David Mehta Portfolio Waterloo Architecture

hello

My name is David Mehta. I’m currently a third-year student at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture. I grew up in Whistler, British Columbia, and am currently living in Cambridge, Ontario.

I’ve been designing and building projects for as long as I can remember. My choice to study architecture comes from a love for experimentation and design. The projects I work on are inspired by a desire to help preserve the natural world and an interest in social development.

In my free time, I’m always outside. Whether I’m hiking, skiing, surfing, or just spending time with the people I love, I will always choose an outdoor adventure over staying at home.

Please enjoy this collection of my personal and academic work!

e: david.mehta@uwaterloo.ca

t: +1 604-902-5847

Sean Kliman

October 17th 2021

To whom it may concern,

I have known David Mehta since he was 11 years old, as he was one of my first campers at Camp Summit. Over the past 8 years I have been able to watch him grow, both as his director in leadership programs, as well as his direct supervisor this summer when he was able to finally join our staff team.

David takes a thoughtful and hands on approach to everything he does. He approaches problems both critically, and creatively, coming up with inventive and practical solutions in an efficient manner. He shows an extraordinary amount of passion for his work, and the care he provides to those in his charge is outstanding

He shows an incredible attention to detail for any task he is assigned and ensures he has gone above and beyond in his completion of it, always with a smile on his face. His detailed oriented approach ensures that nothing gets missed with any assignment. Whenever we talk about something that needs to get done, I have full and complete confidence that it will be completed in a timely manner to the highest standard. Not only is he great at following directions, but David has both the eye to see when tasks need to be completed, as well as the initiative to start and finish them without being asked.

David also brings a fantastic energy to the work environment, being both confident and personable. His peers hold him in high regard, voting him to be counsellor of the week this past summer, and describing him as a “God Send.” He is always willing to lend a helping hand and assists others when the need arises. Even in stressful situations, David demonstrates great leadership qualities by remaining calm, and being able to guide the group to make sure whatever the problem happens to be, gets solved. His mere presence improves the quality of any group.

David is a dream employee in my eyes. He is always looking to improve the work he is doing, and is happy to receive critical feedback. Additionally, he is quick to implement any feedback he is given and will follow up to make sure the desired changes have been made.

Outside of work, David is passionate about fighting to end climate injusti ce, consistently volunteering, organizing, and showing up to provide support. In general, he is easy going, fun to be around, and shockingly funny. It is my belief that he not only improves any work environment he is a part of, but it is in fact a detriment to not have him there. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to reach out by either email or phone.

Sincerely,

Sean Kliman

education

University of Waterloo School of Architecture | September 2020 - Present

Bachelor of Architecture Candidate | Honour’s Co-op Program | Excellent Academic Standing

Whistler Secondary School | September 2015 - June 2020

Class of 2020 Valedictorian | Top Grade Point Average

skills

Digital | Rhino 7 | Revit | Grasshopper

work experience

| Sketchup | Enscape | Blue Beam

| Rhino CAM | Adobe Suite | Microsoft Office

Analog

| Welding

| Wood Working

| Model Making

| 3D Printing | CNC

| Laser Cutting

Architecural Assistant | FABRICations. | Amsterdam | 2022

Received the highest perfomance evaluation of “Outstanding” | Worked in Rhino, SketchUp, Enscape, and Grasshopper

Architecural Intern | Boniface Oleksiuk Politano Architects | Vancouver | 2022

Received the highest perfomance evaluation of “Outstanding” | Worked in Revit, SketchUp, Enscape, and Bluebeam

Camp Counsellor | Camp Summit | 2018 - 2021

Successfully organized and led 10+ overnight 3+ day hiking trips | Cared for cabins of kids aged 4-14

Completed a 3 year leadership program | Awarded counsellor of the session

distinctions

University of Waterloo Coop Student of the Year | Nominated | 2022

President’s Scholar of Excellence Award | University of Toronto | 2020

Awarded to 90 of the most highly qualified students applying to all undergraduate programs

Whistler Secondary Outstanding Student Award | 2020

Awarded to one graduate who “has proven to go above and beyond in every aspect of their lives in and out of school”

Duke of Edinburgh Bronze & Silver Award | 2017-2020

pull kitchener

theatre + cultural centre

studio | 2a | fall 2021

software | rhino 7, enscape, adobe illustrator & photoshop supervisor | Eric Haldenby

Located in the civil district of Kitchener, the Pull Theatre and Cultural Center aims to bring communities together through creative expression. The project transforms the old Kitchener police station by pulling back existing floors and walls to expose structural members. The original structure is almost entirely intact. The theatres are placed strategically to use the existing structure to their advantage. The incubation theatre caps off the left side of the building from street level. This is a multilevel theatre designed to allow for the performers to create their own set up. The existing structure provides a template for set design. The audience spirals up from the floor, around the outer edges of the theatre, all the way from the basement to the third floor. It is also imagined that the audience and performers could switch places; with the audience lining the three main floors, and performers lining the spiral stands. The main theatre serves two main purposes; in colder months it can be used as a standard theatre, in warmer months, three large garage doors open up on the facade. What would normally be the stands for the theatre becomes the stage. The courtyard at the back of the theatre becomes a massive space for audiences. The studio spaces dot the courtyard around the theatre. When the outdoor theatre is in use, they would act as concession, raised seating, and covered seating.

adaptive re-use

cooperative housing

studio | 2a | fall 2021

software | rhino 7, grasshopper, enscape, adobe illustrator & photoshop

supervisor | Rick Haldenby

Located in Kitchener, Ontario, this project aims to make the transition to higher density living possible for people moving from more rural and suburban areas. Based on the German Bagruppen cooperative housing model, this project aims tell the stories of real people. I talked to six people in my life that currently live in suburban or rural areas about what would make apartment style living fit their lifestyle. For example, there was one family with a person in a wheelchair, a multigeneration family, and a few families with students away from home.

This project is designed to be almost entirely prefabricated. There are standard rooms and layouts for each apartment that could be slightly altered to meet the needs of the families. There are only four different types of prefabricated walls used for the facade, three different bathroom layouts, one kitchen layout, and three different bedroom set ups. These spaces were then reorganized to fill the space for the people that are imagined living there. The units are then supported by a communal green house, garden, and kitchen space. Plant walls made from the existing brick curve up the walls of the double-height space to form a large green space.

each student’s model stacked together

displays of community

community centre

studio | 2b | summer 2022

software | rhino 7, grasshopper, enscape, adobe illustrator & photoshop supervisor | Lola Sheppard

On the site that was once the Hamilton Brick Works, Displays of Community aims to bring communities together through art, events, and exhibitions. The project encourages community initiative through a large maker-space and artist studio, indoor and outdoor exhibition space and archives, open gardening plots, and a café. The indoor exhibition space acts as large multi-purpose room able to be modifi ed depending on the needs of the community. Book, display, and archive cases sit on the original tracks in the large building, which were once used to move brick throughout the space. For large events, they can all be pushed to one end, creating an almost uninterrupted fl oor. Archives can be moved out of the way for exhibitions. The space can be adjusted to fi t any ratio of exhibition, archives, and community events, while most of the time being all three.

The adaptive re-use strategy leaves almost all the existing structure of the site in-tact using existing conditions to its advantage to create diff erent moments. The new building’s footprint is slightly skewed from the original building to create these moments and to maximize light into the building. For example, framing on the exterior is often used to highlight found objects from the site, while the interior framing defi nes more intimate spaces in the building. The water path on the directs patrons through these conditions, channeling people into the entrances and exits, while also working as a guide through the art and gardens displayed outside. The project works to exhibit the history of the site while providing space for communities to come in and make it their own.

axonometric highlighting existing site elements

light studies: exposure over 12 hours

exterior renders

dystopia concept

drawing, collaging, photoshop | 2021

cnc, 3D printing, laser cutting | 2021 Digital fabrication tests.

David Mehta, Dean Nguyen, Sarah Abdulkarim

The platform, built from cedar, has two holes cut out of it. The first is for an odd square hammock, and the second is for the fire. All around is loosely programmed seating space for people to occupy however they chose. This was built during my junior year with an electric hand saw, drill, and measuring tape as I did not have any professional tools at the time

in her own arms

blender, enscape, photoshop collaboration with Eric Duplessis 2022

This is a multi-media image of a drag queen watching old and inauthentic identities die as she embraces her own queerness and place in the drag community. The image is a modern play on the painting Death of Leonardo da Vinci in arms of Francis I by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. The dress references that of Pepper LaBeija from the film Paris is Burning.

Death of Leonardo da Vinci

Pepper LaBeija, Paris is Burning

Examples of Rhino modelled objects

Almost every part of the image has been created through rendering and modelling software.The people in the image are 3D scans of myself, which were then manipulated to be placed in these positions. Myself, as well as the dress, and all the fabric was modelled in Blender, while all the furniture and the room were modelled in Rhino. The texturing and rendering were split between Blender, Enscape, and Photoshop.

separate 3D scans

armature

e: david.mehta@uwaterloo.ca

t: 604-902-5847