Architectural Science - BArchSc (Hons)

What to include in your portfolio:

1) Creative pieces

Between 12 and 14 examples of your own creative work that highlights and demonstrates the range and variety of your creative interests and abilities through different media. Please carefully select and format your work to show it in the best way possible. For three-dimensional work, include several photographs to show the work from different angles. The assessment committee is NOT keen to see architectural scaled plans and detailed drawings, etc. These should at most form only a small part of the portfolio. You should focus on showing us your creativity in other ways. For each piece, please include the title if you have one, the medium/media, the date executed, and the size of the original piece.

2) Home exercise

Groundbreaking
Architecture reaches into the sky, while also always touching the ground. The way it touches the ground can be magical! It can land lightly, like a bird; dig deeply, like a garden spade; or spread its weight across a stretch of land, like a snowshoe. For architecture, the ground is a structural surface, but it is also a living habitat. The land is alive, nurturing living things, while revealing stories of people, places and ecosystems.

Exercise:
Identify a roughly one square-foot area of ground. Make (or choose) a physical object that touches the ground in an interesting way. Document the encounter with three images.

Things to consider:

• One image should be a view from above - looking directly down at the ground.
• One image should show the encounter between the object and earth - focused on the way they touch or interact with each other.
• One image is up to you.
• At least one image should be a photograph, the others may be hand-drawn, digitally created, and/or collaged with relevant images and/or materials gathered near the site.
• The physical object does not need to be elaborately designed. It could be a simple construct of wood, paper or cardboard, or a found object (about the size of a shoe).
• We are not looking for the design of a building or a building foundation, but rather a demonstration of interest in materials, land and the world. There is no single correct answer, but a variety of creative responses. 
• Other things you may consider: gravity, stability, materiality, soil conditions, texture, temperature, flora and fauna, footprints, balance, stance, sunlight, shadows, sound, colour, form, and more.

3) Writing sample

Write a short statement (up to 150 words) that describes:

1. The location of the site you chose for the home exercise and why you chose it.
2. How the object relates to the earth (and maybe also to the sky). 
3. What this encounter might reveal or suggest about architecture. 

We are looking for thoughtful and clear reflections on the work presented.

Compiling your portfolio:

The entirety of your portfolio should be submitted as one .pdf file. Please ensure you upload your portfolio contents correctly and completely, as multiple submissions will not be considered.

Please include the home exercise in your portfolio, clearly labelled HOME EXERCISE. The writing sample should be an additional page at the end of these images. You may use several pages to show your images. The home exercise/photos and writing sample do not count as part of the 12 to 14 projects in your portfolio.

 Please do NOT include your name within your portfolio, on the cover or on any individual component. Do not submit a resume/CV. Please submit only the required portfolio pieces. You must include your TMU Student Number in the portfolio.

Applicants are reminded that non-academic work may be assessed by the Selection Committee prior to Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) receiving your interim or final grades. Regardless of how your non-academic work is evaluated by the Selection Committee, TMU’s academic admission standards will be maintained and will ultimately determine your admission into our program. The Selection Committee’s evaluation of non-academic work is final. Due to the volume of applications, re-evaluation/re-assessment of the non-academic work is not possible.

If you are applying for readmission or reinstatement, you are not required to submit non-academic requirements.

 You must inform the program department of your intentions by February 1, 2025, or 10 business days from your application submission date (whichever comes later).