PORTFOLIO
www.linkedin.com/in/ meghanatummala
mtummala@umich.edu
2023 - AUGUST 2024 | INTERNSHIPS
Along side my independent research, I will be spending my fellowship working with Taller Capital, an architecture firm whose work is closely tied to water, and Isla Urbana, a rainwater harvesting company. While I volunteer my time with both companies to assit with any ongoing projects, such as model making, community interaction, and design interations, I will also be observing their work and documenting their processes. I’m hoping this will give me a better understanding of how a company can approach design projects while addressing an environmental concern.
AUGUST
To better understand Mexico City’s relationship with water, I’ve been working on an independent research project where I visit various project sites, neighborhoods, and parks. During these site visits, I take the time to document them through various methods such as hand sketches, writing, photography and videography. I’m planning by the end of my fellowship to compile all these methods of documentation into a storymap of the city showcasing my time here and the obsevations I made.
From what I have seen it’s clear that the City of Mexico values greenery, but what about water? Historically, it’s clear through the pyramids that the Aztecs clearly valued and respected all aspects of the land they were inhabiting — including the water — but after colonization, water was seen as an obstruction to “development”. Today, in the neighborhoods and places we have traveled to, water is luxuriously drained or used, through ornate spouts, intentionally exposed piping, grand fountains, or to clean the streets/sidewalks we walked on. It’s both feared and valued.
Very little to no remnants of the lake that was Mexico City remains. Except in Xochimilco and UNAM, where we begin to see spouts and drains to bring water back to the way it was. It shows that water isn’t something to be feared but rather just as beautiful as other aspects of nature. This drawing is a visual representation of how water is treated over time.
FALL 2022 | INSTRUCTOR: STRATTON COFFMAN
The trellis is an armature for directing the growth of plant life. Growing Roots adapts the trellis as a support system for a range of communal and ceremonial events in which people, food, and plants come together. The trellis forms enclosed pockets of determined activity, amid an open field. Movable furniture allows visitors to reformat the open field as they wish.
Open spaces should offer their users the opportunity to adapt and customize to their wants yet provide them with the spaces that carry out the more programmatically structured needs and functions. Both weddings and potlucks are events that require the hosts to play a role in selecting their preferred aesthetics and through the design of my hall it gives the agency to the users to “architect” the event space.
The community users complete the space by utilizing the gardens, growing produce, storing them, cooking with them, and eating together. The wedding users fund the free community spaces, while also utilizing a space that fosters community to ceremoniously bring together two families. This project allows all communities to gather and connect back to their roots and their identity and how it presents itself through food and ceremony.
WINTER 2022 | INSTRUCTOR: CHRISTINA
HANSEN
Flemming Creek along with the Huron river were both major sources of power to colonial settlers over the original Native Americans.
Now, because the Radrick Farms Golf Course crosses over the creek to allow for one more hole, the creek is severely damaged due to erosion and chemical/fertilizer contamination. With this nature center, I proposed relocating parts of the golf course to repair the creek and reclaim the land.
However, to truly reclaim the land we must pay reparations to the original natives that lived here, this nature center acts as an ecological justice center, that recognizes the three tribes of Michigan and their ways of life: Ojibwa (keepers of ceremonies and song), Odawa (keepers of trade), and Potawatomi (keepers of fire).
The center provides dedicated exhibition and performance spaces free to the natives to practice their cultures, such as powwows, drum circles, and fire rituals, while also giving them a space to display and sell their art. As for outsiders, they can take the initiative to learn about the original people of this land and their history by visiting and appreciating their culture alongside them.
The building itself uses minimal materials and is low to the ground creating a humble presence. The stairs mimic the topography bringing the landscape into the space.
From previous projects, I learned that Newtown House defines spaces using windows and multifunctional/multilevel floors. In this project, due to site constraints I couldn’t achieve an effective centered void so I attempted a diagonal void. This void — the shared/communal area — is where you see the unique use of their floors. The architects — Yukawa Design Lab — very intentionally use the multilevel floors for more than one purpose, such as desks or tables. Additionally, they act as one big stair case taking you on a journey through the house. In fact, this technique allows for bedrooms to be on the ground floor, whereas normally we associate bedrooms to be on the second floor. However, because the void space combined with the stair like floors take you past the bedrooms into the main living space upstairs, as a guest you wouldn’t be compelled to stay on the ground floor making it more private.
As you enter on the ground floor you start your journey up the elevated levels, where bedrooms reside on either side, until you reach the back of the home where you have the choice to continue upward — a more compelling choice for a guest — or you can go downstairs into the workshop, a library. By continuing upwards you’re led into the dining and living room with a high ceiling and a step down — a space to relax.
2022 | INSTRUCTOR: GLENN
WILCOXFor my luminere, I worked with the idea of having a yupo skin with light leaks and overlapping flaps to make light bounce off of the opaque material. I then rod bent the steel wire frame that reacted to the indentations in the skin, which allows it to be a stand for the luminere. The light can be taken off the stand and be used however the user desires while the LED board detects motion and changes color based on orientation of the luminere.
A close study of the University of Michigan’s Law Quad both hand drafted and digital. This was a partner project where we both drew a facade, which met at a corner.
As an architectural intern, I helped create project design proposals, renderings for projects, and marketing site plans for their new updated website. Since these renderings are catered towards clients and possible future clients, they require a graphic consistency that could easily be understood.
This project explores how computer vision can falsely identify people while also being used for user engaging purposes. The Fun Side monitor (below), is more interactive and guesses people’s mood based on facial expressions as they pass by. The Dark Side monitor (right), contains more detailed information where the computer secretly guessed the visitors age and gender as well.
