Digital Skills
3D SOFTWARES AutoCAD
Architectural Experience
GENSLER
13th to 24th January 2020
As part of my Praxis module, I undertook a two-week work placement at Gensler, where they gave me the opportunity to:
• Work on a real-life Project on Revit.
• I started off the week with an unrealistic individual project, where I was given a site and brief, and using my architecture knowledge, adobe, and my artistic skills to come up with a temporary proposal.
• Attended client meetings with the director and senior architect BM3
27th to 31st August 2018
At BM3 I was given a range of tasks to work on, which gave me the opportunity to use a range of skills, both hand and computer:
• Research
• Design decisions
• Final presentation Preparations
• Learnt how to produce Scaled and Proportionate Orthographic Drawings
• Learnt the basics of SketchUp.
BIRMINGHAM CITY COUNCIL
19th to 23rd February 2018
At my work experience I was a:
• A project manager
• Worked as a team to come up with a design proposal.
https://issuu.com/humaira.r
BROPHY RIAZ PARTNERS LTD, CHARTERED ARCHITECTS
Monday 17th July 2017 - Friday 21st July 2017
At Brophy Riaz and Partners Ltd, Chartered Architects, I did a range of tasks such as:
• Admin work
• Orthographic Drawings in AutoCAD 2006
• Showed me how to draw up Surveys
• Got to experience the day to day functioning of an architect.
Project 1: Behind The Veil (6-33)
Project 2: Aren’t We All Born To Live (34-45)
Project 3: Impact Hub (46-49)
Creative Work (50-57)
Resin Palace Business (58-61)
Project Name: Behind The Veil
Class: Third Year
Module: Design Resolution
Site: 583 Moseley Road, Birmingham, Balsall Heath, B12 9BL
Client: Muslim Women & The Wider Society
Project Type: Residential & Community Spaces
Type Of Work: Individual
Portfolio Links:
https://issuu.com/humaira.r/docs/l6_behind_the_veil_portfolio_-_pages https://issuu.com/humaira.r/docs/ramzan_humaira_behindtheveil_tech_portfolio_compre
Behind The Veil is a project designed to focus on creating both residential and community spaces, for Muslim Women and the Wider Society. The main aim of the project is to shed light, educate and help individuals understand one of the biggest challenges faced in the world today; Discrimination, most importantly discrimination faced by Muslim Women within our society.
As much as it may sound ridiculous and obvious, the main reasons as to why these women are being so mistreated is because they have decided to cover up and wear the veil also known as a hijab.
However, don’t we live in a world where we have been told that everyone is entitled to their own freedom? Yet we failed in providing these Muslim Women with the exact same support!
Therefore, using my concept word Layering, which was discovered from the previous project, I used my form to reveal the hidden layers faced by these Muslim women, through an architectural approach. As each individual walks through the community spaces, they will experience what they assume Muslim Women’s lives are like, through the dark, claustrophobic and tight spaces, to the more realistic, opened and lit up spaces.
Whereas the residential spaces have been created to provide the Muslim Women with a form of shelter, and a
As chapter two of my design book shows, as I was going through the stages of designing my form, I was also considering the site, its context, opportunities, and constraints along the way. However, as this was a long process with many changes, I thought to make it clear, I produce this perspective map, with most of the site analysis on it.
Minor Roads
Major Roads
Blue Arrows (these have been included to show how the main cross road leads into the main entrance)
Commercial Buildings (included are: shops, takeaways, Library etc)
Site Boundary
Main Entrance For Assembly Hall
Here is a site plan, which shows my building surrounding by its context. It’s obvious to see that the building has been located in an environment that has loads of shops, takeaways and residential houses.
I have also gone ahead and showed which direction the sun travels around my building, throughout chapter two you should have noticed, when figuring out my architectural design I did consider and show the environmental things that impacted the decision’s I made, such as the sun, surrounding context, light and so on.
Sun Path Direction
Wind Direction
SCOOTERS
To encourage the public and users to use public transport and there are already car parks nearby.
SOLID WALL
Wall has been added to keep the neighboring buildings private and to stop crimes.
MAIN ENTRANCE
As there is a crossroad, this entrance leads you straight into the assembly building.
To
GATHERING SPACE
To build a community and allow the society to get to know each other and their experiences.
HOUSE ENTRANCE
To prevent divisions and allow the users to get to know each other, these have been left opened.
This landscape strategy is a visual way of understanding some of the key factors that were mentioned on the pages before when showing the ground floor plan. The key four visuals above are not all taken from the section below, these are just to show you how my landscape strategy works visually, the first one shows ways of encouraging users to use scooters, walking or buses, which is good for the environment and a better way for the public to connect. Then the other visuals show how having no front garden and leaving the front door opened for people to walk past, according to Jan Gehl and Jane Jacobs, this causes deliberate encounters to occur. The next visual shows how I created this wall, that act as veils, they allow people to sit and look out, stay private and hidden and still get light. The last visual shows some of the recreational activities that could occur on the landscape.
As you enter into the foyer space of the assembly hall building, its not designed to make the users feel comfortable, but instead designed to make you feel at unease, tight, dark, and confusing. All the factors I mentioned earlier on that Muslim women are having to deal with because of what society assumes of them or makes them feel. However, this is just how society makes them feel, you will notice that there is light waiting at the end of the hallway.
Moving from the foyer to the relaxing space, I wanted to symbolise and show that this is a opened, relaxing space, where the community could get together, talk to one another and understand that no Muslim woman is born to be discriminated and no they don’t live or be in small dark spaces and are just like any other human. And in fact Islam values Muslim woman and teaches us that they are equal like any other person.
Moving onto the first floor plan, you would have noticed on the ground floor plan, when you enter into the assembly building, it starts off with the foyer, which is tight dark, claustrophobic, but when you move into the relaxing space it is quite opened, this is to show the misunderstanding of the Muslim women and what society thinks they experience and how they make them feel, to how they actually live their lives. In other words because of society these Muslim women feel scared, low and claustrophobic, but in reality, they shouldn’t have to be going through this as they are just like any other human, hence the opened spaces, which also represent how in Islam the hijab or being a Muslim, is a way of openness, relaxing etc. As the center bit of the assembly building is five meters high, the ground floor would still be showing on the first-floor plan. However, the residential units are three meters high, so as you go up a floor, so do the units.
An example of one of the residential units, which has been designed to feel light, basic and the the use of timber / wooden materials to link it back to their culture.
Living Room and Kitchen
The next page shows you one of my main visuals, the assembly hall, designed to educate the society on the discrimination faced by Muslim women. This space has been created by following some traditions, such as having an opened, space where people could gather, either sitting on the benches or floors, just like how they would in mosques, events, and other gatherings. I wanted this to look less intimidating and more welcoming, because in Islam these women are taught to value other opinions, experiences and learn from one another. I also thought about my concept word throughout my project, here I created seating that are layered, that also developed my exterior shape, instead of having typical chairs.
The terrace is another place which is designed to be semi-public, used by both the residents and the surrounding public. I created this place to allow the users to have another environment to go relax in and share their knowledge and experiences on Muslim women’s discrimination. I kept majority of the gridshell opened, to allow in sunlight and rain for the grass, but also to penetrate the pattern from the gridshell onto the floor, creating a nice scenery to be in. This was also another way for me to think about my concept word layering, as its shown through the use of gridshell, but also this action of layering a veil over the main building, along with these strong, huge, columns.
Whereas this roof plan, shows you the end product, so you are able to see the gridshell, beam and the terraces under it, alongside the surrounding context. At the bottom of this page I did a quick 3D diagram to show how the building has been divided up into public, private and semi-public, even though I have briefly explained it here, at the end of chapter two there are much more reasons.
Residential Units
Assembly Hall Building
My element is the veil (roof) that sits over the main building, I decided to pick certain aspects and study how they come together. This model is only a piece of the whole 3D model had to make, as shown at the bottom right corner.
5mm ETFE
150mm x 100mm Four Layered Gridshell
500mm Thickness Beam (Has been intentionally exaggerated)
500mm Thickness Columns (Has been intentionally exaggerated)
The parts which are highlighted, represent the parts I am focusing on at a bigger scale and have been put in blue boxes, as this model and the above are just diagrams, they are not scaled.
The model above this one isn’t the whole roff, its just a third of it.
150mm x 100mm Timber Grid
300mm x 300mm Metal Plate (Holds the timber gridshell in place)
Scale 1:2
Bolts (One at the top and one at the bottom, to keep it secure)
BORN TO LIVE?
Project Name: Aren’t We All Born To Live?
Class: Second Year
Module: Design Resolution
Site: Boots Island Nottingham
Client: Exploited 16 - 23 year olds
Project Type: Residential & Community Spaces
Type Of Work: Individual
Portfolio Link:
https://issuu.com/humaira.r/docs/l5_aren_t_we_all_born_to_live
‘Aren’t We All Born To live’, is a temporary recovery space designed to focus on creating both residential and community spaces, for individuals who have been through exploitation between the ages 16 to 23 years old. We are repeatedly being reminded on the news of the number of casualties around the UK because of factors like exploitation; when an individual or a company treats someone unfairly, just to benefit themselves, for reasons like human trafficking; when illegally transporting an individual from one country to another, for modern slavery.
Leading them to struggling in their day to day lives, as they might have nobody to go back to, talk to and might have lost all their holistic needs, which includes, communication, socialising, shopping and eating.
Therefore, this housing scheme aims to help them depending on the stage they are at:
Stage One – Healing Process: finding those individuals who have been affected and provide them with specialist’s support.
Stage Two – Residential Personal Programme: life essentials: money, clothes, food, water, and a shelter, to bring back their holistic needs.
Stage Three – Access to Services: like employability or an education, teaching them the rights as an employee or correct knowledge for education
These individuals would be coming from spaces that have been tight, dark, small, claustrophobic and with very little daylight. That’s why when building their new homes, I have taken into consideration: relaxing spaces, bright, opened, spacious, big windows, natural day light, feel and become normal again, built outdoor community area, green and natural spaces to help with their holistic and communication skills.
Here is a map I created which shows what the current site looks like, have included all the features it currently holds in place, which you can see and use the key to refer to. I decided to create this map because it gives you a better understanding what type of site I am having to work with, as in I discovered at the moment there is loads of potentia as it’s an opened empty area, with loads of greenery and few buildings surrounding it. By having such site, it means some of the opportunities which I have in place are that by having so much greenery, that’s something I’m considering of keeping as it could be an advantage for me as it could help with attracting bees and also using it as potential courtyard spaces. Another feature I am considering is maybe removing some in between roads as they are minor and other roads could be used to access these places. By doing this I’m opening an opportunity for future users to walk to one another and reduce using cars in that area, which also protects them, keeps the place more quitter and keeps the species safer. In addition to this, the car park area labelled F, are currently smaller than this so another opportunity could be to make these spaces as big as I have shown them, so those living n this area in the future could use those spaces to also park their car.
This map shows the existing Boots Island site’s routes, so these are the current walkways, main roads, minor roads, canal and trains which exist on the site. I decided to create this map because, this was something I was looking into before coming up with the site, it was very helpful as it helped me understand what where the routes which where used the most and least, which helped me remove those which weren’t necessary. Understanding this played a huge part in my landscape as I wanted my proposal to be more open and environmentally friendly, by saying this mean more open to public walking, rather than driving to every place.
Then this map above is the developed version of Boots Island site, this map is now showing what I would be proposing after developing the routes to fit my scheme and my landscape. When coming up with this developed map I knew I wanted the space to be more open and freer to the public, wanting them to walk to each other more, rather than drive. Having this idea in place means they are more able to connect, communicate and socialise, which is great for my housing scheme because the whole purpose behind it is for those living here get to know each other, it is also good for the bees as it means it reduces how much they would normally get harmed. I came up with this walk ways, through stretching the existing museums landscape and then just keeping those main roads which are essential.
After figuring out my shapes and some potential ideas for my housing, took that volume and looked at each layer in more depth. started of with the 12000mm high volume.
then started to play with the height, keeping it at 12000mm high but playing with different layers, starting from ground floor to third floor. By doing this it allows light to travel around my building and give different views of my building and surrounding.
For my next stage I decided to add in balcony’s, this connected with the pitched roof shape, also meant that those living higher up would be able to come out of their units and get fresh air if they didn’t want to go all the way down, it also meant they could also do some planting for the bees to improve their own social and holistic needs.
then decided to use the flat spaces as green areas, these spaces would be great for attracting my species which are bees and would also mean the room below would stay warm and the roof would have a longer lifespan.
After creating the roofs I then developed the roofs by keeping them pitched instead of flat, this is great for letting in skylight, giving the users a good view into their surrounding and it is a better way for the rain to travel down the drainage pipes, which causes less flood risks.
then started thinking about materiality and decided to have steel cladding on the exterior which will be facing the public and also the surrounding, this is sort of to represent the blend between urban buildings and also to keep the inside more private.
Whereas, on the exterior cladding in the courtyard space is timber cladding material, as I wanted this to be more of warm colour material as I wanted those living in this place to feel closer to nature as this would help them with the mental health.
SITE PLAN WITH ROOF PLAN
1)
2)
One of the biggest factors part of my stages is communication and socialising, so I thought I could do this by creating their own personal courtyard spaces, which is designed for the people to feel more closer to nature, socialise and communicate with one another and this could also be done by planting which would also attract the bees.
Exterior Visual – Aerial View
Project Name: Impact Hub
Class: Second Year
Module: Design Resolution
Site: Birmingham, Digbeth
Client: Impact Hub
Project Type: Type Of Work: Group
‘The Impact Hub’ project has been designed for my client Impact Hub; Impact Hub is an organisation which focuses on having spaces created within cities where creatives, entrepreneurs, and community organisers can network in an environment which is dedicated to them. A place where they can come together share ideas and inspire one another, in inspiring meeting / conference rooms.
Hence why as shown on the next couple of pages this project was broken into two parts, the first part was where me and my pair had to pick a space from the three spaces provided on the brief, these included where Auditorium, Workspace and a Boardroom. We decided to go with a Boardroom, a space where we designed a room dedicated to individuals to hold meetings, network and be creative.
As section A on the visual on the right shows, our space was the smallest as it was only able to hold 12 people and was at 23sqm So, for this to work we had to think about ways we could make the small space fully flexible, and we provided this by making the most of the interior walls, the furniture has been designed in a way where the users have the opportunity to either use the floor space, just like you would in a creative studio or fold back and store the table and chairs back into the walls, allowing all types of users to be flexible in our space.
Part of the second task was, the other pairs who then had the other spaces, we all got together and had to create a final visual with all spaces connecting and coming together as one.
360 View VR, QR Code!!
Table Closing & Opening Detail
Having shown my architectural projects above, I have also decided to showcase other artistic skills which I have developed over a period of time. The next couple of pages show some site sketches of buildings, which I sketched out in my free time or during site visits for university projects. I have also included some mix media art drawings, some of which are from my A Level Fine Art projects. By including these, its obvious to see my strong passion in the creative field, whether its to do with basic site sketches or to do with realistic human, architectural or landscape drawings, it’s the detail that always intrigues me.
At Resin Palace is a self-developed business, in which I discovered a passion in handcrafting personalised resin products. The brand specialises on focusing on creating coasters, trays, and statement pieces for special events such as weddings, graduation and for interior purposes. Their products can be used for holding, keys, mugs, jewellery, perfumes, candles, books and so forth. As it’s a self-developed business, it’s still in progress, however it has taught me about:
• Branding – coming up with a logo
• Generating Ideas – sketches, prototyping, gathering ideas from social media and the internet
• Planning and Research – looking into precedents and seeing what is already out there
• Prototyping and Sourcing Materials – tested out different types of materials I’ll be using to create the products, such as resin from various brands to see which one’s reliable, have longevity and doesn’t turn yellow after a period of time
• Costs – what’s already on the market and taking my materials, time, and skills to decide how much each product should be sold for
• Marketing Strategies – socials media, word of mouth
• Manufacturing – all hand made
• Packaging – as much as it’s important to create a well-developed product, I wanted the customer to go through an experience when opening the packaging, so to achieve this, I started to look into ways to make it personalised, by adding in a thank you note and some chocolates.
• Delivering Process – Royal Mail
