with Corey Nissenberg, and Yikai Zhao)
Concept and Design: People call architecture to be the king of arts, we call music the queen. Just like form, function and structure combine to form architecture, rhythm, melody and harmony come together to form music. The concept was to combine all three elements and put them on the figure ground, the legs of the stool. Production: The stool consists of four sets which fit into each other like a jigsaw puzzle. each set is made of three same units. the parts fit into each other in a way that there is no need for glue to hold them together.
FURNITURE & WOODWORKING
Piano Stool
Assembly Process
Cubes
Various kinds of wood Spring 2013
Project: The project was a 15 week long attempt on finding the properties of a material and working with it while establishing a visually appealing rule and establish aesthetics in to an object which closest resembles architecture. The projects were about studying wood, and wood-joints. The idea was to establish a path, either a close loop or open, in to a cube while mastering the art of wood-working.
FURNITURE & WOODWORKING
THANK YOU
A Box for brushes and palette Pine wood, red oak and white acrylic