MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE
Julianne Guevara—RAIC Student Medal & RAIC Honour Roll
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Julianne Guevara—RAIC Student Medal & RAIC Honour Roll
About the Awards:
RAIC Student Medal:
For a student graduating from a professional degree program in each accredited University School of Architecture in Canada who, in the judgment of the faculty of the respective School, has achieved the highest level of academic excellence and/or has completed the outstanding final design project/thesis for that academic year.
RAIC Honour Roll:
For those students who have achieved high academic standing in the top 10% of their graduating class.
ARCHITECTURAL ACTIVISM AND THE PHILIPPINES: ON THE SELF-BUILT AND SELF-PUBLISHED
Resistance to colonialism by architects has included attempts to define a national architectural identity countering western hegemony, but often panders to bourgeois interests. A more transformative resistance is achieved by centering architectural culture and practice in the day-to-day struggles of oppressed communities. This thesis questions the agency of the architect in these revolutionary movements and explores how to apply the tools of architecture to activism in the context of informal settlements in the Philippines.
The study of the zine as a tool of communication and activation is carried out at two scales, maintaining continual dialogue between medium and message. First, as a form of self-publication, the zine is used to expose and educate on injustice, making the conversation on politics and architecture more accessible to the public. Then, as an architectural investigation, the zine becomes a design tool in itself, influencing a more ephemeral and radical architecture.
Read the full thesis at julianneguevara.com
RAIC Student Medal:
For a student graduating from a professional degree program in each accredited University School of Architecture in Canada who, in the judgment of the faculty of the respective School, has achieved the highest level of academic excellence and/or has completed the outstanding final design project/thesis for that academic year.
RAIC Honour Roll:
For those students who have achieved high academic standing in the top 10% of their graduating class.
ARCHITECTURAL ACTIVISM AND THE PHILIPPINES: ON THE SELF-BUILT AND SELF-PUBLISHED
Resistance to colonialism by architects has included attempts to define a national architectural identity countering western hegemony, but often panders to bourgeois interests. A more transformative resistance is achieved by centering architectural culture and practice in the day-to-day struggles of oppressed communities. This thesis questions the agency of the architect in these revolutionary movements and explores how to apply the tools of architecture to activism in the context of informal settlements in the Philippines.
The study of the zine as a tool of communication and activation is carried out at two scales, maintaining continual dialogue between medium and message. First, as a form of self-publication, the zine is used to expose and educate on injustice, making the conversation on politics and architecture more accessible to the public. Then, as an architectural investigation, the zine becomes a design tool in itself, influencing a more ephemeral and radical architecture.
Read the full thesis at julianneguevara.com
MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE
Kavita Garg—AIA Medal for Academic Excellence & RAIC Honour Roll
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Kavita Garg—AIA Medal for Academic Excellence & RAIC Honour Roll
About the Awards
AIA Medal for Academic Excellence:
For a graduate who displays excellence throughout their academic career.
RAIC Honour Roll:
For those students who have achieved high academic standing in the top 10% of their graduating class.
Dynamic Negotiations in Architecture: Design Research Methodology for Negotiated Identities
I utilized the thesis platform to negotiate between the formal nature of North American context and the transient/informal nature of India’s post-colonial urban context. Post-colonialism is informed by complexities of negotiated identities and is also my lived experience. Responding to my lived experience, I worked towards creating an intuitive creative process of making with materials and drawing on paper. The iterative work begins with Ethnographic Drawings, followed by Making Maquettes, Spatial Simulations, The Trout Series and concluding with Principles of Dynamic Negotiations. The processes are documented in a Leporello that unfolds the narrative of the research methodology as the paper unfolds. Each stage of the process helps conclude abstracted realizations, which lay foundations for the next stage.
The first stage - Ethnographic Drawing - helps showcase the lived experience through emotive drawings, which produce realizations of negotiated identities, assembly of materials, and spatial hybrids. These realizations are further investigated through the process of Making Maquettes. The Maquettes are generated to enter the problem from a new perspective, and help form new translations. Using ‘found materials’ and tools from the academic environment, different maquettes with their own actions were informed. These actions helped break into the next stages of investigation - Spatial Simulations and The Trout Series. Negotiated words such as stitching, tying, strapping, notching, cutting, screwing, joining, and bolting, were used to inform spaces, objects, material assembly, and line compositions. In these two stages, I responded to human’s most basic need of making by following the primordial, intuitive movements of ‘hand’ in the processes of designing.
The flow of thoughts is concluded as The Principles of Dynamic Negotiations, which - on an abstract level - help extract design through intuition. These principles de-stage the standardized notion of design principles, and emphasize hands-on making, local material integration, incremental building, and architecture that is responsive to contextual conditions. These principles also help generate reflexive identity, and individualism - inventing new certainties for oneself and others. The principles are open-ended, which creates a scope for adaptive attitudes in architecture discourse and design methodologies. Hence, helping one revisit the processes with which architecture is produced.
AIA Medal for Academic Excellence:
For a graduate who displays excellence throughout their academic career.
RAIC Honour Roll:
For those students who have achieved high academic standing in the top 10% of their graduating class.
Dynamic Negotiations in Architecture: Design Research Methodology for Negotiated Identities
I utilized the thesis platform to negotiate between the formal nature of North American context and the transient/informal nature of India’s post-colonial urban context. Post-colonialism is informed by complexities of negotiated identities and is also my lived experience. Responding to my lived experience, I worked towards creating an intuitive creative process of making with materials and drawing on paper. The iterative work begins with Ethnographic Drawings, followed by Making Maquettes, Spatial Simulations, The Trout Series and concluding with Principles of Dynamic Negotiations. The processes are documented in a Leporello that unfolds the narrative of the research methodology as the paper unfolds. Each stage of the process helps conclude abstracted realizations, which lay foundations for the next stage.
The first stage - Ethnographic Drawing - helps showcase the lived experience through emotive drawings, which produce realizations of negotiated identities, assembly of materials, and spatial hybrids. These realizations are further investigated through the process of Making Maquettes. The Maquettes are generated to enter the problem from a new perspective, and help form new translations. Using ‘found materials’ and tools from the academic environment, different maquettes with their own actions were informed. These actions helped break into the next stages of investigation - Spatial Simulations and The Trout Series. Negotiated words such as stitching, tying, strapping, notching, cutting, screwing, joining, and bolting, were used to inform spaces, objects, material assembly, and line compositions. In these two stages, I responded to human’s most basic need of making by following the primordial, intuitive movements of ‘hand’ in the processes of designing.
The flow of thoughts is concluded as The Principles of Dynamic Negotiations, which - on an abstract level - help extract design through intuition. These principles de-stage the standardized notion of design principles, and emphasize hands-on making, local material integration, incremental building, and architecture that is responsive to contextual conditions. These principles also help generate reflexive identity, and individualism - inventing new certainties for oneself and others. The principles are open-ended, which creates a scope for adaptive attitudes in architecture discourse and design methodologies. Hence, helping one revisit the processes with which architecture is produced.
MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE
Jack Hache— RAIC Honour Roll
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Jack Hache— RAIC Honour Roll
About the Award
For those students who have achieved high academic standing in the top 10% of their graduating class.
INTROVERT ARCHITECTURE
The rise of the modern world of capital produced and exploited the paradigm of the extrovert as an essential characteristic of the modern man. In architecture, contemporary practice embodies its own extrovert ideal. Buildings have become extroverted in line with a late phase of capitalism that is focused on global communication and the power of the image. In contrast, an Introvert Architecture resists monumentalization and the reduction to a mere image. Comparable to the introverted man, Introvert Architecture is built from character and contemplation. It is rooted in deep introspective theory, desiring to produce rational, well-organized spaces that are inherently tied to the fundamental relationships that architecture has with context and occupants. This thesis aims to distinguish an Introvert Architecture from the extrovert ideal.
Extrovert Architecture = Desire to Produce an Image +
Form Governed by Capital
Introvert Architecture = Desire to Build Relations +
Form Governed by Context
The Allan Gardens Temporary Exhibition Museum (The Museum) offers new and enhanced exhibition, administrative, and utility services to the Allan Gardens Park and the Conservatory. The leading purpose of The Museum is to create a series of exhibition spaces that offer space for artists and performers to occupy and engage with the surrounding site and community. These exhibition spaces, both interior and exterior, become a dynamic space for display, creation, assembly, and performance. Giving agency to the artist and visitors to make use of and experience the space in their own distinctive style. The exhibition spaces are designed to be easily adaptable by the artists, giving them complete curatorial power. The Museum considers an architecture that is not created from a desire for monumentation or recognition, but rather, uses its relationships to site, context, and occupants as the governing body for the architecture. The building is entirely born from its context and its relationships with the act of an exhibition. Collectively, the Introvert Architecture Equation, and the Allan Gardens Temporary Collections Museum design project, work to demonstrate the power of non-extroverted architecture, the Introvert Architecture
For those students who have achieved high academic standing in the top 10% of their graduating class.
INTROVERT ARCHITECTURE
The rise of the modern world of capital produced and exploited the paradigm of the extrovert as an essential characteristic of the modern man. In architecture, contemporary practice embodies its own extrovert ideal. Buildings have become extroverted in line with a late phase of capitalism that is focused on global communication and the power of the image. In contrast, an Introvert Architecture resists monumentalization and the reduction to a mere image. Comparable to the introverted man, Introvert Architecture is built from character and contemplation. It is rooted in deep introspective theory, desiring to produce rational, well-organized spaces that are inherently tied to the fundamental relationships that architecture has with context and occupants. This thesis aims to distinguish an Introvert Architecture from the extrovert ideal.
Extrovert Architecture = Desire to Produce an Image +
Form Governed by Capital
Introvert Architecture = Desire to Build Relations +
Form Governed by Context
The Allan Gardens Temporary Exhibition Museum (The Museum) offers new and enhanced exhibition, administrative, and utility services to the Allan Gardens Park and the Conservatory. The leading purpose of The Museum is to create a series of exhibition spaces that offer space for artists and performers to occupy and engage with the surrounding site and community. These exhibition spaces, both interior and exterior, become a dynamic space for display, creation, assembly, and performance. Giving agency to the artist and visitors to make use of and experience the space in their own distinctive style. The exhibition spaces are designed to be easily adaptable by the artists, giving them complete curatorial power. The Museum considers an architecture that is not created from a desire for monumentation or recognition, but rather, uses its relationships to site, context, and occupants as the governing body for the architecture. The building is entirely born from its context and its relationships with the act of an exhibition. Collectively, the Introvert Architecture Equation, and the Allan Gardens Temporary Collections Museum design project, work to demonstrate the power of non-extroverted architecture, the Introvert Architecture
MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE
Tess Macpherson— RAIC Honour Roll
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Tess Macpherson— RAIC Honour Roll
About the Award
For those students who have achieved high academic standing in the top 10% of their graduating class.
The experience of time is relative and can only be perceived through changes in the physical world around us. Throughout history cities emerged as centres of increasing speed. Over the course of the 20th century, the relationship between people and the speed of the city has transitioned from a state of shock and fascination to a crisis of disassociation and numbness. Technological advancements and globalization accelerated the experience of time to the point of surpassing the need for spatialization. The COVID-19 pandemic has made physical space feel even more irrelevant. People are becoming increasingly disassociated from the physical realm of the city. Paradoxically, the COVID-19 lockdown has also made people more conscious of space, particularly spaces in the city that are no longer livable when people are confined to them. Just as cities were being re-imagined in response to industrialization, and post de-industrialization, the way we live in our cities is once again being challenged.
One cannot appreciate slowness without an awareness of speed, and vice versa. This is because the experience of time is relative. Situating moments of slowness within the speed of the city allows one to become more aware of both. Slow city is proposed in this thesis, which emerges amid the speed of the city, creating breaks in the urban fabric. These breaks become moments of pause and reveal, where one can drift through alternative routes within the city, immersed in where one is rather than where one is going. Slow strategies are explored through material expression, paving, vegetation, water and seating to slow down one’s experience. By increasing texture, one’s senses become more engaged, which in turn slows down one’s movement. In this thesis, slowness becomes a form of resistance to speed in the city.
Toronto has a history that is like many post-industrial cities. It has experienced the acceleration of speed that David Harvey described as the time-space compression of the 20th century. Today, Toronto has emerged into what Richard Florida calls a superstar city techhub, which is consumed with speed. Toronto is the focus of exploration here to determine how slowness can be implemented in the city. By constructing moments of slowness, this thesis argues that the future of cities will be more engaging and livable.
For those students who have achieved high academic standing in the top 10% of their graduating class.
The experience of time is relative and can only be perceived through changes in the physical world around us. Throughout history cities emerged as centres of increasing speed. Over the course of the 20th century, the relationship between people and the speed of the city has transitioned from a state of shock and fascination to a crisis of disassociation and numbness. Technological advancements and globalization accelerated the experience of time to the point of surpassing the need for spatialization. The COVID-19 pandemic has made physical space feel even more irrelevant. People are becoming increasingly disassociated from the physical realm of the city. Paradoxically, the COVID-19 lockdown has also made people more conscious of space, particularly spaces in the city that are no longer livable when people are confined to them. Just as cities were being re-imagined in response to industrialization, and post de-industrialization, the way we live in our cities is once again being challenged.
One cannot appreciate slowness without an awareness of speed, and vice versa. This is because the experience of time is relative. Situating moments of slowness within the speed of the city allows one to become more aware of both. Slow city is proposed in this thesis, which emerges amid the speed of the city, creating breaks in the urban fabric. These breaks become moments of pause and reveal, where one can drift through alternative routes within the city, immersed in where one is rather than where one is going. Slow strategies are explored through material expression, paving, vegetation, water and seating to slow down one’s experience. By increasing texture, one’s senses become more engaged, which in turn slows down one’s movement. In this thesis, slowness becomes a form of resistance to speed in the city.
Toronto has a history that is like many post-industrial cities. It has experienced the acceleration of speed that David Harvey described as the time-space compression of the 20th century. Today, Toronto has emerged into what Richard Florida calls a superstar city techhub, which is consumed with speed. Toronto is the focus of exploration here to determine how slowness can be implemented in the city. By constructing moments of slowness, this thesis argues that the future of cities will be more engaging and livable.
MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE
Michael Evola—ARCC King Medal
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Michael Evola—ARCC King Medal
About the Award
Acknowledging innovation, integrity, and scholarship in architectural and/or environmental design research.
ARCHITECTURE IN DRAG
Through imitation and parody, Architecture in Drag challenges architecture’s identity. “/” is an imitation of a building, a ballroom and a home. Situated in New York City, the birthplace of modern drag culture, / begins by separating and interconnecting two rowhouses through a horizontal structural grid. From the grid, all of its characters (program and circulation), are hung and interconnected through fluid architectonics. By hanging its characters, / removes the ground on which architecture rests upon. In its place, a series of fluid spaces affect the other. In this manner, space is boundless, inviting and encompassing. Similarly, / invites its audiences to customize it. Although its characters are organized within a grid, this, like the power of the grid within architecture is a false truth. Thanks to its semi-fixed industrial characters, all of /’s characters are free to be moved and be re-arranged Thereby, / has exactly half a plan. The industrial connections enabling this feature are appropriated from their intended use, like the appropriated fixtures drag performers utilize to re-arrange their identities. No material should be off-limit in the construction of architectural ideas. Moreover, no idea should be considered non-architectural. Architecture in Drag challenges the ground defining truths within abstractions such as architecture and gender. / is the byproduct of this challenge, it is a performance of architectural ‘truths’ parodied as fluid.
Acknowledging innovation, integrity, and scholarship in architectural and/or environmental design research.
ARCHITECTURE IN DRAG
Through imitation and parody, Architecture in Drag challenges architecture’s identity. “/” is an imitation of a building, a ballroom and a home. Situated in New York City, the birthplace of modern drag culture, / begins by separating and interconnecting two rowhouses through a horizontal structural grid. From the grid, all of its characters (program and circulation), are hung and interconnected through fluid architectonics. By hanging its characters, / removes the ground on which architecture rests upon. In its place, a series of fluid spaces affect the other. In this manner, space is boundless, inviting and encompassing. Similarly, / invites its audiences to customize it. Although its characters are organized within a grid, this, like the power of the grid within architecture is a false truth. Thanks to its semi-fixed industrial characters, all of /’s characters are free to be moved and be re-arranged Thereby, / has exactly half a plan. The industrial connections enabling this feature are appropriated from their intended use, like the appropriated fixtures drag performers utilize to re-arrange their identities. No material should be off-limit in the construction of architectural ideas. Moreover, no idea should be considered non-architectural. Architecture in Drag challenges the ground defining truths within abstractions such as architecture and gender. / is the byproduct of this challenge, it is a performance of architectural ‘truths’ parodied as fluid.
BUILDING SCIENCE
Jean-Francois Landry—Alumni Achievement Award
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Jean-Francois Landry—Alumni Achievement Award
About the Award
For overall achievement, contribution, and commitment to the Building Science Graduate Program.
DEVELOPMENT OF A MODEL-FREE REINFORCEMENT LEARNING FOR A HEAT RECOVERY CHILLER SYSTEM OPTIMIZATION
Heat recovery chiller (HRC) systems have significant strategic value to reduce building greenhouse gas emissions, although this potential remains unrealized in practice. Real-time optimization using model-free reinforcement learning (RL) provides a potential solution to this challenge. In recent years, advances in RL using deep learning, open a path to new advanced RL applications, including building applications. RL’s main benefits for HRC optimization compared to rule-based and supervised learning methods is that: RL does not require knowledge of the system a priori to optimize the system; and because the RL system is not essential to maintain loads or comfort in the building, RL training can be achieved without compromising the building main function.
A full-scale case study of RL in the 6,000 m2 academic laboratory Centre for Innovation (CUI) at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) was completed. Data was collected from the CUI TMU laboratory building in Toronto, Canada directly from the Building Automation System (BAS) and was analyzed in an RL in three steps; (1) Analysis of the HRC system; (2) Feature selection; and (3) RL agent development. This approach could permit a more stable and robust implementation of model-free RL and the methodology allowed operator-identified constraints to be translated into reward functions more broadly, allowing for a generalization to similar heat recovery chiller systems.
The result from the RL experiment appeared to show that the actor-critic RL could learn and provide an increasingly accurate prediction of the reward over time which could lead to the maximization of cost savings. Based on the results, HRC systems appear to be good candidates for RL since the learning process did not affect comfort and operation.
For overall achievement, contribution, and commitment to the Building Science Graduate Program.
DEVELOPMENT OF A MODEL-FREE REINFORCEMENT LEARNING FOR A HEAT RECOVERY CHILLER SYSTEM OPTIMIZATION
Heat recovery chiller (HRC) systems have significant strategic value to reduce building greenhouse gas emissions, although this potential remains unrealized in practice. Real-time optimization using model-free reinforcement learning (RL) provides a potential solution to this challenge. In recent years, advances in RL using deep learning, open a path to new advanced RL applications, including building applications. RL’s main benefits for HRC optimization compared to rule-based and supervised learning methods is that: RL does not require knowledge of the system a priori to optimize the system; and because the RL system is not essential to maintain loads or comfort in the building, RL training can be achieved without compromising the building main function.
A full-scale case study of RL in the 6,000 m2 academic laboratory Centre for Innovation (CUI) at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) was completed. Data was collected from the CUI TMU laboratory building in Toronto, Canada directly from the Building Automation System (BAS) and was analyzed in an RL in three steps; (1) Analysis of the HRC system; (2) Feature selection; and (3) RL agent development. This approach could permit a more stable and robust implementation of model-free RL and the methodology allowed operator-identified constraints to be translated into reward functions more broadly, allowing for a generalization to similar heat recovery chiller systems.
The result from the RL experiment appeared to show that the actor-critic RL could learn and provide an increasingly accurate prediction of the reward over time which could lead to the maximization of cost savings. Based on the results, HRC systems appear to be good candidates for RL since the learning process did not affect comfort and operation.
BUILDING SCIENCE
Robin Macpherson—Alumni Environment Award
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Robin Macpherson—Alumni Environment Award
About the Award
For achievement in a thesis or project on a topic related to the environment or sustainable design.
Whole Building Life Cycle Assessment of New Multi-Unit Residential Buildings in Southern Ontario
MBSc Major Research Project
The built environment accounts for over one-third of global carbon emissions on an annual basis. Solutions for reducing carbon in the built environment typically focus on ‘operational carbon’ that is released during the day-to-day use of buildings. There is less understanding about how to reduce ‘embodied carbon’ that is released during the raw material manufacturing, transportation, construction and end of life phases of built assets. However, as operational carbon reduces, and the rate of new construction continues to increase, embodied carbon will grow to represent almost half of all emissions from new buildings. As a result, there is an urgent need to reduce embodied carbon to meet global climate change targets.
This research paper begins with a literature review of embodied carbon in the built environment. This includes a review of the whole building life cycle assessment (WBLCA) methodology to calculate embodied carbon, assessment of outcomes from similar studies, consideration of key drivers of emissions and identification of potential reduction strategies. Based on this, a methodology and scope are defined for the WBLCA of 3 new multi-unit residential buildings located in southern Ontario.
One Click LCA software is used to calculate the embodied carbon for each building. The baseline results ranged from 182 kg CO2e/m2 for the low-rise timber framed building up to 347 kg CO2e/m2 for the mid-rise concrete structure and 450 kg CO2e/m2 for the high-rise concrete structure. Cladding assemblies and floor finishes are identified as key drivers for embodied carbon in the timber frame, and horizontal structural slabs and foundations are the main contributors to emissions in the concrete structure.
Six reduction strategies are identified to address the key contributors of embodied carbon in each building. Three of these measures are found to reduce the carbon footprint in the building by 10% or more. Replacement of the above grade concrete structure with timber frame and the use of low carbon concrete are found to be the most impactful reduction strategies. Combining several reduction strategies enables embodied carbon reductions of 20% or greater.
For achievement in a thesis or project on a topic related to the environment or sustainable design.
Whole Building Life Cycle Assessment of New Multi-Unit Residential Buildings in Southern Ontario
MBSc Major Research Project
The built environment accounts for over one-third of global carbon emissions on an annual basis. Solutions for reducing carbon in the built environment typically focus on ‘operational carbon’ that is released during the day-to-day use of buildings. There is less understanding about how to reduce ‘embodied carbon’ that is released during the raw material manufacturing, transportation, construction and end of life phases of built assets. However, as operational carbon reduces, and the rate of new construction continues to increase, embodied carbon will grow to represent almost half of all emissions from new buildings. As a result, there is an urgent need to reduce embodied carbon to meet global climate change targets.
This research paper begins with a literature review of embodied carbon in the built environment. This includes a review of the whole building life cycle assessment (WBLCA) methodology to calculate embodied carbon, assessment of outcomes from similar studies, consideration of key drivers of emissions and identification of potential reduction strategies. Based on this, a methodology and scope are defined for the WBLCA of 3 new multi-unit residential buildings located in southern Ontario.
One Click LCA software is used to calculate the embodied carbon for each building. The baseline results ranged from 182 kg CO2e/m2 for the low-rise timber framed building up to 347 kg CO2e/m2 for the mid-rise concrete structure and 450 kg CO2e/m2 for the high-rise concrete structure. Cladding assemblies and floor finishes are identified as key drivers for embodied carbon in the timber frame, and horizontal structural slabs and foundations are the main contributors to emissions in the concrete structure.
Six reduction strategies are identified to address the key contributors of embodied carbon in each building. Three of these measures are found to reduce the carbon footprint in the building by 10% or more. Replacement of the above grade concrete structure with timber frame and the use of low carbon concrete are found to be the most impactful reduction strategies. Combining several reduction strategies enables embodied carbon reductions of 20% or greater.
BUILDING SCIENCE
Laura Goetz—Alumni Research Award
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Laura Goetz—Alumni Research Award
About the Award
For outstanding research achievement in the area of Building Science.
Quantifying building performance in nine case studies of high-performance houses in Ontario, Canada
MASc Building Science
Supervisor: Dr. Mark Gorgolewski
Context:
Residential buildings have a significant impact on human health and the environment. High-performance buildings aim to minimize this impact; however, research has shown that significant performance gaps between predicted and measured building performance can exist. Evaluations of high-performance single-family residential buildings are rarely conducted and lack a consistent methodology. This study presented and tested a method of building performance evaluation for these buildings. Energy models, engineering drawings, utility data, in-situ testing, and occupant interviews were used to assess the energy and water performance, and indoor environmental quality of nine high-performance houses in Southern Ontario.
Research questions:
Key findings:
Across the housing sample, energy use performance gaps ranged from -30% to +50% of predicted values, however, even houses with overconsumption performance gaps consume less energy than a code-built house. The average measured energy use intensity (ekWh/m2) of a house in the study is 70% less than its conventional counterpart.
Water use intensity (WUI) varied by up to +300% due to differences in occupant behaviour. The average measured WUI (m3/person/day) was 36% less water than the Ontario average consumption.
Results of indoor environmental quality monitoring varied by house, primarily due to differences in occupant behaviour as peaks in measured parameters were primarily attributed to increased activity in the space. Overall, occupants had little to no complaints about the indoor environmental quality of their houses during interviews.
For outstanding research achievement in the area of Building Science.
Quantifying building performance in nine case studies of high-performance houses in Ontario, Canada
MASc Building Science
Supervisor: Dr. Mark Gorgolewski
Context:
Residential buildings have a significant impact on human health and the environment. High-performance buildings aim to minimize this impact; however, research has shown that significant performance gaps between predicted and measured building performance can exist. Evaluations of high-performance single-family residential buildings are rarely conducted and lack a consistent methodology. This study presented and tested a method of building performance evaluation for these buildings. Energy models, engineering drawings, utility data, in-situ testing, and occupant interviews were used to assess the energy and water performance, and indoor environmental quality of nine high-performance houses in Southern Ontario.
Research questions:
- What types of energy performance gaps exist in the nine high-performance houses?
- How does the water consumption of the nine high-performance houses compare to relevant geographical and sustainability rating system benchmarks, and across the housing sample?
- Are occupants comfortable in, and satisfied with the high-performance houses in the study and are houses achieving healthy levels of indoor contaminants compared to relevant benchmarks?
Key findings:
Across the housing sample, energy use performance gaps ranged from -30% to +50% of predicted values, however, even houses with overconsumption performance gaps consume less energy than a code-built house. The average measured energy use intensity (ekWh/m2) of a house in the study is 70% less than its conventional counterpart.
Water use intensity (WUI) varied by up to +300% due to differences in occupant behaviour. The average measured WUI (m3/person/day) was 36% less water than the Ontario average consumption.
Results of indoor environmental quality monitoring varied by house, primarily due to differences in occupant behaviour as peaks in measured parameters were primarily attributed to increased activity in the space. Overall, occupants had little to no complaints about the indoor environmental quality of their houses during interviews.
UNDERGRADUATE
Evan Hills—Craig Race Model Award![]()
Evan Hills—Craig Race Model Award
About the Award
For a student who demonstrates creativity and technique in the building of the architectural scale model.
The fragment model of the Hamilton Aquatic Centre focuses on the connection between exterior interaction and internal separation. In developing a prominent street corner in the city of Hamilton, the project expresses the depth away from the exterior junction, developing an external concourse that in relation provides a disconnect from the public realm. Presented throughout the project and specifically within the physical model, the third-floor permeable copper panes focus on the expression of transparency and semi-transparency. Serving as the connection between the external and internal spaces. Thus giving a sense of privacy and separation while simultaneously showcasing the programmatic spaces that the facility has to offer towards the exterior for pedestrian interaction. The large atrium, upon entry, develops that sense of fluidity in scale through the transition from exterior to interior, filled with daylight that opens up the space, showcasing the scale of the aquatic centre itself, where major circulation and programmatic spaces are divided from.
The Aquatic centre serves as a new central space for the downtown district, programmatically opening up to athletic spaces, areas for personal well-being development and overall spaces for community engagement. The Aquatic centre follows a U-shaped mass, where the two external wings distinguish itself with aquatic-focused spaces with community-focused program spaces encase them. The overall mass follows back to an idea of a central space where an exterior public square is situated, dividing itself away from the external street frontage and encasing itself within the U-shaped form, giving a sense of privacy to visitors of the aquatic centre.
For a student who demonstrates creativity and technique in the building of the architectural scale model.
The fragment model of the Hamilton Aquatic Centre focuses on the connection between exterior interaction and internal separation. In developing a prominent street corner in the city of Hamilton, the project expresses the depth away from the exterior junction, developing an external concourse that in relation provides a disconnect from the public realm. Presented throughout the project and specifically within the physical model, the third-floor permeable copper panes focus on the expression of transparency and semi-transparency. Serving as the connection between the external and internal spaces. Thus giving a sense of privacy and separation while simultaneously showcasing the programmatic spaces that the facility has to offer towards the exterior for pedestrian interaction. The large atrium, upon entry, develops that sense of fluidity in scale through the transition from exterior to interior, filled with daylight that opens up the space, showcasing the scale of the aquatic centre itself, where major circulation and programmatic spaces are divided from.
The Aquatic centre serves as a new central space for the downtown district, programmatically opening up to athletic spaces, areas for personal well-being development and overall spaces for community engagement. The Aquatic centre follows a U-shaped mass, where the two external wings distinguish itself with aquatic-focused spaces with community-focused program spaces encase them. The overall mass follows back to an idea of a central space where an exterior public square is situated, dividing itself away from the external street frontage and encasing itself within the U-shaped form, giving a sense of privacy to visitors of the aquatic centre.
UNDERGRADUATE
Crystal Cheng, Brendan (Yukun) Fang, Katarina Kumic, Jason Lin, Jiajie Yuan—Craig Race Passive Sustainability Design Award
Crystal Cheng, Brendan (Yukun) Fang, Katarina Kumic, Jason Lin, Jiajie Yuan—Craig Race Passive Sustainability Design Award
About the Award
For students who best demonstrate creativity and passive design strategies in a project to improve its sustainability
The existing Claredon Central Public School involves a low-performing roof assembly made from a thin layer of polyiso insulation material, an existing double-glazed window, a single-glazed dome skylight and the exterior wall assembly— a mass masonry assembly consisting of a 4 inch block wall, and 4 inch exterior brick with gypsum board interior finishes and no insulation. These components pose an issue to the building’s energy performance as the building suffers from heat loss and condensation within the assembly, creating uncomfortable and untreated spaces.
Our proposed assemblies explore different forms of insulation and skylights that can increase the RSI value performance of the building, in which durability, cost and breathability were accounted for during the investigation. Through several hygrothermal testings, on the existing and interior surfaces of our existing and proposed assembly, we were able to determine the relative humidity, overall moisture content and dewpoint within the system.
For students who best demonstrate creativity and passive design strategies in a project to improve its sustainability
The existing Claredon Central Public School involves a low-performing roof assembly made from a thin layer of polyiso insulation material, an existing double-glazed window, a single-glazed dome skylight and the exterior wall assembly— a mass masonry assembly consisting of a 4 inch block wall, and 4 inch exterior brick with gypsum board interior finishes and no insulation. These components pose an issue to the building’s energy performance as the building suffers from heat loss and condensation within the assembly, creating uncomfortable and untreated spaces.
Our proposed assemblies explore different forms of insulation and skylights that can increase the RSI value performance of the building, in which durability, cost and breathability were accounted for during the investigation. Through several hygrothermal testings, on the existing and interior surfaces of our existing and proposed assembly, we were able to determine the relative humidity, overall moisture content and dewpoint within the system.
UNDERGRADUATE
Matthew Lokun—Creative Infill Award![]()
Matthew Lokun—Creative Infill Award
About the Award
This award will have demonstrated, through submission of a studio project, a high level of design merit that incorporates creative, thoughtful, and sustainable strategies in an urban infill project.
The design proposal for the Hamilton Aquatic Centre responds to several critical issues regarding buildings in downtown Hamilton, including the absence of privacy in buildings, closure of street fronts, and lack of hierarchies of significant spaces. The model addresses privacy by employing a perforated facade, composed of copper-anodized aluminum panels, supported by a steel structure and spanning the second and third stories of the building. The facade allows for privacy within the building while the perforations allow for sunlight to permeate into the building and views. The first level is rather transparent and inviting through the employment of glazing on the first floor to open up the building to pedestrians. The sleek nature of the suspended facade guides people around the building to each of the outdoor public spaces and parks, further pedestrianizing the site. Hierarchies of significant spaces are expressed through the scale of the architectural model, where important spaces such as the lobby, and the public pool spaces are larger in height and in structural expression. The building's main purpose is to establish areas of passage and arrival, and to further pedestrianize downtown Hamilton to combat these issues.
This is done by indicating moments of entry and passages through visual connections, such as those in the facade, while privacy is used to make spaces feel like a place of arrival.
This award will have demonstrated, through submission of a studio project, a high level of design merit that incorporates creative, thoughtful, and sustainable strategies in an urban infill project.
The design proposal for the Hamilton Aquatic Centre responds to several critical issues regarding buildings in downtown Hamilton, including the absence of privacy in buildings, closure of street fronts, and lack of hierarchies of significant spaces. The model addresses privacy by employing a perforated facade, composed of copper-anodized aluminum panels, supported by a steel structure and spanning the second and third stories of the building. The facade allows for privacy within the building while the perforations allow for sunlight to permeate into the building and views. The first level is rather transparent and inviting through the employment of glazing on the first floor to open up the building to pedestrians. The sleek nature of the suspended facade guides people around the building to each of the outdoor public spaces and parks, further pedestrianizing the site. Hierarchies of significant spaces are expressed through the scale of the architectural model, where important spaces such as the lobby, and the public pool spaces are larger in height and in structural expression. The building's main purpose is to establish areas of passage and arrival, and to further pedestrianize downtown Hamilton to combat these issues.
This is done by indicating moments of entry and passages through visual connections, such as those in the facade, while privacy is used to make spaces feel like a place of arrival.
UNDERGRADUATE
Olivia Nunn—Creative Infill Award![]()
Olivia Nunn—Creative Infill Award
About the Award
This award will have demonstrated, through submission of a studio project, a high level of design merit that incorporates creative, thoughtful, and sustainable strategies in an urban infill project.
The laneway suite design located in the Bloor West neighborhood of Toronto establishes a transition in densification between single family homes and apartment living. The gentle density project allows for 2 variations of living within the design. A 2 bedroom family home and a single bedroom apartment merge in forms. The up-reaching wooden form transforms through the interior and exterior containing the major programmatic elements, allowing for a free flowing plan that is translated through a lighter space that surrounds and interacts with the wooden form. Ultimately, this infill project pushes the boundaries of residential living in the suburbs of Toronto, and acts as an example for the future of gentle density moving forward by activating laneways.
This award will have demonstrated, through submission of a studio project, a high level of design merit that incorporates creative, thoughtful, and sustainable strategies in an urban infill project.
The laneway suite design located in the Bloor West neighborhood of Toronto establishes a transition in densification between single family homes and apartment living. The gentle density project allows for 2 variations of living within the design. A 2 bedroom family home and a single bedroom apartment merge in forms. The up-reaching wooden form transforms through the interior and exterior containing the major programmatic elements, allowing for a free flowing plan that is translated through a lighter space that surrounds and interacts with the wooden form. Ultimately, this infill project pushes the boundaries of residential living in the suburbs of Toronto, and acts as an example for the future of gentle density moving forward by activating laneways.
UNDERGRADUATE
Joechelle Faye Bonifacio—Frank Leva Memorial Award![]()
Joechelle Faye Bonifacio—Frank Leva Memorial Award
About the Award:
Award for an undergraduate student enrolled full time in the Department of Architectural Science.
The proposed Aqua Centre follows the concepts of rebuilding and restoring the public realm and street life that once existed in James Square, Hamilton. The present James Square podium limited pedestrian presence and accessibility at the street level. The Aqua Centre is an opportunity to rethink the city by enhancing and restoring public courtyards, and the revival of strong landmarks, frontages, and street life.
The challenge was to develop an Aqua Centre that offers therapeutic and large-scale pools with indoor and outdoor connections that implements sustainable features. The design process began by exploring geometric and repetitive forms that respond well to the transparency of the programs. Located by Bay St. with a surrounding internal courtyard, the site provided new opportunities for strong frontages. The use of heavy and lightweight timber material is evident in the free-standing envelope that follows a repetitive geometric pattern, creating a dramatic internal landscape that enhances structural rigidity.
Award for an undergraduate student enrolled full time in the Department of Architectural Science.
The proposed Aqua Centre follows the concepts of rebuilding and restoring the public realm and street life that once existed in James Square, Hamilton. The present James Square podium limited pedestrian presence and accessibility at the street level. The Aqua Centre is an opportunity to rethink the city by enhancing and restoring public courtyards, and the revival of strong landmarks, frontages, and street life.
The challenge was to develop an Aqua Centre that offers therapeutic and large-scale pools with indoor and outdoor connections that implements sustainable features. The design process began by exploring geometric and repetitive forms that respond well to the transparency of the programs. Located by Bay St. with a surrounding internal courtyard, the site provided new opportunities for strong frontages. The use of heavy and lightweight timber material is evident in the free-standing envelope that follows a repetitive geometric pattern, creating a dramatic internal landscape that enhances structural rigidity.
2022 Year End Show
The Department of Architectural Science encourages its students to test boundaries, explore new possibilities, and apply their skill to prevailing issues present within their evolving surroundings. Our first ever Hybrid Year End Show presents the culmination of the 2021/22 academic term, showcasing the impressive and cutting-edge works of our top students in all four years of study and at the graduate level.
All Projects ︎︎︎
Alex Hieu Minh Tran
Writer's Studio
Writer's Studio
This is a studio for a writer. This writer will be a different person every year; they will be a winner of a one-year “artist-in-residence” award from the Canada PEN “Writers in Exile” program that includes a writing studio and a separate apartment that is walking distance from this workspace as part of the award. Although this exercise is fictional, there is an actual Writers-in-Exile program through Pen Canada we are using as inspiration for this project.
Sarah Tang
The Dominant Void: Meditation Pavilion
The Dominant Void: Meditation Pavilion
The Dominant Void: The task is to design and create an object – a sculptural form – where the void space is clearly the dominant element of the composition (the void should be where your eye is drawn first). When someone looks at your sculpture they should perceive the void space as the most important element -- what the solids are there to define. Include ideas that are beyond the simple creation of a void space. Connect the visitor to commemorative, literary, social, cultural, or natural phenomena.
Sam Hardwicke-Brown
Writer's Studio
Writer's Studio
This is a studio for a writer. This writer will be a different person every year; they will be a winner of a one-year “artist-in-residence” award from the Canada PEN “Writers in Exile” program that includes a writing studio and a separate apartment that is walking distance from this workspace as part of the award. Although this exercise is fictional, there is an actual Writers-in-Exile program through Pen Canada we are using as inspiration for this project.
Angela Intong
The Dominant Void:
The Dominant Void:
Layered Space
"The Dominant Void: The task is to design and create an object – a sculptural form – where the void space is clearly the dominant element of the composition
(the void should be where your eye is drawn first). When someone looks at your sculpture they should perceive the void space as the most important element -- what the solids are there to define. Include ideas that are beyond the simple creation of a void space. Connect the visitor to commemorative, literary, social, cultural, or natural phenomena."
(the void should be where your eye is drawn first). When someone looks at your sculpture they should perceive the void space as the most important element -- what the solids are there to define. Include ideas that are beyond the simple creation of a void space. Connect the visitor to commemorative, literary, social, cultural, or natural phenomena."
Tony Le
Drawing Stories:
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Drawing Stories:
Healing
"Like the scorching sun of the summer drought, I can sense my life source dwindling in the heat. My dream was to grow taller each season to reach the seamless blue sky. Yet, the atmosphere that once looked gorgeous had become something that scorned my eyes.
I stood taller than any other tree, feeble and slender. Vines and moss started to crowd my body. With each tedious interaction repeating itself from decade to decade, my life became more monotonous, essentially meaningless. With no one to play with, I became quite miserable.
My existence had become a bore, a mere object to fill the background, whereas I noticed healthy trees attracted more birds chirping, bees buzz or squirrels climbing them. They never chose me. Every time they looked up towards me, they were scared and dashed out of disgust. Sometimes, I wonder if my appearance caused them to be frightened. WHY? I am the tallest and oldest tree! What made me so frightening?
One day, a bird landed on me. It was a tiny white-bodied bird with grey wings. As he walked on my branches, he admired every part of me. He is pretty annoying. He pecked and chirped at me. It irritated me that he showed no regard for me! Through the rustle of my leaves, I yelled at him. And through the wind, I attempted to kick him away. He did not leave; however, he maintained his cheery chirping.
The bird built a nest within my hollow as time went by. The vines, twigs and tree barks he took were repurposed. As he continued to move them, more animals started to notice me. The rubble that once covered me was pruned, and the bird began to live within me.
My emotions towards the bird suddenly changed. The events the little bird had imprinted on me made me realize that I was insecure and afraid of showing my true self. He allowed me to feel important, cared for, and loved again.
Years went by; I became proud of who I am. As I stood confidently, I no longer hid behind the overgrown moss and vines. Other creatures finally appreciated me. Squirrels and insects that once stayed on the ground and ignored me now climbed my barks, scratched my skin, and reside within me. With the fast-pacing time, more birds came and left during the day. I am thankful for that little bird. I could finally heal and grow from my past."
I stood taller than any other tree, feeble and slender. Vines and moss started to crowd my body. With each tedious interaction repeating itself from decade to decade, my life became more monotonous, essentially meaningless. With no one to play with, I became quite miserable.
My existence had become a bore, a mere object to fill the background, whereas I noticed healthy trees attracted more birds chirping, bees buzz or squirrels climbing them. They never chose me. Every time they looked up towards me, they were scared and dashed out of disgust. Sometimes, I wonder if my appearance caused them to be frightened. WHY? I am the tallest and oldest tree! What made me so frightening?
One day, a bird landed on me. It was a tiny white-bodied bird with grey wings. As he walked on my branches, he admired every part of me. He is pretty annoying. He pecked and chirped at me. It irritated me that he showed no regard for me! Through the rustle of my leaves, I yelled at him. And through the wind, I attempted to kick him away. He did not leave; however, he maintained his cheery chirping.
The bird built a nest within my hollow as time went by. The vines, twigs and tree barks he took were repurposed. As he continued to move them, more animals started to notice me. The rubble that once covered me was pruned, and the bird began to live within me.
My emotions towards the bird suddenly changed. The events the little bird had imprinted on me made me realize that I was insecure and afraid of showing my true self. He allowed me to feel important, cared for, and loved again.
Years went by; I became proud of who I am. As I stood confidently, I no longer hid behind the overgrown moss and vines. Other creatures finally appreciated me. Squirrels and insects that once stayed on the ground and ignored me now climbed my barks, scratched my skin, and reside within me. With the fast-pacing time, more birds came and left during the day. I am thankful for that little bird. I could finally heal and grow from my past."
Building Stories:
Connected
Located in Allan Garden, Connected introduces a space that allows users to connect with the site while experiencing the beauty of storytelling on different levels. An intermediate space connects the programs and provides an interchangeably connected and disconnected area depending on the situation. This allows the creation of a connection between the people and the environment.
The Friends of Allen Gardens has been the recipient of a major donation. In addition to setting up an endowment to care for the park in perpetuity, the donation includes funds to allow the FOAG to construct a new building in the park. The building is expected to advance some of the goals of the FOAG’s 2017 plan Refresh: A Vision Document for Allan Gardens, including bringing performing arts possibilities to the Gardens.
The building will contain a cafe, a space for small performances (including storytelling) that can be used for other purposes (able to hold an audience of about 50), and office space for the Director of the FOAG Foundation and a staff of 2 to 4 people, depending on the time of year. The complete program as provided by the client is seen on the next page.
Three possible sites within the Gardens have been identified. Your first task, before beginning design work, will be to decide which of these sites makes the most sense for this project.
The total gross floor area (GFA) for the project should not exceed 390 m2, and the building
footprint (including overhangs) must not exceed 250m2. In addition to the built program, an outdoor space for performances in good weather is requested.
The Friends of Allen Gardens has been the recipient of a major donation. In addition to setting up an endowment to care for the park in perpetuity, the donation includes funds to allow the FOAG to construct a new building in the park. The building is expected to advance some of the goals of the FOAG’s 2017 plan Refresh: A Vision Document for Allan Gardens, including bringing performing arts possibilities to the Gardens.
The building will contain a cafe, a space for small performances (including storytelling) that can be used for other purposes (able to hold an audience of about 50), and office space for the Director of the FOAG Foundation and a staff of 2 to 4 people, depending on the time of year. The complete program as provided by the client is seen on the next page.
Three possible sites within the Gardens have been identified. Your first task, before beginning design work, will be to decide which of these sites makes the most sense for this project.
The total gross floor area (GFA) for the project should not exceed 390 m2, and the building
footprint (including overhangs) must not exceed 250m2. In addition to the built program, an outdoor space for performances in good weather is requested.
Alex Hieu Minh Tran
Drawing Stories
From the assemblage that has been previously created, this project continues the exploration of drawings. Using several conventions of drawing such as plans, elevations, sections and much more, compose a drawing of the assemblage as an occupied structure. To achieve this, some considerations should be made, such as the place where the structure is going to be located (somewhere around Allan Gardens), the scale, the use and the additional needs for it to allow the occupation.
Building Stories
Stories, overall, are all about experience, and the building is a story to guide people through the experience, such as calm, playful and energetic. Located on the south side of the Allan Garden, the building is a hub of entertainment and commercial for the surrounding community and people to help them achieve maximum comfort without any barriers. The building includes a café, an office and a multi-purpose performing space. Neutral colour in the materials emphasizes and creates a space of comfort, warmth and welcome. Also, as a rectilinear form, the building itself is being crafted with elegant yet simple elements to emphasize the beauty of minimalism and define the open space for the inhabitants.
Cassidy Ho
Drawing Stories:
Drawing Stories:
S E V E R E D
Task One: Go for a walk.
Go for a walk in Allan Gardens. Spend lots of time there. Look at the trees, the buildings. Notice what people are doing in the park, even on this winter day. Listen to the sounds. Smell the park. What is around the park? What does the park FEEL like? What do you think the park will be like in twenty years? Find your favourite tree. What species is it? How old do you think it is? Is it a native species or has it been imported? Is it a healthy, happy tree?
Task Two: Write a story.
Write a story in which the tree you have chosen is the narrator. The story should tell us something important you have discovered about Allan Gardens, about the tree, or about yourself. The story should take no more than four minutes to tell.
When is the story set - in the past, the present, or the future? What happens in the story? What is the tone of the story - is it funny, serious, dark, or romantic?
Task Three: Make an assemblage.
Make an assemblage from found objects that somehow relates to your story. Objects can be obtained however you like: you may find them in your house, purchase them in a shop, etc. The assemblage you make should tell us something more about the story. All objects used in the assemblage should be documented in their original location when you found them, using photography. Imagine your object is a gift for the narrator tree.
Task Four: Draw it.
Using the conventions of architectural drawing, - plan, section, elevation and so on - prepare a single drawing of your assemblage as an occupied structure.
Timeless (Read Story):
Time is the essence of the living. It moves on and on and on, not stopping to pause for the moments that matter, the moments that we care for the most and stand out in the ocean of instances that every individual experiences daily. Yet, the rare occurrence that it stops happens when it deems the experience of time to be worthy of its elongated passage. However, many do not realize that stopping time is quite simple in fact. […] I, as a living being responsible for only a hand full of responsibilities, have had the opportunity to halt time over and over again, as I have just shown. I have stood still for possibly a century now, unable to move, but able to observe as time passes rapidly. Horses become cars, 1 story buildings go to two, then three, then 4, then 5, then 20, then 30, then 40, until the Penthouses have reached Mount Everest. Life is too bittersweet, too sour to live at such speed. Life is too short to finish with such an unhappy ending. Life is too timeless to live. As serenity sets in, the peace of finally slowing down, and the calmness to encounter an instant in tranquillity, time will top at your doorsteps. As I have stood for a century, and a century to come, I have and will experience time at its tamed rate. I have had the honour of stopping time for others as they come to visit in the morning, or evenings, but mostly during the night. Never have I been able to stop time for a friend during the day; not when it’s still alive, alive all around us, alive to swallow us into its habits and routines, and noises. When time is lost, meaning is lost as well. To live to the fullest is to cage time before it goes too far, too fast to chase after, too unhappy to ever return. Therefore, I beg of you, to stop. To understand when it is time to experience serenity. To experience Peace. To experience tranquillity. To experience life to its fullest, devoid of time. Create a reality, this reality, one that is timeless, so that you and the next may be able to live life. A meaningful, and timeless life.
Go for a walk in Allan Gardens. Spend lots of time there. Look at the trees, the buildings. Notice what people are doing in the park, even on this winter day. Listen to the sounds. Smell the park. What is around the park? What does the park FEEL like? What do you think the park will be like in twenty years? Find your favourite tree. What species is it? How old do you think it is? Is it a native species or has it been imported? Is it a healthy, happy tree?
Task Two: Write a story.
Write a story in which the tree you have chosen is the narrator. The story should tell us something important you have discovered about Allan Gardens, about the tree, or about yourself. The story should take no more than four minutes to tell.
When is the story set - in the past, the present, or the future? What happens in the story? What is the tone of the story - is it funny, serious, dark, or romantic?
Task Three: Make an assemblage.
Make an assemblage from found objects that somehow relates to your story. Objects can be obtained however you like: you may find them in your house, purchase them in a shop, etc. The assemblage you make should tell us something more about the story. All objects used in the assemblage should be documented in their original location when you found them, using photography. Imagine your object is a gift for the narrator tree.
Task Four: Draw it.
Using the conventions of architectural drawing, - plan, section, elevation and so on - prepare a single drawing of your assemblage as an occupied structure.
Timeless (Read Story):
Time is the essence of the living. It moves on and on and on, not stopping to pause for the moments that matter, the moments that we care for the most and stand out in the ocean of instances that every individual experiences daily. Yet, the rare occurrence that it stops happens when it deems the experience of time to be worthy of its elongated passage. However, many do not realize that stopping time is quite simple in fact. […] I, as a living being responsible for only a hand full of responsibilities, have had the opportunity to halt time over and over again, as I have just shown. I have stood still for possibly a century now, unable to move, but able to observe as time passes rapidly. Horses become cars, 1 story buildings go to two, then three, then 4, then 5, then 20, then 30, then 40, until the Penthouses have reached Mount Everest. Life is too bittersweet, too sour to live at such speed. Life is too short to finish with such an unhappy ending. Life is too timeless to live. As serenity sets in, the peace of finally slowing down, and the calmness to encounter an instant in tranquillity, time will top at your doorsteps. As I have stood for a century, and a century to come, I have and will experience time at its tamed rate. I have had the honour of stopping time for others as they come to visit in the morning, or evenings, but mostly during the night. Never have I been able to stop time for a friend during the day; not when it’s still alive, alive all around us, alive to swallow us into its habits and routines, and noises. When time is lost, meaning is lost as well. To live to the fullest is to cage time before it goes too far, too fast to chase after, too unhappy to ever return. Therefore, I beg of you, to stop. To understand when it is time to experience serenity. To experience Peace. To experience tranquillity. To experience life to its fullest, devoid of time. Create a reality, this reality, one that is timeless, so that you and the next may be able to live life. A meaningful, and timeless life.
Building Stories:
Convergence
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Convergence
The Friends of Allen Gardens has been the recipient of a major donation. In addition to setting up an endowment to care for the park in perpetuity, the donation includes funds to allow the FOAG to construct a new building in the park. The building is expected to advance some of the goals of the FOAG’s 2017 plan Refresh: A Vision Document for Allan Gardens, including bringing performing arts possibilities to the Gardens.
The building will contain a cafe, a space for small performances (including storytelling) that can be used for other purposes (able to hold an audience of about 50), and office space for the Director of the FOAG Foundation and a staff of 2 to 4 people, depending on the time of year. The complete program as provided by the client is seen on the next page.
Three possible sites within the Gardens have been identified. Your first task, before beginning design work, will be to decide which of these sites makes the most sense for this project.
The total gross floor area (GFA) for the project should not exceed 390 m2, and the building
footprint (including overhangs) must not to exceed 250m2. In addition to the built program, an outdoor space for performances in good weather is requested.
My Project Description:
Fabric surrounds the human body. People walk it, feel it, experience it, perceive and notice it, yet city fabric passes as a wind in the summer breeze. The curation of Convergence is a development of the city fabric dominating the paths and alley-ways that one experiences daily. As one converges and emerges from these paths, they experience the movement of city fabric in an uncanny manner. The flow of lower floors leads to the arrival into a glass-encased courtyard which further converges into different spaces. One encounters different spaces like the café and performance space on the lower levels leaving subsidiary spaces on the upper floors. Convergence explores the convergence and emergence of the human body throughout main spaces and sub-spaces.
The building will contain a cafe, a space for small performances (including storytelling) that can be used for other purposes (able to hold an audience of about 50), and office space for the Director of the FOAG Foundation and a staff of 2 to 4 people, depending on the time of year. The complete program as provided by the client is seen on the next page.
Three possible sites within the Gardens have been identified. Your first task, before beginning design work, will be to decide which of these sites makes the most sense for this project.
The total gross floor area (GFA) for the project should not exceed 390 m2, and the building
footprint (including overhangs) must not to exceed 250m2. In addition to the built program, an outdoor space for performances in good weather is requested.
My Project Description:
Fabric surrounds the human body. People walk it, feel it, experience it, perceive and notice it, yet city fabric passes as a wind in the summer breeze. The curation of Convergence is a development of the city fabric dominating the paths and alley-ways that one experiences daily. As one converges and emerges from these paths, they experience the movement of city fabric in an uncanny manner. The flow of lower floors leads to the arrival into a glass-encased courtyard which further converges into different spaces. One encounters different spaces like the café and performance space on the lower levels leaving subsidiary spaces on the upper floors. Convergence explores the convergence and emergence of the human body throughout main spaces and sub-spaces.
Zhiwen Cai
Drawing Stories
The Assemblage is an expression of the gathering of energy. In a world where creatures such as animals, plants, and micro-organisms have energy and are carried on biomass. Based on the conservation of energy, the energy will return to the universe at the end of life.
The drawing continues the idea of assemblage and takes the form of a structure in which people can do activities. A staircase integrated into the structure allows people to reach the platforms at different heights and experience the space created by the structure.
The drawing continues the idea of assemblage and takes the form of a structure in which people can do activities. A staircase integrated into the structure allows people to reach the platforms at different heights and experience the space created by the structure.
Building Stories
The Friends of Allen Gardens has been the recipient of a major donation. The donation includes funds to allow the FOAG to construct a new building in the park. The building is expected to advance some of the goals of the FOAG’s 2017 plan Refresh: A Vision Document for Allan Gardens, including bringing performing arts possibilities to the Gardens. The building will contain a cafe, a space for small performances that can be used for other purposes, and office space for FOAG staffs. The total gross floor area (GFA) for the project should not exceed 390 m2. In addition to the built program, an outdoor space for performances in good weather is requested.
The main functional areas of the building are divided into different boxes, connected by circulation spaces. The massing model was shifted to make it clarify compose the project and match the existing paths and the architectural shape of the conservatory. Throughout the project, this sliding element is integrated into the spaces, plan and elevation, making the building a whole from the inside out.
The main functional areas of the building are divided into different boxes, connected by circulation spaces. The massing model was shifted to make it clarify compose the project and match the existing paths and the architectural shape of the conservatory. Throughout the project, this sliding element is integrated into the spaces, plan and elevation, making the building a whole from the inside out.
Zhiwen Cai
Project 2:
Through a break down and reassembly of a small building, the student will be exposed to the process of construction and the rationale of architectural form and aesthetic generation.
Project 2:
Architect as a Whole and a Sum of its Parts
Through a break down and reassembly of a small building, the student will be exposed to the process of construction and the rationale of architectural form and aesthetic generation.
Alex Hieu Minh Tran
Project 2:
Through a break down and reassembly of a small building, the student will be exposed to the process of construction and the rationale of architectural form and aesthetic generation.
Project 2:
Architect as a Whole and a Sum of its Parts
Through a break down and reassembly of a small building, the student will be exposed to the process of construction and the rationale of architectural form and aesthetic generation.
Peter Bormann
Project 2:
Through a break down and reassembly of a small building, the student will be exposed to the process of construction and the rationale of architectural form and aesthetic generation.
Project 2:
Architect as a Whole and a Sum of its Parts
Through a break down and reassembly of a small building, the student will be exposed to the process of construction and the rationale of architectural form and aesthetic generation.
Jake Kroft
Urban Crevasse
The Urban Crevasse is a rock climbing gym located on Church Street, just north of Gerrard Street East. The design intent was to create an intimate, cavernous experience that is hidden amongst the urban environment, expressed through formal and spatial arrangements. The building’s modest form at grade contrasts the activity taking place inside. Public green space is provided on the site and is intertwined with the boulder-like formation of the building. Users must navigate to the lowest level to begin climbing, while catching glimpses of the activities taking place around them. Skylights penetrating the ground plane allow light into the subterranean space and provide views for pedestrians and climbers alike. Open levels created within the gym allow for an interconnection within the space and a potential for collaboration between climbers and spectators. This project was completed in the second year at Ryerson University.
Urban Crevasse
The Urban Crevasse is a rock climbing gym located on Church Street, just north of Gerrard Street East. The design intent was to create an intimate, cavernous experience that is hidden amongst the urban environment, expressed through formal and spatial arrangements. The building’s modest form at grade contrasts the activity taking place inside. Public green space is provided on the site and is intertwined with the boulder-like formation of the building. Users must navigate to the lowest level to begin climbing, while catching glimpses of the activities taking place around them. Skylights penetrating the ground plane allow light into the subterranean space and provide views for pedestrians and climbers alike. Open levels created within the gym allow for an interconnection within the space and a potential for collaboration between climbers and spectators. This project was completed in the second year at Ryerson University.
Jana Stojanovska
BLUE SKIES
Indoor Skydiving Facility
Located on the busy Southeast corner of Dundas St. E. and Bond St., BLUE SKIES is an indoor skydiving facility. While the literal meaning of “blue skies” is a cloudless day, in skydiving, it is imbued with more meaning. The phrase is used as a greeting or blessing. Inspired by the vertical wind tunnel needed to provide the wind flow for indoor skydiving, this facility focuses on verticality. The flight chamber is exposed with a glazed curtain wall to the major elevations on Dundas and Bond, becoming interconnected with the city. The programs consist of public visitor spaces and private back-of-the-house spaces. The glass chamber housing the wind tunnel dominates the building, rising higher than the other programs. It allows light to flow down to the seating pit at the bottom of the tunnel, visually opening the space to the sky. The viewing decks wrap around the flight chamber and eventually reach the tree branches of the mullions, creating a unique circulatory experience for its viewers. This supports the social aspect of indoor skydiving, as the platforms encourage visitors to stand close to the tunnel and interact with the flyers. BLUE SKIES also uses a dynamic solar shading system that adjusts to changing daylight and desired inflow of light. The façade is an integrated part of the building that creates a unique varying expression, inspired by the changing velocity of wind tunnels. The triangular steel perforated panels are reflected as interior details with the tree-like mullions supporting the vertical wind tunnel.
BLUE SKIES
Indoor Skydiving Facility
Located on the busy Southeast corner of Dundas St. E. and Bond St., BLUE SKIES is an indoor skydiving facility. While the literal meaning of “blue skies” is a cloudless day, in skydiving, it is imbued with more meaning. The phrase is used as a greeting or blessing. Inspired by the vertical wind tunnel needed to provide the wind flow for indoor skydiving, this facility focuses on verticality. The flight chamber is exposed with a glazed curtain wall to the major elevations on Dundas and Bond, becoming interconnected with the city. The programs consist of public visitor spaces and private back-of-the-house spaces. The glass chamber housing the wind tunnel dominates the building, rising higher than the other programs. It allows light to flow down to the seating pit at the bottom of the tunnel, visually opening the space to the sky. The viewing decks wrap around the flight chamber and eventually reach the tree branches of the mullions, creating a unique circulatory experience for its viewers. This supports the social aspect of indoor skydiving, as the platforms encourage visitors to stand close to the tunnel and interact with the flyers. BLUE SKIES also uses a dynamic solar shading system that adjusts to changing daylight and desired inflow of light. The façade is an integrated part of the building that creates a unique varying expression, inspired by the changing velocity of wind tunnels. The triangular steel perforated panels are reflected as interior details with the tree-like mullions supporting the vertical wind tunnel.
Abinava Pradhan
Calico Centre
Located within downtown Toronto, Ontario, The Calico Center acts as a circus arts sports facility that offers both youth and adults an opportunity to participate in a creative active lifestyle.
This sports facility offers a spacious trapeze hall, a well-equipped strength training facility, and a dance room. The design is organized to circulate around the different demographic of users and their experience of each space. It uses different levels of transparency to promote circus arts and still maintain a sense of privacy to draw attention to the main focus of my design, the trapeze hall. Ceramic printed glasses are used around the ground level to decorate the main viewing space while using translucent and masharbiya patterns for the double skin to allow silhouettes of people using the space to act as a living art piece. The perforated screen would allow for light to filter through and create patterns on the floor of the main space to act as spotlights for performers.
Additionally, there is a designated space for a green roof as a perforated surface and rain catchers along the sawtooth roof to water the rooftop garden on the third or roof level.
Calico Centre
Located within downtown Toronto, Ontario, The Calico Center acts as a circus arts sports facility that offers both youth and adults an opportunity to participate in a creative active lifestyle.
This sports facility offers a spacious trapeze hall, a well-equipped strength training facility, and a dance room. The design is organized to circulate around the different demographic of users and their experience of each space. It uses different levels of transparency to promote circus arts and still maintain a sense of privacy to draw attention to the main focus of my design, the trapeze hall. Ceramic printed glasses are used around the ground level to decorate the main viewing space while using translucent and masharbiya patterns for the double skin to allow silhouettes of people using the space to act as a living art piece. The perforated screen would allow for light to filter through and create patterns on the floor of the main space to act as spotlights for performers.
Additionally, there is a designated space for a green roof as a perforated surface and rain catchers along the sawtooth roof to water the rooftop garden on the third or roof level.
Heba Al-Fayez
CNE Speedway
The CNE Speedway is a purpose-built Go-karting facility designed with the intention of using the form of the track as a tool for spatial organization. At the intersections of the race-track loop and the more rigid pedestrian circulation loop lie special spaces where the go-kart and pedestrian can come together in a meaningful way. These spaces include the starting grid, cafe, garage, and viewing gallery. The parti is expressed using the form of the structure.
CNE Speedway
The CNE Speedway is a purpose-built Go-karting facility designed with the intention of using the form of the track as a tool for spatial organization. At the intersections of the race-track loop and the more rigid pedestrian circulation loop lie special spaces where the go-kart and pedestrian can come together in a meaningful way. These spaces include the starting grid, cafe, garage, and viewing gallery. The parti is expressed using the form of the structure.
Haoning Zhao
Courtyard Home: Coliving in Bancroft
Located on 112-114 Hastings St N, Bancroft, Courtyard Home is a sixteen-unit housing complex. The grid of this building is rotated to make every unit face north-south to provide residents with more sunlight. Based on this order, the ground floor is designed to be a public space combined with a café and a community library, which aims to creat an inclusive coliving space for varieties of people.
Courtyard Home: Coliving in Bancroft
Located on 112-114 Hastings St N, Bancroft, Courtyard Home is a sixteen-unit housing complex. The grid of this building is rotated to make every unit face north-south to provide residents with more sunlight. Based on this order, the ground floor is designed to be a public space combined with a café and a community library, which aims to creat an inclusive coliving space for varieties of people.
Jake Kroft
Home Sweet Home:
94 Hastings Street N.
This proposal aims to give Bancroft residents their own individual “houses” within a denser development on the corner of Hastings Street N and Station Street. A community kitchen, serviced by its adjoining community garden, is prominent on the northeast corner of the site. The proposal includes 14 residential units, comprised of 6 – 1 bedroom units, two of which are accessible, 5 – 2 storey, 2 bedroom units, and 3 – 2 storey, 3 bedroom units, one of which is a live/work unit with commercial space on the ground floor.
Home Sweet Home:
94 Hastings Street N.
This proposal aims to give Bancroft residents their own individual “houses” within a denser development on the corner of Hastings Street N and Station Street. A community kitchen, serviced by its adjoining community garden, is prominent on the northeast corner of the site. The proposal includes 14 residential units, comprised of 6 – 1 bedroom units, two of which are accessible, 5 – 2 storey, 2 bedroom units, and 3 – 2 storey, 3 bedroom units, one of which is a live/work unit with commercial space on the ground floor.
Nour Abdelfattah
The Bancroft Residential Hub
Located on 1 Madawaska Street, the Bancroft Residential Hub sets a leading model for sustainable design and practice in the town of Bancroft. Operating on a series of systems that work together to enrich the community, its greenhouse, community kitchen, cafe, and produce market foster spaces for gathering, education, and production. This “hub” enhances the community by giving back and leading by example in achieving net-zero to show Bancroft that it can be a leader!
The Bancroft Residential Hub
Located on 1 Madawaska Street, the Bancroft Residential Hub sets a leading model for sustainable design and practice in the town of Bancroft. Operating on a series of systems that work together to enrich the community, its greenhouse, community kitchen, cafe, and produce market foster spaces for gathering, education, and production. This “hub” enhances the community by giving back and leading by example in achieving net-zero to show Bancroft that it can be a leader!
Jana Stojanovska
Green Garden Homes:
Housing Co-operative
1 Madawaska St, Bancroft, ON
Located on 1 Madawaska Street , Green Garden Homes is a ten-unit townhouse complex. The townhouses have a staggered aggregation to address the sloping site conditions and maximize privacy for both interior and exterior dwelling spaces. The units are coupled in pairs, offering a variety of types that share the same architectural idea of verticality. The units’ orientation places the energy gardens on the south side, which maximizes daylight and permits passive heat gains in the home. Additionally, garden spaces are extended to the roof-top deck, which provides residents with an intimate outdoor space overlooking the park and York River. The Farmer’s Market, located on the corner of Madawaska Street and Alice Street, acts as a transition from Bancroft’s downtown core on Hastings Street and the residential zone on Alice Street. The Farmer’s Market opens up to the park, extending its activities to the outside during warmer seasons. The market promotes community building and gathering of townspeople, while giving visitors an opportunity to engage and support locally-grown fresh produce.
Green Garden Homes:
Housing Co-operative
1 Madawaska St, Bancroft, ON
Located on 1 Madawaska Street , Green Garden Homes is a ten-unit townhouse complex. The townhouses have a staggered aggregation to address the sloping site conditions and maximize privacy for both interior and exterior dwelling spaces. The units are coupled in pairs, offering a variety of types that share the same architectural idea of verticality. The units’ orientation places the energy gardens on the south side, which maximizes daylight and permits passive heat gains in the home. Additionally, garden spaces are extended to the roof-top deck, which provides residents with an intimate outdoor space overlooking the park and York River. The Farmer’s Market, located on the corner of Madawaska Street and Alice Street, acts as a transition from Bancroft’s downtown core on Hastings Street and the residential zone on Alice Street. The Farmer’s Market opens up to the park, extending its activities to the outside during warmer seasons. The market promotes community building and gathering of townspeople, while giving visitors an opportunity to engage and support locally-grown fresh produce.
Anjali Dawani
Hamilton Aqua Centre:
Hamilton Aqua Centre:
Set In Stone
The Aqua Centre is situated in the heart of downtown Hamilton, at the corner of King and Bay street. The centre emerges as a stone that has landed in the city and cracked itself open to the city. The ease of movement and weightlessness defined by bodies of water render the connections, while rigid volumes define thresholds. A civic courtyard sits at the heart of the project as it invites the community to engage with the spaces. Interconnectivity between spaces, materials and the users intensifies the narrative of the experience and enforces a dialogue between the city and the people.
Lala Leung
Hamilton Aqua Centre:
Hamilton Aqua Centre:
Hub on King East
Surrounded by the bustling traffic of downtown Hamilton, this aquatic centre offers a tranquil haven for the citizens of Hamilton. Within a city of steel like Hamilton, the terracotta facade and mass timber construction provides a safe communal space that emanates warmth. The extruding and receding levels of the building imitates a mountain-like form, corresponding to the vistas of the enscarpment.
Ariel Weiss
Hamilton Aqua Centre:
Hamilton Aqua Centre:
Symbiosis
Growth is a fundamental constant existing on all scales of life. The City of Hamilton for example is rapidly growing into a destination for younger people looking to live affordably in the city. The large-scale growth of the city happens over time and is influenced by large-scale change factors such as economy and infrastructure. On a smaller scale, a person may also grow over time. Personal growth is only different from city-level growth in the quicker and smaller-scale changes such as body and mind. In placing a small scale growth-oriented program (YMCA), onto a large scale growth-oriented site (Hamilton), how can a symbiotic relationship between the two unite people and the city around them?
Horia Curteanu
Hamilton Aqua Centre:
Hamilton Aqua Centre:
YMCA Aquatic Center
Hamilton presents a canvas for public and building relations. Much of the city's filled with parking lots and empty pedestrian podiums. Being a more relatively seclude area, the project uses its content to frame a center for public activity and create a junction between the site and the program. The idea of an interconnection is about talking all aspects of the larger city of Hamilton and filtering it to the experience of the human scale.
Project work for ASC 620 can be see at the Department of Architectural Science, 325 Church Street. Models Scale 1:50 and detailed drawings are on display.
Zareen Khan
Assignment 3
This temporary dwelling uses natural materials found in Portugal. The design is inspired by surrounding vernacular architecture. It can be easily assembled and disassembled. This dwelling offers an immersive medetative experience in the natural setting.
Cooper Hollett
Scanlon Adventure House
Scanlon Adventure House is located at the underutilized Discovery Play Garden at Scanlon Creek Conservation Area. Adventure house seeks to provide a space for children to ex- plore and challenge their limits by presenting multiple ob- stacles for them to overcome. The crude construction of Ad- venture House symbolically represents the foundations of the understanding ones self through creative play and imagina- tion whilst the form of the architecture is representative of the beautiful simplicity of life as a child. The form intentionally does not enforce its own image onto the children but rather acts as a canvas for their imaginations to run wild as they engage with the structure. Adventure house responds to its immediate context by gently gesturing away from the tree behind Adven- ture House whilst its construction is inspired by established structures on site, the Mud Kitchen and a gathering pavilion.
Christopher Cleland
a place of reflection.
a place of reflection.
Fogo Island, NL
This fogo island place of worship is an individual opportunity for an inward dialogue with the self. The ‘chapel’ aims to refuse its traditional bias and embraces a multivalent approach to religion, encouraging intimacy and welcoming all forms of prayer and meditation. The chapel aims to bring the user closer with the spirit of the place and the earth by extending itself out into the water. The ocean tide and open roof encourage an acknowledgment of place and time in an attempt to stimulate prayer and inward reflection. The overall form and material treatment are a result of vernacular architecture found around Fogo Island, which also pays homage to the existing dialogue between artists studios on the island. The structure is also inspired by native Beothuk Mamateek construction, which has been applied in a contemporary a-frame form. The structure is composed from native Newfoundland Balsam Fir, which has been burnt finished on the exterior.
Noah Ryzewicz
Project 1 - A Laneway Suite:
Project 1 - A Laneway Suite:
Laneway Suite 542 Beresford Avenue
Residents from a wide range of occupational, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds are having difficulty obtaining and maintaining proper housing in Toronto. With increasing populations and difficulty to obtain a home, underutilized spaces in Toronto need to be revisited. The laneway suite is a new building typology that is on the rise in the city, utilizing the abandoned garages on many of Toronto’s laneways. Typically located in the backyard of a detached, semi-detached, townhouse, or other low-rise house, this self-contained residential unit is often smaller in size, at a max of 8mx10m, and ultimately contributes to a wider range of housing options within the city.
The proposed design for the 542 Beresford Avenue laneway suite is a comfortable and private home intended for couple. It prioritizes privacy from the laneway and redirects the focus to the central courtyard between the suite and main residence. With the change in levels and use of sliding doors, spaces such as the interior lounge and exterior common space, or the dining space and deck space become blurred as they seamlessly flow from interior to exterior. Privacy within these exterior spaces is created using planters and hedges, while the use of perforated brick walls allows for light into more private areas of the home such as the main bedroom and study. The subtle change in floor and ceiling height gives each space a sense of identity, whether in the expansive lounge space or more intimate kitchen, these changes influence the atmosphere of that space, making the home feel larger than it is.
The proposed design for the 542 Beresford Avenue laneway suite is a comfortable and private home intended for couple. It prioritizes privacy from the laneway and redirects the focus to the central courtyard between the suite and main residence. With the change in levels and use of sliding doors, spaces such as the interior lounge and exterior common space, or the dining space and deck space become blurred as they seamlessly flow from interior to exterior. Privacy within these exterior spaces is created using planters and hedges, while the use of perforated brick walls allows for light into more private areas of the home such as the main bedroom and study. The subtle change in floor and ceiling height gives each space a sense of identity, whether in the expansive lounge space or more intimate kitchen, these changes influence the atmosphere of that space, making the home feel larger than it is.
Noah Ryzewicz
Project 2 - The Good Neighbour:
Project 2 - The Good Neighbour:
A Missing Middle Project
With the population rapidly growing in Toronto, a need for more housing in older and more recent suburbs is necessary, as not everyone wants to live in the busy city. As more high-rise towers begin to appear, and smaller scale homes such as laneway suites become more common, there is still a need for a typology in between, this is the missing middle. The missing middle can be understood as a mid rise building or a range of house-scale buildings with multiple units, located in walkable neighbourhoods. For this project the objective was to design a missing middle building along a main retail street in the Bloor West Village, keeping in mind the character of the area and the future potential of the village. Bloor West is a low-density, once suburban neighbourhood in western Toronto with a lot of character and low-rise buildings, this proposal will be one of the first midrise buildings within the neighbourhood and should be aware of its surrounding neighbours. It is crucial to approach this design by first looking at life, then space, then finally, the building.
The proposed design for the missing middle project intends to fit comfortably into its immediate context, providing public spaces to use, local retail shops, and a range of units to fit a variety of families. The retail shops at grade are consistent with the others across the street, creating a sense of familiarity and consistency with this new building. The placement of a café and open public space near the main intersection attracts users into this versatile space, whether it be for public events, street fairs, or just meeting a friend to sit in some shade. There are multiple residential entrances, both from the main street as well as the opposing side of the building, the first floor consists of 1–2-bedroom units, while the other 3 floors prioritize 2-3 bedrooms. The third floor of this building is situated with a shared space for all residences, including a community garden, group seating, as well as a play structure for children, meant to enhance the sense of community. Each room was designed with the intention of providing adequate space, as well as sufficient views and natural lighting.
The proposed design for the missing middle project intends to fit comfortably into its immediate context, providing public spaces to use, local retail shops, and a range of units to fit a variety of families. The retail shops at grade are consistent with the others across the street, creating a sense of familiarity and consistency with this new building. The placement of a café and open public space near the main intersection attracts users into this versatile space, whether it be for public events, street fairs, or just meeting a friend to sit in some shade. There are multiple residential entrances, both from the main street as well as the opposing side of the building, the first floor consists of 1–2-bedroom units, while the other 3 floors prioritize 2-3 bedrooms. The third floor of this building is situated with a shared space for all residences, including a community garden, group seating, as well as a play structure for children, meant to enhance the sense of community. Each room was designed with the intention of providing adequate space, as well as sufficient views and natural lighting.
Jack Dalgleish-Morel
Bee Breeders: Virtual Home
Bee Breeders: Virtual Home
METAHOUSE - The Digital Hearth
As we move into the metaverse, the age-old desires to understand our place in the world and to connect with others is as equally important as it has been in the past.
Historically, fire has been a central element in our lives. It meant a place of safety, a place where we can connect with others, storytell, and debate. This central element of fire within the home would remain a constant through the evolution of humanity.
Over the course of history, spiritual connection to a higher power was a means to understand our place in the world. The Oracle of Delphi would deliver prophecies after inhaling vapors from a deep chasm in the earth. This was considered communication with the Gods, making her one of the most influential people in Ancient Greece.
Communication with the Gods, storytelling, and debate are all simply ways we have tried to find comfort within the chaos of existence. We once again are in need of a grounding central element within the home that can be a tool for understanding where we stand in this new reality that is the Metaverse.
The Digital Hearth is a contemporary means to understand our purpose within this new landscape of the Metaverse. Each Digital Hearth reaches past the comprehensible simulated physicality of the Metaverse and taps into the infinitely vast stream of information that is the Internet. The Digital Hearth filters and flows a stream of personalized media through the home catalyzing connection and interaction between individuals.
This Digital Hearth will supply a flow of media that can be manipulated, stored, and experienced by users inhabiting this Metahouse. The conventional classification of living space has been replaced by gallery space while workspace has been replaced with studio space. These redefinitions are more suitable for the realities we will face while inhabiting the Metaverse.
Studio space is a space to create, design, explore and connect. Gallery space is a place to display the digital assets that make your Metahouse a home.
Historically, fire has been a central element in our lives. It meant a place of safety, a place where we can connect with others, storytell, and debate. This central element of fire within the home would remain a constant through the evolution of humanity.
Over the course of history, spiritual connection to a higher power was a means to understand our place in the world. The Oracle of Delphi would deliver prophecies after inhaling vapors from a deep chasm in the earth. This was considered communication with the Gods, making her one of the most influential people in Ancient Greece.
Communication with the Gods, storytelling, and debate are all simply ways we have tried to find comfort within the chaos of existence. We once again are in need of a grounding central element within the home that can be a tool for understanding where we stand in this new reality that is the Metaverse.
The Digital Hearth is a contemporary means to understand our purpose within this new landscape of the Metaverse. Each Digital Hearth reaches past the comprehensible simulated physicality of the Metaverse and taps into the infinitely vast stream of information that is the Internet. The Digital Hearth filters and flows a stream of personalized media through the home catalyzing connection and interaction between individuals.
This Digital Hearth will supply a flow of media that can be manipulated, stored, and experienced by users inhabiting this Metahouse. The conventional classification of living space has been replaced by gallery space while workspace has been replaced with studio space. These redefinitions are more suitable for the realities we will face while inhabiting the Metaverse.
Studio space is a space to create, design, explore and connect. Gallery space is a place to display the digital assets that make your Metahouse a home.
Jessica Iozzo
Competition: Port[lands] housing
The ARC 920 Competition Studio allows students to systematically delve into a competition of their choice. This project is a submission for the Vancouver Affordable Housing Challenge Bee Breeders competition. The competition program asks for participants to design a replicable concept for affordable housing within Vancouver, with no limit to the scale or amount of residential units needed.
Vancouver is in the throes of a housing crisis. Strict zoning guidelines in protection of Vancouver’s Single Family Dwellings (SFD) has led to a reliance on corporate vertical development, scarcity in buildable land beyond the city and a deeply unaffordable housing market. With development policy locked beneath layers of bureaucratic rhetoric, the issue of affordable housing narrows to scarcity of land and forms of ownership. Rather than looking towards open market land acquisition and expropriation of occupied land, this proposal seeks to construct new ‘land’ by engaging the potential of Vancouver Harbor and its ports.
Vancouver is in the throes of a housing crisis. Strict zoning guidelines in protection of Vancouver’s Single Family Dwellings (SFD) has led to a reliance on corporate vertical development, scarcity in buildable land beyond the city and a deeply unaffordable housing market. With development policy locked beneath layers of bureaucratic rhetoric, the issue of affordable housing narrows to scarcity of land and forms of ownership. Rather than looking towards open market land acquisition and expropriation of occupied land, this proposal seeks to construct new ‘land’ by engaging the potential of Vancouver Harbor and its ports.
Florencio IV Tameta
Tokyo Studio - Final Design: Tama Plaza Research Centre
The Tama Plaza Research Centre is located at the current base of the WISE Living Lab located in Tama Plaza, Yokohama, Japan. It is imagined to build on the goals of the WISE Living Lab that re-think the implementation of food-energy-water (FEW) in future suburban developments and initiate Tama Plaza’s role in developing sustainable urban farming models that can be recreated locally and internationally.
The research centre becomes a place for protoyping urban farming practices that are implemented across the neighbourhood while growing produce that can be shared with locals. The ground floor aims to provide local-friendly spaces such as storefronts and multipurpose spaces that use locally sourced produce and a community garden that shares knowledge through applied learning. The second and third floor are dedicated to administrative and research-based spaces including offices, breakout rooms and research labs. Vertical farms are found throughout the project, extending multiple floors and being central to how researchers and visitors experience the centre. Whether a local of Tama Plaza or an employee within the research centre, there is a constant visual connection to the growing of food.
The Tama Plaza Research Centre aims to become an incubator for urban farming production and encourage the development of a self-sustaining neighbourhood.
The research centre becomes a place for protoyping urban farming practices that are implemented across the neighbourhood while growing produce that can be shared with locals. The ground floor aims to provide local-friendly spaces such as storefronts and multipurpose spaces that use locally sourced produce and a community garden that shares knowledge through applied learning. The second and third floor are dedicated to administrative and research-based spaces including offices, breakout rooms and research labs. Vertical farms are found throughout the project, extending multiple floors and being central to how researchers and visitors experience the centre. Whether a local of Tama Plaza or an employee within the research centre, there is a constant visual connection to the growing of food.
The Tama Plaza Research Centre aims to become an incubator for urban farming production and encourage the development of a self-sustaining neighbourhood.
Kathleen Crisol, Eric Bowen, Sharon Widanagama
Energy, Water & GHG of Nine Ontario Houses
The poster is intended to summarize the data from the BSC720, F2021 class. It is a study showing the total consumption of nine different households in terms of water, electricity and natural gas consumption. It is shown against the house characteristics such as volume, GFA, effective RSI, and more.
Kathleen Crisol
Shade and Thermal Comfort Analysis: Burwash Hall Quad
The project evaluates a number of chosen outdoor spaces in Toronto for their shade and thermal comfort. After deciding which site is most appropriate for study, it is evaluated further to find deficiencies and successes with existing conditions. The project concludes with proposed site changes to improve the current site for comfort and shade.
Kathleen Crisol
Net Zero Off-Grid Microhome:
Net Zero Off-Grid Microhome:
Warm Cabin
The purpose of the term project is to utilize theoretical and practical knowledge that students acquired in this and other performance courses, such as creative and critical thinking in identifying the problem and developing the approach(es) to solving the problem, in data collection, analysis, and synthesis and in exercising their written, oral, and visual communication and presentation skills to a specific client.
Emily Zheng
Net Zero Off-Grid Microhome:
Net Zero Off-Grid Microhome:
Off-Grid Microhome
The purpose of the term project is to utilize theoretical and practical knowledge that students acquired in this and other performance courses, such as creative and critical thinking in identifying the problem and developing the approach(es) to solving the problem, in data collection, analysis, and synthesis and in exercising their written, oral, and visual communication and presentation skills to a specific client.
Jacob (Coby) Lyons
Net Zero Off-Grid Microhome:
Net Zero Off-Grid Microhome:
Compact and Hidden
Net Zero Off-Grid Microhome Microhome - Compact and Hidden The purpose of the term project is to utilize theoretical and practical knowledge that students acquired in this and other performance courses, such as creative and critical thinking in identifying the problem and developing the approach(es) to solving the problem, in data collection, analysis, and synthesis and in exercising their written, oral, and visual communication and presentation skills to a specific client.
Briana Decina
Net Zero Off-Grid Microhome
Net Zero Off-Grid Microhome Microhome - Compact and Hidden The purpose of the term project is to utilize theoretical and practical knowledge that students acquired in this and other performance courses, such as creative and critical thinking in identifying the problem and developing the approach(es) to solving the problem, in data collection, analysis, and synthesis and in exercising their written, oral, and visual communication and presentation skills to a specific client.
Treya Vyas & Anthony Ascension
The team and Exclamation Point Inc. recognizes the value of the Coventry University Campus International Centre which is to be located in Barcelona, Spain. Exclamation Point is a global leader in sustainability, renowned for not only using transition technology to reduce overall environmental footprints but also sourcing the best eco-friendly construction materials. For over 20 years, Exclamation Point has worked with Ryerson University, ASC, and various other universities to set standards of accessibility and security through our thoughtful and innovative designs. The project application starts with a RFPQ (Request For Pre-Qualification). Once selected by the client, Exclamation Point is to submit the response to Request For Proposal.
RFP executive summary:
This report has been created due to the instruction from Coventry University with the intention to assess the feasibility of creating a new Coventry University International Campus Centre in Barcelona, Spain. The report defines the scope and identify constraints of each option to decide upon a recommended option that will have a respective cost plan and construction plan. As mentioned, the study considers three design options with specific design considerations, security and sustainability assessments as well as the final risks and opportunities of the project. The options each get a thorough feasibility study including the development programme, impact on the community and their individual project cost.
Based on the options provided, Exclamation Point has chosen a design option for a thorough feasibility study. Attached at the end of the document are Cost plan and Project Schedule that give an insight into the specific choices. The study focuses on the requirements and constraints while considering the site and the building context.
Request for Proposal: Coventry University Campus International Centre in Barcelona, Spain
The team and Exclamation Point Inc. recognizes the value of the Coventry University Campus International Centre which is to be located in Barcelona, Spain. Exclamation Point is a global leader in sustainability, renowned for not only using transition technology to reduce overall environmental footprints but also sourcing the best eco-friendly construction materials. For over 20 years, Exclamation Point has worked with Ryerson University, ASC, and various other universities to set standards of accessibility and security through our thoughtful and innovative designs. The project application starts with a RFPQ (Request For Pre-Qualification). Once selected by the client, Exclamation Point is to submit the response to Request For Proposal.
RFP executive summary:
This report has been created due to the instruction from Coventry University with the intention to assess the feasibility of creating a new Coventry University International Campus Centre in Barcelona, Spain. The report defines the scope and identify constraints of each option to decide upon a recommended option that will have a respective cost plan and construction plan. As mentioned, the study considers three design options with specific design considerations, security and sustainability assessments as well as the final risks and opportunities of the project. The options each get a thorough feasibility study including the development programme, impact on the community and their individual project cost.
Based on the options provided, Exclamation Point has chosen a design option for a thorough feasibility study. Attached at the end of the document are Cost plan and Project Schedule that give an insight into the specific choices. The study focuses on the requirements and constraints while considering the site and the building context.
With this in mind, the project will cost £17,029,693.06. The building also holds value in energy efficiency as well as longevity. The cost also takes into account for the client’s decisions on innovative technologies which are added to the overall three options.
Based on the thorough calculations and findings, the team at Exclamation Point suggests the following:
There are certain programmatic uses within specific buildings. In relation to the program of the university, we can obviously divide it into Public and Private spaces, public spaces constituting food shops, cafes, reception and exhibition space. With the private spaces consisting of education based spaces, they can be defined as large spaces with often very specific programmatic uses. When looking at a diagram like this, we are able to study which spaces require the most attention. Therefore allocating more area and design intervention within these spaces such as classrooms, lecture spaces, work spaces.
The second option is a large change from the other two options provided. It takes energy consumption, cost efficiency, fuel consumption and carbon footprint into consideration. Being visibly smaller, the building program is very thorough to ensure each space is programmed properly. With steel structure, the aluminum cladding provides a clean look and an opportunity at art installations while the structure allows for long spans and longevity. The project integrates PV solar panels, green roof and local materials.
To consider accessibility, the project in respect to code includes one fully accessible washroom. Various parts of the building consider inclusivity and accessibility as there are changes in pavement and landscaping at bus stops and throughout the campus landscaping. There are various smaller street-crossings and signals installed to ensure proper safety along with the integration of bicycle rentals, paths and parking.
Link to view the RFP Submitted: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tRenbk9rL2LmDV8ilWPoH9wFurrYTe_P/view?usp=sharing
Based on the thorough calculations and findings, the team at Exclamation Point suggests the following:
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To choose and continue with the second design option for optimal results
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To consider the extension of the University campus on the site provided
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Additionally, the team suggests Coventry University to consider a sustainability assessment and plan for the new construction
There are certain programmatic uses within specific buildings. In relation to the program of the university, we can obviously divide it into Public and Private spaces, public spaces constituting food shops, cafes, reception and exhibition space. With the private spaces consisting of education based spaces, they can be defined as large spaces with often very specific programmatic uses. When looking at a diagram like this, we are able to study which spaces require the most attention. Therefore allocating more area and design intervention within these spaces such as classrooms, lecture spaces, work spaces.
The second option is a large change from the other two options provided. It takes energy consumption, cost efficiency, fuel consumption and carbon footprint into consideration. Being visibly smaller, the building program is very thorough to ensure each space is programmed properly. With steel structure, the aluminum cladding provides a clean look and an opportunity at art installations while the structure allows for long spans and longevity. The project integrates PV solar panels, green roof and local materials.
To consider accessibility, the project in respect to code includes one fully accessible washroom. Various parts of the building consider inclusivity and accessibility as there are changes in pavement and landscaping at bus stops and throughout the campus landscaping. There are various smaller street-crossings and signals installed to ensure proper safety along with the integration of bicycle rentals, paths and parking.
Link to view the RFP Submitted: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tRenbk9rL2LmDV8ilWPoH9wFurrYTe_P/view?usp=sharing
Emily Liu & Patryk Banel
Request for Proposal: Coventry University Satellite Campus in Barcelona, Spain
Project Brief:
In this Assignment, we will be responding to a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a new Coventry University Campus International Centre, located in Barcelona, Spain. The Client is Coventry University, United Kingdom. As a firm with design and build expertise, we are going to develop a Response to this Request for Proposal, which is principally to convince Coventry University that your firm is the right one to design and build their new Barcelona campus.
Executive Summary:
Coventry University seeks a highly qualified firm to provide a comprehensive design solution with the aim to create an international campus centre in Barcelona, Spain (Av. del Litoral 08019). The proposed building should consider monetary, site and environmental constraints to develop a cohesive and creative concept. Through intensive research and thorough analysis, SPEK I.C. would like to recommend the following building proposal for the future development of Coventry University Campus’ International Centre.
The proposed building’s gross floor area is a total of 5,198 meters squared with two storeys. Cost of project construction is estimated at 15.7 million euros with a construction duration of 44 weeks. The project, when including design and post construction activities, has a total approximated duration of 112 weeks.
The proposal, located in the northeast corner of the site, forms both a visual and physical connection to the city of Barcelona. Glazing along the south-facing facades invites daylight while sections of the building, including the ground floor restaurant, open out to the landscaped parks and pathways. The site, as proposed, allows many opportunities for future development as the campus and its associated facilities expand.
The project team at SPEK I.C. proposes several advanced and sustainable technologies; the structure is an exemplar of innovative methods of construction which achieves a BREEAM Very Good rating. Integrated innovations include but are not limited to smart building technologies which adapt to users, water source cooling, air source heat pumps, and passive design strategies which optimize the performance of this mass timber structure.
The following design proposal seeks to exceed the expectations and standards set by Coventry University. Upon completion of construction, SPEK I.C. will conduct a thorough post-occupancy review to ensure client and user satisfaction, thus maintaining the firms commitment to excellence.
In this Assignment, we will be responding to a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a new Coventry University Campus International Centre, located in Barcelona, Spain. The Client is Coventry University, United Kingdom. As a firm with design and build expertise, we are going to develop a Response to this Request for Proposal, which is principally to convince Coventry University that your firm is the right one to design and build their new Barcelona campus.
Executive Summary:
Coventry University seeks a highly qualified firm to provide a comprehensive design solution with the aim to create an international campus centre in Barcelona, Spain (Av. del Litoral 08019). The proposed building should consider monetary, site and environmental constraints to develop a cohesive and creative concept. Through intensive research and thorough analysis, SPEK I.C. would like to recommend the following building proposal for the future development of Coventry University Campus’ International Centre.
The proposed building’s gross floor area is a total of 5,198 meters squared with two storeys. Cost of project construction is estimated at 15.7 million euros with a construction duration of 44 weeks. The project, when including design and post construction activities, has a total approximated duration of 112 weeks.
The proposal, located in the northeast corner of the site, forms both a visual and physical connection to the city of Barcelona. Glazing along the south-facing facades invites daylight while sections of the building, including the ground floor restaurant, open out to the landscaped parks and pathways. The site, as proposed, allows many opportunities for future development as the campus and its associated facilities expand.
The project team at SPEK I.C. proposes several advanced and sustainable technologies; the structure is an exemplar of innovative methods of construction which achieves a BREEAM Very Good rating. Integrated innovations include but are not limited to smart building technologies which adapt to users, water source cooling, air source heat pumps, and passive design strategies which optimize the performance of this mass timber structure.
The following design proposal seeks to exceed the expectations and standards set by Coventry University. Upon completion of construction, SPEK I.C. will conduct a thorough post-occupancy review to ensure client and user satisfaction, thus maintaining the firms commitment to excellence.
Antonela Kelava
Request for Proposal: Coventry University Satellite Campus in Barcelona, Spain
In this Assignment, you will be responding to a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a new Coventry University Campus International Centre, located in Barcelona, Spain. The Client is Coventry University, United Kingdom.
As a firm with design and build expertise, you going to develop a Response to this Request for Proposal, which is principally to convince Coventry University that your firm is the right one to design and build their new Barcelona campus.
On September 10 and September 17, 2021 at 200 PM EDT, Coventry University will conduct a Briefing for all interested firms. Just as like in the real world, the Client will outline at best a list of specific requirements and at worst a very vague outline of his general requirements.
Some general information may be given which will help you to get started. However you will need to take stock of the details and plan out how you can achieve their Project goals. You should not make any assumptions that the information or data provided are all correct and current. You will need to be creative, proactive and motivated to demonstrate to them why your design-and-build firm should one the one they should choose.
The University should be a champion of good design in all areas. This should be achieved by creating external spaces which are of an appropriate quality within a major city context, by commissioning buildings which will stand the test of time and setting standards of accessibility and security through well considered design.
Your Response should not be simply to propose a building. In the real world there are monetary, site and environmental constraints. Not only should your Proposal meets the Coventry University’s needs, it should also be within their budget. It should of course also be buildable within their time frame.
Your firm will also have to deal with many other construction-related issues. As you are also bidding to construct the building, you will need fluency with the many key stages involved in a construction project. Not least due consideration with environmental, sustainability and site safety.
In his briefing, the Client may also identify some of the problems he wants you to evaluate and propose potential solutions. You should evaluate carefully your proposed solutions, that they are appropriate, possible and feasible.
As a firm with design and build expertise, you going to develop a Response to this Request for Proposal, which is principally to convince Coventry University that your firm is the right one to design and build their new Barcelona campus.
On September 10 and September 17, 2021 at 200 PM EDT, Coventry University will conduct a Briefing for all interested firms. Just as like in the real world, the Client will outline at best a list of specific requirements and at worst a very vague outline of his general requirements.
Some general information may be given which will help you to get started. However you will need to take stock of the details and plan out how you can achieve their Project goals. You should not make any assumptions that the information or data provided are all correct and current. You will need to be creative, proactive and motivated to demonstrate to them why your design-and-build firm should one the one they should choose.
The University should be a champion of good design in all areas. This should be achieved by creating external spaces which are of an appropriate quality within a major city context, by commissioning buildings which will stand the test of time and setting standards of accessibility and security through well considered design.
Your Response should not be simply to propose a building. In the real world there are monetary, site and environmental constraints. Not only should your Proposal meets the Coventry University’s needs, it should also be within their budget. It should of course also be buildable within their time frame.
Your firm will also have to deal with many other construction-related issues. As you are also bidding to construct the building, you will need fluency with the many key stages involved in a construction project. Not least due consideration with environmental, sustainability and site safety.
In his briefing, the Client may also identify some of the problems he wants you to evaluate and propose potential solutions. You should evaluate carefully your proposed solutions, that they are appropriate, possible and feasible.
Emily Liu
Project Summary Report: Planning Queen Street Library
In this studio, students select a building project and work on six main project management areas and submit their work in six deliverables: project scope definition, project quantity take-off, project cost estimation, project planning, project 4D simulation, and planning for project risk.
Patryk Banel
Project Summary Report: Planning The Parkdale Library Project
In this studio, students select a building project and work on six main project management areas and submit their work in six deliverables: project scope definition, project quantity take-off, project cost estimation, project planning, project 4D simulation, and planning for project risk.
See the full report here.
See the full report here.
Jasmin (Minji) Kim, Jeannette Wehbeh, Taylor Marshall
Pale Blue Dot:
Pale Blue Dot:
Adaptation in the Flux of Chaos
The impact of climate change will not spare a single aspect of life as we know it and adaptation is our only option at this point in the trajectory of the world’s demise. Although we will be experiencing similar climate catastrophes around the globe, each region will have its own adaptation method dependent on location and culture. Synthesizing our research resulted in a new map of adaptability conceived of Goldilocks Zones deemed habitable lands. These Goldilocks Zones will be the most vulnerable to the elements of chaos and the most significant regions affected by the year 2100. Fez, Morocco was selected as the geographical area of study due to its numerous elements of chaos, including natural disasters, high land surface temperatures, wildfires, air pollution, rising air temperatures, and an influx of migrants.
Flux is chaos-seeking balance through adaptive processes. Our research towards the year 2100 and the layers of the climate chaos we will face, combined with conceptual theories on adaptation, shows no ‘single’ solution for adaptability. To adapt to our current and future evolving environment, a series of fluctuating initiatives that tackle issues at various scales is instrumental for present and future change. Nine strategies, applied to Fez, Morocco, can be applied to any other city within the Goldilocks Zone. It is a framework to guide the evolution of architecture through climate change while maintaining tradition, meaning, and comfort.
Flux is chaos-seeking balance through adaptive processes. Our research towards the year 2100 and the layers of the climate chaos we will face, combined with conceptual theories on adaptation, shows no ‘single’ solution for adaptability. To adapt to our current and future evolving environment, a series of fluctuating initiatives that tackle issues at various scales is instrumental for present and future change. Nine strategies, applied to Fez, Morocco, can be applied to any other city within the Goldilocks Zone. It is a framework to guide the evolution of architecture through climate change while maintaining tradition, meaning, and comfort.
Kristen Tsoukas, Patricia Diaz, Elena Teimouri
Pale Blue Dot:
Pale Blue Dot:
Suburbia Under Pressure: Re-imaging Social Contracts
In the 21st century, the meaning of family is ever evolving, and as a result, future dwellings should reflect this change. To re-imagine the social contracts of dwelling, we need to think of urban living as a system instead of individualistic plots of private property. Re-imagining Social Contracts is driven by the need to provide adaptive, flexible, and affordable spaces in Surrey, British Columbia, the largest growing municipality in Metro Vancouver. Surrey is rapidly changing from a suburban town made up of single-family homes to a dense urban city. For this proposal, a typical block was analyzed (that is zoned for a 20th-century idea of single-family housing) from Surrey. This typical block contains 18 houses, which would accommodate 75 people. In 30 years, it would need to accommodate 125 people. As a result, this proposal seeks to provide an affordable shared model of living that can easily sustain future densification and allow flexibility. The majority of the existing houses on-site were re-purposed, and a structural 4x4m² grid system that houses modular building blocks were imposed onto them. These modules re-negotiate our concept of domestic space into neutral, unassumed spaces, acting as canvases for the diverse members of each community. They break the walls of traditional homes through acts of re-purposing, adding, subtracting or merging. They can house people and be used for commercial, institutional, or user desires. This model ultimately allows the users to determine what these spaces can become, self-sustaining each community. This vision must be adopted at a larger scale as the population, and the need for affordable, suitable housing continues to grow.
Nicole Li & Rita Wang
Post-Anthropolis: an interactive manual for re-imagining the post-industrial city
Embedded in our current lifestyle is the deep-rooted mindset of human supremacy and anthropocentric thinking. Humans consider themselves the center of the ecosystem, often overlooking that we are part of an entire network, and our actions have detrimental impacts on the whole system. Post-AnthroPolis is an investigation of a long-term, future scenario. As humans and non-human species migrate due to climate emergencies, built forms are abandoned, creating opportunities for us to reimagine the city to incorporate non-humans back into a symbiotic ecosystem. A reorientation of architectural thinking and worldview is imperative to develop a capacity for biodiversity in architecture.
Within the industrial city, modernity brought forth technological innovations that have benefited civilization and built forms. This movement led to a deep-rooted mindset of human supremacy and anthropocentric thinking embedded in our current lifestyle and how we build. Humans and built forms have developed a relationship that succeeds at the expense of non-human forms – causing a mass extinction of non-human life and threatening ecological stability.
In the context of post-industrial cities, we can find opportunities to re-incorporate non-humans into a better relationship with humans and built forms. By redefining this framework and relationship, all parties can be considered equal participants within a new city typology, which we call Post-AnthroPolis: a post-anthropocentric city.
This interactive manual presents a strategy for reimagining the post-industrial city that can be applied worldwide.
Within the industrial city, modernity brought forth technological innovations that have benefited civilization and built forms. This movement led to a deep-rooted mindset of human supremacy and anthropocentric thinking embedded in our current lifestyle and how we build. Humans and built forms have developed a relationship that succeeds at the expense of non-human forms – causing a mass extinction of non-human life and threatening ecological stability.
In the context of post-industrial cities, we can find opportunities to re-incorporate non-humans into a better relationship with humans and built forms. By redefining this framework and relationship, all parties can be considered equal participants within a new city typology, which we call Post-AnthroPolis: a post-anthropocentric city.
This interactive manual presents a strategy for reimagining the post-industrial city that can be applied worldwide.
Tetyana Gradyuk, Jasmin (Minji) Kim
Circular Urbanism: A "Do Tank":
Circular Urbanism: A "Do Tank":
Urban Farm-Rise
Urban Farm-rise envisions housing as more than a product of living, but a service which feeds back into the growth of the economy and community. The proposal will provide a framework for its tenants to be socially and culturally connected to Shoppers World Brampton’s circular food economy through a series of urban farming strategies that promote business and self-sustaining practices. Through food, the community can engage in a variety of activities which help to promote a knowledgeable, engaging, and self-sustaining community. People can participate in the process through growing, harvesting, distributing, making, educating, consuming, sharing, as well as composting and recycling goods consumed at the end of their cycle. While maintaining a sense of community enclosure, the proposal will achieve high density with a focus on the human scale relationship to the urban green landscape. Sociability is introduced through inter-generational living and flexible shared spaces of activity. The project strives to foster a sense of community and place the inhabitant’s wellbeing at the forefront through design circularity.
Ysabel Arboleda & Ted Bulaclac
Commentary on the GTA's Missing Middle:
Commentary on the GTA's Missing Middle:
The Gateway
The streetscape of the Shoppers World site in Brampton comprises of typical tower-podium and condensed townhouse residential typologies that produces poor pedestrian experience and walkability. In comparison to Dutch urban residential ideal, the City of Brampton fails to establish lively community, circular, and commuter focused living.
The Gateway prioritizes this pedestrian experience by creating a main communication corridor between the transit station and the community hub. The introduction of landscaping at grade through reflecting pools , grassy pits, and continuous tree lines creates a dynamic travel experience and various public gathering spaces. Larger multi-level 3 and 4 bedroom units with staggered sunrooms, and communal rooftop patios with winter gardens cater towards the large multi-generational demographic in Brampton. Constructed utilizing a sustainable light-weight Trespa panelized cladding system following a CLT structure.
The Gateway prioritizes this pedestrian experience by creating a main communication corridor between the transit station and the community hub. The introduction of landscaping at grade through reflecting pools , grassy pits, and continuous tree lines creates a dynamic travel experience and various public gathering spaces. Larger multi-level 3 and 4 bedroom units with staggered sunrooms, and communal rooftop patios with winter gardens cater towards the large multi-generational demographic in Brampton. Constructed utilizing a sustainable light-weight Trespa panelized cladding system following a CLT structure.
Taylor Marshall & Jeannette Wehbeh
Circular Urbanism
The proposed project aims to criticize the existing redevelopment of Shoppers World in Brampton by proposing a pedestrian friendly mass-timber mid and low rise park community. The residential complex proposed on this new site aims to physically and visually connect the mid-rise and low-rise communities found on either side of it while also connecting the park network to the east and west. It's a development that aims to redefine and strengthen the relationship between public and private spaces with themselves, the surrounding site, and the existing park network. It also aims to provide a building that not only houses its occupants but also provides them with support and plenty of opportunities to grow and expand within the development and beyond.
Nicole Li & Rita Wang
Housing at Shoppers World Brampton
Could shared space in an urban environment become a new form of luxury?
How does the idea of sharing operate at different scales and levels?
The proposal critiques the current definition of luxurious living within the city. Typical condo developments in urban areas advertise luxurious forms of living through key words of ‘independent space’ and ‘private outdoor spaces.’ This is the general perception of luxurious living within the city, which we normally consider having a private, isolated house as a form of luxury. Our proposal critiques the current definition of luxurious living, through questioning: could shared space in an urban environment become a new form of luxury? – how do we achieve that?
The proposed residential complex, located at the heart of Shoppers World Brampton, envisions a new typology of shared living for environmental and social sustainability through the notion of interweaving between nature and human living space. Students and emerging professionals are crucial to developing this new typology; they are the major force to construct a desirable city of Brampton. Therefore, it is imperative to design a supportive, inspirational and inclusive environment that fulfills the needs of the target groups. Four principles were defined to outline sharing as a new form of luxury, as a set of circular design strategies that will benefit the residents and in turn, for residents to contribute back to the community.
How does the idea of sharing operate at different scales and levels?
The proposal critiques the current definition of luxurious living within the city. Typical condo developments in urban areas advertise luxurious forms of living through key words of ‘independent space’ and ‘private outdoor spaces.’ This is the general perception of luxurious living within the city, which we normally consider having a private, isolated house as a form of luxury. Our proposal critiques the current definition of luxurious living, through questioning: could shared space in an urban environment become a new form of luxury? – how do we achieve that?
The proposed residential complex, located at the heart of Shoppers World Brampton, envisions a new typology of shared living for environmental and social sustainability through the notion of interweaving between nature and human living space. Students and emerging professionals are crucial to developing this new typology; they are the major force to construct a desirable city of Brampton. Therefore, it is imperative to design a supportive, inspirational and inclusive environment that fulfills the needs of the target groups. Four principles were defined to outline sharing as a new form of luxury, as a set of circular design strategies that will benefit the residents and in turn, for residents to contribute back to the community.
Rajendran Neelakandan, Miles Asher, Ruba Salah, Provis Wan, Wanrong Zhu
Solar Decathlon:
Solar Decathlon:
Multifamily Residential Building
This project is the culmination of design decisions and extensive research developed by the Multifamily Residential Building team from Toronto Metropolitan University. The site has a total floor area of 2800 m2 and is located at the northeastern intersection of Dundas Street and Mutual Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It features a five-story residential and commercial mixed-use building with very high-performance metrics, reaching Passive House levels in several criteria. This was achieved by preserving the existing commercial building, which is not accounted for in project data, and instead of building over and around it using a modular construction design. This form of construction allowed the team to create unique and efficient design choices without the need to account for carbon costs from complete demolition or renovating existing structures.
The team had many goals in mind for the project, with major ones being occupant comfort (IEQ, internal environmental quality), affordability, community support, durability, and resilience, low embodied carbon, energy efficiency, and many more. The modular prefabricated units would become the hallmark of achieving everything the team needed. This design choice allowed for each modular unit to be standardized with an air-tight and highly-insulated façade, which is placed and set in a formation that allowed for green spaces and other amenities within the building itself.
Read the design narrative here.
Read the project proposal here.
See the entire final presentation here.
The team had many goals in mind for the project, with major ones being occupant comfort (IEQ, internal environmental quality), affordability, community support, durability, and resilience, low embodied carbon, energy efficiency, and many more. The modular prefabricated units would become the hallmark of achieving everything the team needed. This design choice allowed for each modular unit to be standardized with an air-tight and highly-insulated façade, which is placed and set in a formation that allowed for green spaces and other amenities within the building itself.
Read the design narrative here.
Read the project proposal here.
See the entire final presentation here.
Millie Jacobs, Fatma Osman, Jesse Osmond, Shristi Bhusal, Yanchao Li
Zero Energy Building Design Project:
Zero Energy Building Design Project:
101-111 Gerrard Street East Office Building
On the boundaries of the Toronto Metropolitan University campus, 101-111 Gerrard Street East offers a rare opportunity to design and build an innovative net-zero building in the heart of downtown Toronto. With a population of 2.9 million people, Toronto, Canada's largest city, must play a part in driving the country toward a cleaner future.
Sprout Building intended to develop an innovative and creative net-zero office building with a focus on biophilic architecture and renewable energy. The goal was to encourage other developments to follow suit and pursue a more environmentally friendly approach to construction in Toronto. The strategies were a collaborative effort to create a one-of-a-kind and effective building, with special consideration given to occupant health and well-being, utilizing skills from the team members' diverse backgrounds.
To meet all of the building's energy demands, the design incorporates a Dedicated Outdoor Air System (DOAS) with a high-efficiency Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV) as well as renewable energy sources such as geothermal and solar energy. For its natural aesthetic, structural integrity, and lower embodied carbon, the structure is built from mass timber, which includes glulam columns and beams as well as CLT panels. The building envelope was carefully considered to ensure that it was as high-performing as feasible in order to achieve net-zero energy.
Sprout Building intended to develop an innovative and creative net-zero office building with a focus on biophilic architecture and renewable energy. The goal was to encourage other developments to follow suit and pursue a more environmentally friendly approach to construction in Toronto. The strategies were a collaborative effort to create a one-of-a-kind and effective building, with special consideration given to occupant health and well-being, utilizing skills from the team members' diverse backgrounds.
To meet all of the building's energy demands, the design incorporates a Dedicated Outdoor Air System (DOAS) with a high-efficiency Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV) as well as renewable energy sources such as geothermal and solar energy. For its natural aesthetic, structural integrity, and lower embodied carbon, the structure is built from mass timber, which includes glulam columns and beams as well as CLT panels. The building envelope was carefully considered to ensure that it was as high-performing as feasible in order to achieve net-zero energy.
