Fall 2011 Thesis Reviews Booklet by John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design

MATTHEW ALVES STEVEN AVIS DANIELLE BERWICK DONNA MARIE BRIDGEMAN NELSON CHENG CHEE YUEN CHOY NATALIE RAE DUBOIS PATRICIA GRAHAM MEAGAN GUMBINGERMUIRHEAD DARIUS ARAMIS GUMUSHDJIAN AVERY GUTHRIE JONATHAN HARTZEMA ROBERT HUOT LINDA MY VAN HUYNH NAZANIN KAZEMI ANN KSIAZKIEWICZ RICHARD LAM MICHAEL CC LIN

MAHSA MAJIDIAN CHRIS MASCARENHAS NARIMAN MOUSAVI MIRIAM NG HENG TANG QUANH ALICIA REINHART SANFORD RILEY KRISTIN ROSS DANIELLE SERNOSKIE MATTHEW SPREMULLI VINCENZO STAGNITTA ANNA SULIKOWSKA HANNA TABATABAIE JAMES TRAN ALISTAR VAZ BRENDAN WHITSITT TIMOTHY WICKENS MICHAEL WINTERS MENGDI ZHEN

M ARCH THESIS REVIEWS FALL 2011

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thank you to Ana da Silva Borges, Daisy Lyman, Zita da Silva Dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Alessandro, Annette Nyga, and Katrina Groen for their essential coordination and administrative support in the Thesis program this term. And to Maxim Batourine, Yuri Lomakin, and Johnny Bui for support in computing and facilities. Also, thank you to Dale Duncan for communications and assistance with supporting graphic material, including this booklet. Finally, thank you to Dean Richard M. Sommer and Assistant Dean, Administration Horatio Bot for guidance on the Master of Architecture programâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s recent evolution.

INTRODUCTION The thesis program at University of Toronto is a two-term project comprised of one term thesis preparation and one term thesis development. Students have developed a thesis project in dialogue with a primary adviser and a secondary adviser. On December 12 & 13, we are hosting the thesis defense of 37 students advised by 12 Faculty with a wide array of topics from architecture as a technological act to architecture as a social act, with many variants in between. Similarly, the tools and format for investigation range widely, as well as the proposed role and agency of the architect. Students are invited to see the thesis not only as a design act but as an act of a form of practice. The two days are a fantastic and unique event in the program, and a snapshot of contemporary issues foregrounded by the program here at University of Toronto. With that, it is a pleasure to host numerous celebrated invited guests, practicing architects, returning students, and others for this final act of the Master of Architecture program. Mason White Director, Master of Architecture Program

THESIS ADVISERS, FALL 2011 Adrian Blackwell Brian Boigon Aziza Chaouni Robert Levit An Te Liu John May Laura Miller Carol Moukheiber Pina Petricone John Shnier Shane Williamson Mason White, coordinator

THESIS FINAL REVIEW GUEST CRITICS, FALL 2011 Shirley Blumberg is Partner at KPMB Architects Roland Rom Colthoff is Partner at RAW Cathryn Dwyre is Partner at pneumastudio Alar Kongats is Partner at Kongats Architects Bruce Kuwabara is Partner at KPMB Architects Janna Levit is Principal at Levitt Goodman Architects Liat Margolis is Assistant Professor at University of Toronto Shelagh McCartney is Assistant Professor at Carleton University Nicholas de Monchaux is Assistant Professor at UC Berkley Ralph Nelson is Assistant Dean at Lawrence Tech University Chris Perry is Assistant Professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Alessandra Ponte is Professor at UniversitĂŠ de MontrĂŠal Marc Ryan is a designer at West 8 Aaron Sprecher is Assistant Professor at McGill University Richard Witt is Partner at RAW Jon Yoder is Assistant Professor at Syracuse University

M ARCH THESIS REVIEWS FALL 2011

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M ARCH THESIS REVIEWS FALL 2011

F-RD MATTHEW ALVES

Architecture has never been tied so closely to its modes of representation and construction than it has in the past, which is a consequence of new digital media and emerging technologies that are rapidly expanding what we know to be formally, spatially, and materially possible. Today, designs use digital fabricating and material techniques to calibrate the virtual model and physical artifact, narrowing the gap between representation and making. The purpose of this thesis is to explore a work in progress of experimentation with fabrication techniques on a small scale, and the potential for design to move more fluidly between designing and making. More specifically, it is to explore the crafting effects that result from this process of form finding, material consideration, and fabrication. How does one negotiate issues of performance directly into an assembled geometry? With the use of digital craft I will attempt to afford a conclusion with this question structure, light modulation, and construction principles.

ADVISOR: SHANE WILLIAMSON M ARCH THESIS REVIEWS FALL 2011

TOWARDS A NEW CHINESE HOUSING STEVEN AVIS

The two-thousand-year history of Chinese architecture collapsed after the war. Since the early 50s, China has completely adopted the soviet-western method of architecture, and Chinese architecture has lost its identity. This project examines the typology of the traditional Chinese house, and extracts the essential differences that are influenced by culture and sustainability (building science). It then reconstructs these essences as an underpinning of Chinese architectural identity with contemporary architectural knowledge of practice in mixed-use community housing.

ADVISOR: PINA PETRICONE M ARCH THESIS REVIEWS FALL 2011

THEATRICS OF PSYCHIATRY DANIELLE BERWICK

Continuing in a long line of uncomfortable stories resulting from the relationship between psychiatry and architecture, this narrative is an experiment in juxtaposing the delicacy of brain health with the architectural invasion of single room occupancies. Through the use of renovated construction equipment, a travelling road show of mental health workers navigates and infiltrates the windows of historic hotels in the fragile downtown eastside of Vancouver.

ADVISOR: ROBERT LEVIT M ARCH THESIS REVIEWS FALL 2011

URBAN FORESTRY MUNICIPAL ARCHITECTURE

HOUSING NEW PUBLIC WORKS DONNA MARIE BRIDGEMAN

Recent appraisals of city owned trees throughout North America have spurred municipal governments to realize the Urban Forest as a quantifiable asset. The function of each street tree as physical and social infrastructure can now be assessed and valuated. By assigning a monetary figure to a living thing, we call into question the collective values of a city and the role of architecture to support and house this previously un-quantified asset. A shift in civic values demands a new building typology capable of facilitating these assets in situ. This new municipal building typology is a responsive building to monitor and sustain this appreciating resource as populations increase and cities densify. The building functions not as a vault, nor a living museum; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a vital, working municipal building. Valuation of Canadian Urban Forests in the 2a-5b hardiness region: Calgary $5.19 Billion * Edmonton $1.2 Billion Montreal $7.8 Billion* Ottawa $3.5 Billion * Toronto $7 Billion Winnipeg $3.15 Billion * *Estimate based on applied valuation methodology

ADVISOR: MASON WHITE & JOHN MAY M ARCH THESIS REVIEWS FALL 2011

IMAGINING THE FUTURE OF THE MUSEUM FOR CONTEMPORARY ART NELSON CHENG

Global development of various art museums over past several decades has yet to yield a clear, unanimous, defined typology of the art museum. Although it is apparent that many identifiable categories exist and they diversely range in example of site, conception, mandates, and operation, a particular architectural typology cannot be distinguished even in a single specific museum type. This suggests that the art museum is not characterized by its spatial arrangements, but by attributes associated with the architectural confines of the space. Furthermore, the invention or repurposing of these confines may vastly alter the performance and potential to add or subtract from the experience of the art. The nature of contemporary artistic practice challenges preconceived notions of what art might be. Museums wishing to engage with contemporary artists must therefore continually seek to provide and invent spaces that can support the rapidly changing notion of art itself. The museum of contemporary art is sustained through an embrace of perpetual architectural evolution. Situated north of downtown Toronto, the project imagines the expansion for the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art by repurposing an existing industrial space into a flexible multifaceted new space for art.

ADVISOR: AN TE LIU M ARCH THESIS REVIEWS FALL 2011

madma adad d-N No-m -mad ma mad m a ad

MAD-NO-MAD CHEE YUEN CHOY

The meaning of the title mad-No-mad is threefold. It can be read as a question: ‘Mad or not mad?’ a statement: ‘A kind of crazy nomadic life,’ or a commentary: ‘Madness of Madness.’ The latter has to do with the Japanese language in which the word “no” is a possessive particle. mad-No-mad is a speculation on the sustainability of urban development in Tokyo. Urban activists and architectural critics in Japan have been questioning the waste of space as a result of land evolution. The high inheritance tax in Japan has been the dominant factor in the atomization of land as people subdivide and sell a piece of land in order to inherit a property. The by-product is a lot of small pieces of land big enough for two or three parking spots but never enough for any redevelopment. It is almost impossible to consolidate these pieces of land as they are scattered all around the city. This project attempts to consolidate these leftover pieces of land in an unconventional way. In Tokyo, many people pay a premium for a room of less than 10m2 (108)ft2. For most people, it is not a pleasant experience to stay in such cramped unit all day long. mad-No-mad sees the opportunity to expand the domesticity of living space by exploding a function of a house or a condo and fitting them into the leftover lots all over the city. mad-No-mad also questions the sustainability of the current mode of urban development in an unusual way, namely the chindogu way. Chindogu is a Japanese invention of an everyday-life gadget that aims to resolve a specific problem in a seemingly ideal way. However, the deployment of the gadget may bring forth new sets of problem. What’s important about chindogu is that it stimulates thinking as to why a certain problem has to be resolved a certain way. The micro intervention of mad-No-mad is not only a solution to the housing need in Tokyo, it also incorporates the philosophy of chindogu. ‘Are there are better solutions to certain problems?’ is the question that mad-No-mad attempts to raise.

ADVISOR: AN TE LIU M ARCH THESIS REVIEWS FALL 2011

BACKYARD NATALIE RAE DUBOIS

The internet is a beautiful and terrifying rabbit hole. Once you fall down it, it’s easy to be distracted by all the pretty and strange things you find there, without questioning their reason for being or their meaning. The warren of popular architecture and design websites is no different from the rest of the web. But after a heady decade or so of jet-set reporting, starchitecture stalking and flavour-of-the-week news blasts, a change of scene and tone feels fresh. The downsides of globalization are playing out before us; and while there’s no doubt that we’re all still intricately connected, it seems like now is an apropos moment to turn our attention inwards, rather than outwards. To focus our gaze on our own streets and cities, in our own country. To ask not whether a project or building is new or cool, but how it serves the people who use it. And perhaps more importantly, to ask this question in such a way as to connect architecture and design to the social and cultural ‘real’ world it lives in. Backyard was created to serve this purpose. To provide a dedicated place for criticism, contemplation, and discussion around the intersection of how we live with the built environment in Canada. With a mix of authors and member-submitted content, Backyard will offer a unique range of perspectives on the places we call home.

ADVISOR: BRIAN BOIGON & LAURA MILLER M ARCH THESIS REVIEWS FALL 2011

THE MICRO-URBAN PATTY GRAHAM

Jane Jacobs felt it pertinent to distinguish towns from cities at beginning of her book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities: “Towns are totally different organisms from great cities — to understand towns in terms of big cities will only compound confusion.”i As our world quickly urbanizes, towns and rural communities are faced with declining populations. In an effort to prevent this decline, small communities promote wider lots, larger homes, and cheaper property taxes as residential incentives to attract new citizens. “It was and is the North American ideal to escape the noisy, crowded city and find a space — a front lawn and backyard, places for children to play and for parents to garden.”ii While the effects of sprawl are more contained within small communities, the impact of sprawl will intensify for towns that find success promoting the affordable single-family home as the principle residential option. In light of the American foreclosure crisis, climate change, and forecasts of reduced availability of fossil fuels, it is clear that a single-family home monopoly is not sustainable. This realization begs the question: is there an alternate housing option to catalyze a micro-urban transformation and support a new brand of small town?

i Jacob, Jane. The Death and Life of Great American Cities, page 16 ii Fowler, Edmond P. Building Cities That Work. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1993.

ADVISOR: CAROL MOUKHEIBER M ARCH THESIS REVIEWS FALL 2011

PRODUCTION+:

THE REDEVELOPMENT OF US STEEL’S HAMILTON WORKS

MEAGAN GUMBINGER-MUIRHEAD

Hamilton, once known as the Ambitious City, was founded and thrived on the industrial economies of the 20th Century. Beginning with the manufacturing of sewing machines and steam locomotives, Hamilton’s industrial and manufacturing sectors employed thousands of people up until recently. The systematic shut down of the US Steel Plant, formerly Stelco, has left thousands of Hamiltonians unemployed. The Stelco lands join a long list of abandoned and underused factory and employment lands in Hamilton: the Rheem Factory, the Studebaker Factory, and the Firestone Factory. This thesis proposes the redevelopment of the US Steel’s Hamilton Works site. Taking into account Hamilton’s industrial manufacturing past and its current knowledge economies, it combines the innovative and problem solving assets of the research, artistic, and industrial economies to create spaces of collaboration, discussion, and innovation. The Hamilton Works site will be expropriated through legal mechanisms from US Steel. The site will be run by a workers cooperative consisting of the United Steel Workers Association Local 1005, Mohawk College’s STARRT apprenticeship program, McMaster University’s Materials Engineering Program, the CANMET-MTL Metallurgical research centre, local labour artists, and the government of Canada. The cooperative will restructure the management and business goals of the existing factory based on current Argentinian workers co-operative models. This cooperative will introduce apprenticeship and research programs, while fostering the artistic aspects of steelmaking and trades. Underused sections of the site will become a phytoremediation park, which will clean the contaminants from the site, demonstrate remediation techniques, and provide a public park for workers, students and the people of Hamilton. This redevelopment will provide spaces for production, research, apprenticeship training, collaboration, creativity, and innovation to be used by students, teachers, factory workers, artists and master tradespersons. ADVISOR: ADRIAN BLACKWELL M ARCH THESIS REVIEWS FALL 2011

THE TORONTO DELTAS

MAXIMIZING DESIRE AT THE PORT LANDS DARIUS ARAMIS GUMUSHDJIAN

We have seen the design approach to our waterfront. It consists of many benefits under many levels of needs, needs which would fulfill the naturalization of the waterfront. Yet the root of our problem may not be the water’s edge itself but the river mouth, which brings an entire watershed’s runoff to one location. The MVVA plan for the lower don lands naturalizes the mouth of the Don River for better flood water displacement and a diverse wilderness. This plan is thoughtful of many factors related to waterfront development, yet a problem still exists, barriers still exist — this is the Port Lands, afterall. This thesis will investigate a different approach to the implemented MVVA master plan. This approach will maximize the plan’s inherent qualities while considering and amplifying new factors. This thesis will address the different levels of government that exist at the Port Lands, levels with different needs that range from economic gain to housing and employment. It will also consider maximizing ecosystems to be included in the realm of leisure, and maximizing the efficiency of circulation and public transportation while reducing its imposed footprint and private vehicle use. Maximizing the filtration of the Don River to improve water quality will, in turn, maximize the number of potential beaches. This new approach will also maximize the number of edge and building typologies to explore different implementations of recreation and density. Toronto has received its share of innovative plans. Now is the time to not only implement them but also amplify them.

ADVISOR: CAROL MOUKHEIBER M ARCH THESIS REVIEWS FALL 2011

THIS HOUSE AVERY GUTHRIE

This house considers the substance of life as the substance of architecture. Adopting domestic architecture as a key locus of intervention in life and in the city, this project turns its eye to the commonplace as the arena in which the dramas of history are played out and posits a design for a new house on the site of a minor disaster..

ADVISOR: SHANE WILLIAMSON M ARCH THESIS REVIEWS FALL 2011

GATEWAY CITY

INTENSIFICATION ALONG INTERSECTING TRANSIT NODES JONATHAN HARTZEMA

Within the past century, Canadian cities have relied upon several key factors in order to grow and develop: an abundance of relatively inexpensive raw land, cheap fossil fuel, and easy access to the automobile. The current state of cities today has all but made this growth model obsolete. As pockets of space are filled in the city’s core, growth seems limited to expansive suburbs at the surrounding edges of the city’s regions. Toronto is a city reaching the end of this century old growth model. Surrounded on all sides by the regions of the Greater Toronto Area, there is no more room to grow outwards. The surrounding cities are being pushed to their border through suburban sprawl, while people continue to commute to the downtown core for employment. With a surging projected increase in population over the next twenty years, both Toronto and the GTA will see a 40% population growth. This new population will require dwellings, employment, and amenities. To accommodate the growing population, intensification must occur within Toronto, as the GTA cannot continue to sprawl into the greenbelt and Ontario’s natural landscape. In order for this intensification to be effective, it must be guided by a series of principles — site, typology, community, amenities, and sustainability, all must be considered in order to allow for a functional master plan and contribute to the future development of Toronto and the surrounding regions. This intensification must be accompanied by and located on a hub or gateway of a transit network in order to engage a new development practice that excludes the reliance on the automobile and highway infrastructure. The intention of this thesis is to provide a prototype of such intensification, accompanied by guidelines and principles of site development, reforming a new growth model for the built city to reformat select urban space into effective new intensification zones and satellite cities.

ADVISOR: ROBERT LEVIT M ARCH THESIS REVIEWS FALL 2011

PECULARITIES OF THE SUBURBAN PATTERN

ROBERT HUOT

The outer suburban condition is characterized by a homogeneous fabric of single-family low-density houses bounded by arterial roads. This road network is determined not by criteria appropriate to residential areas, but by pre-existing land division methods, the scale of which is informed by agricultural parcels. In contrast, the interior streets are arranged in various non orthogonal patterns with the intention of maximizing the number of single family dwellings while attempting to address the desire for the bucolic. The result is a morphology that has difficulty adapting to changes intended to increase density, land use variety, and issues related to scale and walkability. In order for such transitions to occur, the suburbs distinct morphology must be acknowledged, and its peculiar conditions can be the catalyst for this change.

ADVISOR: ROBERT LEVIT M ARCH THESIS REVIEWS FALL 2011

FABRICATING THE DIGITAL CITY

SPACE CUSTOMIZATION THROUGH AUGMENTED REALITY LINDA MY VAN HUYNH

The proliferation of digital media in public spaces instigates the opportunity to create a city that constantly reconfigures itself to respond to the activities of individual users and the interactions amongst them. The next evolution of public facades will consist of a hybridization of virtual information and the physical world that re-imagines new ways to deliver services and goods to consumers in the form of information exchange through the shopping experience. Storefronts will be transformed into a seamless, technological interface that also acts as a canvas for self-expression. This new form of window shopping in the Digital City will animate the streets with interactive digital surfaces that capture user endeavours and impel their shopping desires by enticing them through immersive displays that can be viewed and actively changed from the streets. The Digital City will become a sentient entity with cognitive abilities to recognize individuals by their physical attributes and understand them through their personal information, stored over a networked database which is manifested in the city fabric. As the user participates in activities in the space, they become active shapers of commercial products, and of city infrastructure.

ADVISOR: CAROL MOUKHEIBER M ARCH THESIS REVIEWS FALL 2011

HAPTIC WALL NAZANIN KAZEMI

Architecture, for the most part, is experienced visually. Sight is unique amongst the senses, where within the field of vision, comprehension of multiple entities can occur instantly. The eye chooses to focus on an object, near or far, while simultaneously perceiving an entire space. Conversely for the visually impaired and blind, other senses become the means of discerning a surrounding space. Focusing on the haptic sense, touch does not result in immediate comprehension. It is sequential and time-bound, thus requiring dynamic interaction with the object/space to obtain information. Sighted individuals unintentionally take for granted how easily space is perceived, and most architecture neglects the experience of the visually impaired and blind. This thesis proposes to explore the role of architecture in aiding the needs of those who lack the ability to see, while creating a model that enhances the senses of normal-sighted individuals. Examining the Greater Toronto Area and its surrounding context, only two major learning institutions (specifically those containing an elementary school) exist for the visually impaired: the Ontario Foundation for Visually Impaired Children Daycare (OFVIC) located on the west end of downtown Toronto, and the W. Ross MacDonald School located in Brantford. The program of this thesis is an elementary school, constructing a simple navigational system based on the haptic wall, which becomes the entire experiential source, guiding all students from different age groups and visual abilities.

ADVISOR: AZIZA CHAOUNI M ARCH THESIS REVIEWS FALL 2011

SATELLITE DOWNTOWNS:

RECONSTRUCTING THE SUBURBAN SHOPPING CENTRE ANN KSIAZKIEWICZ

“The shopping centre of tomorrow will be more than its name implies...[it] will, besides its commercial function, fill the vacuum created by the absence of social cultural and civic crystallization points in our vast suburban areas.” -Victor Gruen, 1952

Victor Gruen, the creator of the shopping centre, had idyllic and utopian ideals of what the shopping centre would become. However, many of these ideals have not been achieved. Due to the mid-century idolization and reliance on the automobile, the form of the shopping centre emerged as an island onto itself, a structure surrounded by asphalt. The resultant is a visual and spatial division from the adjacent urban fabric. While emerging as a profit-driven entity, the shopping centre has become a space of civic engagement as well as one of the last remaining evidences of public activity in the city. In addition, it has become a place for the masses to congregate, effectively replacing the church as the ‘Third Place.’ This thesis intends to unpack the existing model of the suburban shopping centre. The current model consists of a one to two-storey complex surrounded by vast surface parking. Through an implementation of a dense urban model for the suburban shopping centre, the resultant will be the creation of satellite downtowns, centres of commerce and mixed-use which serve as social condensers.

ADVISOR: ROBERT LEVIT M ARCH THESIS REVIEWS FALL 2011

MYTHICAL CITY RICHARD LAM

It seems today that Toronto is a divided city. Recent elections, debates about urban growth, and the apparent polarization between the urban core and the suburbs tell a story of an adversarial environment in which we talk about the identity of the city in the language of conflict and not of commonality. What these conflicts do not bring into focus is the fact that this is also a city rich in history, much of which is unexposed or perhaps obscured by the city’s relative youth or a persistent self-effacing perception that we are unremarkable. In reality, the city is the site of fascinating stories and endeavours, many of which continue to play out before our eyes: stories of growth, expansion, amalgamation, immigration, demographic, political and urban change. Moreover, all over the city, schools, governments, researchers, designers, and everyday people are working to generate solutions to conflict, find common ground, and envision a better place in which all of us can live. The products of this multivalent discourse will in turn become the history of the city. This project proposes a literal common ground in which this discourse can take place, a space in which to contemplate the past, discuss the present and shape the future. The project considers the city as a construction, physical and mythical, and discourse as the key act of building in which we can all take part. “We live in the city of dreams, We drive on the highway of fire, Should we awake And find it gone Remember this, our favorite town.” - City of Dreams, Talking Heads

ADVISOR: SHANE WILLIAMSON M ARCH THESIS REVIEWS FALL 2011

ANTHROPARK IS AN ENTERTAINMENT AND EDUCATIONAL FACILITY DEDICATED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF KNOWLEDGE AND PUBLIC APPRECIATION OF THE ANTHROPOCENE

MICHAEL CC LIN

ADVISOR: AN TE LIU M ARCH THESIS REVIEWS FALL 2011

THE OTHER CITY:

A FORENSIC INVESTIGATION OF THE OBJECTIVE REASSEMBLY OF THE PUBLIC

MAHSA MAJIDIAN You are presented with a series of images of events-spaces. Let us call these, ‘situations’. The practice of resistance and conflict exercised in these situations registers them as a territory within a broader system, a heterotopia in Foucault’s terms, or an island. I would like to call them, The Other City. The Other City, is a point of view (internal space), a spatial quality, and a form of urbanism. Although these situations are formed by a set of internal relations (actors and networks), their ‘otherness’ is achieved by their curious property of being in relation with all the other sites. The Other City, for centuries and globally, has and continues to be the ‘reserve of imagination.’ In a city with no Other City, “dreams dry up, espionage takes the place of adventure, and the police take the place of pirates.” (Foucault, Heterotopia) The Other City is situated within the everyday city and includes objects of an everyday life. It motivates ephemeral and spectacular inversions of relations through the agency of objects. The ‘otherness’ of the Other City, as well as the assemblage of its parts, are understood, rendered, obfuscated, and imitated through images. They are the permanent evidence of an ephemeral condition. Their effect also, contributes to a ‘resonance’; something emerging in one island reverberates with the wave emitted by something emerging out in another island. The situation is “the sudden creation, not of a new reality, but of a myriad of new possibilities.” (Alain Badiou, Le Monde) This thesis is a forensic investigation of the image, deconstructed to bare its claim-making objects. Then, the image is put back together, in a forensic (forum-building) exhibition, to reconstruct the situation, and to reassemble “the public.”

ADVISOR: ADRIAN BLACKWELL M ARCH THESIS REVIEWS FALL 2011

WATER, RAILWAY, AND THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST AQUIFERS UNDER THREAT IN THE CITY OF ANGELS

CHRIS MASCARENHAS Progress in the American Southwest has been synonymous with the development of water resources and the railway. It was, after all, the iron horse that opened the Southwest to continued settlement, and water that sustained its growing population. No city owes more to the water and railroad industries for its prosperity than the nation’s second largest economy, Los Angeles. In fact, the history of Los Angeles has always been about mammoth undertakings in search of new water sources and in the laying of raillines. But despite the close relationship between water, the railway, and Los Angeles, the three have not always been mutually beneficial to each other. The second half of the twentieth century has been filled with numerous instances where the railroad has imprinted Los Angeles with a less than stellar legacy. One not easily visible, but which is highly lethal nonetheless. This is the legacy of pollution. Pollution occurs during the upkeep of railway engines at maintenance yards, especially those constructed prior to the environmental legislations of the 1970’s. This pollution is significant to the city’s future because most of these yards are located on sites adjacent to the Los Angeles River, sites which also sit atop the San Fernando Aquifer which supplies the city with more than thirty percent of its potable water during droughts. How Los Angeles deals with the cleanup of these contaminated sites will be crucial in determining how the city deals with its water security during a future that is projected to experience increased water scarcity. The thesis seeks to explore one such site, the Taylor Yard, just north of downtown Los Angeles. In the process of investigating the site, its contamination and remediation, the project endeavours to highlight the scars of pollution through the design of an architecture-landscape hybrid. The hybrid aims to be didactic about the site’s history and seeks to create a lasting awareness about the importance of aquifers in the arid Southwest.

ADVISOR: MASON WHITE & JOHN MAY M ARCH THESIS REVIEWS FALL 2011

N.43.39 NARIMAN MOUSAVI

The objective of this project is to develop a novel method of wood joinery that exploits wood to wood connections that can converge at multiple angles. The method is based on a discovery of inherent geometrical relationships between intersecting lines, and the formula can be used as a kernel in parametric modeling software to allow live calculation of each joint in a system. The method yields geometries which are complex to cut using traditional carpentry methods, but can be produced efficiently utilizing CNC milling technologies. Fabrication constraints have been considered from the beginning, and the limitations and the possibilities of the tool have been integral to the design of the geometries. The system described above is being used to propose a structure for the Burning Man project. The installation is a diagram of the stars, a mapping of their positions in space made available at the human scale. The structure can be oriented to correspond to the specificities of any geographical location. In this proposal, each wood member represents space-time and each joint represents a star. Here the thirteen constellations of the zodiac â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the ecliptic plane â&#x20AC;&#x201D; are experienced in three dimensional space rather than the two dimensional image that generally dominates our understanding of them. The installation for the Burning Man project takes advantage of the inherent qualities of the digital wood joinery system. It can be produced using locally sourced dimensional lumber, and furthermore, the use of now common fabrication instrument ensures that the members can be CNC cut using a local fabrication shop to minimize the distance materials travel. The installation structure is adaptable to the specific orientation of any geographic location.

ADVISOR: SHANE WILLIAMSON M ARCH THESIS REVIEWS FALL 2011

DISASTER RELIEF MODULE MIRIAM NG

Disaster relief shelters aid and protect victims from the physical and psychological after effects of natural disasters. They provide structure, stability, and durability for refuge. In addition, they provide protection and safety from the elements as well as privacy and security. It is critical that temporary shelters are provided in order to facilitate the transition that an individual must partake when they have been displaced from their home. Relief shelters for current natural disasters are costly, ineffective, and inefficient. This thesis proposes to design a sustainable disaster relief shelter that will cost $400 to manufacture. This relief shelter will be physically suitable for the environment of the site as well as psychologically suitable for the population affected by the crisis. The manufacturing process will make use of accessible materials to ensure the availability of shelters. The design will attempt to increase the efficiency of both delivery and deployment methods. Beyond the consideration put into the psychological aspects of the individual structure, this design can be deployed in multiple configurations, which helps to increase a sense of home and community within the affected population.

ADVISOR: ROBERT LEVIT M ARCH THESIS REVIEWS FALL 2011

HYDRATE

TECTONICS OF THE ENGINEERED TECHNO-SPACE TANG HENG QUANH

Large scale infrastructural spaces such as power plants, water treatment plants, water retention infrastructure and even factories are often closed to the public. It is understandable why this is the case, whether it is due to safety issues, security issues, law etc. The separation of these two realms is implemented to manage the risk of the parties involved. Because they do not actively participate in civic life, these infrastructures and technologies are often very disconnected from society. We do not know why they are there or how they work. This thesis proposal seeks to explore the relationship between infrastructure, ecology, and society, and, in doing so, challenge the notion that these infrastructural spaces are â&#x20AC;&#x153;off-limits.â&#x20AC;? It positions these techno-spaces as a social catalyst for the revitalization of the post-industrial neighborhood. The proposal will also explore the question of how infrastructure can intelligently restructure and reintegrate polluted sites back into the urban fabric.

ADVISOR: MASON WHITE & JOHN MAY M ARCH THESIS REVIEWS FALL 2011

DRIVING THE EDUCATION SYSTEM FORWARD ALICIA REINHART

Today’s children have access to numerous electronic devices, which can be used as a tool for gathering information. Constant advancements in technology have made it commonplace for children to receive data instantaneously through an interface, significantly increasing the pace that they are accustomed to receiving information, when compared to children in the past. This presents a fundamental clash with today’s education system. A typical classroom in today’s schools is comparable to the classroom of 100 years ago, when students received data at a much slower rate. Rows of desks, to accommodate approximately 30 students, face the front of the room where the blackboard is located. The teacher stands at the front of the room to teach lessons, creating a passive learning environment. However, sitting and listening to a teacher for an extended period of time is not a learning method with which today’s children are familiar. Today’s education system is out of date. With this adjustment in the reception of information, it seems evident that the physical environment for learning should advance with the virtual one. What is the relationship between these new flows of information and the physical learning environment? How can we bridge the gap between the current education system and the way today’s children are accustomed to learning?

ADVISOR: BRIAN BOIGON & LAURA MILLER M ARCH THESIS REVIEWS FALL 2011

SCHOOL OF LIFE SANFORD RILEY

Gentrification, a rapidly aging population, and falling numbers of school-age children are changing the demographic landscapes of inner cities. In Toronto, public social infrastructure is at present ineffectively employed in responding to the needs of the changing population structure. This thesis proposes the repurposing of a school properties in the TDSB as a new hybrid housing and lifestyle building typology, serving the needs of the multi-generational family in the inner city. With elementary school enrolment dwindling and school properties facing a backlog of expensive repairs, a crisis has arisen as valuable, publicly-owned lands are increasingly declared redundant and sold off to private developers. Many schools in central Toronto sit at half-enrolment as birthrates continue to fall, and families are priced out of the inner city by increasingly expensive (and rare) three-bedroom dwellings. At the other end of the age spectrum, a rising tide of senior citizens is about to face the challenges of aging, including making fundamental choices of how and where to live. Many seniors require varying levels of assistance in managing their day-to-day affairs but either cannot afford private care, or donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get the required level of support from already over-stretched public care options. Many seniors naturally look to their families for support as they age, often serving to keep them connected to a broader social milieu, and staving off the common experience of elderly anomie. As a result, the multigenerational household is likely to become more commonplace in Canadian cities. Introducing multigenerational housing to the site of an operational school in central Toronto allows for multiple groups to benefit from public infrastructure and serves to strengthen the fabric of inner city communities by creating communities of mutual support across the age spectrum. This typology poses many challenges however, as each constituent group involved has its own requirements and lifestyle rhythms that need to be taken into consideration. This project focuses on how two programs can be brought together to create a synergistic effect on the inner city. ADVISOR: AZIZA CHAOUNI M ARCH THESIS REVIEWS FALL 2011

WHAT TO SEE KRISTIN ROSS

“ ‘Getting across the prairie’ is regarded as unavoidable punishment for easterners on their pilgrimages to the mountains and the Pacific Coast. Travelers hold their visual breath for a thousand miles.” -Neil Evernden, Beauty and Nothingness: Prairies as Failed Resource

Why are we holding our visual breath? There exists a common thought that the prairies are flat. Dull. With nothing to see. In a society that is increasingly based on consumption, with a constant feeding of the visual sense, we have become accustomed to over-stimulation. In this, the prairie fails, as it offers nothing to stimulate. We don’t know what to do with this lack of ‘things’. We don’t know what to see. ‘Driving across the prairies’ becomes a metaphor for our perception of the environment in modern society. We are unable to fully perceive reality in context due to the speed of our movement. This project is a series of apparatuses for viewing. Situated along prairie highways, in a place seemingly void of visual stimuli. It challenges us to slow down, step out of the car, and become aware. It explores notions of place and the ability of landscape to reveal itself as a way of seeing. But not just a view. An experience. Architecture becomes a vehicle to provide this opportunity for experience and physical connection. Choreographing our movement through a visual and immersive experience. Challenging perceptions. And misperceptions. Seeing what is there. Or not there. ADVISOR: MASON WHITE & JOHN MAY M ARCH THESIS REVIEWS FALL 2011

TORONTO ALLEYWAY NETWORK: A SPACE FOR EVERYONE ELSE

DANIELLE SERNOSKIE

Aren’t all designers curators? We create new experiences by collecting, reinterpreting, and rearranging that which has already occurred. What began as a project determined to find a way to propose a type of design intervention within the City of Toronto’s extensive alleyway network has quickly become a lesson. As architects we must learn from the activities already taking place in our city’s public spaces in order to work with them as opposed to applying a generally accepted set of rules upon them. Design is often used to beautify that which is deemed to be undesirable, but what if our definition of beauty is too acute? This idea of beautification must be cast aside. Perhaps even a grungy alleyway can be considered beautiful. Just look to the individuals who already inhabit these spaces – using the vertical surfaces as canvases on which to display their work, and transforming garage units into spaces to live in. I have investigated, navigated, photographed, and become immersed in this other world, this other realm of the city that often goes unnoticed. Acting as a curator, I’ve collected information about many aspects of Toronto’s alleyways: their history, their locations, their aesthetic properties, their intended uses, their unintended uses and the agencies that control them. By doing such, I have discovered that Toronto’s alleyways are a testing ground — a laboratory — which challenges the designer and intrigues those who are lucky enough to become acquainted with them. The experimental result of which needs to be revealed.

ADVISOR: BRIAN BOIGON & LAURA MILLER M ARCH THESIS REVIEWS FALL 2011

LAND MANAGEMENT TRIBE MATTHEW SPREMULLI

This thesis questions the existential definition of “wilderness” as it has been redefined through the practice of agriculture. The ambition is to imagine alternate strategies for productive land management by tapping into the regenerative nature of existing natural systems. The American Tallgrass, a sub-region of the Great Plains, is sited as an opportunistic area to negotiate the premises surrounding extreme agricultural activity. Historically, the area represents one of the largest landscape conversions that began with the settling of the 1862 Homestead Act, transforming millions acres of prairie into farms. Today, the Tallgrass represents one of the more paradoxical landscapes in the United States, currently trending towards a contested future of expanding agricultural growth, massive depopulation, and ongoing ecological failures. To complement the region’s hyper-autonomous future, a tribe of agri-environmental architectures are equipped to explore and exploit specific contemporary Tallgrass conditions related to the theme of productive land management. Collectively, the tribe becomes a new species to the region that dynamically responds to both the fluctuating processes in the landscape and to each other, resulting in a hyper-sensitive ambient interface for human experience. As the actions of the architectures constantly evolve through the feedback loop between analysis and work, they test the boundaries of how an infrastructure can behave like an ecology; growing and shrinking, adjusting goals, and developing symbiotic relationships with other inhabitants.

ADVISOR: MASON WHITE & JOHN MAY M ARCH THESIS REVIEWS FALL 2011

HARVESTING LAVA VINCENZO STAGNITTA

1669, Mount Etna rumbles. Diego de Pappalardo, a resident of Catania city, leads fifty men up Europe’s largest and most active volcano wearing cowhide soaked in water, with iron rods, picks and shovels to divert the oncoming lava. Pappalardo’s brave efforts succeed; however, the residents of Paterno soon realized that the diverted lava had been redirected towards their town. Pappalardo and his men were attacked by the residents of Paterno but managed to save their own city. Mount Etna continued to erupt for twenty days and eventually oncoming lava destroyed 14 villages and towns, swallowed parts of Catania, left 20,000 people homeless and killed 17,000 people. The relationships between societies, nature, and the catastrophic events that disrupt the “natural” order of things have to be re-interpreted and re-designed. However, time and time again we are reminded that we are incapable of engineering structures that can resist and predict catastrophes. The very idea that our built environments would have to be re-thought or redesigned is a catastrophic notion. This realization calls for new and better methods of design, methods which don’t try to resist the next eruption, or out engineer the forces of nature. Instead, these methods may provide a new vocabulary for the study of land forms in volcanic vulnerable zones. Can new hybrid forms of architecture and infrastructure re-shape the Mount Etna region landscape? Can these new architectures mitigate as well as harvest the natural resources that volcanic eruptions yield?

ADVISOR: MASON WHITE & JOHN MAY M ARCH THESIS REVIEWS FALL 2011

ANNA SULIKOWSKA

ADVISOR: JOHN SHNIER M ARCH THESIS REVIEWS FALL 2011

MINO ISLAND AGRI-TOURISM PROTOTYPE DWELLING: INHABITABLE DEW-COLLECTING ECOLODGE HANNA TABATABAIE Agritourism can be defined, most broadly, as the attraction of tourists to an agriculturallybased operation that usually involves farming or crop harvesting. There is often an overlap of agritourism with ecotourism. This thesis seeks to generate a contemporary model of eco-tourism specifically for oasis settings in Iran. The lack of water is a major constraint in arid and semi-arid regions; this thesis provides affordable, low-tech water harvesting design strategies to be implemented in oasian agricultural lands. France, ranked as the world’s top tourist destination, receives approximately 74 million tourists per year while Iran receives only 900,000. Considering Iran’s vast amount of natural resources, this number is relatively low. Unfortunately, political instabilities have had a negative impact on Iran’s tourism. In addition, the oil based economy of Iran has caused the government to neglect the tourism industry. Moreover, Iran is currently politically unstable. Because of these reasons, this thesis requires a site with the potential to maximize national tourism. It is the intention that an increase in national tourism would lead to international interest. The site, called Minoo Island, which is located at the border of Iran and Iraq, allows for potential international tourism growth in the future. Throughout the past centuries, Minoo Island had been a major tourist destination for the beauty of its gentle microclimate and its beautiful landscapes, which are composed of canals and oasian agricultural lands. During the 8-year Iran and Iraq war (1980-1988), part of the agricultural lands, which are mostly palm tree groves, were damaged, resulting in a decrease of tourism in this area. This thesis proposes to infuse the damaged palm tree farms with agritourism in order to restore its agritourism potential. Considering the low level of precipitation but relatively high humidity, this thesis also deals with inventing a new system of low-tech passive dew harvesting in order to provide potable water to the guests and to the plating systems.

ADVISOR: AZIZA CHAOUNI M ARCH THESIS REVIEWS FALL 2011

Teenagers Male

Teenagers Female

Civil Servents

Sportsman

Outdoor

CANE RANGE Disable People 8"8"

MISC

Animals

Kids

Groups

Couple

Family

Women

Men

Senior Citizen 2'-8" 1'-2"

3'-0" 4'-0"

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ARCHITECTURE OF CONNECTION: SEA LINK JAMES TRAN

How does one experience the sea, what senses are enhanced, and which senses ebb and flow with the tides? How does one experience the awesome presence of the Nova Scotia’s Bay of Fundy? This thesis looks for the emerging architectural opportunities, as anti-tourist constructs, afforded by the capture of this region’s inexhaustible tidal energy, and asks: What are the impacts on the physical environment and the implications of cultural identity for the Bay of Fundy?

ADVISOR: PINA PETRICONE M ARCH THESIS REVIEWS FALL 2011

URBAN CONDUIT ALISTAIR VAZ

The thesis explores the role of the civic realm at the waterfront as a conduit (to exaggerate the convergence) between the urban fabric of the City and the defined elements of its Waterfront via civic-use programming. This thesis will explore the role of a waterfront’s “public realm” for strategies of urban connectivity, and speculate on the use of cultural programming to connect the city to its water’s edge. In particular it will challenge the developing City of Toronto Waterfront “boundaries” as stretched or thickened elements of cultural and historical significance, and therefore propose a critical departure from its currently defined limits. Tested on Toronto’s developing Waterfront, the thesis began through the articulation of the edge conditions at play and the identification of disconnects that exist to date. The thesis looks at the surgical addition of interfaces within the urban fabric, both existing and proposed, along the three study areas that are identified as conduits. The program used is predominantly of a public nature, with an emphasis on public space — both indoor and outdoor. At this larger scale, the aim is to highlight, and elaborate the initiatives to occupy waterfronts more intensivel y and take advantage of the po¬tential amenities they provide. The end result is the further development of one of these three sites to emphasize the points of convergence and public/community amenity for the newly planned neighbourhood and the extension of the city’s civic/cultural waterfront realm. After a careful analysis of the history of the development of the waterfront, and further investigation of two other north-south conduits, the Parliament Street conduit was chosen as the main focus of the thesis. It will look at connecting an existing part of the city, with a newly proposed one, spanning the identified barriers-to-use while providing direct access and urban civic space at the water’s edge. .

ADVISOR: PINA PETRICONE M ARCH THESIS REVIEWS FALL 2011

ROOM TO GROW BRENDAN WHITSITT

The urbanization of human populations and the electrification of power technologies have been two of the most transformative forces in modern history. Many countries have managed social and technological transitions smoothly during eras of rapid industrialization. People move from farms to cities, and shift from muscle power to digital logic. In developing parts of the world, where urbanization and electrical consumption grow geometrically, these forces are crashing together in alarming ways. China has the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest urbanizing population, and the largest growth in energy consumption. The largest future population shifts will be from rural areas to third- and fourthtier cities. These urban populations will give up their biomass fuels for cooking, heating, and industry, and they will demand far greater amounts of commercial fuels and electricity. Kangding is a prefectural capital in Western Sichuan Province, and has ambitious goals for urbanization and power development. Its unusual geography makes the typical mode of radial urban growth inappropriate. How can the river towns of Sichuan capitalize on their unique geography to take on migrant populations, meet growing energy needs, and become vibrant and sustainable cities?

ADVISOR: AZIZA CHAOUNI M ARCH THESIS REVIEWS FALL 2011

MADE IN TORONTO TIMOTHY WICKENS

“The economies of scale sought under Fordist mass production have, it seems, been countered by an increasing capacity to manufacture a variety of goods cheaply in small batches. Economies of scope have beaten out economies of scale. By 1983, for example, Fortune reported that ‘seventy-five percent of all machine parts today are produced in batches of fifty or less.’ Fordist enterprises could, of course, adopt the new technologies and labour processes (a practice dubbed ‘neo-Fordist’ by some), but in many instances competitive pressures and the struggle for better labour control led either to the rise of entirely new industrial forms or the integration of Fordism with a whole network of sub-contracting and ‘outsourcing’ to give greater flexibility in the face of heightened competition and greater risk. Small-batch production and sub-contracting certainly had the virtues of bypassing the rigidities of the Fordist system and satisfying a far greater range of market needs, including quick-changing ones.” (Harvey, 1990.) In the aftermath of the 2008 restructuring of General Motors and Chrysler, it was apparent that the automotive industry, characterized as stubbornly adherent to antiquated spatial models, seemed to have quietly reached a new state of evolution. The demands of the postmass market consumer, ten years of high energy prices, increasingly accessible fabrication and information technologies, and the global sharing of information, technology and proprietary design that attended a slow, steady, decades-long downloading of risk by OEM corporations to ODM suppliers, provided an environment conducive to radical mutation. Where and how a second generation automobile industry makes its mark on urban development is a history in progress, but the spatial potential for change unlocked by post-Fordist agglomerative production models, increasingly scalable fabrication technology, and regulatory demands for increased intensity of land-use provides fertile ground for speculation.

ADVISOR: MASON WHITE & JOHN MAY M ARCH THESIS REVIEWS FALL 2011

SBZ: ENVISIONING THE SPATIAL FUTURE OF SHARED BORDER ZONES MICHAEL WINTERS

This investigation focuses on the architectural scale of hybridized border crossing zones that will respond to site-specific conditions throughout the border region between Canada and the United States. They will function as single architectural built forms in their immediate context, while consciously being part of the larger international border system network that responds to the needs of the 21st Century. The main focus is to create border crossings that function as new types of intersections for people, economy, nature, infrastructure, and architecture. They focus on the crossing of not only the â&#x20AC;&#x153;borderâ&#x20AC;? itself, but also the obstacle that the border and infrastructure creates for nature and the environment. Through the analysis and examination of various sites throughout the vastly different border regions, a series of case study designs for new border crossing typologies will emerge. Another critical aspect of this project investigates the idea of the milieu between the two nations and how this may manifest itself architecturally in new and innovative ways. These spaces act as social, economical, or environmental mixing spaces where people are in a bi-national zone that celebrates the shared potential of an un-militarized and porous border region while also directly addressing site-specific needs for the communities in which they exist.

ADVISOR: MASON WHITE & JOHN MAY M ARCH THESIS REVIEWS FALL 2011

THE BIG FAMILY MENGDI ZHEN

The City of Beijing has developed at an inconceivable speed since China opened its gates to the world in 1978. Skyscrapers, cars, highways, the concept of “city” are directly copied from the western culture. In 30 years, we have built higher skyscrapers, more cars, and longer highways. But is that suitable for a city that has thousands of years of a unique cultural history? People form cities — the root and sprit of a city is the traditional and unique way of living. In modern Beijing, the scale of the city is oversized, views are blocked by skyscrapers, and community is cut into pieces by highways. The identity of Beijing is missing, the scale of Beijing is missing, and traditional Beijing life is disappearing. Because of high costs, space limits, the one child policy, an aging problem, and the demolition of traditional Beijing housing (Si Heyuan), the traditional multi-generational family living style is under threat as the young generation now lives in the city, while the elderly generation lives in suburbs for a peaceful and affordable life. If we lose the root and sprit of a city, that city will become one of the lonely cities in the world.

ADVISOR: PINA PETRICONE M ARCH THESIS REVIEWS FALL 2011