TANVI MARINA RAO
EDUCATION Syracuse University | May 2020 | B.ARCH Thesis Bachelor of Architecture with Honours. Dean’s List. GPA 3.75. Renee Crown Honors Program. Florence, Italy | International Studio, Spring 2018 London, United Kingdom | Urban Studio, Fall 2018
The Bartlett School of Architecture Summer College Architecture Program. London, UK | June 2015.
Panoramas of the Post-Human City
TANVI MARINA RAO Citizen of Italy & Overseas Citizen of India tanvimarao@gmail.com +1 (315) 748 0773
Participated in workshop on the principles of world-building with film director and architect, Liam Young and Professor Daniele Profeta. Syracuse, NY | October 2017
En{coded}fields. Fibrous Agency Advanced Design Summer Workshop. Florence, Italy | July 2017
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EXPERIENCE Design Intern at BUREAU SPECTACULAR Currently assisting Jimenez Lai remotely in various projects. Los Angeles, CA | Summer 2020
Research Assistant
Assisted Professor Matthew Celmer in the model fabrication for his project, Narrative Homes. Assembled 3D prints and wood parts. Syracuse, NY | Fall 2019
Undergraduate Assistant
Assisted Professor Theodore Brown and Professor Valerie Herrera in instructing lessons on analog drawing skills for first year students. Syracuse, NY | Fall 2019
Teaching Assistant
Summer High School Programme led by Professor Molly Hunker and Professor Greg Corso at Syracuse University. Assisted with design critiques and tutorials. Syracuse, NY | Summer 2019
Design Intern at BUREAU SPECTACULAR
Intern for Jimenez Lai and Joanna Grant. Worked on projects include "Cave of Hugs", "Tatami" and "Adidas Cat Tower" Los Angeles, CA | Summer 2018
Thesis Assistant
Assisted a fifth year student, Jonathan Anthony, with building physical models for his thesis project. It was nominated for final jury. Syracuse, NY | Spring 2017
SKILLS Model Building
Museum Board. Foamcore. Foam. Basswood. Acetone. Laser Cutting Fabrication. 3D Printing. Wood.
Manual Drafting Digital Programmes Photoshop. Illustrator. Indesign. Microsoft Office. Rhino. VRAY. IMovie. Indesign.
Languages
Native Speaker English & Hindi Conversational Italian
EXHIBITIONS AND PUBLICATIONS Thesis Feature on Archinect
Award winning undergraduate thesis project, done in collaboration with Isabella Calidonio, has been published on Archinect. June 2020
Interview with Jennifer Bonner (MALL)
An interview with Jennifer Bonner, done in collaboration with Isabella Calidonio, on her practice has been published on The Architect’s Newspaper. March 2020
'From Bloomies to Everson' Exhibition
Studio project on the museum’s ceramics collection was exhibited in the Everson Museum of Art. Syracuse, NY | January-February 2017
Independent Study
Research on the shared spaces of WeWork and graphics of magazines produced by the radical architecture groups of the 1960s-70s. Under the guidance of Professor Britt Eversole. Syracuse, NY | Fall 2019
Independent Study
Conducted research with Professor Mark Linder & Professor Jonathan Louie for the celebration of 50 years of the Everson Museum of Art. Syracuse, NY | Spring 2017.
AWARDS & ACHIEVEMENTS Citation for Excellence in Thesis Design
Awarded for B.ARCH thesis, DO[NATION], with Isabella Calidonio. May 2020.
Recipient of Undergraduate Research Grant
Awarded $1200 grant by the Syracuse University's Research Office, SOURCE, to pursue thesis project. December 2019.
King & King Prize for Integrated Studio Project
First Place for 'Precarious Equilibrium'. All fourth year comprehensive studio projects compete in this annual competition. May 2019.
Recipient of Undergraduate Research Summer Grant
Amongst 50 out of 300 people to be awarded $2800 grant by the Syracuse University's Research Office, SOURCE, to pursue research on topic of interest. May 2019.
COMMUNITY SERVICE Volunteer
Northside Learning Center. For Refugees. Looked after children aged from 4 to 5 years. Taught English to adult refugees. Syracuse, NY | Spring 2017.
Peer Advisor for Incoming Freshman Class Syracuse, NY | Spring 2016 & Fall 2016.
Sliver's Prize for 'Strong Sense of Design through Simplicity' Digital Drawing Competition held anually for second year student at Syracuse University School of Architecture. March 2017.
LEADERSHIP Vice-Captain, Student Council Sanskriti School | New Delhi, India.
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CONTENTS
B.ARCH THESIS
DO[NATION]
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STUDIO WORKS 20 PRECARIOUS EQUILLIBRIUM
26 I N T E R A C T I N G W I T H D. U. M. B. O.
34 A ROUND TABLE EXPERIENCE OF THE FUSION OF TWO REGIONS : A FIVE COURSE MEAL
OBJECTS
40 CONNECTING DOTS
PROFFESSIONAL WORK
44 A CAVE OF HUGS
48 NARRATIVE HOMES
RESEARCH
42 THE BOX
Sliver's Competition Drawing
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B.ARCH Thesis
01
DO[NATION]
COURSE // THESIS ADVISORS // PROFESSORS GREG CORSO, KYLE MILLER & DANIELE PROFETA YEAR // FALL 2019 & SPRING 2020 In collaboration with ISABELLA CALIDONIO
DO(NATION) speculates the future of cities and architecture by critiquing the exasperating rate of overconsumption and overproduction of everyday objects in the world. It imagines the start of a community that counteracts the single-use of objects and their frivolous discard once they have been exhausted of their utility value. The thesis explores a new form of engagement with domestic waste through the lens of communal living, collaborative conservation, and conscious (deliberative) consumption and resue. Excess, Collection, Reuse and Intentional Communities are themes that this project utilizes in making donated domestic waste seem desirable for usage again. Investigating the donation center model through these lenses, the results culminated in viewing the donation center as an intentional community based on a system of logistics that deals with excess through collections and encourages the reuse of donated goods. This project begins with donated domestic goods entering a speculative system of logistics that performs defined domestic cleaning practices such as laundry, stitching, polishing etc. This determined set of logistics aims at the optimal improvement of the donated domestic objects. It sorts the domestic objects into three categories: Usable, Reparable and Irreparable. The logistics of flows and networks act as the literal and figurative infrastructures of the community. It is physically embodied by a machine. The machine works as a function, it inputs donated objects that can come from the centers or the same community, and outputs domestic spaces. This project was awarded a Citation in Excellence in Thesis Design in 2020. Architecture publication, Archinect also published the project here.
In collaboration with Isabella Calidonio 6
DO[NATION]
Objects Catalogue
Objects assorted into according to Live, Bed, Bath and Dine categories Tanvi Marina Rao 7
In collaboration with Isabella Calidonio 8
DO[NATION]
Tanvi Marina Rao 9
Narrative of Logistics
The machine works as a function, it inputs donated objects that can come from outside or the same community, and outputs domestic spaces.
In collaboration with Isabella Calidonio 10
DO[NATION]
If an object in the community breaks, it is given back to the machine by the community members. The broken object goes under the logistics cycle again.
Tanvi Marina Rao 11
In collaboration with Isabella Calidonio 12
DO[NATION]
Tanvi Marina Rao 13
In collaboration with Isabella Calidonio 14
DO[NATION]
Tanvi Marina Rao 15
Objects used as "walls"
Ad-hoc Objects
3 Mattresses
Bathroom Items
Reparable Objects
6 Mattresses
Casted Floor
Usable Objects
9 Mattresses
Casted Objects
12 Mattresses
In collaboration with Isabella Calidonio 16
DO[NATION]
Ad-hoc use of objects in the Dine space
Casted Materials and objects curated in the Bath space
Tanvi Marina Rao
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In collaboration with Isabella Calidonio
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Types of Spaces
Depending on the time of the year, various one-off objects get donated
DO[NATION]
Ad-hoc use of objects as circulation pieces
Tanvi Marina Rao
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In collaboration with Isabella Calidonio 20
DO[NATION]
Tanvi Marina Rao 21
Studio Works
PRECARIOUS EQUILIBRIUM
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COURSE // COMPREHENSIVE STUDIO INSTRUCTOR // PROFESSOR MARCOS PARGA SCOPE // STUDENT DORMITORY FOR GYMNASTS SITE // SYRACUSE, NEW YORK YEAR // SPRING 2019
This building looks to the physics and values of gymnastics to pursue a high performance, low resolution project. The gymnast is champion of precarious equilibrium, and this concept has driven the project from the outset. The spectacle of gymnastics is predicted on the seeming impossibility of its feats. To the audience it looks as though the gymnast could tip off the balance beam at any moment, but she knows where her center of mass lies. This building embodies this concept of precarious equilibrium. Quite simply, the massing pursues the question: how can a volume be created which is structurally sound, but looks in danger of tipping over? While we are comfortable with the part stability of centrically stacked volumes, there is something unnerving about an equilibrium only achieved in the whole of the massing. Taking the simple units of ‘box’ we pushed and pulled the volumes around a central core, keeping to the structurally comfortable offset of 20’, to achieve a near imbalance. In the development, we remained rigorous in maintaining the legibility of disparate boxes per the studio objective: high performance, low resolution. We conceal the complexity (of circulation, of structure, of shading) within the clear box boundaries. That being said, we have many times been confronted with the complexity required in making something simple.Stacking boxes at first seems a simple strategy, the pushing and pulling of the volumes around the core grants opportunity for an overwhelming amount of spatial variation and visual connection. It also creates a fascinating structural problem: how one calculates many degrees of balance. This project won first place for the King and King Design Competition in 2019.
In collaboration with Hanneke van Deursen 22
Precarious Equilibrium
Finding Equilibrium
Objects shape Routine
Balance found in the whole, not the part
Architectural Objects shape ground space
Balance Beam
Rigid Boundary contains Free Activity
Post-tensioned floor slabs cantilever from Core
Free Plan allows user to shape the space as needed
Streamlined Approach Launch for Possibility
Uneven Bars
Rapid Vertical Circulation through Core
Circulation outside Core creates connection within Volumes
Tanvi Marina Rao 23
In collaboration with Hanneke van Deursen 24
Precarious Equilibrium
Tanvi Marina Rao 25
In collaboration with Hanneke van Deursen 26
Precarious Equilibrium
Tanvi Marina Rao 27
Studio Works
INTERACTING
W I T H D. U. M. B. O.
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COURSE // THIRD YEAR STUDIO INSTRUCTOR // PROFESSOR JOSEPH SISKO SCOPE // MICROUNITS COMPLEX WITH MIXED USE PROGRAMME SITE // D.U.M.B.O. , NEW YORK YEAR // FALL 2017
From starting to explore the human body's movements through space, this project's first questions were what type of environment does one need to perform day to day activities such as sleeping, eating, working etc. Understanding the quantity of space needed for these activities and focusing that on the design of a microunit came the concept of two walls: the Comfort wall and the Dining wall. Both the walls have "textured blocks" which can be pulled out to create furniture like a dining table, bed and sofa etc. With these walls placed throughout the space, the need for the "bedroom", "dining room", "kitchen" etc. disappears. Thus, the environment becomes transformable and has a sense of personalization for its user. These microunits are placed in a site where one interacts with the culture of D.U.M.B.O. in New York City. In order to attract a tourist population to use these microunits, the building starts to address the icons of the neighbourhood that can be seen from the site. Through the use of reflecting surfaces, coloured lights and magnifying glasses, icons like the Brooklyn Bridge, the D.U.M.B.O. sign etc are brought inside the building. The usable quality of each of the icon is employed in the building, for instance, the outdoor staircase has reflecting surfaces which reflect the bridge, thus when one walks on it, they're both "looking at the bridge" as well as "walking on the bridge." Thus, when the user leaves his microunit which was her own "personal transformable environment," she's confronted by this constructed environment which forces her to interact with the culture of D.U.M.B.O. in a unique manner, where she finds herself "swimming with the watertower" or the colours of the D.U.M.B.O. sign indicate to her the current weather or traffic conditions of D.U.M.B.O.
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Interacting with D.U.M.B.O.
Comfort Wall Restored State
Dining Wall
Restored State
Comfort Wall Seating State
Dining Wall
2 Person Dining State
Comfort Wall Bedding State
Dining Wall
3 Person Dining State
Wall Furniture
Based on calculated space needed for human movements Tanvi Marina Rao 29
"Book" mimicing the pull-out strategy of the wall design of the microunit Physical Models illustrating the wall systems and seating system
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Interacting with D.U.M.B.O.
"Chapters"
Pages illustrating the design iterations of the microunit Tanvi Marina Rao 31
Reflecting D.U.M.B.O. back
Reflective Surfaces, Water and Colour Lights in Magnified Glass Pieces start illustrating an image of D.U.M.B.O. inside the building 32
Interacting with D.U.M.B.O.
Typical Microunits Floor Plan
Microunit apartment includes super-furniture pieces created to allow the user to change the environment as per the will Tanvi Marina Rao 33
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Interacting with D.U.M.B.O.
Tanvi Marina Rao 35
Studio Works
A ROUND TABLE EXPERIENCE OF THE FUSION OF TWO REGIONS:A 5 COURSE MEAL
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COURSE // LANDSCAPE STUDIO INSTRUCTOR // PROFESSOR MOLLY HUNKER SCOPE // FARM TO TABLE RESTAURANT SITE // NEW YORK STATE YEAR // SPRING 2017
This project is a restaurant with a research lab that the chefs use for investigating new ingredients that can be used for their dishes. The project's site is in a tundra climate region. The project follows a five course meal, soup, salad, appetizer, main course and desert. Each of these courses have been transformed into a building of its own. Thus, the diner would experience each course in a completely different environment. The site consists of different ecosystems such as riparian ecosystem, meadow, vegetable farm, sugarbush and forest. The buildings have been placed near the ecosystems that would suit them the best. For instance, the desert building is situated in the sugarbush region. Further, inside of each building, an artificial environment is created that imagines what the ecosystem which surrounds the building would be like in a tropical region. Thus, the chef is provided with both tundra and tropical region ingredients in order to create his dishes. Since the dishes that have been created is the resultant of the fusion of two regions, a special artificial environment is created which contains a mixture of both types of resources grown. This region is not naturally possible and hence is a unique experience that the restaurant offers. It helps the diner’s experience engage this new, weird environment through taste, sight, smell and touch.
Tundra Region Ecosystem
Blending of the tundra and tropical ecosystems
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Tropical Region Ecosystem
A Round Table Experience of the Fusion of Two regions: a 5 course meal
Tanvi Marina Rao 37
Sections that articulate the different environments for each course, as well as their relationship to the land
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A Round Table Experience of the Fusion of Two regions: a 5 course meal
Physical Model that emplyed contour stacking of museum board and diagrammtic flocking powder use to show the relationship between the artifical and natural environments. Tanvi Marina Rao 39
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A Round Table Experience of the Fusion of Two regions: a 5 course meal
Tanvi Marina Rao 41
Objects
CONNECTING DOTS
05 COURSE // HAPPENINGS
INSTRUCTOR // PROFESSOR GREG CORSO SCOPE // PINATA YEAR // SPRING 2019
Imagining a situation of oversaturation of candy supply, this pi単ata is conceived of four parts that assemble together with the help of one string. With the string being used, the elasticity of it allows for the pi単ata to expand and compress itself depending on the amount of candy that gets filled in it. When the pi単ata has reached its ultimate capacity, it explodes. This unconventional manner of the object bursting on its own to spread candy is due to the string. The string goes through the holes that have been fabricated on the vacuum-formed pieces. In a connect-the-dots fashion, the pi単ata comes together.
Handdrawn Connect the Dots
With orderednumbers given, one attempts to figure out the movement of the string In collaboration with Estefany Lona 42
Connecting Dots
Tanvi Marina Rao 43
In collaboration with Estefany Lona 44
Connecting Dots
Tanvi Marina Rao 45
Professional Work
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CAVE OF HUGS
OFFICE // BUREAU SPECTACULAR PRINCIPAL // JIMENEZ LAI AND JOANNA GRANT SCOPE // FINALIST FOR THE UTAH SCHOOL OF DEAF AND BLIND YEAR // SUMMER 2018
Cave of Hugs is a super-furniture developed for the Utah School for the Deaf and the Blind. How can architecture assist humans who live without sound, without vision, or without sound and vision? The cave serves to dampen sound, warm the room, brighten its environment with colors, and hug back with soft textures. Empathy is something architecture can give back. Humans living without sound and vision communicate by touch. We designed a cave of hugs, clad in neoprene over a layer of sofa batting. This texture will be a welcoming source of warmth for people who can neither see nor hear. In addition to the tactility of this project, we also worked to consider human’s relationship with the observable wavelengths of the universe. The colors on the spectrum are points along a wavelength, just the way that sound in itself is a collection of wavelengths. For the humans living with no sound, we introduced warm colors. For the humans living with no vision, we introduced closed environments that allows sound to be dampened. Excerpt borrowed from Bureau Spectacular.
In collaboration with Yushan Men, Georgia Pogas and Kyoung Eun Park 46
Cave of Hugs
Tanvi Marina Rao 47
In collaboration with Yushan Men, Georgia Pogas and Kyoung Eun Park 48
Cave of Hugs
Sounds generated in the super-furniture Colours to experience in the super-furniture
For those who can't see or can't hear
The bright colours are for the deaf to experience The sounds that are created in the furniture are for the blind to experience Tanvi Marina Rao 49
Professional Work
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NARRATIVE HOMES
OFFICE // MC:V PRINCIPAL // MATTHEW CELMER SCOPE // RESEARCH PROJECT YEAR // FALL 2019
“Narrative Homes is an ongoing theoretical research project exploringhome design through the lens of literature. The creative exploration focuses on the relationship of narratives (Story telling) to the architecture design process. The research method entails design of four homes; each home in the series is based on a selected portion of narrative literature.� Excerpt borrowed from Matthew Celmer This physical model is the representative of the first of the four homes that has been designed. I was involved the the fabrication of the wood parts and creating the 3d print files.
In collaboration with Hao Zheng 50
Narrative Homes
Tanvi Marina Rao 51
Research
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THE BOX
COURSE // INDEPENDENT STUDY ADVISOR // PROFESSOR BRITT EVERSOLE SCOPE // SUMMER RESEARCH YEAR // SUMMER 2019
When is the one time you could possibly associate a box and employment? It is when you are fired. Once you are told that your services are no longer required, you take a box and you start packing up your belongings. It is with this intention that the magazine starts to imitate the formal language of a box. The box as a reading instrument marks a certain sense of intrigue for the reader, as it is an unorthodox way of gathering information. There is hope that one might start interacting with the magazine only because of its strangeness. Technology seems to be getting better and better day-by-day. Information is available on all platforms. Technology has made life so fast paced that the attention span of humans has started to diminish. This can be experienced through the length of videos that are available on social media. The maximum length of these videos tends to be just a minute long. Viewers get bored easily and start finding something else that will arrest their interest. Monotony is not the method to use if one wants to encourage engagement. Thus, this box magazine contains different sorts of quirks that keep the user engaged. Awarded the Undergraduate Summer Research Grant in Spring 2019, the project is an endeavour in understanding the share economy through the lens of the shared workspace company, WeWork. The goal was to consolidate the findings into a magazine. The share economy is a movement that is changing the way society functions. Magazines published by radical architect groups also critiqued the happenings of society. An opportunity rose that would allow another part of the project to critique graphic styles and their weaponising in mass media culture. The WeWork analysis was thus presented as pages with graphic styles borrowed from the radical magazines that have been studied. The formal approach towards this magazine did not follow the conventional magazine format. Rather, it took on the idea of the “fold” and enhanced the traditional banker’s box found in the workplace. The box is a resultant of various kinds of “folds” performed which creates a narrative to understand the uprise and downfall of WeWork. Keeping with the spirit of this project, a graphic feature from the magazine Clip-Kit has been used for this project’s layout.
Preliminary Stage
Folded Box understanding materiality and relationship between pages
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The Box
The Box has four sections consolidated together
Black Marking denotes the parts dedicated to introducing WeWork
Blue shading is the part that has been made translucent in order to view the inside, this part moves with the help of hinges
Some parts move while some remain rigid
Blue Marking indicates an incision made to one of the parts to reveal a section of the inside
Red Marking denotes the heat bended acrylic piecce that critiques the working of WeWork.
Pink marking denotes the part that provides information to the formation of the WeWork concept
Yellow marking denotes the part that critique the WeWork spaces, it opens and closes with the help of the hinge Tanvi Marina Rao
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Design Quarterly 108
Design Quarterly 108
Mirror Image
Design Quarterly 108
Design Quarterly 108
Design Quarterly 108
Design Quarterly 110
Clip-Kit
Design Quarterly
Design Quarterly
Clip-Kit
Casabella
Clip-Kit
Clip-Kit
Clip-Kit
Clip-Kit
Clip-Kit
Text Labels and Images
Design Quarterly
Casabella
Text within Figure
Text within Figure
Clip-Kit
Clip-Kit
Clip-Kit
Page Analysis of Magazines
Understanding different types of layouts that describe relationships between text and image
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The Box
Text Analysis
Understanding of how text is manipulated in order to achieve a desired degree of emphasis Tanvi Marina Rao 53
Precedent: ARSE Magazine Precedent: Clip-Kit Magazine
Translation of Materials
Etched words on acryclic sheets, which have been made translucent in order to provide some vision inside the box 54
The Box
Precedents: Design Quarterly & ARSE Magazine Precedents: Archigram & Clip-Kit Magazine
Translation of Materials
Selected parts of the pages become transparent, relationships between pages begin to occur Tanvi Marina Rao 57
Precedent: Archigram & ARSE Magazine
Colour, Montage & Collage
High saturation of colour & planned haphazard placement of text & posterised montage
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The Box
Precedent: Vague Magazine
Background First, Foreground Second
Bright colour fill for drawings draw more attention to the image than the text Tanvi Marina Rao 57
TANVI MARINA RAO tanvimarao@gmail.com +1 (315) 748 0773