Kickoff 2026 I Design Development

Every successful installation begins with a single idea. For this project, that journey started with project leads Saad Malik and Jose-Miguel Calle, who began developing the initial sketches and concepts that would lay the foundation for the installation.

During the early planning stages, Saad and Jose explored different approaches for the node connections that would become the framework of this structure. They also investigated ways to integrate LED lighting into the design, ensuring that the installation would be both visually interesting and interactive. Through sketching, brainstorming, and testing ideas, the project began to take shape.

Initial Sketches From Saad's Sketchbook 

The first design for the installation aimed to mimic a kaleidoscope incorporating an open design that allows visitors to enter. The structure would use coloured translucent acrylic to reflect light.

Initial Design Concept with an Entrance 

Initial Design Concept with Kaleidoscope

The final design mimics the original geometry of the classical soccer ball using the truncated icosahedron. It will feature Alucobond reflective panels that act as a kaleidoscope that reflects like a gem within the structure.

Final Render of the Kickoff Instillation

Animation Showing Colour Changing Concept

As the school year came to an end in April, a team of students from first and second year came in to help turn this idea into reality.  Students worked together to develop the first physical model of the installation, working closely with the shop supervisors and each other to learn new skills. Using the shop's machinery and fabrication tools, students laser-cut and hand assembled the first physical model of the installation. These hands-on experiences allowed students to see how their designs would function in a three-dimensional space.

(Photos Taken By Andy Nguyen and Jorge Cruz Toro)

Students working together to construct the first model

The design continued to evolve as students refined details, tested new ideas, and improved upon earlier iterations. Through ongoing feedback and experimentation, the installation became more detailed and comprehensive with each revision.

Collaboration played a key role throughout the process. First- and second-year students worked side by side, sharing knowledge and learning new skills from one another. Together, they explored fabrication techniques, problem-solved design challenges, and gained valuable experience in both digital and physical creation.

With the groundwork established, the project entered its construction phase. Students began developing a more advanced physical model while simultaneously creating a detailed Rhino model to support the design process. These digital and physical prototypes will help guide the next stages of development as the installation continues to grow from concept to reality.

As the project moves forward, students remain committed to innovation, collaboration, and creative problem-solving. What began as a series of sketches has already transformed into a promising installation, and the team is excited to continue bringing their vision to life.

Park(ing) Day 2025 | Team Proposals

Students from Toronto Metropolitan University’s Department of Architectural Science are participating in Park(ing) Day 2025. The site is set on Gould st, in the middle of our campus.
The Parking Day event is a three day installation. The event allows us to repurpose the spaces used by cars for people to gather. We split into three teams and focused on making human-scale spaces while reusing materials leftover from previous design builds.

Team 1 Proposal

Team 2 Proposal

Team 3 Proposal

NOVA | Schematic Design: Prototypes

Moving forward, the team is currently in the development stage. They have begun creating more intricate scaled models. Through this process, they have created 3 models to understand the structural composition. Furthermore, these models are used to reify the abstract scheme that was reached in the first phase of the design.

Stemming from this exercise, the group ascertained that 2 of the iteration models were not feasible because they were not structurally sound even in scaled form. Specifically, the models suffered from splaying.

Models at the scale of 1:6

While exploring structure, students also experimented with textiles, achieving a bowing patterning to the canopy. 

Bata Shoe Museum's Window Celebrating Canada's 150th Anniversary

Once again the Department of Architectural Science through [R]ed[U]x Lab have been asked to design, detail, and deliver on a window display that celebrates Canada's 150th anniversary. This was a difficult task given the benchmark established by the current installation, foot[age], a collaboration between Architectural Science and Interior Design students, led by [R]ed[U]x alumni and DFZ technicians Fil Tisler and Naveed Khan.

This initiative is led by Lisa Boulatova with John Zhang and Liam Hall with the support of students in the Department of Architectural Science. This design draws upon the provincial flowers as a unifying element wrapping around the prominent window. Composed of an array of 3D printed shoes, the installation undulates beyond a subtle backdrop that has been evolving for the past few months. This looks to be one of the [R]ed[U]x Lab's first projects that use the medium beyond prototyping and instead serving as the actual output.

Below are samples of the initial proposal to the Bata Shoe Museum. Special thanks to Remi for the excellent initial photos to work from in the montages.

[R]ed[U]x Lab Returns to Grop-Op with Terrena

Though the winter of the New Year puts the planting of the spring far from our minds, this April the [R]ed[U]x Lab will once again return to the Gladstone Hotel to exhibit Terrena at the 2016 Grow Op event. Always experimenting with new media and unconventional ideas, Terrena proposes an installation that hovers in the middle of a room whereby users can see the often hidden (but nonetheless intricate) network of roots from below. If it were easy, it would not be worth doing.

In the words of the team:

"The project will be installed as a part of the 2016 Gladstone Hotel GrowOp exhibition that celebrates landscape, gardens, art, and placemaking. Terrena’s surface is a manmade landscape made of modular plants that takes precedent from the topography of the historical Toronto Ravines. Our installation, Terrena, creates a unique experience for visitors through procession, as the installation will be placed above, underneath and at eyelevel to the visitor as they process. In addition, the installation reveals the underside of the plants, exposing the root systems to the visitors. Visitors can physically and visually experience the underlying system that allows nature to prevail over and through manmade landscapes. The installation celebrates the rootal systems that are usually unseen. 

The project will give insight to visitors about the complexity of the root system as well as the persistence and prevalence of nature over our manmade landscapes. The overgrowth and overarching of the plants over the infrastructure will exemplify the idea that nature cannot be controlled despite our efforts. The venue is the alcove/lobby space of the 2nd floor at the Gladstone Hotel. The installation will consist of modular pieces put together to create a whole. The installation will be selfsupporting with light supporting elements to appear as if it is floating."

Winter Stations 2016: Lithoform

Congratulations to the selected winners of the 2016 Winter Stations! This year Ryerson University's Department of Architectural Science will have TWO teams, one in the academic category and another that was successful in the International Competition Category. Congratulations to Calvin and Victor in the Master of Architecture program!

The Department is also pleased to be participating with the other distinguished design institutions with its entry, Lithoform designed by [R]ed[U]x Lab veterans Remi Carreiro and Aris Peci. Let's hope that this team can match the success of last year's Snow Cone installation from the Department!

Congratulations to both Ryerson teams and we look forward to seeing their work in the next month!

FLUMMOX: [R]ed[U]x Lab at the TODO 2016 in the Junction

Once again the [R]ed[U]x Lab team has the privilege to participate in the Toronto Design Offsite festival in the Junction. This year the team will be mounting a window installation in Pandemonium: New and Used Books, CDs, DVDs, & Vinyl. Here are a couple of early renderings as the design concept developed.

Trichotomy: Initial Sketches

Here are some early sketches that the Trichotomy team developed for the DME Wall proposal. As with other [R]ed[U]x Lab projects, we look forward to seeing how the final work manifests itself relative to these initial ideas.

Additional Initial Sketches of FLUX

It is always a great exercise to compare and contrast what the initial ideas are relative to what the final outcomes are, especially in the realm of design and fabrication. Here are some initial concept sketches that the Flux team developed for their submission to the 2016 Come Up To My Room. Let's hope the team is able to translate their ideas into built reality with a high level of fidelity!

Sine & Stomata: The Initial Ideas

Here are the two renderings that were presented by the Sine and Stomata teams to the Bata Shoe Museum and adjudication committees in order to secure this year's 2014 Nuit Blanche.

Let's just hope that the renderings are pale comparisons to what will really come to fruition! Tonight is the big night!

SINE

STOMATA

[R]ed[U]x Lab at Grow Op 2014

Once again the [R]ed[U]x Lab returns to the Gladstone Hotel for another installation opportunity, Grow Op 2014 with their project entitled "Chlorophytum". Though the initial Come Up To My Room project in 2012 stands as one of the group's prominent and early projects (merely two years ago!), the current roster of the [R]ed[U]x Lab endeavors to push themselves even further in this piece. 

The original intention was presented as:

"Hybridizing plant life within a digitally fabricated matrix, the Chlorophytum project explores synthetic methods to augment and showcase physiological processes within plants including capillary action, phototropism, thigmotropism, and diurnal behaviours.  This room installation suspends an acrylic matrix containing a series of nutrient reservoirs which sustain a latticework of modest planting.  By day, the constrained nutrient reservoirs and light from the room’s window will alter the organization of the hovering matrix. During the evening hours within this environment, the plants’ responses to the various stimuli in the room are highlighted via the use of black light. The tessellation of plant and fabricated components atop visitors will prove to be an engaging piece that draws attention the self-organizing systems at play in plant growth, but also questions the nature of interior vegetation as art."

This was a very conceptual proposal and allowed the [R]ed[U]x Lab to investigate the use of not only plant life but also UV light and motors... at least that is the intention. As one can see, the design evolved over time...

[R]ed[U]x Lab's Night Market Cart Concept 2013

Many people have asked what the design intentions behind this year's Night Market cart design and the team has been fairly secretive about their work.  As the Night Market event is a week away, it is time to finally outline the design from its initial concept submitted a few months ago including an initial conceptual sketch:

  

Dissemination Via Disassembly

The 2013 [R]ed[U]x Lab design proposal for The Stop Night Market cart embraces the notion of change over time. Despite the brevity of the event, many variables evolve during the evening including the ambient light, volume of people, and food availability.  The design serves as both a vessel for the display and serving of culinary works, but also an artifact accentuating the event's dynamics.  Using a digitally fabricated framework, the design serves as a lattice supporting a tessellation of components that may be removed or altered by attendees ultimately transforming the cart into a lantern by nightfall.  The premise is that upon coordination with the assigned culinary organization, [R]ed[U]x Lab would design the components to create a suitable taxonomy of units ranging from serving containers or utensils to small lights or keepsakes.  The design intent is that the cart begins the evening as a monolithic mass that, over the course of the event, is dismantled and disseminated throughout the crowd casting a wide network of illumination while simultaneously transforming the cart into an illuminated focal point as the night draws to an end.