Take a seat and make a statement!
We’d like to take the opportunity to introduce you to one of our Honorable mention winners for our “Toronto Affordable Housing Challenge” competition – Margot De Man, Sarah Ives, Mark Grimsrud and Ron Noble from Canada!
Honorable mention from Canada
Design + Build + Grow (DBG) is an innovative design collective consisting of students from the Department of Architectural Science at Ryerson University. DBG was founded in Toronto in 2013 by Margot de Man, Mark Grimsrud, Sarah Ives, Ron Noble and Ziju Xian. We have since been collaborating internationally between Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, The Netherlands and China.
DBG specializes in urban agriculture and reclaimed materials. Our first project, Garnish was a food cart for The Stop’s Night Market 2014.. This project reused and adapted plastic water bottles as modular self watering planters which were fastened to the frame of the cart, as a way of promoting the practice of cultivating, processing and distributing food in an urban setting. Garnish was awarded Best in Show by Designlines Magazine and a Sustainable Design Award. Our second project, Loop, was a hydroponic garden that used a peristaltic pump attached to a bicycle wheel to recycle nutrient rich water for plants to grow without the traditional use of soil. It was exhibited at the Gladstone Hotel as part of Grow Op 2016. DBG has participated in numerous international design competitions and small scale design builds such as our most recent Patio TO design for Union Restaurant in Toronto.
Our intention as architectural designers is to challenge the meaning of building for today's sensitive urban environments. With a focus on affordability, sustainability, and food security we hope to cultivate positive change for our local communities.
We participate in competitions as a way of exploring ideas that are interesting to us. And to expand our knowledge by exploring new perspectives that inform our future built environments.
If the topic is inspiring to you then it can't hurt to participate. You will enjoy the process and even expand your knowledge in a wide range of research and design topics.
Take a seat and make a statement!
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Design affordable housing solutions in Los Angeles