Crescent Botanicals 19 Istan: The Antithesis of English Wallpaper
Mango Pavilion 33 Scavenged to Someplace Still
Creative and detail-oriented architectural designer with a passion for transforming concepts into visually compelling designs. Skilled in developing floor plans, renderings, and immersive visual graphics to enhance project visualization. Proficient in multiple design software, with a meticulous approach to precision and accuracy in 3D modeling. Dedicated to delivering innovative, high-quality solutions while collaborating effectively in fast-paced environments.
harmanjot kaur
education
Master’s Degree in Architecture
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (2020 – 2023)
Bachelor’s Degree in Applied Mathematics
University of California, Los Angeles (2017 – 2020)
experience
Kjirsten Harpain, AIA
Architectural Drafter
2024 – Present
• Create architectural drawings and specifications using CAD software to enhance project visualization.
• Assist Senior Architect with development of design concepts and presentation documents.
• Manage design projects efficiently from initial concept through final proposals, ensuring timely completion and high-quality results.
• Participate in design meetings, site analysis, client consultations, and contribute to project design discussions.
• Prepare technical and construciton documentaions that comply with zoning and building codes.
• Successfully obtained building permits for an Accessory Agriculture Structure, resulting in high client satisfaction and appreciation.
Sat Kartar Foundation 2023 – Present
Graphic Designer
• Design visually appealing graphics for events, social media, and spiritual educational content across all age groups.
• Manage multiple media content stream to support the organization’s messaging.
• Collaborate with directors to ensure cohesive branding and identity, incorporating consistent logo design, typography, and color palettes.
• Created digital and print media for successful events hosted at national parks across California, engaging local youth and young adults in discussions on Sikh spirituality and nature exploration.
UCLA Architecture Research 2018
Research / 3D Modeler
• Re-imagined and recreated architectural designs from 13th-century France using Vectorworks software, ensuring precision and accuracy in every model.
• Developed detailed 3D models to support architectural research, enhancing exploration and understanding of historical design concepts.
• Contributed to web enhancements that facilitated deeper engagement with architectural research findings.
skills
Softwares (Rhino, Revit, AutoCAD, Vectorworks, V Ray, Enscape, Sketchup)
Group Project: Harman Kaur, Katie Bailey, & Raghad Al Khidran
Project Location: Corktown, Michigan, Ash St. & 14th St.
An important aspect we explored within this project is the opportunity for housing to facilitate interaction on different levels of engagement. We explored this through the concept of enticement as the product of the juxtaposition of refuge and prospect ingrained in multiple levels of our project. Enticement creates a feeling of curiosity for the mystery of what maybe just around the bend, out of sight enough that you have to discover what exists by engaging.
This conceptual bridging of prospect and refuge takes place in the development of 4 topics that use this juxtaposition at their design core (from the zones for each generation, architecture open to nature, construction and materiality, to the interwoven site plan). We are interested in intergenerational spaces, community life, materiality, and path movement all of which could be expanded upon using the concept of rewilding.
front left right back
Crescent Botanicals
The situation is e-commerce is not all that it’s made up to be, the carbon footprint of delivery, the overabundance of packaging, exploitative labor practices, in addition the pandemic has foregrounded the value of the social and civic aspects of our lives. This project turns a ‘market’ into a place where inventory becomes social and where wholesale can be civic.
Lending from the bustling markets of India, the initial proposal is imagined similarly to a courtyard bazaar with a secret garden for social escapes. From these inspirations, the design takes on a slightly different approach by being seemingly perfect, but then being carved away at in irregular shapes revealing intricacy. The program is designed for a garden utility center. When entering the market the visitor is welcomed to take part in leisurely activities in the courtyard’s secret garden. Above, on the second level accessed by an elevator, visitors shop garden supplies, while still taking part in social interactions below through the secret garden.
CENTRAL VALLEY CA
ISTAN: The Antithesis of English Wallpaper
Istan is a suffx in Farsi meaning place and the embodiment of the entirety of a place’s essence. It is a place on a map that locates a region of people, their heritage, language, religion, and architecture. This thesis intends to peel away to reveal what lies behind the ‘English’ wallpaper, a distinct representation of British interiors, that has covered over Punjab and the Sikh culture and disregarded them as the “other.”
The thesis focuses on the decolonization of space, a framed wallpaper installation, oral history of Avtar Singh during the 1947 Partition, and poetic writing to allow language physical space to that which is unsaid. The fnal installation of the project is exhibited as a gathering space making one feel as if they are stepping inside of a room. There is also a movable wall with poetry and images, a rug for sitting, and other parts of the project displayed. The intention behind the installation is to show how Sikh Punjabi’s live and use space inspired by their spiritual poems, within the American architectural realm.
Miter joint
Inner Frame Outer Frame
Poplar Wood Frame & Wallpaper Assembly
The
Jan 14, 2023
Time: 2:51 pm
Place: Fresno, CA
Name: Avtar Singh
Age: 95
0:31 My name is Avtar Singh and I am 95 years old
0:34 We were living there [272 Chak (Mazara Dihngriaan) Lyallpur, Pakistan] without any
4:47 While we were crossing the Muslim raid began attacking us. The military that was supposed to come and follow us behind on a boat but instead they crossed the river in an airplane.
5:24 We were left on our own and didn’t have any guns on us, we just had kirpans, spears, and axes. We didn’t let them near us with what
10:08 If we asked and tried to fght for our rights they would throw us in jail.
lot of people illegally entered ndia from akistan, but we came legally into ndia.
n we came to merica. Fresno,
e had relatives living in the entral alley
avtar singh
made our own baking soda and for next season planting and the ritish aj, the ritish
order to get the paper money later that we were left with no more gold or silver coins
Where Has It Gone?
Gone is my home, Our blithe life in the cotton felds. Gone is my brother, cousin and uncle, Taken by the raids of anger. Gone is our Punjab, Split in half by the British Raj. Gone is our freedom, To be who we are.
Maharaj, where has it all gone?
Mango Pavilion
Project Location: Southeast Michigan
In a post pandemic world, a party of 18 can come together for dinner at the Mango Pavilion, a free standing single room dinning pavilion.
The project construction began from a simple organic design massing. The massing was extruded from a free fowing sketch taking on a shape that brought a feeling of naturalness and inclusivity. From this massing, the pavilion took on an architectural form through considered tangible materiality. The detailed construction drawings shows the imagined portrayal of the project through the provided specifcations of dimensions and materials.
Scavenged to Someplace Still
Group Project: Harman Kaur & Pilar O’Hara
Permanence in architecture is in question, due to a planet in crisis and pandemic that has left us to question how we use spaces. Therefore, fexibility and deployability have become an idea of intrigue. With this in mind our project draws from the notion of designing for disassembly, inspired by a camp kit. The purpose of the kit is to take us anywhere out in the world encouraging a plurality of experiences and locations, that also sponsor some of our daily activities.
This kit serves as a spiritual camp kit, for activities such as meditation and prayer. The spiritual camp kit is made of scavenged parts like discarded materials such as plastic bottles and bags. From these materials, we fabricated plastic crocheted panels and created weighted plastic bottle bases for the rigid structure linked with 3D printed tube joints. The design of the spiritual camp kit is intended to be easily disassembled and create an environment for the meditator to be outside and yet sparsely enclosed within the structure.
Step 1: set up plastic bottle bases
Step 2: connect PVC pipes using 3D printed joints to the plastic bottle bases
Step 3: attach plastic overhead frame to PVC pipes by connecting the frame to the slot mechanism
Step 4: attach plastic crochet panels to the hooks on the 3D printed joints
Step 5: cover the ground with plastic crochet mats and plastic bottle stool for sitting
