My name is Taylor Lapierre-Grignon. I recently completed my Master of Architecture at the Laurentian University McEwen School of Architecture. I have a passion for creating a more equitable world and wish to pursue this goal through architecture. I am always seeking knowledge about the field and how I can make a difference in the world through my work.
(705) 988-6455 | taylor.grignon@gmail.com
Education
MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE | LAURENTIAN UNIVERSITY MCEWEN SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
Sudbury, ON [2022 – 2024]
BACHELOR OF ARCHITECTURAL STUDIES | LAURENTIAN UNIVERSITY MCEWEN SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
Sudbury, ON [2018 –2022]
• Graduated with honours.
Skills
• Rhinoceros 3D [5 years]
• Revit [3 years]
• AutoCAD [1 year]
• Illustrator [5 years]
• InDesign [5 years]
• Photoshop [2 years]
Experience
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGNER | IMAGINE YOUR HOME | MAY 2024 – PRESENT
• Drafted architectural plans for residential, commercial, and agricultural use buildings conforming to the Ontario Building Code.
• Using programs Revit and Enscape to produce plans, sections, elevations, and 3D renderings.
JUNIOR DESIGNER – COOP STUDENT | BJC ARCHITECTS INC. | JANUARY 2023 – AUGUST 2023
• Designed and developed projects for commercial, residential, institutional, and industrial use buildings according to client needs and conforming to the Ontario Building Code.
• Using programs AutoCAD, Photoshop, and Illustrator to produce plans, sections, elevations in colour and construction details.
DRAFTPERSON | IMAGINE YOUR HOME | MAY 2022 – AUGUST 2022
• Drafted architectural plans for residential, commercial, and agricultural use buildings conforming to the Ontario Building Code
• Using programs Revit and Enscape to produce plans, sections, elevations, and 3D renderings.
Awards
Off the Grid Design Competition - 2023
• Honourable Mention [BJC Architects]
Volunteer Experience
SAFEGUARDING ANIMALS IN NEED TODAY SOCIETY | JANUARY – MAY 2024
• Prepared and distributed food, washed dishes, and socialized with the cats.
Catification: Exploring Shelter Design to Improve the Quality of Life of Cats
Metamorphic Cabin - Off The Grid Design
Competition 2023
Frames of Hope - Educational Pavillion & Arboretum
Green Bank - Mixed-use Residential Complex
Un Monde Intime - Group Design-Build Project Submission - 100 Notebook
Project Type: Individual
In Canada, twice as many cats are admitted to shelters compared to dogs. Cats are domesticated companion animals that when left outside experience a reduction in lifespan and quality of life. Free-roaming cats are also considered an invasive species and cause great damage to natural ecosystems. Shelters therefore provide important infrastructure for managing both cat wellbeing and overpopulation, yet are routinely over capacity with insufficient funding. This design proposal aims to envision a shelter for Sudbury, Ontario that prioritizes the wellbeing of both cats and local ecosystems by combining the programs of shelter, cat cafe, educational space, and veterinary practice. Informed by primary research of local shelters, the resulting centre creates a safe environment that prioritizes the diverse needs of shelter cats, increases capacity to address overpopulation and cat health, promotes education around cat care and environmental impacts, and provides a revenue-generating community-oriented space that serves both humans and cats.
Awards: Honourable Mention
Project Type: Group (BJC Architects)
A submission for the 2023 Off the Grid Design Competition, the Metamorphic Cabin encapsulates the necessities of everyday living in a natural and self-sustaining system by which the components tailor to the users’ needs. It works with the idea that space is limited, and energy and resources are scarce. By embracing these limitations, our team’s design concept focuses on the incorporation of natural systems and developing a versatile, tiny home that will lend itself to everchanging forms of a living environment that not only causes minimal affect to nature but exists in harmony with it.
Utilizing transformative properties such as adjustable outdoor shades and movable wall and ceiling systems, the cabin has the ability to transform or “morph” the spaces depending on the users’ needs.
Metaphoric Cabin aims to redefine the parameters of space, comfort, and sustainability.
Project Type: Group (M1 Design Studio)
With focus on life-centred design, Frames of Hope is a project meant to educate on Greater Sudbury’s history of ecological destruction, the regreening program, and hope for the future.
The use of frames represents the frames of time as well as frames of mind. The frame of mind reflects the events unfolding, and it is only possible to change the future through the restructuring of perspective.
The project includes an educational pathway and pavilion on the Laurentian University campus which takes the user on a journey through time, frames densifying amongst times of distress, then releasing into the present. The pathway ends by forming the University Arboretum, signifying the hope for the future relies in education.
Frames of Hope intends to invoke a change in thought process from automatic to intentional, it is meant to invoke questions about the actions needed to create the future we hope for. Site Plan
Project Type: Group (4th Year Design Studio)
The Downtown core of Sudbury is a hub of food insecurity, with 42% of the downtown population living in low-income as well as the presence of students who are more at risk of food insecurity, this presented the opportunity for the Food bank. The intention with this project is to create a community within the site that centers around the food system. The project follows the system of growing, selling, eating, and returning to combat food insecurity for not only the residents of the building but the community as a whole.
The building features a community greenhouse enhanced by aquaponic technology that creates social wellness while providing food for the community, small greenhouses on each residential floor for private use by the tenants, and a barbecue area to allow for social eating. The central courtyard features a fireplace area, shaded seating, and gardens that is available for use among both the residents and the public. The commercial space also features a farmers market area with a cafe that promotes the selling of local food products as well as a social space.
Detailed Section & Elevation
Type: Group (1st Year Design Studio)
Over the course of two semesters, we were required to work in our studio group to design and build an Ice Station. This Ice Station would be situated on the Ramsey Lake skating path to provide spaces to rest and relax for the people using the path. The first semester was dedicated to designing the Ice Station, and one month of the second semester was dedicated to building the station so they could be placed on the ice for the rest of the winter.
As I was a part of the francophone studio group and the ice stations were to be assembled for a Valentine’s Day event on Ramsey Lake, we decided to take inspiration from local francophone poet Robert Dickson and a poem he had written about love. In order to honour him and his poetry, we painted his poem into the wood planks on the inside of our ice station so people coming to rest would be able to enjoy this poem as well. To compliment the poem, we designed the structure so that it would be made of archways symbolic of a church or chapel, like one might get married in.
Throughout the design and construction process, I had a number of roles in the group. Design decisions were made as a group, and I was in charge of section drawings as well as helping to create the physical model of the Ice Station. During the construction process, the studio group and I all worked together to create a jig for the archways and glued the laminations together. This took up the majority of our construction time as we had limited space and thus could only make half an archway per class period since we had to let the glue dry before removing the arches from the jig. I along with four others from our group were also tasked with painting the poem onto the wood panels. This also took a lot of extra time not in class as we had to measure out exactly where the lines would begin, as well as create the templates for each line.
Submission - 2019
The 100 Notebook Project invites 100 members of a group to fill a notebook with their creative work over the course of four months. The contents of the notebook are entirely up to the user, allowing for unencumbered imagination to take form on the page. In 2019, the 100 notebook project came to the McEwen School of Architecture and allowed me the opportunity to take part in this project.
I had been in the program for one semester at this point, and due to the demaning coursework I was not making time for other activities I used to love. I had a great passion for art in high school, and was one of the reasons I wanted to become an architect. However, at that point in my life it had seemed like I was no longer doing any art not related to architecture. This project was my opportunity to make time for drawing and painting again.
