Atheerah Kamal_Part 05 (A Condensed Publication of Portfolios 1-4)

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The Eyes of the (fish) Skin Brief Overview

With theories of the haptics, bodies and senses borrowed from Juhani Pallasmaa, The Eyes of the (fish) Skin is a meditative retreat built at a 1:1 scale, where one can seek refuge from the hustle and bustle of their everyday lives. It provides a comfortable environment for one to carry out meditative activities, such as reading, playing the guitar, or practising yoga.

Due to its properties of being susceptible to water, the structure’s skin softens upon contact with water. Over time, the skin will increasingly form holes in it and gradually disintegrate. This results in a change of atmosphere and spatial qualities of the interior space of the structure.

The boundaries between the internal space and the external environment are progressively blurred.

Owing to the dynamic nature of the structure, the user comes back to a new space each time and responds to it by finding the most suitable spot to carry out their activity. This exploration could result in the user finding unexpectedly pleasant and intriguing spaces.

The structure is constructed in a sequence of laying the mesh first, followed by external supports that will prop the form up during the cooking process. Once the tapioca has fully dried, the structure stands alone without any support.

As the material is susceptible to the weathering phenomenas, rain & sun, this drawing illustrates the wilting stages of the structure outdoors.

The translucency of the tapioca bioplastic blocks out direct sunlight whilst allowing diffused light into the structure, giving the user shade. The holes formed unexpectedly in the bioplastic enables the play of shadow within the structure throughout the day. Due to the curvature of the structure, certain enclosed nooks allow a slight reverberation to take place, creating unique acoustic qualities to it.

Plot Size & Purpose

5.1m2

Decomposing Pavillion Tapioca Bioplastic

Do It Yourself Anywhere Embracing Nature

04

The Building Process

The Decaying Process

The Eyes of the (fish) Skin The Final Form & Project Video https://youtu.be/q-UNDYwtjMY

dust & chisel A Collection of Crafts

dust & chisel was born during a bus ride to Kuala Lumpur. Scribbling away and browsing Pinterest about furniture design, my cousin and I amalgamated those ideas together to make a clock. The itch in those hands was adamant that we immediately started churning mathematical formulas for the concrete mix when we were back home in Singapore.

Several clocks, coasters and planters later we started an official business online. Serendipitously, dust & chisel came full circle when we had an opportunity to sell the products in a craft store in Kuala Lumpur. dust & chisel holds a different meaning now, where its a collection of crafts that keeps my creativity going aside architectural practice. dust & chisel was the zeitgeist of my architectural journey. It made me realise my penchant for details, material properties and the convergence of it all. Eventually becoming the compass of my architectural pedagogy.

Wanting to delve into other material properties and crafting skills, I decided to take up an apprenticeship at a woodworking & steel workshop for a few months.

It was difficult to deal with a solid material where joineries, machinery and the various properties of each wood had to be dealt with in comparison with the fluidity of concrete.

However, the satisfaction of joineries coming together after days of sanding and cutting was like no other. Chairs, tables, knives and wooden charcuterie boards were the few objects I experimented with and continue to have fun making at home.

Material & Purpose

At Home

Concrete Wood

Clocks, Coasters Boards, Furniture

08

Dougong Pavillion Brief Overview

How can a structural system integrate with the site; 10 and structure not being a mere encapsulation of a support system but also a negotiation between the openings and the site? The idea was to create a pavillion that embraces the atmospheric qualities of light, rain and wind through the vertical and horizontal structures of the intervention.

The structure aims to create openings allowing the present site qualities such as wind, light, water, sound and foliage into the spaces where nature and architecture can intimately connect. Users can walk around freely to experience the phenomena.

The idea is applied through the design of the roof system; the DOUGONG system borrowed from the Chinese construction technique and the apertures of the Nordic Pavillion by Sverre Fehn. Using MET, mass-engineered timber, the varying proximity and stacking of the roof beams allow those intangible site qualities to present themselves to create a sensory atmosphere in the space.

The pavillion is situated within a series of 3 storey landed residential units where greenery is lush . The demographics are expats, who enjoy the tropicality of Singapore. With passive strategies, the public is able to bask in the environment without the harsh conditions of humidity and intense dalyight.

Vertical and horizontal openings, some of which shaded by translucent glass, allows wind and daylight to pass through. Water bodies surround the pavillion that acts as invisable spatial barriers, cool the surrounding temperature of the area. The foliage of surrounding trees fall and float in these water bodies, enhancing the outdoor engagement whilst the user is inside the space.

Plot Size & Purpose

630.81m2

Mass Engineered Timber Structural Integration

Passive Strategies Atmospheric Qualities

Dougong Pavillion Design Intervention

The Harlyn Twins Residences Brief Overview

These fraternal twins were built in 2021 for two 14 close yet different friends. The concept was to create a form that was the same but their oppposites lie in the materiality and treatemnt of the openings.

Client of plot 7A revolved his life around family gatherings and wanted a bright and inviting facade that juxtaposes the dark modern finishes of the interior.

With a larger plot of land, the client of Plot 7A, intends to build another gazebo like structure where his kids could run around in the shade on the grass and host large family events.

Whereas 7B, the client loved privacy within his multi-generational family. The layout was design for the spaces to be connected and discreet for each family member and is reflected in the elevation design of the house.

His requisite for privacy and love for greenery work symbiotically to create a passive screening strategy.

Alongside the movable custom bronzed screens that glimmers in the daylight, it enables the play of wind, light and shadows into the master bedroom.

The Harlyn Project was tasked to me from the beginning and was my first landed residential project. Through a series of client meetings, design iterations, tender drawings, consultant engagements and construction process, I had the opportunity to understand the ongoings of the built industry in Singapore.

Plot Size & Purpose

1,271.29m2

Landed Residential Start to End Construct

7A Open, Modern, Dark 7B Enclosed, Simple, Light

The Harlyn Twins Residences Design Intervention

The Sun Clinic Brief Overview

The concept is based on the idea that the positive 18 presence of daylight from the natural environment increases the well-being of the patient in this recovery centre and that it has a beneficial effect on their revalidation process. This is achieved through the manipulation of materials and understanding perceptions of thresholds between the public, medical and research facility zones.

The light here plays a pivotal role both in its ability to transform and play with the facades and the interior.

Implemented natural materials and concrete in an unusual and very sensorial way. Within all of these projects, natural light is to create an interior atmosphere of harmony, symmetry and symbolism.

Architecture becomes the medical instrument in the process of healing.

Situated within the business park of Singapore, Science Park, I played with a weathering phenomena, sun. The idea came from how busy and cooped workers tend to not have a chance in the daylight. Coupled with the fact that the blistering light exposure, Singaporeans always shy away from direct light.

This project encourages users to enjoy daylight benefits that helps with Vitamin D and specific health conditions. Despite it a clinic, it also functions as an open space for workers to come to during lumch hours to rest and ironically cool down in a building that encourages sun. This is helped with calculated apertures, water bodies and passive ventilation.

Plot Size & Purpose

5,166.53m2

Office Therapy Clinic

Constructed Openings Optimal Daylight Calculation

The Sun Clinic Design Intervention

Basement Plan

First Sto

orey Plan

Second Storey Plan

FUNOMENA Brief Overview

FUNOMENA presents a phantasmagorical critique of the state of the everchanging retail typology scene. It expounds on the transparency of dataism and citizen agency through a speculative reinterpretation of Orchard's shopping district into an urban amusement park and Data Centre onto the existing SCAPE site.

Reimagining the typology of a Data Centre as engaging and an integral part of the urban environment. Celebrating the engineering machines, and increasing governmental and corporate surveillance, privacy has turned into an issue. However, the project reimagines architectural design that foreseeably will be driven by data, cloud tracking and technological prompts in the interest of society.

The Data Centre functions by obtaining data from the consumers of the park through interactive screens. The information assessed enables the prediction of future structures and spaces by comparing the algorithms of the data, addressing the prevalent problem of everchanging typologies.

The beginning points of the project were to question the state of existing consumerism, youth engagement and the inflexible retail typology of Orchard.

The project aimed to redesign SCAPE as a cultural and technological landmark predominantly for the youth. Where engagement lies beyond interaction with friends, but the ever-rising technology.

Image on the right is a collage mapping of out visual points, porosity, nodes, facade expressions and focused demographic activities.

Plot Size & Purpose

53,190m2

Data Center Spatial Fabrication Lab

Digital Amusement Park Flexible Open Spaces

22

FUNOMENA Design Intervention

A Manufacturing Park Brief Overview

This project prances around the blurred lines of the extremely private defence sector and a major tourism hotspot in Singapore, both pioneered by governmental sectors. NatSteel a renowned steel-producing company with a weaponry manufacturing history in Singapore becomes the underbelly of this park The steel plant, research lab and landscape park are embedded within the site of Mandai.

Incorporating the existing park connectors, visitors traverse through this double entendre of a place witnessing levels of exposure of tourism-public attractions, national legacies and production within a site that has a history of both. In the morning, users enjoy the undulating lush landscapes, fresh air and structures with the feeling of submergence into the quarry. Through the descent into the quarry, the journey becomes a convergence of two “plants”, the steel plant and the natural landscapes of ecology.

The turn of every corner becomes compelling and secretive to invite the user to explore the architecture. The use of man-made, natural landscapes and shards of voids in the ground becomes a barrier to private spaces for steel production, assembly and research.

Revelling the dichotomy of the existing Mandai quarry that is widely publicised for its military ammunition dump within a heavily touristed site.

At night, emanating a grey cloud of smoke, the factory produces steel components which are sent to the neighbouring underground ammunition storage facility, where machinery and nature co-exist.

The 3 key players within the defence sector in this project approach are DSO National Laboratories (B), ST Kinetics and Engineering (C), and NatSteel (D).

All of which inform the underground ammunition storage facility in the Mandai Quarry (A).

Through charting out the nodes of production of knowledge, research, technology and materials for the Defence sector, MINDEF, the flow of operations between industries become apparent and how they influence one another.

Under the Mandai Quarry, a 400 football field size ammunition storage facility is in operation. MINDEF, stores weapons, ammunition and has a training facility within the quarry.

Plot Size & Purpose

366,320m2

National Historic Park Green Park Connectors

Manufacturing Plant Research Lab

26

A Manufacturing Park Design Intervention & Section

The Two Faces of The Temple Brief Overview Thesis Research Essay https://issuu.com/atheerahkamal/docs/thesis_research_paper_atheerah

Yuval Noah Harari HomoDeus serves as the 30 impetus of the thesis research. Uncovering the uncanny parallels of Data Religion in his book and the deeply religious and rising technological realm in India.

In HomoDeus, Yuval Noah Harari prophesies that the future of humankind will diverge into two distinct classes, the superhumans and the useless class, as the world shifts towards a datacentric society. This data centric society is perpetuated by what Harari mentions as Data Religion. A religion where data prophets and messengers are formulating new prophecies for society, which has plenty to do with technology and algorithms but not much with God. The birth of the useless class is the causation of technology and AI displacing the need for physical humans in jobs, thus rendering them useless in the economy.

With the rise of Data Religion in Bangalore, the thesis seeks to envisage how the Dalits, useless class of India, can pray in their new temple that seeks to fulfil the promise of both religions to stay relevant in the economy, thriving within their community. The thesis does not aim to abolish the existing Caste System. Rather, to prevent the marginalised gap between the Dalits and superhumans from widening to the point of their obsolescence.

The promise of the internet as a powerful democratising tool seems to deal the lowest caste in the religion of Hinduism, Dalits, with a double blow. Further condemning and suppressing them into the useless class.

The design proposal thus leverages the concept of the jugaad mentality, which proliferated in India and widely amongst the Dalits, as an impetus in creating a new holy land borrowed from religious practices and architecture. The new holy land does not only embody the spirit of these lower caste Indians but also cultivates a productive economy borne out of their demise.

Plot Size & Purpose

28,151.89m2

Waste Land A New Economy

Rituals, Rites, Recyling Land of The Dalits

The Two Faces of The Temple Design Intervention https://issuu.com/atheerahkamal/docs/thesis_research_paper_atheerah

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