Portfolio
Urban Designer | Architect
Master in City Design’23
University of Illinois at Chicago
Urban Designer | Architect
Master in City Design’23
University of Illinois at Chicago
Atlanta, GA 30318 | 312.838.6355 | vats.punya@gmail.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/punya-vats-4a3387110/
Portfolio
https://issuu.com/vats.punya/docs/punya_vats_portfolio_v3
As a creative architect and designer, my expertise in conceptual design thinking spans across urbanism, planning, and sustainability. I have a proven experience of developing innovative solutions for various fundamental architecture and design projects. As a graduate of the Master’s in City Design program at UIC, my aim is to expand and diversify my knowledge, enabling me to create sustainable designs that foster the betterment of urban communities.
City of Atlanta, Department of City Planning
October 2023 - Present
Assisted in the process of Atlanta’s Rezoning ‘Zoning 2.0’ design and regulation of public spaces to ensure proper exisitng and future land use and urban development within the new and improved zoning guidelines.
Contributed to the development and implementation of ‘Plan_A’, the City’s Comprehensive Development Plan, by conducting community engagement, and ensuring alignment with long-term zoning, land use, and urban development goals.
Collaborated with internal and external collaborators to provide exceptional customer service, ensuring the efficient processing of project applications, reviews, enforcement actions, and open record requests.
Conducted administrative, analytical, and technical tasks related to Atlanta’s Quality-of-Life Districts and helped in it’s implementation, and monitoring of the City’s land use and zoning programs and policies.
Ensured timely and accurate responses to inquiries and maintained consistent adherence to the City’s zoning regulations to streamline the permitting process particularly for the Special Administrative Permits for the Office of Zoning and Development.
Supported the successful implementation of land development and permitting procedures in compliance with established zoning districts, including height, size, and density regulations, and parking facility requirements.
Bezel Design and Communications Pvt. Ltd.
Urban Planner II Architect
June 2018 - December 2021 Atlanta, Georgia Gurgaon, India
Managed and contributed to 15+ architectural projects across various sectors, including residential, commercial, and industrial, with the ability to handle multiple projects simultaneously.
Demonstrated effective leadership skills by overseeing large, multi-disciplinary teams of 15 to 50 members, depending on project scale.
Actively engaged in materials research, project specification coordination, on-site supervision, and thorough examination of construction documents for project execution.
Proficiently created and presented captivating 3-D visual presentations to clients, featuring digital renderings and models to enhance project communication and client engagement.
Collaborated with design teams and principals to coordinate all project phases, both independently and collaboratively, to ensure the successful completion of various project tasks.
Played a significant role in the design development of residential and commercial architecture and interior design projects from concept to the final stages.
Developed expertise in 3D modeling software, furniture design, project management, and strong communication and collaboration skills, while also contributing to the coordination of materials and products in multi-disciplinary design teams.
Masters in City Design
College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs
University of Illinois at Chicago.
Bachelors in Architecture
Amity School of Architecture and Planning
Amity University, Gurgaon, India
2014-2019 2022-2023
1. Project Override
Rights of Nature and Designigng for Climate Adaptation for Chicago
2. Madison Street, Oak Park
A Design Framework for Madison Street in Oak Park
Corridor Plan for 35th street with focus on community engagement and feedback.
4.Network Analysis Of Hospitals In Cook County
Network analysis project for the study of geographic access to healthcare using GIS 5. Pipe House
Living in a Pipe - Redefined
Location: Chicago, IL
Instructor: Dr. Sevin Yildiz & Prof. Phillip Enquist Spring 2023
Concept
For the most part of history, urban planning and design professions took passive positions where nature has been a backdrop or a receiving canvas for ideas. This studio departs from an understanding that, designers and planners should form reflexivity in their thinking and practice when it comes to natural systems that make up our cities and regions. At the cusp of larger climatic shifts, we need to question conventional land use systems and typologies that we employ. This Project Override encapsulates these ideas for the ‘Island’ created by the Chicago and Little Calumet River at the south side of Chicago to prioritize nature and natural systems in this region.
http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1759.html
The legacy of the Great Lakes Region is one of the ecological abundance which has been challenged and the Chicago region to its legacy of ecological abundance through design, planning, and governance. This to support the grassroots advocacy already occurring throughout the region to create positive thriving communities can coexist and support one another on a path to resilience.
and disrupted by industrial primariness. The fragmented natural systems need to be restitched to restore This area has been disproportionately affected by industrial pollution and deserves top down stewardship thriving environments for not only human communities, but natural communities as well. In this way, these
Grid Disruptors
Natural and built systems that disrupts the city grid.
Eco-Remnants
Natural areas that are cut off from their ecological point of origin but retain similar characteristics.
Dynamo-scapes
Built and natural systems in proximity to each other which influence one another and trigger a ripple effect.
Engineered Landscapes
Where natural systems have been engineered for changed functionality.
Natural Spine
Protected ecological hotspots that should be retained to connect to other natural areas and integrate into the built environment.
Shifting Greys
Utility and industrial corridors shaping nearby land uses.
The tools that we came up with consisted of creating a connected and compact community in this region by re-naturalising waterways, remediating brownfields, re-wilding of spaces known to be frequented by wildlife and trying to create a change in land use as well.
PedestrianBridgeRailway IncreasedAccess toWaterways
Improving Waterways
Restoring Wetlands
1.28 million people living in the ‘C’ impacted by Chicago’s New Nature of new green space across the Green Roof Network 14,000+ acres
Building Green Industries
Connecting Trails
Increasing Community Access
of remediated and rewilded land 12,500+ acres of newly connected ecological corridors 2,000 miles
Location: Chicago, IL
Instructor: Prof. Sanjeev Vidyarthi & Prof. Vinayak Bharne Fall 2022
Oak Park is a community that prides itself on a legacy of rich architectural heritage, progressive housing policy, and active community engagement. Madison, however, was originally developed as an auto-dealership service and repairs corridor in the early 1900s, and was known as “Motor Row” with auto dealerships, repairs and service facilities, and gas stations. Though Oak Park overall is known for its historic architecture and the fact it was home to Frank Llyod Wright, Madison in Oak Park sepcifically lacks this historic character, and the only historical landmark on Madison today is the Village Town Hall itself.
Corridor Plan for 35th street in Mckinley Park with focus on community engagement and feedback.
Location: Chicago, IL
Instructor: Prof. April Jackson Summer 2023
35th Street is a crucial thoroughfare in McKinley Park, connecting the neighborhood with surrounding communities in southwest Chicago and cutting across Bubbly Creek on the eastern boundary. Over the years, it has seen significant changes, yet remains an integral part of the community’s identity and resilience. To create a vibrant and community-focused vision for 35th Street, a design concept was co-conceived, aiming to make it the “Neighborhood Main Street.” The plan emphasizes pedestrian and cyclist accessibility, expands dining and shopping options, and provides comfortable outdoor spaces for community gatherings. The corridor plan outlines the planning process, community engagement, design concepts, and implementation recommendations, celebrating cultural diversity and fostering inclusivity while leveraging existing assets.
Community
We received 240 our engagement helped us understand experiences in McKinley Street improvement purposefully designed be straightforward, and fun, with the engaging people languages, and possessing a general understanding work.
240 responses across engagement activities, which understand residents’ lived McKinley Park and 35th improvement priorities. We designed our activities to straightforward, quick, interesting, the overarching goal of people of all ages, abilities, possessing no more than understanding of planning
The design concept conceptualizes 35th Street as McKinley Park’s bustling street with concentrations of integrates elements of art-activated alleyways, a linear park, extended sidewalks, community spaces, pedestrian porary play areas, space for night markets and performance areas that weave the community together. community well-being on 35th Street and within the whole of Mckinley Park.
activity at certain intersections from Archer to Ashland. Based on the community feedback, the concept pedestrian crossings, and food trucks. Some other notable additions include enhanced tree cover, temtogether. These strategic planning and design measures shall help advance small business development and
Network analysis project for the study of geographic access to healthcare using
Location: Chicago, IL
Instructor: Prof. Anton Rozhkov
Spring 2023
The aim of this report is to utilize network analysis for determining the optimal path for traveling from one destination to another by considering factors such as road length, speed, and time travel. Traditionally, network analysis in Geographic Information System (GIS) is used to estimate travel costs and assess the accessibility of healthcare services. The primary objective of routing analysis is to discover networks, map them, perform real-time monitoring, and diagnose routing issues.
The network-based analysis was done using ArcGIS Network Analyst tool. Each line segment was given a travel time value determined by the line segment’s length that was converted into Miles and expected travel speed before the vector roadways database was converted to a network data format. The network data format conversion provided travel time as the cost value.
The Route Analysis feature helped in comparing time data for each line segment from different hospitals to one particular location (in this case - UIC) which was then compared to Google Maps time data to analyse our existing and proposed speeds.
Northwest Community Time Network
Google Maps
Existing Speeds
Proposed Speeds
Saint James Hospital Time Network
Google Maps
Existing Speeds
Proposed Speeds
Palos Primary Time Network
Google Maps
Existing Speeds Proposed Speeds
Rush Medical Time Network
Google Maps
Existing Speeds
Proposed Speeds
Evanston Hospital Time Network
Google Maps
Existing Speeds
Proposed Speeds Difference
A thorough and accurate description of both road location (length) and travel speed is crucial for network-based for the study included different classes of roads in the Cook County region. The cost of movement can surface characteristics help determine realistic travel speeds, speed restrictions specify the top permitted area’s land use, or the rate of travel. Two different speed limits were then added, one the ‘Existing’ speeds referring to the 5 network datasets in the provided report.
After the network was developed, we used the “Service Area” option to create polygons with 3-, 5- and 7-minute the state allowed for the identification of underserved areas, which is effectively finding the opposite of
Exisitng Speeds
3 Minutes
5 Minutes 7 Minutes Hospital Locations
network-based techniques of estimating travel time between places (impedance). The road data considered can be thought of as travel time, which is characterized as a function of both distance and speed. While permitted speed. The actual speed limits on Cook County roads are determined by the type of route, the local speeds set according to the Illinois Speed Limit Law and the ‘Proposed’ speed limit which were considered by 7-minute travel times for each hospital location. Clipping the service area polygons from a base map of the state’s 3, 5, 7-minute journey zones.
Proposed Speeds
3 Minutes
5 Minutes
7 Minutes Hospital Locations
The maps below show the area and the number of people that lack access to hospitals in Cook County which shows a concentration of hospitals in the Chicagoland region whereas the neighborhoods further north and south show a dearth of connectivity to these hospitals. Although, there is a denser population living in the Chicagoland region, these maps show that more infrastructure is needed to either construct more hospitals or provide better connectivity to the existing ones for the population that lives in the northern and southern neighborhoods of Cook County.
Service Area
Tracts with Access
Tracts without Access
The initial decision to clip roads that fall outside the Cook County border caused two of the hospitals to not create a proper service area polygon which are located at the edge of Cook County and people ‘technically’ have to leave the county to access them.
Location: Gurgaon, India
Developer: Bezel Design
Year: 2021
The tiny Pipe House is a cosy, and a comfortable living space providing a unique living experience in your home away from home, or even in your own garden. This funky and portable pipe house is constructed using a non-corrosive, insulated GI sheet framed structure and is 16 feet by 10 feet in diameter. With quick installation at site and plug & play feature of connecting the water and electric supplies, the pipe house is the perfect little getaway for a few days for friends and family alike.
vats.punya@gmail.com pvats2@uic.edu +1