Designer Statement- Sanskruti Leela

My name is Leela, that’s what everyone calls me but my full name is Sanskruti Leela. I am in my senior year studying Interior Design. Being from Mumbai, India western culture was very new to me. Likes and dislikes in terms of culture, values, and design itself gave me a new insight into the world. I was always a traditional artist that had a fine interest in oil paintings and watercolors. Modern Art has yet not swept through India, therefore, visiting museums here is so amusing yet delightful. This fusion of traditional styles and modern designs brings a unique touch to my projects. I always look for more curves than straight lines and eye-catching colors than neutral pallets.

My projects since the first semester have mostly focused on communication and space utilization. I put forth this work with curves and organic shapes as mentioned before. As an interior designer, I get the opportunity to create spaces (commercial, residential, entertainment, and leisure) for an individual or a community. This puts great value to what we do as space needs to cater to every being and their liking and disliking. Therefore it is important to me that I use design concepts that do not please a certain group but everyone who will or is using the space.

Alongside providing a functional space, aesthetics is mandatory. No one likes entering an area that doesn’t appeal and is dull. This is where my traditional art skills come to play. Having good knowledge of colors and their visualization helps me come up with materials that not only appeal but sooth the crowd. Accompanying the colours I always try bring in natural light into space by creating angled windows and skylights. The space naturally lights up enhancing the space and colours. Bringing in nature and the outside world into the space establishes a connection between “the outside and the inside.” Besides that, it creates a great aesthetic value. 

Brainstorming and doodling are key when it comes to coming up with design concepts. These are one of my first steps before I build around the idea. This helps my ideas flow and come up with newer and better ones. Usually a pen and paper do the job but i trying using different medias such as digital platforms (Adobe, Auto CAD, Rhino) to generate new ideas. After finalizing my project making it into a scale model with wood, paper and wires always give a fresh perspective to the project. The technology of laser printing is helping us designers display professional work.

Interior Designing is not only making a space look appealing but providing comfort and functionality for the people. Personally, a space (room) really defines my mood. May it be lighting, furniture, function or even the people around. It has a great impact on my mood and behavior. After studying Interior design for about three years now i have come to the realization that this feeling lingers on every mind who uses the space. This gives me an opportunity to make a space happier and pleasant for others.

The key to catering to an audience is user research. There are so many communities and types of people that use the space. User Analysis is one of the most important research that we as interior designers need to pay attention on. Research doesn’t stop just at the user market but also stakeholders that surround this project. It starts with researching the space and the surroundings, then the people who will use it, your partners, the government, shareholders and a lot more. This is where research supports us to create a design.

I am looking forward to becoming a full-time Interior Designer. Making a space joyful for others is what makes me happy. I plan to work for a firm or a corporation before starting my own business. It will guide me how this industry works and what are the key aspects for it before creating my own business.

Fire Pit- Hudson Yard

For the cold weather in New York. Concrete tiling to trap in heat and keep the surroundings warm.

 

Performance Theatre

Designed for public speakers. Materials are chosen to keep in mind auditory and visual factors.

 

Health Care Design- Therapy center

Designed for the community that needs mental and physical support.

 

Indoor Potato Farming- Axonometric View

Exploded view of the indoor potato farm that uses the technology of hydroponics to grow the vegetable.

 

Wall screen that was inspired by the branches of a broccoli. Each brach is angled to make the screen stand by itself.

Screen- Space Divider

Wall screen that was inspired by the branches of broccoli. Each branch is angled to make the screen stand by itself.

Field Trip- Journal Entry 7

Alice Tully Lincoln Center:

The Exteriors are made of glass hinged by metal knobs and wires to give it steadiness. Curtain walls

Fritted glass

David H Koch Theater:

The floor and the walls are made of lime stone too- Turadzo floor. The railing is made of yellow brass.

David H Koch Theatre Exteriors:

Unfinished lime stone panels and columns on the exteriors. Lime stone is porous sedimentary rock.

Lincoln center:

The wall right to the entrance has a wall with real liner plants attached to it to give it a fresh look with a design element. The floors and the walls are made of stone. The seating is marble hand finished. Most of the walls are made of textile to soften the sound. One wall has been made with a painting the other with woven metal threads to absorb sound.

Design Museum Exteriors:

The exterior of the building have a structural guiding system. Glass curtain wall with fritted glass. The fritted glass has a similar process of silk printing.

Design Museum:

The walls and the floor are made of concrete. The steps are made of wood and have gap between each to give it a floating effect. The steps are made of steel cable that are intertwined with again thinner metal strings to make it strong and sturdy. The windows are made of glass and have been incorporated with french style.

FEILD TRIP 6- JOURNAL ENTRY

White background for a photo studio

Machine that can replicate any shape or object in under minutes. Its mainly used for metal mouldings.

This is the workshop where they work with wood and have machines such as a laser printer.

These are a few materials that are being used in the studio space.

The first two are made of chipboard and paper moulded into different patterns.

This is a 3D printer in the works.

This is a studio for a company called future space. It works with artists trying to build installation using technology. The speakers above are spaced out all around the room for a better sound quality and a sound system.

This is a project in the works.

This is the entrance of the studio space made with rubber and stained wood.

Field Trip 4- Journal Entry

The glasses are customised to give it more of a green tint to it. The sandstone is local and cut into various shapes and pieces.

THE NYC MARKET

The bricks of the NYC market are assembled in a pattern making it unique from the surrounding buildings.

AESOP

Aesop has a unique interior. The walls are made os stacked up paper that has oxidised and become pale in colour giving the space a vintage look. The paper has two effective qualities to it. One, it created and enclose sound space, making it easy for the voices to be clear and loud. Two, keeps the smell to a limited space, making the space smell fresh at all times. The shelves are made up of plywood.

THE NEW MUSEUM

The new museum is made of expanded metal mesh which is later painted with white paint. If closely seen its not a continous metal sheet and in fact is broken down into smaller squares and assembled. The aluminium expands with heat and makes a mesh type of a design.

NOLITAN

These are the interior pictures of Nolitan. The interiors are decorated and constructed with various types of materials. The structure is made of concrete and leveled up with metal sheets like seen in picture three. The furniture is made either from wood, metal or glass.

SEX AND THE CITY MUSEUM

This is the exterior architecture of the Sex and The City Museum. The Square panels are made of concrete and bordered with steel panels. The panels shift with the force of wind like seen in the first image. There are also windows made up of reflective coloured glass.

Ball Room- Design Studio 2, Project 1

 

I included the coloured background as a part of the image.The negative spaces in both the images have a reason to be displayed in that way. In the first image, I chose to use a brown shade with an undertone of yellow as the background as it has a touch of gloominess and as this photograph was taken in the park, it also portrayed the outdoors. The first image which portrays loneliness has a bunch of cropped parts from the original black and white image that are placed in very different patterns and in a way infuses the concept of groups. A lot of times an individual is left out in the making of groups that gives a sense of loneliness. Each group in the photo shopped image corroborates with the object and patterns in the original picture. The bricks are placed in alternate direction, which also got me to position the crop outs in a similar way. The colored spaces in between the groups define an unseen line that makes each batch separate from each other. Even with various clusters I kept in mind to show the real essence of the image and still to a certain extent showed what is happening in the photograph. The second image is based on interaction between different bodies. The parrot green colour on the background spreads out positivity and happiness. In this photograph you can see a man with a helping hand, giving out materials and food to the needy. I did not engage in making patterns for this one and made a similar layout to demonstrate equality between the classes. Even the diagonal crop outs join to the others around it. If closely seen, the very significant individuals in the image are not distracted by the spaces between the cut outs and have their faces fully shown. I didthis to show central subject in the image.

RENDERS

Material Connexion- Journal entry

Journal Entry

 

Caribbean Agate

Cement based

Thick, flat slab of concrete that incorporates translucent acrylic within the structure, creating a juxtaposition of two contrasting materials in the same sheet. 100% acrylic resin is used to fill holes within a glass fiber reinforced cement (GFRC) that have been created during the casting process. The GFRC itself has a high compressive strength and excellent flexural and tensile strength achieved by a high concentration of fibres that carry the tensile loads, while a high polymer content provides toughness. The acrylic that has been cast in the mold holes provides translucency.

Performance properties:

  • Acoustics- Sound Diffusing
  • Chemical Resistance- High
  • Colorfastness- High
  • Fire resistance- High
  • Impact Resistance- Good
  • Outdoor use- No
  • Reflectivity- Light Absorbing
  • Scratch resistance- Medium
  • Stain Resistance- High
  • Tear Resistance- N/A
  • Thermal Conductivity- Low
  • Usage Temperature- Low
  • UV Resistance- High
  • Water Resistance- N/A
  • Wear Resistance- High

Physical Properties:

  • Stiffness- Stiff
  • Structure- Closed
  • Surface/Texture- Texture
  • Transparency- Translucent
  • Surface Hardness- Hard

How its made:

Its physical mixed and casted with the blend of the two materials. It is then evened out to make it smooth and usable

Application:

Applications include interior walls, ceilings, partitions, façades, sheathing and flooring.

 

Patterned Fabric Composites

Process

This is a material that can fit into any shape or size which is interesting. Resin-impregnated open mesh composites with intricately woven patterns that can be engineered for specific performance. The textile patterning technology allows a myriad of yarn types and weights that are impregnated with a rigid (or potentially flexible) thermoset resin. The patterned, linked, and interlaced fabric offers an alternative to standard braids and knitted materials, yielding flexible and breathable composite structures. Fabrics can ‘shape-shift’ accurately and evenly over mandrels and shaping tools through tension distribution.

Performance properties

  • Acoustics- Sound Absorbing, Sound Transparent
  • Chemical Resistance- Medium
  • Colorfastness- High
  • Fire resistance- Low, Medium
  • Impact Resistance- Good
  • Outdoor use- Yes
  • Reflectivity- Light Absorbing
  • Scratch resistance- Medium
  • Stain Resistance- High
  • Tear Resistance- High
  • Thermal Conductivity- Low
  • Usage Temperature- Low
  • UV Resistance- Medium
  • Water Resistance- High
  • Wear Resistance- Medium

Physical properties

  • Stiffness- Stiff, Semi-Rigid, Flexible
  • Structure- Open
  • Surface/Texture- Irregular Texture
  • Transparency- Opaque, Transparent
  • Surface Hardness- Hard

How its made:

Its machine or physically woven

Application:

Sports equipment

 

Green macadamia nut shell board

Naturals

Wall panels that use waste macadamia nut shells for decorative effect and sound absorption. Waste macadamia nut shell is combined with between 10 and 60% unmodified cashew nut shell liquid from the cashew nut industry that is classified as agricultural waste. This liquid acts as a binder. The resin and nutshells are combined in a mold and mixed with a fire retardant chemical; the mixture chemically cures in the mold at room temperature. The material is removed from the mold and can be bonded to an MDF or other panel to allow easy fixture to a wall or other surface.

Performance properties:

  • Acoustics- Sound Absorbing
  • Chemical Resistance- Medium
  • Colorfastness- High
  • Fire resistance- High
  • Impact Resistance- Moderate
  • Outdoor use- No
  • Reflectivity Light- Absorbing
  • Scratch resistance- Medium
  • Stain Resistance- Medium
  • Tear Resistance- N/A
  • Thermal Conductivity- Low
  • Usage Temperature- Low
  • UV Resistance- High, Medium
  • Water Resistance- High
  • Wear Resistance- Low

Physical properties:

  • Stiffness- Stiff
  • Structure- Open
  • Surface/Texture- Texture
  • Transparency- Opaque
  • Surface Hardness- N/A

How its made:

Its made of metal and wood tools and then blinded together with a natural glue.

Application:

Its a decorative material to bring in aesthetics to a space. Also used in furniture.

Learning Portfolio Reflection Post

My name is Sanskruti Leela and I am eighteen years old. I am majoring in interior design under BFA with a strong interest in traditional art forms.
First semester and the second semester were vastly different from each other. The first term was to casually introduce us to the basic themes and practices that we will be exploring in our period in the New School, whereas the second term narrowed down to a particular theme such as system and strategies, and focused on more of the technical aspects. We got introduced to the basics of college writing, which created a base for the second semester. Topics like Sustainability, Time helped us improvise our works considering the social aspects. The theme is common between academic studies and the studio making. The studio was slightly open ended and the writing was a little more confined. The research was surely exciting as I learnt a lot of new things.
Project 1
This is a Haiku that was chosen from social injustice topic we chose. As I chose death penalty for juveniles, I was supposed to research about it. Just like the final essay foe integrative seminar two we were supposed to have an annotate bibliography for three research methods. From each research method we were supposed to pick up three sentences that were most relatable to the topic and then the class was divide in groups of three. As each member had nine sentences, we were supposed to put all of them in whichever sequence we wanted. After examining we were told to eliminate words and make three lined haiku out of it. This was an interesting exercise as we were getting an hang of what an haiku was and how different topics came up to be one. I individually was given a week to make one myself keeping in mind the research methods, the activities we did in class and my topic.
Haiku:
Phantom

Looking up at stars,
My sleep has a dead end,
Loneliness is killing me.

Cap, save this wonder,
I look up to the bare ceiling,
Don’t know the devil.

Hands hug the rainbow far,
Handcuffs, the only thing touchable,
It’s my time to pay.

Make the flowers bloom bright,
It’s just the path I don’t follow,
Dying with bright dark circles.

It’s hard to find your bridge,
I did, the one with fresh blood,
Disintegrating.

I would want pink love,
Would calm myself with red,
Why can I see black?

I think with a sword,
Hearts stopped beating since then,
Mine did since I started.

The holes at every step,
She had two herself,
Babies don’t want to exist.

His eyes shut to conquer,
Been a decade since sunlight,
Tears have made rigid grooves.

Give it a white shadow,
It still sees black for money,
Looking for phantoms

This was the outcome. As each paragraph had to consist of five, seven and five syllables each it was a little challenging to come up with words that were relatable considering the word limit.

Project 2:

This was my time project that focused on cutup techniques and was based on some action I do constantly through out the day. As I have an habit of playing with my hair during whatever I am doing throughout the day I chose to work with that. We were first supposed to come to with minimum ten pictures of us doing a certain action. And therefore if noticed closely I am doing various different actions whilst playing with my hair. After getting the pictures we were supposed to put in whichever we wanted to arrange it on a large piece of paper. Gradually we were introduced to cut up techniques.
As seen I approached the assignment in a different way. Each picture was placed in a unique position. The white and black patterns are doodles of what thoughts was going across my mind while doing that particular action.

As I am doing interior design and I have high interest in Traditional art forms I would want to infuse them together to make a renowned classical design. I would surely want to pursue short abstract poem writings considering the political and social issues going around us. The seminar classes were helpful as I got a technical and social knowledge about the surrounding which is an important element to keep in mind while learning my major.