Hiral Ahir Selected works of
Architecture Design Portfolio
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Hiral Ahir_Academic Work
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Hiral Ahir_Academic Work
Contents
01) Design Development of atlanta library 02) Think tank library 03) Engagement - Single family housing 04) Metro Station design and structure 05) Trespass - a public space 06) Radio Tower 95.5fm 07) Stadium design and structure 08) Stranden- Tectonic development 09) Miscellaneous - workshops
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...03 ...08 ...13 ...15 ...17 ...22 ...27 ...31 ...33
Hiral Ahir_Academic Work
01 Design Development of Atlanta Library Guide / Herwig Baumgartner Scale / Library Location / Atlanta Collaborator / Yash Mehta,Richard Mapes, Julia Pike, Justine Polin, Kumaran Parthiban, Priyanka Rajani, Caleb Roberts & Irvin Shaifa KeywordsTectonic Building assemblies Facade articulation Materials Framework Envelope transformation Technological associations Enclosure
This course investigates issues related to the implementation of the design:technology, the use of materials, systems integration and the archetypal analytical strategies of force , order and character.The course includes a review of basicand advanced construction methods, analysis of building codes, the design of structural and mechanical systems, environmental systems, building service systems, the development of building materials and the integration of building components and systems. The intent here is to develop a cohesive understanding of howarchitects communicate complex building systems for the built environment and to demonstrate the ability to document a comprehensive architectural project. The seminar selects a project from the Spring 2019 design studio and asks 10 students to collaborate and create a office like strategies to develope the design project for Design development
Left image // Night render view of the design proposed atlanta library
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Hiral Ahir_Academic Work
Diagrid Primary Structure Steel Structure
UHP FRC Floor Panels
Diagrid Primary Structure
Steel Mullions
FRC louvers panels Anodize Glass Prefab panels
Steel Deck
Skylight
Diagrid Secondary Structure
Steel Mullions with Glass panels
Stainless steel Cladding and insulation
Spacers Girders
Steel Structure
Metal sheet Concrete flooring and waterproofing
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Primary structure fro Boxes
Hiral Ahir_Academic Work
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Hiral Ahir_Academic Work
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Hiral Ahir_Academic Work
02 Think Tank Library Design Guide / Jackilin Hah Bloom Scale / Library Location / Atlanta, Geogia Collaborator / Hou Sheng Wang KeywordsContainers as metaphor Precarious Tenuous Monolithic posture Vaccum form technique Interdependent spaces Envelope tectonic
Unlike the existing Atlanta Central Library by Marcel Breuer, a singular stepped mass with its monolithic materiality, we examine tenuous agglomerations through assembly of multiple volumes to redefine a library’s monolithicposture in the city.A library is a physical container of knowledge and all the mediums in which knowledge is distributed.As these mediums transition from physical books to be taken off shelves to intangible bits to be stored and accessed remotely, the library’s role as a public asset and destination for information, will inevitably change. How do we envision an ever changing paradigm of information and its formal container?We approached the library as a cultural monolith in the city, but with precarious postures. In order to redefine library’s monolithic posture in the city, we began to organize it under its most basic metaphor as a container. We began by looking at a jumbled mass of different types of containers, like, jute bags, bath tubs, vending machines etc.We explored its various agglomerations through a collage. These groupings are examined based on their shapes and how they interact with the ground, edge and sky. Left image // Section view of the library buidling proposal
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Hiral Ahir_Academic Work
// Massing and facade tectonic evolution of the library buidling proposal
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// Exploded axonometric program diagram of the library buidling proposal
Hiral Ahir_Academic Work
// Ground ffoor plan of the library buidling proposal
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// Fifth folorplan of the library buidling proposal
Hiral Ahir_Academic Work
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Hiral Ahir_Academic Work
03 Engagement- Single family housing Design Guide / Michael Casey Rehm Scale / Residential Location / Los Angeles,California Collaborator / Giovanna Lima KeywordsTower within a tower Urban voids Interface Architecture Coded slats Python scripts Processing scripts Co-existence Synthetic wilderness Envelope threshold
Considering the imminent housing crises in Los Angeles, our project – “a tower within a tower” attempts to revitalize the urban wilderness in cultural district of LA. The site for the project is based on synthetic wilderness in urban voids as we explored them in downtown LA. Architecture has historical methods of interface. The physical material of the building mediates the internal and external systems of exchange. This workshop looks at how the designer can operate through interfacing high resolution digital site data and their own intentions. The workshop project will explore both how we can design through interface, and how we can represent architecture as interface. Chosen site is located in the cultural district of downtown LA- the broad museum and the area around it. Currently underutilized, the open spaces around the broad museum and its surroundings challenged its own wilderness. This offered a range of new possibilities to infill within the voids which are very fragmented and scattered. This allowed our design intervention to be vertically driven. We opted for three such points (or fragmented voids) from the existing fabric as anchor points for our towers. Left image // view of the single family building dwelling 1
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Hiral Ahir_Academic Work
// Massing and facade tectonic evolutionusing photoscans of the fowers Right image // Massing and facade tectonic evolution using python script and processing
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Hiral Ahir_Academic Work
// Single family dwelling unit intergration with generated processed massing units as structure
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Hiral Ahir_Academic Work
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Hiral Ahir_Academic Work
04 Metro Station design and structure Design Guide / Greg Otto Scale / Infrastructure Location / Hypothetical
KeywordsSection active structures Form active structures Vector active structures Big shed solution Structural fundamentals Novelty Long span Repetition Load transfer
The intent of this project is to use the structural concepts studied in class and deploy these concepts to develop a long span structural solution. Understand structural fundamentals necessary to imagine and develop long span, large volume architecture. The excerise is an introduction to the structural concepts available to the designer to imagine and ultimately design long span, large volume architecture. The desire to create enclosure- space that is protected from the external environement-has continued to evolve, pressing for greater span and more imaginative solution. Scale and geomteric complexity create significant challenges unique to this sub-set of building typologies.Knowledge of the concepts, their strengths and the associated challenges in both design and construction, will enable the design decision-making process to arrive at appropriate solutions.
Left image // view of the designed metro station
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Hiral Ahir_Academic Work
DETAIL ELEVATION A
DETAIL STRUCTURAL BEAM A
DETAIL STRUCTURAL BEAM B
DETAIL ELEVATION B
DETAIL STRUCTURAL BEAM C
DETAIL ELEVATION C
A
B
C
DETAIL STRUCTURAL PLAN
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KEY PLAN
Hiral Ahir_Academic Work
05 Tresspass- a public space Thesis Guide / Jackilin Hah Bloom Scale / Public space Location / Los Angeles,California
KeywordsUnfolded elevations Compositions Stamping technique Analog and digital
My project takes an existing community center located on a precarious site and proposes to convert it into a visible public space. In my project, new edges, rails, walls, and fences straddle the existing building at varying widths and thicknesses.These new wallsalso fold to the ground to form platforms for performances, seating, and landscape. It is a thesis about boundaries, walls, edges and fences and how these things can transgress their negative connotationsto become what I am proposing as a public space. What a fence essentially does is upright a boundary, defines moments of entry and exit, fall over the ground and double up layer for protection. But, In order to study the boundaries in a more positive light, I started to experiment with aggregation and composition of those. In order to explore its layered application, these diagrams were carved into rubber stamps. Through the exercise of stamping I could transgress their symbolic limitations as seen in this model. Workflow between analog and digital was important This investigation usescolor and the analog stamp textures as a kind of material quality for theproject. Left image // view of the proposed public space
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Hiral Ahir_Academic Work
// Indexing fence types as symbols and diagrams
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// Collage experiments of fence compositions
Hiral Ahir_Academic Work
// Digital and physcial stamping exercise Right image // 3dimensional development of the stamping exercise, color experiments
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Hiral Ahir_Academic Work
// Unfolded elevation compositions as fragments of the public space Left image // Plan view of the physical model of trespass-public space
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Hiral Ahir_Academic Work
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Hiral Ahir_Academic Work
06 Radio Station 95.5fm Guide / Eric Owen Moss Scale / Commercial building Location / Los Angeles,California Collaborator / Irvin Shaifa
KeywordsStructure Metamorphosis Dynamism
Interrogatory: Size and Content — Is there a deterministic relationship between building size and building content? Is there a stable concept design model, applicable regardless of scale? Or are design models multiple, contingent on size as the project scale varies? Project brief: The Big Dipper 5850 Jefferson Boulevard, Los Angeles, California Height: 320 ft Max Area: 345,000 sf Lot Dimensions: 245 ft x 515 ft Yards: None Required Parking: Between 513-710 Min. Lot Coverage: 30% Use: Commercial Office
Left image // view of the proposed commercial tower
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Hiral Ahir_Academic Work
// Longitudnal Section through the commercial tower and radio station spaces
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// Conceptual development of current site conditions with commerical tower
Hiral Ahir_Academic Work
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Hiral Ahir_Academic Work
// Pedestrian and vehicular circulation diagrams Right image // Plan through the commercial tower and radio station spaces
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Hiral Ahir_Academic Work
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Hiral Ahir_Academic Work
07 Stranden- Tectonic development Design Guide / Maxi Spina, Randy Jefferson Scale / Commercial building Location / Oslo,Norway Collaborator / Pin Chih Lao, Yash Mehta, Kumaran Parthiban KeywordsTectonic Building assemblies Facade articulation Materials Framework Envelope transformation Technological associations Enclosure
The given task was to select a precedent in order to formulate a series of hypotheses in an attempt to construct a number of interrelated tectonic conjectures.Interpolate and speculate the precdent based on how things work within the building. We chose the stranden, office and commercial building in oslo as our precdent study to begin with. Having analysed the existing tectonic of the precedent through a series of digital modeling and diagrams, the given task was to tranform the envelope tectonic through a series of digital and physical models and diagrams. The Office and Commercial building located in the heart of Oslo, Stranden 1 represents as a new corporate standard within building renovation and stands as a rebranding flagship for the new Aker Brygge Master plan. The building is transformed from an existing (historical) building into a modern piece of architecture. The building in the urban context sets as a landmark for the vicinity. The building is refurbished and uses the old structure and adds on the new structure building a new identity.
Left image // Tectonic development detail model of the new stranden facade proposal
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Hiral Ahir_Academic Work
220mm pre-cast concrete flfloor slabs with moisture diffusing layer
Old RCC structural slab cast in-situ system
Triple glazing in aluminium frame
Roller blinds
Steel I-beams 500mm deep
Triple glazing in aluminium frame
6mm toughened glass and 6mm ffoat glass
Steel I-beams 500mm deep
3mm black stainless steel sheet cladding Triple glazing in aluminium frame
6mm toughened glass and 6mm float glass
Old RCC structural column cast in-situ system
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6mm toughened glass and 6mm flfoat glass
3mm black stainless steel sheet cladding
Hiral Ahir_Academic Work
Old RCC structural column cast in-situ system
Window glazing, 8mm single pane toughened glass(external)-16mm cavity filled with argon, 10mm laminated safety glass
Mechanically pre-tensioned ETFE single film membrane
Struts holding systems of cable ties at regular intervals to enable saddle shaped ETFE profile
Cable ties to hold the ETFE membrane in place
Maintenance catwalk grating on steel angle brackets 100X50X6
Triple glazing in aluminium frame as per the existing old envelope
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Hiral Ahir_Academic Work
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Hiral Ahir_Academic Work
08 Stadium design and structure Design Guide / Greg Otto Scale / Infrastructure Location / Hypothetical
KeywordsSection active structures Form active structures Vector active structures Big shed solution Structural fundamentals Novelty Long span Repetition Load transfer
The intent of this project is to use the structural concepts studied in class and deploy these concepts to develop a long span structural solution. Understand structural fundamentals necessary to imagine and develop long span, large volume architecture. The excerise is an introduction to the structural concepts available to the designer to imagine and ultimately design long span, large volume architecture. The desire to create enclosure- space that is protected from the external environement-has continued to evolve, pressing for greater span and more imaginative solution. Scale and geomteric complexity create significant challenges unique to this sub-set of building typologies.Knowledge of the concepts, their strengths and the associated challenges in both design and construction, will enable the design decision-making process to arrive at appropriate solutions.
Left image // view of the designed stadium
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Hiral Ahir_Academic Work
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Hiral Ahir_Academic Work
09 Miscellaneous- Earth, Bamboo, Rcc Workshops
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Thank you Hiral Ahir reach me at: hiralrahir@gmail.com +1 628 999 2068
@2020 Hiral Ahir. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission of the copyright owner.