TMU Architecture Student Work on View: “Let’s Talk About the Future”
This summer, student design ideas for a proposed Community Centre on Amherst Island are on view at the Nielsen Store Museum and Cultural Centre in Stella, Ontario. The exhibition "Let's Talk about the Future!" presents drawings and models created by fourth year DAS B. Arch. Sci. students as part of the fall 2024 fourth-year design studio entitled "Building Community / Community Building, Amherst Island in the future."
A rural community in Lake Ontario, the Island is accessible by a short ferry ride from the Millhaven dock west of Kingston, Ontario. Island landscape is characterized by rocky limestone soils, open fields, working farms, seasonal and year-round homes, beaches, marshes and migratory bird preserves. Recreationally, the Island is known for fishing, cycling, sailing, birding and swimming and as well as having the largest concentration of Irish dry-stone walls in Canada. Public facilities on the Island are lacking.
In August at a community gathering at the Nielsen Store Museum, Professor and Studio Instructor George Kapelos talked about the student work. Through an initiative of the Amherst Island Community Alliance, sixteen TMU students in Professor Kapelos' studio toured the Island on a field trip. They met with Island residents to understand community life close-up, discuss future needs and identify potential sites for project designs. Annick Mitchell, former Chair of the TMU School of Interior Design and Island resident, provided student and project support. The architectural drawings, models and renderings exhibited at the Museum present student ideas for community facilities, including a medical clinic, studios for CJAI, the community's radio station, a café/restaurant, recreation spaces, as well as a range of flexible spaces for Island residents, groups and visitors.
The project received financial and in-kind support from Loyalist Township, Algonquin Power, Amherst Island Mutual Insurance Company, among others, as well as over three dozen Island residents and associations, and the DAS Chair and TMU FEAS Dean.
The exhibition continues until mid-October at the Nielsen Museum and Cultural Centre located at 5220 Front Road, Stella, Amherst Island, Ontario.
Sponsors: Amherst Island Community Alliance, Amherst Island Community Medical Clinic, Amherst Island Mutual Insurance, Bruce and Susie Caughey and Family, Amherst Island Men's Society, Amherst Island Women’s Institute, Algonquin Power, Anonymous, An Tigin, Dom Conacher and Orla Rawley, TMU Architectural Science, The Back Kitchen, Elizabeth Barr and Stephen Perry, CJAI Radio, Andrea Cross and Bruce Burnett, Tom De Haan and Gord Heasley, Bill and Jacqui Jeffers, Dry Stone Canada, Emerald Area Residents Association, Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Science, Tom Duever Dean, Kirk Foley, Mary Gordon and Andrew Pike, Janet Grace, Beyond Delicious, Laureen Kilpatrick, Michele LeLay, The Lodge on Amherst Island, Tagget Bonham-Carter and Graham Witmarsh, owners, Loyalist Township Discretionary Funds, Martin MacLachlan, Annick Mitchell, Mary Pat Moore, Neilson Store and Cultural Centre, Diane Pearce, Joyanne Plaxton, Amherst Island General Store, John Jeffrey, Professional Pumps and Water Treatment, St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Molly Stroyman, Sally Bowen, Topsy Farms, Nathan Townend, Deputy Mayor, Loyalist Township, Mike Walhout and Jill Caughey. Lorna Willis, Councillor Loyalist Township