2024 Portfolio - Pooja Nadipalli by Amukta Nadipalli

POOJA NADIPALLI

ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO 2024

POOJA NADIPALLI

401 Massachusetts Ave NW Apt# 1204

Washington, DC, 20001

(703) 867-6813

poojanadipalli@gmail.com

EDUCATION

May 2024

University of Virginia - School of Architecture

Bachelors of Science in Architecture

Minor in Studio Art, Concentration in Printmaking and Painting

GPA: 3.8

EXPERIENCE

June 2023

Study Abroad - Vicenza, Italy

Freehand Drawing

Jan. - May 2024

January 2024

University of Virginia | Teaching Assistant for Principles of Tectonics

Charlottesville, VA

Required Course for 2nd Year Architecture students revolved around building theory and the poetics of construction. Led in-studio feedback sessions and office hours in order to support students investigating the intersection of design and construction.

HDR | Architectural Design Intern

Washington D.C.

Assisted in creating and presenting sustainable sections and solar diagrams for a hospital design in conceptual stages. Photographed site visit to an addition of Walter Reed National Medical Center under construction.

July - Aug. 2023

June - Aug. 2022

Zolon Tech Inc. | Graphic Design Intern

Herndon, VA

Created visual assets, produced marketing materials, and collaborated on projects while adhering to brand guidelines. Developed skills in compositional layout, image editing, and design software.

BrightView Design Group | Landscape Architecture Intern Irvine, CA

Presented design sketches, renderings, and photography of a residential park in Valencia. Collaborated on planting designs, hardscape designs, and 3-D rendering for residential Irvine project.

Feb. 2018Mar. 2020

June - Aug. 2017, 2018

J Art Studio | Art Teacher

Chantilly, VA

Independently taught 3 hour beginner art classes to children ages 4 - 7 in a variety of mediums: painting, drawing, collage, mixed media, clay, etc.

Smithsonian Institution, Ripley Center | Teaching Assistant

Washington D.C.

Assisted teachers in summer lessons to children of various ages and in subjects including advanced painting, American folk art and culture, and American history.

INVOLVEMENT

Jan. 2023May 2024

Society of Sustainability | UVA School of Architecture

Co - Founder, President of Material Strategies

Organization focusing on strategic material re-use, net-zero waste/ energy, and fostering an environmentally conscious culture. Led a task force in creating a sustainability plan for the upcoming year and developing future programs for a sustainability lab based in Morven Farms.

Sep. 2021May 2024

Jan. - May 2022

SKILLS

REFERENCES

WG Clark

Edmund Schureman

Campbell Professor | UVA wgc2w@virginia.edu (434) 872-9499

Peter Waldman

William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor | UVA pdw7e@virginia.edu (434) 924-6464

Gina Robinson Architect | HDR gina.robinson@hdrinc.com (703) 647-7773

Sanda Iliescu

Professor, Architecture, Art Appointment | UVA sdi5h@virginia.edu (434) 293-8884

Hoos Littering | University of Virginia

Interim President, Founding Member

Service organization dedicated to holding weekly university wide community cleanups.

Habitat for Humanity | Charlottesville, VA Crew Member

Involvement in the construction and renovation of homes for under served communities. Working with a team and contributing to various tasks such as framing, roofing, painting, and general site maintenance.

Arena di Verona

06 14 18 24 30 32

Comunity Philadelphia| A Still Life

Housing Matters | The Human Condition

The Seagram Building | Obsolescnece and Speculative Growth

Transect Urbanism | The Anthropocene

Lessons in Making | Building Mass

Appendix | Artwork

Chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta, Bolzano

COVER LETTER

8/11/2024

Application for Studio Assistant Arlene Shechet

Kingston, NY application.studioassistant@gmail.com

Dear Arlene,

I was thrilled to see you are looking for a Studio Assistant on Archinect. As a recent graduate, the potential of working for an established sculptor aligns perfectly with my interests in the intersection of art, architecture, and spatial design.

Throughout my time in school, I looked at architecture through the lens of art, believing the elemental concepts of composition, scale, and balance are key to designing powerful architecture.

I have always welcomed working with new materials to create models that evoke the atmosphere I have envisioned. Model-making is an essential part of my design process, as I find the connection between the mind and hand can not be replicated when conceiving spatial realities. Thus, I have never shied away from embracing new materials, from wood working, rockite casting, glycerine modeling, and 3-D printing.

This is further reflected in my art, wherein I constantly experimented with new mediums and processes, combining and collaging as a means to not limit myself as an artist. As a Studio Art minor, I concentrated in printmaking, where I found tweaking the intricacies of the process to be a rewarding and exciting experience. Here, I learned how to work with the natural properties of a medium, rather than against it.

I believe I would be an excellent fit for this position, in school I primarily used Rhino and Adobe Suite alongside model-making and fabrication equipment to render my projects. My deep passion for all forms of art is what brought me to architecture, and the prospect of joining your team would be an ideal opportunity to further explore this fascination.

Sincerely,

Pooja

COMMUNITY PHILADELPHIA

A STILL LIFE

This project is a social center that serves Philadelphia’s Old City as an armature of building and park . Conceptualized as a still life of free standing object buildings, placed in a landscape, and connected by sky bridges, the project aims to grow alongside the needs of the community rather than prescribing tailored programs.

“A community clubhouse and Acropolis in one; this is the Social Center. A Community organized about some center for its own political and social welfare and expression; to peer into its own mind and life, to discover its own social needs and then to meet them, whether they concern the political field, the field of health, of recreation, of education, or of industry; such community organization is necessary if democratic society is to succeed and endure”

- Childs, C. S. (1913). A Year’s Experiment in Social Center Organization: An Account of the Activities Conducted in Public School 63, Manhattan

HOUSING MATTERS

THE HUMAN CONDITION

This is a space for artists to live and work among the public and private realm, in Richmond, Virginia. Based on the writings of Hannah Arendt in, The Human Condition, in which she outlines three fundamental human activities: labour, work, and action. Labour as vital necessities, work as a product of human artifice, and action as the human condition of plurality, in relation to the public and private realms.

Ultimately, the design aims to democratize the world of art by providing accessibility to resources and exposure with the public. By fostering an already existing art culture within Richmond, in an unpretentious manner, this project reconsiders what it means to live and work among the public and private realm of collective housing, and the broader context of the city.

SEAGRAM BUILDING

OBSOLESENCE AND SPECULATIVE GROWTH

This project attempts to demonstrate a new potential for high rise buildings, using the modernist icon of the Seagram building as a site. The Seagram is dismantled and put back together, reconsidering the American skyscraper by transforming its hermetic container into one symbiotic with the earth.

The building acts as a juncture of place and vertical garden, altering its singularity through layers of multiplicities. Inspired by vernacular architecture and shanty towns, prosthetic structural interventions connect to surrounding buildings compensating for structural support. The project aims to connect an enclosed tower to its earthen home, as opposed to a chess piece deployable anywhere.

TRANSECT URBANISM

THE ANTHROPOCENE

This design is an addition to the NYC Museum of Natural History, aiming to not only house exhibits, but display the museum within itself and to the city . In this sense, natural history occurs alongside the museum, rather than serving as a container for curated exhibitions alone.

The project utilizes porosity, ramps, and terraced spaces as a means of creating a landscape within itself. A stepped well is carved into the ground, housing a pond full of aquatic life, while a roof of net like quality references a nest for birds to perch. Luminant prismatic volumes of various heights allow for sight lines across the museum from within and from the street, these forms are composed of crystalline glass and wood, contrasting one another through planes of transparency and opacity. Ramps on the exterior of the masses act as the primary means of circulation, connecting to bridges, and guiding users indoors and outdoors to further engage with the natural environment.

LESSONS IN MAKING AND BUILDING MASS

A collection of work created as a first-year student investigating the translation between two-dimensional composition and three-dimensional spatial design. Through exercises of drawing, collaging, and layering, this work presents foundational principles consistent with my development as a designer.

A compiled dictionary of formal operations guided this body of work, and subject to a vigorous iterative process, these pieces serve as an integral lesson in the cyclical nature of design. These early exercises set the stage for my continued exploration of the intersection between art and architecture.