2019 - 2021 American Institute of Architecture Students University of Toronto Chapter
2019 - 2020 Architecture & Visual Studies Student Union University of Toronto
2019 AIAS Annual Forum Planning Committee University of Toronto in partnership with Toronto Metropolitan University SKILLS CAD: Rhino Grasshopper Revit
EDITING:
Engagement
Resolve
Transformable Origami Facade
Computational
Street View Render
Advisor: Nicholas Hoban
Undergraduate Technology Studio I Collaborators: Philipp Cop, Mackenzie Heidt 2020
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.
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.
Project Site
Community Art Pavillion
Advisor: Jay Pooley
Undergraduate Design Studio I 2018
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.
The selected site for the project is a major intersection of the history and formation of Vancouver’s urban fabric. Ranging from intersecting grid lines, to historical land marks, the site presented a unique challenge in the process of balancing a lot of different site variables so as to present a project that augments what is already there rather than taking from it. A early exploration brought about the investigation of a “Vancouver vernacular” which informed the formal and programatic considerations of the project.
Bio-Ecological Research Center
Comprehensive Design Studio
Graduate Design Studio IV
Collaborators: Michael Kerns, Tyler Lin 2025
Advisor: Matthieu Grady, Jason Heinrich
SITE
LIGHTWOOD DIMENSIONAL TIMBER
UPPER CANADA FOREST PRODUCTS
BURNABY, BC 18 km
CALCIUM SILICATE BOARD
URBAN FIREPLACES LTD. - COQUITLAM, BC 27 km
SIREWALL RAMMED EARTH
SALT SPRING ISLAND, BC
73 km
LIME PLASTER - CADORA PLASTER SURREY, BC 45 km
LIGHTWOOD DIMENSIONAL TIMBER
UPPER CANADA FOREST PRODUCTS
BURNABY, BC
18 km
Material Type: Structural
Source: Burnaby BC
Transportation Type: Public Streets & High Ways
Transportation Time: 26 minutes
CALCIUM SILICATE BOARD
URBAN FIREPLACES LTD. - COQUITLAM, BC 27 km
Material Type: Insulation
Source: Coquitlam, BC
Transportation Type: Public Streets & High Ways
Transportation Time: 25 minutes
LIME PLASTER - CADORA PLASTER
SURREY, BC 45 km
Material Type: Interior finish
Source: Surrey, BC
Transportation Type: Public Streets & High Ways
Transportation Time: 40 minutes
SIREWALL RAMMED EARTH
SALT SPRING ISLAND, BC
73 km
Material Type: Structural & Cladding
Source: Salt Spring Island, BC
Transportation Type: Public Streets, High Ways & Ferry
Transportation Time: 2 hours
SCALE:
The South Section showcases the building entry sequence, revelaing the double height atrium, a cafe, an exposed dining area and the main staircase sequence which is integral the the project’s experiential parti. Together all of this combines to form a experience that directly engages the site’s relationship with False Creek.
A majority of day lighting and solar gain is received from the South and East facades. This is allowed into the building through a system of window walls that also allow for natural ventilation.
A giant atrium running across the entire West facade allows for both natural and cross ventialtion, while also creating a stacked cooling effect.
RAMMED EARTH
The significant material choice driving both the conceptual, structural and thermal goals of the project was the use of structurally reinforced insulated rammed earth. The use of the material allows for adaptive reuse while also functioning as both a structural layer, thermal mass layer and aesthetic experiential quality layer.
Toronto’s Vertical Oasis
Computational
Concept Diagram
Advisor: Nicholas Hoban
Technology Studio I Collaborators: Philipp Cop, Mackenzie Heidt 2020
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.
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.
A. Create Structural Core B. Generate Parametric Facade C. Generate Building Exo-Skeleton Shading D. Integrate Biophylic Design
Year: 2020
Artist: Guershom Kitsa
Type: Photography Reflecting on the Colour of My Skin
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.
