Jenish Thakkar | M.Arch 24' Carnegie Mellon University

PORTFOLIO ARCHITECTURE

Education

AUG 2022 – MAY 2024

JENISH THAKKAR

ABOUT ME

A strong believer in capacity of design with innovation to create equitable future for the societies that surrounds us. Through design research and creative processes, I aim at becoming a designer who can think through systems and impact. Through an internship role, I intend to apply concepts learned in school and carve out a niche in the professional field.

PERSONAL DETAILS

Contact +1 (212)-810-0948

jenish.thakkar117@gmail.com jvthakka@andrew.cmu.edu

Languages: English, Gujarati, Hindi

Social: https://www.linkedin.com/ in/jenish-thakkar/

Online Portfolio: https://issuu.com/ jenish.thakkar117/docs/jenish_ thakkar_architecture_portfolio

AUG 2016 – MAY 2021

Master School

Carnegie

Bachelor Institute

Academic Experience

JAN - MAY 2023

AUG - DEC 2022

Work Experience

JAN - JUL 2022

Nirma Design School Director Teaching School Digital Junior SMK

Involved

Responsible development, preparation quantities.

JAN - JUN 2020

Architecture

JUN 2019

Stephane New Architecture Craft

Ahmedabad

Worked Physical staircase construction

Certification and Licensure

OCT 2021

Had designing main stages technical with documents Council Licensed

COA

Masters of Architecture Candidate

Master of Architecture

School of Architecture, Carnegie Mellon University

Bachelor of Architecture

Institute of Architecture and Planning, Nirma University, Ahmedabad

Experience

Design Fabrication Lab Assistant

School of Architecture, CMU

Director - Terry Hritz

Teaching Assistant

School of Architecture, CMU

Digital Media - I - Matthew Huber

Notable Projects

AUG -

PARXIS -1: World Making

Project title ‘Palimpsest as Landscape’ is a loose fit urban event space built on rails to trails project.

Junior Architect

SMK Architects, Ahmedabad

Involved in five projects of varying scale. Responsible for conceptual design development, and research, as well as the preparation of technical drawings and a bill of quantities.

Architecture Intern

Stephane Paumier Design Architects, Delhi

one to one experience of working and designing with principal architect on one of his main ongoing projects. Worked on different stages of the project like designing, preparing technical drawing, Coordinating and designing contracts and preparing drawings and documents for tender.

Architecture Intern

Craft Quest Architects – Urvi Sheth, Ahmedabad

Worked on 3D modeling, Preparation of Physical Model, preparing design drawings for staircase and Site visit for overlooking ongoing construction

Licensure

Council of Architecture (COA)- India - Certified

Licensed Architect / 2021/135943

JAN - JUL 2021

Research Thesis

Influence of Mies van der Rohe’s Minimalism on Neo - Minimalist Architecture. A Comparative study: In case of Domestic Architecture

AUG - DEC 2020

Institute for Culinary Arts

To foster an environment for culinary creativity, the project integrates four distinct areas of various proportions, such as training kitchens, institutional spaces, services, and public.

AUG 2019

Urban Fabric Analysis at Chandigarh, India

Studied the city planning of Le Corbusier, understood and documented the transit network of the city by mapping it. Studied the street network at an urban level.

DEC 2018

Ahmedabad Old-City DocumentationUNESCO

Documenting 100 year old heritage ‘pol’ houses for UNESCO. Measure Drawing as a way of studying their construction methods and materials used

Skills

Technical Skills: Other Skills:

Autodesk Revit

AutoCAD

Rhino 3d + Grasshopper

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe InDesign

Vray, Lumion 3D

MS Office

SketchUp

Model Making

Hand Drafting

Digital Fabrication

Carpentry

Rendering

Photography

Sketching

Honors and Awards

FALL 2020

Best Studio Performer Award

Academic & Co-curricular Achievement Award

FALL 2018

Best Studio Performer Award

Academic & Co-curricular Achievement Award

SPRING 2021

Honorary Certificate

Secured 7th highest Cumulative Performance Index - Batch 2016 of 80

Landscape as Palimpseest

Palimpsest as Landscape Homewood, Pittsburgh

Type - Urban Event Space

Year - Fall 2022

Collaborator - Rovina George

The project situates itself along the railway track that historically divided and continues to separate communities through race and class. This dividing line is not only a result of decades of discriminatory policies and racism, but also of infrastructure’s ability to segregate

The project seeks to make this line porous by revitalizing the disused railway line thus increasing interaction between various racial, ethnic, or social class communities. By weaving new paths of connection, the edge state becomes permeable generating a transitional space.

Instead of demolishing the disused railway line and its connecting bridges, our project builds on adaptive reuse of the existing infrastructure and engages with the local bike culture present in Homewood thus amplifying it and strengthening the community life. myriad of structures on the disused railway and Wheel Mill roof performing various loose fit functions such as bridges, pathways, canopies, façade, parking, pop up markets, seating, play structures and so on.

Frontal Axonometry

View of the bridge connecting Trail to the Bike Park

View of the Event Space with Farmers Market

Collages as way of expressing ideas for intervention

Collage depicting ways for connection

Physical Model Exploration

The materiality of the project is directly inspired by the DIY aesthetic of the Wheel Mill, that utilized reused timber for the indoor bicycle ramps. Physical Model was an important tool to establish part to whole relation of the intervention tectonically.

Physical Schema Model

Physical Part Model at 1/8” = 1’

02 Institute for Culinary Arts

Ahmedabad , India

Type - Institutional Area - 11,000 sq.m.

Year - Fall 2020 | Individual

The goal is to establish an atmosphere that encourages culinary research, creativity, documentation, and learning. The programme strives to raise awareness about Indian cuisine, it is involved in documentation and imparting knowledge to students, visitors, and the general public.

The site is located in urban area with socially interactive neighbourhood. Contextual activities help to create an environment that is conducive to culinary learning.

The institute is designed with  harmony of built and open space in view. Climate-based zoning is used to create shaded interactive spaces. Institute is developed for natural ventilation by including a louvred exterior. This allows for maximum air movement in  culinary kitchen studio.

Mass Subtraction

Accessibility Interaction

Harmony of built space with open

Hierarchy of volume to create interaction

Underground Parking

Student activity area, Library & Multimedia

Bubble diagram showing the general organisation of the institute

Identification of proximity points

Marking points based on proximity to road, junction and functions

By connecting proximity points based on the relation to each function , sectors are created

Creation of green spine

Spine runs across the prominent part of the site : Facilitates urban farming

Functional zoning of the sectors

Service and admin Academic Public

Based on the function, different zones are produced

Green spine : Urban farming

Advanced training kitchen studio

Sectional physical model : Showing workshop & seminar space and restaurant at 1/8” = 1’

View : Open plaza for multi purpose public as well as private activities

Generative Design Techniques

Neighbourhood business district, Ahmedabad , India

Type - Urban Development

Area - 1 Sq.km

Year - Fall 2019

Collaborators - Nij Balar, Nandini Dave, Anushree Zumkhawala

This studio attempted to generate design responses with evolutionary computing, with the aid of Rhinoceros + Grasshopper,. By creating a pseudo code and using the concept of emergence, the most appropriate design is obtained. A “pare-to-front” is generated by comparing the values of distinct phenotypes.

The proposal aims to create a neighbourhood business district (NBD) in a 99500 sq. m. area by focusing on commercial, market, and mixed use, as well as residential.

Contribution - Making and running of scripts for road network and morphologies according to fitness criteria

Proximity to established Businesses.

Proximity to Airport and railway stations.

Accessibility by Public transport. Residential area in the vicinity of site.

Site : Location

Plan of the City of Ahmedabad : juxtaposition of site location and Major transit network

Road network: Pseudo-code

1. Identifying landmarks to establish primary road

4. Using the established nodes, a network of secondary roads are formed.

5. Establishing a road network on grid of 200 x 200m.

2.Generating nodes within 250m of identified local attractors.

3. Elimination of nodes in the proximity of 250m.

Issues

Congestion

Techniques

Connectivity between transit nodes: Last mile connectivity

Density distribution

Providing interactive open spac

es on various levels

Providing separate public transportation routes

Final density distribu tion

Overlapping of different population density distribution

Morphology : Types

Fitness criteria

Maximising volume

Commercial Morphology:

Maximising open area

Ambition -

Maximising sun exposer on open areas

Minimising sun exposure on building surfaces

Focusing on improving working environment by providing naturally light work and open spaces.

| Pseudo-code

Removal of blocks Floor extrusion to create shaded terraces.

Random removal of blocks for open spaces on levels.

Atrium and open spaces for light

Mixed-use Morphology -

Ambition -

Selection of cores.

Selection of outer blocks floor extrusion of balconies.

Final Morphology Form

Developing a mixed-use building with ample light on the facade and maximum shade on the ground floor.

| Pseudo-code

Making multiple Floor Selecting few grid cells from every level Plus shaped form to get light on facade.

Creation of terraces on levels

Creating Grid. Repeating the grid

Extrusion of cells directed from centre

Subdivision of cells and Random removal

Final morphology form

x y

x y

Grid Cell - 5x5, 6x6, 7x7.

132

Transit

Transit

Birds eye view : Patch with selected morphology according to fitness criteria

04

House of Knowledge

Ahmedabad , India

Type - Institutional

Area - 3,500 sq.m.

Year - Fall 2018 & Spring 2019

The site is situated in C.N. vidhyalaya - one of the most prominent educational institute imparting knowledge in the city of Ahmedabad.

The House of knowledge as an institution envisioned for recording & building knowledge, with books and digital media pertaining to the arts, sciences, medicine, sociology, economics, anthropology and other fields of human knowledge.

The central idea of the design revolves around a relationship between inside and outside. The institute is imagined as pavilion of knowledge where there is free entry and deals with fragmentation of the functions .

Isometric view showing the distribution of spaces and movement

Exhibition Space

Seminar Hall

Administration

Cafeteria

General arrangement : Plan

General arrangement : Section and elevation

Toilet drawing : Plan

Glass curtain wall fixing detail Sliding window detail

Staircase stringer beam joinery with ground

Physical model

Staircase stringer beam joinery with floor

Steel ‘I’ Beam Joinery with plinth beam

Partition wall detail with the I beam

Curtain wall detail with ground and I Beam

I beam joinery with plinth beam 17

Practical Training

Stephane Paumier Architect Designs (S.P.A.D), New Delhi

Centre of Excellence, Santej, Gujarat.

Type - Institutional

Year - Spring 2020 | January 2020 - June 2020

Collaborators - Stephane Paumier, Nikhil Jain, Achet Walling

Centre of Excellence - COE acts as the head of the industrial campus for Arvind group of industries. One of the main objective of this project is to display the use of FRP composite elements made in the factory on the campus and express the potential of these composite products.

Contribution - Working on the design and technical working detail of the staircase, elevator, internal glazing partition, dry walling system and structure. Coordinating with consultants like M.E.P and preparing 3D models of the layout. Preparing bill out quantities and calculation of FRP elements for production

1. THIS DRAWING IS THE PROPERTY OF THE ARCHITECT NOTES

PRIOR PERMISSION AND IS NOT TO BE COPIED / REPRODUCED WITHOUT

2. ALL DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS

ALL LEVELS INDICATED ARE IN METERS

3. DIMENSIONS TO BE READ AND NOT MEASURED

4. ANY DISCREPENCY FOUND SHALL BE BROUGHT TO

THE NOTICE OF THE ARCHITECTS

5. ALL SERVICES DRAWINGS TO BE READ IN

CONJUCTION WITH RELEVANT ARCHITECTURAL

6. ALL FIXED AND LOOSE FURNITURES ARE INDICATIVE

Section showing the FRP truss and central core.

A.COE-4.4

Working Detail

One of the integral responsibility as an Architecture Intern on this project was working on Working Details as the building was in the process of construction. This involved working from Whole to Part. Overall building structural working detail as well as details of elements like Staircase, internal partition was worked out.

FRP heavy duty pipe in compresson

GMS tie rod + achor

2 FRP C-channel as bottom chord

GMS bolting system

GMS pipe - articulation with upto 6 connections

GMS plate back to back

GMS bolts and sleeves

FRP heavy duty pipe in compresson

FRP heavy duty pipe in compresson

GMS bolts and sleeves

GMS tie rod + achor

GMS pipe - articulation with upto 6 connections

GMS plate back to back

GMS bolting system

2 FRP C-channel as bottom chord

Related Study Program - 1

Measure drawing & Documentation

Coorg, India.

Winter Program - 2016

Academic work - Group Project (5 people)

Responsibility - Measure drawing and hand Drafting plans and section.

Coorg is a district in Karnataka state in India. Coorg’s vernacular architecture is a form that society has arrived through the process of growth and expansion, in a particular tradition and climatic.

The 300 year old house has steep pitched roof combining single and double storied blocks around a courtyard. The primary material for construction was mud and wood.

Ground floor plan

Sectional elevation

Sectional elevations

MODEL MAKING Miscellaneous

Exploring various material and techniques to make physical 3-dimensional model for understanding of building construction, joinery and scale.

Abstraction of Snake Material - MDF | Slice model - Laser cut

Barcelona Pavilion, Structure Material - MDF | Laser-cut

Gokarna Rath, Karnataka

Structure Model

Laser-cut and assembled

Karnataka

Material - Wood, Hand-cut and assembled

Barcelona Pavilion - Foundation joinery of steel column Material - Mild steel | Welded