Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Neelakantan
PORTFOLIO
2000 - 2010
Table of Contents
RESUME
INTRODUCTION
G A ARCHITECTS
ATELIER 2 INC
HASTINGS ARCHITECTURE
KERALA UNIVERSITY
SKETCHES
NAME Mahesh Neelakantan
EXPERIENCE
01:2009 – Present Design Architect, GA Architects, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Lead designer handling projects ranging from mixed use devolopments, high rise residential and Commercial
buildings. Responsible for concept design through design devolopment and co-ordinating construction
documentation.
09:2008 – 12:2008 Architect, Atelier2 inc., Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Freelance architect handling projects ranging from Architecture, graphic design and LEED consultancy.
06:2007 – 09:2008 Architect, Hastings Architecture Associates, Nashville, USA
Design Architect responsible for the direction of three to four member project teams from concept through
design devolopment under the overall supervision of an Associate. Preparation of construction documents, and
participation in construction administration of large scale commercial and institutional facilities. Clients include
Vanderbilt University, Franke inc, Pinnacle Finance.
06:2005 – 05:2007 Architect, Earl Swennson Assoc., Nashville, USA
Assisted in a diverse spectrum of firm operations including schematic design development, presentation draw-
ings, design development and construction documents. Lead design contributor for projects including cafe at
Cumberland university and Cumberland University Masterplan.
06:2001 – 06:2003 Architect, The Atelier Design Studio, Cochin, India
Design Consultant, Kraftwork Solar Pvt Ltd, Cochin, India
Lead designer handling various residential projects from concept through construction Administration.
Product design and graphic design services for Kraftwork Solar Pvt Ltd.
06:2000 – 06:2001 Layout Designer, Toonz Animation Pvt Ltd, Trivandrum, India
Graphic designer and Layout Artist in various animated productions like KingKong ( Animated TV series) Treasure
Island etc..
RESUME
The following pages contain a selection of projects I have worked on from
2000 up to now. Thank you in advance for taking time to go through it.
All the graphics, renderings and sketches in all the following projects have
been generated by me unless otherwise noted.
INTRODUCTION
Al Ain Ahlia - Dubai, UAE
G A ARCHITECTS
Al Dhaid Complex - Sharjah, UAE
This project consists of three blocks above a single level podium. There are
80 residential apartments in two bocks and a hotel with 85 guest rooms in
the third. The podium apart from having the entrance lobbies for the hotel &
apartments has a shopping mall and a hotel management Institute that will
function in tandem with the hotel. Parking is provided within the basement and
is supplemented by additional surface parking. The roof of the podium is land-
scaped and has a skylight as a focal point that looks down into the mall atrium.
The plans of the building were already pre approved by the client by the time
I was involved in the project. I was responsible for developing the project from
earlier approved plans, facade design, design development and coordinating
the construction documents.
G A ARCHITECTS
Centro Hotel - Abu Dhabi , UAE
G A ARCHITECTS
Existing building
ATELIER 2 INC
Emirates Gate - Ajman , UAE
ATELIER 2 INC
I provided design consultation services to Architects Jim Lowen Associates [www.
Lowen-Associates.com] and provided the firm with 3D visualizations and renderings.
The above renderings were generated using Sketch-Up and 3D Studio Max.
ATELIER 2 INC
An organizational spine is employed
as a means to generate a hierarchy of
spaces as they relate to the timeline
of manufacture, from product devel-
opment at the front of the building,
through product testing at the build-
ing’s midpoint and terminating with
distribution at the warehouse.
HASTINGS ARCHITECTURE
Franke Corporate office - Nashville , USA
The café opens to an outdoor patio which has a steel pergola that is a continuing translation of the lighting fixture and
entry canopy.The wood clad wall breaks at the floor line, turning horizontal to become the wood deck that adjoins the
patio. Four modern fixed tables reflect the square windows on the wood clad module. The depth and width of the patio is
congruent with that of the building. The scoring on the concrete patio continues vertically to become the joint in the butt
glazed window system, thereby giving it a continuous flow from the vertical through the horizontal.
HASTINGS ARCHITECTURE
Franke Corporate office - Nashville , USA
HASTINGS ARCHITECTURE
1
5 4 3
8 7 6
Franke Corporate office - Nashville , USA
Photo legend
1 : office building front elevation oblique
2: office building exterior detail
3: office building exterior ipe detail
4: office building exterior elevation
5: office building side courtyard
6: office building exterior connector
7: office building entry
8: office building exterior connector rear end
The company signage located at the entry has been designed to incorporate the
same vocabulary in terms of proportions and material palette as the building.
HASTINGS ARCHITECTURE
1201 Demonbreun - Nashville , USA
1201 Demonbreun was a residential tower with a future office tower addition. My contribution to the team included spatial
design concepts, design visualization and preparation of design devolopment documents. I also put together the package
to get approval for the project by the MDHA, which sets certain guildelines for devolopment in Nashville.
HASTINGS ARCHITECTURE
Coffee County Elementary School- The design is based around a ‘pod’ system creating collaborative spaces for
children to interact. The finger like layouts enable excellent day lighting and views from all classrooms. The Project is
pursuing LEED silver. I was responsible for the initial concept design and developing the program in conjunction with
client requirements.
HASTINGS ARCHITECTURE
Highwoods Mixed-use development - The development included over a 10,00,000 SqFt of office and 50,000 SqFt of
retail. I worked as part of a multidisciplinary team that included Urban Planners and Civil engineers. My contribution
included spatial design concepts and design visualization.
HASTINGS ARCHITECTURE
Pinnacle bank lobby interior design. I hand rendered the sketch (above) as a visual to communicate our layout
concept with the client. The design was approved and the rendering was further used for their marketing purposes.
Frist Hall addition is a project I helped design at Hastings Architecture associates. The project called for an addi-
tional two floors above an existing brick building. My design envisioned a glass box that complemented the existing
structure with details that harmoniously integrated construction from two different time periods.
HASTINGS ARCHITECTURE
The Student dining hall and visual
Arts building designed as the second
phase to the Cafe shown below at
Cumberland university. These build-
ings were designed so as to bridge
the architectural styles in the campus
by being contemporary yet within the
traditional framework of existing archi-
tectural language. The saw-toothed
fenestration details apart from infusing
a cutting edge detail was primarily as
mechanism for climate control enabling
daylighting through the day while
minimizing solar gain from the western
sun.
EARL SWENSSON ASSOC.
Cafe at Cumberland University- A
building I designed at ESa. The design
introduced a modern addition to the
150 year old campus that instilled new
energy yet maintaining synergy with the
existing buildings.The cafe was
envisioned as a part of the short term
masterplan shown the page below and
was to kick start their 20 year construc-
tion drive. The two renderings below
show two of the initial concepts. The
selection was left to the student body
which chose the more contemporary
version on the right.
KERALA UNIVERSITY
Davidson Academy- Site Analysis. A project I worked on at Earl Swensson Associates. I was a part of a team work-
ing on the masterplan and was responsible for the site analysis, zoning and masterplan concepts.
Davidson Academy was a K through 12 school and were relocating from their existing building to a new one pro-
posed in the above shown site.
SKETCHES
Thumbnail sketches done on Index cards as a part of design exploration and studies on various projects. These
quick studies have enabled me to go through multiple concepts and have been a tool to better communicate design
ideas among team members and to clients during design meetings.
SKETCHES
Architectural sketches and studies that I did for McGill university Department of Architecture during the summer of
2004. These were a part of the series of sketches on Montreal and were featured as a part of an urban design article
in http://ecoplan.mcgill.ca
Architectural sketches and studies - These sketches have been done during the course of my travels and from
books. These exersices help me in getting a better feel for the built structure and their underlying concepts. The
above sketches have been done using graphite on paper.
SKETCHES
While I was a graduate student at
Texas A&M University, I had the
oppurtunity to work as an editorial
illustrator for the college newspaper -
‘The Battalion’. The following are a
few of the illustrations that I had
produced during my year long stint
with the newspaper.
SKETCHES