Waterloo Architecture
7 Melville Street South
Cambridge, Ontario, Canada
N1S 2H4
architecture@uwaterloo.ca
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The annual awards honour design excellence for projects in the design and construction phases, as well as graduating student work. Awards are given for architectural design excellence.
Toronto’s downtown is rapidly densifying. One of the results is that residents have reduced access to biodiverse green spaces, which foster mental health and environmental responsibility. This project aims to move beyond ornamental lawns, exploring a dynamic strategy to creating complex urban habitats for flora and fauna.
The work explores computational methods of modelling networks and habitats that are borrowed from landscape ecology, graph theory, and parametric architecture. It involves simulating the two-dimensional and three-dimensional movement of birds through the city, and using this information to locate and inform a variety of interventions.
Two- and three-dimensional mapping is used to analyze the movement of birds through the city, and to locate interventions to facilitate their passage.
The Jury praised Parkin's thesis:
Rami Bebawi: "This goes beyond analyzing the problem and starts thinking of solutions."
Joe Lobko: "An imaginative exploration and analysis of the evolving life of birds in our densifying cities, proposing strategies for more effective understanding of behaviours and impacts while offering creative suggestions for the evolution of bird-friendly habitat."
Cindy Wilson: "This thesis takes a rigorous approach to a pertinent aspect of sustainability that is part of the health of urban environments. As cities continue to grow, how can we mutually benefit and exist with nature?"
Parkin's thesis Supervisor was Maya Przybylski and Committee Member was Jane Hutton.
Read the Jury Report.
Read the Canadian Architect article.
Waterloo Architecture
7 Melville Street South
Cambridge, Ontario, Canada
N1S 2H4
architecture@uwaterloo.ca
Contact Waterloo Architecture
Support Waterloo Architecture
Tours and directions
Provide Website Feedback
Musagetes Library
The University of Waterloo acknowledges that much of our work takes place on the traditional territory of the Neutral, Anishinaabeg and Haudenosaunee peoples. Our main campus is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land granted to the Six Nations that includes six miles on each side of the Grand River. Our active work toward reconciliation takes place across our campuses through research, learning, teaching, and community building, and is centralized within our Office of Indigenous Relations.