I recently completed my undergraduate degree in architecture at the University of Toronto. My interests fall within the intersection of fostering and preserving cultural identity through design, along with the development of sustainable and energy efficient buildings. I see architecture as a means to represent various communities through providing comfortable, well-informed designs. I aim to positively impact the built environment by creating spaces that allow people to feel valued and accepted by the wider society.
Contact
Email: okgs2001@gmail.com
Phone Numbers:
+1(647)829-6354 (Canadian)
+1(246)822-6761 (Barbadian)
LinkedIn:
www.linkedin.com/in/osaze-smith19a617231
Education
University of Toronto
Honours Bachelor of Arts in Architectural Studies:
Specialist in Design
Grade: High Distinction
Sep 2020 - Jun 2024
Queen’s College (Barbados)
Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations
Sept 2018 - Jun 2020
Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate
Sept 2013 - Jun 2018
Skills
Software
Autodesk AutoCAD Rhinoceros3D Grasshopper
SketchUp
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe inDesign
Agisoft MetashapePro
CloudCompare
Microsoft Office Suite Blender
Twinmotion
Fabrication
Woodworking Proficiency
Laser Cutting Proficiency
3D Printing Proficiency
Phyiscal Model Making
Other Photography Photogrammetry
Hand Drafting
Sketching
Quantitative Research
Qualitative Research
Mathematical Problem Solving
Work Experience
Building Science Research Assistant
University of Toronto
May 2023 - Mar 2024
Architecture Mentor
Building Black Success Through Design (University of Toronto)
Jan 2023 - Present
Architectural Intern
Tony Brooks Architects (Barbados) Jul 2022 - Aug 2022
Volunteer Experience
Student Administrator
Black Architects and Interior Designers
Association (Students)
Oct 2023 - Present
Upper Year Mentor
Daniels Mentorship Program (University of Toronto)
Sept 2022 - Apr 2023
Exhibitions
“Using Trees as They Are” by Emerging Architect Fellow Zachary Mollica
University of Toronto
Dec 2023 - Feb 2024
Project 1
Aggregation - Student Residence for the University of Toronto
Date Completed: April, 2023
Course: ARC362 | Instructor: Chloe Town
In this project, students were asked to design a student residecne for the University of Toronto in a site surrounded by many campus buildings such as Trinity College and The Varsity Stadium on the south and north respectively, along with Devonshire Place and Philosopher’s Walk on the west and east. With this in mind, the residence was designed specifically for the needs of the university’s faculty of music and law students, due to the close proximity of their faculty buildings with the site. The driving concept was to use Philosopher’s Walk by intercepting it, giving students a direct path to the residence from the aformentioned faculty buildings through the walk instead of around it. Additionally, the residence was designed in a manner that connects it to Philosopher’s Walk holistically. By using Philosopher’s Walk as a catalyst for the landscape and lower floors’ design, the walk is further activated, being integrated into the otherwise detached site. Thus, the residence building serves both students and passersby, who can access it through Philosopher’s Walk.
The aforementioned choice greatly influenced the layout and programming of the ground floor and landscape design. The ramp intersecting Philosopher’s Walk acts as a pathway, leading pedestrians into the site. An ampitheatre rests in the centre of of the “U” shaped form, which is used by music students living in the residence to perform events. As a result, passersby walking through Philosopher’s Walk are invited to attend concerts hosted on the residence, blurring the lines betwen private and public property. The ground floor is a fully public level where students and passersby alike can lounge and socialize. The upper floors are strictly for the student residents with building amenities on the two floors above the ground floor, and the remaining floors comprising of residential units.
Diagrams
Top Left: Program Diagram showing the uses of each primary division of the building.
Bottom Left: Circulation Diagram showing the vertical means of moving throughout the building.
The first and second floors contain amenities exclusive to those living in the building, including but not limited to a dining hall, music studio, arcade and gym. In addition to the internal programming, the massing of these floors create an external sense of privacy. The skywalk connecting the northeast and southeast ends of the building adds a sense of privacy by creating a threshold between Philosopher’s Walk and the inside of the building. As pedestrains walk from the ramp to the ampitheatre, the threshold is crossed and creates a sense of enclosure from the public despite no physical barriers. The skywalk also acts as a private vantage point for residents looking into Philosopher’s Walk or the ampitheatre, with the first floor giving views from the interior of the skywalk, and the second floor giving views above the skywalk as an outdoor terrace.
The building’s general massing is comprised of 3 blocks that connect to each other, each varying in height and length. The shortest and tallest blocks are parellel to each other, while the middle block connects the two, creating the “U” shape for the ampitheatre enclosure. Regarding the residential parts of the building, units spread from these connection points that act as circulation hubs, and change in size and capacity as one walks further away from them. The building has 1 bedroom, 2 bedroom and 3 bedroom units, which in total result in a capacity for 368 residents.
Floor plan of the unit layouts for floors 7-8 and 9-10, along with the plans of each individual unit.
Section facing south end showing the ampitheatre’s relationship to adjacent parts parts of the building, along with unit layout.
Elevation facing east end showing the building’s relationship to philosopher’s walk and how the landscape intervention invites pedestrians to come to building’s ampitheatre and linger.
1:500 Massing Model All: The general massing of the building from various angles.
1:500 Massing Model in Site
All: Massing model of the building shown within a larger site context model. Site research was delegated amongst the class, with the site model made by myself, Arun Singh and Tiffany Jiang.
Project 2
The Flux House
Date Completed: December, 2022
Course: ARC361 | Instructor:
Carol Moukheiber
The Flux House is a residential design proposal for two clients that addresses the site context of Kensington Market. The two prospective occupants of this house, a DJ and a fashion designer, are siblings who want to live in Kensington as a means to jumpstart their upcoming businesses. The DJ requires a space that can host parties as a club for their gigs, while the fashion designer requires a space that acts as a design studio for sewing fabrics, measuring clients’ physical dimensions, etc. This difference also exists in their personal lives; their different lifestyles results in both requiring secluded space from the other. Due to the desire to live together along with their differing lifestyles, this house acts as a mediator for the two occupants. Some spaces force separation between them, some force interaction, and the space in between allows for optional interaction at their will.
Elevations & Sections
Left: South and East facing elevation drawings of the building.
Right: South and East facing sectional drawings of the building.
As one moves upward throughout the floors of the house, the degree of privacy slowly increases, with the open space of the basement being a direct contrast to the third floor’s two bedrooms. The circulation was designed to maintain privacy at each level if desired, with two paths throughout the house, giving equal access to each space while being separated. The concrete facade is distinct from the existing urban fabric of Kensington Market, inviting the general public to the site as potential clients for their businesses in the basement’s workspace.
1:100 Massing Model
Up: Massing model showing facade and materiality
Down: Massing model placed in site context model (N.B. site model was a collaboration among the students)
1:20 Sectional Model
Left: Sectional view of the model showing the interior.
Right: Exterior view of the model showing the facade.
Renders
Left: Exterior Render of the building within the neighbouring context.
Right: Interior Render of the living area in the building.
Project 3
Creating Equitable Land Use: A Study of Toronto’s Yellowbelt
Date Completed: December, 2021
Course: ARC200 | Instructor: Mohammed Soroor
The aim of this project was to analyze parts of the Toronto Yellowbelt, culminating in a design proposal which addresses the issues of urbanism and detached housing in the area. The section of the Yellowbelt assigned was slightly west of Etobicoke, Ontario, with one of the major landmarks of the area being the Humber River running through it. Through careful study of this region of Toronto, inequities in land ownership and usage were found, with the resulting design being an attempt to change the state of the region’s planning to be more egalitarian.
During the inital phases of the study, a wide variety of housing typologies were present. However, the organization of housing typologies within the area seemed to be influenced by it’s positioning with respect to the Humber River. Upon further analysis, a relationship between the Humber River and a house’s proximity to it was discovered; the closer a property was to the river, the more land it occupied.
After realizing this, the goal for the design intervention was to use some of the excess land of properties closer to the Humber River to develop both high-density housing, along with new public spaces for the residents of the neighborhood to enjoy. The proposal consists of piers along the edge of the river with units available for renting by local shops, along with dwelling units of various types and sizes.
Diagram & Vignettes
Left: Isometric Diagram showing potential additions for increased density.
Right: Vignettes of the added density proposals.
Project 4
The Periodic Tower: An Exploration in Parametric Design
Date Completed: April, 2022
Course: ARC280 | Instructor: John Nguyen
Using towers as the architectural typology of interest, this design uses parametric design techniques to create a tower with a form that can be adjusted to suit various needs. The Periodic Tower is based on the idea of change and repetition over time intervals. Inspired by the concept of simple harmonic motion and how waves repeat themselves at a “period” in physics, the tower’s form is intended to resemble the graphical portrayal of waveforms, with the furthest extruding parts being the “amplitude” of the wave.
Skills
Software: Rhinoceros 3D
Grasshopper
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe photoshop
Blender
The form consists of two intersecting towers, with elliptical floor plates that progressively rotates and one consistently twisting as height increases. At some floors, the “amplitude” of the elliptical tower intersects with the secondary tower, creating intersections that are equidistant to each other at the tower’s “period”.
The design algorithm utilizes two parameters that dictate the major aspects of the tower’s design. The degree of rotation between floor plates is the parameter that controls the overvall massing, whereas the potential sun path over and around the tower, controls size of the facade openings.
As the input value in the Grasshopper script that determines the degree of rotation between floors increases, the “period” is reduced. Altering the rotation degree results in a variable number of intersections between the two towers, creating a plethora of massing possibilities.
Additionally, the facade’s openings can be changed with respect to a movable attractor line in the grasshopper script, which is meant to emulate the axis of the sun path around and over the tower. This allows for creating an optimal opening pattern to maximize sun light exposure regardless of the tower’s intended geographical orientation.
Diagrams
Up: Geometry Method Diagram showing order of operations by design algorithm . Down: Potential Floor Plate Variations based on degree rotation within the algorithm.
Renders
Project 5
Reviving 300 Spadina Avenue
Date Completed: April, 2024
Course: ARC465 | Instructor: Reza Moghaddamnik
Collaborators: Jerry Chen, Arun Singh
300 Spadina Avenue is currently a vacant build within downtown Toronto that is up for lease. It was originally built in the 1930s and served many purposes throughout its original lifespan, ranging from being a base of operations for a steel company to a tobacco shop. Its last purpose was being a commercial building with various small scale stores that catered to, were owned and operated by members of the Chinatown community, before the building was severly damaged by a fire and thus neglected. The purpose of this project was to find a way to revive 300 Spadina, and a proposal was created that enhances the existing structure to make it a mixed used building that not only makes it occupiable once more, but also intentionally and directly serves the surrounding Chinatown community once again.
300 Spadina Avenue is located within the core of Toronto’s Chinatown District, specifically at the intersection of Spadina Avenue and Dundas Street. It is surrounded by a myriad of retail stores, markets and restaurants, the majority of which tend to be operated by people in the community. Chinatown is considered a vibrant commercial hub in the city, but lacks many gathering spaces that enable community members to interact outside of commercial situations. Thus, the aim of this porject was to create a space that can also serve that process; a facility that can promote interaction and celebrate the community while retaining the identity of the Chinatown district.
The immediate aftermath of the fire
The Current State of 300 Spadina Avenue as of January 2024
The idea of a mixed use building was employed, with spaces that are allocated for people to gather leisurely, collaborate and celebrate the local community while also engaging in commercial activity if needed. The ground floor has a market, a juice bar and lounge, the latter two being connected to the first floor by stairs. On the first floor, the open plan is split to make an office and creative studio, each separated by a partition wall when required. The biggest change was the use of the roof to create a second floor for a greenhouse, small art gallery and a patio for the juice bar. The driving concept for each space is for a symbiotic relationship to form amongst each use and make the economy of the building self sustaining. The greenhouse is used to grow produce that can be used in the juice bar and sold in the market. A portion of the capital is then used to fund local community artists who can use the creative studio and exhibit their work in the gallery for community members to see. The greenhouse, juice bar and market will be operated by community members through a mixture of volunteering and employment as a means for the community to invest in itself, creating a circular economy for 300 Spadina Avenue to function.
Conceptual Vignette of potential additions to the existing building.
Floor plans for the ground floor, first floor and second floor of 300 Spadina Avenue once renovated.
An important component of the design proposal for 300 Spadina Avenue was the greenhouse on the second floor, due to it being the source of produce to be used in the market and juice bar. The roof of the greenhouse was designed using Grasshopper to develop its geometry and structural assembly, which uses hexagonal spider glazing for connections between the glass panels and trusses. The design algorithm dictated the shape and size of glass panels and the components connecting the glass to the truss structure.
Parametric Roof Details
Top Right: Render of the roof.
Bottom Right: Grasshopper script developed for roof design.
Parametric Roof Details Continued
Top & Middle Left: Renders of the roof from different angles.
Bottom Left: Detailed Perspective showing the custom spider glazing for parametric roof assembly.
All: The interior details of the building’s renovated plan.
Project 6
A Case Study of Atelier Kampot
Date Completed: September, 2022
Course: ARC361 | Instructor: Carol Moukheiber
Located in Kampot, Cambodia, Atelier Kampot is a refurbished colonial shop house that serves as both a residence and restaurant. The house is a product of exploring ways of seamlessly merging historical architectural customs with the practices of contemporary design. The ground floor hosts a bistro and café in the building, while the upper floors contain the residential spaces. In addition to these existing divisions of space by usage, each floor is connected via a spiral staircase that rises throughout the height of the building, acting as the primary source of circulation. An element of dualism is brought about through various design choices such as the combination of a public space as the restaurant, with a private space as the residence, along with contemporary design being paired with traditional practices.
This case study highlights the divisions made within the house. By cutting the house into segments, one can see the various thresholds intended by the architect. Each division shows how each segment’s ends act as individual facades despite being within the building, placing further emphasis on the dualism between the public and private space.
Exploded isometric showing division of the house with the staircase as a mediator between public and private.
1:20 Case Study Model (Parts 1 & 2)
Left: First division of the house, with the facade and entrance to the building.
Right: Second division of the house including the public dining and living spaces.
1:20 Case Study Model (Parts 3 & 4)
Left: Third division of the house, with the staircase as the primary vertical circulation route.
Right: Fourth division of the house including all private rooms (bedrooms, bathrooms, etc).
Project 7
Using Trees (Design Build)
Date Completed: July, 2023
Course: ARC395 | Instructor: Zachary Mollica
Collaborators: Dara Abu Khajil, Maria Chen Liang, Daniel Hyunsu Kim, Lester Kong, Bukhtawar Shahbaz & Jenny Zhang
This project was an exploration of using trees as a building material without having to process the wood into standardized building parts (wooden beams, planks, etc). It was completed in a design-build course organized and carried out by Emerging Architect Fellow, Professor Zachary Mollica. The project consisted of two builds of varying sizes: one stool and one bench. Each build looked at novel ways of assembling tree branches to create the respective designs. Digital tools and methods were used to aid the design and fabrication processes. Software such as Agisoft Metashape Pro was for photogrammetry/3D scanning, allowing students to create digital point cloud and mesh geometries of tree banches. Rhinoceros3D and Grasshopper were used to analyze tree branch geometries and assist in the design process and developing component assembly methods.
Skills Other: Photogrammetry
Software: Rhinoceros 3D Grasshopper
Adobe Illustrator Agisoft Metashape Pro
Fabrication & Materials: Physical Modelmaking Beech Trees
The first piece of furniture was a stool, designed and built with a group of students including myself, Dan Kim and Dara Abu Khajil. Smaller tree branches were cut to create dowels for joinery. Logs of varying heights were aggregated radially around one large log, matching the top ends to form a flat surface for seating. Holes were drilled into these logs, with dowels at various intervals being placed to connect one log to another from the core of the pattern to the legs of the stool.
Stool/Chair Design
Up: Radial aggregation of logs to create seating.
Down: Legs of the stool being debarked and attached at the ends of the aggregate.
The second piece of furniture was a bench, designed and built with a group of students including myself, Bukhtawar Shahbaz, Maria Chen, Lester Kong and Jenny Zhang. The crux of this design was the use of tree forks as structural members, using the multiple branches of a fork to reinforce cantilevered assemblies. Using this principle, we constructed a bench with multiple seats on both sides, held in place by forks placed along a base log.
Bench Design
Up: Tree forks being used as structural members for holding seating in place.
