In his Ernest Annau Scholarship Report, Jake Read posits that the integration of digital tools within design practice provides architects with greater agency in our cities by enhancing our ability to build, our ability to see, and to engage.
Fysal Amirzada serves as our foreign correspondent for this edition of Studio Soundtrack, sharing the delicious electronic music scene in Melbourne.
Christina Chan’s thesis identifies Toronto’s PATH system as a non-place, a collection of private spaces in the city. She explores the possibility of unifying its fragments with minimal architectural incisions that would surgically mend the system with the objective of achieving effective utilization of the PATH by a full spectrum of people. Her defence is this Friday, May 8, 2015 at 10 :00 AM in ARC 2026.
Alexander Robinson and Anne Sewell had the incredible opportunity to collaborate on the design development, material collection, and final construction for a Runner’s Retreat in the remote village of Mosoriot, Kenya
Sundus Shaikh’s thesis analyzes the evolving conditions of the Gerrard Bazaar as a prototypical declining ethnic enclave and generates a manual of design guidelines which promote new networks of “cultural exchange” for the gentrifying neighbourhood. She defends her thesis on Friday May 1, 2015 at 12:30 PM in ARC 2003
“Halfway between reality and fantasy, that’s where the Grange Hotel is found.” Dan Kwak’s thesis entitled The Grange Hotel diagnoses urban leisure through a subliminal layer of imaginative absurdity within the existing local environment. His defence is on Friday May 1, 2015 at 3:00PM in ARC Loft.
At the University of Waterloo School of Architecture, the admissions process calls for a twenty-five minute interview. The current students of Waterloo Architecture recognize that there is no right way to go about the interview, and in turn, have decided to share their own personal and unique stories regarding the admissions process. In this installment, Ron Adriano – a first year student at UWSA – tells us his version of Interview Day.
Prianka Smita continues the story of the Shakhari Bazar in her piece Elasticity of Optimism which contemplates the role of the many crafts people and their value in maintaining the identity of the street.
Kyle Jensen will defend is thesis entitled “Optimizing Structure: An Investigation into Lightweight Structures” on Tuesday April 21, 2015 at 6:00 PM Lawrence Cummings Lecture Theatre (ARC 1001). His research which explores the potential for tensile structures to reduce a building’s embodied energy and improve sustainable architectural practices.
Each year the American Society of Architectural Illustrators’ selects architectural representations for publication and exhibition as part of the “Architecture in Perspective” international competition. This year, five Waterloo Architecture students and alumni have been awarded within the student category for their evocative renderings. Congratulations to undergraduate students Ella den Elzen, Mina Vedut, and Ji Shi, graduate student Nashin Mahtani and alumnus Fraser Plaxton.