Garden Room - The University of Toronto (2005)
In a project conducted for an architecture representation course at the University of Toronto, the design brief was to design a room that was to be located in the backyard of a typical Toronto suburban home. The concept of the design was to be derived from visiting an existing park, experiencing the sense of place conveyed by the design there and carrying that idea over to the design of the garden room. Essentially, the project required an understanding of space created by architecture and a creative thinking process to convey the sentiment across in the formation of the room.

The garden was split into two main areas. The experience of the space itself and the passage into the experience. Being located in Toronto, it was felt that the idea of having a personal anchorage away from the urban city was important. This escape was created by designing a large room that sat with calculated orientation to the back of the house. It was conceived that by being inside the refuge space, the outside world would be shut away from the garden. The idea of closing the city from the garden was shaped into a large wall that isolated an area of calm from the back of the house, itself a representation of the urban reality.

Inside the room, one could stare out the windows at the trees that were planted along a narrow strip of the garden, creating the imagery that one was in a natural surrounding, embraced by the undisturbed habitat of a forest. A small outdoor space was designed behind the room so that it was possible to be within nature as well as merely being able to observe it. The orientation of the room coincides with the isolation of the space, that being to block out the reality of the city, and thus, the room sits at an angle which serves to obstruct the view that was offered by the rear outdoor space.

The passage into the space was given careful thought, as it was realized that this could be used effectively to create the sense of refuge. Picturesque techniques were used, where the entry into the garden is a series of forced turns over a small body of water, forcing an observation of the surrounding upon entry. The repeated turns also aid in losing the sense of being simply in the backyard of the urban house. The water in the small pool is a symbolic reference to the passage of moving from one place to another.