Artist Kaegan Walsh (MArch 2016) has completed a permanent installation entitled Provenance located in a rural region of Ontario.

The piece positions concrete as unintentional land art. The key concept for the project is how an individual concrete construction can be traced back to a very specific location within the natural environment by identifying the unique stone types found in every sample of concrete that uses a natural aggregate. In this way, all concrete buildings and infrastructure, ubiquitous in our cities, can be linked to a unique origin within the natural environment.

Provenance consists of three 1m concrete cubes installed in the landscape; abstract boulders that mimic the natural boulders deposited in this region during the last ice age. In this era, an ice sheet moved through the landscape, depositing these boulders along the way and grinding massive amounts of stone into what is now used for aggregate in our concrete. Our concrete constructions are once again displacing the rock material created by this phenomenon. This project's abstract boulders juxtapose these natural and human geologic actions.

Paradoxically, the transformation of our planet through our built environment appears both drastic and minute when considered in direct comparison to a natural counterpart. In illustrating this link between modern construction techniques and ancient history, this project argues for a new consideration to architectural preservation that incorporates this unique feature of concrete and the geologic history in which it plays a part.

Provenance will be documented in an upcoming edition of the journal Prospect.

View the gallery below for more images of the project, courtesy of Kaegan Walsh.

For more information on Walsh's work, visit his website: www.kaeganwalsh.com

Associate Professor Aziza Chaouni, in collaboration with composer/percussionist Sushi Ibarra, has designed a musical installation for the Medina of Fez in Morocco, titled Musical Water Routes.

“Musical Water Routes of the Medina of Fes honors the history of rivers and water routes in the Medina, the sacredness of water and its use, while expressing it in a palette to invite an urban community today to interact and reflect upon the future of the Medina’s water heritage,” writes Chaouni and Ibarra.

The project proposes a walking meditation and musical experience that invites the public to interact with and contemplate the visible and invisible manifestations of water in the Medina of Fez. The audience will stop at 3 sites along the Medina: the Noria square, Souk El Henna, and the Seffarine square. There, they will be introduced to the historic architecture of the site, and they will listen the to live music compositions created for each space. Reminiscent of the water that stills runs or once was in the 3 sites, Ibarra’s music is composed from a myriad of local percussion sounds created with metal, brass, bronze, wood, skins and glass.

Musical Water Routes was created for the 2016 Fez Sacred Music Festival, a 10-day-long celebration held in mid-summer that showcases major musical traditions of sacred, spiritual, and world music. In 2014, Chaouni created a project for the Festival titled Simorgh Stage Set. The artwork, a magical bird, was created by dancers each carrying a panel covered with origami feathers made out of recycled newspapers.

Associate Professor Mary Lou Lobsinger gave the CBC program Spark a lesson on Brutalist Architecture over the weekend — background for an episode Brutalist web design.

Writes Spark:

It's easy to get frustrated by bloated websites that are slow to load with their big photos that move and take over the screen, JavaScript pop-ups, giant ads, and autoplay videos.

All this has some people longing for a return to old-school websites. And we've been seeing an emerging trend toward stripped down website design.

To listen to Lobsinger’s full interview with host Nora Young, visit the Spark website.

Mary Lou Lobsinger is a historian and teaches the history and theory of architecture and design. Her research focuses on the histories and theories of modern architecture and urbanism with specific expertise in issues around historiography, science, technology, and techniques of articulation. She is currently working on two book projects, the most immediate is titled, Architecture Institution: Media,Techniques,Territories.

Related:

• History and theory of architecture professor Mary Lou Lobsinger speaks in Toronto and abroad
• CBC Radio features Making Camp on Spark
• RAD director Rodolphe el-Khoury talks to CBC's Nora Young about responsive architecture

Associate Professor David Lieberman will be presenting a paper and chairing a panel at the Continuum2016 conference happening June 12^th to 14^th in Nicosia, Cyprus. The event, hosted by the University of Cyprus Department of Architecture and the European University of Cyprus Music Department, intends to further research of the last decade in architecture, music, and acoustics.

At the conference, Lieberman will present the film titled within the Sounds of these Waves, which was edited and composed by Parastoo Najafi (MArch 2016) and produced by the Studio of David Lieberman Architect.

“The three hour film is a series of visual texts as an investigation in time, in thoughts and in dreams as we move through the spaces of discovery and imagining,” says Lieberman. “The texts interweave original musings and the words of Virginia Woolf in her meditations ‘The Waves.’ ”

Later this month, Lieberman will be returning to the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna on June 27^th and 28^th to participate in their final reviews as an external reviewer for two of the graduate programs in architecture. His time at the Academy will include participating in post-graduate seminars, advising doctoral students, and continuing research concerned with the birch forests as painted by Gustav Klimt and the properties of the Austrian Spruce tree (a favoured species for string instruments and piano soundboards).

Related:

• David Lieberman delivers keynote lecture on sound, light, and architecture and contributes to an exhibition on hippie modernism
• David Lieberman publishes a chapter in the book Xenakis Matters

• North House to become a permanent installation and research laboratory

Lecturer Hans Ibelings, Lecturer Alex Josephson (PARTISANS), and friend of the Daniels Faculty Eve Lewis (MSc., Urban and Regional Planning 1981) will participate in a discussion exploring the condominiumization of Toronto on June 22 as part of the Luminato Festival. The panel discussion will reflect on the book Rise & Sprawl: The Condominiumization of Toronto. Co-authored by Hans Ibelings and PARTISANS, the new book investigates the emergence of a new pressure-cooked architectural vernacular and posits alternative ways of tackling design and development processes to ensure better architectural outcomes.

Rise and Sprawl: The Condominiumization of Toronto
by Hans Ibelings and PARTISANS

June 22, 2016, 5–6:30 PM, Side Room
The Hearn (440 Unwin Avenue, Toronto)

“While rapid densification is contributing to Toronto’s increased liveliness, the unbridled development of monotonous condo towers is resulting in a significant facelift we may later come to regret,” write Ibelings and PARTISANS. “We are failing to create a cityscape that serves our citizens, let alone a skyline we can be proud of as a legacy for future generations.”

The discussion is part of a series of events hosted by After School + PARTISANS for Luminato 2016 that focus on the future of Toronto in terms of arts institutions, civic infrastructure, architecture and design, and overall cultural and economic prosperity.

For more information, visit Luminato's website.

In March, Associate Professor Brian Boigon lectured at the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) as part of the exhibition The Other Architect. The exhibition explored architecture in terms of different collaborative strategies, strange concepts, and new kinds of tools.

From the CCA:

“Brian Boigon ran Culture Lab at the back of a rock club in Toronto from 1991 to 1994. The object of Culture Lab was to intellectually entangle and compress the distance between theory and product—and to ultimately create a new space of interoperability whereby speakers, hosted on stage by Boigon, would be thrown into an unknown social architecture, yielding new speculations about what constitutes cultural production in the transitional years between the analogue and the digital. Boigon’s talk addresses the temporal and social ramifications that led up and into the Culture Lab project and beyond.”

After the talk, Boigon was joined by Joan Ockman and Phyllis Lambert to discuss the internet and social media in today’s context.

“We are barely able to function in the digital and yet there’s a new layer, this social media layer,” said Boigon. “I think this social media layer, despite the tropes of it being superficial and…curiously problematic, there’s something in their networks and meshes that are producing a new kind of social space and temporality and we have to pay attention to this as architects.”

The transcription of the discussion was included in the online CCA publication What the future looked like. To view the publication, visit: cca.qc.ca/what-the-future-looked-like

Five Daniels alumni and faculty members are among eight finalist design teams for the Lord Stanley’s Gift Monument Public Art Competition:

• North Design Office — the firm of Daniels Faculty Professors Pete North and Alissa North — joined with Blackwell and Mulvi&Banani to form the team North Design/Blackwell/Mulvi&Banani.
• Lecturer Nima Javidi (MUD 2005) and Behnaz Assadi (MLA 2008) are working under the name Javidi/Errazuriz/Assadi.
• David Leinster (BLA 1985) collaborated with Douglas Coupland and Karen Mills to form Coupland/Leinster/Mills.

“The Jury was overwhelmed with the extraordinary qualifications and achievements of the design teams,” writes Adrian Burns, Jury Chair. “As you can imagine, evaluating so much talent and experience made our task exceedingly difficult.”

Earlier this year, the Lord Stanley’s Gift Monument Public Art Competition invited teams to submit design proposals for what is expected to become a prominent new landmark in Ottawa. The monument will be built in time for the 125^th anniversary of the Stanley Cup Trophy — a Canadian symbol that originated with Canada’s sixth governor general, Lord Stanley of Preston.

The winning design will be announced in October 2016 on the advice of a jury of eminent Canadians who are highly respected in the fields of public art, culture, history, and hockey. The monument will be donated to the City of Ottawa, and unveiled in December 2017 in downtown Ottawa at the corner of Elgin and Sparks Streets — steps from the site where Lord Stanley of Preston gifted the Stanley Cup on March 18, 1892.

On Friday, June 24th, the Art Museum will host "Building Museums: Building Cities (Part 2)," a panel discussion featuring Adrian Blackwell (MUD 2002), Shirley Blumberg (BArch 1976), Associate Professor Barbara Fischer, and Dean Richard Sommer.

The event builds on a previous discussion that considered Toronto’s recent cultural building revival, the surge of large capital projects, and the renewals of museum spaces currently developing across Canada. The follow up event will focus more critically on the nature of museum architecture in the context of international development. The Daniels Faculty members will be joined by French architect Eric Lapierre, Charles Renfro of New York-based Diller Scofidio + Renfro, and Paris-based writer and critic Philippe Trétiack.

From the University of Toronto Art Centre website:

"The discussion will centre on recent museum architecture in the context of the paradigmatic transformations of ideas of the museum’s role in the larger culture. Taking as their point of departure recent examples in Canada, the US and France, the panelists will examine the tendency toward spectacular architecture and its role in urban renewal and gentrification, but also the transformation of the idea of the museum space—from a hallowed, quasi-religious and authoritarian space to one increasingly focused on the notion of the emancipated audience, broader visitor engagement, the purpose of social gatherings, as a laboratory of ideas, and/or space of affective, immersive experience."

The discussion will take place in the Debates Room of the Hart House, and will start at 3:00 PM on Friday, June 24^th.

For more information, visit the Art Museum's website.

Today, the Daniels Faculty’s graduating students will participate in the historic procession across King’s College Circle, where they will receive their diploma. As the Class of 2016 begins this new chapter in their lives, we asked alumni across all of our programs for some words of wisdom.

Here are 12 pieces of advice from #DanielsAlum.

1.

Experience working in different sizes of firms — each with a different office culture — and do a range of different types of buildings. All the while keep asking yourself: Is this the type of work I want to contribute to our civic culture and is this the right environment for me to do my best work? — Janna Levitt, Bachelor of Architecture, 1986

2.

Don't take everyone's advice. Consider what's relevant, and learn to be a good sieve.

Don't be afraid to bring who you are into your practice. Your quirks, your habits, your unrelated talents and obsessions: let the seemingly irrelevant engage with your work. It's the deviations that are deeply interesting and contribute to a better and more human design approach. — Denise Pinto, Master of Landscape Architecture 2011

3.

Write an introduction about a future version of yourself. Leave no reservations based on practical concerns, but only your most ideal state of being. Print it out, and read it. This activity will offer you a raw future you can now begin to edit. 

Make as many allies as you can, and be kind to people who are kind to you. Be honest about your opinions — when you choose to "behave well" and conceal your thoughts, this "well-managed" relationship will never be a close connection. 

You signed up to do architecture. Be an expert of it, and be good at everything else. — Jimenez Lai, Master of Architecture, 2007

4.

Early work experience is very special, it provides the framework for your professional career. Look for employment that offers a broad range of opportunities. Seek out ways to engage in what you are passionate about, it really matters that your work is challenging. — Eha Naylor, Bachelor of Landscape Architecture, 1980

5.

Stay close to your cohort and your faculty. Take time to work on all the projects you put aside. Make new work, the projects that you believed in and never realized, disseminate them, seek funding and remember to have fun along the way. Take each rejection as a sign for motivation. — Ali El-Darsa, Master of Visual Studies (Studio), 2015

6.

Travel. See what other cities are doing in urban design, landscape, gardens, architecture, public art, cultural programming, festivals. See art. Work in other parts of the world. Blur boundaries. — Victoria Taylor, Master of Landscape Architecture 2008

7.

Look for ways to continue exploring ideas from your thesis or final studio project - whether it is finding a job in an office that does similar work, collaborating with like-minded colleagues, attending conferences, or joining special interest groups  - your thesis can give your career a sense of direction moving forward. — Duncan Sabiston, Master of Architecture, 2014

8.

My friend and filmmaker Atom Egoyan recently had a simple inspirational message for students at Trinity College as they prepared to embark on their working lives. “Be what you want to become.”

I think the message applies to us all at every stage of life and it is especially relevant for young architects who will succeed in a competitive and challenging field with an independent, creative spirit and a strong sense of purpose. — Anne McIlroy, Bachelor of Architecture, 1986

9.

Enthusiasm and desire. While you're on the job and in everything you do in life... give it everything you have. — Shaimaa Atef, Master of Urban Design 2015

10.
Photo credit: Ruth Maria Murphy

Don't underestimate the value of mentorship both within and outside of the office. There is a lot to learn, so it's important to have a good support system while remaining patient and enthusiastic along the way. — Sonia Ramundi, Master of Architecture, 2012

11.

Learn to trust your intuition.

Substance over Style.

— Claude Cormier, Bachelor of Landscape Architecture, 1986

12.

Dare to Configure - Oser Configurer!

Every Building Implies a City.

— Bruce Kuwabara, Bachelor of Architecture 1972

Do you have advice you’d like to share with our graduating class? Post your words of wisdom on Twitter and Instagram and tag with #Adviceforgrads.

Here are some resources for students joining the Daniels Faculty's alumni community today: 

• 9 ways to stay connected after graduation
• Daniels Faculty alumni page
• U of T's alumni services website

It’s not common for undergraduate students studying architecture to get a job in the field after their first year of study, but Nicole Orofino, who 10 years later on June 16 will graduate from the Daniels Faculty’s Master of Architecture Program, did just that. Having seized the opportunity to travel to Singapore and Holland while completing her degrees, Orofino is now working in the Netherlands at the European Headquarters of Nike. Orofino chatted with Honours Bachelor of Arts in Architectural Studies student Josie Harrison (HBA 2017) about the value of travel and networking, and how she plans to celebrate her convocation from U of T.   

You started working after the first year of your undergraduate degree — how did you get a start in the professional world at such an early stage in your education?

Before starting my degree, I worked for a low-rise residential developer in the suburbs of Toronto as an on-site administrator. When I told my supervisor that I was pursuing a career in architecture and looking for work experience at a firm, they were good enough to refer me to an architecture firm they were working with at the time (Quadrangle Architects). This led to an interview and review of my initial portfolio. I ended up working for Quadrangle that summer and continued on part-time into the school year. I’ve found that in many cases, if you reach out to your network, and let people know what you’re looking for, they will try to help you.

Do you think that work experience gave you a different perspective during your studio courses in your undergrad and masters?

Absolutely. It was a challenge in the beginning. In studio, at school, you focus more on ideation and the concepts that drive a project. The thinking process that we’re afforded in school is different from the professional world. The professional world has a very systematic approach — design is completed in phases, and projects are realized through construction schedules that involve a number of different people and teams. The studio is more flexible. You have the time and capacity to explore different concepts and imagine new possibilities, based on your own intent.

How did studying in Toronto influence your experience as a student of architecture?

Toronto is incredibly inspirational and makes studying architecture at U of T really exciting as the Faculty is located in the heart of city. Being able to experience the cultural diversity, urban renewal and revitalization, circulation patterns, and the change in the built environment really helps to influence design and inspire creativity. As a student, you spend a lot of your time in the studio, and being able to instantly step out into the buzz of the city is one of the many benefits of studying at U of T.

You also spent some time during your degree studying and working abroad. How did this contribute to your experience as a student?

During my undergraduate degree, I went to Singapore for one semester. I chose to go because I thought there would be no better way and time to combine studying with travel. It was an incredibly valuable learning and personal experience. Similarly, I sought international experience three years into my Masters Degree. I took two semesters off, before entering into my thesis term, to work for a creative agency located in The Netherlands. I was interested in working for a creative agency because it is quite different than a typical architectural firm (which I had worked for in the past) with a client list of developers or cities. Agencies focus more on ideation, strategy, and concept creation. I told my thesis prep advisor, Laura Miller, about my desire to pursue international work experience, and she was completely supportive of my decision to take the break, as was the Daniels Faculty’s registrar and assistant dean of students Andrea McGee. Taking a step back and exploring opportunities outside of the degree was the best thing that I could’ve done at the time. By being in Amsterdam and networking, I was able to jump to the position that I’m in now.

Could you describe your current role and a project you have worked on?

I am a Project Manager for Brand Design and Strategic Account functions for Nike, working out of their European headquarters located in The Netherlands. I lead a team of designers and partnered vendors. We are responsible for creating and elevating retail and event spaces within partnered retailers across Western Europe, by creating consumer experiences, bespoke fixture systems, and curated product presentation strategies. We deliver environments that enable Nike to showcase and launch new product and innovation stories. My role is a combination of creative direction, concept creation, design, and management.

Last year, we teamed up with Nike’s Central European team to create an event that would launch the Nike Sneakerboot in Moscow, Russia. My team was responsible for concepting, planning, and creatively directing the five-day-long event, which included scouting the location in the centre of Moscow, designing massive art installations and bespoke fixtures that would showcase the Nike product, and working closely with our partnered vendors in Moscow to deliver an unforgettable experience. We designed programmed light installations, a rainwall that people could walk into, and fixtures made out of ice that held the Nike Sneakerboot. My role as project lead was to work closely with the art director and partnered vendors in Moscow. I was responsible for securing the location, locating the installations within the space, working with production on material choices, over-seeing the production of the fixtures, and ensuring the quality of the completion of the built environment so that the products were shown in the best way possible for media. The project, though successful, tested my skillset, and I was able to learn about processes that I hadn’t been familiar with prior to the event launch.

Do you have any advice for students starting their undergrad or masters?

My advice for undergraduates is to be mindful about your goals. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself. You’re here to learn, and to become better. Sometimes, as creatives, we tend to work best under pressure. My advice would be to step back, and think about whether the pressure will help you or hinder you. More often than not, the pressure hinders your imagination, and autopilot sets in — especially in third and fourth year. Try your best to keep the pressure at arms length, so that you can keep the ideas flowing poetically.

My advice for Masters students would be to constantly remind yourself why you started. I cannot emphasize this enough. Keep a reminder somewhere: on your desk, your laptop, or your phone. Reminding yourself why you started will keep you focused. To keep you motivated and inspired, try to travel as much as you can - there is plenty of support given by the Daniels Faculty to travel, like the Global Architecture Program, and the various travel awards available. Lastly, be mindful of a strategy. Take the time to network yourself — this can only benefit you post-grad.

How will you celebrate your convocation?

I will be travelling back to Toronto for convocation. My family has planned a lovely dinner party — my sister and my mom have outdone themselves with the planning. I’m looking forward to spending time with my family — they have supported me fully throughout my degrees. I truly couldn’t have asked for a better support system, and I owe them the world for that, so it’s only fitting that I celebrate this milestone with them.