Congratulations to Faisal Bashir (M Arch 2013). The recent Daniels Faculty graduate received a Canadian Architect Award of Excellence for his thesis project "Responsive Geometries."

Bashir's project incorporates advancements in computation and fabrication into a cultural project: stations in the Karachi Circular Railway system in Karachi, Pakistan. As explained on Canadian Architect's website, "the railway was discontinued in 1999 due to administrative mismanagement and government negligence." In 2009, a plan to revive the railway was proposed. Bashir's thesis builds on these plans, with the creation of a distinct architectural style and building system that brings the surplus workforce in the information technology sector into the construction industry, "enabling the production of parametric architectural systems that pay homage to Karachi's architectural heritage."

"The approach gives an ephemeral quality to concrete, an inherently weighty construction material. It is ambitious in proposing a flexible yet sophisticated construction system using a constrained vocabulary of parts," commented the jury, which included Karen Marler, Marc Simmons, and Marianne McKenna.

Canadian Architect has presented Awards of Excellence since 1968. The awards recognize commissioned yet unbuild projects along with exceptional student proposals.

This year, "the jury was particularly seeking projects with 'controlled discipline' that 'stand out in terms of their aspirations in the contemporary Canadian design landscape.'"

According to McKenna, "The projects that were selected for awards were ones that were solidly grounded in an understanding of the site, and placed program to create a thoughtful narrative with clear ideas about how to create community through architectural form and space.”

For more on Bashir's winning project, visit Canadian Architect.