Congratulations to Another Ryerson Competition Award!

Laurentian University and the city of Sudbury, Ontario saw what an architecture school can bring in terms of revitalization when the School of Architecture formerly in Waterloo moved down the way to Cambridge, Ontario.  In hopes of getting many of the reinvigorating effects and benefits that the University of Waterloo’s School of Architecture enjoyed when it migrated to an abandoned silk mill in Cambridge, Laurentian University decided to develop its own school of architecture in Sudbury.  Guided and spearheaded by many current and past members of the University of Waterloo, School of Architecture, the city is quite excited and looking forward to the first new school of architecture in Canada in decades.

This year the organizers of NOSA proposed an international design competition that asked entrants to consider the design of a new school in that area.  A couple of teams from Ryerson submitted and once again, a team consisting of Masters students won third prize, only to be beaten out by teams from Yale and Italy.  As the top Canadian entry, it is just another testament to the caliber of our students.

NOSA: A future Canadian School of Architecture

Congratulations to Michael Blois, Sean McLean, and Jason Fung as well as all the faculty at Ryerson that supported and helped them!

Elements of Style Online

Thanks to an undergraduate thesis student, I was pointed in the direction of online resources including an online version of Strunk and White’s Elements of Style which I have been recommending to most of you.  It is NOT an ESL guide, rather it is a very useful reference for the writing you are expected to produce throughout your thesis research.

If you are too poor, take a look at online resources

The physical copy is also very cheap and would be a worthwhile addition to your library especially those of you who are intent on pursuing higher education beyond your thesis work.

Ryerson Thesis Defences

Appreciate the work that the inaugural M.Arch students have assembled

This is an exciting moment in Ryerson University’s Department of Architectural Science program – the first contingent of M.Arch students will be showcasing their work as of tomorrow at noon. Everyone who has a vested interest in the school (not just current grad students) including faculty and undergrad students should come out and at the very least see what amazing work these people have done over the past few terms. The work is on display in the exhibition area on the second floor atrium for people to get a chance to see a sampling of the work.

If possible take an opportunity to actually attend the presentations (see list below) these people have put together to get a sense of the depth and breadth of work these people have covered in their work… and then thank them for setting the standard high for the program to not only accreditation teams and other universities, but to future generations of students coming through the program.

Fri 16 Oct:
David Platt 12:00 Noon
William Harispuru 1:00 PM
Jorge Silva 2:00 PM
Thesis Exhibition Reception 4:00 PM

Tue 27 Oct:
Joginder Dhanjal 1:00 PM
Roman Pevcevicius 2:00 PM
Roy Basso 3:00 PM
Mark Siemecki 4:00 PM
Timothy Mitanidis 5:00 PM
Ben Gaum 6:00 PM

Fri 30 Oct:
Leila Mazhari 11:00 AM
Clayton Payer 12:00 Noon
Johann Atterbury 1:00 PM
Lawrence Ng 2:00 PM
Jordan Breccia 3:00 PM

About that lit review…

Writing isn't easy... BUT Lit-Reviews ARE!

Many (if not all) of you have likely received word from the administration that there are some components of the “Thesis Project: Detailed Fall Schedule” that may have caught you off guard.  Most notably the Literature Review component.  No worries… provided you’ve been keeping on track with your work as I outlined at the outset of the thesis project.

As you may recall from the emailed templates I emailed to you months ago, all those files did was keep track of your reading/research.  Whichever format you used (Word or Excel), the end result would be the same:

A) you demonstrated that you read something relevant
B) summarized it for your own future reference later on
C) articulated how it tied to your thesis (if at all)
D) documented all of the pertinent bibliographic information for later use

Remember that the most important thing is to continuously position all of the research information with respect to your thesis topic and interest.  You will find (if you haven’t done so already) that as you read/research more, you will systematically be reviewing and refining your thesis focus such that this information gathering exercise will ultimately lead you somewhere.

If you are in a bind and still don’t know what to do, take a look at the explicit details of how to do a lit-review below, it is highly recommended.

Literature Review Notes (courtesy of University of Toronto)

Just remember what the lit review is supposed to do; don’t get hung up on the formatting.  So long as it has all the major pieces as described above, you will be fine.

Bad Uses for Infrastructure

Necessity often gives way to innovation… or so the saying goes. Unfortunately in light of Typhoon Ketsana, this has not made for a good environment for the safest of innovations. Case and point the appropriation of power lines as makeshift infrastructure to get from rooftop to rooftop.

Philippinos Flee However They Can

Intelligence in Architecture

Nissan's Rolling Robots

Intelligence in Architecture drives many things that we often take for granted.  There are technologies behind projects that make these systems work.  In particular for Stanley, the interesting thing is the value of artificial intelligence whereby sensors and networks can actually operate on a larger system level – such as a flock of birds, school of fish (as in the example below), or even an entire organ – like the skin.

This same intelligence is used in more complex yet relevant systems posited for larger infrastructure as in those proposed by MIT’s CarCity concept.  By eliminating the human decision making process, the automation of cars in a swarm fashion allows the rapid and efficient transport of people.