New alumnus Jose Power, who graduated from the Daniels Faculty with his Master of Architecture (MARC) degree this past spring, is the recipient of Canadian Architect’s 2024 Student Award of Excellence.

Power was awarded the honour for his highly inventive thesis project, a reimagination of the elevator entitled Ascending Worlds.

The project, Canadian Architect notes, nods to the “historical significance and spatial essence” of elevators while redefining them as catalysts for “reshaping communal dynamics within residential towers.”

Power proposed 10 different elevator prototypes in his thesis. Among them, the two-elevator-wide Express Café offers riders “a chance to grab a barista-pulled espresso on their way downstairs,” while the multi-level Venue “includes a lower storey stage and comfortable seating on upper balcony levels for acoustic mini-concerts.”

The one-elevator-sized Matchmaker, meanwhile, “includes a cozy interior with a small table to set the stage for an intimate conversation between two individuals. If the chemistry is right, either participant can slow down the journey—or, conversely, opt to discreetly access the ‘speed up’ or ‘emergency exit’ buttons under the table to bring the blind date to a quick end.”

Other suggested functions include a library, a confessional and a speakeasy.

“The jury was delighted by this project’s witty and irreverent reworking of generic elevator spaces in residential buildings,” member D’Arcy Jones enthused in his summation of Ascending Worlds. 

“Emphasizing the differences between people’s wants and needs, the design proposes new short-term communal uses, such as moving coffee shops, speed-dating tables or speakeasies,” Jones added.

In his own words, Power describes his project, for which Associate Professor Jeannie Kim served as advisor, as a restoration of the elevator and its surrounding core “to their former status as integral components of communal interaction within buildings.”

“In the 21st century, the elevator has faded into obscurity, its potential for strangeness and opportunity overlooked,” Power writes. “Ascending Worlds endeavours to reignite the allure of the elevator, infusing it with newfound vibrancy and significance within our evolving urban landscapes.”

His thesis, he adds, “celebrates the complexity of human behaviour, recognizing the myriad individual routes, purposes, urgencies and characteristics that converge within these vertical spaces. These designs are not dictated by the typical restrictions of vertical transportation, but the quality and duration of the potential interactions that our ascending rooms may evoke.”

Power’s winning project is documented in the December 2024 issue of Canadian Architect. To read more about it, click here.

Banner images: With his award-winning thesis project Ascending Worlds, 2024 MARC graduate Jose Power reimagines elevator spaces as catalysts for new communal dynamics within residential towers. Among the alternate uses he proposes are, from left to right, speakeasies, “express cafés,” confessionals and libraries.