Andrew Lee, Benjamin Bomben, Gabriel Garofalo

Ryerson Architectural Research Centre

Research is playing an increasingly important role in architectural practice and education. Over the past two decades a number of universities and other institutions have expanded not only their research activities, but also the facilities to accommodate the wide range of modalities that constitute research in architecture and related disciplines.

Ryerson’s Department of Architectural Science has experienced this expansion first-hand, with considerable growth in many research activities and outcomes: material science, building performance, sustainability, facilities management, project delivery, digital design and fabrication, augmented reality, design research, history and theory, publications, exhibitions, etc. In recent years, despite the establishment and expansion of research spaces within the Architecture Building, such as the Building Science Lab and digital fabrication facilities, it is clear that the existing building cannot accommodate the increasing ambition of the Department’s research programs.

This studio uses this as a point of departure to carry out a study of this phenomenon on several levels:

• It provides students with the opportunity to delve into the world of architectural research, and to learn more about the various trajectories being developed and pursued in the discipline in general, and at Ryerson in particular.
  
• It challenges students to imagine and propose an architecture that both accommodates and expresses the possibilities of an institute devoted to architectural research in its various modalities.
  
• It challenges students to imagine and propose an architecture that expresses the values inherent in the Department of Architectural Science.