Coalesce
"Think of it as 3D Graffiti"
ABOUT THE COURSE
The IAAC GSS Toronto 2025 program was an intensive, two-week design-build course held between July 7th and 18th. By working with both the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia and Toronto Metropolitan University, as well as hosting the class at local architecture firm SHEEEP Studio, we were finally able to bring this experiment to fruition.
The premise of the course is based on three years of prior research and development into PyraMod - a modular, user-friendly building system. Focused on combining the strengths of collaborative design, community organizing, and 3d-printing, the students were able to complete a crash course in several aspects of architectural design and build a permanent outdoor installation, all in just 12 short days. After the class voted on a universal geometry to be used, each student designed their own unique building module that was able to interface with every other student's module based on a consistent set of connection points. The class printed over 400 of these pieces in our classroom at SHEEP in just 8 days, resulting in the production of 50 modules (8 pieces per module), which we pre-assembled in clusters and then carried by foot down the block to our site.
The site for our installation is the back of a local bike shop, Ride Away Bikes, with prominent visibility to both Dupont Street and a popular multi-use trail. The collaboration with the local business was as simple as asking if they wanted some architecture students to build a cool, eye-catching structure above their back stairway. The added component of a new, bike-themed gate for the entrance sealed the deal, and the whole project has become a very positive example of bottom-up, community-oriented design-build projects, working with local businesses, and educating local students, all in the space of a couple neighborhood blocks. The success of this model for community improvement through educational workshops bodes very well for the continuation of this experimental program into the future.
Trained as both an architect and artist, and with a deep passion for both the technical and social aspects of our built environments, I am constantly trying to find accessible ways to merge the two for the average person. The intent is to create a movement of spatial agency within our communities, where everyone will have the ability to informally create and improve their own local public spaces. The goal is that as we transition into a very different kind of world order in the coming years, this movement will help to foster cultures of resilience, beauty, community pride, and urban activation in cities around the globe.
ABOUT THE INSTALLATION
Coalesce is a site-specific, interstitial urban intervention located in Toronto and realized through a collective design-build initiative. Designed and constructed by a team of emerging designers and fabricators, the installation explores bottom-up spatial agency, digital fabrication, and communal authorship.
At its core is the octahedron—a space-filling, eight-sided polyhedron. Its geometric properties allow it to aggregate without gaps, enabling structurally sound, endlessly adaptable forms suited to a range of spatial applications. The tectonic strategy used is to take a truncated version of the octahedron (all of its vertices have been chamfered to reveal secondary, square facets, and the triangles then become hexagons) and flow a minimal amount of material around vectors derived from the "dual" of its facets (as seen in the diagrams). These pieces are then designed with precisely angled connections on each of their three arms. Every piece of each module is exactly the same, but the variations that emerge in the larger structures are truly infinite.
Composed of 3D-printed modular components, the pavilion reflects the potential of additive manufacturing: low-waste, decentralized, and accessible.
The whole system is a variation based on Mark's previous research into 3D-printed modular building systems, broadly called PyraMod. Previous iterations used a truncated tetrahedron, which happens to be a subset of the octahedron and interfaces with it perfectly. Tetrahedral units were used in Coalesce as strategically placed reinforcements.
As part of the installation’s ethos, the .STL files used to fabricate the modules have been made open source. We invite you to download them and explore your own spatial
experiments.
Team Members:
Mark Francis (instructor), Leila Rashidian (teaching assistant), Kailey Allan, Liam Roy, Sadberk Agma, Simon Peiris, Treya Vyas