MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE

Gregor Tratnik—RAIC Honour Roll


About the Award 
For those students who have achieved high academic standing in the top 10% of their graduating class.

The Etymology of Craft

There exists a fundamental separation between architecture and construction, as hierarchies of knowledge place mind over body, and design over workmanship. This thesis attempts to mend these cultural mischaracterizations by understanding the etymology of knowledge, industry, and craft, through definitions of tool, maker, and material, to demonstrate craft as the plane on which architecture and construction can be brought together harmoniously. This is then applied to the context of Toronto, at first through brick materiality and construction, and later the fire station archetype, tracing the dialogical consequences of building cultures through ontological construction examined via tectonic poetry of the joint to produce a discourse of craft knowledge based in design and workmanship synchronously. By mining the rich traditions of craft, a renewed understanding of architecture is yielded, one where workmanship and design become extensions of one another, achieving a rich diversity through the act of making, and re-instilling diverse regional character.





By mining the rich traditions of craft, a renewed understanding of architecture is yielded, one where workmanship and design become extensions of one another, achieving a rich diversity through the act of making, and re-instilling diverse regional character.







Toronto Metropolitan Department of  Architectural Science Toronto, CA.