STRATA

‘STRATA’ is a student-led installation directed by Dhruvan Modugula from Toronto Metropolitan University’s Department of Architectural Science. The project grew from a shared curiosity about how light, material, and landscape can come together to create a sense of movement.

Inspired by the Northern Lights, ‘STRATA’ reflects the way light drifts across terrain. The installation translates this natural phenomenon into layers of material that shift in color and tone, echoing the rhythm of the aurora as it moves across the sky. As light flows across the structure, it reveals the textures, edges, and patterns that connect the work back to its inspiration in nature.

The project was developed and built by students through a hands-on design build process that encouraged experimentation, collaboration, and learning through making. Each layer represents both an individual contribution and a collective effort to transform an idea into a physical experience.

Led by Dhruvan Modugula, ‘STRATA’ celebrates the energy and creativity of student design. It invites visitors to step into an environment where architecture becomes a conversation between people, materials, and light. Through this installation, the team hopes to show how design can be both thoughtful and expressive, and how the act of building can itself become a form of storytelling.