SELECTED WORKS
Kyra Ahier
Hello! I am currently in my third year of studies at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture. My interest in the geometry of spaces and their impact on people translates to a thoughtful exploration of how we can decipher, represent and shape the complexities of our environment.
3A University of Waterloo School of Architecture Cambridge ¡ Ontario kyra.ahier@gmail.com +1 613 869 8316 KYRA AHIER
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Contents 1/9
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Curriculum Vitae
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Symbiosis
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Ode to the Roman Empire
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Emergetic Urbanism
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Gridscape
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Out of the Earth
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HLW
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Marchi Architectes
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KYRA AHIER
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HLW International
Mat Triebner HLW International 115 5th Avenue, 5Fl NY, NY 10003
Architecture Interiors Planning Consulting 115 5th Avenue 5th Floor Tel 212 353 4600 www.hlw.com
February 21 2018 To whom it may concern, Based on my experience working with Kyra Ahier between August and December of 2017 at HLW International, I would wholehearted endorse her for other positions within architecture, design, or strategy firm. After joining our strategy team in late summer last year, Kyra proved herself an indispensable asset to the group. Her strong work ethic, brilliant design and graphic skills, and innate curiosity made her right at home. Kyra’s worked on three primary tasks with us while at HLW: 1. Benchmarking projects under construction against others in the sector using revit, helping to build HLW’s database of works 2. Completing client engagements (interviews and workshops) to inform spatial programming. 3. Independently leading the development of a research report on multi-family residential trends and the demographic indices that affect these. These activities were completed with great attention to detail and efficiency. For these reasons I would strongly recommend Kyra for future intern positions.
Mat Triebner Director of Strategy Associate Principal
New York
KYRA AHIER
New Jersey
Los Angeles
London
Shanghai
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Curriculum Vitae 2/9
Education 2015 · present 2010 · 2015
University of Waterloo Candidate for Bachelor of Architectural Studies Cambridge, Ontario Lycée Claudel d’Ottawa French Baccalaureate System, Science Stream, Baccalauréat Mention Très Bien (Highest Honours), AP English Ottawa, Ontario Experience
2017 (09·12) 2017 (01·04)
HLW Intern Design Strategist, New York, USA Marchi Architectes Architectural Intern, Paris, France
Skills Digital Analog
Rhinoceros 3D, Maxwell Render, Grasshopper 3D, AutoCad, Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, Revit Hand-drafting (graphite, ink), Model-making
Exhibitions 2011 · 2014 2012 · 2014 2013 2012
Shenkman Arts Centre SAW Gallery; Ottawa School of Art fundraisers Exposure Gallery; Chinatown Remixed Festival Orange Gallery; Galerie d’art Eugène-Racette
Ottawa Ottawa Ottawa Ottawa
Awards · Achievements 2017 2015 · 2017 2015 2014 · 2012 · 2011
Two time Recipient of the President's International Experience Award University of Waterloo Excellent Academic Standing Academic Standing above 80% University of Waterloo President’s Scholarship with Distinction Entrance average 95%-100% University of Waterloo Young at Art city-wide juried art competitions Judges Choice Award, SPAO Award for Photography, Honourable Mention for Photography Languages English (fluent), French (fluent), Spanish (basic)
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Symbiosis 3/9
Central Public Space 10
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Bloor Street W. Toronto · Canada
This project proposes a remake of the urban, social, spatial and economic structure of the city in response to urban disenfranchisement and social differences brought by PostFordist capitalism. Addressing the social separation of different age groups, as well as the privatization of public space, this project establishes a symbiosis between these isolated population groups through two complemetary L-shaped buildings that, when pulled apart, create a charged space of potentiality — a porous public space that translates Lefebvre’s ‘Right to the City’. In addition to this return to the urban commons, this project focuses on housing through time, and therefore on a flexibility and spatial agency that allows for changeability in response to the inhabitants’ evolving needs
and conditions. This spatial agency happens through the formalisation of the ‘empty square’, this structuralist positive void that allows for appropriation and production of space in places of simultaneity and encounters, thus shifting social dynamics and creating a community oriented space. This empty square manifests itself on multiple levels: through the public space delineated by the buildings, and in the common cores of each building. This appropriation of space and flexibility, spatial at the level of the unit and structural at the level of the common cores, removes this project from the capitalist cycle of consumerism and planned obsolescence, and therefore empowers the ‘urban inhabitant’ in the context of the Grand Domestic Revolution.
2A Design Studio · Adrian Blackwell Academic Work · Fall 2016 KYRA AHIER
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M A RG U E R E T TA S T.
EMERSON AV E .
B L O O R S T. W.
Ground Floor 12
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Roof Floor 7 Floor 3·6 Floor 2 KYRA AHIER
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Street Facade Positive Void KYRA AHIER
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Section 16
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Typical Upper Floor
Floor 2 (cafe laundromat)
Interior Common Space KYRA AHIER
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Unit Interior KYRA AHIER
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1 Person (Basic Module)
2/3 People (Basic Module x2)
3/4 People (Basic Module x3)
4/5 People (Basic Module x4)
Unit Plan 20
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Bright Social
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2 Dry Soft
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Social · Bright · Soft/Hard · Dry/Wet Social · Bright · Soft · Dry Social · Bright · Hard · Wet Social · Bright · Soft/Hard · Dry/Wet Social · Bright · Hard · Wet Isolated · Dark · Soft · Dry Isolated · Dark · Hard · Wet
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Dark Isolated
Dark · Light Isolation · Exposure
Soft · Hard
Dry · Wet
Spatial Qualities KYRA AHIER
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Ode to the Roman Empire 4/9
Model · 1:50 Plexiglass, Acrylic, Museum Board, Mylar, Basswood 22
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Piazza San Marco Venice 路 Italy
Our project consists of a 1:50 physical model of a pavilion of our design, located in the centre of Piazza San Marco. Surrounded by arched facades, our project explores the use of arches as basic form. A rythmic array of transparent arches create a layered space, with each layer of arches slightly offset, creating a perceived depth of field. This weightless and fluid upper space sits
above a darker and heavier chamber below that acts as a cavernous retreat in the middle of the plaza. These two spaces are mediated through artificial palm trees that perforate the plate seperating the lower and upper spaces, with 1m circular openings, providing lightwells and views down below. The lightweight material of the palms flutters in the wind, swaying like leaves.
Henry Pether, The Piazetta in Venice by Night
In collaboration with: Rachel Lau 路 Ruth Lee 2A Digital Fabrication 路 Connor O'Grady, Jake Read Academic Work 路 Fall 2016 KYRA AHIER
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Concept Sketches Lower Chamber (Right) 24
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Emergetic Urbanism 5/9
Finch & Weston Toronto · Canada
Located in Toronto’s mature suburbs, the intersection of Finch & Weston has long been isolated from the rest of the city. Lacking adequate housing, social services, or public space, it lies in the centre of Toronto’s most marginalized neighbourhoods, victim to high rates of poverty and crime. With the development of the Finch West LRT and Bolton Commuter Rail, the neighbourhood will begin to see signficant changes in the near future. We proposed the site’s redevelopment from a position of non-isolation. From both a sociopolitical and biophysical aspect, the masterplan seeks to outline and analyze existing energy flows across the site both emergetically and exergetically and posits a new series of processes and exchanges that will re-invent Finch & Weston in a socially equitable and sustainable way. Our masterplan establishes
a rigid street grid with a defined hierarchy: Finch and Weston being the primary arterial roads, a secondary ring road that connects the four quandrants of the site, and tertiary streets that run parallel to Finch. Two antithetical bands dictate the organizational logic of the site: a recreational strip that incorporates the ravine system and park on the South-West side; and an industrial strip that builds off of the train tracks on the North-East side. These constitute a soft edge to the South and hard edge to the North and inform the program distribution throughout the site. Furthermore, the block typologies in plan evolve from a typical courtyard typology with empty space carved within the city fabric, at the centre of the site, to the association of isolated building blocks, at the extremeties of the site. This is manifested through a fragmentation of the the urban fabric. In collaboration with: Sev Romanskyy · Paul Kim · Hannah Roorda 3A Design Studio · Adrian Blackwell, John McMinn Academic Work · Winter 2018
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Plan (Existing Conditions) 28
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Site Analysis: Surrounding Neighbourhoods Recreation
Site Analysis: Toronto Ravine Network, Major Roads, Neighborhood Improvement Areas
Community Space Use (Parks, Forestry, and Recreation) 445% of neighbourhood average TCHC Facility Amenities 175% of neighbourhood average Safety Pedestrian Zones
Violent Crime Rates 185% of neighbourhood average Housing
Surface Parking
Social Housing Units 119% of neighbourhood average Social Housing Waitlist 155% of neighbourhood average
Major Arteries
Economics Child Care Spaces 80% of neighbourhood average
Circulation
Social Assistant Recipients 233% of neighbourhood average
Diagrams (Existing Conditions) KYRA AHIER
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Plan (Proposal) 30
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Street Views (Proposal) KYRA AHIER
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Array Outdoor Recreational Units Tower Rehabilitation High-Rise Residential
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Podia 1 Toronto Parks, Forestry & Recreation 2 North Toronto Sattelite Office Communal Roof Gardens
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Circulation, Surface Organization, Landscape Strategy 3 Finch West LRT 4 Lindy Lou Park — Toronto’s Ravine Network
Recreational Processes
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Array Railroad Infrastructure and Support Units
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Enclosures 1 Rail Yard Administrative Centre 2 Large Scale Industrial 3 Small Scale Community Workspaces
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Surface Organization 4 Freight Loading Area (Large Scale) 5 Freight Loading Area (Small Scale) 6 Freight Storage Yard 7 Truck Loading Area Circulation 8 Canadian Pacific Railway 9 Finch West LRT
Industrial Processes
E-W Site Section (Propoal) KYRA AHIER
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Gridscape 6/9
Intersections 34
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Ontario Place Toronto · Canada
This project explores the development of large scale strategies of landscape, building and program for Ontario Place. Our master plan consists of three layers: the grid, the topography and the landscape, which acts as a mediator between the first two. The gridded superstructure floats above the site at a single datum, while the topography undulates, interveaving between the grid, creating situations of tension between the artificial rigid infrastructure and the landscape. The project creates an alternation between the dominance of the grid vs. the dominance of the landscape. Visitors find themselves within these situations of tension between the grid and the landscape, creating
specific spatial experiences. The undulating ground plane creates a variety of spaces associated with different landscapes that are defined and organized based on their spatial qualities. The visitor discovers each landscape through movement through the site, following a direct and unambiguous pathway on the grid or a meandering pathway on the ground plane. The grid and the landscape intersect to gently bring the visitor on or off the grid. The play between infrastructure and landscape creates new ways in which one views and interacts with the surrounding landscape, constrasting removal vs. immersion in the landscape, both possible from within and away from the infrastructural grid.
Partner: Brandon Lim 2B Design Studio · Lola Sheppard Academic Work · Spring 2017 KYRA AHIER
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1 Grid 2 Program 3 Landscape 4 Topography
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Model · 1:500 Museum Board, Coloured Cardstock, Basswood KYRA AHIER
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Grassland (Meadow) Grassland (Hill) Grassland (Shrubs) Grassland (Flooded)
Bright · Dark
Loud · Quiet
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Beach (Fine) Beach (Coarse) Rockland (Low) Rockland (High)
9 Forest (Boreal) 10 Forest (Bamboo) 11 Forest (Aspen) 12 Garden
13 Marsh 14 Asphalt 15 Exposed Water 16 Protected Water
Wild · Maintained
Protected · Exposed
Dry · Wet
Lush · Barren
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1 Amphitheatre 2 Pods 3 Beach Pavilion 4 Log Cabins
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5 Marina 6 Water Collection 7 Cinesphere 8 Geology Centre
9 Greenhouses 10 Farmer’s Market 11 Shelter/Pavilion
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Out of the Earth 7/9
Exterior 44
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Ontario Place Toronto ¡ Canada
This project proposes a film and photography museum specializing on the theme of landscape, providing exhibition spaces, a theatre, archives and private screening spaces. Located within the masterplanned Ontario Place site, the building appears as a solid mass emerging from the hillside, and projects out towards the water, incorporating the pre-existing infrastructual grid. The project focuses on the tension and dialogue between the constructed building and the changing topography and nature of the adjacent landscapes. The building consists of a series of cores that combine the more specific programs as well as vertical circulation, and open flexible space surrounding those cores that serves as exhibition space, public amenity space and horizontal circulation. The archives
and associated atrium constitute the central space. The archives exists as a core traversing the height of the building, and orients the visitor. The void space of the atrium serves to reveal the archives, and highlight its increasing permeability and openness, as the it shifts from an enclosed and hidden archive for physical material on the first two floors, to visible but inacessible digital archive space on the third floor, to an entirely accessible digital archive space on the top floor. Furthermore, through carefully placed openings, the landscape is revealed, suddenly confronting the disoriented visitor with the landscape, and allows circulation to spill out on to the landscape. The framed views towards the exterior recreate the experience of watching a film sequence as the visitor moves through the building.
2B Design Studio ¡ Lola Sheppard Academic Work ¡ Spring 2017 KYRA AHIER
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Floor 1 Plan (+0m)
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Archives (Physical) Exhibition Space (Dark) Exhibition Space (Semi Bright) Exhibition Space (Bright) Outdoor Theatre
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Floor 2 Plan (+4.5m) 6 Private Screening Space 7 Workshop 8 Bookstore 9 Theatre
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Floor 3 Plan (+9m)
Floor 4 Plan (+13.5m)
10 Archives (Digital) 11 Archives (Accessible) 12 Outdoor Terrace 13 Restaurant 14 Kitchen
15 Loading Dock/Storage 16 Theatre 17 Control Room 18 Administration
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Exhibition Space & Outdoor Cinema
Reception/Restaurant
Section through Theatre 48
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Void/Archives
Section through Archives KYRA AHIER
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Plan with Extended Context 50
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Model · 1:200 Black Museum Board KYRA AHIER
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Internship, HLW 8/9
Research Report 52
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HLW New York City ¡ USA
During my internship at the New York branch of HLW, I worked on the Strategy & Discovery Team, participating in the strategic planning of the firm's projects. I gained valuable experience regarding design strategy, and exposure to the internal and external factors that influence architectural projects. I was assigned various
tasks, including image making, benchmarking built projects and proposals, and client engagements such as interviews and workshops. I also worked on post-occupancy evaluation reports, marketing brochures and an independantly led research report that tied together the firm's residential work and multifamily residential market trends.
Post-Occupancy Evaluation Report Sample
Professional Work ¡ Fall 2017 KYRA AHIER
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Internship, Marchi Architectes 9/9
Study Model Museum Board 54
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Marchi Architectes Paris ¡ France
During my internship at Marchi Architectes, a Parisbased firm, I worked on various projects of different scales, from residential to public buildings. My responsabilities included physical model making, 3D digital modelling, creating perspectival images as final representation drawings as well as design iterations, design proposals in terms of spatial organization,
materiality and detail, and preparation of presentation material for clients. Significant projects I worked on include the Renault Symbioz House33, a disassembling house designed to showcase Renault's Symbioz demo car, and highlight the interconnectivity of house and car, and the integration of the latter within the home.
Design Proposal Sketches
Professional Work ¡ Winter 2017 KYRA AHIER
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Interior (Project Visualization) 56
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Interior (Design Proposal) KYRA AHIER
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kyra.ahier@gmail.com +1 613 869 8316