We are pleased to announce YEE-O 2020 – Year End Exhibition – Online edition for this 2019-2020 academic year. This annual event celebrates the hard work and creative achievements of over 500 undergraduate and graduate students from every unit and level in the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Manitoba. Unfortunately, COVID-19 led to the cancellation of this in-person event, but sharing and celebrating student achievements must go on!
Shadow Players
Instructor: Dietmar Straub
TA: Evan Tremblay
Fall Term 2019
“Landscapes cannot run away or cry for help when they are in danger of life and limb. It is therefore one of the fundamental tasks of a landscape architect to give a voice to landscapes in need” (D. Straub).
Missing Shadows
Trees have always been sparsely distributed across the prairie. However, a wide riparian belt with very special species were able to establish themselves along the meandering rivers. The rich and fertile soil below the canopy was extremely attractive to the settlers in the area, dooming the trees.
Still today, a narrow strip exists along the Red River. In this studio, we mainly dedicated our attention to these remnants. We followed the trees and the water from the ‘source’ of the Red River in Minnesota and North Dakota to where it flows into Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba.
Research Forests
This studio reflected the primacy of trees within the discipline of landscape architecture and the built environment. The students explored the fluvial dynamics of a prairie river and its lost natures. All proposals operated with the idea to cultivate research forests at conscious selected terroirs along the Red River. It was required to propose living laboratories for testing trees, their hardiness, their ecological and aesthetics qualities with regards to global issues like climate change, water quality and the loss of biodiversity. These forests are experimental tree gardens, cultivated to acclimatise and select native and foreign tree species with regards to their suitability for the geographic region.
[G]Razed Shadows
Megan Anderson
This research forest design envisions the potentials of mixing urban development, agriculture, and water treatment within a single public park. Looking at the urban form of Grand Forks, it can be assumed that the city will sprawl further south-east. By selecting a site with few trees and little development, the goal of this design is to reclaim this land before the city expands further, while intentionally leaving room for agriculture to continue within the city. Calling upon the past of the Red River valley, when people, animals, and trees would all follow the river for their livelihoods, this design hopes to re-envision and strengthen this relationship.
Prairie Jetties
Jamie Coverini
The engineered drainage of the Red River watershed has dramatically increased the quantity and speed of surface runoff entering the Red River, increasing the risk of flooding and carrying excess nutrients. As climate change exaggerates our already extreme weather patterns, there is an urgent need to re-imagine our infrastructure to address both flooding and drought.
This project positions a series of research forests along the Seine River Diversion to cultivate a new type of riparian that could be applied to drainage channels throughout the region. Integrated into the agricultural fabric, these forests project outward from the water like jetties, casting shadows across the open landscape.
Reconnecting River Remnant
Kartik Kumar
FORAGE: Research Forest
Michaela Peyson
The research forest aims to regain the elements of the landscape that have experienced loss by reintroducing species that used to flourish in this landscape underneath the canopy of the existing forest near the Roseau River. The selected vegetation will integrate into the forest openings to correlate with the surrounding environment. In contrast, others are placed strategically in microclimatic conditions, where they are protected by older growth until they can thrive, anticipating that the species that can survive will change drastically in the foreseeable future. By integrating these species, it allows for the utilization of these plants for medicinal, technological and food purposes while reconnecting to the history, as they symbolize the essential connection to the land and the diverse prairie of the Red River valley.
10 x 10 of Field and Forest
Naomi Ratte
10×10 is a proposed research forest initiative in the Great Plains Ecoregion in Canada. This region extends from Manitoba to Alberta. Deforestation is a global phenomena. In 2016, the world lost over 29.7 million hectares of tree cover. In an area of Canada defined by agriculture, how can we integrate a forest into the fabric of the landscape What if we could start to combat that? Could we commit to just 10 hectares at a time? The test site is located along the Red River, 3km north of St. John Baptise, Manitoba at the Kronsgart Drain. The site presents a high level of varying existing conditions to test the limits of the research forest initiative.
Meridian Forest
Kenworth Sayson
The outcome final outcome pf the studio is to produce a schematic design for a research forest with a minimum footprint of 100 hectares along the Red River. The site chosen was a large portion of agricultural fields on both sides of the river adjacent to the town of Aubigny. This section features an oxbow that is flooded for a third of the year. Meridian is defined as a great circle on the surface of the Earth, a pathway for energy flow in Chinese acupuncture, a high point – prosperity. This schematic design for a research forest aims to frame flows of energy and disturbances along the river to test trees outside the normal hardiness zones.