Clock wise from top left: Babits, Leckman, Stevens and Trocmé (photos courtesy of the awardees / RAIC)

University of Toronto bachelor of architecture alumni Chris Babits (BArch 1994), Michael Leckman (BArch 1988), Paul Stevens (BArch 1987) and Michel Trocmé (BArch 1983) have been named Fellows of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC).

Awarded by Canada’s national organization for architects, established in 1907, the honour recognizes outstanding work in research, scholarship, public service, or professional practice in Canada and beyond.

Babits was recognized as a long standing partner of community focused firm FWBA, one of Western Canada’s oldest practices, where he leads and oversees a diverse portfolio of healthcare, seniors care and institutional projects.

Leckman, a principal at Diamond Schmitt, was honoured for his distinguished leadership in advancing the quality, sustainability and civic purpose of architecture in Canada.

Stevens (1963–2025), co founder of ZAS Architects + Interiors, was posthumously named Fellow for a distinguished global career that shaped some of Canada’s most celebrated civic and institutional spaces, including the Sam Ibrahim Building at U of T’s Scarborough campus.

Trocmé, a partner at Urban Strategies Inc., was cited for transformative contributions to the built environment, communities and meaningful service to the profession.

Fellows were inducted to the RAIC College on May 6 during the 2026 RAIC Conference in Vancouver, BC.

Daniels also celebrates current and former faculty instructors, guest critics, and practising alumni who also received annual awards: 

Fellows Shane Laptiste and Olivia Waiyen Keung; Michael Prokopov, RAIC Honorary Member; Pat Hason, founding principal of gh3, RAIC Gold Medalist; and Moriyama Teshima Architects, recipients of the RAIC Architectural Practice Award. 

Photo by Lea Keller courtesy of NCCR Digital Fabrication

University of Toronto MArch alumnus Nicholas Hoban is a computational designer, roboticist, fabricator and educator. He works at the intersection of computational design, robotics, construction and simulation in pedagogy, research and practice. In addition to being a lecturer, he is the director of applied technologies at Daniels, where he oversees one of the country's most advanced fabrication environments: a high-bay robotic cell at the heart of the Daniels Building. 

The foundation for it, he says, was laid in Zurich. Hoban was part of the inaugural cohort to graduate with a master of advanced studies (ETH) in architecture and digital fabrication.

In the above interview, Hoban talks about his very first steps in the MAS ETH DFAB and remembers how, as a student, he and his colleagues had to define their own working parameters, spec their own equipment and build out a functional robotic cell from the ground up. 

"That knowledge wouldn't have been afforded to us if I had just worked on a pre-set up robot," he says, noting that when the time came to build the Daniels lab, he already knew exactly what to do.

Today, his research focuses on timber, including lightweight active timber structures and reciprocal timber shells. Hoban believes robotics and computational design are necessary levers to modernize the North American construction industry and grow collaboration between academia and industry. 

The National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) Digital Fabrication is Switzerland’s initiative to lead the development and integration of digital technologies within the fields of architecture and construction. Initiated at ETH Zurich, dfab.ch is partnered with EPFL Lausanne, the Hochschule für Technik Rapperswil, the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, the Bern University of Applied Sciences, Università della Svizzera italiana (USI) and Empa.

With files from dfab.ch – Alumnus Nicholas Hoban: How Digital Fabrication Found Its Way To Canada

How can Canada meet the simultaneous challenges of scaling up its infrastructure and housing to keep pace with population growth while also achieving ambitious targets for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions?

The third annual Embodied Greenhouse Gas Symposium, led by the Centre for the Sustainable Built Environment (CSBE) and sponsored by the University of Toronto and U of T’s School of Cities, explores solutions to building more housing and infrastructure with less greenhouse gas pollution.

MArch student, Cassandra Santaguida, took part in the symposium’s poster session, sharing research and case studies addressing the theme of reducing resource use and embodied GHGs in the construction sector.

Her thesis project, Farm to City (advisor, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Sam Dufaux) illustrated how Ontario’s 3.12 million tonnes of harvestable crop residues, corn stover and straw, could be used as materials for future construction projects.

Thesis statement:

In response to the current climate and political context, the project rethinks the bioregion as a framework for rural economies and as a site of repair. Across Ontario, agricultural residues go underused, while dormant rail corridors mark past rural–urban exchanges. The project proposes an agro‑residue manufacturing hub along a repurposed rail line, reimagined as a “material line,” to convert residues into low‑carbon building materials and to reconnect rural landscapes with urban centres. Integrating education and research, the site serves as a full‑scale demonstration, framing architecture as an extension of agricultural processes and linking cultivation to construction. Integrating education and research, the site serves as a full-scale demonstration, framing architecture as an extension of agricultural processes and linking cultivation to construction.

Santaguida plans to continue development of her thesis proposal throughout her professional career. 

With files from the Embodied Greenhouse Gas Symposium

Thesis project images courtesy of Santaguida

First launched in 2023, the IDEAS Impact Award initiative is a collaborative endeavour of the three Daniels student unions, the Architectural and Visual Studies Student Union (AVSSU), the Forestry Graduate Student Association (FGSA) and the Graduate Architecture Landscape and Design Student Union (GALDSU). This peer-recognition award seeks to recognize Daniels students for their contributions towards advancing Inclusion, Decolonial work, Equity, Accessibility and Sustainability at Daniels or in external communities.

Nominations were reviewed by the Student Impact Award Committee, which was composed of representatives from AVSSU, FGSA, GALDSU and the Office of the Assistant Dean, Equity Diversity and Inclusion. The mandate of the selection committee is to help Daniels advance values of equity and inclusion by ensuring that the candidates selected meet or exceed the award criteria. 

In addition to the IDEAS Impact Fellows, this year’s process also included an IDEAS identity mark competition. The selected design, created by third-year BAAS student Ivan Tsang (Specialist in architectural studies, comprehensive stream).

The artist statement describing this design reflects is primarily intended to reflect simplicity:

"Inclusion" is made obvious with the merging of the i and the D. More subtle details include all letters being different fonts, yet occupying the same boundaries as the others. All letters are different, yet each is needed to create the logo; like how diversity is important in our community. The openness of the frames suggest that said boundaries are not exclusive and open to discussion, and the extrusion of the i signifies an encouragement to leave the confines of the social norms. The enclosing circle can be interpreted as a wholeness and continuity, and creates an orbit-design with the i’s dot, suggesting that its members, values, and institution exists in a constant relation to broader systems and context.
 

This year’s Impact Fellows join the 2023 inaugural cohort and carry the lifetime title of Impact Award Fellow and grow the network of students recognize by their peers as social impact advocates and change makers.

Meet the 2026 IDEAS Impact Fellows:

Ashneet Sachdeva

The selection committee was struck by the body of work submitted in Ashneet’s nomination package that reflected their commitment to designing housing community models that “make room for difference without requiring people to shrink themselves to fit.” Ashneet's commitment to designing and organizing systems that reduce barriers, expand choice and make dignity and belonging tangible”. Ashneedt’s IDEAS Impact recognition highlights the Contour and The Hive, two projects developed over the course of their MArch studies. The Contour, was a housing project Ashneet co-developed with student partner Malak Saeed. The project centred on single parents and caregivers whose lives are shaped by time poverty, safety concerns and limited supportive infrastructure. The project embedded equity "as a design driver through dignity and privacy."  Ashneet’s second project, The Hive was a design for a behavioural heath centre focused on adolescents and young adults. A key element in the design was choice – designing environments where people can decide what feels comfortable, rather than being forced into a single way of occupying space.

Minghan Wei

The selection committee notes that Minghan’s submission affirms the importance of architectural approaches that prioritize social justice, community agency and ethical responsibility and their continued commitment to using design as a tool for meaningful, long-term social impact. Minghan’s work embodies the spirit of the IDEAS Impact Awards and “represents the kind of architect the discipline urgently needs—"one who listens first, questions inherited systems, and designs with communities rather than for them. Minghan’s IDEAS Impact recognition highlights a project addressing postcolonial heritage and tropical modernism in Zanzibar City, through which they came to understand architectural design not simply as a technical or aesthetic practice, but as a deeply political and ethical act—one that can either reinforce existing inequalities or actively work to undo them.
 

Ontario's regulator of professional foresters (RPF), the Ontario Professional Foresters Association, features an article by master of forest conservation graduate Stevie Rae Luzzi (MFC 2024) in the latest issue of The Professional Forester.

Sharing our roots: journeys to becoming a professional forester introduces some of Ontario’s new registered and associate professional foresters by sharing the personal stories behind their decision to join the profession and their experience as a professional forester so far. It highlights the wide range of backgrounds and career paths that strengthen forestry in Ontario and the value this diversity brings to the profession.

In another story, RPF and alumnus Fred Pinto (BScF 1978) and John Pineau, content and production coordinator for The Ontario Woodlander magazine, trace the origins of the U of T field camp to the Temagami forestry protests of the early 1990s.

Read the latest issue of The Professional Forester (PDF)

Photo at Sugarstone Farm courtesy of John Pineau

The Dino Dutra Memorial Award will alleviate financial pressure for an architectural studies undergraduate at the University of Toronto

A newly established bursary at the John. H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design honours the memory of architect and alumnus Dino Dutra (1963-2024).

The Dino Dutra Memorial Award will be awarded on the basis of financial need with preference given to students enrolled in the architectural studies program at the Daniels Faculty. 

Established through a generous commitment from Dutra’s family and spouse, Isabel Dutra, the funds will be matched 1:1 in perpetuity by the Boundless Promise Program directed toward needs-based awards, thereby doubling the gift’s impact. Part of the Boundless Campaign’s legacy, the program continues as part of the Defy Gravity Campaign, the largest fundraising and alumni engagement effort in Canadian history. 

“Dino’s life was shaped by the belief that education can change the course of a person’s future. He understood firsthand how financial challenges can stand in the way of opportunity, and he was deeply committed to helping others overcome those barriers,” says Mrs. Dutra. “By supporting a student in financial need, this award reflects his compassion, his generous spirit, his belief in fairness, and his enduring faith in the potential of those who are willing to work hard and persevere.” 

Dutra graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1987. He began working in Toronto at a small firm, which he would later come to own, founding Dutra Architect Inc. in 2003. The firm was renamed DUTRA ARCHITECT last year in his memory. 

At his practice, Dutra led notable heritage renovations of the WolfeCorp’s Publishing House at 495–517 Wellington Street West and the Steele-Briggs Building at 49 Spadina Avenue. Throughout his career, he made a lasting impact across custom residential design, post‑secondary institutions, law enforcement buildings, veterinary and healthcare spaces, food service, retail and corporate environments. Over 25 years, he completed more than 200 nation-wide projects for Scotiabank, ranging from small ABM updates to major interior remodels.

Beyond his work, Dutra was known for his generosity, often volunteering his time and taking on additional pro bono projects. When asked how he wished to be remembered, he said: “I want to be remembered as someone who had a giving spirit." 

“By easing financial barriers, recipients can fully engage in the study of architecture, explore ideas with confidence, and develop their own design voice,” says Mrs. Dutra. “My hope is that they will carry forward a sense of responsibility to use architecture as a means of improving the built environment and strengthening inclusive communities.” 

Dutra’s passing sadly precedes that of his 1987 classmate, Paul Stevens. Classmates, colleagues and friends can honour both Dutra and Stevens by making a pledge to either or both bursaries established in their names.

"Dino was typical of the extraordinary class of 1987 architecture graduates. He remained a binding member of a closely knit group who, alongside him, have gone on to contribute in important and diverse ways to architecture in Toronto and abroad,” says Robert Levit, acting dean of the Daniels Faculty. “Dino’s commitment to architecture—and to those with whom he began his journey—will now be extended to future generations of architects by giving them the support they need to forge new paths." 

"I, the members of the Daniels Faculty community, and the future students who will benefit from the Dino Dutra Memorial Award are very grateful to Dino’s family and spouse for their generous gift in his name."

Story by Nina Haikara republished at the Defy Gravity campaign website 

To learn more about this giving opportunity, please contact Alumni & Development Officer, Stacey Charles, stacey.charles@daniels.utoronto.ca or call 416-978-4340.

Wednesday, April 8 to Wednesday, April 29
Daniels Building
1 Spadina Crescent

Whether you're a future student, an alum or a member of the public with an interest in architecture, forestry, landscape architecture or urban design, you're invited to join the Daniels Faculty for Winter 2026 Reviews. 

Throughout April, students from across our undergraduate and graduate programs will present final projects to their instructors and guest critics from academia and the professional community. 

All reviews will take place in the Daniels Building at 1 Spadina Crescent from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. (unless otherwise stated). Follow @uoftdaniels on Instagram and join the conversation using the hashtags #danielsreviews and #danielsreviews26. 

Please note that times and dates are subject to change. 

Current students should reference the Final Examinations & Reviews schedule for more information.

Wednesday, April 8  

Design + Engineering I (ARC112) | Undergraduate
Instructors: Jay Pooley & Mahsa Malek
Room: 200

Exploring Design Practices (ARC302) | Undergraduate
Instructor: Richard Sommer
Room: Main Hall 

Thursday, April 9  

Design Studio I: How to Design Almost Anything (JAV101) | Undergraduate
Coordinator: Petros Babasikas
Instructors: Anthony Kalimungabo, Mo Soroor, Reza Nik, Erica Kim, Scott Sorli, Harry Wei, Kara Verbeek, Katy Chey, Jeannie Kim
Rooms: Main Hall (170A, 170B), 215, 230, 330 

Friday, April 10  

Drawing and Representation II (ARC200) | Undergraduate
Coordinator: Jeffrey Garcia
Instructors: Roberto Damiani, Nova Tayona
Room: 330

Design Studio II: How to Design Almost Nothing (ARC201) | Undergraduate
Coordinator: David Verbeek
Instructors: Francesco Valente-Gorjup, Daniel Briker, Anne-Marie Armstrong, Maria Denegri, Adrian Phiffer, Michael Piper, Anne Ma, Jay Pooley, Miles Gertler, Fiona Lim Tung
Rooms: Main Hall (170A, 170B, 170C), 230, 215, 240, 2/F hallway

Monday, April 13

Architecture Studio IV (ARC362) | Undergraduate
Coordinator: Shane Williamson
Instructors: Chloe Town, Laura Miller
Rooms: Main Hall (170A, 170B), 230

Technology Studio IV (ARC381) | Undergraduate  
Instructors: Paul Howard Harrison, Suzan Ibrahim
Room: 330

Tuesday, April 14

Design Studio 2 (LAN1012) | Graduate
Instructors: Behnaz Assadi, Liat Margolis
Rooms: Main Hall (170A, 170B, 170C)

Comprehensive Studio III (ARC369) | Undergraduate  
Coordinator: Daniel Briker
Instructors: Mauricio Quiros Pacheco, Fiona Lim Tung
Rooms: 209, 215, 230
Time: 10:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. 

Multidisciplinary Capstone Design Seminar (ARC491) | Undergraduate  
Instructor: Erica Kim
Room: 330

Wednesday, April 15

Architectural Design Studio 2 (ARC1012) | Graduate  
Instructors: Fiona Lim Tung (Coordinator), Shane Williamson, John Shnier, Behnaz Assadi, Mauricio Quiros Pacheco, Laura Miller
Indigenous advisor: PhD candidate James K. Bird
First Peoples Leadership Advisory Group: Amos Key Jr., Trina Moyan, Dorothy Peters
Rooms: Main Hall (170A, 170B), 215, 230, 240, 330

Landscape Architecture Studio IV (ARC364) | Undergraduate   
Instructor: Peter North 
Room: 315

Undergraduate Thesis
ARC462

Senior Seminar in Design
Instructor: Jeannie Kim  
Room: 209
Time: 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Thursday, April 16

Comprehensive Studio (ARC2014) | Graduate 
Coordinators: James Macgillivray, Aleris Rodgers
Instructors: Maria Denegri, Jon Cummings, Steven Fong, Pina Petricone, Christopher Cornecelli, Carol Phillips
Rooms: Main Hall (170A, 170B, 170C), 215, 230, 240

Design Studio 4 (LAN2014) | Graduate  
Instructors: Robert Wright, Francesco Martire, Todd Douglas
Room: 330

Friday, April 17

Comprehensive Studio (ARC2014) | Graduate 
Coordinators: James Macgillivray, Aleris Rodgers
Instructors: Maria Denegri, Jon Cummings, Steven Fong, Pina Petricone, Christopher Cornecelli, Carol Phillips
Rooms: Main Hall (170A, 170B, 170C), 215, 230, 240

Design Studio 4 (LAN2014) | Graduate  
Instructors: Robert Wright, Francesco Martire, Todd Douglas
Room: 330

Monday, April 20

Urban Design Studio 2 (URD1012) | Graduate
Instructor: Nusrat Jahan Mim
Room: Main Hall (170A)

Selected Topics in Advanced Computer Applications (ARC3202) | Graduate
Instructor: Alstan Jakubiec
Room: Main Hall (170B)
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Selected Topics in Architecture (ARC365) | Undergraduate
Instructor: Adrian Phiffer
Room: Main Hall (170B, 170C)
Time: 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Graduate Thesis
LAN3017

Design Studio Thesis
Coordinator: Elise Shelley
Instructors: Behnaz Assadi, Liat Margolis, Francesco Martire, Fadi Masoud, Peter North, Robert Wright
Rooms: 209, 215, 230, 240, 242, 315, 330, 340

Tuesday, April 21

Advanced Topics in Architecture (ARC465) | Undergraduate
Instructor: Zachary Mollica
Room: Main Hall (170C)
Time: 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Graduate Thesis
LAN3017, URD2015

Design Studio Thesis
Coordinator: Elise Shelley
Instructors: Behnaz Assadi, Liat Margolis, Francesco Martire, Fadi Masoud, Peter North, Robert Wright
Rooms: 209, 215, 230, 240, 242, 315, 330, 340

Urban Design Studio Thesis
Coordinator: Mason White
Instructors: Michael Piper, Roberto Damiani, Nusrat Jahan Mim, Mariana Leguia Alegria, Angus Laurie, Simon Rabyniuk
Rooms: Main Hall (170A, 170B)

Wednesday, April 22

Graduate Thesis
ARC3021

Almost Ordinary
Instructor: Michael Piper
Rooms: 209, 230, 240

Rehearsing the Parade: Ephemeral Architectures and Persuasion on the Move
Instructor: Miles Gertler
Room: Main Hall (170B), 330 

Public, Building, Forms
Instructor: Adrian Phiffer
Room: Main Hall (170A) 

Thursday, April 23

Graduate Thesis
ARC3021

Trading Places
Instructor: Jeannie Kim
Rooms: 330, 340

When the Impossible Happens
Instructor: Brian Boigon
Room: 230
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

The Archipelago Studio
Instructor: Petros Babasikas
Rooms: Main Hall (170B, 170C)

Public, Building, Forms
Instructor: Adrian Phiffer
Room: Main Hall (170A) 

Friday, April 24

Thesis II (ALA4022) | Post-Professional
Coordinator: Mason White
Instructors: Brady Peters, Robert Wright, Fiona Lim Tung, Nusrat Jahan Mim, Alstan Jakubiec, Brady Peters
Rooms: 209, 242, 2/F hallway

Graduate Thesis
ARC3021

Trading Places
Instructor: Jeannie Kim
Rooms: 230, 340

Architecture and the Right to Housing
Instructor: Karen Kubey
Rooms: Main Hall (170C), 215, 240

Design Technologies
Instructor: Humbi Song
Rooms: Main Hall (170A, 170B)

Bioregional Futures
Instructor: Sam Dufaux
Rooms: 330, Outdoor Courtyard

Monday, April 27

Undergraduate Thesis
ARC457, ARC462, ARC487

Senior Seminar in History and Theory
Instructor: Simon Rabyniuk
Room: Main Hall (170A, 170C)

Senior Seminar in Design
Instructor: Jeannie Kim  
Room: Main Hall (170B), 240 (a.m.), 242 (p.m.)

Senior Seminar in Technology
Instructor: Nicholas Hoban
Rooms: 230, 242 (a.m.)
Time: 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Tuesday, April 28

Undergraduate Thesis
ARC457, ARC462, ARC487

Senior Seminar in History and Theory
Instructor: Simon Rabyniuk
Room: Main Hall (170A, 170C)

Senior Seminar in Design
Instructor: Jeannie Kim  
Rooms: Main Hall (170B), 209, 242 (p.m.), 330

Senior Seminar in Technology
Instructor: Nicholas Hoban
Room: 230, 242 (a.m.), 1/F Hallway
Time: 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Wednesday, April 29

Selected Topics in Architecture (ARC3703) | Graduate
Instructor: Laura Miller
Room: 330

Modeling and Fabrication in Design (ARC280) | Undergraduate
Instructor: Brady Peters
Room: 215, 230, 240, 2/F Hallway
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m

Design & Community-Engagement  Capstone Project (ARC492) | Undergraduate
Instructors: Michael Piper & Joshua Kirk
Room: Main Hall (170B, 170C)
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m

by Nina Haikara

The Paul Stevens Boundless Promise Award will support Indigenous or and Black architectural studies or visual studies undergraduates at the University of Toronto

Canadian visionary architect and University of Toronto alumnus Paul Stevens (1963-2025) will be remembered through a newly created bursary supporting students at the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design.

First announced at his celebration of life at U of T’s Hart House on November 21, 2025, the Paul Stevens Boundless Promise Award will be awarded on the basis of financial need with priority and preference given to Indigenous or Black students enrolled in the architectural studies or visual studies program at the Daniels Faculty.  

Made possible by the generosity of his spouse, Tanya Phillipps-Stevens, the annual award funds will be matched 1:1 in perpetuity through the Defy Gravity Campaign’s Boundless Promise Program. The program, a legacy of the Boundless Campaign, doubles the impact of donations made towards needs-based awards. 

Phillipps-Stevens says the bursary honours her husband’s impact on architecture—his life’s passion—and carries forward his wish to provide equitable opportunities for future designers to create a better, more beautiful world.  

“My husband's greatest attributes are his generosity of spirit and his authentic connection with people. Paul always gave his time, his boundless talents, and his treasure across many areas of his life,” says Phillipps-Stevens. “This award is a continuation of his longstanding commitment to inclusion and interconnectedness, mentoring and supporting the next generation.”

Inspired by his artistic mother and his father who worked as an engineer, Stevens knew by age eight he wanted to become an architect. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in architecture in 1987 and became a co-founder and co-owner of Toronto-based ZAS Architects + Interiors in 1994, where he served as senior principal. 

Over his distinguished career, Stevens shaped some of Canada’s most celebrated civic and institutional spaces including the Billy Bishop Airport Tunnel, Canoe Landing Community Campus + Schools, River City Condominiums, Vaughan Civic Centre Library and York University’s Bergeron Centre for Engineering Excellence and a symbolic final project—the Sam Ibrahim Building at U of T’s Scarborough campus—which hosted its grand opening in April 2025. Beyond his work in Canada, his practice encompassed projects from Dubai to Shanghai.

In recognition of his enduring influence on Canadian architecture and his professional legacy, Stevens was posthumously inducted into the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada’s College of Fellows.

Paul Stevens at the April 2025 opening of the Sam Ibrahim Building, University of Toronto Scarborough campus. Design by ZAS Architects and CEBRA Architecture with construction by Ellis Don (supplied photo).

A dedicated mentor to emerging talent, Stevens and his practice participated in the Daniels Faculty’s undergraduate Design Research Internship Program (DRIP).

“He was deeply inspired by the young creatives at Daniels and would always invite students and intern architects to work alongside him at his office, serving as a partnering practitioner with DRIP,” says Phillipps-Stevens.

She adds her husband’s transformational leadership style is rooted in a vision of human-centred and sustainable design excellence, exemplary collaborations and industry-leading community engagement. 

“By creating this award for Indigenous and Black students, we honour Paul’s legacy and core values of excellence, innovation, sustainability and equity,” she says. “My hope is to expand the industry by providing greater access for underrepresented aspiring creators to learn how to be the change they wish to see. This fund unlocks boundless opportunities for diverse recipients to become changemakers, like Paul, who harness their talents to make an inclusive blueprint for solving current and future societal challenges.” 

Stevens’s passing sadly follows that of his 1987 classmate, Dino Dutra. Classmates, colleagues and friends can honour both Stevens and Dutra by making a pledge to either or both bursaries established in their names.

"His sympathy for people and his passion for the material of building made Paul a remarkable architect," says Robert Levit, acting dean of the Daniels Faculty. "While I had known Paul in many professional contexts, it was shortly before his untimely passing that I met with him to discuss his interest in philanthropic support for Daniels students. He explained to me how his childhood in northern Ontario had shaped in him a strong sense of community with the diverse population of his childhood world, and also for the materials—wood, abundant in northern Ontario—that would inspire him to become an architect."

"His family's gift to the Faculty to support Indigenous and Black students reflects his commitment to enlarging the scope of who shapes our built world and, by doing so, broadens how we can imagine the architecture that makes our communities. Paul’s gift will have a lasting impact on who will make up future generations of architects."

To learn more about this giving opportunity, please contact Alumni & Development Officer, Stacey Charles, stacey.charles@daniels.utoronto.ca or call 416-978-4340.

Landmarks of entertainment, worship and community defined the career and shaped the legacy of prominent Toronto architect, Harold Solomon Kaplan (1895–1973). 

His daughter, architect Ruthetta Kaplan Reiss, the first woman to graduate from the architecture school at the University of Toronto, and two of Kaplan’s grandchildren, Jonathan Reiss and Rosemary Reiss, have established the Harold Solomon Kaplan Lecture at the University of Toronto’s John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design. 

The annual named lecture, part of the faculty’s public program series, honours Kaplan by exploring the architecture that fosters collective experiences. 

“These spaces for gathering created by Kaplan for popular entertainment or for religious congregation and community, marks a significant moment in Toronto’s architectural history: Kaplan designed places for shared experiences,” said Robert Levit, acting dean of the Daniels faculty. “This gift by the Kaplan/Reiss family is significant, as it supports our mission as a public university and our building as place for discourse on design and design’s role in shaping the civic space of our cities and towns.” 

The inaugural lecture featuring Peter Sampson and Liz Wreford, co-founders of the Winnipeg-based multidisciplinary practice Public City, is scheduled for March 26.

In this Kaplan family photo, circa 1909, H. Kaplan stands in the background next to his mother, stepfather and stepbrother (supplied photo courtesy of Kaplan Reiss family).

Born in Bucharest, Romania, Kaplan was a young boy when he and his widowed mother, Tillie Hohan, moved to Toronto, where his mother would meet his stepfather, Frank Kaplan. 

The young Kaplan first learned drafting while staying with relatives in Philadelphia, PA. He then studied architecture and building construction during night classes at Toronto’s Technical School.

“When I think of my father, I remember him as a refined, elegant, gentleman – always immaculately dressed in a suit,” said his daughter, Phyllis Kaplan Pepper. “He worked very long hours, going to work at nine, coming home for dinner with the family promptly at six, then returning to the office for a night of work. He was a hard-working successful man, a loving husband, father and grandfather.” 

Kaplan apprenticed with Toronto architect Henry Simpson and worked at the local firm Page & Warrington before establishing a partnership with Abraham Sprachman (1894-1971) in 1929, at the start of the Great Depression. Their modest office was located not far from the U of T campus at Dundas & McCaul Street, near the present site of the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO).  

Kaplan Reiss assisted in her father’s office as a high school student, eventually choosing architecture as her own career.  

“But my tastes were different; I liked the Bauhaus while his style then was mostly Art Deco,” she says.

Ruthetta Kaplan's graduating class photo (Torontonensis, 1949 by University of Toronto Students' Administrative Council) 

In 1949, Kaplan Reiss became the first woman to graduate from U of T's newly established School of Architecture, which in years prior had been a department within U of T’s Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, where she was one of only two women among more than 1,000 students.

She recalls that “Architecture students from about that time, including John Daniels, worked during summers at my father’s office.” 

Daniels, who later founded The Daniels Corporation, is the benefactor after whom the Daniels faculty was named in 2008.

Kaplan & Sprachman became Canada’s leading designers of Art Deco and Art Moderne movie theatres from the 1930s through the mid‑20th century. They designed nearly 80 per cent of Canada’s marquee movie houses including Toronto’s historic Eglinton Theatre—now the Eglinton Grand venue—which won the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Bronze Medal in 1937. In 1936, they were tasked with the renovations of the Revue Cinema at 400 Roncesvalles Avenue, which continues to operate as an independent movie theatre today.   

In addition to work spanning retail, residential and single-family homes, Kaplan & Sprachman shaped significant Jewish community institutions across Canada, including the Anshei Minsk and Shaarei Shomayim synagogues in Toronto, and Edmonton and Vancouver’s Beth Israel, and the Jewish Community Centres of Toronto and Hamilton. 

Kaplan’s granddaughter, Rosemary Reiss, recalls, “Though Kaplan and Sprachman were known for their theatre and other public designs, I most enjoyed the home my grandfather designed for his own family on Strathallan Wood, where we would stay as kids visiting from New York. I remember it as Prairie Style, long and low, with natural stone and wood. There was a wooded garden at the back where trillium grew that I found magical.”

In partnership with local firms, the architects contributed to developments of Baycrest, the new Mount Sinai Hospital, the Primrose Club on St. Clair, the Y on Bloor, and the Oakdale Golf & Country Club which was selected for the arts competition of the 1948 London Olympics. 

Both Kaplan and Sprachman were posthumously named to Ontario Association of Architects’ Honour Roll (1989). Their records were donated to the Ontario Jewish Archives and the City of Toronto Archives. Kaplan & Sprachman, Architects was designated as a national historic event in 2008 by Parks Canada and the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada. 

“We at the Daniels are honoured that the Kaplan/Reiss family has chosen our faculty to remember Harold with a named lecture to celebrate his contributions to Toronto and to the field of architecture. His impact on communities here locally and across Canada cannot be understated,” says Levit.

Story by Nina Haikara republished at Defy Gravity: The Campaign for the University of Toronto

Keynote Panel
Fri, Mar 20 2026, 6:00pm
Daniels Building, 1 Spadina Crescent
Main Hall, DA170

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Free for students to register!

This session is part of the 2026 Canadian Architecture Forums on Education (CAFÉ), presented by the Canadian Architecture Students Association CASA-ACÉA) across Toronto, Halifax, Winnipeg and Montréal.

A thought-provoking panel featuring Erik Skouris, Trina Moyan (First Peoples Leadership Advisory Group at the Daniels Faculty) and Johl Whiteduck Ringuette, moderated by U of T architectural studies undergraduate Julien Todd.  

The following week, Indigenous advisor Trina Moyan will be leading a captivating Indigenous Book Reading + Walking Tour on March 27 at 6:00 p.m. starting in the Eberhard Zeidler Library. Moyan will be reading selected text from Indigenous Rights in One Minute by Bruce McIvor, followed by a guided tour of the adjacent land surrounding the institution, while discussing Indigenous rights, Canada’s policies and the relationship to the land.

Presented by the Canadian Architecture Students Association (CASA-ACÉA), CAFÉ 2026: Indigenous Knowledge and Design is part of the Canadian Architecture Forums on Education (CAFÉ), a national outreach initiative launched in 2019 by Dr. Lisa Landrum to examine the role of architectural education and research in shaping Canada’s future. Previous forums have addressed themes including Architecture Policy for Canada (2019/20), Equity in Architecture (2022) and CAFÉ Housing (2025). 

Building on this legacy, CAFÉ 2026 centres Indigenous knowledge and design in response to the need for stronger representation of Indigenous perspectives within architectural education. Canada’s built environment continues to be shaped by colonial systems that have historically marginalized Indigenous ways of knowing, land stewardship and place-based design.

Through a national series of forums and events bringing together Indigenous architects, educators, knowledge keepers and students, CAFÉ 2026 creates space for reflection, dialogue and learning, supporting meaningful conversations on Indigenous-led design and practice within the Canadian architectural context.