Taught by Professor Richard Sommer, Exploring Design Practices (ARC302) introduces students to the practice of architecture and its allied disciplines through a series of presentations by an array of leading practitioners and scholars. 

The emphasis is on a diversity of vocations pursued by individuals with architectural training both inside and outside the field. Presentations and conversations will go beyond the case studies and examples of architecture and design typically presented in lecture-based courses to probe the ideas and influences speakers have drawn on, whom they collaborate with, and the background frameworks to their work.

The following lectures are open to all members of the Daniels community as well as to the public. Each takes place in Main Hall in the Daniels Building at 1 Spadina Crescent. Registration is not required.

Winter 2025

January 15, 12:30 p.m.
Nader Tehrani
Architect, founder of NADAAA in Boston/NYC and designer of 1 Spadina

January 22, 12:30 p.m.
Diana Anderson
Architect and physician, Montreal

January 29, 12:30 p.m.
Jay Pooley
Architect, film set designer and Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream at the Daniels Faculty, Toronto

February 5, 12:30 p.m.
Tosin Oshinowo
Architect and urbanist, Oshinowo Studio, Lagos, Nigeria

March 5, 12:30 p.m.
Maria Yablonina
Architect, artist, robotics researcher and Assistant Professor at the Daniels Faculty, Toronto

March 12, 12:30 p.m.
Brandon Donnelly
Developer, architect and founder of Globizen Group, Toronto

March 19, 12:30 p.m.
Amy Whitesides
Landscape architect and resilience researcher, STOSS/Harvard GSD, Boston

March 26, 12:30 p.m.
Andrea Mastrandrea
Fornaio, architect and retailing entrepreneur, Forno Cultura, Toronto

The Mass Timber Institute based at the Daniels Faculty is pleased to announce the publication of Historical Tall-Wood Toronto, an open-source digital document authored by Daniels alumnus Ross Beardsley Wood. 

Funded by the Institute, the Canadian Wood Council and Ontario WoodWorks, the publication features contributions by fellow alumnus Daniel Wong and a foreword by Professor Ted Kesik.

Historical Tall-Wood Toronto (the cover of which is pictured below) is an evidentiary database of late 19th and early 20th century vernacular brick and beam buildings that were built using the fire restrictive specifications and construction technology of Heavy Timber Mill-Construction (mill-construction) in Toronto. 

The research in the publication illustrates the urban trajectories of 42 select examples of mill-construction and analyzes patterns in their development to create a morphological index of this set of buildings.

The publication’s index provides a record of architectural, urban development and sociocultural information that defines this distinct urban-vernacular building typology.

To download the document, click here. For more information on the Mass Timber Institute, including other current projects, click here.

Collage in banner and on homepage by Ross Beardsley Wood

The Daniels Faculty is pleased to announce that Associate Professor Brady Peters has been appointed Associate Dean, Academic (ADA). His three-year term began on January 1. 

Dr. Peters, who joined the Faculty in 2013, succeeds Associate Professor Jeannie Kim, who had served as ADA since January 1, 2022.  

Over his time at Daniels, Dr. Peters “has developed a growing understanding of many areas of our Faculty and an increasing appreciation for the complexities of our interdisciplinarity,” says Acting Dean Robert Levit. “His research, moreover, spans both artistic practice and scientific exploration, giving him a sensitivity to the requirements of managing our wide range of programs.”

Prior to joining the Faculty, Dr. Peters was an Associate Partner at Foster + Partners, where he helped lead the office’s Specialist Modelling Group (SMG), its internal research and development consultancy. 

He was also a Director, from 2013 to 2024, of Smartgeometry, an international, not-for-profit organization that promoted innovation and new technology in the architecture, engineering and construction industries. 

Before acquiring his PhD in Architecture from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts School of Architecture in 2015, Dr. Peters graduated from Dalhousie University with a Bachelor of Environmental Design degree (1999) and a Master of Architecture degree (2001). 

He also holds a Bachelor of Science degree (1997) from the University of Victoria.

Since arriving at Daniels, Dr. Peters has secured funding from a variety of sources, including the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI), the Data Sciences Institute (DSI), the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Mass Timber Institute.

Among his areas of research are digital fabrication and material investigation, computation and simulation.

Peters portrait by Richard Ashman

The John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at the University of Toronto is excited to present its Winter 2025 Public Program. 

This semester’s program highlights the work of leading global thinkers and practitioners who are shaping the future of our built and natural environments. Through a dynamic series of lectures, book talks, discussions and more, they’ll explore such themes as extractivism, scarcity, landscape heritage and mosques as sites of contemporary architectural innovation, examining the role of our disciplines in addressing urgent challenges at home and across the globe.  

From the evolving relationship between the built world and the natural one to the ways in which architecture can foster social and environmental innovation, the Daniels Faculty’s Winter 2025 Public Program aims to provoke dialogue across timelines and geographies. 

All events in the series are free and open to the public. Register in advance and consult the calendar for up-to-date details here. Many events will be live-streamed and available on the Daniels Faculty’s YouTube channel. 

Register

January 23, 6:30 p.m.  
The Dominion of Flowers: North American Book Launch 
Featuring Mark Laird (Daniels Faculty, University of Toronto) in conversation with Therese O’Malley 

January 30, 6:30 p.m. 
The Legacy of Claude Cormier: Film Screening & Panel Discussion 
This event is being held as part of DesignTO Festival 2025 and in partnership with the Toronto Society of Architects, The Cultural Landscape Foundation and the University of Toronto’s John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design. 

February 6, 6:30 p.m.  
An Alternative Urbanism: The Culture of Self-organising Systems 
Featuring Tosin Oshinowo (Studio Oshinowo) 

February 7, 6:00 p.m. 
Lewerentz Divine Darkness: Film Screening 
Featuring Sven Blume, Director 

February 11, 6:30 p.m.  
Common Mud and Flooded Pits 
MVS Proseminar Artist Talk
Featuring Cooking Sections 

February 13-14 
Mosque Architecture Now: Public Spaces for Social, Technical & Environmental Innovation 
Organized by Aziza Chaouni (Daniels Faculty, University of Toronto) and Ruba Kana’an (University of Toronto)
This event has been cancelled. 

March 6, 6:30 p.m.  
‘One clover, and a bee’ 
Featuring Shirley Blumberg (KPMB Architects) 

March 13, 6:30 p.m. 
NEW EVENT It is about time
Featuring Stefano Pujatti (ELASTICOFarm)

Jeffrey Cook Memorial Lecture: A Measure of Architecture
Featuring Amin Taha (GROUPWORK), Pierre Bidaud (The Stonemasonry Company) and Steve Webb (Webb Yates) 
This event has been postponed until Fall 2025.

March 20, 6:30 p.m. 
Placeknowing
Featuring Theodore Jojola (University of New Mexico) 

New alumnus Jose Power, who graduated from the Daniels Faculty with his Master of Architecture (MARC) degree this past spring, is the recipient of Canadian Architect’s 2024 Student Award of Excellence.

Power was awarded the honour for his highly inventive thesis project, a reimagination of the elevator entitled Ascending Worlds.

The project, Canadian Architect notes, nods to the “historical significance and spatial essence” of elevators while redefining them as catalysts for “reshaping communal dynamics within residential towers.”

Power proposed 10 different elevator prototypes in his thesis. Among them, the two-elevator-wide Express Café offers riders “a chance to grab a barista-pulled espresso on their way downstairs,” while the multi-level Venue “includes a lower storey stage and comfortable seating on upper balcony levels for acoustic mini-concerts.”

The one-elevator-sized Matchmaker, meanwhile, “includes a cozy interior with a small table to set the stage for an intimate conversation between two individuals. If the chemistry is right, either participant can slow down the journey—or, conversely, opt to discreetly access the ‘speed up’ or ‘emergency exit’ buttons under the table to bring the blind date to a quick end.”

Other suggested functions include a library, a confessional and a speakeasy.

“The jury was delighted by this project’s witty and irreverent reworking of generic elevator spaces in residential buildings,” member D’Arcy Jones enthused in his summation of Ascending Worlds. 

“Emphasizing the differences between people’s wants and needs, the design proposes new short-term communal uses, such as moving coffee shops, speed-dating tables or speakeasies,” Jones added.

In his own words, Power describes his project, for which Associate Professor Jeannie Kim served as advisor, as a restoration of the elevator and its surrounding core “to their former status as integral components of communal interaction within buildings.”

“In the 21st century, the elevator has faded into obscurity, its potential for strangeness and opportunity overlooked,” Power writes. “Ascending Worlds endeavours to reignite the allure of the elevator, infusing it with newfound vibrancy and significance within our evolving urban landscapes.”

His thesis, he adds, “celebrates the complexity of human behaviour, recognizing the myriad individual routes, purposes, urgencies and characteristics that converge within these vertical spaces. These designs are not dictated by the typical restrictions of vertical transportation, but the quality and duration of the potential interactions that our ascending rooms may evoke.”

Power’s winning project is documented in the December 2024 issue of Canadian Architect. To read more about it, click here.

Banner images: With his award-winning thesis project Ascending Worlds, 2024 MARC graduate Jose Power reimagines elevator spaces as catalysts for new communal dynamics within residential towers. Among the alternate uses he proposes are, from left to right, speakeasies, “express cafés,” confessionals and libraries.

Friday, December 6 to Thursday, December 19
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 Fall 2024 Reviews. Throughout December, students from across our graduate and undergraduate 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 social media and join the conversation using the hashtags #danielsreviews and #danielsreviews24. 

Please note that times and dates are subject to change. 

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

Friday, December 6 | Undergraduate  

Drawing and Representation I  
ARC100 
Coordinator: James Macgillivray 
Instructors: Lara Hassani, Adrian Phiffer, Zachary Mollica, Brandon Bergem, Anne Ma, Niloufar Jalal-Zadeh, Matthew De Santis, Mariano Martellacci, Kyle O'Brien, Phat Le, Ji Hee Kim, Katy Chey 
Rooms: Main Hall (170A, 170B), 215, 230, 240, 315, 330 

Monday, December 9 | Undergraduate 

9:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. 
Drawing and Representation II  
ARC200 
Coordinator: Roberto Damiani
Instructors: Michael Piper, Maria Denegri, Reza Moghaddamnik, Jon Cummings, Nova Tayona, Karen Kubey, Jeffrey Garcia, Erica Kim 
Rooms: Main Hall (170A, 170B, 170C), 215, 230, 240, 315, 340 

Landscape Architecture Studio III  
ARC363 
Instructor: Behnaz Assadi  
Room: 330 

Tuesday, December 10 | Graduate and Undergraduate 

Capstone Project in Forest Conservation  
FOR3008 
Instructor: Catherine Edwards  
Room: 200  
View detailed schedule.

9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. 
Design Studio II 
ARC201 
Coordinator: Miles Gertler 
Instructors: Shane Williamson, Jon Cummings 
Rooms: 230, 240, 315 

Architecture Studio III 
ARC361 
Coordinator: Adrian Phiffer 
Instructors: David Verbeek, Carol Moukheiber  
Rooms: Main Hall (170C), 215, 230, 330, second-floor hallway 

Technology Studio III 
ARC380 
Instructors: Maria Yablonina (Coordinator), Nicholas Hoban 
Room: Main Hall (170A, 170B) 

Wednesday, December 11 | Graduate 

Capstone Project in Forest Conservation  
FOR3008 
Instructor: Catherine Edwards  
Room: 200  
View detailed schedule.

Design Studio I  
ARC1011 
Coordinator: Chris Cornecelli  
Instructors: Anne-Marie Armstrong, Shane Williamson, Kara Verbeek, Julia Di Castri, Mahsa Malek 
Rooms: Main Hall (170A, 170B, 170C) 

Design Studio I 
LAN1011 
Coordinators: Alissa North, Peter North 
Instructor: Reinaldo Jordan  
Room: 230 

Thursday, December 12 | Graduate  

Design Studio 3: Integrated Urbanism Studio 
ARC2013/LAN2013/URD1011 
Coordinators: Mauricio Quiros Pacheco, Fadi Masoud, Roberto Damiani 
Instructors: Samantha Eby, Chloe Town, Laurence Holland, Christos Marcopoulos, Mariana Leguia Alegria, David Verbeek, Robert Wright 
Rooms: Main Hall (170A, 170B, 170C), 230 

Friday, December 13 | Graduate 

Design Studio 3: Integrated Urbanism Studio 
ARC2013/LAN2013/URD1011
Coordinators: Mauricio Quiros Pacheco, Fadi Masoud, Roberto Damiani 
Instructors: Samantha Eby, Chloe Town, Laurence Holland, Christos Marcopoulos, Mariana Leguia Alegria, David Verbeek, Robert Wright 
Rooms: Main Hall (170A, 170B, 170C), 230 

Post-Professional Thesis
ALA4021
Coordinator: Mason White
Instructors: Noheir Elgendy, Miles Gertler, Carol Moukheiber, Christos Marcopolous
Room: 242

Monday, December 16 | Undergraduate 

Undergraduate Thesis 

Senior Seminar in History and Theory (Research)  
ARC456 
Instructor: Simon Rabyniuk 
Room: Main Hall (170A), 240, 242 

Senior Seminar in Design (Research)  
ARC461 
Instructor: Jeannie Kim  
Room: Main Hall (170B), first-floor hallway  

Senior Seminar in Technology (Research)  
ARC486 
Instructor: Nicholas Hoban  
Room: Main Hall (170C) 

Comprehensive Studio III 
ARC369 
Instructors: Daniel Briker (Coordinator), Joshua Kirk 
Rooms: 230, 330 

Tuesday, December 17 | Undergraduate 

Undergraduate Thesis 

Senior Seminar in History and Theory (Research)  
ARC456 
Instructor: Simon Rabyniuk 
Room: Main Hall (170A), 240, 242  

Senior Seminar in Design (Research)  
ARC461 
Instructor: Jeannie Kim  
Room: Main Hall (170B), first-floor hallway  

Senior Seminar in Technology (Research)  
ARC486 
Instructor: Nicholas Hoban  
Room: Main Hall (170C)  

Wednesday, December 18 | Graduate 

Fall 2024 Option Studios 
ARC3015/LAN3016/URD2013 

platform:MIDDLE  
Instructor: Johanna Hurme 
Rooms: 340, 315 

Expanding Heritage: Imagining Climate Resilient and Inclusive Futures for Stone Town/Ng’ambo 
Instructor: Aziza Chaouni 
Rooms: 240, 242, Student Commons 

The Blurst of Times: Exploring AI’s Creative Potential in Architectural Design  
Instructor: Vivian Lee 
Rooms: 215, 209 

Big Little Village 
Instructors: Florian Idenburg, Jing Liu 
Rooms: Main Hall (170A/170B) 

SEEDS + WEEDS: The Knotty Natures of Botanic Gardens  
Instructor: Karen M’Closkey 
Room: 230 

New (High-Density) Neighbourhoods with “Old City Charm”  
Instructor: Misha Bereznyak 
Room: 330 

Thursday, December 19 | Graduate 

Fall 2024 Option Studios 
ARC3015/LAN3016 

Architecture, Community, and Cultural Memory  
Instructor: Tura Cousins Wilson, Shane Laptiste 
Rooms: 315, 340
Off-campus location: 468 Queen St West

Impersonation: Being a Child 
Instructor: Eiri Ota 
Room: 230 

Entanglement: Human, AI, and Digital Fabrication 
Instructor: Humbi Song 
Rooms: 215, 209 

Plant Diaspora 
Instructor: Behnaz Assadi  
Rooms: Main Hall (170A, 170B) 

(Ex) Base Scape: The Architecture of (Ex) Extra Territories
Instructor: Nahyun Hwang 
Rooms: 330 

Volume 1 of Scaffold* Journal, created and published by the student-run SHIFT* Collective, has been released. 

It’s the first print edition of the rebooted publication, which evolved out Shift Magazine, a previous Daniels publication.

Shift Magazine, an undergraduate risograph journal, was released nine times between 2014 and 2019. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down all Shift operations until 2022, when they were revived by the members of the SHIFT* Collective. 

Since 2022, the collective has published four additional risograph zines while planning the reimagined Scaffold* Journal. Its members consist of students from across all years and programs within the Daniels undergraduate cohort.

“Our current team created Scaffold* in response to a gap that we had perceived in access to research within our academic context,” says the collective. “All of the research we had seen was perfect, it was pedestaled, and we wanted to provide a clearer path through which students could pitch themselves into the pits of scholarship.” 

Their goal with the new publication, team members add, was “a process-oriented research journal platforming the work of emerging scholars in disciplines of the built environment.” To that end, the editing team met “prolifically” with student contributors and faculty advisers “to understand their practices and our responsibility in representing them.”

Volume 1 of the journal, whose contributions include students and faculty members across programs, contains “a multitude of disparate perspectives that all fall under the constructed-environment umbrella.” According to its creators, the edition explores methodologies ranging from collage and board gaming to junk appropriation and speculative fabulation.

“Scaffold* only attempts to represent the diversity of work that goes on within disciplines of architecture, art and the built environment. Ultimately, it is a testimony to what we, as a community within the Daniels Faculty and beyond, have learned and continue to learn from each other.”

With the first print edition of Scaffold* now complete, the SHIFT* Collective is already at work on Volume 2, submissions for which “will open soon.”

Print copies of Volume 1 are currently available for purchase at Cafe 059 in the Daniels Building at 1 Spadina Crescent. A digital version can also be accessed at theshiftcollective.net.

Above: Contributors and faculty recently joined members of the SHIFT* Collective to mark the launch of Scaffold* Journal’s first print edition. Scaffold* is a new iteration of Shift Magazine, a previous Daniels publication.

For the second year in a row, an international array of architects has put pen to paper (or fingertips to mouse) in aid of Drawing for Food, an initiative supporting an organization that assists individuals facing poverty, food insecurity and homelessness in downtown Toronto.

Proceeds from the sale of their drawings, which are being auctioned off online, will go to the Toronto Food Not Bombs food outreach program. Every Sunday for the past several years, Toronto FnB volunteers have been gathering in the city’s Allan Gardens park to dispense around 150 to 250 bags of groceries and meals to those affected by poverty, homelessness or food scarcity. 

In 2023, Drawing for Food raised over $7,000 for food and groceries. The initiative is organized by Stephanie Davidson and Georg Rafailidis (DAVIDSON RAFAILIDIS/Knowlton School), Eira Roberts (MArch I, Harvard GSD) and the Daniels Faculty’s Adrian Phiffer (Office of Adrian Phiffer/University of Toronto).

A broader aim of the initiative, say the organizers, is to explore ways that architectural drawings can be used for public good.

As in 2023, this year’s selection of drawings is broad and includes contributions by an international group of designers, including Alvaro Siza of Portugal, BUREAU of Portugal and Switzerland, Valerie Marshall of Finland and Canada, Doris Thut of Germany, Jean-Benoît Vétillard of France and Ryan Tyler Martinez, Andrew Kovacs and Outpost Office of the U.S., among others. 

Interested buyers can peruse the drawings on Drawing for Food’s auction website, which is now live. Bidding will open on December 1 and end on December 8. 

After the 8th, top bidders will be contacted via e-mail and asked to donate their bid amounts directly to the organization using an online donation portal. Donors will then ship the drawings to buyers. 

Drawing for Food will act as a go-between throughout, hosting the auction site, taking any questions from bidders, and verifying that bids have been donated so that tax receipts may be issued.

To learn more about Toronto Food Not Bombs, visit tfnb.ca.

Drawings in banner by 1. Jean-Benoît Vétillard 2. Outpost Office 3. Ryan Tyler Martinez 4. Valerie Marshall 5. Alvaro Siza 6. Andrew Kovacs 7. BUREAU 8. Doris Thut

The Daniels Faculty is pleased to announce its newest Emerging Architect Fellows: Humbi Song and Anthony Kalimungabo Wako.

Song’s fellowship, which commenced on July 1, will run until July of 2026. Wako’s residency will start in 2025, running until 2027.

The two-year Emerging Architect Fellowship, a non-tenure appointment at the rank of Assistant Professor, was established by the Faculty in 2022 to offer early-career architects an opportunity to teach in a supportive environment as well as the resources to develop focused research. 

The aim is “to bring new voices and matters of concern to the school through teaching and research,” says Jeannie Kim, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream and Associate Dean, Academic. “We are excited to welcome this new cohort and look forward to the conversations and ideas that will ensue.”

Song (pictured above) holds a Master of Architecture degree from Harvard University and has taught at Harvard GSD, Northeastern University and Wentworth Institute of Technology. 

Her work, she says, focuses on the intersection of architecture, technology and human-computer interaction. She is currently teaching an option studio in the Daniels Faculty’s MARC program.

“Humbi is committed to a humanistic approach to technology that holds space for lived experience and intersectionality,” says Kim. “Her work explores the potential of co-creation and co-design with machines and AI, with a particular emphasis on the relationship between human and machine agency.”

Wako, meanwhile, has been a lecturer in the Faculty of the Built Environment at Uganda Martyrs University, from which he also holds a Master of Architecture degree, since 2020.

“Anthony will be joining us next July,” says Kim, “with an exciting proposal to trace diasporic movements and transnational exchange between Uganda, South Asia and Canada through migrating building and constructional practices that find their imprint on cultural spaces, commercial activity, agricultural practices and other moments of spatial exchange.”

Earlier this year, Wako was awarded a 2024 Graham Foundation grant for his research documenting the socio-cultural encounters of the Ugandan city of Jinja’s built heritage, “a visible but hidden legacy” of generations of immigrants from South Asia, many arriving as labourers between 1895 and 1901 to construct the famed Uganda Railway.

“The contribution of Asians to Uganda’s urban and architectural heritage is often talked about but poorly documented," says Wako. “This project seeks to rectify this oversight.”

Song portrait by Richard Ashman

Professor Brigitte Shim has been recognized with one of the country’s highest honours in the fields of arts and science: election to the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) as a 2024 Fellow.

Every year, a select group of artists, academics and scientists are inducted into one of the RSC’s three Academies—the Academy of Arts and Humanities, the Academy of Social Sciences and the Academy of Science—on the basis of their impact, both nationally and  internationally, on their respective disciplines. 

Professor Shim, who has been teaching at the Daniels Faculty since 1988, will be elected to the RSC’s Academy of Arts and Humanities. 

There are currently 2,524 Fellows in the Society, which has been recognizing creative excellence in Canada since 1882.

Professor Shim was selected, according to the RSC, for “an exceptional body of design work that is committed to craft, tectonics, site and ecology.” Also cited was her “ongoing commitment to advocacy, mentorship and teaching.”

“She is one half of a collaborative partnership,” the Society says, referencing her longtime personal and creative alliance with husband and fellow architect A. Howard Sutcliffe, “addressing built work that tackles multiple scales [in] architecture, landscape, interiors, furniture and hardware—all developed to a high standard, with craft, rigour, sense of place, mastery of proportions and placemaking.” 

Professor Shim co-founded her practice, Shim-Sutcliffe Architects, in 1994. She and Sutcliffe have since been recognized with 16 Governor General’s Medals and Awards for Architecture, the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada’s Gold Medal in 2021 and an American Institute of Architects National Honor Award. 

Her induction into the RSC, which was announced last month, will formally take place at a ceremony in Vancouver on November 8. A total of 104 new Fellows are being inducted this year.