Caelin Schneider
Of
the
thesis
entitled: Embracing
Or
Not
Enclosing
Abstract:
The
simultaneously
archaic and
hypermodern
“archetypal
fact”
of
twenty
first
century
architecture
and urbanism
will
be
the
enclosure,
the
wall,
the
barrier,
the
gate,
the
fence,
the fortress.
-Lieven
De
Cauter
I
no
longer
know
what
there
is
behind
the wall,
I
no
longer
know
there
is
a
wall,
I
no
longer
know
this
wall
is
a
wall,
I no
longer
know
what
a
wall
is.
I
no
longer
know
that
in
my
apartment
there
are walls,
and
that
if
there weren’t
any
walls,
there
would
be
no
apartment.
-Georges
Perec
Reflecting on
the
parallel
between
displaced
towns
in
France
during
World
War
II
and
the cultural
condition
of
an
average
Westerner
today,
Nicolas
Bourriaud
states: “Culture
today
essentially
constitutes
a
mobile
entity,
unconnected
to
any soil.”
Through
the
processes of
‘Modernism’
and
then
‘Postmodernism,’ globalization
has
brought
the
world
‘closer’
together
through
an
expansion
of capitalism,
often
under
the
guise
of
democracy
and
equality.
The
ceaseless progress
of
neoliberal
globalization
and
its
parallel
of
Postmodernism promised a
horizontality
and
a
recognition
of
the
other
that
had
been
conventionally repressed
and
pushed
away
by
Modernism.
Yet
the
shimmer
of
those
promises
has long
faded
away.
From
globalization’s
subsumption
of
uniform
interiors
to contemporary
society’s evolution
into
what
Lieven
De
Cauter
calls
a
“Capsular Civilization.”
Here
the
everyday
reality
clearly
aligns
with
Michael
Hardt
and Antonio
Negri’s
prescription
of
an
illusion
of
continuous,
uniform
space,
which is
in
fact
densely
crossed
by
divisions.
Emerging out
of
this
context,
this
thesis
investigates
architecture’s
role
in
the production
of
new
inside-outsides
which
therefore
entangles
it
in
the
processes of
control,
regulation,
division
and
connection
that
result
from
the contemporary
multiplication
of
boundaries. The
partitioning
of
the
world
that is
so
often
delegated
to
architects
to
act
out
is
never
neutral,
and
the regulation
of
the
transmission
between
the
exterior
and
interior
of
these partitioned
capsules
can
be
seen
as
manifestations
of
Hardt
and
Negri’s
‘New Segmentations,’ wherein
architecture
acts
to
reproduce
these
contiguous
centers and
peripheries
among
the
interactions
of
daily
life.
The work
of
this
thesis
takes
the
inherited
site
of
the
Waterloo
School
of Architecture
as
an
area
for
questioning
the
structures
that
reduce
our relations
to
what
is
outside.
The
research
investigates
the
found
technologies used
to
support
and
structure
the
conditions
of access:
the
locked
door,
the camera,
the
window
and
the
wall,
and
looks
to
provide
a
text
and
a
series
of artifacts
which
subvert
these
identified
forces.
Reflecting
a
desire
to
think something
other
than
the
division
of
inside/outside,
self/other;
to
search
for new
stories
of the
interior.
Supervisor: | Adrian Blackwell, University of Waterloo |
Committee Member: | Anne Bordeleau, University of Waterloo |
Internal Reader: | Dereck Revington, University of Waterloo |
External Reader: | Luis Jacob, Visiting Professor - University of Toronto |
The committee has been approved as authorized by the Graduate Studies Committee.
The Defence Examination will take place:
Monday, May 1, 2017 10:30AM ARC Loft
A copy of the thesis is available for perusal in ARC 2106A.
Victoria Suen
Of
the
thesis
entitled: Spaces
of
Production:
From
the
Industrial
to the
Virtual
City
Abstract:
In the
industrial
city,
capitalist
ownership
over
the
means
of
production:
land, buildings,
tools,
technology
and
knowledge,
enabled
the
centralization,
control and
exploitation
of
the
working
class.
Monetary
exchange,
property
relations, and
the
dominance
of
production for
the
sole
purpose
of
capital
accumulation developed
alienating
social
relations
in
the
life
of
the
city.
In
the
post-industrial city,
the
liberation
of
information
through
digital
networks
has
democratized the
intellectual
means
of
production
creating
dramatic
shifts
in labour, exchange,
and
social
relations.
These
shifts
have
the
potential
to
create
the conditions
for
an
even
greater
gap
of
inequality,
a
return
to
an
economy dominated
by
inherited
wealth[1], and
where
capitalism
seeks
to
capture
economic
value
in
all
aspects
of
work, life and
the
city.[2] The
thesis
seeks
to explore
how
design
and
architectural
practice
can
be
used
as
a
means
to collectively
organize
and
mobilize
the
emerging
precariat
class
to reappropriate
fixed
capital
and
transform
labour
power
into
a
cooperative
space of
production.
The
thesis
focuses
on
the city
of
Kitchener,
drawing
from
its
history
as
a
city
built
by
artisans
and
the recent
re-emergence
of
a
new
creative
working
class
that
has
propelled
the maker
movement.
Using
the
city
as
a
place
for
prototyping
community
and
space, new spaces
of
production
are
emerging
through
grassroots
communities
to
test the
material,
social
and
financial
platforms
of
a
post-capitalist
system. Interviews
with
makers,
artists,
and
creative
entrepreneurs
will
explore
the emerging
spatial
models
in
the
productive economy.
The
thesis
will
use strategies
of
the
maker-movement,
the
process
of
learning
through
doing,
and lean
thinking
to
prototype
spatial
programming,
the
organization
of
the collective
and
the
feasibility
of
operating
a
productive
workspace.
Through
the documentation
of
the
process,
the
thesis
seeks
to
develop
a
process
guide
for the
precariat
worker
to
collectively
organize
a
community
lab
workspace,
own the
means
of
production,
and
develop
a
networked
production
infrastructure
in the
city.
[1] Thomas
Piketty, Capital in
the
Twenty-First
Century,
trans.
Arthur
Goldhammer
(Cambridge,
MA: Harvard
University
Press,
2014).
[2] Maurizio
Lazzarato.
“Immaterial Labour.”
In Radical
Thought
in
Italy:
A Potential
Politics,
edited
by
Paolo
Virno,
by
Michael
Hardt.
(Minneapolis, MN:
University
of
Minnesota
Press,
1996),
133.;
Jeremy
Rifkin, The
Age
of
Access:
The
New Culture
of Hypercapitalism,
Where
All
of
Life
Is
a
Paid-for
Experience, New
York:
J.P. Tarcher/Putnam,
2000,
100.
Supervisor: | Rick Haldenby, University of Waterloo |
Committee Member: | Adrian Blackwell, University of Waterloo |
Internal Reader: | David Correa, University of Waterloo |
External Reader: | Emily Robson, City of Kitchener |
The committee has been approved as authorized by the Graduate Studies Committee.
The Defence Examination will take place:
Thursday, May 11, 2017 3:00PM Main Lecture Theatre
A copy of the thesis is available for perusal in ARC 2106A.
Parisa Kohbodi
Of
the
thesis
entitled: Library:
A
Social
Infrastructure
Abstract:
For
many
centuries, the
mission
of
the
library
as
a
civic
institution
has
been
seen
as
the collection
and
dissemination
of
information.
Likewise,
the
library
typology continuously
responds
to
the
dominant
paradigm
of
information
and communications
technologies. Following
the
digital
revolution
of
the
late twentieth
century,
information
has
been
transcoded
into
electronic
signals, thus
allowing
its
storage
and
distribution
to
take
place
independent
of
time and
space.
Today,
with
access
to
information
so
ubiquitous,
is
the
library
a redundant
place?
In
this thesis,
I
argue
that
by
democratizing
information,
the
library’s
fundamental mission
has
been
overcoming
physical,
social,
and
economic
disconnectedness. The
library,
therefore
remains
to
be
an
essential
civic
institution.
However, despite
making
information more
accessible,
the
digital
revolution
has
produced new
types
of
disconnectedness.
Telecommunication
and
transportation infrastructures
have
accelerated
suburbanization
and
decentralization
of
urban centers.
In
the
current
digital
age,
spaces
of
flow
are
valued
more than
spaces of
place,
resulting
in
a
loss
of
civic
space
and
suppression
of
diversity. Moreover,
the
infinite
and
simultaneous
nature
of
digital
information
has incited
feelings
of
inundation
and
disorientation. To
address
these
new
types
of
disconnectedness, the
library typology
is
compelled
to
recombine
and
calibrate
its
historical traditions
with
a
new
set
of
expectations
in
the
digital
age.
This thesis
is
sited
in
the
suburban
campus
of
Conestoga
College,
which
is
located on
the
border
of
Kitchener
and
Cambridge,
adjacent
to
Highway
401.
The
specific and
universal
disconnectedness
affecting
this
institution
is
investigated
on three
scales:
suburban
city planning,
Conestoga's
campus
master
plan
and
the library's
design.
Informed
by
these
investigations,
I
have
proposed
an alternate
design
for
the
campus
master
plan
and
the
library.
The
library
itself is
a
manifesto
for
embodying
the
static
character
of
containment
and
the dynamic
character
of
flow.
On
a
grander
scale,
by
integrating
the
architecture of
the
library
with
a
bridge
infrastructure,
we
can
expose
the
friction
between the
two
spatial
logics
of
flow
and
place,
and
provoke
a
multitude
of
movements and
exchanges
between
the existing
and
new
programmatic
elements.
This
speculative
intervention
aims
to reinforce
the
agency
of
architecture
to
counterbalance
the
consternations
that are
prevalent
in
the
technocratic
paradigm
of
today.
Supervisor: | Anne Bordeleau, University of Waterloo |
Committee Member: | Rick Haldenby, University of Waterloo |
Internal Reader: | Lola Sheppard, University of Waterloo |
External Reader: | Liana Bresler, SvN Architects + Planners |
The committee has been approved as authorized by the Graduate Studies Committee.
The Defence Examination will take place:
Monday, May 15, 2017 6:30PM ARC 2026
A copy of the thesis is available for perusal in ARC 2106A.
Felix Cheong
Of
the
thesis
entitled: TALES
OF
THE
MAUNSELL
SEA
FORTS
| A
Philosophy
of
Making
in
the
Anthropocene
Abstract:
The
Age
of
the
Anthropocene
is
marked
by
a shift
in
power
between
the
relationship
of
nature
and
man.
For
the
first
time in
human
history
we
are
actively
shaping
the
environmental
systems
around
us
on a
planetary
scale,
causing
repercussions
beyond
our
scope
of understanding.
As such
the
implications
for
how
we
as
a
species
should
live
in
this
paradoxical age
of
scarcity
and
abundance
are
undefined.
Although
mention
of
the Anthropocene
has
pervaded
into
popular
culture
in
recent
years
the
study
of this
geological
era
is
still
in its
infancy.
Elsewhere,
in
the
Thames
Estuary
twelve miles
off
the
nearest
coast,
a
collection
of
peculiar
structures
can
be
found. They
are
the
Maunsell
Sea
Forts;
a
series
of
abandoned
military
installations created
during
World
War
II.
Primarily
constructed
out
of
steel
and
concrete the
towers
seemingly
appear
out
of
the
water.
These
outposts
had
a
successful career
defending
the
United
Kingdom
against
German
air-raids
throughout
the war,
until
they
were
later
decommissioned,
stripped
of
their
armaments,
and left
to
the
elements.
Since
then
the towers
have
been
sporadically
appropriated for
a
variety
of
different
purposes
while
steadily
falling
into
ruination.
With an
aesthetic
almost
as
fantastic
as
their
history
the
Maunsell
Sea
Forts
have
a unique
ability
to
capture
the
imagination.
Utilizing
the
Anthropocene
as
the
backdrop,
the
Maunsell
Sea
Forts
as
the protagonist,
and
fictional
tales
as
the
vehicle,
this
thesis
investigates
what it
means
to
be
a
designer
and
builder
in
the
current
global
context.
It explores
concepts
surrounding
transformative
use, material
realities,
and productive
ruination
in
order
to
develop
a
philosophy
of
making
founded
on
an acceptance
of
impermanence.
Told
through
a
mixture
of
essays,
stories,
and illustrations,
this
thesis
creates
a
platform
to
speculate
at
the
role
of
the architect
for
the modern
age.
Supervisor: | Andrew Levitt, University of Waterloo |
Committee Members: |
Rick Andrighetti, University of Waterloo Jane Hutton, University of Waterloo |
External Reader: | Fred Thompson |
The committee has been approved as authorized by the Graduate Studies Committee.
The Defence Examination will take place:
Monday, June 5, 2017 6:30PM BRIDGE Centre for Architecture + Design
A copy of the thesis is available for perusal in ARC 2106A.
Run Yi Emily Li
Of
the
thesis
entitled: Journey
into
Caldera
Abstract:
There
is
a
dormant
volcano in
the
northern
province
of
Jilin,
China,
called
the
Baekdu/Chang
Bai
Mountain. At
the
top
of
this
2,744
m
mountain
is
a
large
caldera
filled
with
water,
named “Heaven
Lake”.
Geologically,
this
caldera
straddles
China
and
North
Korea, split by
the
man-made
border.
As
a
sacred
mountain
to
both
people,
there
have always
been
ongoing
cultural
and
political
disputes
surrounding
the
site. Despite
the
tentative
agreement
between
the
two
governments,
their
people refute
each
other’s
historical
claims,
declaring the
mountain
as
their
own.
As one
born
not
5
hours
from
this
caldera
with
both
heritages,
I
have
experienced firsthand
this
issue
of
identity.
Originating
from
China, shibori
is
the
ancient
Japanese
method
of
dying
textiles.
It
is
the
union
of two
elements,
the
indigo
dye
and
the
resistance
of
the
fabric,
swirling
in
a steaming
bath,
transforming
into
an
entirely
new
character.
Through
hours
and days
of
folding, knotting,
and
wrapping,
the
shibori
maker
works
in
tandem
with the
nature
of
the
fabric
to
create
a
unique
and
beautiful
piece
every
time.
The symbiotic
nature
of
this
ancient
art
offers
a
new
perspective
to
the
ongoing territorial
conflict.
Impacted
by
the
trip
to
the mountain,
and
inspired
by
the
methods
of
shibori,
the
thesis
choreographs
a journey
into
caldera.
As
an
inspiration,
Shibori
is
the
possibility
that
two opposing
forces,
the
relentless
indigo
dye
and
the
resisting
white
fabric,
can unite
to
emerge
as a
new
identity.
Transcribing
the
caldera
as
a
physical manifestation
of
this
unity
between
two
cultures,
the
thesis
proposes
an intervention
on
this
highly
contested
pilgrimage
site.
It
does
not
offer
a definitive
solution
to
the
political
conflict
around
Baekdu/Changbai,
but rather
examines
the
lines
of
connections
between
the
shibori
and
the
caldera through
architecture
as
a
platform
that
promotes
a
harmonious
existence
of
two forces.
Supervisor: | Dereck Revington, University of Waterloo |
Committee Members: |
Andrew Levitt, University of Waterloo Donald McKay, University of Waterloo |
External Reader: | Jonathan Tyrrell |
The committee has been approved as authorized by the Graduate Studies Committee.
The Defence Examination will take place:
Tuesday, June 6, 2017 10:00AM ARC 2026
A copy of the thesis is available for perusal in ARC 2106A.
Eveline Lam
Of
the
thesis
entitled: One
hand
occupies
the
void
Abstract:
The interconnected
nature
of
void
and
matter
and
form
is
implied
in
architecture, but
rarely
explicitly
expressed.
Since
the
void
is
neither
form
nor
material, it
is
difficult
to
define,
but
it
occupies
a
critical
role
in
urban
development as
the
counterpart
to
the
urban
mass. The
narrative
of
the
modern
city
can
be told
through
the
presence
of
urban
voids:
the
transposition
of
material
and built
form
resulting
in
two
typologies
of
the
void,
the
found
and
the
formal. The
first
exploration
of
the
found
void
is
dedicated
to
the
analysis
of
the clay
pit, the
companion
of
bricks,
which
is
often
ignored
as
an
unwanted by-product
of
the
construction
process.
This
deliberate
exclusion
from
the urban
narrative
is
reversed
once
it
is
rehabilitated
as
a
formal
void,
which
is valued
as
an
element
of
urban
development.
The
second exploration
analyses
the condition
of
the
formal
void,
using
the
ceramic
vessel
to
construct
a domesticated
spatial
model
of
the
monumental
public
space.
The
identity
of
the city
is
therefore
analysed
by
making
visible
the
imperceptible
void
through
the documentation
of traces
and
boundaries.
The
found void
is
a
by-product
of
the
city’s
development
and
is
not
planned;
it
can
also be
described
as
a
procedural
void
whose
physical
impact
is
rarely,
if
ever, considered
as
a
positive
influence
on
the
growth
of
the
city.
From
the
economic point
of
view,
its
temporary use
produces
resources
that
transform
the
urban fabric,
but
the
found
void
itself
requires
reintegration
into
the
city
either through
erasure
or
reversal
to
solid.
The
analysis
of
the
former,
now filled-in,
19th-century
clay
quarry
in
east
Toronto
serves
as
the
first investigation of
the
urban
void,
where
the
industrial
process
of
clay extraction
acts
as
a
force
that
influences
the
form
of
the
quarry
and
also
the surrounding
neighbourhood.
The
formal void
is
a
tool
that
transforms
the
city
through
the
imposition
of
a hierarchical
structure
derived
from
a
deliberate
absence
within
the
existing fabric.
The
valorization
of
the
formal
void
as
a
solution
to
congestion
and chaos
in
the
built-up
urban
structure
is
based on
its
perception,
even
now,
as an
ideal
space
that
promotes
circulation,
light,
and
air.
The
analysis
of
an alternative
vision
of
Paris
conceived
by
Pierre
Patte
in
1765
expresses
the interjection
of
the
void
into
a
pre-existing
urban
fabric
and
how
its
form
is connected
to
the buildings
that
it
displaces.
The practice
of
throwing
clay
on
a
wheel
depicts
the
reciprocity
between
matter, form,
and
void:
clay
is
shaped
into
a
hollow
vessel
through
the
interaction
of the
body.
The
found
void,
as
a
fragment
evolving
over
time,
is
compared
to
the process
of
throwing
and
analysed according
to
the
redistribution
of
the material
around
the
perceptible
void.
For
the
formal
void,
the
final
pieces
are used
as
models
to
express
the
circulation
and
tension
that
becomes
evident
when conceptual
forms
are
given
material
bodies.
This
process
occupies
the intersection
between
the
theory
of
the
void
and
the
material
of
the
clay
medium and
thereby
offers
a
critical
solution
to
the
architectural
paradox
that engages
the
nature
of
the
profession
and
the
approach
to
space
itself.
Co-Supervisors: |
Anne Bordeleau, University of Waterloo Dereck Revington, University of Waterloo |
Committee Member: |
Erica S. Allen-Kim |
External Reader: | Craig Rodmore |
The committee has been approved as authorized by the Graduate Studies Committee.
The Defence Examination will take place:
Thursday, June 8, 2017 10:00AM BRIDGE Centre for Architecture + Design
A copy of the thesis is available for perusal in ARC 2106A.
Stefan Berry
Of
the
thesis
entitled: A
Present
Absence
Abstract:
For
the
last
ten years
I
have
travelled
with
my
camera
out
on
the
roads
of
the
Canadian prairies,
usually
for
a
few
days
at
a
time,
up
and
down
stretches
of
highways, grids,
and
back
roads,
stopping
to
investigate
whatever
I
could
find. My interest
in
the
landscape
grew
from
forgotten
spaces
that
lay
dormant
in
the land.
There
is
something
exciting
about
being
in
unfamiliar
areas
and
stepping into
once-inhabited
locations.
The
absence
of
people,
and
the
marks
they leave behind,
lend
to
the
allure
of
these
places.
The
prairies
are
a
harsh
environment,
and
where there
is
hardship
and
endurance
between
humans
and
nature,
it
is
inevitable that
it
translates
into
the
relationship
between
architecture
and
the landscape. Many
of
the
abandoned structures and
forms
are
seen
as
old
and
useless
—
a
hazard,
an
eyesore,
a
sad
reminder
— but
if
one
looks
closer,
they
can
see
that
they
are
becoming
something
new.
A beauty
exists
in
the
decay
and
ruinous
state,
a
life
found
in
the structures embodies
history
and
knowledge.
Buildings
have
seen
things,
the
land
has
seen things,
but
they
don’t
confess
the
knowledge
openly.
Truths
are
revealed
slowly —
not
all
at
once.
This
thesis
moves
through
a
series
of territories
following
the
increase,
and
subsequent
decline,
of
the
population on
the
rural
prairies.
Forgotten
rail
networks,
trails,
domestic
and utilitarian
structures
—
as
well
natural
landmarks
— contain
the
presence
of those
who
were
once
there.
Photographic
documentation
and
field
research
maps the
spatial
endeavours
that
shaped
the
prairie
landscape
as
the
place
it
is today.
Supervisor: | Donald McKay, University of Waterloo |
Committee Members: |
Rick Haldenby, University of Waterloo Jane Hutton, University of Waterloo |
External Reader: | Alex Bozikovic, The Globe and Mail |
The committee has been approved as authorized by the Graduate Studies Committee.
The Defence Examination will take place:
Friday, June 9, 2017 2:00PM ARC Loft
A copy of the thesis is available for perusal in ARC 2106A.
Marc-Antoine Pepin
Of
the
thesis
entitled: History
of
failure
Abstract:
The ability to project a virtual vision on the world and give it physical form sets the human apart. By shaping his surroundings at will, the human holds considerable power not only on the environment, but on fellow humans and the world at large. The thesis discusses the different shapes the horror of architecture takes. Told as a loose history of civilization, it constructs a theory of horror from the primal confrontation to nature, lingers on the oppressive walls of contemporary society, and projects a future of labyrinthine sentient buildings. A chimera one part asterochronic[1] collage and four parts picaresque[2] novel, the resulting document recalls the failure of the thesis as building to dwell on the indefinable, uncontainable nature of horror, a dark internalized version of the world with an undertone of settled accounts.
[1] "[The
asterochronic] establishes
connections
between
events
that
are
heterogeneous
in
time
and space."
Muriel
Pic
as
quoted
by
Nicolas
Bourriaud, The
exform (Brooklyn:
Verso,
2016),
156.
[2] The
picaresque
is
often
characterized
by
the
absence
of
a
clear
plot
and
a rogue
hero
living
by
his
wits. William
Flint
Thrall
and
Addison Hibbard, A
Handbook
to
Literature (New
York:
Odyssey
Press,
1961).
Supervisor: | Robert Jan van Pelt, University of Waterloo |
Committee Members: |
Anne Bordeleau, University of Waterloo Marie-Paule Macdonald, University of Waterloo |
External Reader: | Scott Sorli |
The committee has been approved as authorized by the Graduate Studies Committee.
The Defence Examination will take place:
Monday, June 12, 2017 12:30PM ARC 2026
A copy of the thesis is available for perusal in ARC 2106A.
Safira Lakhani
Of
the
thesis
entitled: The River
is
for
Washing
Carpets
Abstract:
Contemporary
peacebuilding, notably
as
it
is
practiced
in
Afghanistan,
consistently
fails
to
address
local needs
in
favour
of
international
priorities
for
global
security. Despite
the
significant
presence
of
foreign
agencies and
aid
mechanisms
in
the
country,
peace in
Afghanistan
remains
elusive. Any
semblance
of
peace
achieved
is
neither durable,
nor
sustainable,
particularly
because
of
international
ignorance
of on-the-ground
environmental
and
social
realities,
with
specific
reference
to natural
resource
management and
gender
dynamics. These
failures
are
localised
in
Bamyan,
a small
valley
in
Afghanistan’s
Central
Highlands,
most
well
known
for
its historic
Buddhist
complex,
circa
6th century. An
anomaly,
Bamyan
is
a
pocket
of
peace
in
an otherwise
turbulent
country, a
direct
result
of
global
interest
(and
therein foreign
engagement)
in
the
preservation
of
eight
archaeological
sites
in
the valley. Yet
the
valley’s
‘World
Heritage’ designation
(2003)
has
ultimately
prescribed
a
development
policy
that emphasises
heritage conservation
over
local
socio-economic
livelihoods. In
so
doing,
the
people
of
Bamyan
are
still today
incredibly
vulnerable,
subject
to
insecurity
in
their
water
resource base,
which
is
further
aggravated
by
a
changing
climate
and
transition
to urbanity.
Critiquing
present
models
of peacebuilding,
this
thesis
is
an
advocate
for
the
agency
of
design
in
fragile states. Specifically,
the
thesis suggests
that
the
intersection
of
architecture,
infrastructure,
and
ecology creates
a
framework
for
sustainable
development
that is
grounded
in
local conditions
and
livelihoods. Herein, peacebuilding
becomes
a
bottom-up,
pro-active
process,
engaging
with,
and responding
to,
the
needs
of
local
people
as
a
means
of
building
a
paradigm
of self-sufficiency. That
is,
the
thesis strives
for ‘positive’
peace,[1] with
the
intention
of
cultivating
relationships
of
solidarity
between
and
among communities. In
Bamyan,
opportunity
for this
is
found
through
shared
spaces
for
water. Water
has
important
ecological
and
cultural
implications. Rehabilitation of
water
infrastructure
is necessary
to
restore
the
valley’s
denuded
landscape. Ritual
importance
of
water
additionally provides
occasion
for
community
gathering
and
social
encounter,
both
for
men and
for
women. Women
especially,
are
integral to
the
peace process
as
their
presence,
in
Afghan
society,
enables
the
‘family space,’
a
safe,
gender-neutral,
and
culturally
appropriate
space
for
informal, public
community
gathering.
Accordingly,
the
thesis proposes
a
network
of
decentralised
physical,
ecological,
and
social infrastructures
throughout
the
local
watershed
of
Bamyan
that
seek
to
build enduring
social
and
environmental
resilience. Integration
of
vernacular
and
modern technologies
capitalises
on
local knowledge
and
historical
models
of
behaviour. Participation
of
the
community
in
the
building
process
moreover
strengthens social
relations,
producing
a
shared
sense
of
ownership
in
the
peace process. This
is
explored
through detailed
design
of
one
node
in
the
network,
a
washing
house
along
Bamyan
River, which
connects
water
and
women
as
mechanisms
for
enduring
peace,
uncovering
the potential
of
shared
spaces
for
water
to
mobilise
community
solidarity,
empower cultural identity,
and
build
human
dignity. Coupling
ecological
and
cultural
systems
draws
on
the
existing
and
the essential,
and
the
thesis
thus
conceives
a
practice
of
design
that
can appropriately
engage
in,
and
foster,
sustainable
peace
in
fragile
states.
[1] In peace theory developed by Johan Galtung, ‘positive’ peace looks to prevent structural violence, as opposed to ‘negative’ peace which is regarded simply as the absence of direct violence.
Co-Supervisors: |
Anne Bordeleau, University of Waterloo Mona El Khafif, Univeristy of Virginia |
Committee Member: |
Tammy Gaber, Laurentian University |
External Reader: | Hadi Husani, Aga Khan Agency for Habitat |
The committee has been approved as authorized by the Graduate Studies Committee.
The Defence Examination will take place:
Friday, July 7, 2017 11:00AM ARC Loft
A copy of the thesis is available for perusal in ARC 2106A.
Peter Bohdal
Of
the
thesis
entitled: Monster
Abstract:
451 Manning Avenue, home to an architect and an artist, has generated an adverse reaction within its community. The property is maintained as a testament to the Rao family history in Canada, but most visibly, Villa Rao stands in advocacy of diversity within our built environment. The recently proposed addition is a monstrosity by one hundred and twenty accounts.
Supervisor: |
Donald McKay, University of Waterloo |
Committee Members: |
Rick Andrighetti, University of Waterloo Marie-Paule Macdonald, University of Waterloo |
External Reader: | Scott Sorli |
The committee has been approved as authorized by the Graduate Studies Committee.
The Defence Examination will take place:
Thursday, July 13, 2017 6:00PM ARC 2026
A copy of the thesis is available for perusal in ARC 2106A.
Bryce Clayton
Of
the
thesis
entitled: 53
North: Tactical
Infrastructure
in
Edmonton
Abstract:
Edmonton,
Alberta
has
followed
the typical
North
American
pattern
of
growth,
replicating
the
urban
and architectural
designs
established
further
south.
Long,
straight
city streets
and
a
proliferation
of
voids
within
the
downtown
urban fabric
are characteristic
of
many
American
cities,
but
when
this
condition
is
replicated in
the
far
north,
the
negative
aspects
of
the
winter
season
are
amplified
as arctic
winds
sweep
through
the
streets
and
open
spaces.
As
urban
design has
failed
to
account
for
the
winter
conditions,
architecture
has overcompensated
in
its
response.
Mechanical
climate
control
is
overly relied
upon
creating
sharply
delineated
areas
between
over-protection
and
total exposure,
creating harsh
transitions
for
the
citizens
as
they
move
through built
and
unbuilt
environments.
The
resulting
effect
on
society
is
the worsening
of
an
already
negative
perception
of
winter
fostering
a
culture
of avoidance,
but
as
the
urban
design has
made
winter
life
more
difficult
the voids
it
has
produced
can
also
provide
the
spaces
in
which
winter
life
can
be embraced.
For
Edmonton
to
become
a
healthy
“Winter
City”
it
must
attempt new
approaches
in
urban
and architectural
design
to
resolve
both
its
lifeless downtown
core
and
the
societal
rejection
of
winter.
This
thesis
explores
creating
a
new
design
tool
whereby
the
intrinsic values
of
snow
can
be
utilized
to
create
winter
public
spaces
to
temporarily occupy
the
urban
void.
A
new
structure
is
proposed
where
City
groups
will act
as coordinators
sanctioning
land
parcels
for
urban
interventions
using
the snow
on
each
site
and
that
cleared
by
the
municipal
workers,
sculpted
into basic
forms.
When
used
in
combination,
the
forms
create
protective, desirable
micro-climates
which
inject
program
and
activity
into
the
formerly vacant
lots,
introducing
positive
winter
activity
into
the
realm
of
daily
life in
Edmonton.
The
iterations
in
form
serve
a
dual
purpose
by
acting
as
a testing
grounds, discovering
new
urban
and
architectural
design
strategies through
experimentation
and
observation,
informing
future
designs
within
the city.
Supervisor: |
Rick Andrighetti, University of Waterloo |
Committee Members: |
Adrian Blackwell, University of Waterloo Jane Hutton, University of Waterloo |
External Reader: | Helena Grdadolnik, WORKSHOP Architecture Inc |
The committee has been approved as authorized by the Graduate Studies Committee.
The Defence Examination will take place:
Wednesday, July 19, 2017 9:30AM BRIDGE Centre for Architecture + Design
A copy of the thesis is available for perusal in ARC 2106A.
Dustin Parkes
Of
the
thesis
entitled: Dreaming Space: Exploring
the
Transformative
Power
of Immersive
Art
and
Architecture
Abstract:
The role
of
art
is
to
transform
our
experience
of
reality.
This
process
often involves
a
quality
of
rupture;
of
breaking
through
the
boundaries
of
our habitual,
conditioned
modes
of
perception
in
order
to
experience
new
and unexpected sensations.[1] Gilles
Deleuze
and
Felix
Guattari
write
that architecture
is
the
first
of
the
arts.
Art
does
not
begin
with
the
body
but with
the
house;
with
the
experience
of
space
and
light,
and
the
constructed environments
which
mediate between
our
bodies
and
forces
of
the
universe.[2]
This thesis
follows
the
physical
and
affective
journey
of
a
group
of
artists
over many
years.
This
journey
involves
challenging
forces
of
social
and
cultural conditioning;
breaking
through
boundaries
of
fear
and
habit,
as
well
as artistic and
architectural
convention.
We
have
a
need
to
explore
aesthetics without
limitation.
The dreaming
space where
this journey
is
taking
place
is
a
studio
on
a
property
in
my
hometown,
Sarnia, Ontario.
This
is
where
I
live
and
work
with
my
uncle/mentor,
and
three companions.
Both
the
studio
and
the
experience
of
the participants
are
in
a continuous
state
of
transformation.
The
space
has
become
an
ever-evolving immersive
collage
of
paintings,
sculptures,
architectural
constructions, mirrors,
video,
projections,
and
compositions
of
magical
objects. The
expansive, dark,
earthen,
dream-like
quality
of
the
space
is
immediately
affecting.
It
is a
place
for
dreaming
and
composing;
for
channeling
visions
and
exploring altered
states
of
sensory
awareness.
We
are
exploring
the possibilities
of
what art
and
architecture
can
do:
specifically,
how
it
can
facilitate
sensorial encounters
which
transform
our
experience
of
reality.
This thesis
takes
the
form
of
a
series
of
reflections
on
this dreaming
space.
It
has
a
personal history
with
a
cultural
context.
It
has
caves,
grottos,
and
tunnels; ever-changing
compositions
and
installations,
surrounded
by
the
underworld and built
up
over
time.
Within
the
dreaming
space
we
are
continuously
exploring
the incredible
possibilities
of
the
transformative
power
of
art
and
architecture.
[1] O’Sullivan,
Simon.
Art Encounters
Deleuze
and
Guattari: Thought
beyond Representation.
2006.
p.
1
[2] Deleuze,
Gilles,
and
Félix
Guattari.
What
Is Philosophy? 1994.
p.
180,
182, 186
Supervisor: |
Dereck Revington, University of Waterloo |
Committee Members: |
John McMinn, University of Waterloo Robert Jan van Pelt, University of Waterloo |
External Reader: | Jonathan Tyrrell |
The committee has been approved as authorized by the Graduate Studies Committee.
The Defence Examination will take place:
Wednesday, July 27, 2017 3:00PM BRIDGE Centre for Architecture + Design
A copy of the thesis is available for perusal in ARC 2106A.
Adrienne Huang
Of
the
thesis
entitled: Mudzi
Owala, Village
of
Light – Lessons
from
Malawi
Abstract:
This
thesis
explores
my
journey
to
a
small
corner
of
Africa,
where
I lived
with
and
learned
from
the
communities
of
rural
Malawi. In
particular,
it
examines
the
architectural lessons
that
emerged
from
my
involvement
in
a
local
building
project
called Mudzi Owala (Village
of
Light).
My
African
travels
were
inspired
by
the
realization
that
more
than ninety
percent
of
the
total
number
of
architects
in
the
world
live
and
work
in the
wealthiest
countries,
cities,
and
neighbourhoods. While
most
architectural
schools
focus
on design
studio-based education,
the
exemplified
clients
and
projects
account
for less
than
ten
percent
of
the
population
on
a
global
scale. Over
time,
I
have
realized
that
my
interest lies
in
working
with
those
without
access
to
standard
architectural
services
– namely,
the overwhelming
majority
of
the
population.
In
an
era
dominated
by
global
challenges
such
as
large-scale
informal settlements,
unsustainable
development,
and
resource
scarcity,
the
traditional role
and
training
of
the
“desk
architect”
can
be
increasingly
questioned. In
the
21st
century,
the
role
of
the architect
demands
the
cultivation
of
many
so-called
non-architectural
skills and
experiences. The
contrast
between
my traditional
architectural
education
and
the
realities
I
witnessed
in
my
adopted community
led
me
to
a
new
understanding
of
architecture
that fundamentally changed
my
mindset
about
what
it
means
to
work
as
an
architect.
The
thesis
is
a
collection
of architectural
research,
reflections,
and
responses
shared
as
a
series
of lessons. Represented
through
personal narrative
and
photography,
the
result
is
an
account
of
my
travels
in
Malawi
as a
means
of
understanding
how
our
approach to
the
role
of
the
architect
may change
in
order
to
be
able
to
meet
the
challenges
that
define
our
new
global
reality.
Supervisor: |
Val Rynnimeri, University of Waterloo |
Committee Members: |
Andrew Levitt, University of Waterloo John McMinn, University of Waterloo |
External Reader: | Alison Hannay, Cornerstone Architecture Incorporated |
The committee has been approved as authorized by the Graduate Studies Committee.
The Defence Examination will take place:
Friday, August 11, 2017 9:30AM ARC 2026
A copy of the thesis is available for perusal in ARC 2106A.
Chris Black
Of
the
thesis
entitled: 2
Degrees
Celsius:
Assessing
the
Potential of
Urban
Commercial Buildings in
Canada
to
Meet
the
2°C
Climate
Change
Target
Abstract:
To
avoid
the
catastrophic effects
of
climate
change,
scientific
consensus
and
international
convention have
determined
that
the
mean
rise
in
global
temperatures
must
be
limited
to between
1.5°C
and
2.0°C. The Intergovernmental
Panel
on
Climate
Change
suggests
the building
sector possesses
the
most
immediate
mitigation
potential
and
has
proven
technological and
design
capability
at
hand. To
meet this
goal,
a
55%
reduction
is
required
compared
to
a
proposed
Business-As-Usual Scenario
forecast
in
emissions
between
2005
and 2050. For
Canadian
commercial
buildings,
this
is equivalent
to
emissions
dropping
from
88.4
MtCO2e
to
39.8
MtCO2e/yr.
Between
2005
and
2050,
the floor
area
of
commercial
building
is
expected
to
double
from
654.2
million
m2 to
1,139.5
million
m2 while
the
emissions
are
to
be
halved. The
proposed
model
suggests
that,
by
2050, new
and
substantially
renovated
buildings
should
emit 15.3
kgCO2e/m2/yr to
achieve
this.
When
combined
with
existing
buildings,
the
blended
emissions cap
is
expected
to
be
34.9
kgCO2e/m2/yr. Given
that
in
2013
new,
renovated,
and existing
buildings
in
Canada
was
46.67
kgCO2e/m2/yr,
this ambitious
target
implies
a significant
transformation
of
commercial
buildings.
When
consistently
applied
to every
building,
the
15.3
kgCO2e/m2/yr
rate
suggests
an evolving
approach
to
design.
This
is
especially
true
for
urban
sites
where passive
design
and
renewable
energy
opportunities
are
limited.
Although
there are
a
number
of
built
projects that
meet
the
criteria,
they
remain
the exception
rather
than
the
norm
and
deploy
a
maximum
of
energy
efficient technologies
and
design
strategies. A full
range
of
innovative
passive
and
active
building
technologies
is
leveraged, and
many
examples
are
most
often
not situated
in
a
dense
urban
environment.
Using
an
emission
rate
per square
metre
reflects
a
"bottom-up"
approach
to
transforming
Canadian commercial
buildings.
Rather
than
relying
on
sweeping
policy
intervention
or mandating
particular
technologies,
this
metric
can
be
used
to
bring
the
various drivers
of emissions
together
for
an
individual
building,
thus
allowing
the most
applicable
technologies
and
strategies
to
be
selected
on
a
case-by-case basis.
The
thesis
will
demonstrate
that
a
suite
of
measures
focused
on
the combination
of
energy
conservation
and
fuel
choice
can not
only
achieve
this target
on
urban
projects
with
limited
passive
means
but
suggest
that
the adoption
of
further
passive
and
active
technologies
could
push
performance
even further.
To
investigate
the implications
of
the
emission
cap
in
this
context,
a
demonstration
project
is
proposed and
sited
in
three
different
locations
on
a
prototypical
urban
block. Located
on
a
north-facing
end-block,
a mid-block,
and
a
south-facing
end-block
site,
each
is designed
to
both
current code
requirements
and
the
2°C
scenario
emission
limit.
The
selection
of
an urban
context
bridges
the
gap
between
the
ideal
conditions
of
rural
or
campus buildings,
where
few
obstructions
to
leveraging
passive
design
and
implementing extensive on-site
renewable
energy
systems
exist,
and
urban
buildings
with tight
sites
and
limited
passive
opportunities.
With
the
world
now
predominantly urban,
these
sites
are
expected
to
represent
the
norm. Pablo
Picasso
saw
constraints
as
sources
of inspiration
and
invention rather
than
limitations
to
creativity.
Similarly, rather
than
being
a
limitation
to
design,
this
thesis
will
show
that
it
has
the opportunity
to
become
a
foundational
design
driver
motivating
invention
and innovation
within
the
field’s
practical
and
conceptual
foundations.
Supervisor: |
Terri Meyer Boake, University of Waterloo |
Committee Members: |
John Straube, University of Waterloo Geoffrey Lewis, University of Waterloo |
External Reader: | Ted Kesik, University of Toronto |
The committee has been approved as authorized by the Graduate Studies Committee.
The Defence Examination will take place:
Monday August 28, 2017 1:00PM ARC 1001
A copy of the thesis is available for perusal in ARC 2106A.