Jasleen Matharu | Waterloo Architecture Portfolio | 2025

Matharu

Portfolio

Jasleen

Land Acknowledgement

I respectfully acknowledge that my work and education takes place on the Haldimand Tract, land granted to the Haudenosaunee of the Six Nations of the Grand River in the Haldimand Treaty of 1784. The Haldimand Tract and surrounding area, including the University of Waterloo, School of Architecture, is the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit, Anishinaabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples.

Jasleen Matharu

3rd Year Architecture Student

jk2matha@uwaterloo.ca (647) 524-5283

Hi, nice to meet you!

As a designer, I am driven by the intersection of architecture, sustainability, and community-driven innovation. I love music and see it as fleeting, impermanent, and everevolving. Buildings, unlike music, are physically fixed, seemingly permanent, but are subject to the rhythms of time; the changing light of day, shifting seasons and can embody temporality through flexible design and adaptive reuse. My work centers around this ideology, striving to design everlasting spaces through the artful interplay of materiality and spatial planning. By immersing myself in the cultural nuances that shape architectural expressions, I am passionate about creating spaces prioritizing personalized narratives through sequence—from arrival to use to exit— where the building’s experience becomes musical.

My portfolio reflects a commitment to reimagining how we inhabit homes, cities, and natural landscapes, always with an eye toward sustainability, resilience, and fostering vibrant communities. I look forward to enhancing my skills and gaining valuable insights while working with your team and meaningfully contribute to your successes. Thank you for your time and enjoy!

Skills

Digital

/Rhinoceros 7

/Grasshopper

/Revit

/AutoCAD

/Sketchup

/Lightroom

/Photoshop

/Illustrator

/InDesign

/Enscape

/V-Ray

/Lumion

/Microsoft Suite

/Google Suite

/Photography

Manual

/Model Making

/Laser Cutting

/3D Printing

/CNC Milling

/Wood Working

/Sketching

/Hand Drafting

Languages

/English (Fluent)

/Punjabi (Fluent)

/Urdu (Limited)

Education

2022 - present

University of Waterloo

Work Experience

Sept. 2024 - Dec. 2024

Jan. 2024 - Apr. 2024

Cambridge, Canada

Honours Bachelor of Architectural Studies (B.A.S. Hons) Co-op Program

4x Dean’s List

4x Excellent Academic Standing

BDP Quadrangle, Architectural Assistant

Toronto, Canada

Worked in design development for various high-rise residential projects, creating digital models, collecting data for reports and produced SPA drawing sets, design iterations and material boards.

dbdbdb, Architectural Assistant

Toronto, Canada

Collaborated with consultants to produce drawings issued for tender and developed design iterations, material studies, renderings and client presentations for detached residential projects.

Summer 2023 Brampton, Canada

Achievements

Spring 2024

Fall 2023

Fall 2022

Spring 2024

Fall 2023

Fall 2022

Fall 2023

Fall 2022

Heartlake Countertops. General Labourer

Hands on training for small-scale renovations included applying paints and solvents to interior building surfaces, caulking, mudding, taping building interiors and finishing drywall by sanding & finishing joints for painting

Selected Works for UWSA Project Exhibition + Online Archive

Ho-ho-e-ap-bess - ARCH225

Sounds of Rare - ARCH 293

Kathputli Ka Khel - ARCH292

Tiny Tots - ARCH192

Design at Riverside Gallery

Cattail Herons Model - ARCH293

Wellington Destructor Site Model - ARCH292

Tiny Tots Pavillion - ARCH192

First in Class Engineering Scholarship

Recipient of Top Scholastic Performance in 1B Term

Selected for Canadian Architecture Student’s Associaition 2024

Kathputli Ka Khel

President’s Scholarship of Distinction

University of Waterloo

2 January 2025

Re: Reference for Jasleen Matharu

To Whom it May Concern:

It is with great enthusiasm that I provide this reference letter for Jasleen Matharu who was employed as a student at BDP Quadrangle, located in Toronto, Ontario, from September to December 2024

During Jasleen’s time with us, she worked on several large-scale mixed-use urban developments and high-rise residential developments in the Greater Toronto Area. These projects included 567 Sheppard Avenue East, 4310 Sherwoodtowne Boulevard, 10 Lower Spadina Avenue, 181 Eglinton Avenue East and Martin Grove Road and Highway 7 The projects range from in-fill high-rise residential projects to master planning. The project teams varied in size, but included Jasleen, a junior intern architect, an intermediate intern architect or another senior architect as the senior project lead. In all cases, Jasleen acted as a key and valuable member of the team, consistently delivering high quality work.

Jasleen picks up concepts and learns quickly, asks great questions, and has a positive attitude and approach to the work she does. This leads her to collaborate effectively with team members and implement the ideas into high-quality work. In addition, Jasleen is enthusiastic to learn and improve on her skills These are all skills that will set her up for a successful career of continued growth.

I am pleased to serve as a reference for Jasleen and believe she would make a good addition to any team, and believe she has a bright future ahead of her

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours truly,

Quadrangle Architects Limited

Per:

Per: ___________________________________

Maryam Alavi, Senior Architect

Maryam Alavi, Senior Architect

Reference Letter - JM.Docx

May 10, 2024

To Whom It May Concern:

I would like to express my enthusiastic support for Jasleen Matharu, who worked with our practice from January 2024 – May 2024 as part of a co-op term with the University of Waterloo. I was extremely impressed by her work ethic, design aptitude, and curiosity for learning.

During Jasleen's co-op term, she made signi Þcant contributions to active residential projects and to the team dynamic. She was very adaptive to changing circumstances and different challenges, and showed great maturity and problem solving ability. Her growth, in terms of technical skills, communication, and design intuition, was noticeable over the term.

I would like to express my enthusiastic support for Jasleen Matharu, who worked with our practice from January 2024 – May 2024 as part of a co-op term with the University of Waterloo. I was extremely impressed by her work ethic, design aptitude, and curiosity for learning.

During Jasleen's co-op term, she made signi Þcant contributions to active residential projects and to the team dynamic. She was very adaptive to changing circumstances and different challenges, and showed great maturity and problem solving ability. Her growth, in terms of technical skills, communication, and design intuition, was noticeable over the term.

A few notable contributions on projects include: speci Þcation research, organizing orders, schematic presentations, visualizations, and conceptual drawing. She worked comfortably in a number of softwares, including Revit, Photoshop, InDesign, and Excel.

Jasleen's strong design sensibility, diverse and adaptable skill set, as well as her positive attitude, are all factors that made her a wonderful addition to our practice during her co-op term with us. I am very happy to support her in her pursuit of future employment or academic opportunities.

A few notable contributions on projects include: speci Þcation research, organizing orders, schematic presentations, visualizations, and conceptual drawing. She worked comfortably in a number of softwares, including Revit, Photoshop, InDesign, and Excel.

Jasleen's strong design sensibility, diverse and adaptable skill set, as well as her positive attitude, are all factors that made her a wonderful addition to our practice during her co-op term with us. I am very happy to support her in her pursuit of future employment or academic opportunities.

Dan Briker March, OAA

Founder, Architect

dbdbdb inc

Dan Briker Founder, Architect

inc

blank space

Typology:

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Multi-Purpose Library Winter 2023 Toronto, Ontario, Canada

rhino, enscape, photoshop, illustrator

In recognition of the often overlooked age group, this multi-purpose library located in downtown Toronto on Davies Avenue strives to create a safe and dynamic environment for the growing preteens within the region while providing ample daylighting in needed spaces and prioritizing its occupants’ comfort. The majority of the library’s exterior centers around preteens as a whole. The white panel cladding exterior meant to resemble a blank paper page signifies the limitless potential of preteens, where this page can be shaped by whatever is written or drawn upon it, inviting creativity, mistakes and experimentation. While the square windows follow a grid system, they appear scattered reflecting ‘[external] order vs. [internal] chaos’ where kids this age struggle to balance the demands of school while struggling to understand themselves better.

The glazed atrium connects to a larger cafe, where this space is celebrated as the building’s social heart as occupants of all ages can gather here and are encouraged to converse and learn from one another.

A clear hierarchy is established among the floors, with the ground floor primarily public, open to the cafe and stacks where magazines and other forms of media are found, whereas the third floor offers more private seating and viewing spaces. The second floor, designed primarily for the youth, includes a computer lab, built-in cubbies, stacks and workspaces, encouraging a versatile environment for the youth’s activities and learning needs.

seating

hard seating

work space

Mass added to sites center for easy occupant access from all sides.

Mass pushed forward and against adjacent building creating a continous flow between the adjcent forms.

Envelope connecting the three masses creates an engaging atrium, serving as the buildings “social heart.”

West facades sliced irregularily to increase cityscape view.

Building split into two masses, one containing the plus and auxiliary programming and the other the library.

Northwest facades irregularily sliced to expand the entrances and alleyway, allowing for easier circulation.

Programs mapped out divide building into three masses.

Resulting building.

.

left: atrium

right: second floor interior

above: west elevation below: sectional perspective

kathputli ka

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Course:

Location:

khel

Living Archive Fall 2023

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

rhino, enscape, photoshop, illustrator

Located in downtown Toronto, Kathputli ka Khel, translating to the “Play of Puppets,” houses the dying art of storytelling through Rajasthani Kathputli puppets. Repurposed from the historic Wellington Destructor, this building entertains the idea of a “colony within a building.”

Preserving as much of the Wellington Destructor, traditional Indian courtyards were designed at the ends of the building and in the center reflecting the original building’s second and third-floor large cutouts. Courtyards are central open spaces found in many traditional Indian homes, with a corridor wrapping their perimeter. Drawing inspiration, three courtyard-like spaces ‘house’ the central rooms of the archive including the main performance and exhibition room, along with a more traditional courtyard space primarily meant for communal gathering as traditionally recognized. Entering this building on the third floor, these spaces do not open up until the second or ground floor, where visitors closer to the spaces as they stand from afar peering through the windows.

Selected for CASA 2024 Student Showcase

Featured in the UWSA Projects Review 2024 Exhibition

The majority of the artists reside in the Kathputli Colony in India, described as a tightly packed settlement with brick buildings and tin roofs. Referencing the varying materiality of their homes and the colourful clothing and textures of these dolls, the building has diverse material palette. Because the building is largely made of brick and concrete, the corten railing and wooden columns bring hints of warmth, providing a break from the preexisting hardy feel.

three courtyard spaces highlighted in a tightly packed colony volumes added to the pre-exisitng building surrounding spaces organized accordingly 1. 2. 3.

The performance space’s corridors are lined with perforated metal panels intended for soundproofing while the traditional courtyard differs drastically, with corten railings on the upper floors allowing for easy sound travel.

Celebrating the building’s original use as a garbage disposal, a mosaic made of repurposed materials lines the ground floor courtyard.

wave

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Pedestrian Bridge Winter 2023

Kitchener, Ontario, Canada

rhino, vray, photoshop, illustrator

Exploring how music exists entirely in time while architecture brings space into time, this pedestrian bridge, spanning 30 metres, located in Victoria Park seeks to combine the two and physically embody sound in space. Inspired by the sounds of the surrounding wildlife, 200 mm diameter blackened steel pipes make up the elevations of the bridge, emulating the soundwave of the native sharp-shinned haw’s chirp.

With one end much taller with a denser roof, pedestrians are welcomed into the surrounding wildlife as they continue across the bridge, where the pipes gradually decrease in height and conversely when crossing in the opposite direction, creating an active and engaging connection with the park’s surroundings. The immediate height difference between each pipe creates a dynamic landscape for the visitors as they walk across, similar to the choppy feel of early motion picture films such as the Roundhay Garden Scene.

above: exploded axonometric

left: ground floor plan

A: canopy detail

B: bench detail

C: concrete footing

D: guardrail to structure connection detail

1. Ø 20 mm blackened steel pipes

2. Ø 100 mm blackened steel pipes

3. Ø 20 mm blackened steel pipes

4. Ø 40 mm blackened steel pipes

5. 200 mm wide and 100 mm deep blackwood planks

6. Ø 45 mm metal tactile indicators

7. 50 x 50 mm H.S.S.

8. Ø 350 mm blackened steel pipes

9. Ø 200 mm blackened steel pipes

10. metal sleeve

11. 560 mm diameter metal plates

12. concrete footing

above: passing through below: section aa

tiny tots

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Live + Work Residence

Fall 2022

Cambridge, Ontario, Canada

rhino, lumion, photoshop, illustrator

This live + work residence references a previous project where we were to design a pavillion inspired by an abstract image given using either solids, planes or lines.

Found by the Grand River in Cambridge, Ontario, Tiny Tots offers the community a daycare for children aged 3 to 6 while doubling as a residence. The building’s diagonal orientation caters to the lighting, where the occupants experience the sun’s movement year long. Treating the array of diagonally oriented, vertical planes as a solid block, essential spaces such as the gross motor area were carved out while lesser important spaces manifested in the resulting connections between the carved-out spaces. The fins created seating and storage space throughout the gross motor area, fit a small kitchen and closet, and are large enough to place the sleeping mats between.

Pavillion Model Featured in the Riverside Gallery Project Featured in the UWSA Projects Review 2024 Exhibition

context plan

Array of diagonally oriented, vertical planes.

Array of fins treated as a solid allow for spaces to be carved out according to programming.

Resulting planes.

Tiny Tots was largely influenced by the pavillion project assigned prior, with its elevations displayed on the right.

north elevation

west elevation

recent works

live, work, play, and stay

Cambridge,

Canada / January 2025 / Urban Planning

In collaboration with Cindy He, Alyssa Lee, Emma Wang

The Region of Waterloo has proposed an expansion of the ION LRT system, one that spans from Kitchener to Cambridge. This semester’s studio focuses on designing for the projected growth. Focusing within the Pinebush MTSA, specifically the Smart Center Plaza, we proposed connecting the green spaces surrounding the site to create a green corridor, while maintaining the shopping strip. Lining the Pinebush edge with retail while proposed the community hub sits within the exiting and proposed residential community encourages occupants to live, work, play and stay.

the linden commons

Cambridge, CA / February 2025 / Affordable Housing

In collaboration with Emma Wang

Referencing the previous project and focusing closer on a singular building, the Linden Commons explores the building systems, facade, construction and circulation of the intergenerational and co-op building highlighted on the previous page’s axonometric drawing.

other works

watching perched stalking wading

cattail herons

Cambridge, Canada / Spring 2024 / Bird Sanctuary Landscape

This landscape project seeks to provide an ideal, artificially made habitat to address the declining Great Blue Heron population along the river’s edge of the rare Charitable Research Reserve while offering its visitors the opportunity to better understand and “embody” the bird.

Referencing Indigenous folklore, this site was inspired by the story Ho-ho-e-apbess, detailing the transformation of a fisherman to the Great Blue Heron. As visitors explore the site, following the lengthy path leading to the bird pavilion, various points of rest draw out the individual’s patience and watchfulness, thus imitating the behavioural traits and physical spaces the heron occupies.

Similar to the woven nests of herons, the sheltering pavilion welcoming visitor’s front facade is made up of woven panels.

1. photovoltaic panels

2. rainwater gutter

3. rainwater collection pipe

4. waterloo biofilter flatbed

5. composting toilet

6. rain garden

7. access hatch

8. insulated outdoor cistern

9. radient heat pipes

Porvoo, Finland / Winter 2023 / Off-Grid Residence

In collaboration with Cindy He

Located in Porvoo, Finland, Keidas is an entirely self-sufficient residence contributing low embodied carbon levels and redefining building systems. Because of Porvoo’s geothermally-potent geography, heating is primarily drawn from underground using copper pipes before distributing through the HVAC systems and radiant heat pipes underneath the floorboards. Electricity is harvested using the photovoltaic panels on the south-sloped roof facade, stored in a portable battery and distributed along the inner walls of the service voids. Rainwater collected using the sloped rain gutter into the outdoor insulated cistern passes through the greywater system before accumulating in the potable water tank while disturbing excess water into the rain garden.

jk2matha@uwaterloo.ca (647) 524-5283

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