SIMON MCKENZIE
PORTFOLIO
Academic Work:
THESIS: BACKGROUND RESEARCH
McGill SoA
Supervisor: Martin Bressani
Jan '16 - Dec '16
This thesis studies the moving body and how we experience architecture – with time and motion being critical elements. It focuses specifically on the relationship between bodily movements that are enacted consciously versus unconsciously, claiming this dilation to be an integral part to the developmental structuring of consciousness.
The first section of this thesis is background research, which was conducted as a means to explore larger concepts of movement, temporality, and perception.
THESIS: BOOK I
Developing the Moving Body and its Implications for Architecture
McGill SoA
Supervisor: Martin Bressani
Jan '16 - Dec '16
Book I was largely comprised of written theoretical work that gave a detailed account of consciousness and its process of (re)formation. It ended by examining three perceptual effects that heighten the individual's sense of movement and help to initiate a body schematic shift: Parallax, Gravity, and Vacuity. Each of these effects manifests through architectural conditions and can be used as an instrument of experience.
THESIS: BOOK II
The Creation of the Leviathan
McGill SoA
Supervisor: Martin Bressani
Jan '16 - Dec '16
Book II explores these concepts further in a site and program-specific project, centering on a major event at the Davie Shipyards in Levis, Quebec: the creation of the Leviathan – a fictional ship – and the expansion necessary to facilitate this creation. It choreographs the various transformations of the shipyard, over time, which in turn transforms the individuals who inhabit the space. What results is not a finished shipyard, but rather a shipyard in the process of its becoming. The drawings that emerge seek not only to expose future possibilities, but also to reveal latent meaning that already exists in the current shipyard; therefore representing both past and future.
EXPERIMENT #2 - ABYSSAL DREAM
McGill SoA
Supervisor: Martin Bressani
Jan '16 - Dec '16
This film is an exploration of empty space. It examines ‘liminal space’, which is the in-between – turning architecture into an ephemeral, temporal event. In this case, light and shadow are sculpting space, defining spatial boundaries, which the body enters and exits. Abyssal Dream explores sublime and vacuous landscapes that blur the boundary between the material world and that of the imagination.
Creator: Simon McKenzie
Actor: Kyle Leroux
Soundscape: Simon McKenzie & the Waterloo Architecture Class of 2014 musicians.
Special thanks to Alec Fraser, Ashley Whalen, & Nigel Goodwin
This film is a product of Simon McKenzie’s MArch Thesis at McGill University.
AXIS I
A Master Plan for Hybridized Program
McGill SoA
Professor: Michael Jemtrud
Team: Justin Bouttell, Simon McKenzie
Sept '15 - Dec '15
‘Axis’ is the bridge between Montreal’s urban centre and the recreational waterfront of Griffintown.
It ties together a disparate community of residents, artists, students, and workers, by providing strategic connections, as well as exciting destinations within the site. This creates a platform for innovation and human activity; the framework for living a healthier, active lifestyle.
AXIS II
Strategies for Hybridized Building
McGill SoA
Professor: Michael Jemtrud
Team: Justin Bouttell, Jennifer Phan, Simon McKenzie
Sept '15 - Dec '15
This design explores the various challenges and opportunities present in such an urban and fast-growing area of Montreal. Hybrid programming is extensively explored as a means to serve the multiplicity of interests and influences present in the area. Symbiotic relationships are sought out, where the existence of one program can complement and enhance the experience of another.
The hybrid design is categorized into three spheres of influence: Education, Environment, and Social.
MOSS PARK
A Mixed-Use Hub for Performing Arts
UWSA
Professor: Philip Beesley
Jan '12 - Apr '12
Located in downtown Toronto, this mixed-use building contains a school for music at its heart. The design puts an emphasis on program flexibility. The main atrium (for example), can be used as a lunchroom, work area, performance space, or simply as a connection from one level to another. While the upper floors are reserved for the students, the building becomes increasingly public as you reach the ground floor.
*This project received the 2012 Outstanding Design Award and Scholarship at the University of Waterloo
NORWEGIAN MAELSTROM
2012 Bergen International Wood Festival
UWSA
Supervisor: Tammy Gaber
Team: Roksena Nikalova, Simon McKenzie
May '12
In May 2012, I traveled to Norway to compete in the Bergen International Wood Festival. The site was in the heart of Bergen’s historic city and would become the artistic backdrop for the city’s annual Jazz Festival. My partner and I had four days to fully construct the installation. The competition theme was “Portal”. We developed and built an experimental form that invited people to enter into the main plaza from the adjacent streets. It also provided a place of repose for people to enjoy the sun.
CAMPFIRE
2016 Bergen International Wood Festival
McGill SoA
Team: Stefan Berry, Kyle Leroux, Simon McKenzie
May '16
With the festival's 2016 theme entitled 'The Green Transition', this structure recreates the social gathering space of the campfire. It creates an intimate, interior space, with porosity in the structure for ventilation and framed views. At the centre, fire (a force of destruction) is replaced by a single tree sapling (an element of growth). This project speaks to the fragility and beauty of nature, and the social bonds that can form by tending to such a mutable and growing natural element.
OSLO OPERA HOUSE
Urban Precedent
UWSA
Professor: Philip Beesley
January '12
A case study exploring the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet designed by Snøhetta. Examining the buildings success as a platform for public activity and what it could mean for architecture on a broader scale.
Team:
Amina Lalor - Faris Faraj - Simon Mckenzie - Jordan Prosser
Music:
Pure - Blackbird BlackbirdSymphony No.25 in G Minor KV 183: I. Allegro Con Brio - Wolfgang Amadeus MozartNessun Dorma - Luciano PavarottiPeacetime Resistance - Kings of Convenience Rouse Your Bones - Broadcast 2000
VOSS SPA
UWSA
Professor: Andrew Levit
May '14 - Aug '14
In Norway there is a rooted sense of place in the landscape, a visceral connection to material and
nature. This rootedness is balanced with a perpetual curiosity and a continuous quest for innovation. This stride towards new ideas is different from the typical avant-garde approach where context and history are dismissed. It is a symbiotic relationship where the yearning for new ideas occurs through the lens of culture, history, and a profound connection to nature. This project explores a dialectic of the familiar and the unique; the traditional and the radical.
PROTEUS MOVES
A Study of Durational Space
UWSA
Professor: Dereck Revington
Sept '12 - Dec '12
This studio explores the art of architecture imagined through space, time, and motion. Focusing in particular on philosophical concepts, technologies and practices within the spatial and temporal arts.
The ambition is to explore new territories of the formal and material imagination. Drawing not only from architecture, but the temporal arts of poetry, music, and cinematography where durational space
and an architecture of time is ever present.
MUSEO DEI FORI
A Museum for the Roman Fora
UWSA
Professors: Lorenzo Pignatti, Tracey Eve Winton
Team: Myles McCauley, Simon McKenzie
Sept '13 - Dec '13
This project explores a new Museum of the Fora as an opportunity for reclaiming civic space, and engaging the rich history of Rome. The museum program is placed on either side of the existing road and aligns to preexisting urban axes. This strategy simultaneously minimizes the physical presence of this program, while reinforcing the axial nature of the historic site. It funnels pedestrians to a compressed point of gathering where Via dei Fori Imperial meets the Colosseum. At an urban level this creates a powerful threshold and dramatic sense of arrival. While creating striking geometries, this produces a building that is deeply responsive to its unique context.
CHAIR FOR PROMETHEUS
UWSA
Professor: Elizabeth English
Team: Giles Hall, Simon McKenzie
Sept '12 - Dec '12
This chair was inspired by the heroic sufferer Prometheus, who brought fire to man. During the conception of this chair, we looked to ideas of the sublime. Fire was studied as a force of creation and an element of destruction. The exterior of the chair is charred black, a reminder of this sublime dialectic.
The chair has two states, one of chaos and one of order. Through the act of sitting, the chair transforms from one to the other. As the individual rises, the chair returns to its natural state of
disorder.
NORTHERN SLED
A Reinterpretation of Nomadic Living
UWSA
Professor: Mark Cichy
May '10 - Aug '10
The “Northern sled” inspires an entirely new species of nomadic living. The roof is composed of a heat-absorbing polycarbonate resin. As one lies down, the transparent ceiling provides a view to the stars above. This vessel attempts to break the boundary
between humanity and the natural world. It allows the individual to dwell closer than ever before to the immense beauty of this hostile environment.
Le confident
An interactive chair
McGill SoA
Professor: Michael Jemtrud
Team: Simon McKenzie, Patricia Johnsson, Patrizia Bayer, and Philippa Swartz
Sept '15 - Dec '15
Using arduino technology, this bench explores the interactive capabilities of craft and technology. Through a variety of sensors, the bench senses people's presence and maps their conversations. These interactions are transposed into light, which shines through the wood material.
Le confident - Video
An interactive chair
McGill SoA
Professor: Michael Jemtrud
Team: Simon McKenzie, Patricia Johnsson, Patrizia Bayer, and Philippa Swartz
Sept '15 - Dec '15
This video shows the final product of this interactive bench. Craft and technology work in synchronicity to map out the social interactions between two people.