Thesis Review

Thesis Review

By Jabina Shrestha

Entering into the 4th week of spring semester, it seems like everyone has started to become busy with  thesis project along with other class works. Time passes really quickly, so fast it's already the week of our first review presentation of thesis. I am doing a re-designing Southern Hills housing complex enhancing sustainable environment that is on the south- east of Southern Illinois University Carbondale IL. I won’t say fantastic but it went pretty well with lots of good crits from my committee members. It’s a good start to move into another step. First stage of research, observation, data collection and analysis on site study, precedent study has helped to understand about the project and move further with developing area program and architectural design. Today after the first review presentation, I just got stuck and started thinking over those days of my final presentation of undergraduate .It’s been already four years but today’s presentation has brought  all the memories of good and bad times and how the final product came out to be a fruitful one.

So I just thought to share my undergrad thesis and also to help myself as a reference to what I did. My thesis topic was Genetic Resources Management Complex, Kathmandu Nepal. Agriculture is the main stay of economic activity in Nepal. So the concept of Gene bank was developed for the protection of genes and seeds. The need for such gene bank increases as agricultural land impinges further upon undeveloped areas, with subsequent loss of species and strain of wild plants.

The site is located at Khumaltar, Lalitpur district at a distance of about 0.8 km from Satdobato road junction, 6.38 km from Kathmandu city centre and 3.73 km from lalitpur city Centre. The aim of the project was to design a complex that helps to preserve the natural flora of diverse species found in the Himalayan belt of Nepal. The project was a primarily conceived as a gene storage facility with a high degree of technical monitoring. The project also helped to throw light on energy conservation and rain water harvesting.

Talking about area programming, the project being a live project the program was prescribed by the Nepal Agricultural Research Council, Khumaltar.The main component of the complex was the gene bank which mainly consist of storage spaces of various sorts, laboratories, seminar and conference halls, auditorium and exhibition spaces. Provision should be kept for a cafeteria which will cater to both officials and visitors alike. The complex was also required to house a residential area with basic facilities like mini shopping mall, health club and play areas for children. Ample car parking provided both at ground level. Enough open spaces were provided for plantation of various flora species within the site.

Total land area: 9.2 hectares

Total built up area: 14,144 sq m

Ground coverage: 33% of the buildable land

Every project starts with the word CONCEPT in architecture field. With that note, I started developing 4 concepts which are:

INTRODUCTION OF LARGE GREEN SPACE IN THE VICINITY OF SITE: This means that the rate of development will increase over time and there will be a huge shortage of open green space in the vicinity. And with our case of initiating a green project, it is a must to establish a green space in the site.

INTEGRETATION OF BUILT AND OPEN: The concept of integration lies in the outlook of the society and its culture. The architectural interpretation can be considered in the integration of different properties of spaces, open and built. This unity of built and open spaces signifies the integration of the society.

•         EXTENSION OF LANDSCAPED AREAS IN BUILDING IE “BUILDING IN THE GARDEN”: This means that open landscaped areas extend within the building which also helps to visually link the building to the green back drop towards the west and north. The roof of the main building is sloped towards the central space so that it can be viewed even from the entry area. In addition the roof form gives a new meaning to the local context of the region.

•         INWARD AND OUTWARD LOOKING SPACES: In local context, the inward looking spaces are more reminiscent of public buildings and large houses which belong to the higher strata of society. The idea of having both inward and outward looking space was to achieve a balance between the two typologies of built spaces in Kathmandu. The idea also lends a hand to better integrate built and open spaces as well as improve the lighting and ventilation condition in the building.

I was able to accomplish good innovative design with all the hard input day and night. I am hoping to work on my thesis even more with good quality of work in terms of design, presentation, renderings, and model making skills.

Here are some of the model pictures of it.