Urban Design & Planning Portfolio (2019–2026) I Kunth Shah

design portfolio

KUNTH SHAH

MS Urban Design

The University of Texas at Austin

selected professional and academic work 2019 - 2026

References_

Liang Wang

Assistant

Professor

Graduate

Advisor for Urban Design

The University of Texas at Austin

liang.wang@utexas.edu

01_

GreenLink Denver

Weaving disconnected neighborhoods

Competition

First Place - APA Student Planning and Design Competition, NPC Denver 2025

03_

Keep Austin Lit

Housing and public programming

Academic Design Excellence Award Nomination at UT SOA

05_

Tea at No Man’s Land

Border porosity on the Radcliffe Line

Academic - Undergraduate Thesis Dissertation

07_

Revitalizing Turner Road

Street design

Professional Practice

Ongoing project

09_

Dwell - Tube House

Low-rise, high density housing

Urban research

02_

Richmond Zoning Pattern

Zoning and form-based coding

Professional Practice

Ongoing Project

04_

Downtown Tapestry

Downtown revitalization - Seattle

Competition

ULI Hines Student Competition, 2024

06_

Into The Meadows

Township design

Professional Practice

Ongoing project

08_

Social Resilience

Community based research + advocacy

Urban mapping and community engagement

Built Project - Grant Funded

01 GreenLink Denver

Weaving disconnected neighborhoods

Competition x Neighborhood Scale

First Place - APA Student Planning and Design Competition, NPC Denver 2025

Site Plan

1- GreenLink 2- Multi Modal Transit Hub

3- Urban Farming

4- Community Garden

5- Community Programming 6- Pocket Parks 7- Education

Location: Federal and Colfax Ave., West Denver Team: Edwin, Tess, Chaochen, Maria

Personal Contribution: Site research and mapping, design development, perspective view renderings, transportation drawings.

Green-Link

Summary: The project envisions a comprehensive mixed-use development, serving as a reparative link for an auto-dominant and disconnected site. Guiding principles such as mobility, social resilience, economy, and sustainability drive the planning and design.

Space Network Map

Heat Island Map

Accident Vulnerability Map

Demographic Study

- Single Unit

- Two-Unit

- Multi-Unit

- Mixed-Use

- Affordable Units

- Residential

- Retail

- Community

- Education

- Urban Farm

- Pocket Parks

- Hospitality

Land Use

- Sun-facing

- Solar Energy

- Bioswale

- Windbreak

- Permeability

Mixed-Use Street

Bicycle Highway

A DAY IN THE LINK

LINK

CADE’S

LINK

LINK

LINK

LINK

02 Richmond Zoning Pattern

Zoning and form-based coding

Professional Practice x City Scale

Ongoing Project - Public Review

Representational Neighborhoods

Location: Richmond, Virginia

Team: Code Studio

Personal Contribution: 3D modeling and illustrator styling of district graphics.

Noncomformities

The pattern book identifies patterns and metrics to regulate, guiding zoning reform and explaining to the public why changes are needed to align regulations with desirable existing built forms, flag nonconformities, and propose form-based codes blending historic character with contemporary standards.

Residential Districts, RA-A (attached, low)

A

- Site

Lot Width (min)

Building Coverage (max)

Outdoor Amenity Space (min)

Mixed-use Districts, MX-13

A - Site

Lot Width (min)

Building Coverage (max)

Outdoor Amenity Space (min)

B - Setbacks

Primary Street (min/max)

Side Street (min/max)

Side and Read (min)

Alley (min/max)

Build-to Primary Street

Build-to Side Street

B - Setbacks

Primary Street (min/max)

Side Street (min/max)

Side and Read (min)

Alley (min/max)

Build-to Primary Street

Build-to Side Street

C - Massing

Building Height (max)

Building Width (max)

Active-depth Primary Street (min)

Active-depth Side Street (min)

Ground Story Height (min)

- Massing

Building Height (max)

Building Width (max)

Active-depth Primary Street (min)

Active-depth Side Street (min)

Ground Story Height (min)

- Activation

Windows - Ground Story (min)

Windows - Upper Story (min)

Blank Wall Width (max)

Door Spacing - street facing (max)

- Activation

Windows - Ground Story (min)

Windows - Upper Story (min)

Blank Wall Width (max)

Door Spacing - street facing (max)

Keep Austin Lit

Housing and public programming

Academic x Neighborhood Scale

Nominated for the Design Excellence Award at UT SOA

Location: East Cesar Chavez St., Austin Team: Ambreen Massey

Personal Contribution: Metropolitan and site scale mapping and analysis, 3D modeling on Rhino, drawing renderings, design diagrams.

Situated at the edge of the East Austin area along the Colorado River, the 63 acre site is bound by 5th St. to the south and Shady lane to the East. The project focuses on examining new building typologies, in combination with re imagined urban block configurations. Affiliated mobility and mix use programs, can constitute a renewed model for a denser and more diverse mixed -use urban development.

Precedent 1: Green Archipelago | Berlin, Germany

Precedent 2: Praça das Artes | Sao Paulo

Precedent 3: Brooklyn Bridge Park | New York

1_Existing Road Network

Using the existing mobility network as an enabler for connection than a divider.

2_Amplifying Mobility

Identifying existing bus plaza as a multi modal transit hub.

3_Retaining The Existing Built Fabric

Locating socially critical functions as primary public nodes.

4_Establishing a Pedestrian Spine

Connecting major public nodes to form a pedestrian first backbone.

5_Re-zoning

Programmatic re-zoning of spaces based on the outlined spine.

6_Adapive Re-use And Building Typology

Exploring building typologies to create urban spaces.

Typology 1

Multi modal transit system & market

Typology 3

Artist housing

Typology 2

Market-rate housing + F & B programs

Typology 4

Elder + Affordable Housing

04 Downtown Tapestry

Downtown revitalization - ULI Competition 2024

Competition x Neighborhood Scale

Location: Pioneer Square, Seattle

Team: Nilay, Vatsal, Tony, Jamie

Personal Contribution: Research and analysis, design development, diagrams, story board, site plan render, sections, programmatic axon.

Downtown Tapestry stitches disconnected adjacent districts and splintered communities to form a robust urban linkage. The project transforms a former civic district into a thriving mixed-use development for complete living. The project unlocks the potential of re-zoning existing civic programs to stitch mixed-use buildings via a series of green infrastructures. The mixed-use development is anchored by programmed open spaces, efficient mobility networks, and a pedestrian spine that stitches affordable housing and welfare with cultural expression and business, thus forming three key threads in the Tapestry – Connectivity, Community, and Economy

Site Plan

Community

Pioneer Square continues to be richly historic, and culturally vibrant. The project celebrates the legacy of Pioneer Square by re-establishing cultural links to Seattle, and integrating communities from adjacent neighbourhoods to create a rich tapestry of programs.

Weaving disconnected districts

Connectivity

The development intends to converge diverse groups of people and cultures through dense urban programming. Green infrastructure such as shared bike and walking lanes, connected green spaces on ground and podium levels, pedestrian-only streets, and a green elevated pathway across I5 feed into pre-existing modes of public transportation to amplify and encourage the use of public mobility networks.

Economy

Equal Street – a pedestrian first complete street (former Jefferson St.) forms the backbone of the economic district. The street draws tourists from Occidental Avenue, into the Tapestry to experience bipoc art studios, retail + F&B programs, and festivals hosted at Chief Si’ahl Square. This leverages already existing businesses, thus improving livelihoods of communities beyond our boundaries. The Launchpad - business incubation centre, co-working spaces, and mentorship programs, makers hub, plugs into Equal Street.

Connected open spaces

Sustainibility systems

HOUSING

Timber construction

CONDOTEL

Designed for tourist footfall

Equal Streets - pedestrian spine

THE CHIEF SI’AHL SQUARE

A public plaza a major public transport hub

THE YESLER BUILDING

Adaptive Reuse of heritage building for housing

HOTEL SEATTLE

Adaptive Reuse of heritage building as a hotel

Cross Section

Tea at No Man’s Land

Border porosity on the Radcliffe Line

Academic x Neighborhood Scale

Undergraduate Thesis Dissertation

Location: India-Pakistan International Border

Having co-existed in relative peace and harmony, villages, families, homes, lands, cultures were torn apart by drawing the line of partition. The newly carved border by an alien identity acts like a physical manifestation of the great divide across ‘sameness’, giving people new national identities.

The “No Man’s Land” is a byproduct of the boundary between India and Pakistan. A space that does not exist. The characteristic non-existence of space strips the person of their identity, and also their preconceived notions of nationalism. What is the national identity of a person inhabiting this space? How does an invisible line, redefine national identities of people?

1 - Two friends - Lata Mangeshkar and Noor Jahan - 1952

Two famous singers and close friends were separated during the partition. Rugs were laid for them to meet, they brought gifts and Biryani for each other.

2 - Two families solemnizing

A bride’s family was denied visas and so wedding. The border was decorated as

Congregation on No Man’s Land

solemnizing a wedding - 1948

No Man’s Land became the space for a two families congregated for a wedding.

3 - Religious Mela (fair) - Annual Fair

The Radcliffe line ran through a Dargah. An annual fair is celebrated which is used by separated friends and families to reunite temporarily.

Railway Station:

Much like the experience of Toba Tek Singh, the Railway station tries to bring a sense of madness into the viewer by giving one sweeping view of the entire site from a certain point just outside the mill.

Post Office:

House of Toba Tek Singh Post Office for Memories as Address

35mmx35mm

Timber Beam

MS Gutter + Aluminum Flashing

Timber Pulley

Timber Bracket

Jute Rope

Jute Rope Vertical

10mm Dia. MS

Steel Brace

Timber Bracket

1.5m Khus Fabric

Louver system

270mm x 35mm

Timber Post

25mm Stone Sill

20mm China

Mosaic Tiles

20mmm BBC

Brick Cupola

35mm Thick

Timber Frame

180mm RCC

Anchor Beam

1.5mm Fabric

Opening

5mm MS Base Plate

400mm Brick Pedestal

Tucked within the ground with only the fabric visible. Sorting cases for letters and parcels that may have arrived for the cemetery are designed to be in the transition zone of the viewer. The attempt here is to create curiosity and questions which get answered subsequently.

150mm RCC Retaining Wall

150mm BBC

Load Bearing Brick Pier

Crypt for Objects

150mm RCC Slab

Cemetery of Material Memory: Experiences embedded within most common place objects can trigger memories. One can deposit their object and make peace with their trauma, with a sense of privacy. After having placed the object it becomes part of the larger archive of thousands of other objects.

of the Railway Station and approach into no man’s land

300mm x 160mm RCC Ring Beam

Fabric Screen for Privacy

Existing Farmlands

International Border

Samjhauta Express

Cemetery of Material Memory

Observatory of Sameness

Into the Meadows

Township design

Professional Practice x Neighborhood Scale

Ongoing Project

Location: Odisa, India

Team: Sameep Padora and Associates

Personal Contribution: Design development, 3D modeling and visualization, design diagrams, plan rendering.

The township provides a unique opportunity to stitch multiple programs together in such a way that is contextual and sensitive to the ecology. The masterplan contains housing units of various sizes with amenity blocks, temple and parking spaces. The challenge was to preserve every tree on site and build in the negative spaces. This was done by a detailed survey to mark every tree. GIS mapping of the site soon followed to map site hydrology, which became the basis to place built programs.

Detailed site survey to mark every tree and site hydrology lines 2

Block made out of the sum total of the built up area required in the township 3

Redistributing the block into individual programs and placing them in the negative spaces between clusters of trees

Strategy

Final position of the blocks, leaving the middle portion as open space and farming area. A cycling track loops around the site

House 1 Guest House 2

Temple Club House Dining Hall

07 Revitalizing Turner Road

Street design

Professional Practice x Street Scale

Ongoing Project

Location: Bandra, Mumbai

Team: Studio Pomegranate

Personal Contribution: Site survey and documentation, design development, plan and intersection renderings.

Turner Road in Bandra is one of the most prominent streets of Mumbai. The 800-metre long east-west corridor, joins two important nodes of the city. This prominence has lead to a vibrant jewelery and clothes market along with F&B programs. The road is currently in a state of decay and disrepair making it inefficient in ensuring smooth transition of customers and unsafe pedestrian and vehicular movement.

Turner Road

- Bombay Municipal Corporation

Project Share: 40% as part of the Smart city development program, funding received from the central government.

- People’s Association of Bandra

Project Share: 50% as part Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

- Traffic Management Depart-

Project Share: 5%

- Electricity Department

Project Share: 5%

Road alignment

Junction 2

Junction 1

Key Plan

Junction 1

Existing condition

Junction 3

Existing condition

Existing condition

Existing condition

08

Social Resilience

Community based participatory research and advocacy + placemaking

Urban research x Building Scale

Grant Funded - Built Project

Location: Versova, Mumbai

Team: Yashvi, Saivi, Asmita, Saumil, Ruchi, Yash, Savalee, Neeraj

Personal Contribution: Map of Mumbai, hand drawings post production, data analysis, detailed drawing of the mandav structure, interviews and surveys on site, project photographs.

The Kathiawadi Community are a migrant fish drying people who have been subject to exclusionary social practices by their landlords (Koli’s). Access to amenities have been denied and threat of climate change is real and experienced daily with rising sea levels. Our aim was to actively engage with the community, map their social spaces and everyday lives, to be able to design and build a place-making project using community participation to make the community resilient.

I don’t have access to parks and there is no provision for lights here at night, so I can’t leave my house for a walk after sunset.

There is no privacy for women to breast feed their babies or change their clothes. I wish we had more privacy around our workplace.

High tide line

Houses of Kathiawadi Community

We don’t have a garden or a park nearby to play nor do we have access to quality formal education. We have to play in the dirt.

Houses of Kathiawadi Community

MandavTemporary bamboo structure for fish drying

- Community Space

- Open Space

- Education

- Healthcare Facility

- Religious Site

We don’t have any representation, or a body of voice neither do we have access to a community space for meetings.

We don’t have any space of respite, not even to have lunch or take a break around our workplace. No place to take a nap.

The land that we rent for our livelihood is being sold to private developers to build Illegal Housing at the edge.

Waste Bamboo from the site up-cycled for the project

Waste Agro-net from the site repurposed for the project

School for children and privacy for women

Organization of community and storage spaces

Safe play area for children

Agro-net to stop water drippage

Constructing and installing light weight - movable screens to create transformable spaces to host community gatherings. Making a bed and providing swings as elements for women to breastfeed and children to play and learn.

Place-making project under the mandav structure for social resilience

Dwell - Tube House

Low-rise high-density housing

Urban research x Building Scale

Location: Lucknow, India

Team: Adhish, Mahek, Bansi, Shamanth, Samad

Personal Contribution: Site isometric drawing and render, structural axon., design development

Tube house was a scheme which gave every household an individual plot on the ground, while still achieving the density required. The aim at Dwell was to provoke a discussion on the role of architecture and urban design to mitigate urban mathematics of densities and land values. We re-designed the layout to create unique new possibilities of spaces. We saw that the toilet block at one end of the house was acting as a dead node, which we re-positioned in the plan.

Wooden Jali

Terracotta Tiles

Battens Rafters

Planks

Rammed Earth Wall

Timber Purlins

Timber Louvers

Earth Stabilized Block Wall

Yellow Oxide Flooring

Water Drain Fascia Board

Rafters

Battens

Timber Planks

Smaller Nodes:

Intermittent open spaces for small groups of people. Each of the nodes are flanked by small shops (tea stalls). These nodes are placed strategically at the intersections of streets hence one is always made to pass through these spaces which allows for chance interaction between inhabitants.

Largest Node:

Placed farthest within the site to allow people to meander through the streets before reaching the largest space. To be used by the inhabitants for large personal gatherings such festival celebrations weddings etc.

Street:

The streets cut through the site from four places and do the job of stitching the nodes and the network of tube houses together. They are flanked by a series of staggered tube houses with open ends and welcoming plinths. The street can be public or private, as per the inhabitants need for the day.

Kunth Shah

MS Urban Design

The University of Texas at Austin

kunthshah@utexas.edu

(m) +1 (732) 487-5709

LinkedIn - Kunth Shah