ABSTRACT by Meredith Vaga All cities set up a condition of disjunction as they are inherently manmade ‘built’ places separate from the natural wilderness they abut. The cities that emerge over time are then places held in tension between the kinetic and static forces of civilization, nature, people, ownership and infrastructure. These conflicting pieces manifest as division within the city. The division can be physically seen in specific gaps in the physical infrastructure: urban slips...
ABSTRACT by Michael Bootsma Positioning itself as an investigation into the affective capacity of transport, this thesis argues that the potential of a city is both composed and revealed through its systems of movement, contending that the sensorial and expressive qualities of a city’s transit govern how its citizens perceive and access the scope of experiences available to them. Essays on movement and identity, the delimitation of the city, immobility, adaptation, and eccentricities, move in...
The uniquely independent masters program here at the Waterloo School of Architecture continues to grow and each term brings new graduate students accompanied by their diverse thesis objectives. Over the next few weeks we will be profiling these future masters and their work in hopes of shedding light on the breadth of research and design happening within the school. This week features the current M2 students and their work presented at the M1 Open Studio...
ABSTRACT by Gordon Hunt An itinerant architect—one who learns, teaches, and practices architecture on the road—has the ability to improve spaces that would otherwise never reach their fullest potential. The profession of architecture as it stands is insufficient and does not properly address what people need. As a means for educating and improving space, an itinerant architect involves those unfamiliar with their own design abilities and needs throughout the design process, encouraging the appropriate customisation of their environments. This thesis follows an itinerant architect in three...
For nearly thirty incoming graduate students, the fall term meant the beginning of their masters degree, when they initiated their pursuit of an independent architectural thesis. The Waterloo Architecture graduate program is increasingly drawing students from across the country, with applicants from Dalhousie, Ryerson, and Carleton Universities, as well as internationally, from Asia and the Middle East, to pursue academic research and design here in Cambridge. This past term, Associate Professor Val Rynnimeri and new Associate...
ABSTRACT by Melissa Ng Grasping the wooden handle of a dozukime saw with both hands, I make a rip-cut into a block of eastern white pine, leaving behind a 1/64-inch wide kerf. I am cutting a dovetail: a wood joint developed over five-thousand years ago by the hands of our ancestors. Even now, a well-fitted dovetail joint remains one of the strongest, most elegant ways to join wood. I knew nothing about traditional woodworking when I first picked up a hand-plane, but I...
ABSTRACT by Susan Varickanickal I grew up in the suburbs, and perhaps I am embarrassed to admit it. But there is no use denying it. It’s written all over my face. Even though I have been away for nearly a decade, the residue of that past life still lingers. I am civilized, programmed to perform in a manner that best suits society at this present time. I move in unison with the other bodies around me, abiding...
ABSTRACT by Sonja Storey-Fleming This thesis is concerned with the moments, places and circumstances in which the great magnitude of the world is felt. I live within the vast space of the spherical earth and the infinite space of the universe, however, it is rare that I consider the immensity of the space in which I live and endeavor to build. This thesis is an examination of the ability of both architecture and landscape to frame immense space and phenomena of the earth,...
Would you like to see your studio project published on the BRIDGE website and exhibited in Monigram? The BRIDGE team is inviting you to submit your most recent studio project to the Fall 2013 Call for Submissions. Submission Requirements: project description project title manifesto, 200-300 words 3 jpeg images, 900px wide Send all submissions to: bridge@waterlooarchitecture.com By no later than: January 15, 2014 The number of projects selected will be based on the...
ABSTRACT by Justin Breg Time and structure; expectation and construction; landscape and architecture; history and myth. The foundation is a joint which carries extraordinary potential to speak of the cultures that built it. This text tells stories about three cultures whose identities are interwoven with their foundation-building. Tracing a path among the distinct ways in which they found, it values the foundation as a marker between anticipating and making in the architectural process; an ambiguous joint between land and building; an invisible structure of the surfaces...
