portfolio 2016
nicole ratajczak
hello. My name is Nicole Ratajczak (pronounced rah- tai -chak) I am in my fourth year of undergraduate studies at the University of Waterloo, School of Architecture.
nicole ratajczak e ratajczaknicole@gmail.com t 226 792 2226
software proficiency ∙∙ ∙∙ ∙∙ ∙∙ ∙∙ ∙∙ ∙∙
Photoshop Illustrator InDesign AutoCAD Rhinoceros Sketchup Vray
fabrication skills ∙∙ ∙∙ ∙∙
3D printing model making laser cutting
education University of Waterloo Honours Architectural Studies Cambridge, Ontario, Canada Expected Graduation: August 2017
awards Excellent Academic Standing University of Waterloo | Septmeber 2012 - present Ontario Global Edge Award University of Waterloo | May 2015 International Experience Award University of Waterloo | May 2015 Publication of Studio Design Project USWA Projects Review | 2013, 2014
work experience Moriyama & Teshima Architects
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Playing an important support role through research and design work for various RFP submissions, a master planning project, and the design of a contemporary art gallery
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Created preliminary 3D digital models and renderings for an exhibit in the 2016 Venice Biennale
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Created drawings, renderings, visualizations, and physical models for various competition entries Designed options for interior retrofits of historic buildings
Architectural Internship | Jan-Aug 2016 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
The Evidence Room, Venice Biennale Exhibit 2016 Research Assistantship | Sept, Dec 2015 Cambridge, Ontario, Canada
Wandel Lorch Architekten Architectural Internship | May-Aug 2015 Frankfurt, Hessen, Germany
Atelier Kastelic Buffey
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Created digital 3D models, renderings, and CAD drawings (including millwork drawings) for various interior and small-scale residential projects in their preliminary, developmental, and construction stages
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Created digital 3D models, 2D CAD drawings, and graphics for various mid-rise condominium projects in their preliminary and developmental stages
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Worked in a design team of five in proposing improvements for the University of Waterloo’s main campus bus stop system and pedestrian network
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Assisted with architectural projects requiring experience with AutoCAD, SketchUp, and Adobe Photoshop
Architectural Internship | Sep-Dec 2014 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
RAW Design Studio Architectural Internship | Jan-Apr 2014 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
The Wayfinding Group 2013 Architectural Internship | Jun-Aug 2013 Cambridge, Ontario, Canada
WalterFedy Architectural Internship | Jun-Aug 2011 Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
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academic
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proteus moves a place for dance
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public plane agricultural community centre
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focus large urban building
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orchard / quarry greenhouse / community centre / reclaimed land
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professional
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The Evidence Room Exhibit, Venice Biennale 2016
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Atelier Kastelic Buffey Toronto, ON
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Moriyama & Teshima Architects Toronto, ON
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Wandel Lorch Architekten Frankfurt, Germany
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other
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Hart House Review 2014 graphic design
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academic work
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proteus moves a place for dance 3B design option studio supervised by Dereck Revington
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Nicole Ratajczak | Fall 2016
“Proteus Moves� dives into the realm of experimental architecture. The studio focused on developing new ways of thinking about space and alternative approaches to the design process. Spatial ideas were explored through sculpture and writing, and references were made to the temporal arts of film, photography, poetry, literature, and dance throughout the course of the semester. The following project, programmed as a school for modern dance, explores how space can affect movement, and how movement can be captured in architecture. It is situated in the Lincoln Centre Plaza amongst great architecture housing some of the most distinguished classical ballet institutions in the world, creating a unique tension between the raw and the refined.
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“movements of the body make visible movements of the soul... the movements of surfaces... make visible the movements of the air.�
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Nicole Ratajczak | Fall 2016
“motion creates being; whirling air creates the stars; the cry produces images, speech, and thought.� Like the supercell cloud, the dance school is always in motion. Two intertwining, rotating bodies morph into one and separate again, pulling away from the ground with a violent uplift. Unbalanced, the dance school hovers precariously like a storm over the Lincoln Centre Plaza. The building itself is a dancer and a teacher. Its quivering surfaces stretch and wrap around one another, creating a sense of constant uncertainty, leaving the visitor unsure as to what unfolds around the bend. The quality of light and space change with the mutating form as one moves upwards, the architecture only revealing itself through the dance of ascent. The dance school encourages the visitor to move; movement becomes a means of expressing what language cannot. Through the act of moving, the dancer learns how to express the depths of the subconscious and through this becomes self aware, physically, mentally, and spiritually.
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Nicole Ratajczak | Fall 2016
sunken
void
circulation in void
mezzanine
panorama
sectional compression
sectional expansion
balcony
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“The virtue of dance comes from the fact that it is action which makes spiritual movements visible...�
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public plane agricultural community centre 2A design studio supervised by Adrian Blackwell featured in projects review 2014
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Nicole Ratajczak | Fall 2016
Public Plane is an argument for a direct link between public space and agriculture, placing emphasis on food as a basic human right. The community centre strives to bring awareness to the importance of fresh and locally grown produce in the city as a means of improving health and wellbeing and a way of strengthening community bonds and values. Public Plane provides Galt with a community roof garden and greenhouse for all-season food production, as well as generous space for cooking, dining, and gathering. The plane shapes surrounding public space and is accessible from the street and from the centre, bringing agriculture and urbanity together as one entity.
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site site and points of access
activate activate space between water st. and Ainslie st. with public plane
lift lift plane to shape surrounding public space
link provide horizontal and vertical links between public spaces at grade and on roof
program provide program beneath and on top of plane to activate public space at grade and on roof
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focus large urban building 3A design studio supervised by Phillip Beesley
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Nicole Ratajczak | Fall 2016
When designing a large urban building, in this case an office building with ground level market and retail, I was interested in how architecture can shape public space, and how public space can feed architecture. The “focused� building is inward-looking but still exposed to the city beyond. The inner courtyard is a vibrant public space tucked away in the middle of the busy city, and brings life to the architecture and the surrounding neighbourhood. The courtyard is a place of passage, a place of gathering, and most importantly it is a constant reference point for any visitor or user of the architecture.
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orchard/quarry greenhouse / community centre / reclaimed land 2B design studio supervised by Lola Sheppard
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Nicole Ratajczak | Fall 2016
Tropical fruit, specifically orange, banana, watermelon, mango, lemon, and pineapple, were once a rare luxury for Canadians; now they are in high demand and available at any supermarket. This project proposes an alternative to tropical fruit importation through a design which integrates fruit production with public architecture and landscape. The intention is to provide nearby communities with fresh and local fruit and simultaneously catalyze urban growth in a sparsely populated suburban region.
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professional work
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The Evidence Room Exhibition for the 2016 Venice Biennale Cambridge, Ontario
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Nicole Ratajczak | Fall 2016
“What is the worst crime ever committed by an architect?” On invitation of Alejandro Aravena, Artistic Director of the 15th International Architecture Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia – Anne Bordeleau, Sascha Hastings, Donald McKay, and Robert Jan van Pelt, together with a team of students and consultants from The University of Waterloo School of Architecture in Cambridge, Ontario, present a work that summarizes the forensic analysis of the architecture of Auschwitz, within Aravena’s larger group exhibition “Reporting From the Front”. In 2000, in a trial held in London, England, a notorious British Holocaust denier sued an American historian and her publisher for libel. At issue: did the Holocaust really happen, or was the planned and systematic murder of six million European Jews an elaborate hoax? The meaning of the architectural evidence took centre stage. Ultimately, forensic interpretation of the blueprints and architectural remains of Auschwitz became crucial in what remains to date the most decisive victory against Holocaust denial, compelling evidence of the Nazi campaign of murder.
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The Evidence Room consists of life-sized replicas and casts of key pieces of architectural evidence (a gas column and a gas-tight hatch – both for the introduction of poison into the gas chambers – a gas chamber door, blueprints, architects’ letters, contractors’ bills, and photographs). Taken together, they provide proof, beyond reasonable doubt, that Auschwitz was a purposefully designed factory of death, equipped with large, homicidal gas chambers and massive incinerators. The Evidence Room, as an installation, offers a tangible summary of an exhaustive body of work.
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Atelier Kastelic Buffey 4 Month Co-op Work Experience Toronto, Ontario
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Nicole Ratajczak | Fall 2016
“The architecture of AKB is distinguished by its clarity of vision, poetics of space and attention to detail.� Atelier Kastelic Buffey is an award winning architecture and interior design office in Toronto who specialize in contemporary residential work. Their projects range from urban and rural homes to interior design and renovation. AKB, a small office of 6 people, allowed me the opportunity to work closely with both partners on projects in their conceptual, developmental, and construction stages.
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Moriyama & Teshima Architects 8 Month Co-op Work Experience Toronto, Ontario
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Nicole Ratajczak | Fall 2016
“M&T works to build inspiring and enduring spaces that transform communities and reinforce civic identity.� Moriyama and Teshima Architects have been a leading architecture and urban planning firm in Toronto for over 50 years. They are known primarily for their cultural, institutional and civic work, and continue to set the bar high with meaningful and timeless design. During my time at M&T, I was able to work under the mentorship of the firm’s partners and principals, playing a key role in the development of proposals and schematic design work.
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Wandel Lorch Architekten 4 Month Co-op Work Experience Frankfurt, Germany
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Nicole Ratajczak | Fall 2016
Wandel Lorch Architekten are a medium-size architecture firm in Germany whose projects seek to explore heavy historical, political, and social themes, bringing to light Germany’s dark post-WWII history. During my time at Wandel Lorch I worked on several competitions from their conceptual design stages to their final execution.
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other
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Hart House Review 2014 Graphic Design & Layout Experience Toronto, Ontario In collaboration with Ella den Elzen
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Nicole Ratajczak | Fall 2016
“The HHR aims to publish new writing and visual art by emerging and established Canadian creators.� The Hart House Review (HHR) is a Canadian literary and arts magazine managed by student members of Hart House at the University of Toronto and published by Coach House Press. The annual publication is best known for prose, poetry, and visual art contributed by emerging writers and artists in Canada. As layout editors, Ella and I were responsible for bringing the publication from a concept to a reality. This entailed the organization of content and the design of a clear graphic layout which embodied the intentions of the Hart House Review while also taking its traditional graphic identity a step further.
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Nicole Ratajczak | Fall 2016
H A R T H O U S E REVIEW 2014
Original Artwork by Diana Lynn Vandermeulen
avail able 0 4 / 1 4
POETRY PROSE VISUAL ART
www.harthousereview.com
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thank you. ratajczaknicole@gmail.com