University of Waterloo Architecture Portfolio 2023

SAM IRA AHMED

To Whom it May Concern,

I had the pleasure of working with Samira Ahmed during her Winter 2022 Co-Op term at Weston Consulting. I would strongly recommend her for upcoming architectural co-op positions.

As the Design Director at Weston Consulting, I recruited her and directly oversaw her active projects and daily tasks. Throughout the four months, Samira showed a strong aptitude for design excellence.

Samira was always ready to contribute to projects of various sizes, using her comprehensive technical expertise to help us develop and showcase the projects. She learned new software quickly and was integrating into active projects relatively quickly. Her sense of aesthetic judgement and relevant Adobe skills made her quite involved in several projects and client meetings. Many times, her work was instrumental in conveying complex design strategies to clients, developing work from base sketches and turning it into completed graphics. Key presentations were built around graphics and drawings she produced. She contributed to many aspects to our collective department meetings and was always willing to ask pertinent questions to achieve the task at hand. Her personable attitude helps her be very successful in teams. She was always eager to help in whatever way she could.

I encourage you to take the opportunity to work with her.

I would be more than happy to discuss this recommendation.

My name is Samira Ahmed.

I’m in my second year as an Architecture student at the University of Waterloo.

I aspire to create atmospheric architecture that manifests through plays on material, dynamic spaces, and lighting. I want to design an all-encompassing experience as a person enters a space, with moments of drama, connection, and inspiration.

I begin my process with the site context, and it is through this that I make connections between it and the function of the building. After a lenghty process of iteration, I allow the project to “decide” the aesthetic. This is represented through drawings and renders, which I craft to convey the large ideas and architectural moves.

CURRICULUM VITAE

Objective

i am seeking a 4 month architectural internship starting in May 2023.

Education

University of Waterloo

Bacherlor of architectural studies (BAS) co-op program

Acheivements

Presidents Scholarship

University of Waterloo, 9094.9% academic average

McPhie Family Architecture scholarship

University of Waterloo, outstanding student

Excellent Academic Standing

University of Waterloo, 80%+ academic average

2020 to present

Skills

• Rhino

• Revit

• AutoCAD

• Urban sketching

• Sketchup

• Illustrator

• Photoshop

• Indesign

• Vray for Rhino

• Enscape

• Website Design

• Model Making

• Microstation

• CNC Milling

• Grasshopper

• Laser Cutting

• Woodwork

Work Experience

IBI GROUP, Architectural Assistant

2022

2020

• Designed unit layout according to client feedback and interests.

2020

2020 to present

• Used site by-laws to design massing options.

• Developed multiple facade iterations.

• Prepared presentations with curated diagrams.

Weston Consulting, Student Urban Designer

• Constantly collaborated with senior designers to design drawings and presentations for clients.

• Attended client meetings and incorporated design feedback.

• Took initiative to join green committee and develop company green deisngn standards.

2022

Linkedin: Samira Ahmed

West49, E-commerce Sales Associate

• Working and communicating with supervisor to solve customer order issues.

• Assessing and verifying order paperwork for accuracy and storing it according to set procedures.

Courses

Arch 285, Design Build

• Constant communication with Indigenous Elder in the process of designing a sacred fire.

• Solved design and material issues during building process.

• FInal design displayed at the university.

to 2021

Extracurricular

• Member of the fabric design subteam for the designto 2022 installation “murmur”

• Attended biweekly meetings and digital software tutorials to improve proficiency.

Zero Experience, Member

• Joined the zero experience, an innovation program focused on quick problem solving. Was involved in the problem, solution, and innovation cycles.

• Lead a cross-disciplinary team to research future cities and sub -problems that can be solved to work towards it.

F_RMlab, Member Sustainability Collective, Member

• Joined the to gain knowledge on climate issues and actions in Canada.

• Participated in creating a tote design workshop made from old clothing to reduce plastic bags when grocery shopping.

2021 to 2022

2021 to 2022

2021 to 2022

2020

2020 to 2021

NATIVE + HOUSE

Course

Design Studio, Second Year

Location

Hamilton, ON

Once a natural part of the Niagara Escarpment, construction led to a park that is foreign to the escarpment in topography and native plants. My design focuses on bringing Sam Lawrence park back into the escarpment through the growth and education of native plants on the site and in Hamilton.

The form of the building follows the topography and sits in the depression in the site. It acts as a connection to nature; through constant views to nature in the building, through tasting of native plants in the form of teas and desserts, and through transitions between indoor and outdoor spaces. A tea house is the main educational program of building and ultimately, it would bring to life the different edible uses of the plants and as well as challenge the idea of many of these plants as poisonous.

I. Follow the natural topography

II. Connect the arms

III. Expand entry for views

IV. Cut out spaces for gardens.

THE SITE CONTEXT

The Niagara Escarpment is a natural land formation, running through Canada and USA. It houses the oldest ecosystem in Eastern NA. This map highlights the native plants along the Hamilton Escarpment, as well as the herbal medicine shops. The main goal is to connect upper and lower hamilton along the escarpment through a tea house that unites gathering, nature, and land connection.

SELECTED NATIVE PLANTS

These native plants specifically can be brewed into tea and food. A selection of these plants have medicinal properties which are often listed as poisonous. Their inclusion in the teahouse is intended to educate people on these intricacies, and challenge them as well. Through these plants, we can bring back the nativity to the site, uniting it once again with the escarpment as one entity.

Bearberry

New Jersey Tea

Purple Flowering Raspberry

Shrubby St. John’s Wort

Wild Bergamot

Oakleaf Hydrangea

Guelder Rose

Elderberry

Red-Osier Dogwood

Chokeberry

Scarlet Beebalm

Black Chokeberry

Goldenrod

Virginia Mountain Mint

False Solomon’s Seal

Fragrant Sumac

Sugar Maple

Medicinal Benefits Incense

Balsam Fir

Butterfly Milkweed

Eastern Black Walnut

Giant Hyssop Slippery Elm

American Hazel

Quarry Project Site

Native Plants

Non Native Plants

THE PROJECT SITE

Sam Lawrence Park was once a natural part of the Niagara Escarpment, now a quarry, the site has lost its nativity in both plants and natural land formations.

THE DESIGN FOCUSES

LIGHTING, VIEWS & PRIVACY VIA LOUVERS

The wooden louvers are a call-out to Japanese tea house archiutecture. I developed a set of 3 types of screens at varying angles and heights for each privacy block, to curate views, lighting, and privacy levels.

BETWEEN THE PERIMETER

Design Studio, Second Year

Course Location

Kitchener, ON

The aim with the re-designing of the existing police building, was to create a juxtaposition of the old and new.

By maintaining most of the façade, its history is preserved while creating a new experience for the occupants. With the parti model, I was able to vacuum seal the existing form with a tight fabric. This molding to the form was executed with a ceramic façade that creates both moments of privacy and openness. To emphasize the juxtaposition, circulation is forced between the perimeter. Overall, the ‘S’ form pulls the site more inwards.

PARTI

Wooden cubes form the existing building at the site. The 3D form is then wrapped in a pantyhose that “vacuum seals” the building. The curvature created by the fabric then forms the basis of the façade system.

THE SITE CONTEXT

The site is a theatre and artist hub, however, it lacks unity as qaqll the buildings face outwards and there’s no conenction to the park at the centre, nor the theatre on either side of the building. Thus, the new skin of the building aims to create more inward view towards the parks and theatres.

Kitchener Public Library

Heritage Foundation

Park

K-W Art Gallery Centre in the Square (Theatre)

The Registry Theatre

JUXTAPOSITION

OF OLD AND NEW FACADES

I maintained the materiality and structure of the exisitng building. The new facade will bring a more theatrical experience to the site whilst juxtaposing the new ceramic facade, and the dated limestone + brick facade - Carrying through the theatric experience via maintaing main circulation between the two facades.

Exisiting and reused form

Circulation in perimeter

Proposed skin

THEATRICAL FACADE DEVELOPMENT

While testing possible brick orientation for a fixed facade system, I realized that combining these possibilities into a rotatable facade would enhance the dramatic expereince between the facades. Testing brick sizing etc. was all done through a custom grasshopper programming i developed.

Sun Rays

COmbine the three facade iterations

+ +

Eye-level bricks rotatable

Ceramic brick Detail

Ground Fl. Plan

THEATRE

Theatre spaces are core to therefore they make up the building. SItting at the core spaces

the program of the building, the largest spaces within the spaces of the complex.

...ARTISTS

Artist studio spaces surround additional sound barriers, and views to the outside. The studios exterior walls of the building, from the unique lighting conditions

surround the theatres, acting as and enhancing connections and studios all have windows facingthe allowing them to also benefit conditions of the facade.

Unfolded Elevation

THE SACRED FIRE

Design Build, Second Year [In Progress]

Course Location Team

Waterloo, ON Daisy Zhang, Alexey Vasiliev

This project involves designing/ re-purposing an existing courtyard that belongs to the School of Architecture, into a Sacred Fire that would facilitate Indigenous cultural ceremonies. In collaboration with William Woodworth, Rawe:nokwas, as the Elder in Residence at the School of Architecture.

The process involves designing the site and circulation, a fire pit cover, and signage that would mark the site more meaningfully.

DESIGN & GOALS

Meaningfuly marking the site with signage that is in immediate view, that creates intrigue, and frames the sacred fire that will sit in the middle of the site.

Indigenous Circle Symbolism

To design the site, we relied on existing Indigenous symbols and images. The circular shape coming from existing precedents of a sacred fire, this also carried through to the orientation of the wood columns in a semi-circle shape.

Circle as sacred symbol for gathering etc.

Indigenous Medicine Wheel

Maximum Lighting and Semi-Privacy

We design fire cover and..

...signage

PLANS

The project is put into context with how it relates to the interiopr of the school of architecture. As a result of sitting in the middle of the atrium, it was important to consider materiality and connection.

Indigenous Tree of Life

Beam Face 1

Beam Face 2-4

University of Waterloo School of Architecture, location Land Acknowledgment

+

Reused old church beams

COLUMN 1

COLUMN

COLUMN 3

COLUMN 4

COLUMN 5 COLUMN 3 COLUMN 4 COLUMN 5 Column 4 Column 5 Column 3

Indigenous Turtle Symbolism

A turtle has great importance in indiegnous history and represents an icon of life for the people. Thus, we will incorporate this in the cover for the fire place.

Plan

Material:

• Regular steel exposed to highlight wear and tear, as color changes from black to red.

• 1/8’’ steel plates (cut and welded)

Welding Order Elevation

May

TIMELINE

After designing the set of signage models to determine a sense of and amount, before making use The fire cover was alkso protoytped welding being the key connection

PREPPING THE WOOD FOR CNC

TEST AND COMPLETE ALL 5 COLUMNS

TIMELINE

signage columns, we built sketch of space. We decided on spacing use of reclaimed wood beams. protoytped at a smaller scale, with connection for the pieces.

COMPLETE CNC FOR

CUT PIECES FOR METAL FIRE COVER

ASSEMBLE SACRED FIRE COVER

ADDITIONAL WORK

2022, Taj Mahal Model with Jiadi Dai

SAM IRA AHMED