Undergraduate architecture portfolio - Abhishek Chauhan

Architecture Portfolio

Abhishek Chauhan

Hi!

For a wanderer, settlement is an illusion.

All my life, I have struggled to find my place. Starting out as a kid with no sense of direction, I am just glad destiny played its part well. Though all I chose was to continue walking, I eventually stumbled across the right people and the right opportunities and found contentment in their company.

Time didn’t allow that for long though, with a solemn heart and hopeful eyes, I eventually grew up. It was then that I realized that no destination could satisfy my quest for exploration. For all that it took to spring me into action was a vague reflection of a distant island. For someone who had found the perfect beach, how tempting could an island be? For me it meant the world.

It was my very decision to step out in the face of uncertainty that had brought me here. Stepping out again, brought with it a treasure trove of opportunities and a hint of disappointment. To venture beyond my comfort zone was a challenge in itself. When faced with a dilemma, it is often better to stick to your instincts and I did the same. I chose being disappointed over having regrets and hopefully this will make all the difference.

I took to the road. As someone with an unquenchable thirst for the novel, I hope this destination turns out to be a beautiful journey. I don’t know where this road will lead me, but I do hope that someday it turns out to be yet another significant dot, in the greater scheme of my life.

Until then, I choose to travel, I choose to live.

For an explorer, the journey is everything.

CV About me: I have always been fascinated with those people who visualize and portray every aspect of unbuilt architecture, its appearance and self-expression of the communicative tendencies.

Considering the fact that I have a particular affinity for the arts, logical and sequential thinking, architecture was the most natural choice for my studies. With architecture I started to learn many fundamentals of design.

As an aware individual, I am in constant exploration of finessing new methods of solving a question in hand. This is where I find myself driven to find a s olution t o c ommunicate w ithout w ords.

A solution that aims to inspire and evoke emotion in an original yet pragmatic way. I am eager to achieve such results in every problem that I encounter.

The greater purpose of my life is to make people happy from my works that I love to do. That thing gives me the eternal happiness. That’s why happiness has nothing to do with materialistic things, environment or even physical health.

Happiness comes from a source that is independent of all these.

Contact A : H.No. 273, Guru Ram Das Nagar, Laxmi Nagar, Delhi - 110092 T : +91-9755236624 M : abhishek.chauhan1107@gmail.com

Personal Details

Competitions

Software Skills

Name : Abhishek Chauhan

2018

Date of Birth : July 11, 1995 Age : 23 Gender : Male

I.N.T.A.C.H. | Documentation of Historical Gateways Stood - 2nd Position

- Adobe Photoshop - Adobe Illustrator - Adobe InDesign - Adobe Lightroom - Adobe XD - Adobe Draw - AutoCAD - Revit - SketchUp + Vray - Keyshot - Lumion - Twinmotion - Microsoft Office - Cinema 4D + Octane Render

2016

Education 2014 - 2019 Bachelor of Architecture Maulana Azad National Institute of Institute of Technology, Bhopal 2002 - 2014 School Education (1st - 12 th) Kendriya Vidyalaya A.G.C.R. Colony, New Delhi 10th – C.G.P.A. – 8.6 (81.7%) 12th – 70.6%

Work Experience 2016 - 18 Graphic Designer Editorial Board, M.A.N.I.T., Bhopal Chief Designer Rajbhasha Karyanvyan Samiti, M.A.N.I.T., Bhopal

- GSEN Trophy, N.A.S.A. | Slum - Youth Center Special Mention - A.N.D.C. Trophy, N.A.S.A. | Reimagining Upper Lake, Bhopal Participated - Transparence 10.0 | Performing Arts Center Participated 2015 - GSEN Trophy, N.A.S.A. | Smart City Participated 2014 - GSEN Trophy, N.A.S.A. | Re-designing Indrapuri, Bhopal Shortlisted

Language skills English - Intermediate Hindi - Native

Hobbies & Interests Books & Magazines, Architecture, Photography, Scribbling, ArchViz, Guitar, Cooking, Travel, EDM, Comics, Movies and Squash.

Contents Architecture - Residence - Fine arts institute - High rise apartments - Architectural competitions

Graphic Design - Editorial design & illustration - Poster design

Architectural Visualization Photography

Welcome.

RESIDENCE

Understanding connect between inner spaces

The very first exercise on design of a building. Residences are the major forte of the architects as thought by the rest of the world.

The opportunity given to us was to design a dwelling place for ourselves which could sustain our personal activities and interests.

The form was evolved keeping in mind the importance of nature in our lives. It aimed to create an enclosure, which would hold a large-leaf shading tree, covered from three vertical sides with walls and windows on them looking into the living spaces and one side open for the tree to receive rain and sunlight. This tree would freshen the air and inner atmosphere of the house and always provide with a pleasant visual and aural texture to the house.

The house has been designed in an open plan, where there are not much enclosures and the internal space can be perceived as a whole. Conventions have been challenged for windows have been designed with lower sills and higher lintels. These opening have been tr3eated with double glass and two layered frame, one of composite stone and other of wood.

The faรงade has been treated with rough plaster, exposed concrete and detailed with twisted wooden panels to treat blank wall in the front. There is a pool and a kitchen garden in the backyard of the house. The whole idea was to make an attempt to bring the inner atmospher closer to the nature and create an extrovert living environment.

Evolution Of FORM

A

GROUND FLOOR PLAN

A’

FIRST FLOOR PLAN

SECTION THROUGH AA’

FINE ARTS INSTITUTE An institute of fine arts in the dynamic terrain of city of bhopal.

Location - Shyamla hills, bhopal Site area - 7.2 acres

This design project was a second attempt of on design of both an education building as well as an institutional building. The objective of design was learning interdependence of inner and outer spaces. Being the atelier of designers and artists, this design aimed at creating a crude environment which was suppose to grow simultaneously with the growth of its users.

The materials chosen were raw concrete, for and unfinished impressionist aesthetics and steel, for large obstruction less spans.

The building footprint is so as the result of coutour modifications. Towards the front are four levels and towards the end are seven. The design can be divided into two parts, one being, the workshops that are flange like figures in the plan.

These workshops are uniquely designed modules that would be suitable for all kinds of disciplines with very little conversions, like a foundary may be added for sultpure or glass art. The module consists of four levels with workshops on zeroth and second levels and lecture halls on first and third levels. Workshop are double-heighted on either sides for extending volumes and daylighting. On the top most level is a trussed roof with glazings on the north side for sufficient soft daylight.

The other part of the building is the central spine, which houses all other activities like circulation, libraries, digital studios, staff areas, administration etc.

SITE PLAN NOT TO SCALE

WORKSHOP DETAILS

PLAN AT LVL +557 m.

PLAN AT LVL +5

PLAN AT LVL +566 m.

PLAN AT LVL +5

FLOOR PLANS

560 m.

PLAN AT LVL +563 m.

569 m.

PLAN AT LVL +572 m.

HIGH RISE APARTMENTS Residential towers and rise of modern vertical living.

Location - T. T. Nagar, bhopal Site area - 4.94 acres

Interior Visualizations

Integrated Drawing room + Dining area + Living room

Living room

Kitchen

Architectural Competitions.

Competion projects for G-SEN trophy and Transparence 10.0

G-SEN Trophy Gender sensitive placemaking strategies in Anna Nagar slums, Bhopal.

Transparence 11.0 Centre for performing arts (Space in motion) Pragati Maidan Complex, New Delhi.

GSEN Trophy Special mention - 1 (NASA 2016-17, 60th annual convention) GENDER SENSITIVE PLACEMAKING STRATEGIES Anna Nagar slums, Bhopal.

INFORMALITY AND FORMALITY Perspective pertaining in slums :

WHY ANNA NAGAR ?

Informality-formality continuum :

Slum is an abstraction, a concept that acts as a supercategorical noun for many subordinate concepts relating to the settlements of urban poor.

Anna Nagar, home to 10037 residents residing in 2808 households is a universe of its own surrounded by a city that moves past it every day. Like all typical slums, it too is overshadowed by sub-standard living conditions, social unrest and civic insecurity, representing itself as a self-similar part of the informality that persists in slums.

Informality has become a viable method for acquiring land, services, job opportunities and most importantly livability in cities amongst the urban poor and on the other hand, is associated with unsafe, unsanitary, badly serviced living environments without security of tenure. It is regarded as a problem amongst those taking steps towards formalizing them.

Formality has diverse meanings, organizations working in slums consider it as development, while dwellers think of it as a mundane and inconsiderate effort for improving their conditions.

IDEA OF THRESHOLD Informality-formality continuum : A continuum explains variations as involving incremental transitions without abrupt changes or discontinuities. The idea of threshold describes formality and informality as a part of same continuum rather than as separate entities. The coexistence of formal interventions and informal practices can help in blurring the line between them and create a threshold sphere, being acceptable to both the benefactors as well as the beneficiaries, an approach towards dynamically responsive yet transformative architecture in its true sense.

These informalities adjudged on criteria that are physical, spatial, social and behavioural, have become the root cause of other major issues. Male dominant activities govern its public spaces due to gender stereotypes which has led to the spatial exclusion of women. Socio-economic vulnerabilities have driven its youth population towards retrogression.

However, their dynamic nature gives us ample scope to engage with them and design an architectural mediation that helps overcome these challenges through participation and appropriation of space.

CHALLENGES ON SITE -

INFORMAL BAND FORMAL BAND

FAILURE OF GOVERNMENT SCHEMES

CONTEXT: Like any other developing region, Bhopal faces the inevitable crisis of affordable housing in the wake of failed redevelopment projects with 52% of its population living in scatters and slums.

SOCIAL AND SPATIAL ANALYSIS :

MALE CONCENTRATION

PUBLIC SPACES

CROWD CONCENTRATION

TYPOLOGY

KACCHA PAKKA

ARCHITECTURE WITHOUT ARCHITECTS: To understand the lifestyle of a user we look into their dwelling and habitat and it imposes a need to step out of our narrowly defined sense of pedigreed architecture and look at built structures as a whole. Their need driven use of materials that can fulfill their necessities is a procedure we intend to learn from. The spontaneous spatial planning of houses haphazardly creates an organized framework to facilitate a fine mix of enclosed and open private and semiprivate spaces.

SPATIAL ANALYSIS: The space just outside the dwelling is where all the household activities take place. However, overcrowding in this space leads to congestion and hampers movement, causing the dwellers to work in a deteriorated environment.

The intense network of streets that connect the slum are narrow and of varying widths. They are paved with concrete and are quite clean. As in most informal settlements, the streets are irregular creating visual barriers which create difficulty in movement. There are drains present along it, however no provision for lighting is present.

SHARED SPACE

EXPLODED VIEW: The architecture of necessity marks its presence in anna nagar with the adaptive use of cost-effective materials available in abundance on site. This vernacular model of construction has formed the identity of informal settlements.

The space shared between neighbouring households, accessed by the narrow streets that connect them, act as breathing spaces for dwellers. A sense of enclosure inculcates a comfort level for women to work and interact in, who maintain it as well. At some places, temporary seating made of mud has been created by women.

STREET SPACE

The community spaces, are easily accessible and act as main gathering spaces during events. They provide breathing spaces amidst the congested localities. They are used as informal spaces of interaction by men, besides a number of other activities that take place in and around it. However, they are not managed or maintained by its users.

SEMI-PUBLIC SPACE

COMMUNITY SPACE

STRATEGY:

STAGE 1 - IMPROVING LIVING CONDITIONS Stage 1 is designed to understand the complexities of participatory design approach in Anna nagar.

CREATIVE PLACEMAKING - Various mock spaces were developed with community participation and youth leaders were identified for further implementations. Various age groups showed immense willingness in participation.

Mock space for women

Model discussions

Seating made of local materials found on the site with the help of children.

Rejuvenation of a dead street with community participation.

These mock spaces were developed to heighten the living experience of the dwellers and to get them out of their comfort zones using interaction as a tool.

STAGE 2 - CREATING PUBLIC SPACES It would have been impractical to design a youth center in existing conditions of Anna Nagar due to the fact that this locality faces gender disparity issues. There is no public space where women have a sense of belonging.

Public spaces are either dead or male dominated. This stage is to implement gender sensitive placemaking and adaptive reuse of various dead spaces.

PANDAL REDESIGN: The existing pandals were redesigned to accomodate various activities like street plays, class rooms etc by applying time based planning.

• furniture was designed for the Pandal which- a when open space is required can be folded to merge with the wall.

UTILISING FREE SPACES:

• could be opened and used for formal discussions by NGO’s or for informal seating.

Freespaces along the road is proposed as a park with seating and spaces for recreational activities.

INTERSTITIAL SPACES: To grant her entry into public sphere, we intervene in the interstitial spaces between streets. Presently they are used as storage spaces and as minor play spaces for children. Moreover, these spaces are filthy and chaotic.

LINEAR SUPPORT SYSTEM

SHARED SPACES BETWEEN HOUSES • Spaces like playing space for kids in front of their houses, with seatings for their mothers for keeping a watch on them, is provided in these interstitial spaces.

BRINGING DAILY ACTIVITIES INTO PUBLIC REALM: • Gender sensitive placemaking can help in bringing daily activities into public spaces where women can interact as well. These spaces are designed for all kinds activities like papad making, washing, childcare and a drying area with a gender sensitive approach keeping their anthropometry and different sitting postures in mind.

• Compact dwelling unit does not provide enough space for all daily activities and stereotype of self-presenting them in public forces them to work in dirty atmosphere.

OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES FOR ANGANWADI: Poor infrastructure and a sense of enclosure leads to lack of concentration and interest among learning children.

Therefore, the disused space around the existing Anganwadi is proposed for outdoor activities for children to provide them a better atmosphere for learning and recreation.

Transparence 11.0 Centre for performing arts (Space in motion) Pragati Maidan Complex, New Delhi.

INTRODUCTION: Space in motion

A space in physical sense is defined by its boundaries and enclosure and this sense is incapable of designing a space in motion since all the measurable constituents are static in nature.

However, in architectural sense many immeasurable constituents hold utmost importance in designing of a space. Often neglected in contemporary architecture, these constituents like the human body and emotions, light, sound, materials, objects are in a constant state of flux establishing and disbanding relationships with each other. A space will be considered in motion when the latter constituents will form inter-relationships with each other and change themselves with time during a day.

GRID BASED APPROACH

CONTEXT:

Delhi is a spectacular city looking ahead. With modern structures built in concrete. The present scenario of sustainability can also be found in buildings like the Indian habitat Centre and Indira paryawaran bhavan.

The proposed site for performance center is in the most culturally vibrant convention Centre of Delhi. Pragati maidan hosts some of the biggest gatherings of Delhi including the famous trade fair, auto expo and book fair every year. The site has been dynamic in nature and adapts itself for various activities throughout the year. The structures inside pragati maidan translate the meaning of pragati (progress) in every sense. Hall of nations is a modern structure designed with a deep sense of contemporary Indian architecture lies adjacent to the proposed site.

INTERSECTING STREETS

CONCEPT EVOLUTION:

We did not intend to pick a weird concept and end up with a dynamic looking weird form but in the process realized that a dynamic form can be a simple geometric shape showcasing its dynamic functions and should be adaptable and inviting.

Dynamism through streets- increasing permeability and learnings from traditional Indian architecture: Circulation becomes an integral part of the activity. It increases the permeability, social quotient. Indian population tends to express themselves easily in these kinds of structures.

Form reflects function: The most important aspect of this building is that its form has been designed as to reflect its function. One can easily find the activity of its choice from any point.

DEPICTING PROBABLE FORMS AND FUNCTIONS

GATE 1

N GATE 2

STAGES

LEARNING SPACES

SITE PLAN

Site area - 13.51 acres NOT TO SCALE

LANDSCAPING

ACCOMODATION PUBLIC TOILET AND STORAGE

TYPE A - NON-FLEXIBLE

DESIGN :

A 600-capacity state of the art auditorium is designed for theatre, musical performances and other non-flexible performance arts.

INTEGRATION WITH RESTAURANT :

The restaurant is integrated with theatre for a unique dining experience. On the first floor of is an informal cafe area. The roof of auditorium is used as a stage for cafe busking.

TYPE B - SEMI FLEXIBLE OPEN AIR THEATRE :

This is the largest stage ( capacity-1200) on site and can be used for performance shows like circus, rock band concerts etc.

TYPE C - VERY FLEXIBLE Micro stages are the most dynamic space of this proposals, they are either at the junction of two different streets or at the waiting and landscaped areas. They are meant for street performers to showcase their talent

PERFORMING ARTS :

Stages merged with landscaping

Performances are anything that people find entertaining. Performers may do acrobatics, animal tricks, balloon twisting, caricatures, clowning, comedy, contortions, escapology, dance, singing, fire skills, flea circus, fortunetelling, juggling, magic, mime, living statue, musical performance, puppeteering, snake charming, storytelling or reciting poetry or prose, street art such as sketching and painting, street theatre, sword swallowing, and ventriloquism.

We intended to create three different stages with three different levels of flexibility to accomodate maximum of these art forms and make a structure that can fulfill our thought “art is for everyone �.

Instead of demeaning themselves at the traffic signals and local markets in Delhi those artists can come and perform at this center. This can help them earn well and general population can acknowledge their talent when seen on a respectable stage.

Large open circulation can accomodate walkby performances easlily

Interior view of library

With its dynamic circulation that also acts as an reading space, one can start reading the book at the place where he finds one. The building is fed with natural light all day long.

Cubical section of library

Editorial Design & Illustration

This editorial design and illustration I did for Editorial Board, which is an autonomous student body of the NIT-Bhopal and has been an integral part of the fabric of college life since 1963. We publish the annual institute magazine, ‘Excelsior’.

The main concept behind the designing of illustration was the producer must meet the emotional and functional needs of the consumer.

EXCELSIOR 2017 | COVER DESIGN

front cover

back cover

EXCELSIOR 2017 | COVER STORY DESIGN

1 2

3

In this cover story, my approach towards its design was to portray it in the legible typographic manner with the use of one font by using its weights for giving emphasis on type.

I have made the illustrations in flat form with a color scheme of Grey, black, white and dull turquoise green and composed them in a balanced grid system (layout).

INVISIBLE DISABILITIES This illustration was about how you think that the disabled is just when a person is on a wheelchair.

Then they gets more condescension. People don’t genuinely respect them. In this article there was a guy which had a sleeping disorder. So, he’s called lazy. People don’t understand what he’s going through. But he’s come to terms with it and which means that he accepted that state and decided to remains the same as it was.

So, it’s basically that there is no difference between those guys and us so give them the respect they deserve.

ED - SEARCH 2017

Poster for inviting GENERAL ARTICLES

THE FINAL YEAR PHOTOSHOOT

UNDERWATER

This illustration was about the life inside the oceans. So, It was my imagination in which i visualized the frame 75% in underwater and rest is landscape. It has several elements like sea grass, rocks, whales and a submarine which all these elements together makes a clear picture of the ocean.

I used those colors which directly hits the image of a ocean. Basically, it is flat art with the blend of soft shadows which makes it more realistic.

In this illustration, I used the play of light with water (light showers), small bubbles near the living organisms and after that for the final touch I blended it with the fine grain texture to add more life into it.

ROYAL ENFIELD 350

Architectural Visualization

F U T U R I S M

“VOXELS�

The image that I have created tells a story of a Dystopia.

So, I imagined a world full of metal debris and there is a universe in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through technological (artificial intelligence) control.

In the center of the image there is a head control nucleus which is controlling all the functions of that dystopia.

“TWISTER�

This is again an image of my dystopia.

In this image I have created an apartments skyscraper building in which people used to live, work and play.

I modeled them in Cinema 4D and rendered them in Octane render.

For the final post production i have used Photoshop for blending.

VISUALIZATION OF ARCHITECTURE ON MARS

This is the architectural visualization of life on mars.

It was started with a architecture competition named ‘MARSCEPTION 2018’. Again it was a collaborative work with my friends who participated in that competition.

So, basically I rendered the image with my visualization skills and my basic approach towards the rendering process was to creates more eye catchy and fascination by using smoke, dust and actual environment of the mars.

It was modeled in Cinema 4D and base rendered in its native render engine Octane render. After that for the final touch and blending I post processed it in Photoshop.

TOY TRUCK VISUALIZATION In this visualization, I created a image of a toy truck on the floor.

I modeled it in SketchUp Pro and then rendered in Keyshot 7 Pro. After that for the final production I added some gradient maps, texture and smoke maps and blend them with the base render image because I wanted to show some realism in the frame with fascination.

The illuminated neon green lights adds a focus attention to the whole image.

PHOTOGRAPHY Exterior and interior spaces

NO DISTRACTIONS I found that colors can be terribly distracting in some images and can take the focus away from the subject.

I did work on capturing the experience of a space and found that taking the colors out of an image lets the subject speak for themselves. Its raw, it’s honest and it allows you to show the truth.

Thank you!