Computation | Spatial Data | Architecture
VAIBHAV JAIN
Designer | Story-teller
MEMENTO
Real-time Urban Experiences
Project advisor_Juan Francisco Saldarriaga
Concept
MEMENTO is a real-time platform that captures urban experiences happening across the city, aiming to prevent people from drifting into oblivion (the state of being unaware or unconscious of what is happening) and instead transforming those moments into engaging odysseys (a long and eventful or adventurous journey or experience). It empowers users to discover, capture, and engage with the mementos around them during their commutes, turning everyday journeys into moments of exploration, creation, and interaction. MEMENTO serves as an interaction, intersection, and interplay between the city, its people, and their experiences — a platform: By the people and the city, For the people and the city, Of the people and the city.
Methods and Tools
The MEMENTO web app is built using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, with Firebase as the backend for real-time data storage and authentication. The map interface is powered by Mapbox for live visualization of user-generated content. Users can create, store, and explore mementos—short multimedia entries capturing urban experiences. The platform supports media uploads, geolocation tagging, timestamping, and filtering by categories and tags. The UI includes multiple tabs for capturing, exploring, and archiving mementos. Data is structured to support dynamic updates, user customization, and public dataset integration, enabling a seamless, exploratory journey across the city's emotional and spatial fabric.
ML in MEMENTO
ML Pipeline for Automated Urban Experience Classification
Project advisor_Jonathan E. Stiles
Concept
The Machine Learning pipeline in MEMENTO automates classification and tagging of public urban content from sources like Secret NYC, Reddit, and more. It uses three models—Category Classification, Tag Prediction, and Duration Estimation—trained with supervised learning. Logistic Regression and Random Forests predict categories and multiple tags, while Decision Trees estimate memento durations. This pipeline transforms raw, unstructured data into structured, semantically rich mementos aligned with MEMENTO’s taxonomy. Automating this process ensures greater consistency, reduces manual effort, and supports scalable growth. It bridges urban storytelling and AI, enriching the user experience by embedding contextual intelligence directly into the platform’s curated dataset.
Methods and Tools
This project builds a full ML pipeline for urban content classification using Python-based tools like BeautifulSoup, Selenium, and Scikit-learn. After scraping data, it undergoes preprocessing: text cleaning, feature extraction, and label encoding. Three supervised models are trained—Logistic Regression for categories, Random Forest for multi-label tags, and Decision Tree for estimating duration—using annotated training data. Models are evaluated via cross-validation and updated automatically through cloud-based retraining schedules. API endpoints integrate predictions into the live web app. This structured pipeline not only ensures high-quality metadata tagging but also streamlines the inclusion of public mementos into MEMENTO’s evolving experience ecosystem.
Studio In Flux
How spatial configurations influence movement within the Columbia GSAPP Studio.
Project advisor_William Martin
Collaborators_Manas Bhatia
Concept
Studio-In-Flux investigates how spatial configurations impact movement and interaction within the Columbia GSAPP Studio. Through agent-based simulations, the project maps the studio as a dynamic digital environment, tracking how users navigate desks, chairs, and paths. It reveals hidden circulation patterns, behavior trends, and spatial inefficiencies to reimagine collaborative workspaces. Real-time simulations generate heatmaps and performance metrics, helping evaluate layout effectiveness. By integrating behavioral insights and spatial AI, the project proposes data-informed spatial interventions that enhance interaction, reduce bottlenecks, and improve flow. Studio-In-Flux makes the invisible legibility of space visible, creating a framework for more responsive, engaging design environments.
Methods and Tools
Agent-based modeling software was used to simulate real-time movement within the studio, representing students, faculty, and staff as dynamic agents. Behavioral parameters—like interaction frequency and movement flow—were informed by onsite observations. The simulation engine generated circulation heatmaps and layout efficiency metrics. Spatial analysis tools identified patterns and bottlenecks, enabling iterative refinements to optimize desk and path layouts. The simulation’s results were validated through comparison with real-world studio use. Performance indicators included interaction density, circulation smoothness, and space utilization. This computational approach provided actionable insights for designing flexible, efficient, and socially supportive academic studio spaces.
The Urban Fringe
Spatial Thresholds Between Public Sidewalk Life and Private Eating Enterprises
Project advisor_Violet Whitney, William Martin, Mario Giampieri, Luc Wilson and Meli Harvey
Concept
The Urban Fringe explores the delicate spatial boundary between public sidewalks and private dining spaces in urban environments. Through close observation and mapping, the project reveals how restaurant seating encroaches into public space, shaping pedestrian behavior, access, and social interaction. This threshold, often overlooked, becomes a stage for informal urban life—where city dwellers negotiate visibility, proximity, and comfort. By documenting how physical and social boundaries blur, the project advocates for thoughtful design interventions that support both economic vitality and public vibrancy. It reframes the sidewalk not just as passage, but as a shared space for community interaction and urban expression.
Methods and Tools
The project employed field observation and photographic surveys to document spatial configurations between sidewalks and restaurant seating. Spatial mapping captured boundaries, furniture placement, and pedestrian flow patterns. Environmental analysis recorded microclimate factors like shade, sunlight, and exposure. Data visualization techniques illustrated the overlapping claims of public and private zones. Urban surveys and interviews with pedestrians and business owners uncovered lived experiences and frictions in shared space. These insights informed speculative design strategies for balancing commercial activity with public life—redefining the edge between movement and pause, commerce and commons. The methods blend qualitative and quantitative research to unpack urban sidewalk ecologies.
BENTO
Next-Gen Retail Store Management Platform
Project advisor_Danil Nagy
Collaborators_Chien-Ta (Genda) Lin, Yilin Zheng, Yuxi (Sissie) Dai And Zhiqing (Catherine) Ye
Concept
BENTO is a next-generation platform that bridges spatial design and retail management using data-driven insights. By analyzing customer movement, product interaction, and sales data, it creates adaptive layouts that optimize space utilization and improve shopper experience. The platform leverages algorithmic geometry and real-time NYC Open Data to generate context-specific store arrangements. At its core is an Adjacency Layout Generator powered by computational tools like Rhino and Grasshopper. BENTO transforms static stores into dynamic systems that respond to behavioral patterns, offering layout strategies tailored to each retail setting. It delivers intuitive, high-impact environments that enhance both efficiency and engagement.
Methods and Tools
The BENTO system was developed using Rhino and Grasshopper for parametric layout generation. A custom adjacency generator produced spatial configurations based on product categories, flow constraints, and context. NYC Open Data APIs were integrated to adapt layouts to urban conditions. Customer movement data and sales records informed spatial analytics, identifying hotspots and inefficiencies. Iterative simulations generated layout variations, evaluated through metrics like visibility, circulation, and product accessibility. Machine learning refined placement strategies using past performance. This integrated approach allowed BENTO to deliver intelligent, data-responsive retail layouts grounded in both design logic and operational performance.
Urban Computing
Exploratory Research on Data Driven Urban Computational Design
Project advisor_Luc Wilson, Meli Harvey
Concept
Building upon the Urban Fringe project, Sidewalk Reclamation delves deeper into the spatial dynamics of sidewalk encroachment, focusing on radiation exposure and claustrophobic zones. By analyzing how environmental factors impact pedestrian experiences, the project identifies key areas where natural interventions, such as green buffers and shade structures, can mitigate heat and enhance walkability. Leveraging computational modeling, the project examines radiation patterns, sunlight distribution, and spatial compression across sidewalk zones. Data-driven simulations inform targeted design solutions, integrating natural elements to not only reduce heat exposure but also create more welcoming and accessible public pathways.
Methods and Tools
Urban Computing utilized computational modeling platforms to simulate environmental conditions and spatial dynamics along urban sidewalks. Radiation analysis tools were used to map sunlight exposure and identify heat-prone areas. Data-driven design methods integrated GIS datasets and pedestrian movement patterns to inform intervention strategies. Environmental simulation software tested the impact of proposed green infrastructure, such as shade trees and buffer zones, on microclimate and walkability. The workflow included iterative scenario modeling, performance evaluation, and visualization of spatial data. The process enabled evidence-based recommendations for improving pedestrian comfort, reducing heat, and enhancing the ecological quality of public pathways.
Hue Knew
Interactive Film Recognition Game
Project advisor_Jia Zhang
Collaborators_Hao Lee and Julia Kwon
Concept
Hue Knew is an interactive film recognition quiz that invites players to identify movies based on blurred visuals, including stills and posters. It challenges users to guess titles, genres, and release years, turning abstraction into insight. The game is powered by the TMDB API, offering a dynamic and constantly refreshed library of cinematic content. Beyond gameplay, Hue Knew features a performance dashboard that visualizes player accuracy, trends by genre, and recognition strengths. This transforms a simple quiz into an engaging cinematic exploration tool—blending entertainment, film literacy, and data analytics to uncover how we recognize and remember visual storytelling.
Methods and Tools
The quiz was built using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, with D3.js and Chart.js enabling real-time data visualization. The TMDB API provides up-to-date film assets like posters, release dates, and genres. Custom image processing creates blurred media for gameplay. The system tracks individual player performance, analyzing correct and incorrect responses across various dimensions. A responsive user interface ensures mobile compatibility, while performance metrics populate an interactive dashboard that visualizes user analytics. Data is used to adjust difficulty levels and provide genre-based learning insights. Hue Knew merges game mechanics with user data to enhance engagement and cinematic understanding.
Oblivian to Odyssey
Understanding the disconnection between people and their urban surroundings
Project advisor_Laura Kurgan and Snoweria Zhang
Concept
This research explores the growing disconnection between people and their urban environments, driven by gaze detachment, reduced interaction, and repetitive commuting patterns. Through mapping these behaviors in “Oblivion,” the project reveals how everyday journeys have become passive and disengaged. In contrast, “Odyssey” proposes a speculative reimagination of commutes as immersive explorations. By blending AI-driven personalization with spatial computing, it encourages users to engage more deeply with their surroundings. Streets become interactive landscapes—alive with curiosity, memory, and emotion—transforming routine travel into meaningful discovery. Oblivian to Odyssey invites a shift from unaware drifting to intentional, sensory-driven urban experiences.
Methods and Tools
The study combined behavioral research and computational methods to analyze urban disengagement. Gaze-tracking devices recorded visual focus during commutes, while mobile apps gathered spatial and interaction data. Prototype development involved AR-based experiences that layered digital prompts across cityscapes. Spatial computing tools enabled contextual responses based on user movement and environment. User testing was conducted with diverse commuters to capture feedback on engagement, clarity, and interaction depth. Insights from these sessions refined design decisions and interaction strategies. This iterative approach, grounded in real-time data and user behavior, supported the creation of an adaptive, responsive commuting experience.
Gaze Tracker
Mapping and Shaping Attention during OBLIVIAN
Project advisor_Dan Taeyoung
Concept
Gaze Tracker addresses screen-induced disengagement during commutes by mapping visual attention across a 3x3 grid. By tracking head position and time spent in each gaze zone, it reveals unconscious habits like persistent downward gazing. The system provides real-time nudges to shift attention outward, reframing the commute as an opportunity for urban engagement. Instead of letting attention drift, Gaze Tracker invites users to reconnect with their surroundings. It transforms passive routines into active awareness, emphasizing that attention is both a trainable habit and a tool for urban discovery—encouraging users to look up, observe, and experience the city intentionally.
Methods and Tools
Gaze Tracker uses computer vision to detect head position and gaze direction via mobile cameras. A 3x3 visual grid categorizes focus zones in real time, while optimized algorithms ensure smooth mobile performance. Notifications gently prompt users to redirect gaze when prolonged downward focus is detected. The app logs attention data, providing users with feedback on their visual habits. Behavioral analytics track long-term patterns, encouraging awareness shifts over time. All components are designed for minimal intrusiveness and energy use, combining spatial sensing with meaningful interaction. The result is a mobile system that subtly reshapes how users engage with the city around them.
Familial Housing
Scrutinization of the FAMILIAL sensitivity in Mumbai
Studio_Dissertation_sem IX-X
Mentors_Rohan Shivkumar and Vikram Powar
Type_User Participatory Housing
Location_Worli, Mumbai, India
Year_2021-2022
Concept
The project reclaims the disappearing familial fabric within Mumbai's housing culture by challenging the limitations of current redevelopment models. Grounded in the emotional, social, and cultural dynamics of communal living, it explores how architecture can restore kinship, shared routines, and spatial bonding. By understanding familial structures not just as units but as social ecosystems, the proposal reframes housing beyond metrics of density and economy. It introduces a bottom-up housing allocation model—"Form Follows Preference"—allowing residents to co-author their living conditions. This vision integrates modularity, adaptability, and collective identity to redefine housing as a framework of belonging, not just built form.
Methods and Tools
The methodology begins with multi-scalar site studies, field research, pattern language generation, and vulnerability mapping across four typologies. BDD Chawls was chosen due to high susceptibility to insensitive redevelopment. The process included household interviews, socio-spatial analysis, site documentation, and critical review of state-led schemes. Form generation evolved from analog sketching to algorithmic modeling using Rhino and Grasshopper for geometry and preference-based permutations. Revit and BIM workflows structured the detailing across masterplan, building, and unit scales. A new allocation model was developed using customizable prefab housing modules, integrated with social, structural, and behavioral parameters to ensure participatory and culturally sensitive outcomes.
High Performance Center
By Chennai Super Kings from Indian Premier League
Sameep Padora and Associates(sP+a)
Type_Recreation, Hospitality and Sports
Status_Under Construction
Location_Chennai, India
Year_2022-2024
Concept
The High Performance Center for Chennai Super Kings is designed as a cohesive sports facility wrapped around a central cricket ground. The concept stems from three arms enclosing the field—each designated for different programmatic needs like team spaces, sports courts, and F&B. A continuous ramp winds through the form, creating a dynamic relationship between movement, form, and spectatorship. The architecture seeks to blend structure, circulation, and function to craft a spatial identity that's athletic yet civic. The undulating bands wrapping the mass are not just aesthetic—they embed light, movement, and program, turning the building into a symbol of sporting dynamism.
Methods and Tools
The process began with site and context analysis to place the built mass around the cricket ground. Program zones were mapped into the three arms. Using Rhino and Grasshopper, a parametric system was developed to explore ramp configurations, aligning with height, circulation, and room dimensions. Terracing and sectional fluidity were iteratively tested through both plan and 3D model. Hundreds of ramp and façade variations were prototyped to refine material, structure, and light behaviour. Spatial continuity between inside and out was key—final designs balanced technical constraints with design intent, ensuring seamless transitions, visual hierarchy, and a powerful architectural identity rooted in motion.
In transit Hub
Reinvigorating short term housing
Studio_Architecture Design_sem VII
Mentors_Kalpit and Mayuri
Location_Vile Parle, Mumbai, India
Type_Temporary Housing
Year_2020
Concept
The IN TRANSIT HUB rethinks short-term housing as a responsive, layered typology for diverse urban dwellers—transit passengers, air crew, short-stay families, and temporary workers. Set within Mumbai's airport colony, the project introduces housing as infrastructure, integrating movement, rest, and social interaction. A continuous ramp system connects elevated dwelling blocks with shared amenities, activating public courtyards and urban edges. Through spatial variation in typology, scale, and façade, the project humanizes the experience of temporary stay. It merges metro access, cultural zones, and living pods into an adaptive housing ecosystem that prioritizes inclusivity, dignity, and urban belonging for a transient population.
Methods and Tools
The design process began with an in-depth study of existing site conditions—housing typologies, spatial morphology, daily routines, and lived patterns. This contextual understanding shaped the framing of the core intervention problem. The master site was then analyzed to extract an intervention zone tailored for four distinct target groups. Programmatic zoning followed, organizing public spaces and ground-level interactions. Massing strategies were developed based on occupancy data and temporal usage. Each user group's needs were mapped to craft individualized housing typologies. The final resolution emerged through iterative testing—using mapping, modeling, and spatial simulations—to achieve a sensitive, inclusive housing ecosystem.
Administration Building
Dalmia Polypro PET Recycling Plant Corporate Office
Collaborators_Sameep Padora and Associates (sP+a)
Type_Corporate Office
Status_Under Construction
Location_Nashik, India
Year_2022-2024
Concept
The Administration Building redefines corporate spatial identity within an industrial context. Designed for Dalmia Polypro PET Recycling Plant, it introduces a courtyard centered layout with stepped terraces that enhance light, ventilation, and interaction. The project departs from enclosed office blocks by creating visual and spatial openness through inward-facing programs. Its locally sourced, computationally crafted brick façade integrates insulation, ventilation, and identity, resulting in a monolithic yet human-scaled presence. The building becomes a functional oasis within the factory campus—bridging utility and expression—while positioning sustainability, contextual sensitivity, and corporate comfort as equal architectural priorities.
Methods and Tools
The design process began with spatial zoning based on programmatic needs within a tight 25m x 30m site. Using Rhino and Grasshopper, the team iteratively modelled massing blocks and explored program stacking, façade modulation, and corbel profiles. Parametric workflows were employed to generate responsive façade geometries that adapt to room types and orientations. Each opening, corbel, and terrace was computationally derived to optimize daylighting, ventilation, and visual connections. Construction drawings were meticulously detailed to translate algorithmic logic into brick modules. The final outcome balances computational precision with vernacular expression, allowing the building to be both digitally conceived and contextually grounded.
Multi-Functional Entrance block
Dalmia Polypro PET Recycling Plant
Sameep Padora and Associates(sP+a)
Type_Support Infrastructure
Status_Under Construction
Location_Nashik,India
Year_2022-2024
Concept
The entrance block at the Dalmia Polypro PET Recycling Plant is conceived as a seamless extension of the boundary wall—rising gently into a dynamic, thin arched roof that defines arrival. Strategically placed programs like security, guest waiting, health center, and crèche alternate with green courtyards, creating moments of pause, ventilation, and daylight. These voids not only improve thermal comfort but also encourage interaction and visual permeability. The design responds to its industrial context with a rugged material palette and minimal visibility from the street while expressing lightness and softness within, setting a sensitive threshold for both workers and visitors.
Methods and Tools
The process began with contextual analysis to understand how the boundary wall and adjacent road network defined the site's edge. Spatial planning evolved through sectional studies and 3D modelling in Rhino, focusing on inserting courtyards between function-specific blocks. Load-bearing masonry walls and light roof sections were optimized for daylight using splayed opening simulations. Passive cooling, material tactility, and seamless circulation were key drivers. Grasshopper was used to refine arch geometries and window splay angles, ensuring natural light without compromising privacy. Each decision was grounded in the material character of stone, brick, and steel—balancing robustness with spatial delicacy.
Eating Space
Dalmia Polypro PET Recycling Plant
Sameep Padora and Associates(sP+a)
Type_Collective F & B
Status_Under Construction
Location_Nashik, India
Year_2022-2024
Concept
Designed as an architectural quiet in the noise of an industrial landscape, the canteen block navigates between contextual subtlety and spatial richness. Surrounded by factory sheds and located at a vehicular junction, the intervention avoids visual confrontation by adopting a low-key, monolithic exterior while opening internally to light, ventilation, and social exchange. Carved niches, skewed apertures, and skylit wells shape an inward-looking experience. This threshold between outdoors and indoors becomes a soft space for pause, community, and nourishment—filtered from the harshness of the surrounding powerplant but still very much grounded in its reality.
Methods and Tools
The design process began with detailed site analysis and program distribution across distinct user groups—workers and professionals—followed by zoning of seating and utility blocks. Rhino was used extensively to explore formal massing, test light wells, simulate skylight performance, and resolve curvature-based transitions. Circulation was mapped as an urban street flowing indoors, expressed through paving continuity and controlled openings. Skewed apertures and carved voids were modeled parametrically to optimize daylight and airflow while preserving visual privacy. Material and form were calibrated to offer spatial intimacy within a low-rise industrial fabric, balancing subtle visibility with internal spatial generosity.
Discrete Construction
Modular Structural System in Family-Specific Customizable Housing
Studio_Construction Technology_sem IX
Mentors_Ainsley Lewis
Type_User Participatory Housing
Year_2021
Concept
This project proposes a modular housing system grounded in discrete construction logic, where users actively shape their homes by assembling prefabricated components. A micro-grid layout enables adaptability, allowing families to customize spatial arrangements based on their evolving needs, lifestyles, and household size. The system is democratic and participatory—responding to both physical constraints and personal desires. Rather than adapting to a pre-designed house, the house adapts to the user. By empowering inhabitants with spatial agency, the model offers a sustainable and scalable strategy for family-specific, community-driven housing that remains open-ended and expandable across time.
Methods and Tools
The process began with iterative component development using 3D modeling tools to identify structurally stable and transformable modules. A T-shaped discrete unit was optimized for stacking, rotation, and spatial flexibility. Grasshopper was used for parametric customization, Rhino for 3D documentation, and rendering tools for joinery visualization. Modules were tested for compatibility, orientation, and wall-to-wall connection logic. Fenestration systems, ventilation devices, and privacy screens were designed as interchangeable structural inserts. The workflow emphasized precision, modular logic, joinery design, and community adaptability—making the entire construction system replicable, easy to assemble, and cost-efficient for participatory housing solutions.
Lokal Parklet
An Outdoor Restaurant Extension Framing Skyline and Shade
Collaborators_Abraham John architects
Type_Outdoor Restaurant
Location_New Jersey,USA
Year_2020
Concept
Lokal Parklet is an outdoor dining extension designed for a restaurant located along the Hudson River, with an open view of the New York City skyline. The design reimagines a classic gable roof form—distorted as if shaped by wind and context—to create a dynamic, asymmetrical timber canopy. This intervention transforms a small parking bay into a shaded pavilion that filters light, preserves views, and evokes a modern yet nostalgic identity. Alternating wooden box sections generate transparency, ventilation, and visual rhythm, while the LOKAL cut-out at the front frames its identity. It's a warm blend of craft, geometry, and contextual storytelling.
Methods and Tools
The parklet structure was developed through parametric modeling in Rhino, allowing us to manipulate a traditional roof form into a dynamic, site-responsive pavilion. We studied solar angles and shadow behavior to optimize filtered light and natural ventilation through alternating wooden members. The form was crafted for modular fabrication, using structural wood joinery to create a monolithic assembly. The open skeletal framework not only offers visual permeability but also frames the New York skyline from every seat. The design blends digital form-finding with tactile material expression to create a contextual yet iconic urban intervention.
House of Warp & Weft
Reimagining Tradition through Recreation, Learning & Living in Kohima
Studio_Architecture Design_sem VI
Mentors_ Jude D'souza, Vandana Ranjitsinh
Location_Kohima, Nagaland, India
Type_Cultural, Recreational, Leisure and Housing
Year_2019-2020
Concept
Set in Kohima's T-Khel region, this youth-centric intervention blends recreation, culture, and living into one cohesive experience. Responding to the site's educational surroundings, the program includes food zones, learning pods, gaming areas, and dormitories. Each space is connected under a lightweight timber-steel roof that warps to create spatial variation. Inspired by traditional materials and community life, the project fuses local craft with contemporary geometry. The architecture becomes a space between cheer and calm, enabling spontaneous interaction, cultural continuity, and social belonging through playful form and rooted material expression.
Methods and Tools
The design process began with precise 3D terrain modelling to accommodate split-level massing across the site's organic slope. Programmatic blocks were spatially arranged to respond to views, movement, and social overlap. Parametric elements—including bamboo screens, brick perforated walls, and pod facades—were scripted using Grasshopper to achieve optimized, culturally grounded geometries. The warping roof, generated through algorithmic design, stitched together all zones under one expressive form. It not only unified the blocks visually but also responded to each function, creating varying heights, light conditions, and spatial dynamics that enhanced the identity and experiential quality of the intervention.
Objects.Institutions.Identities
Kohima study trip documentation
Studio_Architecture design_sem VI
Type_Narrative Mapping
Year_2019-2020
Location_Kohima, Nagaland, India,
Collaborators_class of 2022
Group Member_Nikita Taori and Ravishta Gupta
Concept
This documentation project explores the interrelationship between everyday objects, cultural institutions, and identity formation within Kohima Village, Nagaland. Divided into four traditional communities called Khels, the village reveals its heritage through seemingly mundane artifacts present in households. Each student group studied one Khel, tracing objects across domestic and community spaces to uncover their material histories, ritual uses, and symbolic meanings. These artifacts—whether ceremonial, utilitarian, or crafted—became entry points into understanding the institutional structures and evolving narratives of Kohima. Through observation, interviews, and spatial mapping, the study builds a layered portrait of how identities are sustained and transformed through objects in space.
Methods and Tools
The research process was rooted in immersive fieldwork during a studio-led trip to Kohima. Students engaged in object-based mapping, selecting everyday or ceremonial items from village homes and tracing their life cycles—how they are made, used, stored, and remembered. These object trajectories revealed networks of institutions—family, religion, craft, and governance. Tools included spatial mapping at multiple geographic scales, ethnographic interviews, typological diagrams, and narrative sketches. A sequence of diagrams was created to trace the village's location and internal divisions (Khels), document the chosen objects, and visualize the institutions and practices they connect to, offering a spatialized anthropology of material identity.
Vertical Village
Exploring the Realm of Urban Rurality Housing
Studio_Integrated design studio_sem VII
Mentors_Quaid and Shrey
Type_Housing
Year_ 2020
Location_Goregaon, India
Collaborators_Rhea Patil, Prakrut Shah, Drashti Shroff and Nikhita Hadnoorkar
Concept
The project reinterprets the notion of a "Vertical Village" to address the housing crisis in Mumbai while preserving the values of rural living. Instead of typical repetitive towers, the design explores staggering, terracing, and spatial porosity to replicate the interactive and clustered nature of village life. Inspired by rural homes and courtyards, the architecture encourages community interaction, cross-ventilation, and personal outdoor space at vertical heights. This approach blends the intimacy of ground-level village dynamics with the efficiency of vertical construction, creating a socially sustainable and context-sensitive housing model that balances density, diversity, and a sense of belonging.
Methods and Tools
A modular design framework guided the formation of ten housing typologies, distributed across a staggered massing system. Computational tools such as Rhino and Grasshopper were used to explore solar studies, natural ventilation, and massing strategies. Parametric iterations helped test visual and climatic performance while optimizing daylight and airflow through internal courtyards and stepped terraces. Detailed spatial diagrams and sectional studies enabled mapping of public-private transitions, shared corridors, and structural grids. These tools, coupled with climate-responsive thinking and participatory housing principles, enabled the project to merge architectural logic with ecological comfort and social coherence at the scale of a vertical community.
Membrum Vestigial
Karigari Workers Co-op Association
Studio_Architecture Design_sem V
Mentors_Apurva Parekh,Sandeep Menon
Studio_Working Drawing-sem VI
Mentors_Sandhya
Location_Mumbra, Mumbai, India
Type_Institution
Year_ 2020
Concept
Membrum Vestigial responds to the fading traces of Mumbra's once-vibrant craft culture—particularly the embroidery and pleating traditions now pushed to the margins. The project is a spatial protest and a revival strategy, reflecting on the slow disappearance of artisanship due to urban pressures, loss of livelihood, and policy neglect. Through an architectural cooperative, the project offers dignity, visibility, and ownership to craftspeople. Designed as a hybrid of production, learning, and gathering, it sustains the workers' agency and builds resilience. The brutalist roof form embodies their strength, while open studio typologies echo the informal yet rigorous nature of their practice.
Methods and Tools
The project employed precise architectural documentation of eight significant structures within Sidhpur's old city. Each team recorded spatial and structural details—floor plans, ceiling plans, sections, and 3D isometric drawings. Careful attention was paid to joinery techniques, material articulation, façade language, and contextual relationships with adjacent buildings. Street elevations captured the urban rhythm and transitions across typologies. Students also mapped the city's historical development to situate each structure within a broader temporal and urban narrative. The resulting work blends architectural accuracy with anthropological sensitivity—creating a comprehensive visual archive of a town shaped by time, trade, and cultural convergence.
Bari in Coexistence
Rehabilitation for the Sundarbans houses
Competition_Sundar Bari by SEARCH
Collaborators_Kavya Shah and Priya Bhatki
Type_Low cost, flood resistant Housing
Location_Sundarbans, West Bengal, India
Year_2020
Concept
Bari in Coexistence proposes a resilient housing module for the flood-prone Sundarbans, grounded in the philosophy of coexisting with nature rather than resisting it. The dwelling's conical roof and buoyant bamboo base are designed to adapt to rising water levels, enabling vertical displacement during floods. Organized into two blocks—work and living—the modular system supports flexible expansion. The structure integrates local and recycled materials like bamboo, rattan, golpatta leaves, and plastic barrels, combining traditional knowledge with climatic responsiveness. This hybrid system ensures not only structural stability but also social sustainability through communal courtyards, adaptable interiors, and resource-sharing spaces.
Methods and Tools
The design was developed through site-responsive analysis and technical prototyping for floating resilience. Calculations of live, dead, and environmental loads informed the use of 88 airtight 200-liter plastic barrels beneath the bamboo raft foundation, enabling safe vertical lift. The form draws from radial geometry, distributing wind loads and facilitating airflow. CAD modeling, iterative sectional studies, and environmental simulation tools were employed to test light, ventilation, and buoyancy. Local construction techniques were integrated using sustainable materials, while flexible programming enabled a dual-block layout for domestic and productive functions—linked by circulation paths that encourage daily interaction and community cohesion.
Sangam Gully
Using the OLD to create NEW
Studio_Architecture Design_sem IV
Mentors_Advait Potnis
Location_Sidhpur, Gujarat, India
Type_ Community Housing
Year_2019
Concept
Sangam Gully reimagines Sidhpur's Lal Doshini Pol, where migration and shifting lifestyles have fractured once-vibrant communal ties. The project proposes an architectural intervention that reconnects fragmented pols by reviving cultural practices and reinterpreting traditional forms. 'Sangam'—meaning union—guides the concept: blending the social spirit of shared Bohra meals, the gully as connective tissue, and adaptive reuse of vernacular roof patterns and brick facades. Rather than imposing blocks, the design begins with the roof, allowing spatial play and cultural continuity. The result is a woven network of old and new, spatially and socially stitching the past into the present.
Methods and Tools
The project adopts a roof-centric design process, beginning with traditional roofing geometries to shape space from the top down. Using figure-ground mapping, the intervention identifies disconnections between adjacent pols and proposes spatial stitching through gully continuity. Intrusion–extrusion operations reinterpret dead facades, transforming them into active social spaces. Otlas and shaded walkways extend the communal spirit, while lifted structures reinstate public passage. Contextual analysis of materiality, typology, and circulation patterns informed the integration of modern design without losing cultural essence. Tools like section studies and physical models helped translate the gully's social rhythm into built form.
Fragments of Sidhpur History
Sidhpur study trip documentation
Studio_Architecture design_sem IV
Type_Measure Drawing documentation
Year_2019
Location_Sidhpur, Gujarat, India
Collaborators_class of 2017
Concept
The study explores the architectural evolution of Sidhpur by dissecting eight unique sites within its old city fabric. Through historical timelines and typological analysis, students uncovered how trade, migration, and religious identity shaped a distinct built language—merging local craftsmanship with colonial influences. Each structure selected reflects a microcosm of Sidhpur's layered past, from narrow pols to merchant mansions. The project goes beyond façade aesthetics to examine how materiality, construction logic, and context inform spatial narratives. This deep-dive into vernacular hybridity helps trace not only architectural shifts, but also the socio-cultural currents embedded in the very bones of the town.
Methods and Tools
The project employed precise architectural documentation of eight significant structures within Sidhpur's old city. Each team recorded spatial and structural details—floor plans, ceiling plans, sections, and 3D isometric drawings. Careful attention was paid to joinery techniques, material articulation, façade language, and contextual relationships with adjacent buildings. Street elevations captured the urban rhythm and transitions across typologies. Students also mapped the city's historical development to situate each structure within a broader temporal and urban narrative. The resulting work blends architectural accuracy with anthropological sensitivity—creating a comprehensive visual archive of a town shaped by time, trade, and cultural convergence.
Fly-Man-Go
Trail through all encompassing experience
Studio_Architecture Design_sem VII
Competition_WWF competitions
Collaborators_Abraham John architects
Type_Wildlife tourism
Location_Orbetello, Italy
Year_2020
Concept
FLY-MAN-GO is a biomimetic response to wildlife tourism, drawing from the elegance of the Great Egret and Flamingo. The design translates bird-like qualities—feathered rooflines, slender stilt-like supports, and angular silhouettes—into immersive architecture. These observation cabins are not just shelters but sensory extensions of the wetland, allowing filtered light, focused views, and quiet coexistence. Designed for minimal intrusion, the cabins offer multi-level engagement—grounded, raised, and water-bound. Through subtle camouflage and tactility, the architecture dissolves into the landscape, enhancing the user's relationship with nature while honoring the delicate rhythms and visual language of the wild.
Methods and Tools
The design evolved through biomimetic analysis, wildlife behavior mapping, and experiential zoning. Inspired by avian anatomy and movement, forms were developed via sketches, physical models, and parametric tools. Detailed site studies and programmatic overlays shaped three cabin typologies across different immersion levels. Structural systems were resolved using profiling techniques for slender, expressive frames. Sustainable material research guided eco-sensitive choices, while spatial sequencing was informed by habitat transitions and wildlife pathways. The use of sectional design thinking, nature-derived form generation, and modular scalability ensured a dynamic, responsive architectural language integrated into both the natural terrain and the visitor's journey.
Decoding Frie Otto
Tensile & Pneumatic Structure
Professor_Mangesh Belsare
Collaborators_group of 20 students
Type_Recreational
Year_2019
Concept
Bari in Coexistence proposes a resilient housing module for the flood-prone Sundarbans, grounded in the philosophy of coexisting with nature rather than resisting it. The dwelling's conical roof and buoyant bamboo base are designed to adapt to rising water levels, enabling vertical displacement during floods. Organized into two blocks—work and living—the modular system supports flexible expansion. The structure integrates local and recycled materials like bamboo, rattan, golpatta leaves, and plastic barrels, combining traditional knowledge with climatic responsiveness. This hybrid system ensures not only structural stability but also social sustainability through communal courtyards, adaptable interiors, and resource-sharing spaces.
Methods and Tools
The process began with soap film experiments using thread networks and bamboo sticks to extract catenary geometries. These were interpreted into thread-filled wireframe cubes that acted as modular tension elements. Once composed, the unified form was reinforced with PVC tubes, custom laser-cut discs, and stitched fabric membranes. Rhino 3D was used to model the entire structure digitally, translating it into fabrication files. The team used laser cutting and 3D printing for precision components, while tension cloth was hand-stitched on-site. The final structure stood as a physical testament to pneumatic principles, built at 1:5 scale.