Selected Architectural Works 2018-2021

SELECTED WORKS 2 0 1 8- P r e s e n t

Rishabh Chhajer

Part drawing from Maheshwar Portfolio, a studio collaboration

table of CONTENTS curriculam vitae

01

01

Library of the Extinct

03

02

Of densities, intensities and cyclical processes

13

03

Non collonade pavilion

19

04

Thinking life

25

05

Design with Detail

29

06

Re-politicising education

33

RISHABH CHHAJER a18rishabh@sea.edu.in [m] +91 9829422851 58 Nehru Nagar, Pali 306 401, Rajasthan, India.

DOB 06.03.1999 chitrakaar_ An aspiring architect driven by hands - on creative work inspired by all dimensions of art and architecture.

education and training 2018-Present

School of Environment And Architecture I Mumbai University Fourth Year, Bachelor Of Architecture

2017-2018

Aayojan School of Architecture, Jaipur I RTU Dropped after completing first year, B. Arch.

2015-2017

Delhi Public School, Jodhpur I CBSE XI and XII Standard

2013-2015

L K Singhania Education Centre, Gotan, Rajasthan I CBSE IX and X Standard

2002-2015

St. Paul’s Sr. Sec. School, Pali, Rajasthan I CBSE Upto VIII Standard

awards and achievements 2019

Best overall performance for the academic year

2017

Emerged as Artist of the year

2017

Winner in category D at the Art Olympiad 2017 in collaboration with Lalit Kala Akademi

2015-2017

Recieved number of awards and medals in several art competitions at various levels

2015

Winner in category C at the Art Olympiad 2015 in collaboration with Lalit Kala Akademi

2015

Held overall literature trophy as a group

2014

Represented school in an IPSC (Indian Public Schools’ Conference) Event held at Mayo College Girls School, Ajmer, Rajasthan

workshops Dec 2018

Hands-on with local materials I Design Jatra

Jan 2019

Poetry I Sanjeev Khandekar

July 2019

Theatre : Performance and Performance Making I Sujay Saple

Jan 2020

Urban Ecology I Anand Pedharkar

July 2020

Custom Handlettering I Yomar Augusto, Steven Heller I SVA NYC I Kadenze

Aug 2021

Storytelling I In a City, Parts don’t make the Whole I Prasad Shetty

Jan 2021

Urdu Literature I Sheema Fatima, Farid Khan

publications SEA Press Publications (Studio Collaborations) 2018

“Decode Design”, “History of Tools”, “Visual Ethnography - Korlai field notes”

2019

“Alibaug : inner city inserts”, “Managing wetness & adopting lightness”, “Mumbai SubUrban Histories - An investigation into work types”

2020

“Maheshwar Portfolio”, “Error 404 not found”, “COVID Glossary” “Monumentalism and Megalomania”, Research paper for ‘The Bangladesh Archive’ I South Asian Architecture

social and organisational skills Ability to work in a team with multicultural members and design projects Member of Editorial Board in DPS Newsletter Elected member of the cultural committee in Delhi Public School Elected as Cultural Secretary in A.Y. 2019-20 Elected as General Secretary in A.Y. 2020-21 Organisation of the annual students’ work exhibitions held at SEA

skills Sketching I Hand Drafting and Model Making I Basic Carpentary and Masonry Adobe Illustrator InDesign Photoshop I MS Office Autocad I Rhino I Ladybug I Grasshopper

languages English I Hindi

other interests Reading I Cinema I Photography I Poetry I Music 01

01

Library of the Extinct Spring 2020 I SEA Location: Jogeshwari Caves, Mumbai Guide: Anuj Daga, Pratyusha Suryakant

Tlon, a small essay from the book “The invisible libraries” takes us to a cold deserted space, where the entrance is blocked by piles of corpses lolling against the walls, empty zinc shelves are lined up next to each other from wall to wall and go as high as ceiling, cold wind is blowing around sharply piercing your ears as if the song of sirens, escaped from the book that was once already there. The whole setting was strongly evoking the qualities of what have become extinct.

You’re living the memory of tragedy.

Site could have been a cemetery but pushing beyond the literal boundaries Jogeshwari Caves were decided.

Before eight to ten years, caves were almost extinct, hidden under the thick layer of encroached informal houses but since past three years, ASI and BMC are clearing up the encroachment area and shifting them somewhere else, so currently settlement is endangered and would probably become extinct in coming three four years. As a strategy, capitalizing on the fact that the authorities will probably put a blind fence around the monument and mindlessly landscape it with green lawn on the name of preservation. I’m taking this opportunity meaningfully further to make this into a “light” building that protects, preserves and pushes for curiosity and care for this structure. Therefore thinking of something like a ‘wall’, which demarks inside and outside but keeps the relationship between pre-existing ecologies and the new intervention alive.

This library is organized like a boundary wall encompassing Caves. Walking along this edge, one can go from one side of the mountain to the other. The wall becomes as thin as railing somewhere, a staircase and thickens to create larger volumes.

WHAT IS A LIBRARY?

03

05

PLAN CUT AT 4.5M 07

SECTION XX’

SECTION YY’

09

11

02

Of densities, intensities and cyclical processes Fall 2019 I SEA Location: Alibaug, Maharashtra Guide: Rupali Gupte, Samir Raut

The statement was derived after taking observations from the site, where coconuts were stacked in a heap collectively, fruit and shell was separated as an event of which shell was further used to create jute mattresses which was used for covering those shells from the rain. Out of various experiences from the site that we documented, we thought of ways in which we can craft spaces keeping in mind the existing typologies like verandahs outside the house, transition between in and out, experience of large volumes due to small entries, linearity in arrangement of spaces, i.e. plan is linear. From a zoomed out overlook of the whole settlement, one can clearly find a passage along the periphery of each house, seemed as if those passages were knitting whole settlement through threads of various cultural practices, houses have either a huge backyard or in some places houses were organised in such a way that verandahs of all of them opened into a central courtyard which is demarcated by the plinth of the houses and the road and this courtyard usually had a well, so it became a centre of cultural practices and they built up some practices too.

Responding to the site can also involves defining common silhouettes and morphological characteristics, such as materiality, texture, arches, symmetry, roofs and angles, then trying to reproduce them in a new composition. Keeping the typologies in mind, playing with concepts and digging into genesis, tweaking them and thus creating a language which implicitly acknowledges the concept of types. The Language of verticality; the subtle movement throughout the project.

WHAT IS A TYPE?

Jewish Homestay and Multipurpose community center 13

FIRST FLOOR PLAN

GROUND FLOOR PLAN

SECTION YY’

SECTION XX’

NORTH ELEVATION

EAST ELEVATION

15

17

03

Non collonade pavilion Fall 2019 I SEA Location: Kandiwali, Mumbai Guide: Sabaa Giradkar Team: Rishabh Chhajer, Pooja Dalal

This was proposed for a flood prone low lying area, Sunderpada settlement in Kandivali, that is adjacent to the Poiser River, now a Nallah, befitted to be the site of intervention. The devastating floods of 26th July, 2005 became the rationale for the project.

Managing wetness is to respond to the flooding conditions due to rains, the humidity levels in the built form as well as to manage the water flow in the structure.

Lightness responds to either one or all of the following but was not limited to: visual expression, time, resource efficiency by optimizing material usage, dismantability, seismic efficiency, cost efficiency. The structural expression of the architecture should be light from inside and the immediate outside.

Thus it becomes significant to design a rescue center for the settlement dwellers during monsoons. This will also function as a community or a resilience centre for the rest of the year.

WHAT IS WETNESS?

Rescue cum Community Center 19

21

STRUCTURAL MODEL

DETAIL PROTOTYPE OF ONE UNIT (1:10)

OVERALL ENVELOPE

23

04

Thinking Life Fall 2020 I SEA Location: Borivali, Mumbai Guide: Faizan Khatri

“Life is diverse and ever changing, architecture and urban form that affirms rather than controlling life is what we seek.” Juhani Palassma.

Process started by creating a glossary of words and provocations which relate to ideas of home, old age and life. Post that slow and steady steps thoughtfully taken considering all the consequences inquiring the role of an architect and a facilitator. The project addressed concerns of resource consumption and production within the built form and their spatial implications while exploring the existing site conditions to understand the opportunities and possibilities.

Availability of large spill outs create the possibility of senior citizens as human libraries hence bridging the time through narrations and conversations, it also ensures their engagement and business.

Interrogating typology, the genealogy, comfort and the precarity resulted in the simplicity with which larger visions were achieved. The Isometric views are trying to visualise how this building will age. Empathy mapping helped in allocating the spaces and deciding the movements.

WHAT IS A HOME?

Old age home 25

PLAN CUT AT 5.5M

NORTH SOUTH SECTION

WEST EAST SECTION XX’ 27

DETAIL AT D (1:10)

05

DETAIL AT A (1:25)

20MM DIA STEEL BALUSTER CONNECTED WITH BOLT

Design with Detail Fall 2020 I SEA Location: Prabhadevi, Mumbai Guide: Dipti Bhaindarkar

This is not just school; a student lives, eats, works, plays and sleeps. It becomes an integral part of his/ her life, so why not make it like a home itself. How will you define home for everyone?

Space is flexible and user-adaptive. The process began with visualizing windows, seatings, niches, staircases, pathways, which became significant as they are the places for people to escape; they can be many things other than primary functions. Different students own these places at different times, it becomes practices of the social space and therefore shaping the culture of the school.

The project focused on introducing more dynamics to these insignificant elements of space making and increasing their affordance. Detail of Design formulated space articulation through a juxtaposition of interplaying volumes, building systems, working geometries. Surface articulation, junctions and assemblies held the building together, creating a language of its own.

NUT BOLT MS PLATE

DETAIL AT E (1:10)

SCREEDING SHAHBAD TILES

SCREEDING SHAHBAD TILES

350MM THICK RETAINING WALL

650MM THICK RAFT

230MM PCC BED

STONE SOLING

RAMMED EARTH

DETAIL AT C (1:25)

WHAT IS A SCHOOL?

D

DRIP MOLD

A

-

1273

STONE COPING

-

1273

30.25M BULL NOSING

-

W3

CHINA MOSAIC TILING 25

-

SCREEDING 25MM BRICK BAT COBA 100 RCC SLAB

-

1255

E

-

25.45M -

ALL D OTHE ALL T FOLL DRAW OTHE P.C.C COAR ALL L ALL D NEED DO N ALL D NOTIC COMM RICHE FOUN THE S SUGG THE S VERIF WITH PROC WOR SPEC COMP CODE REQU OCCU PROJ UNINT DURIN

SR.NO. RCC LINTEL PLASTER 25MM

Studio 4

B

180

M.S.PLATE 25MM BOLTING

ISSU

TOP PANEL UNBREAKABLE GLASS

20.65M BEADING PATTI GLIDERS WITH BALL BEARINGS CONCRETE SILL BRICK WALL 230MM

Studio 3

1280

DETAIL AT B (1:25)

Studio 1

SEA SIDE

3150

CONCRETE SEATING

6.30M

3000

Canteen

DESIG AT PR

RISHA

1.35M

ROLL N THIRD Y 2020 - 2

C

SCHOO AND A

NO

0.0M

Underground Watertank

D

EX

-3.4M

)

Design School 29

A

B

D

C

7815

8000

8420

1230

2090

8000

900

2090

17680

48370

FINISHED OVERALL DIMENSIONS

UNFINISHED OVERALL DIMENSIONS

SOLID - VOID DIMENSIONS

CENTRE - LINE DIMENSIONS

48420

+1.05M

W2

W4

W4

D2

3440

2650

FHR

D2

2700

+3.75M

D7

Entrance Foyer +1.5M

1957

Elevator

2.0MX1.7M

3

1400

2

Admin Office 3.4MX2.5M

+1.5M UP

W2

Exam Cell 3.4MX2.5M

DN

Fire Staircase 2M wide

1500

4237

1480

1

2297

1501

W6

18650

18600

Elec. Room 8 sq.m.

3885

2070

4

283

D7

2880

2991

Electrical Duct

+1.5M

Cutout Be 1.5M X 2

6000

9185

D3

Workshop 16MX9M

W3

+1.5M

Softscape 3.2MX3.4M

Cutout 9.0M X

1230

+1.25M

5 W3

D4

W3

5

8

4

+1.20M

+0.75M

3

6

+0.60M

7

+0.45M

1

2

+1.05M

+0.30M

+0.90M

+0.15M

+1.35M

D4

D4

+1.5M

FINISHED OVERALL DIMENSIONS

49470

UNFINISHED OVERALL DIMENSIONS SOLID - VOID DIMENSIONS

48420

1210

CENTRE - LINE DIMENSIONS

6000

1820

7815 A

6000

1410

8000 B

7390

8000 C

D

E

7814

F

H

G

2021

6165

CENTRE - LINE DIMENSIONS

8000

7400

SOLID - VOID DIMENSIONS

8600

UNFINISHED OVERALL DIMENSIONS FINISHED OVERALL DIMENSIONS

+0.0M

3200

S L O P E

+0.75M

1

+0.15M

2

+0.30M

3

+0.45M

4

+0.60M

5

+0.75M

6

+01.0M

7

+1.15M

8

+1.30M

1 : 12

+0.15M +0.45M +0.75M +0.0M

+1.05M +1.35M

D4

1

2

4

3

D4

2

1

+0.30M

+0.15M

2991

4

5

3

6 +0.90M

+0.75M

+0.60M

7

+0.45M

8

+1.05M

D4

+1.25M

+1.20M

3

+1.5M

Softscape 2.6MX3.4M +1.35M

+1.35M

Canteen

+1.25M

35

1957

925

D4

2

7400

2719

3376

Softscape 2.6MX3.4M

4237

4869

1982

5

8

3268

+1.35M

Cutout Above 9.0M X 7.4M

6

D4

7

D4

1

930

+1.30M

1 1

2

18600

18650

UP 4

3 2

4 5

3

6 7

+1.35M

4

8 9

5

elow 2.5M

+1.5M

13

27

14

26

15

25

16

24

17

23

18

22

19

21

20

D2

D2

Men's toilet 10 sq.m.

D1

+4.65M

Elevator 1.8 x 2.0 960

Staircase 2M Wide

2

1

+0.30M

+0.15M

Women's toilet 10 sq.m.

D1

W1

D6

W1

D1

Cant. kitchen 3.7MX4.3M

+0.00M

W1

5 W1

Plumbing Duct 4.4MX1M

FINISHED OVERALL DIMENSIONS

4

3

+0.60M

+0.45M

6

5 +0.75M

7 +1.05M

+0.90M

8 +1.20M

W1

+1.35M

D1

8000

2250

7814

14350

2021 E

9185

28

SOLID - VOID DIMENSIONS

12

2400

11

29

UNFINISHED OVERALL DIMENSIONS

Above X 5.0M

30

10270

+3.0M

6165 F

8000 G

H

GROUNDFLOOR PLAN 31

CENTRE - LINE DIMENSIONS

10

06

Re-politicising Education Spring 2021 I SEA Location: Near Murbad, Maharashtra Guide: Malak Singh Gill

Considering the context, the cultural ecology and their interdependence on each other got me into contemplating the roles of an external agency from a very different context. Imagining a space while positioning myself on the thresholds, negotiating the narratives on both sides ergonomically and hence extending visions. This project is made with the intention to create a model for people to aspire for.

Taking decisions prudently and designing with this cautiousness, to inculcate disciplinary measures and strategize in such a way that they complete this vivid landscape. And yet in saying that not losing the essence of traditional wisdom. What kind of school should be made? What kind of education is essential?

Thinking phenomenologically while designing the curriculum and hence putting forth the ways in which it will reclaim the culture and the environment.

Locating the importance of education in this context and hatching ways to think about the learning centres which are self sufficient and mobilizes all the forces in the context. An extension in their cultural ecology which expands their ideas of the world.

Inhabiting nests in an ever-growing forest, a very peculiar way to unfold spatialities.

WHAT IS EDUCATION?

Residential cum Day-Boarding School 33

PLAN CUT AT 64.5M 35

37

41

43

Rishabh Chhajer a18rishabh@sea.edu.in [m] +91 9829422851