Kickoff 2026 I On-site Assembly and Inauguration

After months of planning, designing, prototyping and fabrication, the project has finally entered the final stage. After disassembling, students carefully inspected, labelled and organized each component. With each piece playing a specific role in the overall structure, careful preparation and attention to detail were essential in order to prepare for a smooth installation day.

(Photos Taken By Downtown Yonge BIA, Andy Nguyen, Allie Male and Denielle Tiri)

Kickoff Team Moving Pieces to the Site

The team transported all the pieces to the final site, working together to carry the pieces through Sankofa Square, as well as unloading the bigger pieces from the truck. On site assembly required students to work collaboratively and problem solve as each piece was assembled to form the final installation.

Students Start Assembling the Base of the Structure

 

Students Begin Constructing the Geodesic Structure

Students inside the interior of the structure while installing the display

Students Installing the Alucobond Panels

The final step of this project was completing all the final electrical wiring. The STEM WORKS team applied the finishing touches that brought the project to life, showcasing the technical and creative work that went into the installation's lighting elements.

STEM Works Team Working on the Electrical Wiring

This exciting journey ended with inauguration day, where the Young Street BIA Team, the TMU Architectural Science Faculty and our sponsors from Upper Canada Forest Products helped the student team unveil the final structure. Seeing all the months of hard work come together in this final form was a rewarding milestone for everyone involved. This day celebrated the dedication, teamwork and resilience of TMU Architecture students. This project was a valuable and exciting hands-on experience for students, teaching how to bring a design to life.

Kickoff With Our Client, Downtown Yonge BIA

Kickoff Opening Ceremony With Co-Leads Saad Malik and Jose-Miguel Calle with DAS Chair, Lisa Landrum

Kickoff Opening Ceremony With Co-Leads Saad Malik and Jose-Miguel Calle With Pat French

Kickoff Opening Ceremony With Co-Leads Saad Malik and Jose-Miguel Calle With Shop Technicians Filip Tisler, Jason Ramelson and Jordan So

Taken By Downtown Yonge BIA

Kickoff Opening Ceremony With Co-Leads Saad Malik and Jose-Miguel Calle with engineering team member Abdul Samad Sheikh

  

Kickoff 2026 Team, Taken By Downtown Yonge BIA

Kickoff 2026 I Production + Fabrication

Following the initial push of production last week, this week was dedicated to scaling up our output while hitting major assembly milestones. The workshop was busy, as we focused heavily on continuous sanding and keeping the CNC machine running to produce a high volume of nodes and edges.

(Photos Taken by Andy Nguyen and Allie Male)

Students Work Together to Assemble Individual Hexagons

We also received our shipment of Alucobond panels, though fabricating those materials is slated for our final stretch.

The biggest highlight of the week came when we finally pieced our components together, first assembling an individual hexagon and pentagon portion together to check the fit. Building on that success, we moved straight into testing the fully assembled geodesic frame, bringing all of our fabricated parts together into one cohesive structure for the very first time.

Students Begin Assembling the Structure

Hope For Hearts Assembly and Setup

The [R]ed[U]x Lab Hope for Hearts team was not only quick to get the project fabricated as anticipated but also able to get it up and operational at the Granite Club. The team made up of many first year Architectural Science students and guided by a couple of second years had a great experience learning not only about fabrication but also project management and delivery.