Living Choice by Venusri Harigopal

Modern surreal architecture with cubic buildings, undulating forms, and green spaces by Venusri Harigopal.

“Hi, I am Venusri! I’m a RIBA Part-1 graduate from Heriot-Watt with a First-class Honors degree, an obsession for detail and a mission to find the most amazing people to learn from. I believe in the power of conscious design to reveal meaning in our lives. I’m creative, with one foot on print, one on pixels, and a love for both.

I enjoy making powerful designs that create lasting impressions. I particularly devote myself to research-led design with quiet passion fueling my curiosity about topics of architecture, people, and their mutual behaviour in space. I won the 8th Undergraduate Research Competition 2021 organized by Abu Dhabi University, one of the largest annual research events in the MENA region.”

Venusri Harigopal’s final design thesis project is called “Living Choice”. It all began with the question: Why BHK?

In an age where we live such richly variegated lifestyles, when it comes to where we live, we still speak the language of the “BHK”. We need to change that. “Living Choice” takes the position that “We should create decisions, not conditions for people to live in and people should have direct control over the smaller things in the human everyday scale of life.

Living Choice is a residential and mixed-use project at Jumeirah Open beach redefining living and exploring extents of typology and flexibility in space and hosted activities. Layers of activity – live, work, play, relax intertwine to create a rich living experience and enhance beach engagement for the users.

Operable modules allow users to expand or modify the nature of space to suit the flow of activities throughout the day. An undulating surface connects the living clusters, roofs the open market below and blends with the landscape to create pockets of green spaces on the beach. This project succeeds in its ability to produce things we cannot anticipate and create choices for those who participate.”

Contact Venusri Harigopal on LinkedIn [/venusriharigopal], follow her on Instagram @venusri.harigopal or send her an email at venusri.harigopal@gmail.com