ARCHITECTURE | DIGITAL MEDIA | DESIGN

This portfolio represents growth and narrative. My background stretches across the physical design of the built environment and the digital design of our Internet-lives, however my interest lies in the intersection between the two.

What is the physical manifestation of digital actions? What is the digital manifestation of physical space? These are questions I have yet to answer, but my work pushes to find the true meaning of materiality in a digital age.

These are my experiments.

Water Science FacilityConcept (Summer 2012)

A collaboration between Ryerson University and China Three Gorge’s University’s (CTGU), the project called on the master plan of their Water Science facilities in conjunction with the construction of a new hydro dam.

The design explores concepts in identity, landscape and interdisciplinary research. The academic departments are combined into one megastructure -- a new reform towards cross-disciplinary innovation. It’s minimal footprint creates new opportunities for public space on the water, intersecting academics and play. The natural wetland is maximized as an asset to the site, rather than an obstacle for development.

Grenadier PavilionConcept (Fall 2012)

The park building is an object within a landscape. The Grenadier Pavilion catalyses activity and engagement with nature, as well as parts of the park not normally accessible. The pavilion is neither inside nor out -- it’s semi-permeable to the climate creates a contemplative space for all seasons, while providing vantage points up to the sky, out to the water, and through to the foliage.

This project expresses a simplicity in a pre-digital form, a retreat in a park. The ease of the detail, which allows for a collection of snow in its walls, and the openness of the roof to the sky, expresses a connection to nature in the most simplist of forms.

Wild for BeesGreater Toronto Area (June 2014)

The Wild for Bees project created awareness and impact to help alleviate urban pains for wild pollinator bees. This project shows how art and architecture can be used to impact environmental change.

The bee hotels designed act both as sculptural educational pieces as well as ecological habitats appropriate for bees, and aimed at creating networks of pollinator bee habitats across the city (and today, lay the foundations to extend across Canada). These installations were designed with site-specific aesthetics and thinking, and were all built purely from urban waste, mimicking the activities of bees in the wild. While a commercial commission, it speaks to the role art plays in reaching a greater audience, while addressing social and environmental issues. Designed with social media in mind, these sculptures broke geographical boundaries and created a national icon for bee health.

Hotel of the FutureConcept (Winter 2013)

The CUBE Hotel attempts to redefine the way in which we think of ‘hospitality’. No more will a developer have to commit to a location where business is thriving one year and dwindling down the next. Through modular design, the CUBE Hotel adapts to the exact spatial needs of the guests as well as the spatial restrictions and conditions of its environment. A light-weight structure, it moves around on trucks, reconfiguring onto the newest popular place to travel - urban, natural, or in a remote uninhabitable location. Each unit integrates passive advertising in augmented reality with renewable energy sources for the hotel.

Ad AstraNuit Blanche Toronto (October 2013)

Sic itur ad astra; ‘thus you shall go to the stars’. This interactive, audio-visual art installation was displayed at the Bata Shoe Museum as part of Scotiabank’s Nuit Blanche 2013, Toronto’s largest public art festival. We created an ephemeral and immersive experience, using lighting, mirrors and music to create an orchestra that was viewed and heard through the stars.

Media Coverage for Ad Astra included CityTV News, CBC News, Aesthetic Magazine, ARToronto Magazine, and DesignLines Magazine, and selected as one of four installations to visit that night.

Lights were fitted with capacitive sensors throughout the space, where interaction would trigger changes in lighting quality to the beat of a music track custom-made by a local musician. All sensors activated at once created a collective orchestra.

300 LEDs PER MODULE12V DC1.2A

SPECTRAL ANALYSER SHIELD (DEV-10306)

ARDUINO UNO BOARD

AUDIO CABLES TO MODULES 2-8

TO WALL OUTLET

Creative CatalystRyerson University (June 2015)

The Creative Catalyst symposium brought together Canadian artists, researchers, industry, and community members in discussion on how arts and culture catalyzes social innovation, specifically for improving the city.

This interactive installation attempted to act as a social mechanism for creative and collaborative interactions amongst artists and policy makers. The symposium had a key focus on the connections, systems and future of our city, so the overall exhibit asked participants: What Can Art Do For You?

This paper installation -- made from 4000 individually cut and folded sheets -- culminates an exhibition that facilitates thought about your fears, and invites visitors with the simple act of putting those thoughts in a public space for confronting change collaboratively. In a way, the overall exhibit acts as a creative catalyst -- using art to create art to make change.

The “fear cloud”, inspired by a digital word cloud, shows relationships and starts conversations over a prolonged period of time. While simple, the layers of details are considered in the human experience of talking about fear and change.

The cards were collected and are currently in the process of being digitized to reach a greater audience.

Jamie KwanDesigner & Strategist

Toronto, Canada

www.jamiekwan.com

jamie.kwan [at] ryerson.ca@jamiemkwan