Architecture - Master's Theses

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A community-centric proposal for affordable housing in South Parkdale, Toronto
(2024-04-09) Mojarrab, Andrew Yousef
Neoliberal commodification has undermined the consideration of housing as a basic human right while also contributing greatly to the current housing crisis in Canada. To meaningfully address the lack of affordable housing nationwide, this thesis focuses on the challenges and opportunities in Toronto, the country’s largest city, where housing is increasingly inaccessible to many. Drawing on literature from the disciplines of architecture, urban planning, sociology, and economics, this thesis analyzes multiple housing strategies, identifying opportunities within them to propose a place-based hybrid model. When deployed, long-term affordability can be achieved while strengthening community cohesion and identity. Ultimately, this thesis puts forth a set of design objectives and an economic implementation plan for a place-based mixed- use development that provides affordable housing and amenities in the culturally and socioeconomically diverse neighbourhood of South Parkdale in Toronto, Canada.
A story of reconnecting with Inuit ways of learning: designing a post-secondary institution in Nunavik
(2024-04-13) Jacob, Rebecca
Inuit students in Nunavik do not have access to local culturally relevant post-secondary education and must relocate to southern Québec if they wish to pursue further education. The high dropout rates experienced as a result of culture shock, financial strain, distance from support systems and culturally irrelevant programs communicate that this is an insufficient solution. The local Inuit-led Kativik School Board plans to create a local post-secondary institution to address this issue based on years of community conversations which reveals an opportunity to support the existing project by exploring the question: how can the design of a post-secondary institution to support Inuit ways of learning in Nunavik? Community engagement, case studies, reciprocity, and the theoretical framework about Inuit ways of learning inform strategies for facilitating knowledge sharing through the design of a new school typology to support Inuit student success.
A walkable town: adapting for Parry Sound's future through active living revitalization
(2024-04-11) Neilson, Jenna
Ontario’s development practices need change. The current housing crisis in Canada has created a rapid need for development. Parry Sound, a small northern Ontario town, has been impacted by this. With its current low-density development and car-centric streets, the town needs housing and transit solutions. Parry Sound wants to grow but currently lacks a thriving town center to retain and draw in residents. Implementing walkable interventions can make Parry Sound more resilient and help meet its needs for future growth. Adapting the town’s current development can create a day-to-day life that allows residents to thrive in their neighbourhoods. Key pieces of this transformation are a new transit system, redesigned streets throughout the town, and the design of an Active Living Waterfront development. Walkable neighbourhoods ultimately consist of three key components: dense mixed-use development, active transit, and pedestrian-first design. This thesis proposes walkable urban design guidelines to revitalize Parry Sound’s development.
A youth restorative justice and rehabilitation center: designing with dignity and compassion for victims and young offenders
(2024-04-11) Engberts, Bryce Jacob
By employing adaptive reuse and critical conservation as design strategies, a Youth Restorative Justice and Rehabilitation Center is proposed within the former Windsor Arena, which attempts to target the root causes of problematic crime in Windsor, Ontario. Restorative Justice practices move away from traditional penal systems and typologies, which are punitive and dehumanizing, in favour of a destigmatized, trauma-informed experience, sensitive to all human conditions. This thesis explores how architectural rehabilitation can be used to restore individuals and become a catalyst for meaningful change in the mindset and behaviours of young offenders, anticipating their deterrence from a life of crime or incarceration. Through architectural intervention and focused, but varied programming, this thesis attempts to build a restorative community, addressing matters of Justice, personal betterment and urban design. By designing with dignity and compassion, users can expect to experience healing and reconciliation as well as healthy relationships and improved mental health.
Adaptive reuse in a declining city: altering the Station Mall on the Sault Ste. Marie Waterfront
(2020-04-08) Legge, Devin
This Thesis takes a closer look at my hometown of Sault Ste. Marie, ON. I have found that overall this industrial city has been in a decline or dying over the past decade or longer. The differences when compared to the decline of other industrial cities is that the industry backbone of Sault Ste. Marie is currently thriving. This decline is stressed by an aging community, lack of available work, and continuous emigration of younger generations. This has led to a stagnant economy, degradation of infrastructure, and rise of criminal culture throughout the city. Nowhere else is this more evident than in the downtown core of Sault Ste. Marie Within this thesis, I look towards the efficient use of our existing built environment; focusing on adaptive reuse on multiple scales, from existing architectural structures to sites and reintroducing it to the social urban environment of the community. Taking this opportunity to research how to work with these spaces architecturally, programmatically and urbanistically, I am making the effort to effectively revitalize these declining rough areas or neighbourhoods. This topic stems from a belief in the importance of taking a sustainable approach to an existing building’s embodied energy, while also mitigating urban sprawl. Meanwhile, recognizing that the re-use of existing buildings or spaces allows for the chance of preserving (rediscovering) history, emotion, and atmosphere while introducing new programs to these spaces. The question that is explored within this thesis is whether the revitalization of a historical centerpiece within a city that is in a state of decline can have enough of an impact to stabilize the surrounding community. Throughout the growth of medium sized cities there develops a phenomenon known as ‘doughnut cities’. This happens when a city continues to expand outwards and less focus is placed on the center or downtown leading to the death or decline of said area. In addition to this, there is also precedent for the death or decline of single industry cities. These cities tend to fall into decline when the main industry takes a downturn; resulting in effects to job availability and the local economy. Both of these phenomena look as though to play a part in the situation Sault Ste. Marie finds itself in currently. The proposed project looks at redesigning and reprogramming the Station Mall and Downtown Waterfront site in Sault Ste. Marie. Over the years, projects reprogramming existing historical buildings have had positive impact on their surrounding sites and the community. Although, the city’s downtown and predominantly this site has suffered a gradual abandonment and decline, through this research project I believe a positive change can be made for the city and its community. This thesis explores these topics and questions through extensive research in addition to a methodology focusing on the use of mapping and layering to progress through the project. From historical mapping to current site analysis; working at multiple scales from city, to neighbourhoods, to the building. Taking a layered approach to fully understand the historical and situational basis within the project and transition into the final design proposition.
Anarchist reconstruction: towards a political dialectic
(2020-04-06) Dyck, Henry
Today we lack a substantial discussion about what political-economic system should define our future. This discourse has been largely replaced by the hegemonic position of capitalism.1 The architecture I propose pushes toward a significant reentry into this debate, intellectually as well as physically, calling socio-political ideas of possible futures into action to engage in a revived political dialectic. This thesis will explore anarchism’s position in producing an alternative political space and the contribution architecture can make to anarchism. The anarchism proposed by this project challenges existing structures to prove their legitimacy and if they fail, deconstructs them, and then reconstructs them from below.2 On the architectural scale this mechanism can transform a building into a testing ground for new kinds of material processes, building systems, social organizations and lifestyle patterns. This includes the production and consumption of food, electricity, water, and a reconstruction of how space is defined and what new socio-spatial patterns might emerge. The project will not itself be, nor will it promote revolution, rather it will use revolutionary politics expressed through architecture as an argument for a space in which to explore and participate in a discourse on politicaleconomic alternatives through a material exploration. To this end, I propose an architectural process that engages in an imaginative dialogue of alternative futures.The project will be named “The Complex” since it collapses programs of dwelling and production into a single site. “The Complex” will take comprehensive ideas of revolution and utopianism and translate them into a heterotopia3 , responding to revolutionary politics from a position of critique. By heterotopia I mean a space that uses utopian principles but becomes a real space amongst other real spaces, proposing not to completely reshape a society but transform it from within. This heterotopia will invert and subvert the socio-spatial conditions that capitalism creates to explore how architecture can embody an anarchist critique of capitalism. “The Complex” will be an embodiment of a political-economic critique where criticism is embedded into a material process of spatial production where-from emerges a critical paradigm for living. The process seeks to step out of normative productions of space and uses material outside the capitalist system, shown in evidence through the thesis’ narrative and conceptual drawing. The project will be sited in downtown Sudbury in an old office building [called the Mackey building, formerly the Frontenac Hotel]. The habitation and build process will be an exploration of “The Complex’s” architectural unfolding over time, following the actions of a group of occupants as they reconstruct the architecture over 15 years. A 1:40 architectural scale model will be the set for the political ideas to be explored in a haptic material manner to better simulate the bodily action of the occupants on and in the building
Apricity: embracing winter placemaking to revitalize downtown Sudbury
(2024-04-09) Rickert, Alexander Justin
Much of the urban settlement design in Northern cities is based on Southern design principles, disregarding unique climatic conditions induced by winter, thereby creating inactive public spaces during colder seasons, which also last longer and amplify the issue. Informed by the Liveable Winter Cities movement and placemaking theory, this thesis leverages the specific winter activation of the public realm as a strategy for revitalizing downtown Sudbury. A current lack of urban winter liveability is attributed to the failure of public policy and its encouragement of winter design. The importance of movement, activity and identity in the public realm is demonstrated through the proposal of increased urban connectivity. Guided by winter design principles, the proposed interventions at multiple scales utilize wayfinding techniques to link activated winter programming across the downtown and contribute to a healthier, more socially and physically active community supporting a winter lifestyle.
An architectural exploration of Mandirs: a new temple for the Sudbury Hindu community
(2021-04-15) Patel, Riya
As the time changes, so do the methods of representation. Designs become intricate and complicated to the point where they need to return to the source of origin and start the search for a contemporary temple design. The evolution of Hindu temples from simple structure to complex structure and from timber to brick, brick to stone, and stone to concrete appears throughout history. To date, there are few Hindu temples that have been constructed according to the current time period. This thesis will examine the opportunities of designing a Hindu temple that is a combination of both modern elements and traditional beliefs, for the many Hindu sects that live in Sudbury, Canada. This will be attempted by studying the traditional methods of creating a mandir (Temple). As Hinduism has many sects, and each of them have slightly different beliefs in religion, it becomes difficult to gather the entire community in these conditions and design a temple to one dedicated deity, especially in a foreign country. A temple becomes more than a place of worship when the mandir is located in a different country and environment; it becomes the center and grounding point of the Hindu community. It would represent the traditional culture that has adapted to a new geography, climate and environment. As a result, this new mandir will aim to continue being a home for the gods and goddess that are being worshiped by the current Hindu community of Sudbury. It will house multiple gods, not just one as in a traditional temple, and this will become a method to keep everyone connected. As a temple in Sudbury would develop into something more than a place of worship, it will also integrate a place where cultural events such as Diwali (the Festival of Light), Navratri (Festival of Cultural Dances) and many other events could take place. The mandir will also become a place of traditional knowledge, for all ages and different religions. This mandir will be created by paying tribute to the traditional temples, traditional texts, and methods such as using Vāstuśāstra as a basis for temple design and construction, adapting to the needs of the community and site.
An architectural response to multi-generational housing inspired by Haudenosaunee culture
(2019-04-09) Schumacher, Haley
Indigenous culture is rich and vibrant all across Mother Earth; more commonly known as North America, and sadly is rarely reflected in the built environment of their communities. This thesis seeks to answer the question: How can the culture of the Haudenosaunee be reflected within their built environment to align with the needs of the community? Through the exploration of community engagement and case studies it was proven designs in Indigenous communities should be inspired by the culture’s history and traditions while reflecting the community within the 21st century. Concepts, meanings, and teachings from Indigenous culture have the ability to influence a 21st century building. Through the exploration of wampum belts, Haudenosaunee longhouse, and longhouse village, a proposed multi-generational housing project demonstrates how the Haudenosaunee culture can in fact be reflected within the built environment to align with the needs of the community
The architectural segregation of Chicago Black identity in the South Side
(2020-04-07) Brown, Ra’anaa
A well-known Latin proverb states, “knowledge is power”1 and in light of this, theoretically those who possess the most knowledge inherently have the most power. Across the United States, historically, education has been denied to Black Americans as a means to keep them subservient to their White counterparts. Despite slavery being abolished in 1865, while the Black community was newly empowered, they were simultaneously further oppressed as their lack of access to education emphasized the stigma of them as second class citizens. 2 Of particular interest, Chicago, Illinois emerged as a city with a deep-rooted connection to America’s extensive Black community. Built upon the imbalanced scales of Black oppression and empowerment, Chicago is a clear precedent for the ramifications of slavery and subsequent human rights movements. Today in Chicago, the majority of all under- and low-performing high schools are on the city’s South Side. 3 Through decades of redlining 4 and presently maintained preference 5, Chicago is one of the cities with the highest neighborhood segregation indexes in the United States. 6 Despite the change in housing legislation 7, and while the majority of visible minorities have disseminated into White society, the Black community has remained, united in separation within the South Side of the city. Architecturally, Chicago is likewise considered home to modern American design. This city has an impressive historic architectural narrative, but what remains hidden beneath this proud history is the use of architecture as a means for implicit segregation by way of illegal (and at one time legal) housing discrimination 8 and spatial access. Although one design implementation cannot solve years of historic oppression or the disenfranchisement that subsequently followed, this proposal is designed to expand on the conversation and make visible the historic segregation and the current state of events befalling Chicago’s South Side through a socio-architectural lens. The following thesis will question; how the South Side may retain the autonomy and empowerment that segregation has produced, while minimizing the inherent challenges caused by this lack of integration. Furthermore, it will consider the possibilities of how a platform may be programmed which allows for the amelioration of education, promotion of continued Black excellence, and advocacy of Black history.
Architectural succession: a multi-species approach to the built environment
(2023-04-14) Daigle, Catherine
A novel approach to single-species design is urgently required. Urban expansion is directly impacting global biodiversity, increasing habitat-threatened species reliance on human infrastructure. Whereby recognizing the architect’s responsibility to provide habitat for additional species, the built environment can be utilized for multi-species inhabitation. Derived from the natural cycle of ecological succession, Architectural Succession outlines the process of change occurring for a built environments program and user over time. Informed by this framework, a Research Creation process examines the at-risk Chimney Swift and its food source within a successional multi-species structure. Further enhancing Sudbury, Ontario’s, Regreening efforts, barren outcroppings offer significant opportunity for multi-species built intervention, encouraging habitat recovery and the return of species at-risk. A wildlife observation pavilion explores the successional opportunities of traditional light wood frame construction undergoing the decomposition process to support the regrowth of the forest.
Architecture and affordance: a data driven and computational approach to the architectural analysis and design of buildings using affordance as a model of typology
(2021-06-22) Walker, James
ISpace syntax has long been used as a spatial analysis tool to graphically represent the relationships and connections between spaces. This has been used to promising effect in the past to compare buildings of a similar typology in order to better understand them. We can use the framework of space syntax and introduce affordances to gain a better understanding of how affordances of access, natural light, sound, and activity congregate in building typology. By building a digital sensor array and conducting an analysis of a particular building typology, we can start to find optimal patterns of affordance which exist within living buildings. The typology I am looking at for this thesis is the United Churches of Sudbury. Sacred space is a phenomenologically dense and interesting typology which lends itself to generating interesting data. United Churches as a typology also have a philosophy of shared multi-use space which lends itself well to this more generalized approach to understanding program through affordances. In this thesis, I look at four different case studies of United Churches, one to understand what makes a United Church, and three others as examples of typology and subjects for collecting data. The aim of this work is to use this data to develop a set of computational design tools that will eventually be used to suggest a possible design for a United Church on the site of Larchwood Memorial United Church in Dowling. Aside from site analysis, there are two parts to this affordance based process. Just like how Gibson distinguishes between affordances and the invariant properties of objects, I take stock of affordances through a set of affordance graphs and tables of relevant data from each of my case studies in Sudbury. I also look at the design solutions such as furnishings and building openings which these churches used to satisfy those affordances and document them in the from of a pattern language. Using the affordance data, I find common patterns of design and layout for a given typology. These patterns of affordance can then be used with a generative algorithm to generate a schematic design. In this thesis, I will present a number of schematic designs and explore the range of outcomes, limitations, and areas for improvement that you can expect from this approach to generative design. A final schematic design can then be matched with examples of vernacular objects and strategies found and documented through the pattern language of sacred space. Using data that I have collected about openings and furnishings in the case studies, it becomes possible to automatically populate these schematic designs with objects to complete the design. This thesis will detail this process and the theory behind it.
Architecture as actant for protest: solidarity with Amiskwaciwâskahikan’s (Edmonton) unhoused community
(2022-04-08) Maggay, Robert
Conditioned by neoliberal imperatives and settler colonial impositions of ‘property’, architecture is complicit in upholding spatial and social inequities. The neologism ‘houselessness’ foregrounds housing as a human right, which must be addressed through the provision of accessible housing, yet this process is slow. Moreover, unhoused individuals are disproportionately affected by pandemics. Their aggravated health risks owe to crowded shelters, comorbidities, and pandemic-related restrictions of supportive services. While COVID-19 has worsened the pre-existing houselessness crisis, some immediate effects may be addressed locally through mutual aid: a form of rapid response and community care that demonstrates both the need for bottom-up solutions and interim approaches to houselessness. This thesis explores how architecture might challenge existing frameworks of power to act in solidarity with houseless neighbours. The series of design interventions proposed for Edmonton, Alberta, focus on sociospatial relationships — related to water, sanitation, and hygiene — that act in solidarity with houseless people.
Architecture for well-being: improving mental wellness on campus through design
(2022-04-10) Regier, Nicole
Mental health is as important as physical health, yet mental wellness is difficult to sustain without access to the necessary support. Post-secondary students are particularly vulnerable to experiencing poor mental health, and among the four largest of Ontario’s universities, Western University, ranks the highest for mental health concerns negatively impacting student academics. Despite Western’s current therapeutic and recreational offerings, more mental health support is needed on campus. This Thesis proposes a purpose-built Student Center on the campus’ pastoral western side in combination with the redesign of specific existing exterior and interior spaces to better support wellness. Guided by the concept of a journey toward well-being, these design interventions create a path leading from the University’s central “concrete beach” to the forested edge of campus. By providing incentives to walking with spaces for therapeutic services, private contemplation and social gathering, this Thesis offers a strategy for how architectural design may support well-being.
Architecture in a contested territory: co-creating a community hub with the people of Jane and Finch, Toronto
(2021-04-14) Nguyen, Lila
The population of the City of Toronto vastly increased due to a significant migration of people from all over the world to seek a better life after World War II. Many settled into ethnic enclaves that share similar cultures and characteristics. Since the 1970s, Toronto has grown into a large city much like Paris and London, where low-income families, which are mostly minorities, are pushed into the urban periphery. One of these inner-city neighbourhoods, Jane and Finch, is composed of two city neighbourhoods: Black Creek (Up Top, to the North) and Glenfield-Jane Heights (Down Bottom, to the South). Jane and Finch is a major intersection known for its high rates of gang violence such as shootings, drugs, robberies, and other gang-related activities. The negative reputation of Jane and Finch is further spread by the media, promulgating racial stereotypes about the neighbourhood. The rapid growth of the community in the 1960s to 1970s resulted in overcrowding in schools and insufficient recreational facilities, which caused additional stress for the residents. The gang rivalry over territory in Jane and Finch created an invisible barrier at the intersection: The Up Top and Down Bottom. Adding to the gang violence, the lack of city funding and general neglect transformed Jane and Finch into a community with the highest level of inequality amongst the neighbourhoods within the Greater Toronto Area. Jane and Finch was not always like this, but it is difficult for people to see past its bad reputation. As a member of the community, I know of many positive aspects overlooked by outsiders. However, the reputation is slowly changing. Nowadays, Jane and Finch receives recognition for the art which the residents have created. I believe that the image of the community can be altered as long as people can learn about the positive stories of the residents. This thesis looks at opportunities to co-create a community center for the people of Jane and Finch, with the use of community engagement as a process to work collectively with community members. The outcome is a building with a breadth of spaces and programs that is available to a diverse group of community users. The Jane and Finch Community Hub contains a youth lounge, daycare, art studio, music studio, dance studio, market space, communal kitchen, cafe, community training spaces and a pool.
The architecture of Ontario Place: reinvigorating the commons through adaptive-reuse and operative landscapes
(2021-04-16) O'Connor, Kelly
Ontario Place, located in Lake Ontario along Toronto’s shoreline, was always meant to be for the public. In its current conditions, the ongoing neglect by the Government of Ontario for the last several years, has led to the degradation and disrepair of many of the structures and landscape of the site. How can Ontario Place be reimagined as a commons for the city of Toronto and the province of Ontario to experience and celebrate the waterfront? The islands of Ontario Place are reimagined through the lens of nested scales of intervention ranging from the Great Lakes watershed, to the city of Toronto, the waterfront, and the five Pod buildings on the site. Historic-interpretive research was completed on the designers of Ontario Place, megastructure precedents, and site studies of the current conditions. The knowledge gained from the research and site analysis of Ontario Place influenced a series of architectural and environmental interventions to the site. The design interventions take into consideration both the landscape and architectural re-mediation and re-imagination of a new commons using sustainability, ecology, rewilding, and interactive play/ learning as key components of the design for a new operative landscape. A living breakwater off the shores of the islands, a data collection archipelago around the Great Lakes, wetland planting, water filtration and ruin demolition for replanting remediate the landscape of Ontario Place. An adaptive-reuse of the out-of-commission Pod megastructures, strips the current skin of the buildings to expose the structural frame underneath. This frame is loaded with plug n’ play containers that hold various public programs. These containers are plugged in and out seasonally, refreshing and molding to the needs of the community. Greater impacts of the project aim to generate more public green space along the Toronto waterfront for the community in the midst of COVID-19, create a pilot project for the health of the Great Lakes system and education of the public, as well as continuing the recent reclamation of the waterfront from industry to public space by Waterfront Toronto for all people to enjoy.
An architecture of reclamation in the city of Sudbury: where land and water meet
(2022-04-10) Beaudry, Veronique
The City of Greater Sudbury is home to a unique terrain that has been shaped by many events throughout time. The culture of the place is deeply rooted in industry as well as distinctive landscape feature such as barren rock outcroppings and bounty of lakes. After a century of invasive mining activity, the landscape is being reclaimed and the city of rocks is shifting to a city of lakes. Thanks to re-greening efforts many of Sudbury’s 330 lakes have been brought back from their acidic state. However, urban development has created new challenges for lakes found within the city’s core. This thesis explores the potential for an architecture of reclamation that doesn’t impose itself on the land but aids in the rehabilitation and ecological functions of the specific site. The project is a piece within a complex ecosystem that provides stormwater management benefits, educational amenities and ecological regeneration. Within the riparian zone of Ramsey Lake, this proposal acts as a mediary for clean water environments, where land and water meet
Architecture through a lens: re-framing narrative sovereignty, landscape and indigenous film pedagogy
(2021-04-15) Macdonald, Maeve
How can architecture re-frame narrative sovereignty, landscape and Indigenous film pedagogy? This question is explored alongside the community of the Weengushk Film Institute (WFI), located on Manitoulin Island which is the home of six Anishinaabe First Nations (M’Chigeeng, Sheguiandah, Sheshegwaning, Aundeck Omni Kaning, Wiikwemkoong and Zhiibaahaasing). The institute is situated outside of M’Chigeeng, a First Nation which is home to the Anishinabek of the Three Fires Confederacy: Odawa, Ojibway and the Pottawattomi Nations. Indigenous Filmmaker Shirley Cheechoo is the founder of the Weengushk Film Institute, a school that reflects narrative sovereignty, connection to land and Indigenous film pedagogy. Her school curriculum incorporates pedagogy based on land and traditional Indigenous culture (moose hunting, language restoration, cultural practices, trapping) and pedagogy based on deep-rooted colonial filmmaking systems (screenwriting, directing, production and post-production). The balance between these two aspects of the pedagogy establishes a foundation for narrative sovereignty. In order for Indigenous students to succeed in filmmaking they must adapt to the existing colonial systems and standards put in place within the filmmaking industry. Cheechoo has developed an education program that does just that. Her curriculum foregrounds the individual behind the lens, providing students with the skills and resources necessary to direct, produce and share their stories independently. The existing architecture for this unique curriculum model takes the form of a warehouse building. The existing building does not reflect Cheechoos unique and creative currciulum model, that highlights narrative sovereignty, landscape and Indigenous film pedagogy. The community is looking for design ideas that will encourage creativity and express the existing pedagogy within the school. The methodological approach follows a strategy of “Two-Eyed Seeing.” 1 This term is a Mi’kmaq concept of observing the world through both an Indigenous and Western lens. Taking on the role as a facilitator I have designed through my own lens to generate a school for the Weengushk Film Institute (WFI) that is responsive to their collective needs and desires. As a settler designer there was never an intention to answer this question or solve the existing issues surfaced within the project, the goal of this thesis is to re-frame readers’ perspectives, deconstruct a traditional approach to architecture, welcome Indigenous filmmakers and their stories, and continue the conversation about narrative sovereignty.
Architecture towards a good death | The landscape of the dead in the world of the living
(2020-04-07) Hoshowsky, Lisa
An integral fact of life is death, it connects an individual to all times, peoples and places, but it is not a stagnant constant, it is a process firmly entrenched in each and every individual as well as the overall zeitgeist. Unfortunately, the majority of North Americans have an image of death often discordant to its reality, it is habitually viewed at best as an uncomfortable topic and at worst as a taboo. People are often not even aware of their own negative relationship to death and are therefore accepting of the uncomfortable association to it. This disconnect has left society with insufficient, lackluster and unsupportive death infrastructure. Yet death is intricately woven into the fabric of life, it is a constant companion that should be acknowledged, addressed and designed for and as an architect there is a moral obligation to consider not only the needs of the living inhabitants but those who will occupy the landscape indefinitely in death. Due to this link the definition of one encompasses the other, therefore life and death are not a line from one to the other but instead a circle with no perceptible break. Society has lost sight of the multi-generational aspect of death, causing this gap and calling for a solution to bridge the divide between life and death, closing the cycle between individuals. The thesis works to frame one of these moments in the cycle, allowing for both life and death to co-exist comfortably within one programmed space. The proposal, at its heart is a greenspace cum deathscape, integrated into the existing planned and natural landscape and then drawing people in with programs supportive of the acts encircling interment, celebrations, memorializations and rituals. It has been split into two main programs; one a symbol of welcoming for both casual visitors and those with a ritual purpose and the other a centre for those in all stages in life to come and leave a less tangible piece of themselves for others. Both are intended for use in everyday life in a way deemed respectful to its inhabitants while having an intrinsic connection to death. The path connecting these acts then as the threshold both guiding an individual through a journey of self discovery and tempering the transition from one stage to another. The proposed thesis looks at death history in Sudbury and its contemporary practices, the historic to modern tradition of Dia de los Muertos in Mexico, Memento Mori as both a concept and an art movement, as well as incorporating information learned from case studies before moving onto the site and the actual proposed design. The ideas surrounding it are laid out through both factual explorations as well as more abstract interpretations and personal art creations. In summary, places of death were not always shunned by the living but in an increasingly secular world people have lost sight of the rituals that give both life and death meaning. Dying a good death means many things to many people and it is up to architecture, and therefore architects, to support the process that is the most meaningful for the person and their bearers going through it.
Architecture without barriers: creating thoughtful connections within the built environment
(2024-04-11) Pratt Tremblay, Michaela
This thesis advocates for a fundamental shift in how accessibility is approached in architecture, emphasizing its importance in creating functional, safe, and inclusive spaces. It challenges the notion that accessibility is a peripheral consideration and advocates for it to be integral to architectural design from the outset. The current regulations are criticized for providing insufficient solutions that fail to create truly welcoming and accessible environments. This thesis calls for the adoption of universal design principles from various organizations, aiming to create a more universally accessible environment. The proposed solution is a universally accessible learning centre located in Ottawa which serves as a model for thoughtful design, providing a space where people can gather, learn about aging in place, and live temporarily. This thesis project aims to create a built environment that fosters thoughtful connections and enhances the quality of life for all individuals, regardless of age, size, ability, or disability.

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