2021 Student Representative Network Executive Committee Member
2021 Melbourne Peer Mentor
Bachelor of Design | 2017-2020
Architecture Major
Design Visualisation Specialisation
The University of Melbourne
2018 Architecture Undergraduate Representative
2017 Design and Environments Students’ Society General Committee Member
Diploma in Music | 2017-2020
Flute performance and Music production focus
bhadra rajendren pandalai
I am a graduate of the Master of Architecture degree from the University of Melbourne. My three years of industry education, sports, healthcare, public transport, and residential. I have worked on projects from concept design enced in working with Revit, Rhino, InDesign, Enscape, Lumion, documentation and drafting, construction drawing presentations. I am a quick learner, especially with softwares, and have excellent graphic sense and spatial understanding. use functionality as the basis for aesthetics and provide cultural sustainability through community self-expression.
My interest in architecture and interior design extends to furniture design, graphic and packaging design and illustration. trator, and with experience with timber furniture making, I endeavour to experience and learn about all aspects
awards and recognition
2023
Interviewed and featured in Architect Victoria Edition 1 2023
2018 - 2022 Work selected for MSDx Exhibitions
2017 Melbourne National Scholarship / University of Melbourne Chancellor’s Scholar
2016 QCAA Distinguished Academic Achiever Award for placing in the top 25 students in Queensland
soft skills
Creative and divergent thinking
Leadership skills
Clear communication and listening
Attention to detail
hard skills
Numerical skills
Teamwork and collaboration
Analytical skills and critical thinking
Management and organisation
industry experience spans a range of sectors including design stage to delivery phase. I am efficient and experidrawing and compiling design reports, schedules, and understanding. My passion lies in creating spaces that self-expression.
illustration. As a freelance graphic designer and illusaspects of design while expanding my skillsets.
experience
Graduate of Architecture
Novum | August 2024 - Present
• Designing education facilities and community centres including private schools, churches, and resorts.
• Drafting and compiling DA application sets and tender packages
• Documentation and 3D modelling across both architecture and interior design
• Compiling specifications and schedules including NATSPEC
• Coordinating and communicating with suppliers and consultants
Architectural Consultant / Revit Documenter
Populous | March 2024 - July 2024
• Experience on international stadium projects as part of the Bowl Team - designing, documenting and coordinating the seating bowl
Creating complex construction documentation sets and 3D models
• Concrete detail drawings
Graduate of Architecture
Hassell | January 2023 - January 2024
• Experience on highly complex projects across a range of sectors including healthcare (Queensland Health), entertainment, and public transport (Parklife Metro).
• Creating construction documentation sets with detail drawings and 3D models and assisting with interior room layout sheets
• Working as part of the System Wide Team on Parklife Metro to lead and assist station teams with station designs
• Working with interior design team to create moodboards and FF&E drawings
Concept design and floorplanning of healthcare projects
Architectural Assistant
Andever | 2020 - 2022
• 3D modeling in Rhino and creating drawings in AutoCAD
• Creating documents for Town Planning sets
• Proposing effective architectural and interior design ideas and solutions for design problems
ACADEMIC AND PERSONAL PROJECTS Queensland Chin Christian Church
EMBODYING IDENTITY - THESIS
Cultural performing arts centre for the Kerala diaspora of Brisbane 2022
ROSARIUM
Illustration Personal project 2020 - Present
Timber furniture design and fabrication 2022
CUSHION CHAIR
industry experience.
PRACTICE
POPULOUS
PROJECT
PRINCE FAISAL BIN FAHD SPORTS CITY STADIUM
YEAR 2024
CONTRIBUTIONS
• Revit modelling
• Documentation
Designed to accommodate over 46,000 spectators, this stadium is a new build in Riyadh intended to host games for the 2034 FIFA World Cup and 2027 Asian Cup.
Involved during the documentation stage, I worked as part of the Bowl Team - resolving and documenting the stadium seating bowl. My responsibilities included creating comprehensive and detailed construction documentation sets for the final months of the project, complex modelling of stadium architecture, and resolving design issues.
industry experience.
PRACTICE
HASSELL
PROJECT
PARKLIFE METRO
6 TRAIN STATIONS FOR WESTERN SYDNEY
AIRPORT LINE YEAR 2023
CONTRIBUTIONS
• Revit modelling and Enscape visualisations
• Design studies
• Documentation
Involved during design development and documentation stages, I work as part of the System-Wide team working with the six station teams to provide standard design solutions to station designs. My responsibilities include communicating and coordinating with station teams, reporting any design issues found within stations to the System-Wide team, working on design studies to investigate these issues and develop solutions, and creating construction documentation sets. Primarily working in Revit and Enscape, I also create renders for presentations and compile design reports and presentations for weekly design reviews.
industry experience.
PRACTICE
NOVUM
PROJECT
EMMANUEL COLLEGE SENIOR SCHOOL
YEAR 2024
CONTRIBUTIONS
• Revit modelling
• Documentation
• Interior Design
• Schedules and Specifications
Emmanuel College Senior School is a new learning hub located in the Gold Coast with adaptable and diverse teaching methods in mind. The spaces are designed to suit various teaching styles including operable walls to adjust classroom sizes, a combination of traditional and innovative learning spaces, as well as an outdoor amphitheatre. Its connection to the surrounding green landscape through outlook and connecting outdoor spaces allow students to collaborate and learn in a modern and dynamic setting.
Involved during the construction documentation stage, I contributed to documentation for tender, Revit modelling, doors and windows scheduling and specification, and interior design documentation.
industry experience.
PRACTICE NOVUM
PROJECT
BAYSIDE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE SENIOR SCHOOL PRECINCT
YEAR 2024
CONTRIBUTIONS
• Concept design
• Revit modelling
• Documentation
• Visualisation
The Bayside Christian College Senior School Precinct is a new development consisting of two buildings designed around a central theme of connectivity and collaboration. The precinct aims to provide a central hub serving both the educational and communal needs of its students. Its connection to its coastal location in Hervey Bay was also paramount in the design process through the use of colour and material palettes and the rounded and undulating shape patterns introduced in key spaces.
Involved during the concept design and design development stages, I contributed to concept designing, documentation of the DA set, Revit modelling, and visualisation.
industry experience.
PRACTICE
NOVUM
PROJECT
QUEENSLAND CHIN CHRISTIAN CHURCH
YEAR 2025
CONTRIBUTIONS
• Concept design
• Interior design
• Revit modelling
• Construction documentation
• Visualisation
The Queensland Chin Christian Church is a community centre for the Myanmar Chin community. The project consists of a worship hall, sunday school classrooms, multipurpose room with badminton court, outdoor kitchen and amenities block.
This project provides a valuable gathering centre for a marginalised community and is designed specifically for their cultural and communal needs - including red accent walls, the inclusion of a badminton court, and the provision of a communal kitchen.
Involved during all phases of the project from concept design ato construction, I contributed to concept designing, construction documentation, Revit modelling, and visualisation.
industry experience.
industry experience.
PRACTICE ANDEVER
PROJECT
PEMBROKE
TOWNHOUSE DEVELOPMENT
YEAR 2022
CONTRIBUTIONS
• CAD drawings for town planning set
• 3D model
• Design suggestions
I was involved in this project during concept design, design development and documentation. My responsibilities included initial concept design of the townhouses and their floorplanning, working within and adjusting for zoning and other planning constraints, creating the 3D model of the site and rendering in Lumion, documenting in AutoCAD, and putting together the town planning set for council approval.
PROPOSED NORTH ELEVATION EXTERIOR MATERIAL SCHEDULE
academic experience.
EMBODYING IDENTITY
THESIS PROJECT
2022
SOFTWARES USED
• Rhino
• Grasshopper
• Adobe Suite
How can the complexities of the cultural identity of a minority community be effectively communicated through architectural form, in a way that is subconsciously recognisable and familiar, to create a space for reconnection with culture?
How can the dynamism of movement, which simultaneously transpires over space and time, be embodied and made visible through architectural form?
Body movements and the representation of cultural identity have been architecturally explored as separate concepts; however, there is little architectural investigation into how body movements from cultural practices can have significance on cultural identity and how they can be translated into architectural form as a tool for representing communities. Current methods of cultural representation in architecture are surface-level, referencing environments or vernacular architecture rather than the people and practices of the culture itself. By observing and documenting the body movements of traditional cultural practices and the ways in which the movements are made visible through costumes, materials, and colour, a vocabulary of body movements distinct to a culture can be developed, providing a deeper understanding of the people.
This project explores how the body movements derived from Mohiniattam (theatre dance), Thiruvathirakali (women’s communal dance), and Kalaripayattu (martial arts) from Kerala, South India, can form a common vocabulary that can be used to create a language of morphologies to represent the Malayali community through architecture within an Australian context.
- KALARIPAYATTU - MARTIAL ARTS
SWEEPING, CONTINUOUS
- THIRUVATHIRAKALI | COMMUNAL DANCE
APPLICATION OF PLEATS
PROPOSED REVEGETATION CONNECTION
KOALA HABITAT
BRASS INLAY ON EDGE OF CONCRETE BEAM
0 0.5 1 2m
CONCRETE BEAMS SUPPORTING ROOF SLABS
100MM INSULATION
10MM GYPSUM BOARD WITH WHITE VENETIAN LIME PLASTER FINISH
WHITE XYPEX WATERPROOF CONCRETE 270MM ROOF SLAB WITH STEEL REINFORCEMENT BARS
DOUBLE-GLAZED WINDOW WITH INVISIBLE FRAMES
0 0.5 1 2m
CONCRETE BEAMS SUPPORTING ROOF SLABS
100MM INSULATION
100MM ACOUSTIC FIBRE CEMENT
CEILING CAVITY
SUSPENDED CEILING SYSTEM
ACOUSTIC INSULATION
19MM CASHMERE GREY
MICROPERFORATED WOOD PANELS
COVE LIGHTING
WHITE XYPEX WATERPROOF CONCRETE 270MM ROOF SLAB WITH STEEL REINFORCEMENT BARS
BRASS INLAY ON EDGE OF CONCRETE BEAM
The edges of the white concrete pleats are highlighted with brass inlays, as done in the traditional costumes with gold thread on white cotton. The contrast between the white and gold emphasises the edges of the pleats and amplifies the feeling of movement and progression. The interiors are finished with white venetian lime plaster with an opalescent finish, which causes lights and shadows to create the illusion of movement against the walls. Along the edge of the deck is a red siding which curves and moves throughout the site, creating a continuous leading line throughout the entire circulation path. All of these combined communicates the dynamism of movement, while referencing the colours and strategies employed in the traditional dance costumes to emphasise the movements of the choreography, thereby creating a sense of familiarity for members of the community interacting with this site.
AUDITORIUM
academic experience.
CUSHION CHAIR
INDIVIDUAL PROJECT
2022
MACHINING PROCESSES
• Cnc milling
• Lathe
• Hand tools
TIMBERS USED
• Blackwood
• Pine
The Cushion Chair is an exploration in ergonomics and the potential of timber to appear as a soft material. This chair is designed to support the body at rest while sitting close to the floor in positions such as cross-legged, bent knees, or legs to either side.
Sitting on the floor becomes uncomfortable quickly due to two main reasons: firstly because the hard, flat ground causes all the pressure to be applied to very small areas on the user’s sit bones, and secondly because sitting with the hips at the same level as the ankles causes discomfort in the joints.
These issues can be remedied by looking at how soft surfaces make sitting more comfortable for long periods of time. Cushions morph to the user’s body shape, thereby distributing the pressure across a greater surface area of the body. Elevating the hips above the ankles also allows pressure to be taken off the hip joints and allows the ankles to rest without being pressed hard against the floor.
The fabrication process involved CNC milling the backrest and seat cushion for the rough shape, and using machinery and hand-making techniques to create the rest of the chair.
The timber’s used are blackwood for the structural components such as the seat base and backrest dowels, and pine for the cushion components of the seat cushion and the backrest. This creates visual contrast between the structural parts and the “cushion” parts and the grains emphasise the soft appearance of the timber.
Photography by Mitchell Ransome
BACKREST
The pine backrest is curved on the front face to accommodate the curvature of the user’s back and to appear as an imprint of a person’s back in a cushion. It is CNC flip-milled in two halves that are laminated together with channels in between to allow the dowels to be inserted.
DOWELS
The dowel supports are lathed from blackwood into cylinders and then inserted into the holes of the backrest and the seat base. It is inserted halfway into the backrest for structural stability.
SEAT CUSHION
The pine seat “cushion” is modelled with curvatures that specifically conform to the body when sitting close to the ground, derived from the cushion sitting tests. It is CNC milled in two halves and laminated together, then glued onto the seat base.
SEAT BASE
The seat base is made from blackwood and cut into a circle with a bandsaw, then routered at the edges. Two holes for the dowels are drilled with a drill-press.
Pine grains emphasise the curvatures of the surfaces
Dowels pushing in the “cushions” at the contact points, expressing the softness of the timber
Raised back for lower back and tailbone support
Dip in the middle to provide even support and pressure across the glutes
Lower sides for space for thighs when sitting cross-legged
Height of seat base combined with seat cushion helps to raise the hips above the ankles and relieve pressure on the ankle bones and knees
Photography by Mitchell Ransome
illustration.
ROSARIUM PERONAL PROJECT
2020 - PRESENT
SOFTWARES USED
• Digital painting in photoshop
Rosarium is a personal project started in 2020, exploring scale colur and lighting as a way to improve environment building and landscape painting. Rather than a concept, Rosarium is a place with varied landscapes, with visual similarities to our real world but with elements of surrealism - waterfalls from clouds creating lakes in the sky, glowing purple and pink water, mountains that turn into spires or are ringed with gold. In Rosarium, the minuteness of humanity against the vastness of the natural environment is emphasised and exaggerated.
More Rosarium works can be found on instagram @rosarium.exe.
