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03.10.17 - Q&A: recent gradute of the Bachelors of Arts, Visual Studies program Chantal Hassard

It’s not often that a graduate of the Bachelors of Arts, Visual Studies has the opportunity to create an installation for their professor’s bathroom, but Chantal Hassard did just that earlier this year. Professor Joanne Tod had taken a liking to Hassard’s MOOP (Matter Out of Place) artwork, and invited her to create the installation with the desire to have “bottles tumbling down from the skylight.” Since graduating, Hassard started b[art]er (an artist exchange network), exhibited work at Honest Ed’s Farewell Festival, and was profiled by Narcity as one of “14 Toronto Artists To Follow On Instagram If You Want To Be Inspired.” Honours Bachelor of Arts in Architectural Studies student Josie Northern Harrison (HBA 2017) met up with Hassard to chat about her recent initiatives within the artist community, her experience saying goodbye to one of Toronto’s landmark buildings, and how counter-cultural communities have inspired her work.

While you were studying, did you take part in any opportunities at U of T that changed your perspective on art?
My perspective on art really changed when I did a semester abroad in Tel Aviv with U of T’s Centre for International Experience. While studying Political Science and travelling, I stumbled into the Isreali Burning Man community, which organizes Midburn, the third largest Burning Man offshoot event worldwide. I knew Burning Man was a self-sufficient artist community, and I wanted to explore their ideas. I got involved by volunteering with the Department of Public Works to go into the Negev desert to install infrastructure for the temporary city.

The immersive environment really expanded my understanding of how art affects viewers. It was eye-opening to watch large scale installations be built and celebrated, only to be lit on fire and destroyed later on. The counterculture ideology of radical inclusion — the idea that everyone should be welcome — seemed especially valuable in an exclusive state like Israel.

How did you continue your art practice after you graduated?
After graduating from the Visual Studies program, I initiated b[art]er, an artist exchange network, to recreate a setting where people could engage with each other through art. Anyone can bring anything they made to trade with other artists. By exchanging work, participants invest in each other. There is so much rejection in the world, so I hope that b[art]er can be a place where people might try things they’ve never done before just for fun.

I also gallery sit, help install shows, and bartend at Northern Contemporary, an illustration gallery in Parkdale. There is a lot of experimentation going on there, and I can test ideas like b[art]er in the space. I am volunteering in exchange for a show of my own, so I am making work with that in mind now.

Out Home and Native Land by Chantal Hassard, 2017.

It seems like you have a really good relationship with Joanne Tod; has she been a mentor for you?
Yeah, totally. Joanne Tod was my professor during my final semester at U of T. In undergrad courses, I was formally introduced to postmodernism through her figurative work from the 80’s, so I made it a priority to take her painting course. I was new to painting and had hoped to learn some technical skills, but ended up really connecting to Joanne through our shared appreciation for social commentary. At the same time, she advised my Visual Studies thesis course, so she saw how my far-out ideas could hang together. After I graduated, she invited me to extend a series called MOOP — the Burning Man word for garbage, or Matter Out Of Place — in the bathroom of her home. She is a total rockstar, and her support has had a profound effect on my own confidence as an artist.

For the installation in her bathroom, I made Our Home and Native Land (2017). I wanted to acknowledge Canada’s 150th year by creating a nauseating archive of material and cultural consumption that highlights the exploitive relationship our society has with the natural world. I was very inspired by and wanted to highlight the references associated with a tree branch in Joanne’s bathroom from Byng Inlet where Tom Thomson’s painted his iconic White Pines. The branch inspired her artwork Divided Touch (2010), and in an interview with The Walrus (http://walrusmagazine.com/rbc/2010.11/) she describes how impressionists conceptualized their use of unmixed dabs of paint so that colours could be brightened by association. I see the same principle at play in the branding of many products; bright colours create recognition with consumers. To create the installation, I spent a year assembling female bathroom products together with personal photography, materials from tree planting, many cutouts of works by Joanne and many other artists working in Canada who influence me. I assembled all these objects together onto a series of canvases that all had their own dominant colour based on the packaging. Each canvas acts like an impasto brush stroke to paint a hysterically realistic defragmenting landscape that tumbles down from the skylight above her bathtub.

MOOP by Chantal Hassard, 2016.

You also used this style of painting for your installation at Honest Ed’s; could you describe that project?
I made an installation called “Good Buys!!” Gone. Bye. (2017). Another Visual Studies graduate, Max Suillerot (BVS 2016) was curating part of An Honest Farewell, an initiative by The Centre for Social Innovation and Toronto for Everyone to say goodbye to the iconic store. Max was familiar with my work, so he invited me fill a Bloor street window vitrine with all the objects he had seen overflowing out of my bedroom turned studio. I showcased what I’d been working on for Joanne’s bathroom with old dusty hand painted signs that I found while dismantling Honest Ed’s old shelving units in preparation for the Farewell Party. It was meant to look like a sale display.
 
It was really fun to be part of the Honest Ed’s send off. All the stories came out. It was like the Ellis Island for anyone new to the city needing to set up a place. My Oma remembered going to Honest Ed’s when they first immigrated to buy affordable snowsuits for my mother. I had a great uncle that worked there. The image of Ed Mirvish as this good guy, patron-of-the-arts, local business tycoon fascinates me. Exploring the private offices of the store was like stepping into a time machine. Boxes of typewriter ribbon were still in the desk drawers! I live nearby so a lot of my soap packages were purchased there. It was also exciting to see how people on the street responded to my work.

Band-Aid Solution by Chantal Hassard, 2016.

Do you have any advice for incoming students?
Get out there! Volunteer for events that interest you. Go on an exchange. Go to galleries. Submit to shows. Take all kinds of classes. Follow your intuition and definitely don’t waste time being intimidated or wishing you were done studying — it will all be over before you even know what happened. 

Image, top (in order of appearance):
Februus by Chantal Hassard, 2016.
Reserve Zone by Chantal Hassard, 2017.
Detail of MOOP by Chantal Hassard, 2016.
Detail of MOOP by Chantal Hassard, 2016.

02.10.17 - Alumni help students ease transition from school to work at Student-Professionals Networking Event

Last month, Master of Architecture students participated in the Daniels Faculty’s Student-Professionals Networking Event, organized with the help of the Ontario Association of Architects (OAA) and GALDSU — the Daniels Faculty's graduate student union.

The event provides students an opportunity to meet with top architecture professionals, ask questions about their practice, and gain knowledge of their prospective career paths. Modeled after “speed networking,” students alternated — moving from table to table — to meet and pose questions to professionals about their practice, as well as to gain knowledge into their prospective career paths.

Professor Shane Williamson — Director, Master of Architecture — and Kathleen Kurtin — Senior Vice President and Treasurer of the OAA — welcomed the students and professionals with opening remarks before they started the “speed networking” sessions in rooms 230 and 330 at One Spadina. Students spoke with professionals who shared their advice on transitioning from school into professional practice.

“It’s good to be able to talk face-to-face,” said student Nancy Zhang about a similar event hosted earlier this year. “It helps to establish a connection and to learn more about the profession."

Masters of Landscape Architecture students can look forward to another Student-Professionals Networking Event to happen January 2018.

02.10.17 - Friday, October 6: Join GALDSU for the launch of The Annual

The Graduate Architecture, Landscape, and Design Student Union (GALDSU) will launch this year’s issue on Friday, October 6. This issue will explore “the multiplicity of ways in which the graduate students of Daniels confront the realities of our world – and their worlds – as a way to imagine and create space for multiple futures.” How, Co-Editors and Alumni Jasper Flores, Elise Hunchuck, and Dayne Roy-Caldwell ask, do the “practices of architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, and visual studies suggest ways for us to design with and for each other?”

The launch party will take place at OFFSITE Concept Space at 867 Dundas Street West. There will be music, food, and a cash bar. Copies of the new publication will be available to purchase. For more information, visit the Eventbrite page.

A note from the editors on the cover image (pictured above): “The moon was installed at the Art Museum at the University of Toronto in April 2016, alongside Gillian Dykeman (MVS 2016)'s video 'Dispatches from the Feminist Utopian Future,' watercolour schematic drawings of the earthworks, and a keystone covered in tachyon particles. For more, please see 'Dispatches from the Feminist Utopian Future (page 13-18) and Psychic Strata: Land, Art, Subjectivity (page 19-26). Both works are by Gillian Dykeman. The cover photograph was taken by Jesse Boles (MVS 2015), courtesy of Gillian Dykeman (2015).

Other photos (in order of appearance): 2-On Spheres by Ekaterina Dovjenko, 3-Wasting Futures by Elaine Chau, 4-To Melt Into Air, Slowly by Vanessa Abram, 5-∆ Museum by Melissa Gerskup and Ray Wu

21.08.17 - How to create affordable housing in Toronto: dream big, says Tye Farrow (BArch 1987)

Alumnus Tye Farrow (BArch 1987) has designed a bold solution to help address the need for more affordable housing in Toronto — and the Bloor Viaduct, one of city’s most iconic bridges, is at the heart of his plan.

His proposal would transform the bridge from a single-use function into a multi-use one. In addition to connecting the neighbourhoods west of the Don Valley Ravine with those to the east, the bridge could providing places to live, places to play, and places to work and shop — and be a popular tourist destination to boot. Dave LeBlanc recently wrote about Farrow’s Living Bridges idea in the Globe and Mail.

"There are few government-owned or low-cost sites in the city’s core available for development," writes Farrow in his proposal for Living Bridges [PDF]. "The quest to identify economical sites that are near public transit as well as suitable for quick construction will require innovative thinking and bold action."

Key to the building's affordability is the use of a new type of inexpensive material — metal-strengthened plywood, now being developed by a company called GRIP Metal. Made of “thin sheets of metal with microhooks between the plies of wood,” the plywood can be formed into cylinders, built off-site, to create individual units.

“Can we dream that big again?” writes LeBlanc. “Can we spike the water with 1960s Kool-Aid?” He is not the only one interested in this bold idea for the Bloor Viaduct. The proposal has been also covered by the Toronto Star, BlogTO, Daily Hive, Salus, and Vancouver Roundhouse Radio. He will be presenting the design idea at the inaugural Healthy City Design 2017 International Congress in the UK in the Fall.

Visit Farrow’s website to read his full proposal [PDF] for Living Bridges.

17.08.17 - Deanna Bowen (MVS 2008) on race, migration, and anti-Blackness in 20th century Canada

Alumna Deanna Bowen (MVS 2008) was recently profiled by Canadian Art for her research on anti-Blackness in 20th-century Canada. Bowen is a descendant of the Alabama- and Kentucky-born Black Prairie pioneers of Amber Valley and Campsie, Alberta, and this family geneology largely informs her artwork.

“To understand how her family history positions her in Canada today, Bowen’s deep historical research ranges from community and institutional archives, first-person conversations and forgotten photographs to newspaper clippings and television recordings,” writes Canadian Art. “She uses whatever medium can best tell the stories she uncovers: shot-for-shot remakes in video and performance, documentary photography, text-based reproductions, and a theatrical production for a fall 2017 solo exhibition at Mercer Union.”

In 2013, Bowen’s exhibit at the Art Gallery of York University explored the Ku Klux Klan’s role in 20th century Canadian history by strategically displaying violent, white supremacist banners. The exhibit sparked a conversation on campus and caused “people who pass by everyday to literally trip over themselves.”

 

13.08.17 - An Te Liu & Graeme Stewart design a new gateway to Kensington Market, giving an old building some new skin

Associate Professor An Te Liu is working with Daniels Alumus Graeme Stewart (MArch 2007) to brighten up Kensington Market.

Writes Dave LeBlanc for the Globe and Mail:

What do you get when you mix the following? An architect with a particular interest in “tower renewal” – the science of reskinning 1950s-1970s buildings to be more energy efficient – who also works at one of the city’s top heritage firms; a world-class sculptor who has had solo exhibitions in Berlin, Shanghai, Los Angeles and New York; a condominium board filled with artists, educators, architects, engineers, writers and other creative types; and a wall that didn’t exactly look good after some much-needed structural repairs.

You get a new gateway to Kensington Market on the east wall of the Kensington Market Lofts at 160 Baldwin St.

“This will be his biggest public piece,” said Stewart of Liu’s design. A professor in the Master of Architecture program at the Daniels Faculty, Liu has been engaged in sculpture and installation work that explores issues of funtion, occupation, and cultural coding in the domestic and urban realms since 1999. A principal at ERA Architects, Stewart was a key initiator of the Tower Renewal Project, which examines the future of Toronto’s modern tower neighbourhoods, and a founding director of the Centre for Urban Growth and Renewal.

Writes ERA on their website:

While not a tower renewal project, there are several aspects that have been informative for tower renewal endeavours. This has included:

  • Detailed thinking about construction sequencing without displacing residents.
  • Instituting a best practice approach to recladding of existing assemblies that takes into account long term durability, fire protection, improved insulation, and continuity of vapour barriers.
  • Showing how an initially functional imperative can be leveraged to provide a design approach with additional meaning for the residents and the community.

Visit the Globe and Mail’s website to read the full article by Dave LeBlanc.

Image, top: Artist An Te Liu once painted a postwar bungalow ‘Monopoly green’ as part of the ‘Leona Drive Project’ in Willowdale, Ont.

12.07.17 - Growing up in TO: Julie Bogdanowicz shares insight from her research on planning for children in vertical communities

As Toronto grows, so too does the need to better plan for family-friendly density: 80% of the city’s new housing, constructed between 2006 and 2016, has been buildings of five storeys or more — with most units designed for single people or couples. But that hasn’t stopped families with kids from living in high-rise homes.

Sessional Lecturer Julie Bogdanowicz, an architect working as a Senior Urban Designer at the City of Toronto, recently co-managed a study on planning for children in new vertical communities. One of the outcomes of the study was draft guidelines, which tackle the issue at three scales: the neighbourhood, the building, and the unit. They were approved by City Council this month.

“During our research we found that there were already thousands of children living in vertical communities, and not just downtown, but in Toronto's other urban centres,” says Bogdanowicz. “Families are choosing to live in dense areas because they are prioritizing quality time with their family over long commutes. They love the convenience and amenities in their neighbourhoods, but they all told us that they need more parks and social spaces. They also need all the community services and facilities that are meant to come along with new development, like child cares and schools. So we need to get better at vertically integrating these uses into the base of residential buildings. The North Toronto Collegiate Institute is a strong example of this typology."

Bogdanowicz co-managed the study with Andrea Oppedisano from the Strategic Initiatives section of City Planning, working with consultants Jane Farrow, Public Consultation; Hariri Pontarini Architects (the firm of Daniels Alumnus David Pontarini, BArch 1983); and Urban Strategies Inc. Emilia Floro (BArch 1988) and Ann-Marie Nasr were Bogdanowicz and Oppendisano’s managers. Overseeing it all was the Director of Urban Design, Daniels alumna Lorna Day (BArch 1984).

“It was really exciting to work closely with the team at Hariri Pontarini Architects,” said Bogdanowicz. “Through the architectural testing work we drilled down and analyzed how a functional family unit could work and what elements were required. Then we looked at how the shared spaces of the building could be re-imagined to support the social life of the building. So when you move through your lobby, towards the amenity space, there are opportunities to introduce social spaces or views into amenity spaces where you get to see what your neighbours are up to. We are trying to move away from the pristine white couch lobby space that people are too intimidated to use.”

Toronto has a legacy of housing families vertically, she says, adding that their research included case studies from the St-Lawrence neighbourhood and 150 Dan Leckie Way in City Place, a new social housing project by KPMB Architects, in which Shirley Blumberg (BArch 1976) innovated on Le Corbusier's skip-stop typology to produce large, livable two-storey units.

“One of the a-ha moments for the team was listening to faculty member and architect John Shnier's experience during our designer consultations,” Bogdanowicz says. “He demonstrated how his condo was flexible enough to transform from a refined bachelor pad to family home through flexible partitions. One big take-away for me was that we should move away from shear wall construction and start thinking about residential floor plates as blank slates that can transform over time. This would truly address sustainability objectives and future-proof our cities through a flexible housing stock.”

The City’s research was recently covered by CityLab, the CBC, and Urban Toronto. The guidelines put forward that 10% of units in a building should have at least three bedrooms, and that 15% have two bedrooms. They also provide guidance around public spaces, access to the outdoors, wider corridors, amenity spaces, storage, and more.

“Our Chief Planner, Jennifer Keesmaat has been very proactive in advocating for families in vertical communities and it seems like the industry is ready for the challenge,” says Bogdanowicz. “New census data revealed that there is a baby boom underway downtown. The millennials are having kids and they want to stay in their neighbourhoods. Currently families are making do with their living conditions, but we know we can do better so that all families can thrive in vertical communities.”

Join the conversation #GrowingUpTO

Photo, top from U of T's Bring Our Children To Work Day at the Daniels Faculty

Rabbit Snare Gorge by Omar Ghandi.

09.07.17 - Daniels alumni and faculty among Azure’s “30 Canadian Architecture Firms Breaking New Ground”

A number of Daniels faculty and alumni were recently named part of “30 Canadian Architecture Firms Breaking New Ground” by Azure Magazine. The list was created to celebrate Canada Day and was the third in a series of “best and brightest” lists.

“Some of our choices are studios that are fresh out of school and have yet to complete an entire building; others have won international competitions that will see their work realized on the other side of the world,” writes Azure. “At every scale they share a drive (some might call it an obsession) for pushing architecture to the limits in terms of technology, innovation and beauty.”

Omar Gandhi Architecture founded by Omar Gandhi, a graduate of the University of Toronto’s Honours, Bachelor of Arts in Architectural Studies program (project pictured above)

“With a second office now in Toronto, the studio is bringing and adapting rural sensibilities within an urban context. Says Gandhi: “I want my aesthetic to change constantly.” Last week, the firm took home a People’s Choice AZ Award for Rabbit Snare Gore.”

Studio AC, founded by Sessional Lecturer Jennifer Kudlats and Andrew Hill

“Principals Jennifer Kudlats and Andrew Hill are alums of KPMB Architects, where they first met. Running their own studio since 2015, they are now finishing up three residential renovations that express their taste for clean lines, wide open rooms, natural wood finishes and large doses of natural light.”

Office OU, founded by Sessional Lecturer Nicolas Koff and Uros Novakovic

“Earlier this year Office OU won a major masterplan competition for Sejong City (shown). The 190,000-square-metre site has been mapped out to house administrative buildings and five national museums that sit among manicured and natural landscapes, including terraced rice fields. When completed in 2023, the project’s impact is expected to shift South Korea’s cultural focus from Seoul to Sejong.”

Hapa Collaborative, where Sarah Siegel (MArch 2006) is an Associate

“Along with Nick Milkovich Architects and Matthew Soules Architecture, Hapa is responsible for the new Vancouver Art Gallery Plaza (shown), a $9.6-million renovation of the popular 4,197-square-metre square. The project, which had a soft opening on June 22, is already adored by locals. Its most defining feature is a tricolour mosaic of asymmetric tiles. In Canadian cities public squares can be few and far between. This plaza’s dramatic upgrade gives a new face to the entire downtown core.”

Public Work, the Landscape Architects for One Spadina

“Public Work is one of the key players envisioning plans for a 400-hectare waterfront site in Toronto. Called the Port Lands, the massive project has just received a financial injection of $1.25-billion from three levels of government. It is the largest redevelopment project of its kind in the history of Toronto, and it is expected to transform the postindustrial area into new neighbourhoods and parks, while providing a necessary flood barrier.”

Polymétis, founded by Sessional Lecturer Michaela MacLeod and Nichola Croft

“When Polymétis won the Prix de Rome for Emerging Practitioners, a year-long scholarship, they used the funds to visit 20 international sites that take a design approach to reclaiming waste sites within cities. We’re excited to see how Polymétis finds ways to apply this knowledge for cultivating public spaces out of wastescapes.”

Office of Adrian Phiffer, founded by Lecturer Adrian Phiffer

“The firm makes little distinction between art and architecture. Their competition entries have ranged from imagining Guggenheim Helsinki as a giant purple barge to a winter warming hut that lends out orange blanks to keep ice skaters warm.”

JA Architecture Studio, founded by Sessional Lecturer Nima Javidi, Behnaz Assadi (MLA 2008), and Hanieh Rezaei (MUD 2004)

“Now under construction is Duple Dip, a minimalist house in Toronto’s westend that from the exterior looks like a chapel. Inside, the sparse interior connects four outdoor spaces.”

Partisans, founded by Sessional Lecturer Pooya Baktash and Lecturer Alex Josephson

“The early success of Partisans hasn’t meant they have rested on past laurels. Among other large-scale projects the studio is working on is the rebirth of Union Station, Toronto’s central rail hub. The station is now undergoing a massive expansion that will see it double in size, mostly by digging underground. The project is expected to be completed in 2018.”

Woodford Sheppard Architecture, founded by Taryn Sheppard (MArch 2010) and Christ Woodford

“A number of WS projects signal a change for the region [St. John’s in Newfoundland]. In particular is the firm’s ambitious concept for The Bridge, a building that responds to the recent expansion of Newfoundland’s offshore oil industry and the need for both housing and office space. If built, the project would provide a campus that acts as a buffer zone between industrial and residential areas.”

Public City Architecture, a merger between Peter Sampson (BArch 1999) Architecture Studio and Plain Projects Landscape Architecture

“Making winter fun is one of the PCA’s main preoccupations. Their latest social engagement effort appeared on a public ice rink in Winnipeg last winter: a giant “crokicurl” game that mixes the rules of the tabletop board game crokinole with the physical scale of a curling rink.”

For the full article, visit Azure's website.

25.08.16 - Q&A: What's next for Jonah Ross-Marrs?

When he graduated in 2015, Jonah Ross-Marrs received the Jackman-Kuwabara Prize, awarded to the student judged to have the most outstanding Master of Architecture thesis of the year. That summer, he won a Pier 9 Artist-in-Residence fellowship at AutoDesk in San Francisco. How’s life a year after graduation? Honours Bachelor of Arts in Architectural Studies student Josie Northern Harrison (HBA 2017) caught up with Ross-Marrs over email to find out how his time at U of T has helped prepare him for future work in computation and architecture — and how he plans to expand on his thesis this Fall as a new student in the Master of Science in Architecture Studies (SMArchS) in Computation at MIT.

What inspired you to study architecture at the Daniels Faculty?
After completing an undergraduate degree in History, I wanted to study something tangible that would give me a foothold in the professional world. I was inspired by the models and diagrams on the walls of the architecture department at McGill University and felt I would be more at home in such an environment. I thought architecture might be an opportunity to build on my hobby of making electro-mechanical things and bring my creative work into a more formal academic environment.

I decided to study at Daniels because of the accomplished faculty. I liked the diversity of professors and felt the reputation of the school would help me in my career. I also felt that living in a large urban center would be a good supplement to my studies.

When did you first start experimenting with open source software?
I have been interested in electronics since the mid-1990s, when I began building simple solar-powered robots from e-waste. My interest was sparked by the magic of tiny, intricate mechanisms coming to life when charged with electricity. When Arduino (an accessible type of open-source hardware and software) was released, it allowed a whole group of people like myself access to microchips (mini reprogrammable electronic brains) that was previously unavailable. Once I was familiar with Arduino, it was a natural progression to make Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) machines.

How did studying at the University of Toronto influence your work?
Every design studio was, for me, life-changing and extremely challenging. I wasn’t sure I would continue on the traditional path of a practicing architect, so I used the courses I took as opportunities to develop my own creative method. I began to develop a creative process and learned that my strengths were in visual communication. I also learned to work within a highly critical environment and to accept criticism of my work. Studying design changed my view of making and made me aspire to higher ideals and have a greater appreciation for the context of my work.

Living in Toronto, I had access to valuable resources needed for experiments with custom CNC tooling. Active Surplus, Jacob’s Hardware, Above All Electronic Surplus, Hacklab.To, and other communities were crucial assets to my projects.

The Mini CNC Foam Cutter tutorial that you posted on Instructableshas been very successful (with ~42,000 views and ~500 favorites). Will you continue to contribute to the open source/hardware hacking community?
I have published a few more Instructables since the Mini CNC Foam Cutter and hope to get feedback from the community about the value of these projects. I hope to meaningfully contribute to the open-source community because I build on projects created by my peers as prime resources for my investigations. For the open-source hardware community in particular, I would like to continue to develop a series of mini CNC machines that work with different materials and use e-waste components in different ways.

What was it like being an Artist-in-Residence at the Autodesk Pier 9?
The Autodesk Artist-in-Residence Program was an excellent opportunity to interact with the programmers who develop software used by designers, and to gain access to cutting edge fabrication technologies. It was also an opportunity to meet incredibly talented designers and artists from around the world and learn from their practices. The San Francisco tech scene in general is extremely stimulating and full of intelligent and entrepreneurial individuals.

What did you create for the residency?
My project captured a moment that is normally lost in the process of printing a 3D model. When a computer prepares a 3D model for printing, it rebuilds the model out of triangles (i.e. translates the model into triangles) before virtually slicing the model into layers for the 3D printer to interpret. This first triangulation step is called the meshing process. I printed each component of this translation process separately in the order they have been rebuilt by the meshing algorithm. This was done with various input models: a house, a car, a washing machine, or a pencil sharpener. The results visualize the work of the meshing algorithms, providing a behind-the-scenes look into an almost instantaneous computer process that designers interact with every day but would never experience spatially. The potential of the project is in the way it can analyze and compare the behavior of different algorithms designed to do the same task in a kind of visual short-hand.

Do you hope to expand on the work you did for your MArch thesis in the SMArchS program in Computation at MIT?
At MIT, I hope to continue exploring my MArch thesis project and follow it wherever it leads me while challenging myself to increase my skill level in programming languages. Most of all, I hope to meet others in my field and learn from them, hopefully allowing myself to evolve and develop new insights.

Do you have any advice for students starting their Masters of Architecture degree next year?
I would suggest attending the guest lectures as they are a valuable opportunity to get insight into the design process and various strategies of presenting work. I think maintaining an interest in extra-architecture subjects is important because of the nature of inspiration. Connected with this, I think it is important to find ways to maintain a balanced lifestyle throughout the degree.

28.06.17 - Claude Cormier (BLA 1986) gives Berczy Park to the dogs

The concrete jungle of Downtown Toronto can sometimes be an unwelcoming place for our four-legged companions, but the newly redeveloped Berczy Park offers a respite for the city’s dogs and their human allies. Designed by alumnus Claude Cormier (BLA 1986), Berczy Park will now feature hand-painted dog sculptures spitting water into a large cast-iron fountain. Surrounding the centrepiece is a diamond-grid of pink and grey granite, with new elm trees and tulips along the perimeter.

“We’re trying very hard to make this not like a mall,” Cormier told The Globe and Mail. “We are combining it with the public realm to create a very urban feeling.”

Berczy Park officially opened on June 28, and is located behind the Flatiron Gooderham Building on Church and Front Streets.

Cormier has designed other well-received public spaces in Toronto, such as the HTO Park, Sugar Beach, and his firm is currently designing “Central Park” at the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre.

“The Montreal-based designer has put his stamp on the city with parks and public spaces, such as Sugar Beach," writes Alex Bozikovic for The Globe and Mail. “They’re whimsical but rigorously planned: incorporating time-honoured principles of public space, and the history of landscape design, but also a sense of fun.”

Two years ago, Cormier participated in a short lecture and panel discussion to celebrate the 125-year-history of the Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design. Titled "The Future of Creativity,” the event was one of four dialogues on the work of our faculty and alumni, and the new modes of practice that they, together with our students, hope to model and instigate. Watch the full lecture on our YouTube channel.

Photos, top: 1) Credit: Industrios Photography 2) Credit: Tom Ridout 3) View of the plaza and fountain looking west, CC+A