One Hundred | 21 & 17 fl | U/C

[ac3r]

There should be a push - call them investment meets student projects - where we have a target to put up a dozen buildings/structures or art pieces that are competition level stuff.

I think one reason you don't see much of that is due to the fact that in most cases, student architects aren't allowed to really work on a whole lot of practical stuff that is really big. To be a practicing architect in Canada, you generally need an M.Arch and certification + registration by the Canadian Architectural Certification Board. It's actually one of the hardest subjects to study and work in because of the massive amount of education and work experience that is needed (I'm talking thousands of hours in school and then in the workplace).

Architecture competitions themselves are also usually just a very theoretical thing. For example, as you can see on a site like Competitions.archi a lot of them are just theoretical, visionary or for fun - although not all are. However, I suppose it would be possible to at least include students in the design aspects of things in the region. I often think about the proposals we got for our transit hub. Apart from the initial two or three proposals that were submitted years back, the two and then final one we ended up with are extremely underwhelming. I bet if you walked into UW Architecture Faculty and challenged some undergraduates and graduates to come up with a really nice design (the initial design, not technical design), there would have been dozens upon dozens of them that would blow away the crappy suburban community centre looking thing they decided upon.

If anyone is ever curious what kind of stuff UW does, you can visit the campus in Cambridge, although it is obviously closed due to Covid-19. They often have student projects and models on display, as well as hosting events for the public every so often, like exhibits and at times thesis defenses.