Reflecting on Empathy: Thesis Without Fear (Part 1)
“You can do damn near anything; you just have to understand how to make a book out of it.” – Donald McKay
THESIS: bicycle factory
In her thesis, Sonia Yuan proposes an ideal ‘post-post-Fordist’ society, a city envisioned as a dense, heterogeneous construct, whose post-post-Fordist urban intervention is presented as a bicycle factory in the city of Toronto. The proposal endeavours to lift us out of the industrial exploitation of the last century, while providing a relief from contemporary society’s over-saturation of digital technology, to return the machine to its rightful place as an intuitive extension of our bodies. Sonia will defend her thesis on Thursday May 12, 2016 at 4:30 pm in the Loft Gallery.
THESIS: The Atlas of Legal Fictions
Piper Bernbaum’s thesis, The Atlas of Legal Fictions, reveals a little known reality, the Eruv, uncovering the nature of these religious boundaries and exposing the factual existence of what is considered fiction in the modern world. She will defend her thesis on Wednesday April 27th at 12.30pm in the BRIDGE Storefront.
THESIS: Monsoon Notebook: Exploring Home
Jaliya’s thesis explores the meaning of home, and the role it plays in his relationship to architecture. It rests in the transitional space between Canada and his native Sri Lanka, where he spent three months rediscovering his connection to his birthplace. His thesis is entitled Monsoon Notebook, and it records, presents and re-presents his travels as a means of architectural grounding and self-discovery.
STUDENT WORK / Master Studio
Monday and Thursday are studio days. On these days in particular, the third floor undergraduate studio is filled with a frenetic energy of design, research, and exploration. Students can usually be found talking excitedly with design professors and classmates in a habitat saturated with trace sketches, study models, and empty coffee cups. Every week we’ll share a completed project, churned out from this energetic studio environment. Interested in having your work featured on our STUDENT WORK series?...
THESIS: Beyond Genius Loci
Stela’s thesis explores the contributive role of the genius locus, or “spirit of place”, in the identity of cities and the production of meaningful places. The research addresses the analysis of genius loci as historical phenomena as well as their modern role within suburban landscapes. Focusing on the suburban city of Mississauga, urban and architectural failures bring the agency of architecture into question in order to contest architecturally indifferent development. The design intervention embodies Mississauga’s genius locus – an urban simulacrum born from commerce, speculation, and the resistant debris of city growth – into a matrix of architectural and landscape inserts. Stela’s defence will take place on Monday February 8, 2016 at 12:00 pm in the Loft.
THESIS: Expanded Enclosure
In his thesis, Yasir states that architecture does not need to be either closed and subdivided, or open and gradated. He instead explores amalgamations of both through a design proposal of a hypothetical library based in Amman, Jordan. The program of a modern library calls for variations in privacy, climate and storage, making it ideal for such an exploration. The site’s predictable climate also allows greater degrees of experimentation in the enhancement of spaces. He will defend his thesis on Monday December 14th, 2015 at 10:30 AM in ARC 2026
THESIS: Urban Design and Development of a Public Space
Continuing with Kitchener’s initiative to establish urban design at the human scale and introduce contemporary building ideas, Tahoora Alimohammadi’s thesis looks to expand work and living opportunities in the city center with the proposal of a new intermodal transit hub in the heart of that growing downtown core. This design proposal seeks to create an intimate relationship between public life, infrastructure and people.
The defense will take place on on Thursday November 26, 2015 at 1:30pm in ARC 2003, University of Waterloo School of Architecture
THESIS: Sentient Matter
Through his thesis “Sentient Matter,” Mark Wang developed a prototype that translates human movements that are expressive of emotion into continuous surface transformations, translating emotive states into architectural form. Find out more at his thesis defence on Thursday September 17, 2015 at 7:30 pm in ARC 3003.
THESIS: Hybrid Thresholds
Saba Amini will defend here thesis entitled “Hybrid Thresholds” on September 16 at 10:00 AM in the Photo Studio Room 2003. Her thesis weaves infrastructure and public space into a threshold which filters water at the edge of the Don Valley in Toronto.