MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE
Ana Moyard—The Ontario Association of Architects Guild Medal
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Ana Moyard—The Ontario Association of Architects Guild Medal
About the Award
The Ontario Association of Architects Guild Medal:
To recognize exceptional leadership through design excellence combined with innovative approaches to sustainability in an assignment or project.
Graduating from TMU’s bachelor of architectural science, with an interest in building science, I went into the field looking for a way to pursue efficient and resilient design in my architectural practice. While working in the field, I completed the University of Toronto’s Building Science Practice Certificate Program, and gained insight on how these two professions work together. Therefore when commencing TMU’s masters program, I had a goal to focus my studies on the intersection of these fields and the issues they can tackle together.
In my 4th year of undergraduate, I took Leila Farah’s option studio looking into food markets. It became clear how much our built world was tied to the agricultural systems which nourished the population, and how, today, these systems have become so large and complex as markets have opened up to the world. Through an exchange in Paris, it became clear how culture can dictate these systems even further, and how a new consciousness about where our food comes from was forming in the west, and a new interest in local, sustainable growth was entering the zeitgeist. Therefore when choosing a topic for my thesis, it became clear that when studying these food systems, a regional approach had to be taken, in order to compare and contrast the benefits of locality versus globality.
Switzerland was chosen due to its unique history of mountain agriculture, which has become so integrated with the identity of Switzerland today. As such, the architecture of this agricultural history has been so beautifully protected. The result of this national pride and conservatism are whole villages which contain relics of the past.
This thesis took me into the Val d’Entremont, where I got to go and study the villages and the vernacular buildings within them. Careful attention was placed on the construction of these buildings, and their spirit of mobility - of assembly and disassembly - proved to be an excellent study in sustainable, resilient architecture: one that is not beholden to use, time and place, but offers itself up to be manipulated throughout the needs of the farmer.
Overall, the result of the research underscored the potential of regional architectural practices to inform sustainable and flexible design.The question still remained, however, how can these villages, who make their livelihood off of local agriculture, use these spaces, in their flexibility, step into the global future while keeping their locality, scale and community?
The high cost and high labor demands of cultivating mountain landscapes often outweighs the gain. This is particularly true for animal husbandry, as automation has allowed for greater outputs, but this often comes with the need to be close to access routes and the need for gentler terrain such as that of the valley. As a result, the seasonal system of mountain animal husbandry, as well as the vernacular architectures that serve this system, have become obsolete and subsequently abandoned. This thesis asked what opportunities do these disused structures offer? How can we reinforce craftsmanship while acknowledging the changing needs of the village? How can that reinforcement contribute to the regeneration of these villages?
The design proposal provides an incremental approach to thinking about the further use of these vernacular buildings, and each step of the process has opportunities to pause and reevaluate the proposal’s direction. An exact solution to rectify disillusionment within rural villages cannot be resolved from the top-down, outsider approach of this thesis. Firstly, the exact conditions of each village is unique, and even in a single valley like Val d’Entremont, there is great variety in the needs of the populations of each village. Furthermore, this thesis can only speculate the needs of a village like Liddes, and it is only the people of the village - the farmers and craftsmen - that can truly understand the opportunities for livelihood.
However, it is in providing a framework centered around craft that this thesis hopes to contribute to the prosperity and revitalization of the village. This framework consists of deliberate phasing of the project, focused on the constant reevaluation of the design proposal. The first phase provides a center for the development of the project, as the project utilizes a system of material reclamation and prefabrication. The second phase provides a base of agricultural practice and the crafts surrounding it, and the third phase consists of integrating community into development throughout the proposal and beyond. These phases provide an opportunity for the community to gather and converse with the farmers and craftsmen and vise-versa. This project’s aim is to facilitate conversations, opening the door for solutions to the challenges and opportunities this thesis has studied.
The Ontario Association of Architects Guild Medal:
To recognize exceptional leadership through design excellence combined with innovative approaches to sustainability in an assignment or project.
Graduating from TMU’s bachelor of architectural science, with an interest in building science, I went into the field looking for a way to pursue efficient and resilient design in my architectural practice. While working in the field, I completed the University of Toronto’s Building Science Practice Certificate Program, and gained insight on how these two professions work together. Therefore when commencing TMU’s masters program, I had a goal to focus my studies on the intersection of these fields and the issues they can tackle together.
In my 4th year of undergraduate, I took Leila Farah’s option studio looking into food markets. It became clear how much our built world was tied to the agricultural systems which nourished the population, and how, today, these systems have become so large and complex as markets have opened up to the world. Through an exchange in Paris, it became clear how culture can dictate these systems even further, and how a new consciousness about where our food comes from was forming in the west, and a new interest in local, sustainable growth was entering the zeitgeist. Therefore when choosing a topic for my thesis, it became clear that when studying these food systems, a regional approach had to be taken, in order to compare and contrast the benefits of locality versus globality.
Switzerland was chosen due to its unique history of mountain agriculture, which has become so integrated with the identity of Switzerland today. As such, the architecture of this agricultural history has been so beautifully protected. The result of this national pride and conservatism are whole villages which contain relics of the past.
This thesis took me into the Val d’Entremont, where I got to go and study the villages and the vernacular buildings within them. Careful attention was placed on the construction of these buildings, and their spirit of mobility - of assembly and disassembly - proved to be an excellent study in sustainable, resilient architecture: one that is not beholden to use, time and place, but offers itself up to be manipulated throughout the needs of the farmer.
Overall, the result of the research underscored the potential of regional architectural practices to inform sustainable and flexible design.The question still remained, however, how can these villages, who make their livelihood off of local agriculture, use these spaces, in their flexibility, step into the global future while keeping their locality, scale and community?
The high cost and high labor demands of cultivating mountain landscapes often outweighs the gain. This is particularly true for animal husbandry, as automation has allowed for greater outputs, but this often comes with the need to be close to access routes and the need for gentler terrain such as that of the valley. As a result, the seasonal system of mountain animal husbandry, as well as the vernacular architectures that serve this system, have become obsolete and subsequently abandoned. This thesis asked what opportunities do these disused structures offer? How can we reinforce craftsmanship while acknowledging the changing needs of the village? How can that reinforcement contribute to the regeneration of these villages?
The design proposal provides an incremental approach to thinking about the further use of these vernacular buildings, and each step of the process has opportunities to pause and reevaluate the proposal’s direction. An exact solution to rectify disillusionment within rural villages cannot be resolved from the top-down, outsider approach of this thesis. Firstly, the exact conditions of each village is unique, and even in a single valley like Val d’Entremont, there is great variety in the needs of the populations of each village. Furthermore, this thesis can only speculate the needs of a village like Liddes, and it is only the people of the village - the farmers and craftsmen - that can truly understand the opportunities for livelihood.
However, it is in providing a framework centered around craft that this thesis hopes to contribute to the prosperity and revitalization of the village. This framework consists of deliberate phasing of the project, focused on the constant reevaluation of the design proposal. The first phase provides a center for the development of the project, as the project utilizes a system of material reclamation and prefabrication. The second phase provides a base of agricultural practice and the crafts surrounding it, and the third phase consists of integrating community into development throughout the proposal and beyond. These phases provide an opportunity for the community to gather and converse with the farmers and craftsmen and vise-versa. This project’s aim is to facilitate conversations, opening the door for solutions to the challenges and opportunities this thesis has studied.
