A MadeToFund legacy initiative
Every year on his birthday, The Sam Kashuk Fund raises support to help one girl stay in school.
One birthday. One girl. One more year in school.
This year's campaign
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Thirty years of drawings, competitions and buildings — from Melbourne's civic rooms to housing prototypes in Chengdu and a timber pavilion in the Peruvian highlands.
Studios that began with one question: who is this building for when you are not in the room? Generations of students still answer him.
He thought a life should keep working after it ends. This fund is that idea, made annual: one birthday, one girl, one more year in school.
A tribute
In a tribute written by Dr. Graham Thorpe, Sam is remembered as a creative digital architect and wonderful teacher whose students were so inspired that they voluntarily attended classes on weekends.
Read Graham’s TributeA Tribute from Dr. Graham Thorpe
Sam transformed the way architectural engineering was taught.
Dr. Graham Thorpe first met Sam Kashuk when Sam volunteered to help teach architectural engineering to third-year undergraduates. Graham had been teaching in a traditional ‘chalk and talk’ format, but Sam brought the imagination and skill of a digital architect. Together, they reshaped the course so students could begin by designing an energy-efficient house, combining engineering knowledge with aesthetic design and digital tools.
“The students loved their new-found skills — so much so that they voluntarily attended classes at the weekends. They were attracted and inspired by Sam’s excellent teaching and his expertise.”
“Sam transformed so many lives.”
“Sam was a gifted architect and a wonderful teacher. He continues to influence me in numerous positive ways.”
Dr. Graham Thorpe, Yarra Glen, Victoria
This tribute captures the heart of Sam’s legacy: he did not simply teach architecture; he helped students experience the joy of learning, designing, and thinking across disciplines. This same spirit now guides The Sam Kashuk Fund — helping one girl stay in school each year in his memory.
2007 — Performative Membrane Spaces
Sam's early experimental work explored lightweight membrane and cable-net structures, environmental performance, and architecture as a responsive system.
Explore Sam’s Architecture
A life in five moments
From beach houses in Lima to a stage in China — the drawings, the studios and the quiet belief that became a fund.
2007
Performative Membrane Spaces · UTS, Sydney
In 2007, Sam Kashuk participated in Performative Membrane Spaces, an intensive architectural studio at the University of Technology Sydney. The project explored lightweight membrane and cable-net structures through environmental performance, light, airflow, physical modeling, and digital modeling. This work reflects Sam's early engagement with experimental form, material intelligence, and architecture as a living system.
Long before The Sam Kashuk Fund, Sam was already exploring how structures could respond, adapt, and create meaningful space. Today, that same spirit continues through a fund that helps one girl remain in school each year.
Explore Sam's Architecture2009
Casas de Playa · Lima, Peru
In 2009, Sam Kashuk and Dr. Graham Thorpe presented work connected to Casas de Playa in Lima, Peru. The beach house design reflected a syncretic approach to architecture and engineering: using engineering science to understand external surface temperatures, heating and cooling loads, and environmental performance while preserving the complexity and beauty of floating architectural forms.
2009
LAB Architecture Studio Exhibition
Sam's architectural work extended into major parametric design projects through LAB Architecture Studio. The exhibited models included the Rhino Tower design for Dubai, Zovie Plaza in China, and The Dune complex in Bahrain. These works reflected advanced form, digital modeling, complexity, and architectural imagination.
2009
Mind Meld · Victoria University
At Victoria University, Sam helped shape a teaching approach that blended architecture and engineering. His philosophy was that students should not reduce complex buildings into simple boxes just to understand performance. Instead, they should use advanced tools to understand complexity itself — space, heat, light, sound, form, and environmental footprint — and then design more intelligently.
“Students learn how to extract information from complexity rather than simplify the complexity.”
2017
MadeToFund in China
In 2017, Sam stood onstage in China to receive the MadeToFund award with pride. This moment became more than an award ceremony. It became a symbol of Sam's belief in MadeToFund, his love for his family, and his quiet support of a dream that would later become part of his own legacy.
He once stood beside MadeToFund. Now MadeToFund stands beside his memory.
Today
The Sam Kashuk Fund
The Sam Kashuk Fund was created to celebrate Sam's life, not only mourn his passing. Every year on his birthday, family, friends, students, colleagues, and all those touched by his life come together to raise funds for one girl at risk of leaving school. Through every student supported, Sam's love for education continues — not as memory alone, but as action.
