Highland Park is a neighborhood that has historically been overlooked by the political system. Consequently, the economic prospects for a majority of the residents in the area have been bleak. The average income of Highland Park residents is USD $15,400, which is well below the city poverty income line. Considering this, the community members have been marginalized from their participation in local institutional decision making and have had complex relationships with institutions. Considering this, the community members have been marginalized from their participation in local institutional decision making and have had complex relationships with institutions. True equity is about inclusivity across the board, including in decision making.
Our project aims to be an example of a responsible, equity-based approach that engages empowers marginalized groups to have a say in the designs and decisions that affect their lives. At a higher level, this project is about enabling democratic participation such that everyone can participate in decisions that can influence their future, and thereby, slowly fight against existing systemic oppression. Instead of relying on “universal” cookie-cutter solutions in community-based architectural design processes, we have been exploring participatory design methods as a way of broadening participation and building community capacity. We aim to identify a program and reuse this aging infrastructure to create a resource that honors the character and the fabric of the Highland Park community. Our goal is to help create social enterprises, which help in maximizing the social, financial, and environmental well-being of its residents.
Awards + Recognitions
■ 2020 PDC Conference, Colombia, Beyond Academia Category
The 16th Biennial Participatory Design Conference (PDC) is going to take place in Manizales, Colombia. This format invites contributions from practitioners active in the community, commercial, government, and not-for-profit spaces who are exploring participatory frameworks in their work. The intent is to foster and celebrate lively exchanges regarding emerging questions about the politics and practices of participation between those working in different learning, innovation, and activist spaces locally and internationally. In the conference, Beyond Academia presentations will take the form of short, lightning talks and/or panel/roundtable discussions.
Click here to read the full paper.
■ Speaker at the Architecture Exchange East Conference 2019, Nov 6-8, 2019:
I was invited to participate as a speaker to present Re-Imagining Benefield at the Arch Exchange East Conference 2019 in November 2019. Architecture Exchange East conference is mid-Atlantic’s largest annual educational event and expo with more than 60 educational sessions, behind-the-scenes architectural tours, engaging special events, and cutting-edge vendors.
■ AIA Virginia Excellence in contextual Design, 2019:
The awards for contextual design are chosen based on outstanding architecture that perceptibly reflects the history, culture, and physical environment of the place in which it stands, and that, in turn, contributes to the function, beauty, and meaning of its larger context.
Uniting Mumbai’s past & future
To the people of Mumbai, the word Koli is synonymous with the indigenous fisher folk of the island city. The Kolis have a treasure trove of practices, folk music and dance that is continuously disappearing between newer generations.
The life of the Kolis revolves around the sea, and their entire livelihoods depend on it. A small fisher village, Worli Koliwada, stretches along the Worli coastline. Colorful makeshift homes, a web of imprinted patterns, and otis reserved for the weaving and repairing of fishing nets distinguish the spirited neighborhood.
Of course, there is another picture that is often painted of Worli Koliwada – a juxtaposition of it and the high-rise luxury apartment buildings towering in the background. The contrast between the rich and poor is unmistakable, producing a conflicting environment between the two groups.
Structured Symbiosis aims to provide an inclusive approach to mixed-use housing to help defy the social segregation that exists between Worli Koliwada and the more affluent neighborhood around it.
The major goal of the project is to celebrate and to progress the existing Koli culture and its historical significance, through a hierarchy of open spaces and spatial organization. Ultimately, the relationship between the Kolis and Non-Kolis is strengthened through design strategies that are informed by and rooted in the community context and history. This STRUCTURED SYMBIOSIS is developed through community-oriented spaces and organic layouts with areas of pause, encouraging social interaction. Tight-knit streets, vibrant colors and a strategically programmed landscape create a living environment bringing the Kolis and Non-Kolis together.
Glossary of Terms
Koli – an aboriginal fishing community of Mumbai
Non – Kolis – Mumbaikars
Koliwada – home of the fisher community
Worli Koliwada – an urban fishing village in Mumbai
Oti – verandah
Awards + Recognitions:
■ Alice Lehmen Sunday Prize, Presentation and Technology Category, Honor Award, 2019
Unbuilt Architecture and Design Awards program are displays of personal inquiry and not solutions to specific programs driven by a client’s needs. By recognizing remarkable achievements in architecture, the design community highlights exemplary projects that serve as inspiration for practitioners. Equally important, these awards elevate the potential for the positive impact that architecture has on quality of life for everyone.
■ 2018 AIA Emerging Professionals Exhibit
Each year AIA selects 15-16 projects from all around the United States. The theme for 2018 was “POWER OF DESIGN”. Projects that best aligned with this theme were selected to be featured on the AIA website. The recognition holds national significance with a feature on the AIA website accessible to all.
■ 2018 Global A+D Rethinking the Future - Winner
The Global Architecture and Design Awards acknowledges and honors the Architects & Designers for their outstanding work in the wide array of Architecture & Design.
Bangladesh’s Buriganga River in South Asia flows through the country’s capital of Dhaka, home to more than 20 million people. Like many other forms of major waterways, the Buriganga River has always been a significant force around which the Dhaka community organizes. However, the Buriganga River is highly polluted from gallons of heavy metals and untreated chemical waste being dumped into it each day, meaning the river and surrounding ecosystem are dying. This pollution issue promotes the uncontrolled growth of the water hyacinth, which in turn obstructs and reduces the river’s flow. The Buriganga River is starved of oxygen and has decimated all fisheries and every other form of marine life; yet many citizens continue to fish, bathe, play, and wash their clothes in the contaminated river.
In Dhaka and the surrounding region, brick making is one of the most prominent industries, producing 3.5 billion bricks annually and employing a half million people; but it is also one of Dhaka’s biggest polluters to the river flow. To reverse the Buriganga’s toxic course, we propose a cleaner, alternative future for the river ecosystem, the local economy, and its people. DREDGE is a performative apparatus that captures the undesirable waste from the river which can be used for brick making, serving as the foundation for programmatic layers atop, and creating new landscapes for community occupation. DREDGE will operate in two interconnected modes: as an industrial machine that sustainably redesigns the regional brickmaking business; and a civic framework that creates new environments for community members to thrive. The waste-to-energy plant sits on top of the base structure, providing employment opportunities for workers during the wet season, as well as a housing program that provides opportunities for migrant workers and Dhakaites to inhabit a new mode of urban expansion.
Awards + Recognitions
■ Project published on the HKS website.
■ Boston Society of Architects Unbuilt Architecture + Design Award, Highest Honor 2019
Unbuilt Architecture and Design Awards program are displays of personal inquiry and not solutions to specific programs driven by a client’s needs. By recognizing remarkable achievements in architecture, the design community highlights exemplary projects that serve as inspiration for practitioners. Equally important, these awards elevate the potential for the positive impact that architecture has on quality of life for everyone.
■ 2019 Global A+D Rethinking the Future - Winner
The Global Architecture and Design Awards acknowledges and honor the Architects & Designers for their outstanding work in the wide array of Architecture & Design.
■ HKS Inc. Firmwide Design Fellow, March 2019
I was selected to be one of the nine individuals firmwide to participate in the annual HKS firmwide design fellowship.
■ Speaker at the Architecture Exchange East Conference 2019, Nov 6-8, 2019:
I was invited to participate as a speaker to present Re-Imagining Benefield at the Arch Exchange East Conference 2019 in November 2019. Architecture Exchange East conference is mid-Atlantic’s largest annual educational event and expo with more than 60 educational sessions, behind-the-scenes architectural tours, engaging special events, and cutting-edge vendors.
■ Project published on World Architecture News Website.
Photograph Credits:
Chautard, A. (2018, June 13). Safe Water for All [Photograph]. Dhaka, Bangladesh
UZ ZAMAN, M. (2015, March 19). A Bangladeshi woman collects contaminated water to be used on produce at a vegetable market from the polluted Buriganga in Dhaka [Photograph]. The Peninsula, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Hossain Chowdhury, Z. (n.d.). BRICK BY BRICK: THE BANGLADESHI FACTORY WORKERS WHO DO ALL THE HEAVY LIFTING [Photograph]. Barcroft Media, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
This project was designed as a small component of the proposed live-work-sell district in Blacksburg, Virginia. It is designed to encourage artists to come live, practice/work and exhibit their work all under the same roof.
The aim is to create an experiential monument by reclaiming local values to the place and it people by utilizing “learning” as a driver for community engagement and ecological awareness.
Our vision was crafted by the history of the site, which was once a natural wetland. True environmental justice is letting the land be what it wants to be. Our primary goal is to provide an environment that fosters the relationship between man and nature through programmatic interventions like living classrooms, non-profit hub, community kitchens, urban gardens, etc.
We hope that these interventions will promote ecological awareness and help create a place for all.
The studio was conducted in conjunction with: the Commonwealth Consortium on Design and Health; the Center for Design Research; the Center for High-Performance Environments, MASS Design Studio with graduate, undergraduate architecture students working in collaboration with landscape architecture students from the School of Architecture + Design at Virginia Tech. The integrated and multidisciplinary studio project aim was to develop a client-specific environmental education center for the Prince William County Eco Park, VA. Phase 1 of the project was completed during the Fall 2015 semester, studio-produced three final schemes - Geode was one of them.
The “Eco-Park Learning Center” is a structure that will provide intensive "hands-on" learning opportunities to public schools, ranging from kindergarten to 12th grade. It will also serve as a gathering space where lectures, seminars, and other community events can be held (Virginia Tech Faculty and Students Partner with Prince William County to Transform Landfill into Eco-Park. Retrieved from: https://archdesign.caus.vt.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Eco-Park-CDRNewsArticle_v1_.pdf).
We worked with members of the Community Design Assistance Center to reimagine an existing building on the site of the Russell County Fair, which welcomes tens of thousands of visitors every fall. With an eye to better serve the region and create a more welcoming experience, we worked with local stakeholders to develop renovation and expansion plans centered on the existing Commercial Building. The scheme addresses performance and security issues, improves the surrounding landscape with new shade trees, and features a small museum/shop, new meeting spaces, inviting porches, and improved spaces for staff. The Russell County Fair Association is using the designs to pursue further economic development funding and opportunities. The project was supported by a grant from the U.S. Forest Service.
The proposed design encompasses 7846 SF that is divided into three distinct spatial zones: the entrance block at the west end, the central event space, and a new administrative wing at the east end. The zones are separated by open-air covered corridors that allow for views from both sides of the surrounding picturesque landscape. A new roof overhang extends around the entire building as a wraparound covered porch and helps to unify the parts of the building. The porch also provides spaces for outdoor vendors and shaded bench seating for visitors. The metal walls will be upgraded with insulation to improve comfort and security and dormer windows have been added to the roof for increased natural light and ventilation in the central event space.
Sanskriti Kendra | Center for dying/alive arts and crafts of Uttarakhand
Undergraduate Thesis
Uttarakhand, primarily a new state in India, has a lot to offer more than just its ethereal beauty. The art and culture of Uttarakhand remain unexplored and undiscovered, it is also invariably less known amongst the people of the plains and the rest of the country. What Uttarakhand needs today is a cultural center where public, artists, scholars come under one roof learn from each other, perform and appreciate the craft. A place for the people to celebrate, spread awareness about Uttarakhand’s already lost cultural heritage, and make an effort to revive it. Setting up a “Sanskriti Kendra” is a small effort in that direction.
Awards + Recognitions:
■ Best Academic Project, 1st runner-up
Issuer: Economic Times, ET Edge (Times of India)
Excellence in student architecture – Best academic project securing 2nd place all India at the Architecture and Design Summit Awards 2014 held at New Delhi for my undergraduate design dissertation titled “Sanskriti Kendra, Uttarakhand”.
Publication: http://www.k2india.com/press/vogue-india-july-2014-1.pdf
■ Jury Commendation
Issuer: NDTV Design & Architecture Awards
Jury Commendation for my undergraduate design dissertation titled Sanskriti Kendra – Center for Revival and preservation of the dying/alive arts and crafts for the state of Uttarakhand.
Publication: https://sites.ndtv.com/daawards/awards-2014-student-award-winners/
