Architecture Competition Toronto Affordable Housing Challenge Honorable mention – Kaili Sun and Carmen Kam

We’d like to take the opportunity to introduce you to one of our Honorable mention winners for our “Toronto Affordable Housing Challenge” competition – Kaili Sun and Carmen Kam from Canada!

Kaili Sun and Carmen Kam from Canada

We both graduated from the environmental design program at UBC in May of 2020. Carmen is currently a sociability research assistant at Human Studio. Kaili is a current M. Arch student at the California College of the Arts. We both hope to eventually get licensed and practice as architects within Canada.

Brief information about the projects that you/your company have been involved with. For instance, what scale have you focused on/preferred, any significant projects where the company/ individuals have been involved?

This competition is one of the first projects we’ve worked on together outside of school, but we have also collaborated in starting the first international NOMAS chapter at UBC, working on projects towards building social and cultural equity. We’re currently working on launching Collective Art Architecture and Design (@collective.aad), a design collective aiming to investigate historical planning and architectural practices and the impacts they have had on institutionalized racism and inequities within cities.

What does architecture mean to you and what is the role of an architect in your society?

To us, architecture is something that brings people together and has the power to shape human interactions with each other, nature, and the built environment. The role of the architect is to utilize our portfolio of skills to help foster strong community development and growth and design spaces moving towards greater equity and equality within cities.

Why do you participate in architecture competitions?

It’s important for us to participate in design competitions because they provide us with a creative outlet outside of the studio, where we can take part in tackling real-world problems in ways not limited to the confines of traditional rules and boundaries.

What advice would you give to individuals who struggle to decide whether it would be beneficial for them to participate in architecture competitions?

We’d say to just do it and not worry about the outcome. It should be an opportunity to learn something new, have fun, and grow as designers.