Winners of the 2020 Azrieli Mini-Thesis Awards
The Azrieli Mini-Thesis Awards are awarded annually to outstanding students in the professional master program in the Azrieli School of Architecture & Urbanism. The awards are chosen following a mid-term evaluation of the master thesis, which is composed of an essay and a project. The four winners each receive $1,500. In addition, eight students received an Honourable Mention acknowledging strong progress on their theses

Winner: Matt Beerman
Title: Nexus: A Tactical Approach to Urban and Political Change
Jury Comment: A very astute critique of Ottawa’s public spaces, articulated with a quirky sense of humour and engaging drawings. The jury appreciated the thesis’ intention of reactivating public engagement through design.

Winner: Kevin Complido
Title: Symbols & Sentinels: Cultivating Literacies of Place in Central Industrial, Saskatoon
Jury Comment: A clearly stated problem and methodology motivated by a kind sensitivity to the heritage of Saskatoon’s landscape, with a very promising design proposal for a library.

Winner: Michael Yoshimura
Title: Shōtengai
Jury Comment: Using technology in atmospheric ways, this thesis — dealing with a contemporary interpretation of Shinto beliefs regarding humans’ relationship with technology — stands out with an abundance of rich visual and spatial imagery.
Winner: Maya Jarrah
Title: Against Gravity: An exploration in post-war Aleppo
Jury Comment: An extremely sensitive project of urban/social repair with a humanitarian scope. The jury greatly appreciated the text’s focus and the student’s ability to make a design proposal in a conflicted landscape.

Honourable Mention: Joey Doherty
Title: Medicative Architecture: Bioplastics and a Rehabilitation Proposal for Contrecoeur’s Contaminated Protected Wetlands.
Jury Comment: Rigorous and creative material explorations in relation to the ecology of the St-Lawrence River.

Honourable Mention: Christie Ellis Wong
Title: Future Heritage for Millwood: Sustainable Place-making in Suburban Nova Scotia.
Jury Comment: A very serious piece of research and writing with a clear methodology and architectural outcomes.

Honourable Mention: Ivana Rovic
Title: The Amateur Special
Jury Comment: An engaging project bringing forward the potential of space making in the ephemeral art of stand up comedy.

Honourable Mention: Emily Lefebvre
Title: The New York Museum of Cimate Catastrophe
Jury Comment: Concise, direct, and well-written. Complex themes of climate change, utopian, and dystopian views.

Honourable Mention: Gabrielle Argent
Title: Mobility, Voice, and View: Unpacking the Future of Cape Town’s District 6.
Jury comment: Well structured and written, humanitarian in view and scope, high quality of drawings and representation. Strong ideas and imagery forecasting a project.

Honourable Mention: Angela Chiesa
Title: Financial Dystopia
Jury Comment: For her remarkable drawings and her speculative and critical narrative of the Tokyo Olympic Games.

Honourable Mention: Cealan Mitchell
Title: Setting the [Creative]Stage: The Precarious Theatre of Work.
Jury comment: Well-grounded research on a timely topic with interesting architectural analysis and the beginnings of a spatial proposition.

Honourable Mention: Crystal Yung
Title: Protest[ing]
Jury Comment: A well-thought-out and well-written piece on a very important human rights crisis, and examining informal architectures of power.