Victoria Zhou 2022-2023 Selected Works
Hi there! My name is Victoria and I
am a fourth year undergraduate student at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture. I am passionate about the tectonics of architecture and the interfaces of the building with its users. My care for communities and acts of labour is essential to my design ethic. Beyond buildings, I enjoy pottery, biking, hiking, and hosting Saturday night dinner parties for friends and family.
Table of Contents action
place
scale
page
To Garden
Portuense, Rome
1:200 to 1:2000
3
To Gift
Polanco, Mexico City
1:100 to 1:500
13
To House
Bramalea, Brampton
1:50 to 1:200
21
To Observe
Galt, Cambridge
1:10 to 1:50
31
To Make
North York, Toronto
1:1 to 1:10
35
December 20th, 2023
campos | studio studio@camposstudio.ca
To whom this may concern, Re. Letter of Reference for Victoria Zhou To whom this may concern,
+1 604 558 1881
I am pleased to provide this letter of recommendation on behalf of Victoria Zhou.
1395 Odlum Drive Vancouver, BC V5L 3M1
Victoria was employed with Campos Studio as an architectural design intern for the 2023 winter and summer semesters. Founded in 2015, Campos Studio is an interdisciplinary design studio located in Vancouver, British Columbia. The studio maintains a varied body of work— including a variety of projects in architecture, public art, customer experience and branding. At the core of Campos Studio lies the belief that through a process of engagement architecture and design can have a positive impact on our lives and broaden our interactions with the environment and our communities. During her employment at Campos Studio, Victoria demonstrated herself to be a competent, motivated, and talented member of our team. Specific tasks have included developing presentation drawings for awards and press, creating physical models, producing 3D renders for client presentations and 3D coordination models for contract documentation, developing interior elevations and existing drawings for permits, and working on interior schedules. We feel she has gained valuable experience working on diverse projects across North America and Mexico. Victoria is well-liked and respected by the whole team at Campos Studio. She works well independently and is also collaborative and enthusiastic to partake in teamwork. She remains positive and inquisitive, which ensures that she capitalizes on her learning experience with our studio. With this in mind, I recommend Victoria to any prospective employer or educational program seeking a strong team player who is ready to take on new challenges. I have no doubt that Victoria will continue to be an excellent employee and student, and that the knowledge and perseverance she has shown will guide her in her future endeavours. Please feel free to contact me if you have any further questions. Sincerely,
Javier Campos Principal, Campos Studio
February 24th, 2022 Re: Victoria Zhou, Architectural Co‐op Student To Whom It May Concern: I am writing this open letter of reference for Victoria who was employed part‐time at Amantea Architects for 3 months from October to December 2021. During her time at Amantea Architects, Victoria contributed to a number of active projects, gaining experience on a variety of tasks during different phases of the work. In addition to collaborating with fellow staff, she was also required to work independently on her assignments, receiving my direction on an as need basis. Given the size of our studio, she was involved in most day‐to‐day project and office related tasks. Victoria was enthusiastically engaged in studio discussions related to the creative development of our work. She was a vocal participant during design sessions and showed an eagerness to learn and develop her skill set and knowledge base. Given her limited time in our studio, she was expected to quickly familiarize herself with 3 main projects (Worthington Landscape & Pavilion; Valleyanna Townhouse Development; and Mount Wolfe Residence) and took an active role in their development and documentation. More specifically, she assisted in the preparation of pricing and construction documentation, presentation diagrams, project statistics, floor plan layouts and digital massing model studies. Her past employment experience with MCM afforded Victoria the confidence to productively contribute to the development of technical, building assembly details for small scale building elements and custom components. She proved to be proficient in most 2d and 3d software, including AutoCAD and Rhino. Victoria is a good team player and her contributions were valued. She was comfortable taking on new and unfamiliar tasks and showed an ability to shift seamlessly between project phases and scales. Victoria was always punctual and ready to contribute with a positive attitude and an open mind. I am confident that Victoria will develop into a competent and productive architect and given the opportunity, I’m certain she will be an asset to your team. I sincerely wish her the best in both her studies and future professional pursuits. Kind Regards, Michael Amantea BArch, OAA
amantea architects
343-1655 Dupont St., Toronto ON M6P 3T1 T 416.505.3011 amarchitects.ca
01 Curriculum Vitae
Victoria Zhou victoria.zhou@uwaterloo.ca (+1) 705 492 9278
Summary of Qualifications
Fabrication
• 3 years of professional experience in architecture and related industries • Comprehensive knowledge of interior architectural detailing as relating to custom fabrication in metal, wood, and composites • Proficient at creating presentation drawings and rendering in V-Ray and Enscape • Ability to detail interior and exterior details for cold and warm weather climates • Experience detailing and prototyping with wood and metal at a 1:1 scale • Strong proficiency in AutoCAD, Vectorworks, Rhino, and Revit
• Woodworking • Welding & metalwork • Millwork assembly • Millwork installation • 3D printing • Laser cutting • CNC fabrication • Upholstery/sewing • Chocolate chip cookies
Languages • English • Mandarin • French (conversational)
Education • University of Waterloo Bachelor of Architectural Studies (Honors Co-operative program) Graduating class of 2024
Publications • Identity, Diplomacy, and Design: A Study of Canada’s Embassies in the Age of Reconciliation Riverside Architectural Press. 2023
Analogue • Ceramics • Model making • Hand drafting • Hand sketching • Site surveying • Film photography
Softwares • Rhino • Autocad • Revit • Vectorworks • Grasshopper • qGIS • V-ray • Enscape • Lumion • Adobe Creative Suite • Microsoft Office (I know Excel!)
02 Curriculum Vitae
Professional Experience
MCM 2001 Inc.
Campos Studio
Jan - Sept 2021 Project Coordinator Sept - Dec 2020 Assistant Millworker/Welder
Vancouver, BC
Jan - Aug 2023 Architectural Co-op Student • Organized and maintained interior elevations and existing drawings for permit and construction • Developed preliminary design schemes for a private residence • Produced 3D renders and drawings for client presentations and 3D models for construction coordination
Play with Clay
Cambridge, ON
• Liaised between clients & fabrication leads to ensure quality and delivery of shop drawings & fabricated items • Managed shop drawing sets and communicated with architect to ensure millwork details preserved the architect’s design intent Toronto, ON 3stones Architecture+Design Oct - Dec 2020 Architectural Assistant
Sept - Dec 2022 Ceramics Instructor • Instructed a variety of hand building and wheel throwing techniques • Led workshops for various age groups and skill levels • Maintained organization and cleanliness of studio and completed day-to-day tasks such as glazing, firing, trimming, and equipment maintenance
Amantea Architects
Toronto, ON
Toronto, ON
Oct - Dec 2021 Architectural Assistant • Developed presentation diagrams, project statistics, floor plan layouts, and digital massing model studies • Assisted with pricing and construction documentation • Explored massing and schematic design options through 3D modeling
• Managed AutoCAD drawing sets for commercial and residential projects • Detailed rigorous construction drawings for cold climate projects in Northern Ontario
HDR Architecture
Toronto, ON
Jan - Apr 2020 Architectural Assistant • Detailed construction drawings in Revit for healthcare facilities • Assisted with site visits and contract admin project documentation
BIAD Studio 3A2
Beijing, China
May - Aug 2019 Architectural Intern • Prepared presentation drawings for architectural competitions • Modeled facade options in both analogue materials in Grasshopper
03 To Garden
To Garden ARCH492 - Beatrice Bruscoli, Laura Fassio, Lavinia Ann Minciacci, Juan Lopez Cano, and Madeleine Reinhart with Sandra Lyboun Portuense, Rome “The wild garden, what I call the ‘garden in movement’, is more an intervention by humans in a territory where they interpret order to make a place for themselves, but still without destroying that diversity.”- Gilles Clement, The Planetary Garden Ex-Mira Lanza carries a host of reciprocal relationships in which the human user assumes the role of the gardener. Recognizing the importance for the site to remain an ecological sanctuary, there is also a dire need for neighbouring communities to have access to social amenities and affordable housing. We come to the site as gardeners, as many before us have passed through some even remain. Traces of their labour and care for the site are woven into the strata of vegetation and architecture. We respond to the school community, the community living in informal dwellings, and the high-density neighbourhood along Via Marconi by weaving together these contrasting social spaces with a web of social and green infrastructure. The continuous presence of the garden acts as a gradient between architectural space and aspiring Third Landscapes. We aim to break down the scale of the site so that each piece may be cared for.
Portuense, Rome
04
05 To Garden
bridge
reconnect
push & pull
06 Portuense, Rome in section there was an attempt to retain the quality of light on site
07
08
pg.09-10
pg.07-08
pg.11-12
09 To Garden The high density of housing above the community center and commercecentric ground floor proposes a contemporary take on the Italian medieval street. The building mediates the change in level between the existing street and the new public spaces.
10 Portuense, Rome We propose a new housing typology which is centered on communal living. Inspired by Simoogit Saa Bax Dr. Patrick Reid Stewart’s Aboriginal Children’s Village, this apartment block takes on the challenge of sharing living quarters. Kitchens and other common spaces are shared between 2-3 families, and have a strong relationship with the ground floor as they are connected to shared outdoor spaces.
11
12
13 To Gift
To Gift ARCH393 - David Fortin with Sandra Lyboun & Falak Nazer, sponsored by GAC Polanco, Mexico City The redesign of the Canadian Embassy in Mexico City on its existing site considers a future of diplomacy in the age of reconciliation that looks to landbased ethics and indigenous teachings to design with the land, rather than over the land. This project imagines an evolving building which considers the deep ecology of the site. Process and intention as just as important than the building that evolves out of this design practice - making and intuition are two ways we begin to subvert colonial design practices. In many ways, the opportunity to be involved in a studio as such was a gift from Global Affairs Canada, and we felt it appropriate to reciprocate by gifting Global Affairs Canada our projects in the form of a physical model and a book. Programmatic relationships took precedent in this project, as adjacencies are critical to the security and daily operations of the embassy. A series of consultations with Douglas Cardinal, a Blackfoot elder and indigenous architect as well as an indigenous task force within Global Affairs Canada guided us to work with organic forms.
Polanco, Mexico City
14
15 To Gift
Inpsired by Lateral Office’s method of working with material objects rather than communicating with architectural drawings, we wanted to collaborate with the users of the space and understand the functional relationships through their eyes. Throughout the design process we ensured that we returned to analogue methods of drawing and modeling and revisited our guiding principles.
CC
BB
Polanco, Mexico City
16
17 To Gift
Liquidambar
Nispero
Jacaranda
Catalpa
Fresno
Palma
18 Polanco, Mexico City Maple, Basswood, and Walnut, our gift to the embassy
Fauna
To Gift
19
Polanco, Mexico City
20
21 To House
To House ARCH392 - Adrian Blackwell, Cheryl Chase, Anwar Jaber, Marie-Paule Macdonald, Di Tang, and Tura Cousins Wilson Bramalea, Brampton The Grand Domestic (r)Evolution reimagines a building that learns from its occupants and rethinks what agency can be to those who do not have traditional ownership of a typical suburban single-family home. This project looks to embed locus onto the street, which Martin Heidegger had proposed were only a method by which loci were linked. Beatriz Colomina’s essay, “The Split Wall: Domestic Voyeurism”, compares the home to a theatre, to stage the mundane. This project is the anti-theatre, it resists unwanted performance, but recontextualizes the gaze and the intent of the mundane acts. Considering the scale of homes in the neighborhood, the building frames the street and maintains a street-facing frontage. Its condo-style or townhouse- like typology gives way to a higher density than the single-family residential homes it replaces. Its relationship to the residents considers what the locus of the home and dwelling is, and its relationship to the streetscape. This project starts with an investigation of strategies that could densify the neighborhood and focuses in on a low-rise residential typology.
Bramalea, Brampton
22
To House
23
24 Commerce on the ground floor activates the streetscape and promotes local spending as well as microeconomies which already exist in the area, with businesses currently operating out of homes or condo units
3 The central location of the community center and recreational facility allows it to be accessible to the community surrounding it as well as incoming users of the space who need access to public transportation
2 Gentle densification of single family residential neighborhoods allows for more families to live within an accessible distance from community amenities such as schools, daycares, community centers, and libraries
1
A garden co-op combined with the residential building addresses demand for more garden plots in the area. It provides fresh food and allows residents the opportunity to grow their own food
Bramalea, Brampton
4
To House
25
Bramalea, Brampton
26
27 To House
Typ. Plan
Expansion Plan
28 Bramalea, Brampton Unit Plan 1
One-bed unit (ground floor, for seniors)
Unit Plan 2
Commercial unit (ground floor)
Unit Plan 3
DLT can be fabricated with 2-way spanning capabilities and this building relies on a consistent 3x6 grid, whereas exterior windows are placed so that DLT panels can all be one meter on center. See diagram on the next page to understand how this benefits the residents
Unit Plan 4
29 To House
Agency is imparted to residents who can reuse and adapt the stock of material generated by the gradual evolution of the building
Post & beam construction allows for easy assembly and disassembly of wood as they need to be replace or upsized for increased structural load as tenants expand units
The building acts as a carbon sink, and the large structural members can be adapted for different non-structural use in the building as they degrade or are removed
Brampton, Ontario 176km
St. T
30 Bramalea, Brampton
Quebec legislature limits logging activity to 1% of the total forested area each year, of which 72% of the allowable harvest is collected.
Ripon, Quebec
The carbon emissions of Canada’s logging and lumber industry are not regulated, as a result emissions are often under-reported
The industry creates sawdust and woodchips as biofuel but also effluent, often disposed of on indigenous and first nations territories and other marginalized communities Mass timber products such as glulam, CLY, and DLT use larger pieces of wood but require less laminate products
Thomas, Ontario
664km
31 To Observe
To Observe ARCH293 - Kat Kovalvic & Rick Andrighetti, John McMinn, Karen May, and Scott Sorli Galt, Cambridge An ecological study of microhabitats suspended between “wilderness” and “civilization”: the abject urban wilderness. These sections on the right hand side illustrate the embankment conditions at the city center, moving towards postindustrial sites further downstream. There is a stretch of the Grand River in Galt City Centre of the city of Cambridge that is neither “nature” nor” city”. Located on the traditional territories of the Neutral and Anishinaabe people, as well as land granted to the Haudenosaunee of the Six Nations of Grand River, this project does not seek to impose, but to understand the deep ecology and spirit of the land itself. This project subverts the idea that land must be productive and favours a narrative that helps to reframe how I consider sites and position myself in relation to them. These illustrations are the result of a series of mornings, afternoons, evenings, and nights spent on the river, or as close as I was able to get to it. The sites are considered through the perspective of other beings that dwell on the river. These river dwellers help to challenge my priorities on the site, and reconsider for whom the site might be.
Galt, Cambridge
32
33
quadrant 1
To Observe
quadrant 2
a duck on water what can i eat?
quadrant 3
a duck on edge where can i sit?
quadrant 4
a fish on edge where can i eat?
a bee on land bzzzzzzzz
Galt, Cambridge
34
35 To Make
To Make At Millwork Custom Manufacturer 2001 Inc., with Shim-Sutcliffe Architects North York, Toronto It was an honor and pleasure to work with on this project which culminates on a lifetime of collaborative design between the architect and the client. However, it was a greater privilege to work closely with my millwork and metal working teams. They have taught me collaboration, cooperation, and how to stay kind as I polish the 301st identical piece of metal. In the shop at MCM2001 Inc. I was taught the value of labour and work, the importance of craft and dedication to detail. I was taught about materials, how they like to move, how to keep them from moving; I was taught to love wood and metal, and to love working with them, to honour them. I was also taught patience, how to wait for paint to dry (literally), how to wire a lightbulb, change my car tires, feed a cow, and how to be kind. In the office, I learned how to detail, how to sketch ideas out by hand, how to sketch real things out by hand. I was taught how to draw designs based on how I imagined they might be built. In the office I learned about balancing budgets, filing paperwork, writing courteous emails. I learned about Fat Tuesdays and that people bring cake on their own birthdays. In the office I learned to be kind.
North York, Toronto
36
37 To Make
14A AR-L02
07 AR-L02
10A AR-L02
22A AR-L02
16 AR-L02
18 AR-L02
12 AR-L02
ISSUED FOR CO As Noted
NORTH ELEVATIO
38 North York, Toronto
As project coordinator, my role was to streamline the production of mock-ups, shop drawings, and final millwork units. Working from the architect’s hand drawn interior elevations and RCPs directly, we were able to best preserve the spirit of the design by eliminating the need for the architectural drawings to be digitized and thus voided of their character. I produced shop drawings, referencing the architect’s drawings and sketches, and oversaw the mockup production in the workshop.
These are mock-ups and finished products as a result of a continuous prototyping and revisions of shop drawings. The continuous communication between the architect, the client and contractors, the project lead, and the workshop team leads was crucial to the development of these millwork details. The architect’s sketches offered a level of ambiguity that allowed the fabrication leads at MCM2001 to lend their expertise to detail the tectonics of each component drawn.
39 To Make
1:20 sketch
1:10 shop drawings
1:1 mock-up
materials assembled North York, Toronto
40
Thank you for your time. Let’s keep in touch!