We are pleased to announce that the Daniels Faculty is launching a series of summer camps for kids: Bits & Bytes and DigiFab.

The theme for this summer’s youth programs (Bits & Bytes & DigiFab) is Drones in the City.  Children and youth in grades 4-6 and grades 7-9 will explore the potential of this disruptive technology and how it might change the design of cities in the future.

Youth in each program will work together to both design a city and build their own drones that they will be able to take home. Know a child or middle-school student interested in design, technology, art, science, and engineering? This unique summer program is for them!

Both Bits & Bytes and DigiFab will be held in our new building at 1 Spadina Crescent in Toronto. For registration and detailed information, please click on the link below.

• Bits & Bytes is designed for youth aged 9-11 years old (grades 4-6). 
• DigiFab is designed for youth aged 12-14 years old (grades 7-9).

We are also launching Daniels Bootcamp: Exploring Careers in Design, a program for late high school (grades 11 and 12) and undergraduate students of all disciplines interested in architecture.

Daniels Faculty Lecturer Alex Josephson and his partners in PARTISANS, an architecture and design firm based in Toronto, have partnered with firms RWDI and Maffeis Engineering, as well as Sidewalk Labs, to help create a new “smart awning” design, an experimental new exterior application of EFTE which they hope will create more useable outdoor space in cities with varied climates. Designed through extensive modelling and examination of local weather data, this is the first project in Ontario to utilize EFTE, a material chosen for it’s portability and utility in creating unique forms. PARTISANS says that their deployable “building raincoat” could potentially help to reduce then impact of extreme climate and help create more useable outdoor space in less than ideal weather conditions.

These systems can be attached to existing building exteriors, helping to address the perennial weather problems that impact Toronto. These units are designed to be installed on the exteriors of building entrances, and aim to help create a more comfortable transition from indoor to outdoor space. EFTE as a material is completely recyclable and can be customized to incorporate different patterns that affect light and overall opacity, meaning that this system can be used in a range of different applications and environments.

Josephson, speaking with Sidewalk Talk, said that the team was able to utilize computer modeling throughout the process to  find the best approach. “This is real experimentation where the scientific method meets design,” Josephson said (via Sidewalk Talk).

PARTISANS further describes their prototype tensile structure project in their press release:

Even when the conditions are right to promote vibrant street life, the weather plays a big role in determining how much time people spend outdoors. And while the seasons drive the character of public life in Toronto—from summer days spent on patios, to fall farmer’s markets across the city—it is no secret that outdoor activity is concentrated to the six-month period from late April through October, when the weather is pleasant. For centuries, cities have used architecture to moderate the weather and keep public life active on the street. In the late 1800s, Toronto was filled with a maze of awnings that extended from storefronts and glass arcades to cover alleyways; and many streets throughout the city are still lined with the porched homes that were once a hallmark of Toronto’s residential design.

In Spring 2018, PARTISANS was tasked with helping Sidewalk Labs answer the following question: how does one design an outdoor public space that is comfortable for Torontonians year-round? Toronto is famous for our snowy winters and incredibly humid summers, with temperatures ranging across a 70°F differential throughout the year. While we traditionally think of extreme weather as native to desert, arctic, and ocean climates, Toronto—is located on the edge of Lake Ontario—is an environment where it is only comfortable to be outside for approximately 30% of the year. PARTISANS and RWDI closely studied the wind and solar conditions of Sidewalk Lab’s lakeside headquarters 307 to develop the optimal shape and material design to increase outdoor comfort. The result is a Raincoat that reinterprets Toronto’s formal tradition of awnings and porches through the contemporary lens of responsive weather mitigation.

The project is currently viewable at Sidewalk Lab’s lakeside headquarters 307. Read more about the building raincoat in Archpaper and Archdaily.

In a recent panel discussion that was part of Rotman's Gender and the Economy Speaker Series, Brigitte Shim, Daniels Faculty professor and principle of Shim-Sutcliffe Architects, spoke about creating a more inclusive city.

Titled "What Could a Feminist City Look Like?" the event addressed issues around access and gender equity in the city, exploring branches of public policy, decision making processes, community engagement, and the built form.

In her talk, Shim spoke about the importance of micro urban issues, sharing insight she learned from Jane Jacobs, whom she interviewed her as part of a research project in highschool. Jacobs, she said, encouraged her to understand the city on a micro level:

For me, scale is related to a kind of position about how you see a city and understanding the layers of complexity in being able to dissect them so that you’re aware of the big picture, but you also have to be aware of the micro scale at the same. This dual reading of the scale for me is how all of us, not just architects and planners, but citizens, make a better city…We have to be advocates at the micro scale and also champions at the city-wide scale.

For more videos and information on the event, visit Rotman's website.

How do these spaces facilitate or hinder the flow of people, work, sounds, messages and technologies? What effect do their materials, aesthetics and approaches to design have on these flows? And what makes up the larger systems these places are part of — roads, parking lots, empty tracts of land, cities, transit hubs, telecommunications cables?

Image: Cedric Price, Pitts Hill Transfer Area, Rail Road Link, Potteries Thinkbelt: axonometric view, 1963-1967, published in Architectural Design (October 1966), 488.

On Wednesday, May 1, Professor Emeritus Larry Wayne Richards, former Dean of the Daniels Faculty, will present a public lecture on Frank Lloyd Wright.

Richards will discuss the organic principles that guided Frank Lloyd Wright’s progressive architecture from the late-19th century to the mid-20th century. The presentation will include the Martin House in Buffalo, the Fallingwater House near Pittsburgh, and the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

This lecture will take place at North York Central Library from 7:00pm-8:00pm. Visit the Public Library’s website to register for this event.
 

Last fall, students in Assistant Professor Justine Holzman's studio, Longitudinal Landscapes: Mud, Monitoring, and Mobilization, were residents at Autodesk in the MaRS Discovery District, working alongside designers and researchers at the forefront of their fields.
 
With graduate students in both architecture and landscape architecture, the option studio challenged students to develop design strategies that support revitalization of the San Fransico Bay Area's watershed: its tributaries, marshes, and mudflats — all of which host important ecologies, retain carbon, and have a role to play in protecting communities from risks associated with rising sea levels, unpredictable weather patterns, increased flooding, fires, and erosion. Autdoesk generously provided specialized software and fabrication training, access to advanced fabrication tools, and space for the students to prototype and develop their ideas.
 
The work of the students built on research and design initiated by the multidisciplinary design team Public Sediment, a participant in the Resilient by Design | Bay Area Challenge, held in 2017. Led by SCAPE Landscape Architecture studio, the team included members of the Dredge Research Collaborative, to which Holzman belongs. Gena Wirth, Partner and Principal of SCAPE Landscape Architecture and Cy Keener, Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland supported the students with design and technology workshops throughout the semester. The students also took a field trip to the Bay Area to explore the geography, conduct field work, meet with local stakeholders, and engage with members of the Public Sediment team.

Above: 1) A hydrophone, designed to sense the sediment movement and load, inspired by singrays and horseshoe crabs, by Devin Tepleski, Aaron Hernandez, and John Nguyen; 2) a citizen tool kit for eel grass restoration and floating boardwalks would support these efforts, by Peggy Wong ; 3) a wand that measures turbidity, salinity, and temperature, by Lexi Kalman, Peggy Wong, and Hadi El-Shayeb; 4) part of a series of bio-inspired eco-concrete form that would hold sensors; 5) an electronic sensore that  could measure temperature, salinity, and turbidity, by Neil Philips, Anton Skorishchenko, and Reesha Morar | Images above by Devin Tepleski; images top of page by Harry Choi

The students’ design projects were developed with the understanding that living systems require careful monitoring and adaptive management. With this in mind, they worked to produce site design strategies alongside monitoring infrastructure, such as prototypes for upland, fluvial, tidal, and coastal sensors. Together, they generated concepts that included "listening" to sediment, measuring salinity and turbidity (the amount of sediment in the water), floating boardwalks that support restoration efforts, and citizen ecological restoration tool kits.
 
The studio culminated in a public exhibition of student work at Autodesk’s Toronto Technology Centre. Students, faculty, and guest critics participated in an advanced discussion of how monitoring infrastructure can assist in the design, adaptive management, and understanding of urbanized coastal watersheds while providing opportunities to connect with the public and democratize data.

Students included: Aaron Hernandez, Anton Skorishchenko, Devin Tepleski, Hadi El-Shayeb, John Nguyen, Krystal Kramer, Lexi Kalman, Neil Philips, Peggy Wong, Resa Morar, Shujie Zhang, and Vinaya Mani.
 
For more information:

• Read the studio description: Longitudinal Landscapes: Mud, Monitoring, and Mobilization
• Visit the Dredge Research Collaborative website
• Check out the Resilient by Design | Bay Area Challenge website

Daniels Faculty Alumna Megan Torza (March 2005) will present the public lecture "Exploring Low Cost Sustainability" on Thursday, March 28 at 6:30pm at the University of Toronto's Faculty Club (41 Willcocks Street).

An architect and partner in the Toronto-based multi-disciplinary design practice DTAH, Torza has a strong personal interest in adaptive re-use and the integration of contemporary, sustainable design with historic urban fabric.

Her talk will share methods to reduce the ecological footprint of a building while also minimizing its complexity and cost. She argues that for projects in the arts, non-profit, and cultural sectors with limited capital and operating funding, creative approaches to energy efficiency can be highly effective not only in achieving environmental and financial sustainability, but also in encouraging lasting social and cultural sustainability through place-making and behavioural change.

Citing DTAH projects such as Evergreen Brick Works, Artscape Wychwood Barns, the Niagara Falls Exchange, and Baker Street Development, Torza's lecture will highlight ways to align sustainability objectives with limited budgets in the context of community-focused revitalization.

Sponsored by Tremco, Torza's lecture is free and open to all. Participants will be eligible for 2 Structured Learning Hours. Part of the B.E.S.T. Lecture Series.

Image of Evergreen Brickworks via DTAH

People passing by the Autodesk Technology Centre in the MaRS Discovery District on the corner of College Street and University Avenue may catch a glimpse of Generative Pavilion through the floor to ceiling windows.

Designed and built by Daniels Faculty students, the project was part of an Independent Study Project proposed by Master of Architecture Students Anton Skorishchenko, John Nguyen, Stephen Baik, and Robert Lee and led by Lecturer Jay Pooley. The studio was supported by an Autodesk research grant.

Creating the Generative Pavilion allowed the students to explore the relationship between modular building materials and computational component design.

“To extend the thought process off the page and into reality suggests new questions of material, connections, tolerances, durability, portability, scale and weight,” writes Pooley. "By connecting pre-existing construction systems to component-based design, the goal was to produce a working prototype for a connecting system that allows the user to build structural forms from generic building materials.”

Photos by Yasmin Al-Samarrai

For the first assignment of ARC253: Close Readings in Urban Design, taught by Associate Professor Jesse LeCavalier, students worked in groups to investigate Toronto's King Street corridor, from the Queensway in the west to the Don River in the east. Each group studied a different block along the street.

King Street was divided into five zones, one for each section of the class. Students were asked to analyze thresholds between public and private space by making a plan, an elevation, and a model of their assigned section. The individual models come together to form a collective portrait of an iconic Toronto street.

As King cuts through a range of neighborhoods and conditions, it acts as a microcosm of sorts to understand its larger urban context. Through building this stretch of King Street in a collaborative setting, students got a chance to be familiar with their block — its history, its life, and its habits — which helped them understand a strip of their local geography in a unique way.