Kuhoo Gupta Portfolio

FUSION

The Immersive Computing Research (and development) Center, inspired by the concept of fusion found in food and culture, is a mid high rise building designed entirely around human movement and interaction. Through methods of meandering stair cases winding through the building by atrium, or lab and workspace placement in relation to ideation or lounge rooms, this research center is designed to draw researchers out of their offices and moving through the building with hopes of increased spontaneous instances of collaboration. With the onset of high tech innovation, there comes the fear, mystery, and anticipation of what the results can change in various industries.

‘Fusion’ attempts to bridge the uncertainty and unify food and culture with up and coming technological innovations in VR and AR. As a research center and in the heart of San Fransisco’s financial district by the marina, this high rise building acts as a living model of advancements in energy efficiency, passive lighting and heating/cooling design strategies, and food security and innovation. Fundamental to its core goals, ‘Fusion’ is a building that intends on building connections between humans themselves and with robots. Specifically, the design encourages people of fundamentally different cultures, socioeconomic and ethnic demographics, and academic levels amongst different researchers and with the local community. Winter

1/16” model shots: mdf, process board, plf, perforated paper

facade panels point to the swirling transluscent collaborative cloud where researchers, visitors, plants, and robots interact

lumionous at night and entrances at various related levels prompt a relationship of transparency between all those that interact with it

north facing facade highly populated by indivual researchers’ offices

at the top floors the gradually opens up to the collaborative outdoor workspace and recreational facilities for researchers to change their pace of work or recieve an alternate neural activation zone based on their work style preference

GFRC facade panels wrap around the cores providing a harmonious facade

Direct Sun Hours: South East

Spatial Daylight Autonomy

Energy Use Intensity

Integrated Focus Area demonstrating: triple facade layer variations as per floor needs, floor and wall assemblies, roof and foundation system, elevational material experience, natural and controlled lighting and ventilation environmental response, rain screen system

IGU ON OPERABLE SLIDING MULLIONS

COMPOSITE STEEL DECK DROP CIELING (CONCEALS HVAC, MEP, SPRINKLERS)

CLT DECK (OUTDOOR SLAB SYSTEM)

GLASS RAILING (MAYBE: BI-FACIAL PV PANEL)

VERTICAL GARDEN ELECTRICALLY LIT (SUPPORTED BY CANTILEVERED GIRDERS)

PERFORATED METAL SCREEN (PARAMETRIC FENESTRATIONS)

ROBOT FRAMING AND KINETIC SYSTEM (SPANS GIRDER TO GIRDER, WELDED) OPERATES IN X-Y DIRECTION, ROBOT IN Z

WIDE FLANGE SECONDARY STEEL BEAM (SUPPORTS DECK)

GFRC TO GFRC STEEL CONNECTOR

EMBEDDED STEEL PROFILE (CONNECTED TO BEAM FOR LATERAL STABLITITY)

CUSTOM GFRC PANELS (COULD CHANGE TO BIFACIAL SOLAR PANELS)

WIDE FLANGE PRIMARY STEEL GIRDER (CANTILEVERS FROM SLAB) PERFORATED SCREEN STEEL FRAMING

COMPOSITE HSS STEEL COLUMN

WIDE FLANGE PRIMARY STEEL BEAM

WATER DRAINAGE (RAINSCREEN SYSTEM)

Exploded Axon of an Example Bay with all layers of the triple facade, demonstrating the versatility of the customizable combinationsfor each specific floor

left} rotating axels facilitating x- y movement of robotic arm middle} concentrically braced frame design to resist lateral loads

left} r obot with 3 arm joints for z axis planter placement in the vertical garden component of the triple facade

left} beam to girder connection holding up clt outdoor deck middle} connection GFRC embedded profile for lateral stability to beam supporting clt deck

left} “waterfall”

overhang glass railing connection to floor slab middle} glass railing connection to clt deck

right} sliding floor-tocieling windows for a transient indoor outdoor experience and manual control over natural ventilation

Detail connections

right} beam and girder connection to column

right} every other window slides in front of the fixed window

COASTAL SCRUB

SAND DUNES

PACIFIC OCEAN

California Blackberry

California Sage Brush

OAK WOODLANDS

Chinook Salmon California coffeeberry

Dune Strawberry

Beach Burr Ashy Storm-petrels

Coastal Live Oak Toyon

Yellow Sand Verbena

Lessingia Germanorum

Euphausiid Shrimp Native Huckleberry

Leatherback Turtles

RIPARIAN

Pink Flowering Currant Osoberry

SALT WATER WETLANDS

External Vertical Garden Plant selections found naturally occuring San Fransisco Ecosystems

Willow Tree

Pacific Cordgrass

Deciduous Tree Gumplant

Riparian Scrub

Pickleweed Forktail Damselfly Green and Red Algae

FRESH WATER WETLANDS

Cattails

INDOOR AIR QUALITY

Topsmelt Silverside

GRASSLANDS

Johnny Jump-ups

Three-spined Stickleback Goldenrod

Purple Needlegrass

Pacific Staghorn Sculpin Checkerbloom

Sansevieria laurentii (Snake Plant) Spathiphyllum (Peace Lily)

Chamaedorea seifrizii (Bamboo Palm)

Hemigraphis exotica (Purple Waffle Plant)

OUTDOOR AIR QUALITY

Juniperus virginiana (Eastern red cedar)

Acer rubrum (Red maple)

Ulmus americana (American elm)

Populus alba (White poplar)

Plants in vertical gardens to combat SF air pollution

EXTERNAL VERTICAL GARDEN (SEASONAL, ELECTRICALLY LIT)

seasonal vegetable planters are mobilized by the robotic arm system onto conveyor belts that transport the planters to reserachers on the private levels, the restaurant and the creating learning commons on the public level

INTERNAL VERTICAL GARDEN (NON-SEASONAL, GREENHOUSE)

FACADE: 5 LAYERS, 4 CONFIGURATIONS

HIGH TECH MEETS FOOD AND CULTURE (PROGRAM)

1. GFRC + Walkway + Garden + Perf Screen + IGU

2. GFRC + Walkway + Perf Screen + IGU

3. GFRC + Perf Screen + IGU

4. GFRC (only N facade)

PRIVATIZATION (SKIP STOP ELEVATOR)

supplementing the external veritical vegetable gardens, the internal planters provide all the vegetables, herbs and fruits that cannot be grown in the natural SF climate

public, semi private, and private lobbies -the elevator unloads passangers as per their access point on the lobby floor from where people circulate using the experiential staircase

facade ‘mixing’ with environment and interior, ‘unifying the flavors’ of the facade with the rigid steel frame

composite steel gravity force resisting system with concentrically braced framing

Diagrams distinguishing the integrated elements of the high rise

COMPOSITE STEEL FRAMING

SITE PLAN - Financial District of San Fransisco (marina to the east)

robot farm (growth arms check out and repair space)

liDAR lab (food and agriculture development)

creative learning commons (vr + ar lab for community)

Cultural Event Space for Local Community with varying levels to perform, present, teach, and simply just climb into and read/eat

interior monochromatic renders

View from occupiable facade to level 16 and 17 for recreational use; pictured are canopies and market lights draped from steel profiles

View from landing on stair from Level 4 to 5: visible are the internal vertical garden, collaborative cloud

Entrance from California and Drumm St. Intersections

Section Looking North: Winding Circulation and Greenery; Lobby volumetrically articulated; visual vertical connectivity from floor to floor

Room Ideation - Program and Circulation, designing the general program to fit design concept

Room Ideation - Program and Circulation, designing the general program to fit design concept

When it comes to durability, metal mesh has an indestructible lifecycle and is virtually maintenance free. Its pristine look is maintained with infrequent power washing that requires no harsh chemicals.

Beginnings of triple layer facade system aspiring for sustainable design through addressing light, ventilation, vertical gardening as per high rise concept, external visual cohesiveness, and promotion of healthy living through varied experiences

Integrated Section, initial analysis of ventilation, green core, sunlighting & physical model

ALL

IN PROGRESS, currently the entirety of the parts. personal design goal for this last quarter was to design a research center that enabled spontaneous collaborative moments through spatially varied and interesting circulation, as well as, an emphasis on biophilic design for researcher cognitive, psychological and physialogical health

ATRIUM

Weaves in and out; begins large and opens at the intersection, shifting to Drumm St facade, to the center, to the California St facade, then Davis St, back to California St, and then both facing Drumm and Sacramento St.

FACADE

Cuts away to allow both light and ventilation into the atrium spaces pooling into programmed spaces as well. Also gives street viewers a peak into interesting parts of the building such as the green spaces and the collaborative cloud.

FACADE ELEMENT

Each facade piece pushes in along the curve of the cut Future: There will be more of a dramatic push and pull to visually dramatize the expression of the different lobbies of privacy (public, semi private, private); also sprinkeled tinier apertures

CIRCULATION

15’, narrowing to 10’ at landings, the experiential staircase slows circulation at certain points for occupants to enjoy the intended views and programs.

Includes: open air egress stairs, enclosed egress stairs, 1 freight elevator, 2 passanger elevators

FOLIAGE

Currently: planters wrapping atrium, attached at floorplate and intended to be visible to those experiencing and those viewing from the street Future: vertical gardens, air filtration method, external and internal green spaces for work and rejuvination, and net positive energy consumption/production

MASSING

Currently: The division between indoor and outdoor through a glass wall Future: there will be a double facade creating three distinct divisions - internal active systemed space blocked off by glass, an “in between” occupiable facade, screen to cladding and then the open air

STRUCTURE

floor to floor height: 20’

slab thickness: 4’

girder span range: 28’ - 50’ likely reinforced steel constructution columns always offset from the slab (floor slab edge: ~4’, atrium edge: ~2’)

SOLAR RESPONSE

to manipulate natural solar light and heat, the horizontally oriented facade panels, 12’ in height and spaced 8’ apart for apertures, the harsh summer sun is almost entirely blocked from people’s eye; while winter sun is still able to pool in

DAYLIGHT STRATEGIES

with the intention of lighting the building through natural light and diffusion, most of the building during the day is not lit by active systems, unless it is a dark room such as the robot farm and LiDAR lab, which has operable lights

NATURAL VENTILATION STRATEGIES

two parts of the weaving atrium are completely open air; building has a continous atrium which allows for cross and stacked ventilation from the top to the bottom future: possibility of operable apertures

HVAC SYSTEM

the mechanical unit will be located in the basement parking lot, equipment rooms will be located

STUDY SUMMARY

Due to the rectilinear configuration of the building when establishing a structural subdivision. I long distances and carry heavy loads without precast concrete beams for the same reason, the necessary distances. Both of these systems errection time, especially with the repeated for tall occupiable floor to floor heights, with

STUDY SUMMARY

Due to the rectilinear configuration of the building and its atrium, I was able to use a regular grid when establishing a structural subdivision. I chose cross laminated timber because of its ability to span long distances and carry heavy loads without warping. I chose to pair the CLT flooring with a double T precast concrete beams for the same reason, being able to carry the heavier CLT loads and spanning the necessary distances. Both of these systems are prefabricated or precast and that allows for a quick errection time, especially with the repeated bay. Lastly, the structural depths total to 16” which allows for tall occupiable floor to floor heights, with the total height being 14

LA CONVIVENCIA de CUISINE

Designing a VR/AR research facility for a single individual Character: Food and Culture enthusiast and interested in VR/AR capabilities in these industries

As a warm up project for the quarter, developing skills of graphic representation and learning 3D printing Applied methods of site manipulation and geometry relation to develop a winding upward circulation at a micro and macro scale

Winter 2023 | Instructor: Umut Toker

TRI - FRACTAL

Designing a multipurpose San Francisco Save the Bay reserach center

Focused on structural exploration, integrated into design process from the beginning of conceptualization

Inspired by micro-organisims, plankton specifically, as visitors are guided on a journey with program wrapping in a cyclical fashion both vertically and horizontally guides people from the undulating edge of the surrounding open green area towards the publicly accessible spaces dedicated to learning and researching to the private.

Fall 2022 | Instructor: Thomas Fowler

TRI-FRACTAL

SF BAY RESEARCH CENTER

KUHOO GUPTA | STUDIO FOWLER | FALL 2022

The Tri-Fractal Research Center, placed at the center of a new power station turned residential redevelopment project creates a plaza for people of all types to congregate and celebrate the science and research around the Bay and the lives it supports. Its skeletal members, and circulation emulate the seeming sparks and spokes of micro-organisims, plankton specifically, as they are guided on a journey of waves and whirlpools, drifting and exploring, and destination to destination by the sheer movement of the ocean. Program wrapping in a cyclical fashion both vertically and horizontally guides people from the undulating edge of the surrounding open green area towards the publicly accessible spaces dedicated to learning and researching to the spaces private to visiting researchers and ultimately an octogonal vista point theater.

ROYAL ONTARIO MUSEUM TORONTO, CANADA DANIEL LIBESKIND

ACTELION BUSINESS CENTER ALLSCHWIL, SWITZERLAND HERZOG & DE MEURON

THE MORPHEUS HOTEL MACAU, CHINA ZAHA HADID ARCHITECTS

OH - FISH - IAL HINGES

Designing a multiuse housing project off the coast in Morro Bay. Within a limited square footage , repeated modular housing units, and 100+ housing density, this project called for an innovative approach to developing a housing community for fisherman and windmill technicians to use. The driving nature of the project is upward mobility. Most public, at the lowest level are the beer garden, the restaurant, the urban forest, and recycle delivery station. In the levels above one can find community spaces nesteled in trees.

Spring 2022 | Instructor: Michael Lucas

1 - Fishers and Farmers Market (indoor + outdoor)

2 - Beer Garden (indoor + outdoor)

3 - Work To Table Restaurant (indoor + outdoor)

4 - Recreational Space (with refreshments bar)

5 - Recycling and Delivery Center

6 - Modular Shipping Containers (urban farm)

7 - Terrace Deck Planting Beds (urban farm)

8 - Pasture extending off Knoll (urban farm)

9 - Fire Rated Stair and Elevator

10 - Shallow Water Body

11 - Designated Seating Area + Urban Forest (overlooking waterbody)

12 - Walkway (designated through minor depression in terrain)

13 - Shared Open Space (with the outdoor programming of neighboring buildings)

14 - Unprogrammed Open Space

15 - Below Grade Grey Water Storage Room

16 - Slow Circulation Stair (exposed)

16 - Slow Circulation Stair (exposed)

17 - First Level of Residential Spaces allocated in pods

18 - Suspended Walkway (by steel tension cables for access to units)

19 - Community Spaces on a thickened walkway (held up by thin steel columns)

Thinking through circulation and landscaping

DESIGN VILLAGE

In a team of six, we designed a dwelling unit for all members to live in for two nights on Poly Canyon. With our location on a hill, we were presented with the design challenge of cantelivering.

Utilizing a grid shell canopy, and an alternating tension compression bed system, and tension cables attached to an A frame, we were able to suspend the beds off the ground.

Spring 2022 | Michael Lucas

TEAM ALBATROSS ARCH 253-05 MICHAEL LUCAS SPRING 2022

PROJECT 1: DESIGN VILLAGE

TEAM ALBATROSS | ARCH 253-05 | MICHAEL LUCAS

PROJECT 1: DESIGN VILLAGE

TEAM ALBATROSS | ARCH 253-05 MICHAEL LUCAS SPRING 2022

TRACING HOUSE

Reinterpreting the historical precedent for the representation and construction of architecture. Relating the building and its making through the cast plaster floor and its 1:1 scale etchings. Utilizing the framework of the model into the construction of the final model to consider how the structure expresses its construction.

Winter 2022 | Instructor: Keith Wiley

Process: assembling elements using white glue, clamping originally and switching to masking tape and holding in place

Revisiting the project later in the quarter to design an addition, a base

Purpose: Reconstructed entirely to allow elements (walls to roofing and platforms) to align to a 90° base instead of a warped plaster

SITE WORKS

Designing a center for programmatic elements of science, art, and culture. Relating the buildings to eachother and the landscape to create different approaches of entry/access, private versus public access, and spaces that allow for unique usage. Prioritizing designing in the physical world over software to gain a deeper understanding of unintended limitations and possibilities.

Winter 2022 | Instructor: Keith Wiley

CULTURAL DISCUSSION ROOM SECTION

SECTION B-B 4'

= 1'-0" CULTURAL DISCUSSION ROOM SECTION

PRIVATE SINGLE/DOUBLES STUDIO

COLLABORATIVE STUDIO

COLLABORATIVE STUDIO

TEMPORARY RESIDENT LIVING QUARTERS

VISTA POINT PRIVATE STUDIO

CHUMASH HISTORY GUIDED MUSEUM

LECTURE & CONFERENCE HALLS

SEISMOLOGY & SOIL RESEARCH LAB

LECTURE & CONFERENCE HALLS ART

CULTURAL

VISTA POINT (360 VIEWING SUN ROOM) INFORMATION DESKS + CHUMASH ART DISPLAYS

PRIVATE SINGLE/DOUBLES STUDIO

SCIENCE

MULTIPURPOSE / MULTI-USE

LECTURE & CONFERENCE HALLS

CULTURAL DISCUSSION ROOM

INDIVIDUAL BUILDING ACCESS

SEMI - PRIVATE COURTYARDS

ACCESS TO HIGHER LAND ELEVATION & ALTERNATIVE ACCESS TO BUILDINGS

EDGES: SPATIAL MEDIATORS

Designing an edge using extracted symbolic content and conditions of composition such as balance, rythm, and repitition to ulitmately create a model that materializes the intended spacial conditions of an edge using uninhibited formal operations (UFOs)

Fall 2021 | Instructor: Jermaine Washington

Study models focused on grasping the system of a grid in order to attemp to deviate from it

Use of applicator sticks, bristol paper, and cardboard

Sun lighting with various shade opacities to highlight the dynamic shadows created by the rotation of the frames and the rise in height of the dissipating units

EDGES: URBAN CIVIC FUNCTIONS

Utilizing our site analysis reseach and the design language established through the quarter’s projects, we designed an uban pool and related programs with ADA accessibility, homelessness, and inclusivity in mind through the union of form and program, space, and tectonics.

Fall 2021 | Instructor: Jermaine Washington

Floor Plans with highlighted facade using brown hatch and highlighted pools using blue hatch

Public Programs placed strategically closest to most public street interersections while private are tucked into the right upper corner, the most private location

Monterey St Morro St

ENTRANCE/ ACCESSIBILITY

PUBLIC GATHERING SPACE

POOLS (SHALLOW, DIVE, LAP)

BATHROOM (ABOVE), CHANGING/WARMING ROOMS (BELOW)

INTROSPECTIVE ROOMS

LEISURE SPACE

PROJECTOR

Synthesizing ideas about site, program, and circulation into a project proposal

Using physical models to describe and revise a project proposal

Demonstrating understanding of the biases of various projection and image types

Spring 2021 | Instructor: Margaret Kirk

A parking garage turned film enthusiast central has been designed with the intent of creating a tension between realities and the stretching of them. In relation to film, oftentimes things done off script produce unpredictable gems and experiences that couldn’t have been done with a script. Similarly through the various forms in the parking garage there’s a sense of stretching the bounds and limits to create non-traditional forms and unique experiences for particular programs.

HOME

Using anthropometric data to create a unique grid which relates people, objects, and space

Using a graphic scale to describe relative sizes of space and objects in a drawing

Comparing dissimilar plan principles through drawing

Using architectural line weights and line types to describe hierarchies among various scales of information

Reflecting critically on domestic architecture and articulating ideas through drawing

Winter 2021 | Instructor: Ajay Manthripragada

PLAN FOR PRIVACY

PLAN FOR CONNECTIVITY

DOUBLE OCCUPANCY

Further exploring the theories and tools of precedent analysis

Implementing and instrumentalizing oblique projection to both analytical and productive ends

Developing a strategy for the novel use of a pre-exisiting organizational grid

Designing and arranging walls, passages, envelopes and openings to organize objects and inhabitants in a relational matrix

Formulating a thesis in which design work and written description mutually support a critical dialogue

Winter 2021 | Instructor: Ajay Manthripragada

FULL HOUSE

Using projective drawing to orchestrate a relationship between grid, plan, and envelope

Developing a feedback loop between drawings and physical models

Making informed decisions about proximities and proportions in residential architecture

Demonstrating mastery of architectural drawing conventions including lineweights, linetypes, and the precise and accurate use of section markers

NOMAS

Cal Poly’s National Organization of Minority Architects

2023 Vice President

2022 Co-president

2020-2021 design team member

The underlying theme behind the mural is topography. Each of us come from very different places and backgrounds but find ourselves connected through our interest in architecture and environmental design. Whether we are architecture, architectural engineering, city and regional planning, construction management, or landscape architecture majors, we all have to create on the earth’s land, the built environment. We are conceptualizing a topography that currently doesn’t physically exist in this world but one that derives itself from the intersection of each of our individual stories. The topography in this mural exemplifies the curves and the shapes that architects build on, architectural engineers are bound to the constraints of, city and regional planners form communities in, construction managers derive materials from, and landscape architects sculpt. Our society is extremely diverse and as students of CAED, we are one community.

Although the mural is fixed to its frame/wall and is static, there are still options for user interactivity and for the mural to be customized. Implementing LED lighting allows us not only to incorporate the colors of the CAED majors into the design, but also allows the mural to take over the entirety of the bridge gallery through the play of light and shadow. The lighting can also display colors to celebrate CAED’s diversity further on holidays and pride and history months. The mural’s design includes various niches and “pockets” formed by the topography, creating different perceptions of the mural depending on the viewer’s position throughout the space; these hidden spaces provide opportunities for discovery and for displaying models or objects that CAED-affiliated members wish to showcase. Additionally, hooks on more visible planes of the mural will provide students with the opportunity to showcase their work, inform the community of upcoming events or other topics of importance through posters and other hangable items.

In this way, the mural is a mirror of how we wish to “leave our marks” on the greater world by shaping the environments around us.

2020 Bridge Gallery Mural Proposal

NOMAS Design Team of 6

The Bridge Mural Gallery symbolizes the majors of College of Architecture and Environmental Design (CAED).

Our design team imagined the legacy of a home as a living architecture that gets to see many families come and go, each group representing a different family in a different collaged manner, our group focusing on the legacy through the accumulation of objects the family aquires through their duration in the home. These three drawings track the journey of one of the many families who inhabit this house. To us the house is not just about the four walls that encapsulate rooms and provide a roof over the head of a family, which of course are invaluable, but also the memories. The home comes from the experiences, the love and care, the good and the bad times, the things we learn and the things we imbibe, and the mementos to which we assign meaning and value. We chose to represent these memories through these objects as we shake them out of the home. This family like any other is not perfect but it is beautiful in its own way. In the first drawing we can see the morning light shining through the windows as the family is finding its grounds and navigating relationships. The second drawing is in daylight as the family has found their flow. The third and last drawing is in sunset as the family is in its last years in the house that they have called home for the last twenty years. It is sad to leave this house but with them they will take the cherished memories, and the objects that have memories attached to them, that made this house a home.

“The Synapse Symphony” pays homage to North Nashville, Tennessee’s past and present by prioritizing the reunification of a previously severed neighborhood while revitalizing and illuminating today’s community, and by sowing the seeds for North Nashville to determine its own future through placemaking. In order to repair the damages caused by the I-40, the major design strategy implemented to allow the community to retake ownership of their land is pushing the divisive interstate underground. Residents can celebrate their history of musical talent, thriving black businesses, and activism.

The Synapse Symphony conducts itself towards the local community with integrated musical practice rooms, recreational park space as an extension of Hadley Park, a sweeping monolith serving as a circulatory gallery, and a space for mentorship between Pearl-Cohn High School and HBCUs such as Tennessee State University. By minimizing the highway’s presence at the ground plane, the community is able to re-weave streets, grant access to student resources, and set a precedent for additional communities to take back ownership of what was stolen from them. This design does not reinvent or try to act as a tourist attraction but rather supplements and highlights the pride and richness of the North Nashvillian community.

BIKE PATH | WINTER MORNING ART GALLERY | SPRING NOON SHOW | SUMMER AFTERNOON MAKERS FAIR | AUTUMN DUSK

1: BIKE PATH ATRIUM

2: CONFERENCE ROOMS + OFFICE SPACES

3: INFORMAL MENTORSHIP SPACES

1: AMPHITHEATER

2: WALKING GALLERY + PROMENADE

3: MUSIC PRACTICE ROOM

PHASE 1: DIVISION

PHASE 2: PUSH UNDERGROUND