JEFFREY TAO PORTFOLIO: Selection of Projects and Works
2026
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2024-2026
INTERFOLD
7.
Midrise
GARDEN CONCOURSE
15.
Urban Garden
ROJINIWA
21.
Bird Observatory
ARCHWAY
25.
Public Library
URBAN HIKE
31.
Mobility Hub
Jeffrey Tao
HI, I’m a third-year architecture student at TMU who loves both art and problem-solving. For me, architecture is where those two sides of my brain meet. I grew up painting and drawing, but my real love for buildings started while traveling and seeing everything from Cuba’s colorful streets to Italy’s churches. Outside of studio, I’m pretty competitive, whether it’s in soccer, skiing, or gaming. This portfolio is a collection of my work so far, exploring how the spaces we create, whether on-screen or on-site, change the way people move, interact, and feel.
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Jeffrey Tao
linkedin.com/in/jeffrey-tao-4785a8244 jeffrey.tao@torontomu.ca (647) 856 8798
Toronto, Canada
Skills
Education Toronto Metropolitan University Toronto, Ontario, Canada
September 2023 - Current
• Honours Bachelor of Architectural Science, Co-op
Experience Enterprise Real Estate BIM Intern, TD Canada Trust Toronto, Ontario, Canada
September 2026 - December 2026
• Created accurate, data-rich 3D Revit models for TD retail branches across North America. • Developed custom parametric Revit families with standardized asset data to maintain model accuracy across corporate portfolios. • Gathered demographic, asset, and spatial data to support machine learning models, defining design specifications for future U.S. expansion branches. • Key Project: Modeled and coordinated the TDA1821 Peterborough OneTD Branch as an enhanced showcase for senior leadership.
Barista, Chatime Aurora, Ontario, Canada
September 2022 - April 2024
• Operated cash register and POS system accurately during busy rushes, processing payments and balancing transactions. • Worked closely with team members to maintain service quality and fulfill orders efficiently during peak hours. • Communicated with a diverse customer base to take orders, answer questions, and resolve concerns professionally. • Maintained standards and adapted quickly to shifting roles to keep operations running smooth-
Extracurriculars Student Mentor, Architecture Course Union Toronto, Ontario, Canada
September 2025 - Current
• Supported multiple first-year students simultaneously, demonstrating patience, clear communication, and strong interpersonal skills. • Provided constructive feedback and managed competing priorities, building reliability and attention to detail under a full course load.
Finance Subcommittee, Architectural Science Student Society Toronto, Ontario, Canada
January 2024 - April 2025
• Handled financial reimbursements and tracked funds accurately, demonstrating responsibility when managing money. • Coordinated event logistics and collaborated with a diverse team, requiring clear communication and dependable follow-through.
Distinctions DAS Year End Show, Toronto Metropolitan University
2024 - Current
• 5+ academic projects selected to be showcased in annual year-end show
Dean’s List, Toronto Metropolitan University
2025 - Current
Leadership Communication Critical thinking Organization Collaboration Negotiation
Modelling
Revit AutoCAD Rhinoceros 3D
Visualization
D5 Render Enscape Render
Post-production Photoshop Illustrator InDesign
Fabrication
Woodworking CNC Milling Laser Cutting 3D Printing
Analog
Sketching Hand Drafting Painting
Other
Con Docs AI Tools MS 365 ArcGIS Dynamo PowerBI
Languages
English Shanghainese Mandarin
Hobbies
• CGPA over 3.5 • Demonstrating excellence in a given term
REFORM Competition shortlist, Buildner
Soft
Summer 2025
• This shortlist award recognizes projects that demonstrate creative and pratical reuse of existing buildings in pursuit of renewed/reformed sustainable design
Soccer Skiing Video Editing Art
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INTERFOLD
Winter 2025
TMU DAS YEAR END SHOW 2025
1. Frame the existing block
Location: Stanley Park, Toronto Typology: Midrise Professor: Scott Sorli Software: Adobe Ai, Ps, InD, Revit, D5 Course: ASC401 Left: Exterior Perspective
2. Elevated volume mirrors street transition
3. Opening creates communal green space
4. Woven facades create site cohesion
The L-shaped massing completes the neighbourhood block, harmonizing a structured street edge with an inviting internal sanctuary. By intentionally opening the building’s perimeter, the design establishes a transition from the streetscape to a public courtyard. This yields a shared green extension, anchored by a daycare positioned strategically between the residential lane and the park. This configuration transforms the site from a closed block into a communal node, integrating essential family infrastructure into the neighborhood fabric. Architectural cohesion is maintained through a dual-facade strategy that responds to varying scales. A strong, concrete frontage defines the primary streetscape, while the inward-facing elevations utilizes materiality to mirror the surrounding low-rise residential grain. Extensive balcony areas and a dedicated resident terrace overlook the courtyard, reinforcing a visual dialogue between private living and public life. These design interventions collectively foster a multigenerational environment where density and neighborhood character coexist.
N ST
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NU WAL T AVE
GA NIA RA ST
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LEY STAN CE TERRA AIDE
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Left: Iterative Study Model 8
Left: Site Plan Bottom: Ground Floor Plan
1 Cafe 2 Retail 3 Residential Lobby 4 Community Creative Space 5 Double Height Daycare 6 Community Courtyard
RICHMOND ST W
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AVE
STANLEY TERRACE
UT WALN
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2F
3-4F
Top: Plans Below: West facade section
7F
6F
5F
4F
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1 Three Bedroom Unit A 2 Compact 1 Bedroom Unit 3 Waste Disposal Room 4 Three Bedroom Unit B 5 Daycare Second Level
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6 Three Bedroom Unit A 7 Compact 1 Bedroom Unit 8 Waste Disposal Room 9 One Bedroom Unit 10 Two Bedroom Unit
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5F
11 Two Bedroom + Den Unit A 12 Community Lounge/Kitchen 13 Waste Disposal Room 14 Two Bedroom + Den Unit B 15 Community Garden Terrace
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Top: Small 1BD bedroom view Left: 2BD+Den kitchen view Below: Typical room plans
Compact 1BD
2 BD
3 BD
2 BD+Den
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GARDEN CONCOURSE
Summer 2025
Buildner REFORM Shortlisted 2025
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Location: Bay St, Toronto Typology: Urban Garden Collaborators: Lahn Roh, Biour Sun Software: Adobe Ai, Ps, InD, Revit, D5 Course: Personal Project Left: Exterior Perspective
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The Garden Concourse transformed Toronto’s former coach station into an urban farm and learning commons. The building is reimagined as a community of growth, connection, and nourishment. The wavy atrium street cuts through its rectilinear shell, linking two city streets while opening into courtyards that act as lungs for light and air. By carving out these specific voids, the design prioritizes biophilic connectivity, ensuring that every program from the market to the classroom has a direct visual link to the greenery. Here, food is grown, shared, and taught, making sustainability both visible and a lived experience.
Original volume
Original facade as a shell for future volume
Division creates cornerto corner path.
Bridging the 2nd and 3rd floors
Mesh facade accents the curve/path
BAY ST
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EDWARD ST
DUNDAS ST W
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1 Isolated corner of old building 2 Mesh Facade 3 New Public Park
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At ground level, the atrium connects two façades and welcomes pedestrians from both directions. Folding glazed walls in the market open onto the park, blurring the boundaries between the city, the building, and the natural environment. From gardening to sustainability seminars, the second floor offers flexible workshops that provide space for hands-on learning.
These rooms extend the building’s role from market to classroom, ensuring it serves all ages and communities. The third-floor greenhouse supplies fresh produce to the café and farmer’s market located below, creating a linear food system. Visitors can taste, purchase, and learn directly from the produce grown on site.
Left: Site plan Below: Atrium section
BAY ST 17
Right: Floor plans Bottom: Atrium perspective
Ground Floor
3rd Floor
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2nd Floor
Basement
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1
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1 Waste 2 Electrical 3 Telecom 4 Mech Generator 5 Mech AHU/Waterpump/Boiler 6 Storage 7 Mech Chiller
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8 Cafe (entry from atrium) 9 Staff Room/Kitchenette 10 Market (access during workshop)
11 Workshops 12 Focus Class 13 Lounge
14 Leafy Vegetables 15 Herbs 16 Fruity Vegetables 17 Fruits 18 Gardening Storage
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ROJINIWA
Winter 2024
DAS YEAR END SHOW (YES) 2024
Location: High Park, Toronto Typology: Bird Observatory Professor: Stanislav Jurković Software: Adobe Ai, Ps, InD, Rhino, D5 Course: ASC201 Left: Garden Perspective
The design of the observatory is rooted in the concept of the rojiniwa, a Japanese garden space traditionally designed to transition the mind from the chaos of everyday life to the spiritual stillness of the tea ceremony. This project reimagines that transition as a physical journey toward the natural world. Designed as a sanctuary for quiet reflection and living in harmony, the design celebrates the existing landscape by centring the architecture around two trees, which serve as the foundation for a minimalist Zen garden. Every exterior wall is aligned with its opposite, achieving a sense of balance and creating a layered experience. Every layer of the layout acts as a filter for visitors moving through the building. The noise of the outside world fades, replaced by a quiet, meditative environment. It creates a physical journey of slowing down while providing a peaceful, low-impact environment that invites birds to settle nearby. Rather than acting as just a viewing platform, the project functions as a passage that immerses visitors within a quiet, balanced space, turning the act of bird watching into a focused, harmonious experience.
Top: Garden section Left: Observatory plan Right: Entrance perspective Bottom: Perspective Sketches
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1 Seasonal gallery 2 Viewing walkway 3 Learning centre
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ARCHWAY
Fall 2024
LIGHT FILLED PUBLIC LIBRARY
Location: Church St, Toronto Typology: Public Library Professor: Leila Farah Software: Adobe Ai, Ps, InD, Rhino, D5 Course: ASC301 Right: Stairway Perspective
This proposal reimagines a parking lot as a new civic library, creating a vital physical and visual link between St. James Cathedral and Court Square. The architecture intentionally balances the neighbourhood’s heritage with a modern presence. The central concept is an activated underpass, where a carved-out void pulls the surrounding streetscape directly through the building’s footprint, lit from the adjacent interior lobby. To reinforce this connection, a single, continuous paving material spans the entire site like a civic carpet, seamlessly guiding visitors from the public sidewalk, through the underpass, and into the park beyond. A transitional volume sits between the main structure and the neighbouring historic building, acting as a middle ground that respects the site’s heritage while embracing contemporary design choices.
Bottom: Exterior Perspective Right: Facade Detail Section
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The main library volume is clad in a metal grid layered over clear glazing reminiscent of lighting fixtures. This facade allows daylight to flood the interiors by day, while at night, the building transforms into a lantern as light spills out through the grid. Inside, a double-height mezzanine ensures light and visual connections between floors, fostering an airy, connected atmosphere.
2 1 5 4 3
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6 Second Floor Bookshelves
8 Mapping Special Collection
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Top: 2nd Floor View Left: Special collections Right: Floor 3 Bottom: Ground Floor
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1 Washroom 2 Main desk 3 Loading 4 Staff room/dropoff 5 Computer Space 6 OTB to 2nd Floor 7 Private study rooms 8 Mapping special collection
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URBAN HIKE
Winter 2026
DAS YEAR END SHOW (YES) 2026
Location: Corktown, Toronto Typology: Mobility Hub Collaborators: Nick Kisil Software: Adobe Ai, Ps, InD, Revit, Rhino3D, D5
This project reimagines a typical subway station into a journey that connects the city’s parks balancing efficiency with experience. By treating the commute as a journey or a hike the design integrates a new subway station into a broader network that links Toronto’s fragmented park systems, specifically connecting Orphan’s Green and Parliament Square Park. The architecture is defined by two horizontal volumes that serve as north and south entry portals, anchoring the site while a central core facilitates vertical movement. These rigid forms soften into fluid, sweeping geometries that guide pedestrian flow along an urban trail and carve out a sheltered public porch for the community. Beyond its transit function, the program activates the community with mixeduse spaces, a café, and a public porches, fostering a vibrant public realm that prioritizes the human experience over simple circulation.
Course: ASC620 Ext. Model Perspective
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1 Volumes & Core
2 The Urban Trail
3 The Public Porch
While traditional transit hubs prioritize efficiency and the direct commute, Urban Hike shifts the focus to the journey itself. Replacing rigid barriers with fluid geometries, the design transforms a functional station into an “urban trail” that weaves public space into the daily commute, blending transit seamlessly with the community.
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Left: Conceptual Diagrams Bottom: Ground Floor Plan
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Left: Valley Plan Right: Valley Perspective 35
Bottom: Site Section
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Left: Facade Perspective Right: Facade Detailing 38
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Left: Model Interior Views Right: Model Exterior 41
THANK YOU JEFFREY TAO
jeffrey.tao@torontomu.ca (647) 856 8798 linkedin.com/in/jeffrey-tao-4785a8244 Toronto, Canada