PORTFOLIO MUSKAAN ALIMCHANDANI SELECTED WORKS | 2023 - 2026
1|
Muskaan Alimchandani
2|
01
Hercules Sports Center
p.4
The Stepwell of Ahmedabad
p.14
a sports project in Hercules, Queretaro, Mexico
02
an AI-driven cultural center reviving Chandola Lake in Ahmedabad, India
03
Intergenerational Play
p.22
Cornerline Apartments
p.32
Urban Canyon Innovation Center
p.42
drop-off daycare that unites different generations in St. Louis, MO 04
a social housing project in Berlin, Germany
05
adaptive reuse of the Smallpox Hospital to a tech and innovation center on Roosevelt Island, New York, US
3|
Muskaan Alimchandani
01 HERCULES SPORTS CENTER COMPREHENSIVE STUDIO
Washington University in St. Louis April 2025 Instructor: Alfonso Garduno Course: Comprehensive Studio Location: Santiago de Querétaro, Mexico Recognition: Nominated to be in the Sam Fox student work publication: The Approach.
This comprehensive studio project focuses on the details of forming a space and its structure. Working directly with the community of Hercules in Queretaro, Mexico, the studio found that residents were proud of their FIFA-size soccer field but lacked the facilities to fully use it. In response, the project places a sports center on the west side of the field, adding a basketball court, swimming pool, community cafe, playground, and rooftop padel courts, padel being a popular sport in Mexico. Seating lets spectators take in the soccer, basketball, and swimming alike, while an existing building on site is renovated into locker rooms and bathrooms. Because the community asked that the site’s mature trees stay untouched, the structure is designed around them, weaving nature through the space. The result is a high-performing steel structure whose spans and spacing were resolved through trial and error to work around the trees, one of the project’s central challenges. More than a set of courts, it amplifies the soccer field and gives the community room to learn, train, and play together.
4|
5|
financial
retail
pharmacy
retail
financial
gas station
map drawn by Leah Button, Ty Blumberg, Makenna Barker
concept sketches
restaurant
500
150
250
75
0
0
225
300
1,000
gas station
Meters
Feet
D USE + PROGRAM
ESTURANT
HARMACY
EDICAL SERVICES
OMMUNITY
HURCH
DUCATION
EGEND
AS STATION
INANCIAL SERVICES
medical
ROCERY
grocery
ETAIL
The land use in Hércules is concentrated near the city’s center, in which the historic textile mill is located. Core building programming is found typically along the main roadways in the southern area, while the northern areas are lacking access to these oppourtunities.
Muskaan Alimchandani
LAND USE MAP + PROGRAM
6|
| Hercules Sports Court This exploded axonometric breaks the sports center into its stacked levels. The ground plane holds the swimming pool and basketball court, opening onto the existing soccer field and its trees. Above sits the steel truss structure, its spans and spacing carefully worked out to weave around the site’s protected trees. The roof level carries the padel courts, where the trees push up through the structure and infiltrate the built form, keeping nature threaded through every level.
axonometric diagram
7|
Muskaan Alimchandani GROUND FLOOR PLAN ARRANGEMENT
Legend
The floor plan is laid out with a full NBA-size basketball court and a half olympic pool on either ends of the intervention facing East and West for reduction of glare with the center to be used as a lounging area. It also consists of the existing building which houses bathrooms, locker rooms, and a cafe for players. The columns are spaced 20 feet apart across a span of 68 feet in width. The spacing of the 12 feet by 12 feet columns were carefully considered to keep the trees growing through the structure. This spacing also considered the roots of the trees.
1 - multipurpose court 2 - playground 3 - cafe/seating 4 - bathrooms 5 - locker rooms 6 - kitchen 7 - swimming pool
1
2
4
ground floor plan
basketball court perspective
circulation perspective 8|
4
| Hercules Sports Court
7
3
6
4
roof perspective
4
5
5
swimming pool perspective 9|
Muskaan Alimchandani STRUCTURAL SYSTEM AND MODEL Column to concrete spread footing connection connected by leveling nuts, steel base plates, and anchor bolts
X-Brace lap connection with bolts
X-Brace end connection to column with steel gusset plate and high-strength bolts
Concrete filled HSS 12” x 12” x 1/2” column
W14 x 30 ste nected with brackets/L-s plate with hig
perspective section 10 |
eel beam consteel angle shaped steel gh strength bolts
| Hercules Sports Court
Two halves of the trusses connected by angle brackets/Lshaped steel plate with high strength bolts for easier transportation and easy connection on site
11 |
Muskaan Alimchandani
12 |
| Hercules Sports Court
13 |
Muskaan Alimchandani
02 THE STEPWELL OF AHMEDABAD: REIMAGINING WATER HERITAGE BETWEEN MEMORY AND MACHINE VERNACULAR AI ARCHITECTURE
July 2026 Instructor: Karel Klein Competition: Archibest Vernacular AI Architecture Competition Recognition: Top 10 Honorable Mention Teammates: Bedgid Laguerre, Wenny Liu Location: Ahmedabad, India
This team project for the Vernacular AI Architecture competition reimagines Chandola Lake in Ahmedabad, an ecological resource and place of collective memory that has receded under environmental degradation, displacing the communities at its edges. The proposal turns that absence into opportunity: a cultural center reuniting water and public life. Drawing on historic Indian stepwells, it reinterprets the typology as a contemporary civic landscape with jali screen nodes. Artificial intelligence served as a design partner throughout. The team analyzed 35 stepwell plans in Claude to build a prompt framework, then paired those prompts with hand sketches in Midjourney for sketch-to-render studies of water, light, and enclosure. Custom LoRA training, Stable Diffusion, and xFigura extended this work. AI drove iteration, while the final design stayed guided by human
Drawings and diagrams created by Muskaan Alimchandani unless specified otherwise 14 |
| Generative Wall Section
15 |
Muskaan Alimchandani
Nizamuddin Baoli Feroz Shah Kotla Agrasen ki Baoli Rajon Ki Baoli Gol Bavdi
Chand Baori Rani Ki Vav Chandola Lake Surya Kund Dada Harir Vav Matar Bhavani Vav Adalaj Vav Madha Vav Amrutvarshini Vav Helical Vav Vasantgadh Stepped Pond
Mod Pataleshwar
Pushkarani
Water has long shaped Chandola Lake in Ahmedabad, once among the city’s largest water bodies, now receded through environmental degradation and urban change that displaced informal communities. This cultural center reunites water and public life, with AI as a design partner translating historic Indian stepwells into contemporary forms through Kohya training, Stable Diffusion, and xFigura. map of analyzed stepwells done by Wenny Liu
2010
2020
2025
The image sequence from 2010, 2020, and 2025 reveals Chandola Lake progressively drying as Ahmedabad’s urban fabric expands around it. 16 |
| Stepwell of Ahmedabad
training dataset for stepwell anatomy analysis
17 |
Muskaan Alimchandani
ground floor plan
mid-level plan
18 |
| Stepwell of Ahmedabad
longitudinal section done by Bedgid Laguerre
entry way sunken water basin render by xfigura, gemini, and adobe firefly done by Muskaan Alimchandani in collaboration with 19 |
Muskaan Alimchandani
private reflection water basin render by xfigura, gemini, and adobe firefly
20 |
| Stepwell of Ahmedabad
public water basin render by xfigura, gemini, and adobe firefly done by Wenny
21 |
Muskaan Alimchandani
22 |
| Stepwell of Ahmedabad
23 |
Muskaan Alimchandani
03 INTERGENERATIONAL PLAY DEGREE PROJECT
Washington University in St. Louis April 2026 Instructor: Wyly Brown Course: Degree Project Location: St. Louis, MO
This thesis degree project began as a critique of the plastic modular playground found in nearly every park, the same equipment built only for young children. It reframes play not as something just for kids but as a shared language of learning and exchange across generations. Set in Eads Park, an underused park in St. Louis, the project takes the form of an intergenerational drop-off daycare where children, adults, and the elderly play, build, and trade knowledge together. At its core is a central sand pit where all three generations gather to build, forming the social and spatial heart of the site. Radiating outward is a series of circular pavilions, both open and enclosed, housing workshops, libraries, cafes, and an auditorium. A dedicated garden invites older members of the community to teach younger generations, reinforcing the exchange of skills at the center of the design. Developed with a focus on sustainable, community-centered design, the project celebrates play as a universal language and gives generations the space to connect, learn, and grow together.
24 |
25 |
Muskaan Alimchandani CONCEPTUAL PROCESS The project began with the ground as the primary material. Rather than placing objects in a park, the earth folds into a continuous surface people move over, under, and through, creating sheltered pockets, sunken gathering spaces, and vantage points that pull daylight below.
SANDBOX EXPERIMENTATION
26 |
| Intergenerational Play STRUCTURAL EXPERIMENTATION
MATERIAL TESTING
27 |
Muskaan Alimchandani MASTERPLAN The ground floor plan organizes the project around a central play landscape where sand, paving, and grass intertwine through winding, organic pathways. A series of circular pavilions radiate outward across the site, housing workshops, libraries, cafes, and the large auditorium, each varying between open and enclosed forms. Gardening beds anchor the western edge, framing the shared-skills program. Trees thread throughout, weaving the built pavilions into the surrounding landscape and connecting the different generational play spaces across Eads Park.
C-C
Ground Floor Plan 3/32” = 1’
28 |
| Intergenerational Play
D-D B-B
A-A
A-A
B-B D-D
C-C
29 |
Muskaan Alimchandani
I have the most scandalous gossip ever Can’t wait to build something!
Comingg!!!! Henry hurry up, we are building a castle.
section A-A
longitudinal section
30 |
| Intergenerational Play
Hello, yes, we definitely accept walk-ins
Let me teach you the basics of chess
31 |
Muskaan Alimchandani
32 |
33 |
Muskaan Alimchandani
04 CORNERLINE APARTMENTS INTERNATIONAL HOUSING STUDIO
Washington University in St. Louis December 2024 Instructor: Julie Bauer Course: International Housing Studio Location: Berlin, Germany
The International Housing Studio explores how spaces are formed and how thresholds shape life across cities with different climates, cultures, and transit. Studying housing in Barcelona and Berlin, the project draws on the Catalan galería, an enclosed balcony space that inspired its wraparound balconies, and the Berliner Zimmer and open floor plans common to Berlin. The result is a residential tower on Karl Marx Allee built around the idea of thresholds, the in-between spaces found in every city, carried through its balconies and facade. Each apartment is given a corner condition so every unit shares equal access to views from its collaborative spaces, while a range of unit types invites a diverse mix of residents to live together. An open floor plan, common to both cities, keeps the interiors flexible and connected, anchored by a central elevator and stairwell core. All-round balconies maximize views along Karl Marx Allee while adding another layer of threshold between inside and out. The studio was heavily model-driven, with threshold and facade paper studies used to test and refine each version.
34 |
35 |
Muskaan Alimchandani
BARCELONA, SPAIN PRECEDENT THRESHOLD MODEL The Barcelona housing units emphasize a unit as a series of rooms and no corridors. They also focus the galleria space at the exterior of the building which is an enclosed balcony with ventilation. A galleria is modeled in the image.
BERLIN, GERMANY PRECEDENT THRESHOLD MODEL The Berlin housing units are organized around private and public courtyards and these courtyards are usually located at the back of the main street and away from the urban context for more privacy for the community. This threshold model shows the apartment lobby space from the door to the entrance and exit of the courtyard.
36 |
| Cornerline Apartments
1/64” = 1’0”
site plan
building sections 37 |
Muskaan Alimchandani UNITS Each unit follows an open floor plan, with the living space pulled to the glazed corner to maximize views out over Karl Marx Allee. Wrap-around balconies add a further layer of threshold and extra room to take in the city. Bathrooms and service areas are consolidated into a central core for easy maintenance, leaving the remaining spaces open and flexible, able to shift between living and dining as residents choose.
3 rooms
2 rooms
1 room
typical floor plan
1/4” = 1’0”38 |
| Cornerline Apartments
39 |
Muskaan Alimchandani FACADE AND SHADING Floor-to-ceiling windows, curved glass, curved corner balconies, and metal panels give the facade a distinct character along the long stretch of Karl-Marx-Allee. The curved glazing softens the tower’s edges and lets the corner units open fully to the city, while the balconies wrap each threshold in another layer of depth. Inside, a simple system of curtains provides shading across the units, drawn or opened by residents to tune privacy and light. This soft, shifting layer adds one more threshold between the interior and the street, letting the facade read differently from hour to hour as life plays out behind the glass.
herringbone flooring screed w/ welded wire mesh rigid insulation reinforced concrete floor slab cantilevered balcony slab curtain track window frame curtain full-height insulated glazing
handrail metal balusters window sill
waterproofing
curtain wall
aluminium mullion
detail section
partial elevation 40 |
| Cornerline Apartments
interior final threshold model 41 |
Muskaan Alimchandani
42 |
| Cornerline Apartments
43 |
Muskaan Alimchandani
05 URBAN CANYON INNOVATION CENTER ADAPTIVE REUSE
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign April 2024 Instructor: Wekeana Lassiter Course: Adaptive Reuse Studio Location: New York, USA Teammate: Helena Loranz
This adaptive-reuse studio transforms the historic Smallpox Memorial Hospital on Roosevelt Island into the Urban Canyon Innovation Center, a home for the city’s local teens between the Cornell Tech campus and Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms State Park. The design reimagines city architecture around a canyon-like central curved atrium that pulls light and movement into its core. Salvaged brick from the hospital becomes a second-skin facade, the project’s defining move: it shapes the entries and orders each elevation in response to the surrounding views. Laid to read like pixels, the brick ties the material memory of the ruin to the digital spirit of an innovation center. The center is built for collaboration, sustainability, and creativity, giving young New Yorkers a place to learn and make together. It also extends the Cornell Tech campus onto the site, opening space for Cornell Tech students to volunteer and teach younger children about technology and the fast-changing world. Reuse becomes both an environmental strategy and a way to carry the island’s history forward. Drawings and diagrams created by Muskaan Alimchandani unless specified otherwise 44 |
45 |
Muskaan Alimchandani
admin-office space
computer lab
social lounge space
robotics lab
digital fabrication lab
cafe
atrium
Program diagram done by Helena Loranz 46 |
| Urban Canyon Innovation Center recycled stone from original smallpox hospital -
recycling the original stone allows for a coninuation of the historic materials and avoids the need for material relocation while providing a solution to the currently structurally unsound space
curtain wall + second skin facade
interior materiality
this combination creates a secondary structure to support the reused stone, while also shading the new structure using passive heating techniques
- earthbag construction - steel members - plaster cladding
exterior render and material palette done by Helena Loranz
second skin facade structural diagrams done by Helena Loranz
steel members
self supporting earthbag structure
47 |
Muskaan Alimchandani
EG RE SS
CAFE
EXHIBITS ATRIUM
FRONT DESK
EG RE SS
STORAGE
EXHIBITS MECH
ground floor plan
48 |
EGRESS
EGRESS
EGRESS
EGRESS
| Urban Canyon Innovation Center
LEVEL 5 MECH CLASSROOM
OFFICE
CLASSROOM
STORAGE
VR LAB
ROBOTICS WORKSHOP
STORAGE OFFICES
EGRESS
EGRESS
W/C
W/C
LEVEL 2
LEVEL 3 MECH
MECH SOCIAL LOUNGE
FLEX SPACE WELLNESS SPACE
LEVEL 5
OFFICE
MECH METAL AND GLASS WORKSHOP LEVEL 4
CLASSROOM CLASSROOM
STORAGE
SOCIAL LOUNGE
MECH
DIGITAL FABRICATION WORKSHOP
OFFICE
STORAGE COMPUTER LAB
W/C
MUSIC TECH LAB
EGRESS
EGRESS
ATRIUM EGRESS
EGRESS
EGRESS
CAFE EGRESS W/C
W/C
OFFICES EGRESS
EGRESS STUDY W/C LOUNGE
VR LAB
ROBOTICS WORKSHOP
STORAGE
WELLNESS SPACE
OFFICE
LEVEL 3
level 2
LEVEL 2 level 3
MECH
MECH
SOCIAL LOUNGE
FLEX SPACE DIGITAL FABRICATION WORKSHOP
LEVEL 4 SOCIAL LOUNGE
LEVEL 5 MECH METAL AND GLASS WORKSHOP
MECH CLASSROOM
W/C
ATRIUM
STORAGE
EGRESS
EGRESS
COMPUTER LAB
MUSIC TECH LAB
ROBOTICS WORKSHOP
MECH
EGRESS
FLEX SPACE
OFFICE
STORAGE W/C
OFFICES EGRESS
EGRESS
LEVEL 2
EGRESS
CLASSROOM
CAFE EGRESS
EGRESS
W/C
STUDY W/C LOUNGE
WELLNESS SPACE
OFFICE
METAL AND GLASS WORKSHOP
VR LAB STORAGE
STORAGE W/C EGRESS
LEVEL 3 level 4
EGRESS
LEVEL 4level 5
CAFE STUDY LOUNGE
SOCIAL LOUNGE
MECH
SOCIAL LOUNGE DIGITAL FABRICATION WORKSHOP
COMPUTER LAB
MECH
MUSIC TECH LAB
49 |
Muskaan Alimchandani
parapet
curtain wall with minimal stone
parapet
curtain wall with moderate stone curtain wall with minimal stone
Recycled brick
Steel frame Argon gas Three paned glass
Steel grid used as fins and support for brick
Steel mullion
Steel clips for support
curtain wall with moderate stone
visually solid stone base
foundation Partial Elevation
partial elevation by Helena Loranz
detail wall section
Steel mullion Steel clips for support
visually solid stone base
Steel frame
Recycled brick
Recycled brick
Argon gas
Steel frame Argon gas Three paned glass
Steel grid used as fins and support for brick
Steel mullion
Steel clips for support
wall section callout 01
Partial Plan
Concrete foundation
5’
foundation
0’
10’
wall section callout 02 50 |
20’
| Urban Canyon Innovation Center FACADE Each facade of this project responds to its own programming and shading needs, giving every side a distinct character. This elevation is built primarily from glass and a metal grid, with recycled bricks laid along it in a deliberate pattern. Salvaged from the original Smallpox Memorial Hospital, the brick carries the site’s history into the new intervention while forming a second skin that shifts across the building. The bricks are arranged to read as pixels, tying to the building’s role as an innovation center. Where the brick thins, glazing opens the interior to daylight and the park, while denser areas provide shade.
elevation 01
elevation 02
elevation 03
elevation 04
51 |
Muskaan Alimchandani
52 |
| Urban Canyon Innovation Center
53 |
Muskaan Alimchandani
Thank you for viewing! Muskaan Alimchandani muskaanalim@gmail.com (217) 819-9667
54 |