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Events and Exhibitions
UnRuly Counter-Archiving Women’s Reform
I do not intend to speak about; just speak nearby—Trinh T. Minh-ha, Reassemblage
The archive of the Andrew Mercer Reformatory for Women preserves the official record of Canada’s first women’s reformatory. Its plans, disciplinary registers, and medical assessments were designed to document order and progress, yet they also disclose absences, tensions, and marks of lived experience. Beneath the rhetoric of reform lay a carceral institution, and daily life inside reflected that reality. From these documents, the contours of the institution emerge. Opened in 1880 in Toronto, the Mercer formed part of a wider network of women’s reform institutions that claimed to offer protection and training. In practice, it entrenched gendered, racial, and class norms, enacted through bureaucratic procedures that produced their own forms of violence. Many women and girls were incarcerated for perceived moral transgressions rather than criminal offences, and the Mercer became a testing ground for new practices in social work, psychiatry, and classification. This exhibition anchors itself in the archive, tracing both its disciplinary force and the agency, refusals, and everyday acts of those whose lives it sought to contain.
The archive of the Andrew Mercer Reformatory for Women preserves the official record of Canada’s first women’s reformatory. Its plans, disciplinary registers, and medical assessments were designed to document order and progress, yet they also disclose absences, tensions, and marks of lived experience. Beneath the rhetoric of reform lay a carceral institution, and daily life inside reflected that reality. From these documents, the contours of the institution emerge. Opened in 1880 in Toronto, the Mercer formed part of a wider network of women’s reform institutions that claimed to offer protection and training. In practice, it entrenched gendered, racial, and class norms, enacted through bureaucratic procedures that produced their own forms of violence. Many women and girls were incarcerated for perceived moral transgressions rather than criminal offences, and the Mercer became a testing ground for new practices in social work, psychiatry, and classification. This exhibition anchors itself in the archive, tracing both its disciplinary force and the agency, refusals, and everyday acts of those whose lives it sought to contain.
KONA Installation Opening Reception
KONA is an interactive installation designed by third-year students Avery Ross and Megan Sobkowich at the University of Waterloo, School of Architecture.
Developed through computer prototyping and physical modeling, KONA draws from natural systems to explore modularity, movement, and light. Inspired by the biological behaviours of the pinecone, the installation integrates abstracted kinetic opening and closing methods and radial organization into a modular and responsive architectural structure.
KONA consists of an eight-foot CNC-milled circular frame with a series of internal plywood hinges. Lightweight iridescent vinyl modules are attached to the hinges and fold in response to their movement, enhancing lighting effects and visual depth.
Finally, integrated LED lights on the frame animate the installation, producing shifting visual effects that emphasize dynamism, material translucency, and spatial layering.
Overall, KONA demonstrates how computational design can be used to abstract natural systems into adaptable, architectural installations. The project combines prototyping, digital fabrication, and analog crafting methods to produce an interactive installation that brings light to Cambridge’s Gaslight District.
KONA is funded in part by the Forum at Fabrik, which establishes an annual student design-build competition developed in collaboration with the University of Waterloo School of Architecture. The competition brings architectural education, public art, and community engagement into a highly visible urban setting through the design and realization of a site-specific installation within a public exhibition space in the heart of the Gaslight District.
Through the partnership, the Waterloo School of Architecture provided critical academic, technical, and fabrication support—enabling students to move from concept to construction with access to institutional resources and faculty guidance.
Each cycle culminates in a juried selection and the construction of one installation, exhibited for several months during the district’s most active season, ensuring sustained public visibility and engagement.
Developed through computer prototyping and physical modeling, KONA draws from natural systems to explore modularity, movement, and light. Inspired by the biological behaviours of the pinecone, the installation integrates abstracted kinetic opening and closing methods and radial organization into a modular and responsive architectural structure.
KONA consists of an eight-foot CNC-milled circular frame with a series of internal plywood hinges. Lightweight iridescent vinyl modules are attached to the hinges and fold in response to their movement, enhancing lighting effects and visual depth.
Finally, integrated LED lights on the frame animate the installation, producing shifting visual effects that emphasize dynamism, material translucency, and spatial layering.
Overall, KONA demonstrates how computational design can be used to abstract natural systems into adaptable, architectural installations. The project combines prototyping, digital fabrication, and analog crafting methods to produce an interactive installation that brings light to Cambridge’s Gaslight District.
KONA is funded in part by the Forum at Fabrik, which establishes an annual student design-build competition developed in collaboration with the University of Waterloo School of Architecture. The competition brings architectural education, public art, and community engagement into a highly visible urban setting through the design and realization of a site-specific installation within a public exhibition space in the heart of the Gaslight District.
Through the partnership, the Waterloo School of Architecture provided critical academic, technical, and fabrication support—enabling students to move from concept to construction with access to institutional resources and faculty guidance.
Each cycle culminates in a juried selection and the construction of one installation, exhibited for several months during the district’s most active season, ensuring sustained public visibility and engagement.
Together at Fabrik: Friends & Family Night
Over the past year, our team has been gradually shaping Fabrik’s new studio — a space that reflects the way we think, work, and collaborate. From the first sketches to the final details, the studio has grown into a place that brings people together.
As part of this new chapter, we’re also launching the Forum at Fabrik — a flexible space for exhibitions, talks, workshops, and gatherings; a setting for ideas to continue unfolding.
As part of this new chapter, we’re also launching the Forum at Fabrik — a flexible space for exhibitions, talks, workshops, and gatherings; a setting for ideas to continue unfolding.
The Reveal: Fabrik x The Forum
The Reveal: Fabrik x The Forum
Unveiling the Space Where Ideas Take Shape
Over the past year, our team has been gradually shaping Fabrik’s new studio — a space that reflects the way we think, work, and collaborate. From the first sketches to the final details, the studio has grown into a place that brings people together.
As part of this new chapter, we’re also launching the Forum at Fabrik — a flexible space for exhibitions, talks, workshops, and gatherings; a setting for ideas to continue unfolding.
Unveiling the Space Where Ideas Take Shape
Over the past year, our team has been gradually shaping Fabrik’s new studio — a space that reflects the way we think, work, and collaborate. From the first sketches to the final details, the studio has grown into a place that brings people together.
As part of this new chapter, we’re also launching the Forum at Fabrik — a flexible space for exhibitions, talks, workshops, and gatherings; a setting for ideas to continue unfolding.
Roma XLV Exhibition
The University of Waterloo School of Architecture class of 2025 is proud to reaffirm our long-standing Presence in Rome with an exhibit of our design projects, sketches, photographs and videos. Through it, we seek to convey the lasting impact of our temporary stay in Rome, the most layered of cities, where ancient buildings and urban armatures are inhabited by a modern people. As foreign student designers, we explored a reciprocal approach to these spaces, striving to take in the rich history of the land, while providing our own unique perspective.
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