Architectural Science student digs deep for a design win

Nine hundred enter the competition arena. One woman leaves. That arena is the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) 2018 Steel Design Student Competition, and that woman is Ryerson student Tatiana Estrina. With her submission UPROOT, Estrina offers a solution for abandoned open-pit mines such as those that dot the Ontario landscape. Described by Designlines Magazine (external link)  as “part St. Lawrence Farmers’ Market, part Mad Max oasis,” UPROOT re-imagines each mine as containing rings of irrigated farmland with a steel hub at the centre for pumping water and connecting the community.

As Estrina explained to Designlines, “Historically, people come together over food at the dinner table, but within this proposed design, the community bond is strengthened through activities related to the growth and production of sustainable food.” Offering a suspended hub for agricultural and social activities, UPROOT takes advantage of structural steel’s strength under tension. Like an inverted and corrected Thunderdome, Estrina’s winning design envisions regrowth and sustenance where a void currently exists.