It is with sadness, respect and tremendous gratitude that the Daniels Faculty reflects on the recent death and extraordinary life of alumnus and benefactor John H. Daniels (BArch, 1950; Hon LLD, 2011), who passed away on Saturday, October 22. 

An architect, developer, philanthropist and civic leader, Daniels had an immeasurable impact on the city of Toronto, on the University of Toronto, and on the Faculty, which has been forever transformed by the magnanimity and vision that he and his wife, Myrna Daniels, displayed over many years.

“The legacy of Mr. Daniels’ life will be felt for a very long time,” says Dean Juan Du. “His commitment to lifting communities around him, his dedication to excellence, and his optimism for the future are values that inspire and drive our school. John and Myrna’s generosity has contributed not only to the creation of the Faculty’s dynamic world-class hub at 1 Spadina Crescent, but to the lives and futures of the many who have passed and will pass through it. Our thoughts are with John and Myrna’s families, friends, and colleagues, and with the many people whose lives he has touched.”

Born in Poland in 1926, John H. Daniels immigrated to Canada when he was 12 years old, escaping Nazi oppression on the cusp of World War II. He later graduated from Toronto’s Central Technical School, addressing the rights and responsibilities of Canadian citizenship in the speech he made as class valedictorian. In 1949, while a student in the architecture program at the University of Toronto, he made his first foray into real estate development by co-founding Modern Age Construction. Though only intended as a summer building project to raise tuition money before he graduated in 1950, the work demonstrated Daniels’ entrepreneurial capacities and established the tenor of his future career. 

As CEO of the Cadillac Fairview Development Corporation, he later helped build such impressive properties as the Eaton Centre in Toronto and the Erin Mills community in Mississauga. In 1983, Daniels left Cadillac Fairview to start The Daniels Corporation, a company that would quickly become synonymous with vibrant communities, affordable housing, social infrastructure and architectural innovation. Responsible for countless Canadian residential developments, The Daniels Corporation also worked closely with government agencies to create thousands of not-for-profit rental units and to lower market barriers for first-time homebuyers. Among its many noteworthy projects, the company was instrumental in revitalizing the Regent Park neighbourhood, transforming it from a failed public housing estate into a vital, growing community at the centre of Toronto.

Beyond Daniels’ work as a developer, he was also a remarkable Toronto philanthropist. Together with Myrna, he invested in a broad number of causes and gave significantly to cultural, healthcare and academic institutions, changing the city for the better at every step.  

John and Myrna Daniels’ gifts to the Daniels Faculty through their Foundation are unprecedented, totalling more than $30 million and resulting in its gateway building at 1 Spadina Crescent, a host of new scholarships, and an expanded global reputation. 

In 2008, John and Myrna Daniels gave the University of Toronto a $14-million gift, the largest private donation ever given to a Canadian architecture school. In recognition, the Faculty was officially named the  John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design. The $14 million was designated to the capital renewal and expansion of the school (at that time located on College Street) and created an endowment and award program named The John and Myrna Daniels Scholars.

Gift to 1 Spadina Crescent Building Project 

The revitalized 1 Spadina Crescent site, to which John and Myrna Daniels contributed $10 million through their Foundation, opened in 2017.

In 2013, John and Myrna Daniels donated an additional $10 million through their Foundation to revitalize and expand an existing landmark building at 1 Spadina Crescent. Daniels Building, the Faculty’s new home, opened in November of 2017. Heralded in The Globe and Mail as “one of the best buildings in Canada of the past decade,” it has been awarded 30 international awards for its design so far. 

“John would joke that his favourite hobby was pouring concrete, an allusion to the more than 300 buildings he created during his lifetime,” says Richard Sommer, former dean of the Faculty and director of the Global Cities Institute. “In our case, John asked a deceptively simple question: How could he and Myrna help us make our school one of the best in the world, and in the process raise the prospects for young people from a broad section of society wanting to study architecture. The answer was Daniels Building, which speaks to John’s passion for architecture and cities. Together with the John and Myrna Daniels Scholars award fund and other financial-aid programs they support, they have created a unique place at 1 Spadina Crescent as well as the endowments that sustain many students who study there.” 

Former University of Toronto president David Naylor (standing in opening photo) joins John and Myrna Daniels for the design reveal of the future Daniels Building at 1 Spadina Crescent in June 2013. Mr. and Mrs. Daniels (in second photo) at the official opening of the Daniels Building in November 2017. U of T president Meric Gertler (at right in third photo) and Professor Ronald Daniels, president of Johns Hopkins University, take part with Mr. and Mrs. Daniels in the ribbon cutting ceremony at the Daniels Building opening.

The John and Myrna Daniels Scholars

To date, the endowment has provided 287 individual awards to 128 graduate students, many of whom are the first in their families to access post-secondary education.

John and Myrna Daniels pose with former Daniels Faculty dean Richard Sommer and a group of John and Myrna Daniels Scholars. (Photo by Yvonne Bambrick)

In 2013, John and Myrna Daniels Scholar Nicholas Gosselin addressed Mr. and Mrs. Daniels at a luncheon, noting: “You are influential city builders in Toronto and beyond. However, you also shape cities indirectly — through the unbelievable support you provide the University of Toronto and future professionals. Toronto is going through incredible change and, consequently, behaves as a laboratory for students to experiment with different ideas and concepts. Unfortunately, not all students can support themselves to participate in this endeavour. Your generous donation to U of T makes a world of difference for students and has personally made graduate school a possibility for me — thank you.” 

John and Myrna Daniels Scholar Devin Tepleski with Mr. Daniels.

In 2016, Scholar Devin Tepleski spoke about the impact of John and Myrna Daniels’ support at a celebration at the school, saying: “What excites me most about my studies in landscape architecture is the opportunity to work on solutions — answers to the questions I’ve been asking for the last five years since finishing an undergraduate degree in anthropology. What makes places matter to the people who live there? What is worth protecting?

“I have been extremely lucky to be able to travel with my work, firstly to Ghana, where I worked as an ethnohistorian and documentarian with communities displaced by a hydroelectric dam. From there I went on to spend four years working with Cree and Dene communities in northern Alberta and on a marine use study with Salish nations of southern Vancouver Island. I got to interview everyone from the wisest elder to the youngest schoolchild about what matters to them about the places they live.

“Such opportunities have continued in no small part due to the generosity of the Daniels. Over the course of the last year, it is clear to me that John and Myrna have been asking these same questions about the importance of community and place. We could all learn a lot from the answers they have no doubt reached over their years of community service and philanthropy. I am inspired by their genuine curiosity in others and commitment to making a difference in Toronto. I thank them wholeheartedly for all that they have done for me and those around me.” 

Mr. and Mrs. Daniels with John and Myrna Daniels Scholar Bahia Marks.

At an event in honour of John and Myrna Daniels in 2018, Scholar Bahia Marks thanked them for bringing everyone together and spoke about the opportunities she had had as an undergraduate in the U.S. and then as a Master of Architecture student at the Daniels Faculty: “When you are in the trenches of people’s lives in the projects of Brooklyn, you can see how the design of the projects and housing affects the lives of families and young people. You begin to see the direct impact of design on people's lives. It is this search for justice that led me to pursue architecture and choose the Daniels Faculty. In my research, I was really looking for a school that would allow me to learn the skills, attitudes and qualities of an architect, the role of housing in society, and about empowering youth to contribute to the betterment of their neighbourhoods.” 

The John and Myrna Daniels Foundation Opportunity Awards

In April 2018, the couple gave an additional $6 million, establishing The John and Myrna Daniels Foundation Opportunity Awards, an endowment prioritizing the financial need of undergraduate and graduate students within the Faculty.

On November 12, 2018, Mr. and Mrs. Daniels were hosted by University and Faculty leadership at a luncheon recognizing graduate-student beneficiaries of the John and Myrna Daniels Scholars award program.

“In a way, John Daniels never left his alma mater,” says David Palmer, U of T’s Vice-President, Advancement. “His giving at U of T was strongly tied to a desire for future generations of students to enjoy the education he had, to make Canada a global leader, and to share in his vision for sustainable, innovative architecture that is accessible to all. For that, we will be forever grateful.”

The Daniels Faculty’s Jane Wolff, Professor in Landscape Architecture, has been awarded this year’s Margolese National Design for Living Prize.

Awarded annually by the University of British Columbia’s School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, the honour recognizes a Canadian designer whose work and advocacy in the built environment addresses the pressing human and environmental challenges of our time, improving lives and communities in the process.

In its citation, the 2022 jury noted how Wolff’s “work on landscape literacy has had a significant impact on our collective understanding of critical environmental issues. Her human-centric tools of writing, hand drawing and public engagement reach a wide audience without compromising the complexity of the subject matter.”

“I am thrilled and honoured to be recognized by an organization focused on design as a means of addressing urgent, complicated questions about the places we live and the way we live in them,” says Wolff.

“The prize makes it possible to begin working right now in even more public, more collaborative ways — and that’s a chance to bring more people into the conversation.”

For Wolff, the past 12 months have been a banner year professionally. In addition to the Margolese Prize win, her recent book BAY LEXICON was awarded a 2022 John Brinckerhoff Jackson Book Prize, established by the Foundation for Landscape Studies and now administered by the University of Virginia’s Center for Cultural Landscapes.

This past spring, moreover, her Toronto Landscape Observatory, an interactive installation co-curated with Susan Schwartzenberg, was a highlight of this year’s Toronto Biennial of Art.

On October 3, Wolff will officially accept her Margolese Prize at a presentation and panel discussion in Vancouver. The ceremony will be held at the Robert H. Lee Alumni Centre on the UBC campus.

It has turned out to be an exciting summer for a pair of Daniels Faculty MVS students, each of whom have earned rare opportunities both in Canada and abroad to hone their talents and skills.  

To name just one of her accomplishments this season, Omolola Ajao, a Master of Visual Studies candidate in Studio Art, has been taking part in the Doc Accelerator program, a “bespoke private lab” run by the documentary-film organization HotDocs to foster the careers of emerging filmmakers. “Her films,” HotDocs says of Ajao, a Nigerian-Canadian who is one of 14 2022 fellows there, “waver and work within documentary and narrative, [revolving] around consciousness, temporality and spatiality.” 

The Doc Accelerator program will allow Ajao to undertake in-depth career workshops and engage with industry experts, promoting real-world skill development in the process. Her past documentary work has already been screened internationally and even garnered a Canadian Screen Award. She was also a 2021/22 fellow at TIFF. 

But that’s not all: In addition to participating in this year’s Doc Accelerator program, Ajao is the Daniels Faculty’s first-ever Flaherty Film Seminar Fellow. An intensive week-long “process of screening and exchange” that attracts some of documentary film’s best artists, curators and programmers, Flaherty describes itself as the world’s leading seminar for experimental moving image practice. This year — the fellowships’ 67th — the seminar was held from June 24 to July 1 both online and in person at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York. Ajao’s fellowship was supported by the Flaherty Film Seminar and the Canada Council for the Arts.  

And there’s more: Ajao’s itinerary this summer also includes a Hambige Center Artists’ Residency in Rabun Gap, Georgia, some 186 kilometres northeast of Atlanta. One of the first artist communities in the U.S., the Center was established by artist’s-model-turned-weaver Mary Hambidge in 1934 and has a distinguished history of supporting creative thinkers of all kinds through self-directed residency programs. Current residencies, which provide successful applicants with private studios, living spaces and meals, range from two to four weeks. Ajao is using hers to conduct research and production work on her forthcoming thesis project. 

Meanwhile, fellow Visual Studies student Atif Khan, MVS candidate in Curatorial Studies, is also venturing abroad. Through a biannual international-travel award administered by the Art Museum at the University of Toronto and Hart House, he’ll be taking in the 2022 Venice Biennale, which opened this year in April and closes in November, as well as a couple of Germany’s leading cultural events.  

Established by Reesa Greenberg, an internationally renowned scholar on museums and exhibition studies, the award bestowed on Khan recognizes academic excellence among Curatorial Studies students at the end of their first semester by supporting travel to Europe for study and research at the Venice Biennale.

In addition to visiting Venice, Khan is slated to attend both the 15th edition of contemporary-art exhibition documenta in Kassel and the 2022 Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art.

As part of his VIS1004 MVS internship requirements, he will also be conducting preparatory work on his 2023 thesis exhibition through a two-week research program with the National Archeif, the National Archives of the Netherlands.

Banner images: Master of Visual Studies students Omolola Ajao (left) and Atif Khan (right) are broadening their academic horizons this summer through artistic residencies and work-study trips.

Nicollo Abe, a fourth-year architecture student, has been recognized by the University of Toronto Libraries for his innovative research project on mobility and architecture, called “Architecture on Modern European Banknotes: In Search of Stability through Abstract Circulation.” 

Each year, U of T Libraries recognizes undergraduate students from various faculties with the Patricia and Peter Shannon Wilson Undergraduate Research Prize. This prize provides students writing a research essay or assignment with an opportunity to reflect on their information-seeking experience while showcasing their research skills beyond the classroom. Abe’s effective and innovative use of various university libraries’ information sources led to his recognition.  

Completed as part of the ARC451H: Mobility and Architecture course at the Daniels Faculty, Abe’s essay explores the cultural impact of currency imagery on architecture by focusing on the Euro banknotes of 1996. He considers how architecture performs as a vehicle of symbolic power and is utilized as a cultural technique that shapes national identities while maintaining global imaginaries. Figures and photographs guide readers as they go through 12 pages of content, concluding with a question concerning architecture’s role in the digital age. 
 
“What I learned throughout this information-seeking process,” Abe says, “was the value of images and photos [in both] the Eberhard Zeidler Library and U of T Libraries’ online database. Whether my primary or secondary sources were printed or digital, there were many times when I relied upon the images that are embedded in them. Perhaps this was due to the nature and scope of the research, but I found that photographs and illustrations are essential components in knowledge-making and research.”  

Abe’s sponsoring faculty member was Daniels Faculty Sessional Lecturer Ipek Mehmetoğlu, who worked closely with him throughout his research process. Abe was able to critically reflect, says Mehmetoğlu, “on the contribution of his sources to the development of his topic on European banknotes and architectural abstraction and mobility. His research proves his curiosity for innovation, self-reliability and good understanding and effective use of secondary and primary sources.”

As an undergraduate student, Abe was able to use the knowledge he acquired in his architecture program to contribute to an international discussion on imagery and architecture. His research can now be found on TSpace, U of T’s research repository, here.  

With files from a U of T News story by Larysa Woloszansky

Banner image: Daniels Faculty architecture student Nicollo Abe, winner of a 2022 Patricia and Peter Shannon Wilson Undergraduate Research Prize, is pictured second from left. The prize is given out by U of T Libraries annually to undergraduate essay writers who demonstrate superlative research skills.

Newly minted BAAS grad Jessie Pan’s research into the use of trees in building simulation has come full circle in a little over a year.

It started in May of 2021 when she won the NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award to study how better tree modelling could improve building designs. Flash forward 12 months and she will be presenting the fruits of her research, which include a framework for the creation of more dynamic tree models than typically used by designers, at the e-Sim conference in Ottawa on June 22.

“I am excited about the presentation,” says Pan, who received her Honours Bachelor of Arts in Architectural Studies degree on June 15. “It is a great honour to be presenting my first paper at my first conference.”

Titled Simulating the Impact of Deciduous Trees on Energy, Daylight and Visual Comfort: Impact Analysis and a Practical Framework for Implementation, the peer-reviewed paper that Pan will be presenting at eSim encompasses the research she undertook with Assistant Professor Alstan Jakubiec over the past year.

The current practice in building simulation, she notes, tends to use solid or simplified trees, disregarding their complex and fluctuating effects, especially when it comes deciduous varieties. 

“Deciduous trees are sophisticated due to tree phenology and leaf senescence that impact their foliage density and colour throughout the year,” Pan explains. “We created a framework for developing dynamic tree models that integrate temporal schedules of colour change, leaf drop and regrowth, as well as physical measurements of gap fractions.”

What she and Jakubiec discovered was that, “when compared to our detailed tree models,” there are “significant differences in lighting, heating and cooling loads when using simplified models…or no trees at all.”

More sophisticated tree modelling, in short, can quantifiably lead to better, more energy-efficient buildings.

The eSim Building Simulation Conference — organized by Carleton University, National Research Council Canada and Natural Resources Canada — is slated to be held at Carleton on June 22 and 23. The theme this year — the conference’s 12th — is Simulating Buildings for the New Normal, with a focus on “using building performance simulation to model and research indoor air quality and other strategies for mitigating risks related to transmission of infectious disease.”

Typically, some 200 delegates attend each conference, with more than 75 peer-reviewed papers presented. Pan is scheduled to present hers on the first day of the event.

In addition to receiving the NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award, Pan also won the 2021 Project StaSIO Summer Challenge, which was focused on the subjects of daylight and glare, for her graphics illustrating her findings.

She created the graphics using Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Excel, Grasshopper/Rhino and Python. The tools used in the simulation analysis were ClimateStudio, Radiance and Python.

The entire project was “my first exposure to academic research and I am very grateful for this experience with Professor Jakubiec,” Pan says. “This opportunity has jumpstarted my research interest, skillset and background, and I look forward to applying it all during my future graduate studies.”

Banner image: BAAS student Jessie Pan poses for a portrait after receiving an Academic Merit Award during the Daniels Faculty’s Graduation and Awards Celebration at 1 Spadina Crescent on June 14. (Photo by Sara Elhawash)

Assistant professor Bomani Khemet is the 2022 beneficiary of the Mayflower Research Fund, the research endowment established four years ago at the Daniels Faculty. 

An expert in building science and HVAC systems, Khemet will direct his grant, totalling $10,000, into his research on improving fresh-air circulation in multi-unit buildings, an issue that has taken on extra resonance in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Khemet’s specific area of focus is the feasibility in Canada of skip-stop and single-loaded corridors, designs that give building occupants greater control over indoor air quality. 

“As a new faculty member, this financial assistance helps me jumpstart my research exploration into how building air movement in the form of natural ventilation can impact various aspects of occupant comfort and building operations,” he says. 

“The first step of the research is to (1) create a comprehensive design catalogue of existing buildings using single-loaded and skip-stop treatments, and (2) understand the design barriers, financial barriers and regulatory barriers to implementing these design strategies in a Canadian context.” 

The Mayflower Research Fund was established by a generous donor in 2018 to encourage and stimulate research in the fields of architecture, landscape architecture and urban design, and allows for collaboration with other areas of the University when deemed appropriate. Since then, $10,000 has been given annually to three assistant professors in the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design: Fadi Masoud, Maria Yablonina and Alstan Jakubiec. Any faculty member with a full-time appointment at Daniels is eligible to apply.  

Khemet, who began teaching building science at Daniels in 2018, became a permanent member of the school as a tenured assistant professor in 2021. In addition to teaching building science and HVAC courses to undergraduate and graduate architecture students, he has conducted a number of groundbreaking studies during his time at the Faculty, including a large-scale analysis of airtightness in Canadian single-detached homes (his data was culled from a Natural Resources Canada survey of over 900,000 properties) and another on the airtightness of the Daniels Building at 1 Spadina Crescent itself. 

Khemet’s newly funded research into skip-stop and single-loaded corridors — a response to the fact that most of Canada’s mid- and high-rise residential buildings “use double-loaded corridor floor plans [that] prevent effective natural ventilation” — is in keeping with his interests in air quality, building performance and resilient design.  

The corridor designs he aims to catalogue and promote have also been cited as effective ways of combating the transmission of airborne viruses such as SARS and COVID-19.  

“Skip-stop and single-loaded designs are highly recommended as best practice for multi-unit residential buildings primarily due to the placement of operable windows on opposing facades,” Khemet said in his funding proposal. “Unfortunately, there is precious little information on the implementation of skip-stop and single-loaded corridors in multi-unit housing for Canadian climates.” 

Khemet’s research, which will be conducted with co-investigator Marianne Touchie, an assistant professor at U of T of civil engineering and of mechanical and industrial engineering, aims to remedy that. 

U of T's Marianne Touchie

In addition to creating a record of Canadian buildings that utilize skip-stop and single-loaded corridor designs and to cataloging any barriers to their incorporation, the research team aims to disseminate its findings through a variety of media, including public lectures, trade publications and academic journals.  

Two research assistants — Master of Architecture students — will be engaged to work on the project, in Fall 2022 and Fall 2023 respectively.  

Khemet and Touchie plan to have the research completed by 2024. 

Banner image: Assistant professor Bomani Khemet, who joined the Daniels Faculty in 2018, will apply his Mayflower Research Fund grant to researching how certain corridor designs might improve air circulation and quality in Canadian multi-unit buildings.

Acclaimed architect Douglas Cardinal, who served as the Daniels Faculty’s Frank O. Gehry Chair in 2020/21, has been awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree by the University of Toronto. 

Known for his longtime commitment to sustainable design and for such landmark buildings as the Canadian Museum of History, the 88-year-old received his degree during the spring Convocation ceremony for Daniels Faculty students. 

“I feel so honoured to be here,” Cardinal told the assembly in Convocation Hall on the morning of June 15, adding that he was also representing the Elders “who have taught me to live in harmony with the land and with each other.” 

Born in Calgary to a father of Blackfoot heritage and a German/Métis mother, Cardinal is one of the world’s most prominent Indigenous architects, although he didn’t fully embrace his Indigenous heritage until he was a young man and has eschewed describing his work simply as “Indigenous architecture.” 

“I never thought of expressing myself as an Indigenous architect,” Cardinal once told CBC Radio. “I thought of expressing myself as an organic architect that emphasized the beauty and vitality and richness of nature.” 

In addition to the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Cardinal’s body of work includes a number of iconic structures, from St. Mary’s Church in Red Deer, Alberta (designed very early in his career, it was featured on a Canada Post stamp in 2007) to the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. (completed between 1993 and 1998). 

In 2020/21, he served as the Frank O. Gehry International Visiting Chair in Architectural Design, an endowed chair that brings an internationally recognized architect to the Daniels Faculty each year. This spring, Cardinal returned to Daniels to serve as a reviewer and advisor during final thesis presentations. 

Over his long career, Cardinal has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Governor General’s Award for Visual and Media Arts, a Gold Medal from the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, and a National Aboriginal Achievement Award. 

In 2018, he led a team of Indigenous architects and designers who represented Canada at the Venice Architecture Biennale, and he continues to design residential, institutional and industrial buildings. 

Cardinal has also been an influential voice for the dignity of Indigenous Peoples. 

With files from a U of T News story by Scott Anderson

Banner image: Honorary degree recipient Douglas Cardinal addresses the Daniels Faculty’s Class of 2022 at Convocation Hall on June 15. (Photo by Harry Choi)

Watch Douglas Cardinal's speech at Convocation Hall:

In a fitting tribute coinciding with Asian Heritage Month, Architecture Professor Brigitte Shim has been recognized by the Association of Chinese Canadian Entrepreneurs (ACCE) with its 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award. 

A not-for-profit organization, the ACCE was incorporated in 1994 to encourage Chinese Canadian entrepreneurship and to enhance the global competitiveness of Chinese Canadian business. It established its Lifetime Achievement Award, among other honours, to recognize outstanding citizens who have made significant contributions to Chinese Canadian business as well to local communities. 

“Receiving this lifetime achievement award from the Association of Chinese Canadian Entrepreneurs is truly an honour,” Prof. Shim says. “The previous recipients, including architect Bing Thom, former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson and [businessman and philanthropist] Raymond Chang, have been an enormous source of inspiration to me personally.” 

Born in the Jamaican capital, Kingston, to Hakka emigrants from southern China, Prof. Shim started teaching at the Daniels Faculty in 1988, overseeing core design studios, advanced design studios, thesis studios and courses in the history and theory of landscape architecture.  

In 1994, she and her partner, A. Howard Sutcliffe, founded the architectural design practice Shim-Sutcliffe Architects, which has won 16 Governor General’s Medals and Awards for architecture as well as an American Institute of Architects National Honor Award. Among the firm’s projects are the widely esteemed Integral House in Toronto and the soon-to-open Ace Hotel Toronto in the city’s Entertainment District.  

In 2013, the pair were made members of the Order of Canada. Eight years later, the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada awarded them its 2021 Gold Medal, the country’s highest architectural honour. 

Prof. Shim is the 16th recipient of the ACCE Lifetime Achievement Award, which this year was sponsored by RBC. The Association presented its 2022 program in association with the Centre of Entrepreneurship at Centennial College, Ming Pao Daily News, PwC Canada, and the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade.  

Daniels Faculty members past and present are among the recipients of this year’s Ontario Association of Architects (OAA) Awards.  

Announced in April, the 2022 recipients were honoured during a May 12 ceremony for invited guests at the Toronto Event Centre. Called a “Celebration of Excellence” by the OAA, it was also streamed live on the organization’s YouTube channel. 

A double winner this year is Kohn Shnier Architects, the practice co-founded by Associate Architecture Professor John Shnier, which has been awarded two Design Excellence Awards for a pair of Toronto projects: a striking residential design known as Tile House in the city’s midtown area and the revitalization of University College, undertaken with E.R.A. Architects, at U of T. 

Located in midtown Toronto, Tile House by Kohn Shnier Architects has been recognized with a 2022 Design Excellence Award by the Ontario Association of Architects. “The exaggerated shadows and minimal material palette of the clay tile,” said the OAA in its citation, “ensure this house is distinct without being abstentious or trendy.” (Photo by Michael van Leur)

“Every effort was made to approach the existing fabric deftly,” said the OAA of the UC project, “to ensure the requirements for access and program modernization did not overwhelm or compromise the qualities of the building the community holds so dear.” 

“Every new element,” it added, “was carefully considered in its relationship to the historic fabric, but also in how it could service the requirements of contemporary education, both now and [in] the future.” 

Also representing the Daniels Faculty on this year’s awards roster is Adjunct Lecturer Diarmuid Nash, winner of a Service Award for Lifetime Design Achievement.  

A partner at Moriyama and Teshima Architects since 1998, Adjunct Lecturer Diarmuid Nash is the recipient of this year’s OAA Award for Lifetime Design Achievement.

A partner at Moriyama & Teshima Architects since 1998, Nash was described by the OAA “as an architect with a career-long commitment to the promotion and achievement of architectural design excellence.” 

Nash is a pillar of the architectural community in Ontario and Canada. In addition to instructing future architects on matters of professional practice for more than two decades at the Faculty, he has also served as president of both the OAA and the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. 

Finally, the OAA has also posthumously added Eberhard Zeidler to its Honour Roll, which recognizes prominent deceased members of the architectural profession. The late architect, who passed away at the age of 95 in January, designed such iconic Canadian structures as the Eaton Centre and Ontario Place in Toronto and Canada Place for Expo 86 in Vancouver. 

The late Eberhard Zeidler, who had a long professional and philanthropic relationship with the Daniels Faculty, was added posthumously to the OAA’s Honour Roll. (Photo courtesy of Zeidler Architecture)

After serving as a visiting lecturer and critic, Zeidler was an adjunct professor at the Faculty from 1983 to 1995. Starting in 1999, when the Eberhard Zeidler Scholarship was established, he and his wife Jane also became long-standing benefactors of the school, their generosity culminating in the 37,000-volume Eberhard Zeidler Library in the revitalized Daniels Building at One Spadina Crescent. 

Banner image: Kohn Shnier Architects’ University College Revitalization, undertaken in association with E.R.A. Architects, is one of two projects by the firm of Associate Architecture Professor John Shnier to garner a 2022 Design Excellence Award from the OAA. (Photo by doublespace photography)

A project designed by a trio of Daniels Faculty students that aims to serve the unhoused and precariously housed populations of Toronto has won a National Urban Design Award, presented annually by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC).

Michelle Li, Yongmin (Laura) Ye and Edward Minar Widjaja — all of whom are second-year Master of Architecture students — submitted their project, Mobile Support as Shelter Support Infrastructure, as part of their work for the Integrated Urbanism Studio program.

“We are extremely grateful and honoured by this recognition,” says Ye, co-lead of the project. “Working on this project encouraged us to consider the politics and ethics of designing housing and public spaces, which we will carry into our future design practices.”

Ye and her co-leads received the RAIC award in the category of Student Projects. The award winners were formally announced on March 11.

The three Daniels Faculty students converged on the school from different parts of the world. Michelle Li (1) was born and raised in Toronto; Yongmin (Laura) Ye (2) was born in Tokyo and grew up in Macau; Edward Minar Widjaja (3) hails from Jakarta, Indonesia. (Photos provided by the students)

“Michelle, Laura and Edward took on a challenging and nuanced topic with a rigour that enabled them to question conventions,” says Drew Adams, their instructor, “and to imagine pragmatic and inspired possibilities about empowerment and placemaking in the built environment.”

Here, the students share their thoughts on their project, what they learned, and how they will carry it forward in their careers.

How did Mobile Support as Shelter Support Infrastructure come about?

We chose to focus on shelter support infrastructure as part of the Integrated Urbanism Studio.

Through our research, we discovered that the city has been designing stationary, “brick-and-mortar” solutions (e.g. warming stations, respite sites, shelters, etc.) for unhoused people who are typically mobile. This led us to consider a flexible and temporal system that adapts to a population who is transient.

Why did you focus your project on helping the unhoused and precariously housed of Toronto?

During our research, we realized that unhoused populations have been neglected in most city planning and urban master planning, especially with regards to housing in Toronto. There is a very negative, negligent perception towards people who are unhoused, which is compounded by city bylaws to the point where poverty is criminalized. Designing shelter support infrastructure changes the way services can be provided and how public spaces can be designed to benefit both unhoused people and the local community.

Remember, there is a thin line between having a roof over your head and sleeping on the streets.

Were there other projects that helped serve as templates or inspiration for your submission?

We looked at shelter support networks rather than built projects — organizations such as Encampment Support Network, Toronto Tiny Shelters and Meals on Wheels, which serve those who are precariously housed or unhoused. For precedents on designing transitional and supportive housing, we referred to The SIX by Brooks + Scarpa, which provides supportive housing units for veterans in Los Angeles. We also looked at Eva’s Phoenix by LGA, which provides youth transitional housing in Toronto.

What are your future plans?

Working on this project encouraged us to consider the politics and ethics of designing housing and public spaces, which we will carry into our future design practices — considerations such as how to design an apartment for someone who has experienced trauma, or building welcoming and accessible public spaces for people of all income levels. In studio, we typically do not consider urban policies or the social implications of our designs. However, we see a real possibility of having discussions with people from the community about compassionate design, and bringing in lecturers who are involved in social work or social housing.

Beyond this project, there is the potential of volunteering with a shelter support organization or speaking with social workers who directly engage with vulnerable groups on a frequent basis. In our thesis research, one of us is looking at modular construction, which has the possibility of being adapted for mobile support infrastructure as an extension of this project. We want to address the question: Could designers advocate for housing rights through architecture and urban design?

What kind of guidance did you get during your design process?

We would like to express our deep gratitude to our instructor, Drew Adams, who continuously guided and supported us throughout our research and design process. We wish to thank him for his encouragement and offering his insight on designing shelters for the unhoused and precariously housed. We would also like to thank Steve Hilditch from Hilditch Architect for our conversation on transitional and supportive housing, and Robert Raynor who spoke with us about Toronto Tiny Shelters.

Developing Mobile Support as Shelter Support Infrastructure as part of their Integrated Urbanism Studio challenged the trio “to think about decarbonization, climate resilience, employment, equity and social justice, and to envision new forms of housing, open spaces, infrastructure and social services in the 21st-century city,” according to their instructor Drew Adams. (Illustrations provided by the students)