Ensconce

ENSC ONCE

20202021

P O R T F O L I O AKHIL BHASKARAN ADS4 H00323429

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CONTENTS

01 COMMUNITY NAR R AT I V I E S MACRO PLUS FUNCTION MICRO ZONING VOLUMETRIC CONCEPT

02 COMMUNITY NAR R AT I V I E S

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DRAWING PACKAGE 3D VISUALIZATIONS

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ENSC ONCE COMMUNITY NAR R AT I V I E S Designing an aura for the diverse abode of karama, where the residents have an oppertunity to soak up with tranquillity and harmony within the natural habitat of Karama park. Since Karama park acts as a safe haven from the busy atmosphere of karama, the sentiment of the end users of the park clearly mentioned they do not want a building which would repress their functionalities of the land parcels. So the two consequential challenges of the brief would be to intervene with a land parcel where the purporse of the parcels is retained and to blend to create an element of softscapes while working with constricted land parcels.

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KARAMA STREET CONTEXT

| SPATIAL COLLAGE Karama is home to a lot of densely populated middle class micro communities. The city is mostly occupied by traders and a lot of stalls for the middle-class working Present day karama comprises of a lot of very historic building typologies which is also being demolished and rebuild with a lot newly constructed rental homes with retail shops allocated in the lower level.

ATMOSPHERE WITHIN KARAMA | The busy atmosphere is generally catered to the mid class expats of kara ma characterized by the retail shops in the front with not much parking.

This is usually a bussiness technique to lure the middle- class demograph ic into the shops as they know most of them can’t afford cars because the parking tickets might be a bit of hassle to pay on a regular basis.

Alternatively it is outwardly distinguished by its low rised buildings. The land is initially planned on a tight grid system which was the emanated into this busy atmosphere which is now home to thousands of expats from all around the world Effectively, the site allocated essentially acts as a natural haven for the user demographic to relish in tranquility with excess amount of flora.

Al Karama is a structural change beyond the concrete and glass skyscrapers lined up in Dubai; giving way to wide public boulevards and the steady pace of recurring low-rise buildings pinned on each side of the roads.

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MICRO COMMUNITIES | The subburb of karama has substaintial amount of heritage since the initial colony was meant to be housing units by the government for various locals and for the rest of the user demographic.

One of the oldest micro communities allocated within the abode of karama includes the sheikh hamdan colony. It is then followed by karama center which is one of the largest commercial hub where the shops can be rented to sell commodities for the public.

The wasl properties was initally set up as a colonial housing units for alot of refugees who were trying to find settlement around Karama.

Hence they is alot of heritage linked with Karama

TARGETTED USER GROUP | Within these micro communities, exists a wide range of bachelors who are currently living in bed spaces situated all around the subburb of karama. The living conditions of the bachelors are subsequentially dreadful as most of them live in such tight, cramped spaces. Atleast 7 to 8 bachelors would be grouped together and made to live under a very confined, restricted studio flat. | THE OPPERTUNITIES MISSED OUT | • Basic oppertunities such as to cook and store groceries would be missed out as the Kitchen spaces allocated within these bed spaces would be substanitially inadequate.

• These working young chaps would always buy food from outside resulting in a very unhealthy lifestyle

ZONE 1

ZONE 2

ZONE 3 WASL HUB

SITE

CONTEXTUAL ZONING | Traditionally split up into by the main

karama 3 tertorial 3 artillary

gets zones roads.

KARAMA CENTER

SHEIKH HAMDAN COLONY

WASL TOPAZ

KARAMA MACRO A N A LY S I S

These main 3 artillary roads namely sheikh rashid road, tariq bin zayed road and zabeel road have the influence of the type of visitors to karama

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USER DEMO COMMUNITY GRAPHIC SPREAD KITCHENS AGE GROUP | 24 – 35 | BACHELORS | COMMUNITY SPREAD KITCHENS | The propsed community spreads kitchens gives opportunity to this demographic who do not visit the park that often to enjoy and recreate a space which they don’t get at their homes. Since most of this demographic with such cluttered spaces with no space to cook or dine with peers and close ones.

Major part of these demographic are expats who live alone far away from family and hence the community project aids and caters to recreate a space for them to enjoy and dine as one.

DINING SPACE | The aim is not exactly create a closed dining space, but to intervenue with a space which promotes socialabilty and interactivity.

This space would also require alot of natural light to create a very natural ambience.

DEMOGRAPHIC WITHIN KARAMA | SPREAD OF DEMOGRAPHIC:

OPPERTUNITIES CREATED | SPREAD OF BACHELORS:

Couples

• A very interactive spacious community spread kitchen islands would be provided to ensure the bachelor community have considerable and adequate of space to carry on the basic neccessity of cooking.

Others

• A storage unit to keep their belongings and store a few groceries belonging to them, as this oppertunity is not available in their bed spaces

Philipino community

• A dining space to feast the meal they cook. This would rather be an open space rather than a closed one to promote the interactivity between various demographics

Families with kids Bachelors in bed spaces

South east asian communities (Indians, Pakistanis Bengalis)

• Bachelors can now lead a healthy lifestyle by cooking their on food, and dont have to buy food from outside everyday and can help with cutting cost from buying food from outside

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| NOT MUCH ACTIVITIES PRESENT ON SITE |

| FEW OPEN SITES WITH SHADED REGIONS |

| A WELL VENITALTED SITE |

The open site does not contain much activities, hence most of the end users use the park to cross the roads between the lulu residential block and the chain of restaurants located towards the eastern direction.

There is a lot of foliage present in site, hence it gives good shaded regions in most of the regions, however there are also alot of open grounds which get extremely hot through the year.

Most of the site remains venitlated through the north-western winds. The impending breeze ventilates well over the land parcels and the folliage coverage acts as a filter for these north western winds.

Most of the demogaphic use the footpath located in the southern direction of the park where these users would get a southern view of the open parking facing the Dubai frame builtform.

The shaded regions with the foliage cover are usually the ones where the users of park use for their activities such playing board games or cards.

This allows the users of the park to have a very cozy spot with the land parcels.

KEY FINDINGS |

NOT MANY VIEWS ON SITE | Most of the site remains with a very regular view of the residential blocks allocated all around the site.

Image courtesy (Andrea Fernandes)

However the southern parking has a very a open ground which creates a good oppertunity to intervene with a good visual corridor.

SITE MICRO A N A LY S I S A N A LY S I S 7

SITE SITE A N A LY S I S S E L E C T I O N

PARCEL AWAY FROM THE MAIN ENTERANCE:

PARCEL AWAY FROM THE CHAIN OF RESTAURANTS:

SOUTHERN VIEW:

Parcel is mostly zoned away from the Main entrance.

This is mainly because most of the used the main entrance and the objective of the project to have minimum damage on the park as possible.

Effectively the entrance of the park is most frequently used hence the intend was to not distrub the aura of the main entrance towards the north.

The next inference was that parcel had to taken away from the chain of restaurants on the eastern side.

Most of the view around the park are mainly surrounding the residential blocks, with no interesting parks.

This was mainly because of the plus function being community spread kitchens might cause a hindrance to their business. Hence a parcel should be taken away from the western direction.

However, the view towards the southern direction is facing the Dubai Frame creating a bit of interest.

Hence the southern side acts as a visual corridor.

| UNDERGROUD SYSTEMS

FOLIAGE COVERAGE:

SOUTH-WESTERN PARCEL:

Most of the site is covered by variety of flora, however a few parcels had a lot of thick densely populated Ghaf trees.

Overlapping all the inferences with south-western façade created the most interest to concoct an intervention.

So this coverage of trees can help conceal the project well from the park surroundings , creating an essence of softscapes.

This is also the side where most of the bachelor entered the park.

During the site visit, when a survey was conducted most of the people did not want a community center or any sort of projects which tampered with their parcels, since most of the people used the parcels for various activties. This also includes the bachelors who use these land parcels to play games and relax.

During a suvrvey, a bachelor woman had mentioned that she did not want to go back to the constricted bed space where she did not have enough space to do any activity, hence she used the parcel to sit down and relax.

Therefore, the whole idea of underground systems emerged with creating an active roof that amplifies the functionality of the parcel

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SUSTAINABLE STRATEGIES |

LIGHT WELL:

Proceeding with the underground system, the main challenge was to incorporate natural daylight into the underground, so light well were adopted in order to achieve this daylight

UNDERSTANDING THE PARCEL |

DESIGN D E V E LO P M E N T Z O N I N G

WIND TUNNELS AND SOLAR CHIMNEY:

The wind tunnels allows the wind to get channeled into the underground space since the temperature underground is much lesser as compared to the outside temperature.

CORK:

The selected parcel has an area of 901sqm with the parking mainly located on the western direction. There is a one 1 m footpath within the parking and the parcel.

A total of 6 ghaf trees with various other flora would allow the project to seamlessly blend into the landscape.

SITE

SECTION AA’

SITE

SECTION BB’

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ACCESS DESIGN | HEAT MAPS

SETBACK DESIGN | A setback of 3m was ensured to keep the critical root zone of the trees. Few of the existing newly planted small vegetation was moved towards the footpath to ensure the built area required for the project

| 9AM-10AM | WEEKDAYS |

| 12PM- 4PM | WEEKDAYS |

| 6PM- 10PM | WEEKDAYS |

The routes marked red to yellow show the various routes taken by the wide range of demographic using the park.

The routes marked red to yellow show the routes taken by the end users from the wide range of restaurants across the park.

Most of these people come visit the restaurants to eat lunch

The routes show that the demographic sort of use the park towards the southern part to have some physical activities and visit the seasonal stalls.

The setback of 3 m is kept and analysed in section in order to respect the critical root zone of the ghaf trees.

The acess of design was kept simple and minimal with two access points.

The project entrance couldn’t be kept towards the west because of the busy car parking.

Hence the access was placed towards south because it was placed next to the main road and a lot of people are more likely to use that entrance as it would lure the end users who would use the footpath to cross the road A service exit was kept towards the west, where the the garbage truck can easily stop and carry on with the unloading and the loading

A total of 6 ghaf trees were present on site spread mainly across the eastern side of the selected site.

EXPERIENCE CREATED TO THE END USERS | the experience created to the end user would be to retain functionality of the parcel by creating an active roof.

There was also a lot of neem trees planted in between them, with added seating right beneath the foliage.

As these two pictures depicts, bachelors use these parcels to play board games and other various activities since there is not much space within there housing units.

DESIGN D E V E LO P M E N T Z O N I N G 10

DESIGN D E V E LO P M E N T Z O N I N G

LANDSCAPE DESIGN |

The banking could be landscaped with grass and this space could be a flexible seating area where the residents could still sit down with harmony and tranquility.

SUSTAINABILITY |

ZEN GARDEN |

GARDEN |

Using rocks and gracel, the essence of nature is recreated.

A small vegetable garden is placed next to the community spread kitchens.

Light wells were tapered at the top to bring more light into the underrground spaces.

For the ventilation of the underground spaces, wind tunnels and solar chimneys were adopted to ensure there is adequate amount of heat loss from the built structure

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BUBBLE DIAGRAMS |

|GROUND FLOOR|

|GROUND FLOOR|

|UNDER-GROUND FLOOR|

Main resources such library, social hub, av room, coworking spaces and the kitchen spreads can be kept within the ground floor itself to promote easy access to the space.

Spaces within the underground can all be linked to gether with the atrium to have maximum natural daylighting within the underground systems

Plus function Adminstration Staff admin Resources Services

|GROUND FLOOR|

|UNDER-GROUND FLOOR|

|UNDER-GROUND FLOOR|

Plus function is placed within the ground floor for easy access of the loading and unloading of the waste from the community kitchen spreads through the service exit

Community spaces Resources

All the spaces that require sound supression with a lot of activity are structured within the ground. The exhibition center is placed around the light with a lot of natural daylighting even though it is situated within the ground floor.

DESIGN D E V E LO P M E N T V O L U M E T R I C 12

TECHTONICS |

|EMBEDDING THE BUILDING WITHIN THE GROUDND| The techtonics started with the analogy of proposing the building undergound. Hence the underground walls had to 300mm thick acting as a retainer wall to hold the soil and accomodation of the level of permeability through the concerete walls.

MATERIALITY UNDERGROUND | Treated wood can be cladded over the concrete retainer wall which has been proven that it can be rot free for more than 80 years by pressure treating. It would also soak and help it loose it’s moisture.v

| MATERIALITY |

DESIGN D E V E LO P M E N T T E C H T O N I C S

Cork was the adapted material cladded onto the façade system. The material itself is natural and renewable. Furthermore, when cork is synthesized trees are not cut down, instead their bark is carefully removed by very skillful labors making the material environmental friendly.

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| ACCESS |

The access was kept simple with western direction catering for service exit for ensuring easy stopping access for the loading and the unloading truck.

| SLOPING ROOF |

The roof then slopes down to ensure the access to the roof to ensure the parcel retains its functionality.

| 5 METER GRID ALONG ZONING |

The design process started of following a 5-meter grid along the spacing.

| LANDSCAPING THE ROOF |

The roof can also be landscaped to ensure the activity within the roof.

The roof also has a good view of the park and southern parking which comes from the inference taken from site analysis.

| 5 METER GRID PUSED DOWN |

The 5-meter grid was then pushed down to ensure all the areas are being matched.

| INSTALLATION OF LIGHTWELLS |

The lightwells were installed away from the eastern foliage coverage.

This would ensure ample sunlight would enter the builtform.

VERSION 1 | Version 1 didnty work because of the structural system as the curves had no meaning and the roof wasn’t controlled.

Hence version 1 was ditched

The usage of the of tensile structure allowed to create some drama.

The atrium was placed next to the sloped active roof to create an experience when looking into the light well.

Introduction of fractels to create an innovative structural system.

The solar chimney is tilted horizontally to maximize the heat gain on the metal plate.

DESIGN D E V E LO P M E N T M A S S I N G 14

VERSION 2 | Version 2 has a clear cut concept which is to retain the functionality of the parcel to understand the sentiment of the park which was initally to no have building within the landparcel, so this is in allign with the Studio Project Lens Landscape Design to blur the edge conditions of the built form.

DESIGN D E V E LO P M E N T M A S S I N G CONCEPT SHEET

Version 2’s main focus was to enhance to produce a roof which almost reflects the purporse and sould of the parcel.

| INSTALLATION OF BANKING | The roof can then be accessed with the installation of banking which is primarily covering the ground with soil.

| LANDSCAPING THE BANKING | The banking then can also be landscaped with grass which then also ensures the seating which was originally present in the eastern side is essentially retained

| RAISING ONLY ONE SIDE OF THE ROOF | Raising one edge of the roof will allow to increase the area of the clerestory but in the diagram, it’s located on the south, so primarily it would receive the southern sun.

| THE PLAY OF ROOFS | The roof is then raised to ensure all the options. This especially done to block off few of the access from the banking to the roof.

| RAISING NORTHERN EDGE OF THE ROOF | Raising the north edge would probably mean that the built-form would receive northern western sun.

| THE INSTALLATION OF CLERESTORY | The sides of the roof can then have an interest sustainably by adding clerestory to ensure that the corridor spaces located in the middle would have ample daylighting.

| INSTALLATION OF SOLAR CHIMNEY | The solar chimney is then placed in the horizontally in the slope so that the north-western sun would essentially heat up the metal plate.

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ENSC ONCE COMMUNITY NAR R AT I V I E S FINAL PROPOSAL DRAWINGS + 3D VISUALIZA TIONS PROJECT NAME: The word Ensconce means

to establish or settle in a comfortble place

, and in this project the roof almost becomes that settlement for the end users of the park to serve the sentiment of the community of not having a built form which would take away their activities from the parcel.

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1215 SQM

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G.F. = 548 SQM U.G.F. = 667 SQM

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AREA STATEMENT | |RESOURCES| Libray - 50sqm Co working - 75sqm A.V room - 35sqm |ADMIN| Reception - 20sqm Office - 21 sqm

|PLUS FUNCTION| Kitchen islands - 45sqm Dining - 50sqm Storage - 15sqm Pantry - 20sqm Garbage - 10sqm Kitchen Lobby - 15sqm

|GROUND FLOOR - 548 SQM|

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TELECOMMUNICATION ROOM

AREA STATEMENT | |RESOURCES| Meeting rooms 55sqm |NARRATIVES| |SERVICES| Telecommunication - Exhibition - 85sqm Music - 43sqm 13 sqm Dance - 72sqm electrical - 15sqm Multipurporse 1 - 90sqm server - 14 sqm Multipurporse 2- 92sqm Multipurporse Lightwell 1 - 25sqm Lobby - 15sqm Lightwell 2 - 8sqm |UNDERGROUND FLOOR - 667 SQM|

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EAST ELEVATION

WEST ELEVATION

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NORTH ELEVATION

SOUTH ELEVATION

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| WIND TUNNEL | The wind tunnel is located towards the south western footpath which captures the SW seasonal winds which can get warmer or cooler depending upon the season. Primarily the concept works with ideology that the temperature right below the earths crust is much cooler when compared to the exterior temperature. This will allow to increase the heat loss within the built form

| SOLAR CHIMNEY | The sun would heat up the metal plate catered within the chimney creating a pressure difference and would suck out the hot air from the underground systems. This ensures that the load on the HVAC systems would reduces

DETAILED DRAWING

APPLICATION OF CORK | SCALE 1:5 |

DRAWING PA C K A G E

TECHTONICS 26

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RENDERS: The interiors of Ensconce has been carefully designed to create as much of an open plan as possible.

LIBRARY |

The library space seen above has interesting level of stairs where the seating has been integrated into the stairs. Considering the adjacencies the bookshelf has been integrated into this seating where the readers can easily access the books and sit next to the genre where they can find other readers as well who seem intrested in that particular genre and this would boost the interactivity within the library space. The library also has diffused lighting where the tapered lightwell would maximize the daylight making it comfortable fot the readers eye.

SOCIAL HUB |

The social hub also is kept open with an integrated level of seating along with bean bags and other seating options. The open plan of the social hub would allow more people to come join in to the activities to boost the level of interactivity.

COMMUNITY KITCEHN SPREADS |

The kitchen islands has been kept in line next to each other right next to the open dining where the tapered lightwell would bring adequate amount light into the kitchen space. Dining space has been designed around this lightwell where the users would get a whole new experience dining looking into the underground space where the mulitpurporse hall and dance studio is located.

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ENSC ONCE THANK YOU

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