Shilpa Ahuja Portfolio

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Portfolio

Shilpa AhujaMaster of Design Studies 2011

Harvard University Graduate School of DesignBachelor of Architecture

Chandigarh College of Architecture 2007

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Contents

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PROJECT MANAGEMENT........................ 4

ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN................... 36

GRAPHIC DESIGN..................................... 54

WRITING AND PUBLICATION................ 58

ARTWORK................................... 64

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Project Management

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The Park hotel Hyderabad, India

PROJECT TYPE: 285-room 7-star hotelMY ROLE: Project ManagementAREA: 94,800 sq ft.BUDGET: $73.9 millionCOMPLETED IN: Spring 2010DURATION: 4 years

PROJECT MANAGEMENT - PROFESSIONAL WORK

The Park hotel is a 270-room hotel, designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill LLP, New York . It is the first LEED-gold certified 7-star hotel in India.

I worked on this project in a project management role, from Fall 2008 to Summer 2009. The complete team managing the hotel consisted of 10 project managers. My responsibilities included :

• Co-ordinating with client, designers, consultants, suppliers and contractors.

• Preparing construction documents and co-ordinated drawings.

• Travelling onsite to manage construction.• Quality control.• Preparing budgets and schedules.• Managing work orders, negotiating with suppliers.• Making sure the deadlines are met.

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Some of the facilities of the hotel included nightclub, spa, gym, a swimming pool, banquet halls, specialty restaurants, coffee shop, bars, outdoor restaurants, shopping mall and a business center.

The above plan is of the third level of the hotel, that consisted of the main lobby, pool and deck, coffee shop, bar, Indian resuaurant and kitchens. The areas highlighted here are some of those I was managing,

under the supervision of the Associate Director. The following few pages describe these ares in a greater detail.

Other than the areas highlighted in the above plan, I also worked on the back of house areas, kitchens and business center in this hotel.

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Sicca Bar

Verandah Restaurant

Aqua

Main Lobby

Ruby Lounge

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Sicca Bar The Park hotel, Hyderabad, India

PROJECT TYPE: BarMY ROLE: Project ManagementAREA: 5000 sq ft.BUDGET: $100,000COMPLETED IN: Spring 2010DURATION: 1 year 6 months


Sicca Bar is a small 25-seater resident’s club in The Park hotel, Hyderabad. It was designed by Conran and Partners, London.

The design brief described the requirement of a contemporary and informal interpretation of a traditional gentlemen’s club or smoking room. According to the designers, it “expresses richness, exclusiveness and luxury through the use of high quality materials mixed with bright colour and subtle details.”

The most unique feature of the Sicca bar was indeed a wall tiled floor to ceiling with ceramic tiles featuring pre-independence Indian currency, as shown on the left.

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The ceramic tiles were made by scanning high-resolution images of old Indian-currency from a book, and then printing them on the tiles. The pewter finish back-bar counter provided an elegant reflection of the tiles.

The seating includes an oversized banquette with full height back and side panels creating an upholstered enclosure, opposite smaller “club style” chairs. Bar stools and generous modern wing-backed chairs are placed by the window.

My role in this project was of project management. The Park, Hyderabad was particularly dear to me because I worked mostly on my own, under the direct supervision of thr VP and Chairperson. This gave me a chance to learn to manage projects independently and be a self-starter.

The whole team consisted of nearly 10 project managers, each of whom was assigned a part of the hotel to manage. I was in-charge of the management of a restaurant, Sicca bar, pool and pool-deck, back-of-the-house areas and business center. My responsibilities included co-ordination with designers, suppliers, contractors, construction workers and owner, overseeing onsite construction, managing budgets and schedules, and quality-control.

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Verandah Restaurant The Park, Hyderabad

PROJECT TYPE: RestaurantMY ROLE: Project ManagementAREA: 5000 sq ft.BUDGET: $100,000COMPLETED IN: Spring 2010DURATION: 1 year 6 months


Verandah Restaurant is a 24-hour coffee shop, also a part of The Park hotel, Hyderabad. It was also designed by Conran and Partners, London.

The restaurant consists of three interlinked areas, so the owner wanted to ensure that the areas flow together to create bright and airy spaces.

The design concept was based on Anglo-Indian residential architecture, consisting of a Bungalow, the formal indoor buffet area, the Garden, the informal outdoor seating area, and the Verandah, the space between the spaces, the space where guests could drop by and chat with the homeowners, interpreted as the Bar area.

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As with the Sicca Bar, a lot of materials and finishes used here were imported. The challenge lied in creating a contemporary environment while reminding the guests of the traditional Indian influence. This was done by using elements from vintage Hyderabadi architecture.

The black and white marble flooring as seen in the picture on the right as well as in the plan in the buffet and bar area has been influenced by traditional bungalows. The pattern of the laser-cut screen has been inspired by the local landmark, Charminar. The pattern on the molded iron screen (bottom right) has been inspired by Mughal gardens. Also a few pieces that have been designed by local artists were used, such as a mother-of-pearl dining table in the private dining area (bottom left), the buffet tables, and the pendant lamps over the bar (previous page).

Other challenges I came across were during the construction of this restaurant. The bar, for example, uses seamless Pyrolave as the counter top, which had to be imported in six pieces. A lengthy manufacturing time required me to arrange the construction of its base strucure completed before the delivery of the Pyrolave units. This needed planning and attention to detail in the measurements of the base, so that the imported counter-top units could fit easily, while still leaving enough circulation space between two separate parts.

Another similar space was the in-built cold buffet unit that uses imported seamless Corian, which forms the base, walls and ceiling of the buffet. The imported refridgerators that were to be concealed within the wall added to its complexity. So I got trap-doors made on the rear side of the wall that opened in a fire-escape, where the refridgerators could be installed from. This helped us get the wooden base-structure constructed and finished before the refridgerators arrived on site.

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Aqua The Park hotel, Hyderabad

PROJECT TYPE: Swimming Pool, Deck and BarMY ROLE: Project ManagementAREA: 15,500 sq ft.BUDGET: $1450,000COMPLETED IN: Spring 2010DURATION: 1 year 3 months


Aqua, the poolside bar and lounge is a signature space in The Park hotels chain. Aqua is on the third level of the hotel, and also acts like extended seating for the Verandah Bar.

A sq ft. pool is surrounded by a sq ft., 150-seater deck on one side, and an infinity edge on the other. Aqua serves as an important part of the hotel as it can be viewed by more than half the rooms, and its infinity edge is a part of the hotel’s eastern facade.

One of the most interesting features of Aqua is a long infinity edge that overlooks the lake, protected by a hidden glass rail.

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Upper left image: The pool has an island bar on the north end, with a staircase leading to a nightclub on the level below.

Upper right image: Yet another staircase from the pooldeck with a glass canopy leads to the gym and spa on level two.

Right image: Three skylights and clerestorey windows in the nightclub looking up to the pool also offer another interesting feature. These are made of acrylic glazed panels, and feature dramatic cove lighting.

Plan, opposite page: A glass bridge in the center of the pool deck connects the northern and southern parts of the hotel. It is used by the hotel residents to access all north rooms. The glass bridge also incorporates color-changing LED’s as does the rest of the hotel facade.

Bottom image, opposite page: A perspective image of Aqua as conceived by the designer.

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1. Ocean Side, U.S. $23.70 per sft.

During construction, Fall 2009 During construction, Spring 2009

5. Far East, China$2.44 per sft.

4. Surfaces, India$16.85 per sft.

3. Surfaces, India$17.07 per sft.

2. Palladio, India$21.74 per sft.

Aqua uses a good mix of imported and locally made finishes. The bottom images show installation of local finishes on the site, and the opposite page shows some of the fabrics and outdoor furniture that were imported.

A variety of factors decided whether a local or imported product was used, such as cost, availability and quality. For example, a comparison of local and imported glass mosaic tiles is shown below, where cost was a deciding factor.

The economic recession struck India after this project had completed the design phase, which is why some of the items needed to be locally made to cut down costs. For example, local alternatives of outdoor furniture were used in some cases.

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Below: Some of the furniture imported for Aqua loungeAbove: Moodboard showing the color palette of Aqua

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Lobby & Ruby Lounge The Park, Hyderabad

PROJECT TYPE: Hotel lobby and waiting loungeMY ROLE: Project ManagementAREA: 5600 sq ft.BUDGET: $120,000COMPLETED IN: Spring 2010DURATION: 1 year 3 months


Hotel lobby is one of the most important parts of any hotel. The Park hotel has two lobbies, one of Level One, that serves as a lift lobby in general, and the main lobby on Level Three, that serves as reception and check-in for hotel residents.

The design brief called for an international design that draws inspiration from the rich and traditional culture of Hyderabad. The hotel’s facade has been inspired by elements of Hyderabadi Nizam’s jewelry, which is considered to be one of the most valuable collections in the world. Therefore, elements of Nizam’s jewelry and traditional Hyderabadi textiles are used throughout the interior space.

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As shown in the images, the space uses a rich selection of artistic pieces, such as chandeliers, furniture, etc.

The glass brick wall shown here is one of my favorite features in the lobby. After receiving the conceptual 3d rendering (right) from the designers, our team developed construction documents, details and glass brick samples from various vendors, and finally got a mock-up constructed on the site for approval.

The glass brick wall uses 4 courses of a curved brick laid in the following fashion.

Many of the pieces used in the lobby are locally made, and designed by Indian artists. The floor rug shown below, for example, was made locally, and takes inspiration from precious stones, rubies, diamonds and amethysts.

The chandeliers shown on the opposite page are also designed by Indian artists. The upper left one has been inspired by the Nizam’s jewelry and textile motifs, the upper right one features graphics of Charminar, a Hyderabadi landmark, and the one above the reception reception desk in the bottom image has been inspired by antique Hyderabadi artefacts.

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THE RUBY LOUNGE:

The Ruby lounge lies in the south corner of the lobby and makes for an important space, a semi-private waiting lounge.

A comparison between the proposed rendering and the actual constructed space shows that quite a few modern elements were replaced with locally designed artwork and furniture pieces for a traditionally royal look.

The artsy cove ceiling detail was replaced by local kalamkaari art, that has been detailed out in the opposite page. The glass panels were replaced by plywood panels with antique finish, the Gobo lights were replaced by heavy gold chandeliers and the contemporary cubic side tables were replaced by solid gold-finished tables.

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The images above show the local kalamkaari art panels that adorn the ceiling. Kalamkaari translates to ink art. Fabric with traditional kalamkaari motifs were stuck to ceiling panels that were cut to form a traditional textile motif. The cove lighting cut-outs also follow the textile motif design.

The Ruby Lounge uses a rich color-palette, as the name suggests, full of ruby reds, pinks, and browns with hints of gold.

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i-BAR The Park hotel, Bangalore

PROJECT TYPE: Bar renovationMY ROLE: Project ManagementAREA: 1500 sq ft.BUDGET: $500,000COMPLETED IN: Winter 2008DURATION: 1 year


i-BAR was my first project as a project management professional. The biggest challenge was to create awhole new look within a short span of time. Being a local landmark gave this project the importance of producing quality down to the last level of detail in a tight schedule.

Bangalore is the Indian hub for information technology. The name i-BAR comes from the previous look that was inspired by I.T. For the renovation, the designer was briefed to create an exotic Indian theme, thus changing the hip youngster look to a luxury lounge for a mature clientele.

Keeping all this in mind, red was chosen to represent local tradition and luxury, giving a very different look than the rest of the hotel.

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i-BAR uses a lot of pattern with carved sandstone panels behind the bar, carved wooden doors at the entry, carving to sliding screens, timber post for bar and printed ceiling tiles in the gallery. Overall, the surfaces are a mix-and-match of many different patterns and textures.

Various local and handmade pieces have been used here, such as furniture, artwork, and carvings on stone and wood.

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Architecture & Design

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Urban Redevelopment Shoreditch, London

PROJECT TYPE: Urban Design, Market Analysis, Real Estate Financial ProformaMY ROLE: Research, financial analysis and designAREA: 820,000 sq ft.COMPLETED IN: Fall 2010DURATION: 4 months

REAL ESTATE URBAN REDEVELOPMENT - ACADEMIC WORK

I took this seminar in my third semester at Graduate School of Design and worked in a group of three. The seminar required our class to travel to Shoreditch, London on a field trip to meet with developers, contractors and architects, and to understand the urban fabric of the site. We collected data on the Shoreditch market, vacancies and absorption trends, local rents and construction costs.

Groups were divided on the basis of site selection. My group chose a site next to the Shoreditch High Street Tube station, which has a mix of vacant and built-up land, with room for infill properties.

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Existing site...

Proposed site...

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Phase-I Phase-II Phase-III Phase-IV

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Urban Redevelopment Newark, New Jersey

PROJECT TYPE: Urban Design, Market Analysis, Real Estate Financial AnalysisMY ROLE: Research, design and presentationAREA: 1,040,600 sq ft.COMPLETED IN: Fall 2009DURATION: 4 months

REAL ESTATE URBAN REDEVELOPMENT - ACADEMIC WORK

I took this seminar in my first semester at Graduate School of Design and worked in a group of four. Similar to the Shoreditch project, this seminar also required our class to travel to Newark, NJ on a field trip to meet with developers, contractors and state officials. We walked aound Newark, trying to understand the urban environment of the city.

Groups were divided on the basis of site selection. My group chose a riverfront site, mostly vacant, within walking distance to Newark Penn Station. It is a kilometer long stretch along the McCarter Highway. Other important structures within a 5-mile radius were the FBI building, the Center Street Bridge and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC).

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Phasing and Implementation Strategy

Public Realm Masterplan Integration Diagram

Road Network Plan

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The site was surrounded by mostly office and some cultural/ institutional buildings, and very few retail. Our proposed scheme consisted of a mixed-use develoment, planned in three phases.

1. Business District: The first phase of the proposal consisted of mixed-use office and apartment/ condo buildings and one hotel/ condo building with parking spaces. The first level was proposed as retail. In the center at the junction of two cardinal walkways, a plaza was created with street art and fountains. The idea was to create pedestrian-friendly public space.2. Art District: The second phase consisted of artists’ lofts, studios, one office building and one boat house. More public space was proposed with ideas for farmers’ market, exhibits, etc. to create a lively neighborhood.3. North District: The third phase consisted of apartment and condo buildings. A tree-lined boulevard was proposed next to it.

Bottom: Watercolor rendering of the proposed Business District (Phase-I)Right: Stills from a 3d animation movie made using SketchUp and Google Earth

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Plan Level- I

Plan Level- II

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Apeejay Business Center Siliguri, India

PROJECT TYPE: Business Center DesignMY ROLE: Interior designAREA: 1,100 sq ft.BUDGET: $100,000COMPLETED IN: Summer 2009DURATION: 6 months

INTERIOR DESIGN - PROFESSIONAL WORK

Appejay Business Centers is India’s largest business center chain, with 170,000 sqft. of rentable office space. Until this project, all their business centers were owned and operated by Aeejay, Siliguri, however is the first franchisee project.

My role as a designer was important here because the company wanted to make sure the new business center retains the character and look of the company-owned properties. Some of the design features included-Mixed-type cabins (2-3 seater, 5-6 seater, etc.)-In-house cafeteria-Movable partitions, Easy-to-maintain furniture-Highly dense configuration-Low-cost and hard-wearing finishesA color scheme of white, lilac and turquoise was used to give a fresh and lively look.

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Digital Archeology Imperial Hotel, Tokyo

PROJECT TYPE: Animation of Imperial Hotel, TokyoMY ROLE: 3d Rendering, movie compilation, researchCOMPLETED IN: Spring 2010DURATION: 4 months

ANIMATION/ RESEARCH/ EXHIBITION - ACADEMIC WORK

Imperial Hotel, Tokyo, Japan designed by Frank Lloyd Wright was built in the 1820s. It survived an 8.3 magnitude earthquake and World War II bombings, but was demolished later to construct high-rises. Therefore, this project aims to digitally reconstruct not only the structure, but also explain its design concept and construction features.

I worked on this project in a group of five. The work started with researching old texts, some in Japanese, then drafting drawings, making 3d models with the help of images of building and its materials. The final animation was exhibited in the GSD’s library during the Fall 2010 semester (left).

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Office Design Chandigarh, India

PROJECT TYPE: Office DesignMY ROLE: DesignAREA: 1700 sq ft.COMPLETED IN: Spring 2004DURATION: 3 months

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN - ACADEMIC WORK

This is a project I did for the fourth semester of my undergrad. The design brief required our class to design an unconventional office building in a site in Chandigarh outskirts.

I chose the arrow for the building shape because it symbolizes modernity and progress. The building has four levels above ground, with exhibition areas, cafeteria and conference rooms on the first level. The upper levels have mixed-type office spaces, with both cabins and open office areas. The second level also has an outdoor seating area. The basement has parking.

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Roundabout Design Chandigarh, India

PROJECT TYPE: Roundabout redesign, ChandigarhMY ROLE: 3d Rendering, design, presentationSITE AREA: 377,000 sq ft.COMPLETED IN: Spring 2006DURATION: 4 months

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE - ACADEMIC WORK

I worked on this design as a part of a group of four in 4th year of my undergrad. The redesign involved changing the image of a popular roundabout in Chandigarh that is currently called ‘Matka Chowk’, named after its central water feature.

The requirement was to create a new city landmark, while keeping in mind that the location was a major road intersection. So the visual communication amongst the spaces should be enhanced and traffic hazards by distractions should be minimized. Our design proposal with a simple pattern and central fountain was amongst the two finalists chosen by the city administration, and received awards and extensive media coverage in the local newspapers.

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Graphic Design

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The Memo provides an objective assessment of how the law applies to a client’s problem. The recommended research process for the Memo is depicted below. Roll over each item to learn how to best find good cases and analyses.

Researching the Open MemoLearning Legal Research at HLS •access your LRW course site

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The Open Memo Harvard Law School

PROJECT TYPE: Learning Space DesignMY ROLE: Graphic design/ New media specialistLINK: http://learning.law.harvard.edu/openmemoCOMPLETED IN: Fall 2011DURATION: 6 months

GRAPHIC/ WEB DESIGN - PROFESSIONAL WORK

This is the project I am currently working on in my job at Harvard Law School’s Teaching, Learning and Curriculum department. Researching the Open Memo is a learning space to supplement classroom lectures for the 1L required course called Legal Research and Writing.

I learned and used new skills like Adobe Flash, Illustrator, Wordpress, HTML and CSS for this project. It also gave me a chance to learn web design fundamentals and student behaviour. My team also conducted usability tests and feedback sessions to improve this space.

I am currently working on instructional videos and animations on various legal secondary sources to add to this page as external links.

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Writing and Publication

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Scio 2007 College Magazine

PROJECT TYPE: College Magazine MY ROLE: Managing Editor/ DesignerLINK: http://issuu.com/shilpaahuja/docs/scio_2007COMPLETED IN: Spring 2007DURATION: 9 months

MAGAZINE LAYOUT - EXTRACURRICULAR WORK

Magazine making has been my hobby since childhood. Therefore, when I was elected to be the Managing Editor of our annual college magazine in 4th year, I took it up as my responsibility to change the face of the magazine. I was in-charge of the design, editing, publication and sponsorships with my co-editor. This was also the first ever all-color magazine in our college.

We also tried to turn the magazine making into an interactive activity, and conducted polls, surveys, captured everyday college life through pictures of classrooms, corridors and parking lots.

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Design Writing

PROJECT TYPE: Interior Design ArticlesMY ROLE: Writing/ FreelancerPUBLISHED IN: 2007, 2008JOURNAL: Indian Design and Interiors

PUBLICATIONS - FREELANCE WORK

Creative writing is my other major interest, and I ventured into design writing during undergrad, while compiling submissions for the annual college magazines. So after finishing college, I decided to do freelance writing.

The bottom left image is the scan of Indian Design and Interiors, Feb2008 issue, atricle ‘8 Elements of a Green Home’. Bottom right image is of Nov 2007 issue of the same magazine’s article ‘Wick-ed Lighting’.

The top and top right images are from another freelance article I wrote for this magazine that focused on interior redesign of readers’ homes. For this I was given a design brief and I put together 3d views, mood-board, finishes and prices. This was published in July 2008.

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Artwork

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Sketching

PROJECT TYPE: Extracurricular WorkMY ROLE: SketchingCOMPLETED IN: Left: Summer 2011, Above: Fall 2006AWARD: Le Corbusier Sketching Competition 2006, Chandigarh College of Architecture

SKETCHING - EXTRACURRICULAR WORK

I have been interested in sketching and painting ever since I was little. Other than sketching, I do water colors, oil painting, glass painting (next page).

I made the above sketch for an annual competition called Le Corbusier Sketching Competition in undergrad and won an award for it in 2006.

The sketch on the left is of Harvard Business School I made in Summer 2011. It is one of a series of sketches and water color paintings I am making of various locations in Harvard campus as a visual memoir.

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Silhouette Glass Painting Exhibition

PROJECT TYPE: Extracurricular WorkMY ROLE: Glass PaintingCOMPLETED IN: Left: Spring 2005, Above: Fall 2010

GLASS PAINTING - EXTRACURRICULAR WORK

I learned glass painting from one of my classmates in Fall 2005 and made for 3 paintings for my home. However, soon we decided to put up an exhibition.

We made 60 glass paintings for this exhibition. We wanted to be different than the traditional stained glass paintings that are usually of flowers or people, and so we used bold and abstract subjects. We also experimented with different backgrounds for them, and used different objects like handmade paper, chillies, rice, coins, threads, etc. We also made our own paints to create different textures and opacity that is not possible with readymade glass paints.

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Photography

PROJECT TYPE: Extracurricular WorkMY ROLE: PhotographyCOMPLETED IN: Left: Fall 2006; Above: Fall 2011LOCATION: Left: Kerala, India; Above: Chicago, IL

PHOTOGRAPHY - EXTRACURRICULAR WORK

My interest in photography developed after I took a class on architectural photography in college. I also learned HDR photography in a class I took at Graduate School of Design.

Next page: Left Above: Grand Canyon, AZ, Spring 2011Left Below: Annenberg Hall, Harvard University, Fall 2009Right Above: Memorial Church, Harvard University, Winter 2010Right Below: Harvard Yard, Cambridge, MA, Fall 2010

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Documents

Shilpa Ahuja Portfolio