About

[SITED]

2011 marks a significant year in the evolution of the Environmental Design program at OCADU. Not only does this exhibition mark the culmination and graduation of 4 (occasionally 5) years of work and development as emerging designers, these students are also the last graduating year required to complete a Thesis project. Such a momentous shift in personal and program direction, is as good occasion as any to take stock of the past, identify current conditions and pose new questions and directions for designers and the public to consider.

Beginning with the selection of an existing building or landscape within the city of Toronto, each project sets out to identify and explore the physical and cultural conditions that layer their particular site.

Site as a unique physical location, is a holder of multitude of social, architectural and ecological histories. It is a layered puzzle piece in a constantly shifting urban fabric. This year's thesis projects are a culmination of intense creative process of addition and subtraction in a buildup of intimate stories that are a part of each project's evolution. They in turn become a new layer on their existing site condition in attempt to establish new paradigms and introduce new stories in the evolution of the city.

Targeting variety of topics that are pertinent to our experience of the urban landscape like housing; agriculture; infrastructure and ecology; health; education and culture as well as identity and migration, students introduce new directions and pose new questions for designers and public to consider. Whether it is a minimal response through a historical preservation or a bold statement that challenges our social and architectural ideologies, these projects converge on a common city grid and hold conversations about building a better urban environment. Each project becomes a richly layered component that is a part of existing architecture in the city as well as the geological landscape beneath it.