rimasach@andrew.cmu.edu
+1 (412) 616 5184
Pathways School Gurgaon, New Delhi International Baccalaureate 2020
rimasach@andrew.cmu.edu
Growing up in Gurgaon, my exposure to architectural wonders was limited. The buildings around me were dull, grey, and lacked aesthetics. However, the summer of 2018 gave me the opportunity to expand my horizons. I visited the most picturesquely built structures like the Opus by Zaha Hadid and the Gherkin by Norman Foster and Ken Shuttleworth. This inspired me to observe the architectural wonders in India, and I later re-visited the Taj Mahal and Iron Pillar. These experiences showed me how essential visual stimulus is for an aspiring artist, augmenting my desire to make my environment more beautiful.
The following winter I volunteered at a Primary School, located in an area surrounded by tiny shanties lacking basic amenities and infrastructure. Learning about their circumstances, made me realize the dire need for urban planning in India. I realized the value of affordable, efficient, and sustainable use of available resources, when designing houses in rural areas.
I am a student at Carnegie Mellon University pursuing my major in architecture and a minor in business administration. I am inclined towards residential architecture and urban design. When I’m not working on architectural projects, I like to play basketball and paint, and I am also a part of a bollywood dance team( CMU Jiya) at Carnegie Mellon University.
UC Berkeley: emBARC (environmental design and architecture) 2019
DIGITAL
Rhinoceros
Revit
Vray Grasshopper
Climate Studio
Adobe Suite
Photoshop InDesign Illustrator
Auto desk
Auto CAD
ANALOG Drawing Painting Model Making Photography
Architecture Design Studio
Praxis Studio
Praxis Studio II
Poesis III
Materials and Assembly
Building Physics
Generative Modeling
Digital Media I & II
Historical Survey of World Architecture Architecture & the Arts
3D Modeling and 3D Printing
CAD and Laser Cutting
Urbanism and social production of space
Environment 1: Climate and energy in architecture
Principles of Microeconomics
Intro to Accounting
Organizational Behavior
Issues of Practice
Ethics and Decision Making
Black and White Photography
Intro to Revit
CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY PITTSBURGH
Bachelor of Architecture, Minor in Business AdministrationMay 2025
Evolvea
Intern (Summer 2023)
• Worked on drawings for designing bus shelters across Pittsburgh for migrating species.
HCP Design, Planning, and Management Pvt. Ltd
Project Intern (Winter 2022)
• Worked on the Central Vista Avenue, which is a part of the Central Vista, India’s central administrative area that is being redeveloped.
Intern( Summer 2022)
• Worked as a marketing intern
• Helped increase the social media visibility of the firm and created a range of content for the social handles
•Assisted the director of the company in the day to day function of the firm
Intern (Summer 2021 and Winter 2021)
• Assisted in designing commercial and residential projects.
• Worked on an apartment complex called ‘DLF camellias’ and helped design the interior architecture of 2 apartments units. ( One of them was my own home so I was able to see both of sides of a project : the client and the architect.
• gained an insight into the workflow of creating an architectural project.
Focused on how a particular structure (the Gufa situated in Gujarat, India) successfully showcases the synergy between architecture and visual arts (2020).
Created a mechanical water waste collector for rural villages in India via a bicycle that collects waste as one bicycles on water (2019-2020).
• Awarded for an organization created by my peer and I called ‘drop by drop’ focused on organizing blood donation drives. The first blood donation camp in which we received 89 donations in association with the rotary club (2019)
• Awarded for the second event of drop by drop in which we received 120 blood donations in association with blood port (2020).
Studio:
Upon a
Studio:
Praxis
Internship Central Vista Project
Internship
Materials
Squirrel Hill is an area located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It consists of tree lined residential streets, a business district, educational institutions, and public parks. Squirrels were so numerous the Native Americans are said to have given the name “Squirrel Hill” to the hill.
Throughout the semester, I unpacked the street scape as sites of opportunities focusing on how people, matter, and flux are connected through the notions of communication. To start out my explorations, I unpacked the rituals around a telegraph, how tapping, sounds, and people are connected. I used this to frame how my site the street of Murray avenue acts as a zone where various parts of the urban ecosystem such as birds, squirrels, objects, climate, and humans make contact. Building Facades, windows, doors, sidewalks, urban furnitures, electric poles, and streets becomes means for dialogues
The project uses this understanding to reclaim electric poles into a new infrastructure for territorial inhabitations, including homes for birds, play scape, and bus rests.
By reclaiming electric poles into spaces for co-inhabitation, my project explores how these ordinary leftover infrastructure can imagine new small scale forms of architecture.
Through the study of these invisible implied territorial zones created by claiming street objects, the project attempts to recreate new strategic zones of street connections to elevate new relationships.
The structure consists of three modules. As the structure grows in sections, the module becomes narrower and smaller allowing for smaller members of the ecosystem to claim their space on the street. This proposal tells the story of how architecture attempts to weave social-ecological relationships dealing with modular growth in reclaiming public territories.
Our design is derived from our chef, Alice Waters’s ideology. Alice Waters is an author, food activist, and founder of chez Panisse in Berkeley, California. We focused on three aspects of Alice Waters ideology:
Firstly, Alice Waters believes in encouraging local vendors hence our design consists of an educational farm that attracts the vendors and establishes a connection to the building.
Secondly, she believes in connectivity and community engagement therefore we connected the educational and public space creating a dialogue between the two, even allowing the public to witness the learning happening in this space.
Lastly, Waters believes in reflecting on the culture of the space therefore our design will reflect the Pittsburgh culture to some extent.
Transformations aided us in linking the educational and public buildings to showcase the idea of connectivity. Firstly, we created two functional sections of the building: the educational and public space and then we generated several possible methods of connection to ensure a consistency. Additionally, the roof was our culinary institute stretches as different spatial sections of building begin. This helps showcase a distinction between the spaces from the exterior as well.
Our site is in south shore facing the Monongahela River. Our site is extremely accessible through different sections of Pittsburgh and is close to two of the bridges across the river. It is also a very pedestrian friendly zone consisting of multiple bike paths, green zones, sitting spaces etc. It also has high accessibility to restaurants and commercial buildings.
Our building is a longhouse. The first floor of the building consists of spaces organized in terms of accessibility in relation to the site and accessibility within the interior spaces. Our institute has various points of entry. However, when driving, the sequence begins with the parking lot on the left-hand side of the building then the space consists of changing rooms, toilets and storage then one enters an outdoor garden that is circular and made with glass so its visible from the inside as well then one transitions into academic spaces such as offices, classroom, and study space, then entering the teaching kitchen that is connected to the dining area.
The educational zones end here however the sequence may continue and one can enter a large space that acts as an exhibition space where live music and showcases of Pittsburgh culture will take place. This helps enhance the experience of the individual when they enter a restaurant space. Connected to the restaurant on the right side is the working kitchen and other service areas such as housekeeping, loading, and food distribution.
McKinley Environmental Center is a 4-story mass timber building located in McKinley Park in Beltzhoover Neighborhood, Pittsburgh. Our building descends to follow the slope and contours of the site allowing each floor to be on grade with entrances needed by code. Some particular features of the building include a cistern on the first ground floor, a mechanical room stacked on each floor, and a PV parapet roof.
The building integrates design strategies for the envelope, HVAC system, water, and energy use which aims for efficiency and low environmental impact to support carbon-neutral design.
It is designed to both educate and immerse its occupants with every visit, through an experience that emphasizes both the working systems of the building, as well as the natural beauty of this small pocket of Pittsburgh.
Studio Name: Praxis II
Studio Professor: Steve Lee
Group Project with Graham Martha, Gloria Lee ,and Kaitlyn Hom
Our McKinley environmental center bridges the elderly center to Haberman green-way Allowing for connection to the general community of neighborhood, educational centers, and ease of accessibility as we have entrances on each grade allowing more connectivity to the nature. We have two main entrances using bridges, one perpendicular to the sidewalks, a street Bridge from Michigan st 3 floor and pedestrian bridge from Belmont street entrance on 4 floor.
With a window to wall ratio of 33% and a majority of the glass on the southern facade, in developing our daylighting strategies we focused on maximizing the amount of sunlight into the building. To account for issues of glare, wooden Louvers have been added to the window mullions to reduce ASE. There is a large curtain wall on the southern facade that lets most of the daylight into our vertical corridor, stairway and elevator shaft.
Originally there was an excessive amount of light entering through this approximately 1500 square foot curtain wall. However, our 9000 sf PV roof not only supplies the building with solar energy, but it’s sizable overhang also significantly shades the curtain wall throughout most times of the day
Our opaque walls have an R-Value of 48 using 12” thick semi rigid rock wool insulation with 5 ply CLT walls and 3 ply CLT floors with PET tubes within light filled concrete. Our punch in windows have operable awning windows that are eye level to occupants have louvers above to provide additional shading Our roof has a R value of 84 using polyisocyanates insulation and 3 ply CLT roof slab.
Floor
Main
is found on floor 3 where people would enter via a bridge. Occupants would enter to an open space that allows for circulation through the
gallery Then leading to an event space that is used for public events and a classroom that can be expanded out to an outdoor classroom space. Also there is outdoor stairs from the rooftop space to the f2 an exit right outside classrooms and then on F1 which is to grade where it leads back to the trail.
Floor 2 is primarily classroom and conference space which emphasizes the overhang that immerses visitors and students into the surrounding
ronment.
Our third floor hosts our street entrance facing the neighborhood. It also includes our staff where they have access to a kitchen. It is a more secluded space, but all floors are connected through main egress of stairs and elevator.
During my internship, I assisted in India’s largest project, which is the redevelopment of its administrative capital. I specifically worked on central Vista avenue which is the space between the India Gate and the Rashtrapati Bhawan, This space consists of a range of features now that make it even more appealing and enjoyable for the public. It consists of better pathways, allocation of vending zones, and more green spaces to create more space for India’s large population.
Each tree on this site was examined, based on which in various places, trees were excavated, and new and more trees had to be planted. This also helped elevate this public space. In addition, even the administrative buildings were redeveloped keeping in mind the existing/ surrounding building materials.
Firm Name: HCP Design, Planning, and Management
Studio Head: Vipin Gupta Internship
This drawing showcases the use of red sandstone which is representative of Indian culture as this material is derived from nature, it is readily available in India, and it has a long history: since it is so easily available in India, most famous historical buildings such the sheesh mahal, red fort, and many more are built using this material as it is also cheap and durable.
Alongside Edge Studios (an architecture firm based in Delhi, India that I had already interned with), I worked on designing an 8,000 sq ft apartment unit in Gurugram, Haryana: DLF Camellias.
The project’s goal was to create a 4 bedroom apartment and fulfill the client’s needs (My family). My parents wanted a minimalistic yet neutral color palette for the master bedroom and also insisted on incorporating arches. They wanted to create a combination of a modern yet neo-classic space and a darker color palette with grays and blacks contrasting with the wood for the guest room and the poker room.
This internship was extremely insightful as I had already worked on someone else’s home with this firm and then later designing for my own family helped me first hand understand the exchange between an architect and a client.
DRAWING KEY:
OR NOTES
1. GRAVEL BACKFILL
2. DAMP PROOFING
3. RIGID INSULATION
4. FOUNDATION DRAIN
5. ANCHOR BOLTS
6.
7. SLAB TO WALL
8. CONCRETE
9. VAPOR
10.
11. REINFORCING
12.
# 1
DRAWING KEY:
OR NOTES
1. Roof Sheeting
2. 2x12 Roof Rafter 16” oc
3. 2x10 Wood Joist 16’’ oc
4. Blocking
5. Fascia
6. Header
7. 2x6 Window Header
8. 2x6 Trimmer Stud
9. Rough Sill
10. 2x6 Cripple Stud
11. Sole Plate
12. 2x10 End Joist
13. 2x6 Double Top Plate
14. 2x6 Wood Stud 16”
15. 4’x8’ Plywood Sheathing
16. 2x10 Wood Joists 16” oc
17.4’x8’ 3/4” Plywood Subfloor
18. 4’x8’ 1/4” Underlayment
19. 2x6 Pressure Treated Sill Plate
20. 1/2” Anchor Bolts 6’ oc
21. Termite Barrier
ASSIGNMENT # 1
MATERIALS &
Scale: 3/8” = 1’
(RIMA,SACHDEVA)
rimasach@andrew.cmu.edu