Architecture Portfolio by Varshini Suresh

Portfolio Varshini Mysore Suresh

Collection of Works

01 Aasha Community School

Resilient School for Nepal 01

02 Loop X Nuova B.E.I.C

European Library in Milan 11

AASHA COMMUNITY SCHOOL NEPAL

Design Proposal for Resilient and Community driven school COMMUNITY

A school is more than just a place of education. It can be a community hub, craft center, even an artistic site. But above all, it is a solid ground when everything else fails. To this aim, Aasha is envisioned as a durable and resilient solution, designed not only to withstand environmental challenges but also to be easily replicated across communities.

Central to this vision is the idea that a safe, resilient school lays the foundation for a better life, beginning with access to clean water and education through accessible, cost-effective solutions.

DESIGN

The masterplan divides the site into focus areas, adaptable to different plots. Common functions are placed at the heart, embraced by two arms of classrooms. Learning spaces are organized into two zones: classrooms by the playground emphasize recreation’s role in learning, while those facing the orchard encourages hands-on education. The orchard, planted with native species, supports biodiversity and ecological learning.

Within the common spaces, a low brick Jaali wall serves both symbolism and utility. Its undulating form suggests flowing water and reveals the filtration system behind it, providing clean drinking water through integrated faucets. Made from local bricks, it is simple to construct and offers comfort and shade, where children can play, lean, or study, turning this infrastructure into a part of their daily life.

While the school can access existing utility networks, passive systems reduce dependency. Wastewater is treated via an enclosed Anaerobic Baffled Reactor and a free-standing vertical flow constructed wetland, creating a hygienic, low-maintenance solution, that also irrigates the orchard while educating students on water cycles. Rainwater harvesting collects runoff from the roof, filtering it through the aforementioned system using Biosand filters that removes bacteria and turbidity. The result is clean, safe water for the school with minimal maintenance yet community-scale impact.

Project Year : 2025

Competition : Nepal School Project

Results : Finalists

Roof trusses

Exploded Axonometric of Modules

Primary structure

Top windows

Wall cladding module

Wall panel module

Plinth

Raised floor

Foundations

MASTERPLAN

Emphasis Water as a Basic Need Renders

Circulations

Section and Construction Layers

Technological Details and Phases

1 Wall cladding module [Clay plaster, wood framework, cob filling, furring strips], Wall panel module [Osb panel, wood framework, wood bracing, straw insulation, clay plaster]

2 Pinth and raised Foundations [Dry stone construction, wood reinforcement, limestone mortar, metallic vertical rebars],

3 Roof [corrugated steel sheet, wood batten, roof panel module, wood framework, straw insulation, ceiling finishing panel], Roof trusses [assembled on-site]

4 Raised floor [Dry stone ventilated underfloor, gravel floor substructure, red oxide flooring]

*Designed for adaptation to local materials

NEW BEIC LIBRARY MILAN, ITALY

A Library from the Future

Milan’s new library, the Biblioteca Europea di Informazione e Cultura (BEIC, “European Library of Information and Culture”), will be a place of historical knowledge but also of new stories.

Our idea of a library is a flow of knowledge endlessly from past to the future where old knowledge is continously being stored and new information is being generated with the help of interactive spaces and technologies.

This is achieved with the help of a central ramp transitioning from traditional reading spaces to innovative reading areas with an unique architectural quality. The ramp also directs the user towards the centre of Milan culminating at the Panaromic view making the new BEIC library a symbolic building of the site and also Milan.

The ground floor of the library has a different spatial quality in contrast to the suspended library block in order to integrate the boundaries of the library with the immediate context by having a public sunken plaza and physical as well as visual connection to the park on the west.

The entire project has been carefully conceived following the requirements of the body as well as trying to follow sustainable protocols and LEED suggested technologies. BIM (Building Information Modeling tools such as Revit, Tekla, Synchro 4D have been utilised for the development of the library design.

Project Year : 2022-2023

Semester : 3 & 4

Studio : Architectural Design of Complex Constructions II & Thesis

SITE BACKGROUND

Evolution and Development of European Libraries through History

Architectural

Walk towards City Center

Site Context

Two

CONCEPT

Flow of Knowledge from the Past to Future

Project Development Strategies

Step 1: Dimension and Suspended Box

Definition of floor area and main entries.

Preserve GF for public.

Step 2: Public Zone and Sunken Plaza

Users are welcome to B1 to Entry/Auditorium/ 24hr study, through sunken plaza.

Public Spatial Character; Ground Floor

Step 3: The Public Zone and Ramp

Users are welcome to 2F the library directly through a semi-outdoor ramp.

THEENTRYZONE

Step 4: The Loop of Ramp

Continuous ramps create a loop within the cores, they are the link between form & function. They also create a central void.

SOUTH;ROAD&BUILDINGS

Step 5: The Split Floors

Split floors on half-level heights allow the ramps to connect the east and the west.

Split floors on the west end, leads the users to the top-east view of city center.

Typical Floor Organization Diagram PARK& METRO

MASTERPLAN

Escalator to 2F

Viewing Terrace Bar

24 Hour Book Return

Imaginarium

Bookshop Lobby

Sunken Plaza

ASRS 24HR Study

Auditorium

ASRS ASRS

2.5F

Perspective Views & Plans

FACADE DEVELOPMENT

Cladding as a Disguise; Bekleidung Parametric Facade Layers

West Reading Area - Split Floors

STRUCTURAL SCHEME

Explanation of Architectural Systems

Hat Frame Plate

Steel frame plate in grid of 3m*3m*3.5m, formed with HEM 700

Suspended Columns

Hollow circular steel columns, Suspended: Ø219.1mm 17.5mm thk.

Suspended Floors

Floor with the gird of 6m*9m.

Standard primary beam type: HEA 450

Standard secondary beam type: HEA 300

Cores

Reinforced concrete casting on-site. Shear walls 400mm thk.

RC Ground Floor

Reinforced concrete casting on-site.

Typical columns 400mm x 600mm;

Typical beams 400mm x 400mm.

Foundation

Foundation beams 800mm x 1000mm

Double wall system for basement.

Truss Unit Geometry

Hat Truss Plate

Steel Truss in grid of 3m*3m*3m, Standard Section HEB 300

Suspended Columns

Standard Suspended Column Type: Ø219.1mm th. 17.5mm

Suspended Beams and Floors

Standard Primary Beam Type: HEA 450

Standard Secondary Beam Type: HEA 300

Suspended Facade

Unit Width: 1500mm

Steel Supporting System Aluminium Panels and Glass Panels.

Tapered Cantilever Beams support the facade from each floor, out hanging from Grid A, Grid B, and Grid C.

THE ROYAL SKYLINE STOCKHOLM,

Tall Building in a Brownfield Redevelopment Project

SWEDEN

In general, city of Stockholm has a relatively compact urban form, with development concentrated along the city’s main public transport corridors. Among the policies to support Stockholm’s compact urban form is industrial zone redevelopment.

The Royal Seaport is one of the targeted 12 former industrial zones. From a brownfield zone containing oil depot, container port, and gasworks plants, the Royal Seaport area will be transformed by 2030 into a site of 10,000 homes and 30,000 workplaces, 600,000 m2 of commercial spaces, parks and green spaces complete with modern cruise ship terminal. Not only in close proximity to the city centre, geographically, the Royal Seaport possess all the strategic environmental and economic advantages for its location next to the Royal National City Park.

We propose the construction of vertical mixed-use skyscraper integrated with social services like theatre, water view piazzas, parks as well as commercial spaces for co-working and hotels in the site in order to speed-up the development progress as well as to attract more potential residents and companies to move into the site for living and working.

The skyscraper has been developed with careful considerations of Nordic architecture and their sustainablity protocols. Energy maximising has been the top priorirty and some examples of it can be seen in the parametric design, floor plans and building services employed.

Project Year : 2022

Semester : 2

Studio : Architectural Design of Complex Constructions I

PROJECT DEVELOPMENT

Functional Diagram and Process Diagram

Future Fabric

F.A.R

Urban Corridors

Context Axes

Connection to Seaport

Sun Analysis

Hostel rooms: 9 floors - Shared social space - Shower room

Buffer Zone: Mechanical

Second Zone: Coworking

For Office/Long-term Users: 9 floors - Reception/ Postal services - Meeting rooms, Calling rooms - Registered office - Makerspace, Seminar stairs

Buffer Zone: Garden

First Zone: Coworking Rooftop Restaurant

Public users: 5 Floors

Buffer Zone: Library Outdoor Courtyard Podium Cinema Canopy Interchangeable

Podium: Roof passage

Third Zone: Short Stay *Buffer Zones: These spaces come between the two functions of below and above and work as a joint between them.

TOWER AND PODIUM DESIGN

Spatial Character of Tower and Podium Grasshopper Facade Composition

Exploded Axonometric Plans of Tower

PODIUM

RESTAURANT HOSTEL

Ground Floor Podium Plan

Axonometric Plans of Podium

STRUCTURAL SCHEME

Structural and Rooftop Behaviour

Rooftop Sectional Perspective

ROOF TRUSS GLU-LAM TRUSS

Roof Truss

Slab CLT

STEEL CLT

Steel Primary and Secondary Beams

Exploded Structural Diagram

CORE CONCRETE

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY BEAMS TOWER BUILDING

Concrete Core

Parametric Facade Tower

PARAMETRIC FACADE

+162.00

+157.50

PODIUM

Model Photograph

AUDITORIUM EXTENSION MILAN, ITALY

Design Proposal for ICS Alda Merini Music School

This project was designed as an extension project for a music school in Milano, Italy.

It caters to a group of 150 people and the design focus was to integrate the circulation and space of the new auditorium in the existing campus with sustainable alternatives such as using esparto grass fibres for accoustic insulation as well as using a combination of wood and steel for construction.

The development of the form is based on two intersecting functional solids distinguised by the usage of different cladding materials and a cantilever corridor framing it to create a visual aesthetic. The protuding auditorium solid is simple yet it creates a strong impact.

Main goal of this studio was to focus on technological design giving importance to thermal insulation and lightweight sustainable construction methods. We devised a dry wall system with the insulation wrapped around and trying to avoid any thermal bridging.

Project Year : 2021

Semester : 1

Studio : Sustainable Construction Studio

Section and Construction Layers

Technological Details and Materials

LUXURY RESIDENCES INDIA

Residential Design, Execution and Interiors

This project called for the design of a six bedroom residence in a small city located in Karnataka. It is forseen to be an smart automated home which includes lavish amenities like swimming pool, spa room, jacuzzi, gym, bar and a 50 capacity party hall.

Circulation and landscape is an important feature of this project. Spaces such as the servant’s quarters, driver’s room and guest bedrooms are restricted to the basement and ground floor.

Spacious verandas and double-height spaces provide ample quality lighting and opens up the interior spaces.

Facade renders, plans of this project and interior designs of similiar typo projects have been showcased.

Role : Project Architect

Project Year : 2019 - 2022

Site Area : 535 sqm

Project Responsibilities :

- Design Development and Conceptual Sketches

- 3D Modelling and Presentation drawings

- Site Execution

- Detail design of Main Entrance Staircase, Porch, Service Staircase, Verandah and Swimming pool

- Interior design conceptualising, Presentation and Execution