Indra Erdenebat Portfolio

DESIGN PORTFOLIO INDRA ERDENEBAT

Hello!

I’m Indra Erdenebat, an aspiring designer who strives for functionality, simplicity, and hints of elegance and beauty. I have a M. Arch degree from University of Washington and Bachelor of Environmental Design degree from University of Colorado Boulder, as well as 4 years of professional experience that exposed me to various types of architectural projects.

My design philosophy centers around the belief that architecture should not only be visually stunning but also practical and sustainable. I am dedicated to crafting environments that enrich the lives of those who inhabit them while respecting the surrounding ecosystem.

I’m happy to present my diverse portfolio that reflects my versatility, from modern urban projects that maximize space efficiency to sustainable designs that prioritize environmental harmony.

I look forward to the opportunity to collaborate with you on your architectural endeavors, bringing creativity, functionality, and sustainability to the built environment. Let’s embark on this exciting journey together!

CONTENTS

1. ROOM FOR A WRITER | HAIKU DESIGN

2.

URBAN WATERS RESEARCH STATION

22 NORD | MIXED USE HOUSING COMPLEX

SALMON WATER | ART+EDUCATION CENTER

HOUSING IN GER DISTRICT OF MONGOLIA

3.

4.

5.

TO THE DISTANT HORIZON HEAVEN AND EARTH CHANGE PLACES EVERYTHING IS STILL, EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE

1.WRITER’S ROOM | HAIKU

DESIGN

Design wraps around the haiku that I wrote in Mongolian traditional language which reflects my cultural background and heritage.

I think about the extended steppe of Mongolian grassland and imagined a space where earth and sky took turn and created intimate yet indulging space that is nested and well protected by the massive chunk of earth on top.

2. URBAN WATERS RESEARCH STATION

TIMELINE: Winter, 2021

DURATION: 4 Weeks

LOCATION: Magnuson Park, Seattle, WA

BACKGROUND:

An international consortium of activists, philanthropists, scientists, and artists has established an endowment to fund a deep and broad study of Puget Sound waterways and to ponder the future relationship of all life forms in the region in the face of the mounting climate crisis. They know that the only way to do this is to harness the power of science and art together.

Science sets out to separate parts and pieces, look closely, count and measure, identify and analyze problems, and offer pointed solutions. The artist is seen as the one who intuits a whole from fragments of perception – offering visual and verbal languages that evoke narratives for our place in the world.

The research station at Magnusson Park will be one of many stations arrayed along the water’s edge from Tacoma, WA to Victoria, BC. These stations will host artists-in-residence and scientists-in-residence to live and work together for 3 to 6-month stays.

The concept for this project has derived from the site orientation to optimize the amount of daily sunshine, and capturing the magnificent view of Mount Rainier and lake Washington. During the concept development process, rotating one of the blocks in a non-traditional angle to create a welcoming notion for the resident scientists that arrives from the lake water, but also create a “grand opening” spectacle for the people who arrive from the park side.

Seasonal wind direction has also played one of the biggest impacts on the design decision because the building needs to sit gracefully on the water edge, and the exterior programs of the project had to work harmoniously with the surrounding environmental system.

Project includes lab spaces for the scientists, studios for the artists and common spaces where they can discuss their interests and discover possible synergies between them. The station will be fully equipped for different types of scientific and artistic exploration, including a number of research vessels that will be kept in a boat shed on the water. An observation space will allow for the recording of atmospheric and experiential data.

3. 22 NORD | MIXED USE HOUSING COMPLEX

TIMELINE: Winter, 2022

DURATION: 8 Weeks

LOCATION: Ballard, Seattle, WA

BACKGROUND:

This architectural project consisted of a multi-family housing component and a small-scale institutional building component within an overall framework of “Fabric and Figure”. The focus in this studio was understanding the relationship between the site and surrounding urban condition (past, present and future) and developing an architectural design in response. This included a clear site/ building strategy and an understanding of the relationship between the housing program (Fabric) and institutional program (Figure).

The primary focus in first part of the project was the development of the housing portion of the program including ground floor uses that may include housing, commercial space, or both. Emphasis was placed on the learning objectives and outcomes outlined above including human health, safety, and welfare at multiple scales, accessible design, technical knowledge and design synthesis.

The Ballard neighborhood of Seattle is an urban district that has a significant historical background that is still evident today. Ballard is located in northwest Seattle adjacent to Salmon Bay and the Ship Canal. The area that was studied and analyzed to help frame the design of 22 Nord project is located in the heart of Ballard neighborhood, only a block away from Market Street which is the vibrant and lively street well-known for its cafes, shops, and bars.

22 Nord is an 80,000 square foot mixed-use project that consists of 2 major parts: 9,500 square feet of ground floor retail space and commercial area, and 70,000 square feet of residential units spanning the five floors above. Structurally the building is a “5 over 1” heavy timber building that 5 levels of heavy timber residential tower gracefully stands on the 15 ft tall concrete podium on the ground level.

4. SALMON WATER| ART+EDUCATION CENTER

TIMELINE: Spring, 2022

DURATION: 8 Weeks

LOCATION: Ballard, Seattle, WA

Salmon Water Art and Education Center’s main design concept wraps around the importance of rain water harvesting in the local area and stormwater treatment’s direct impact on Salmon Bay. The center consists of ground floor art gallery space for local artists and their exhibits, research laboratory and art studio with an adjacent cafe on the second floor, auditorium and terrace garden on the top floor.

5. HOUSING IN GER DISTRICT OF MONGOLIA Master’s Thesis Research&Design Project

TIMELINE: Spring 2023

DURATION: 12 Weeks

LOCATION: Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

BACKGROUND:

The ongoing environmental pollution in the Urban Ger District of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia which is potentially caused by the lack of essential infrastructure and sophisticated housing technologies. On top of the environmental and life quality hardship, the nation is experiencing climate change and extreme weather is directly affecting the living situation of hundreds of thousand people in the capital city.

This research will propose cluster housing typology that addresses the extreme climate, environmental challenges, and cultural and socio-economic background. With the new housing typology, this research will further investigate the appropriateness of the cluster housing type in Urban Ulaanbaatar. Building performance computational analysis of this research studies the local climate and proposes hybrid options in between passive solar and passive housing principles.

Mongolian people are quite mobile; nomads herd their livestocks and seasonally move to different locations, where horses and camels are their main means of transportation. Nowadays, herders usually use motorcycles for their daily activities, and still live in their traditional home - yurts - we call them ger.

Rural Mongolia has province centers where herders receive essential public services and trade their goods. However, these centers are shrinking in size significantly. Because of the harsh climate and cold winter, herders - especially the younger generations are migrating into the city in pursuit of better living conditions and higher education.

Migration is then causing a constant yet explosive increase of the urban built environment which the city can no longer handle. This is the city of Ulaanbaatar and its modern, urban center in the back along with the ger district - walled compounds of informal settlements without the basic infrastructure. Nearly half the population of the city lives in this condition.

Traditionally, Mongolians have lived on the steppe with the group of families within the reachable distance to help each other out in order to survive the freezing cold. These groups are called “Khotail”. Inspired by these traditional ways of living, cluster housing typology takes an important role in this thesis project.

This thesis project was inspired by the book “Pattern Language” by Christopher Alexander where he presents over 200 different design entities called patterns. And each of his patterns describes a problem which occurs over and over again in our environment, and then he describes the core of the solution to that problem, in such a way that people can use this solution multiple times over, without doing it the same way twice.

My thesis project presents 9 design patterns that can be applied to different projects in the future to solve certain problems in the built environment. These patterns are related to different design factors that improves both spatial and social experiences. However these 9 patterns are not comprehensive.

OPEN SEATING AREA

1 BEDROOM LOFT (613 SQ.FT)

1 BEDROOM LOFT (613 SQ.FT)

MECH.

VEHICLE ACCESS

1 BEDROOM LOFT (613 SQ.FT)

2 BEDROOM SINGLE STORY 690 SQ.FT

1 BEDROOM LOFT (613 SQ.FT)

Design approach for this project was to create culturally adaptive and climate responsive architectural strategies that would potentially solve the ongoing environmental issues in a practical manner. Although Mongolian heritage and cultural backgrounds are important ingredients for this project, this thesis will not mimic Mongolian architecture in terms of design concept.

Traditional Mongolian concept of housing is the round felt yurt which nomadic people have used as a dwelling for hundreds of years while built structures mostly are monasteries, palaces or public buildings. Thus considering the fact the traditional housing design cannot be directly applied to the modern urban housing scenario, this project proposes a design concept that applies western influenced, advanced technologies into the housing community concept that emphasizes and enhances the local cultural heritage

What’s Next?

With the deep understanding of the existing culture, and environmental condition, this thesis suggests the potential design patterns that are applicable in the future projects with similar climate or cultural backgrounds. Architectural strategies that are studied in this design are strongly informed by the existing climate - thus not only limited by the housing of ger district, other future design projects of Ulaanbaatar could potentially benefit from this thesis that suggests an integrated, sustainable, and climate friendly housing method that addresses and fulfills the socio-cultural needs of the local residents.