Selected Works - 2023
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Guershom Kitsa
Guershom Kitsa
Education
2017 - 2022
University of Toronto
BA Architecture Specialist with Visual Studies Minor
2023 - 2026
University of British Columbia
Master of Architecture
Professional
2022 - 2023
2021 2019 - 2022
2019 - 2022
2018
2017 - 2018
2016 - 2017
Facilities and Building Management Technician, University of Toronto
Creative Communications Intern, Knox Presbyterian Church
Digital Fabrication Technician, University of Toronto
Barista, Starbucks Canada
Day Camp Counselor, YMCA Greater Toronto Area
Student Services Workstudy, University of Toronto
Refugee Primary School Volunteer Teacher, UNHCR Kakuma Camp
Skills
Adobe CAD
Others
Affiliations
2020-2021
2019-2020
2019-2020
2019
Awards
2022
2017
Rhino | Grasshopper | Lumion | V-Ray | Blender
Photoshop | Illustrator | InDesign | Lightroom Classic | Premiere Pro
Affinity Studio | DaVinci Resolve | Google Drive Suite | Microsoft Office
Outreach Cordinator, UTCCF - University of Toronto
President, AIAS University of Toronto Chapter
Vice President - Internal, Architecture & Visual Studies Student Union
Sponsorship Co-Director, AIAS Forum 2019 Planning Committe
University of Toronto Student Leadership Award
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kguershom@gmail.com +1 437 345 5695
WUSC Student Refugee Program Scholarship
3 Selected Works 10 04 14 18 20 Computational Community Institutional Parametric Stories
Adaptable Origami Nest Facade
Year: 2020
Team: Guershom Kitsa, Philip Tsiris, McKenzie Heidt
Advisor: Nicholas Hoban
This third year studio involved the use of computational design tools in order to generate better living solutions for University students living in Toronto’s downtown core.
Spatial organzation and adaptability plays a significant role in the healthy development and well being of the lives of people and especially students. This was made especially more apparent during the 2020 Covid-19 epidemic. With this project our team was inspired by the work of MIT architect and researcher Skylar Tibbits who engages the question of spatial flexibility and adaptability in their research project; Transformable Spaces.
Upon reviewing the work of Skylar Tibbits and other expressions of adaptable architectural projects, our objectives as a team was to apply the lessons learnt in a local context that directly impacted the lives of fellow students such as ourselves.
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Computational
Conceptual Development
Inspired by the traditional Japanese art of Origami, we decided to expand on our precedent by creating a rigid collapsible structure that was adaptable to various physical forces and usable during various environmental conditions.
The exploration involved identifying an origami folding pattern that allowed for predictability and consistency, but one that we could also replicate in Grasshopper. This was eventually appllied to the design of a balcony space that allowed students or residents greater flexibility in the way they are able to use this space through out the year.
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Our suggested intervetion creates a balcony space that can be used all year round, and adapt to various environmental, emotional and social situations. The balcony functions as a form of ‘living space’ that is both alive and resposnive to its users. This project builds up on Skylar Tibbits’ precedent by proposing an adaptable space that responds to the well being of its occupants, which we believe contributes to an architecture that focusses on people rather than purely design.
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Community Art Pavillion Community
Year: 2018
Team: Guershom Kitsa
Advisor: Jay Pooley
This gallery pavillion is inspired by Piet Mondrian’s famous piece ‘Victory Boogie-Woogie’ and the vibrant communities of Toronto’s Kensignton Market. Kensignton Market is an area that is saturated with communities from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds. This is expressed in the many different restaurants, cafes and shops which all have a distinct personalit to them.
For this reason I decide to design a pavillion that expresses the diversity of the community in Kensington Market. The pavillion comprises a simple linear design consituting walls of different porosity, thus encouraging visitors to interact with it as a maze. The walls attempt to capture Piet Mondrian’s work in a spatial context. The walls also invite the community to treat them as a canvas which they can paint, draw or tag with graffiti on so as to express themselves.
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The pavillion is located in Kensington Park, a small pocket of green space in a city that lacks an abundance of similar green spaces. For this reason, the pavillion is design to be as less intrusive as possible, and to function as an art installation rather than an architectural monument.
The pavillion comprises of very simple building materials which can be easily acquired, and a subtle design that does not require skilled labour for execution. It is also envisioned as a canvas for which the community can decorate and adapt by making art or graffiti on it.
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Vibrant Context
Goldring Student Commons Institutional
Year: 2019
Team: Guershom Kitsa
Advisor: Christos Marcopoulos
The second year undergraduate design studio introduces students to the architectural design process and the fundamentals of architecture: wall, openings, floor, roof, and stairs. The course culminates in the design of enclosed study spaces on an inhabited parking lot site at the University of Toronto.
My project was informed by the natural forms of mountains which were abundant in my two previous hometowns, both Nairobi and Goma. I therefore wanted my design intervention to introduce a building that felt like a mountain, combining both the expression of modernist design together with nature inspired conventions. The primary area of focus is the central staircase which runs the full heigh of the building. The staircase is meant to be experienced as a short hike, and used as a natural trail, allowing students to make use of natural and comfortable external study space.
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A Safe Retreat
The proposed student commons comprises of a basement level and 3 above ground levels. Each level is envisioned to comprise a different ambience, thus providing a relaxing environment for students to rest, socialize or study.
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Bio-Generative Tower
Parametric
Year: 2019
Team: Guershom Kitsa
Advisor: Nicholas Hoban
This second year studio introduced students to diverse computational tools and their application on the design process. The class comprised of the design and building of three distinct towers using generative design and scripting.
In the design of my initial three towers, and the detailing of the final one, I was inspired by two natural forms in nature: the cave and the forest. I wanted to be able to capture these to forms in my final design of the tower and its facade. The design of the tower was also inspired by the low-rise architecture of Nairobi.
Unlike in Toronto where this project was meant to be implemented, Nairobi comprises mostly of comunal living. Architecture in Nairobi is porous and open both on the inside and the outside. This allows for a variety of lighting conditions, but most importantly creates a different environment for which the community can interact and connect. I wanted to be able to express this in my final design.
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The project started with the design of three ‘twisting’ towers. In all three of my towers I wanted to express a level of porosity that would allow for creative and unexpected formal interactions between the architectural elements while als creating surprising forms of relationships between the tower’s residents.
Rapture
Nest
Exo-structure Envision Future Living
Generate Tower
Facade
Wooden
Reflecting on the Colour of My Skin
Year: 2020
Artist: Guershom Kitsa
Type: Photography
This project was birthed from a place of great anguish and great pain. It confronts my different identities as an African immigrant living in North America.
Shortly after the death of Ahmaud Arbery I was at loss. I wasn’t sure how to respond. But once the death of Breonna Taylor followed, and the murder of George FLoyd after, all I felt was anger. With so much frustration held within, art and photography was the only way in which I was able to process all of my pain and trauma. I did not find healing, but through this tryptic I was able to make my first step towards wrestling with all of this.
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Neema
Year: 2022
Artist: Guershom Kitsa
Type: Photography
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Elements
Type: Concept art for a graphic novel I am developing.
A coming-of-age story that follows two brothers from a small African village who get seperated when their home is attacked by an overwhelming force.
Through this story I hope to process the complex emotions that one experiences as they try to adapt to a culture drastically different from their own.
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