On January 22, members of the Daniels group Black Students in Design (BSD) launched a new initiative to support young Black students interested in the architecture and design fields. The mentorship program, called Building Black Success through Design (BBSD), is the first of its kind at the Daniels Faculty.

“We are incredibly excited to kick off Building Black Success through Design,” says Clara James, founder and president of BSD. “Through a lot of work and collaboration between BSD members and the Daniels Outreach Office, we were able to develop a mentorship program dedicated to building interpersonal relationships between Black university and high school students.”

The program’s inaugural cohort includes six high school students from across the Greater Toronto Area and one from Calgary. Centred around a design competition, the program guides mentees through each step of the design process as they work toward creating individual submission packages. They will be mentored over the next two months by six BSD members, including James.

Among the exercises that the high schoolers will take part in are design and technical workshops with other student groups (such as Applied Architecture & Landscape Design), lectures by Daniels faculty members, and sessions with Black design professionals. Participants will present their final projects at a showcase with prizes the week following March Break.

Dean Juan Du has warmly welcomed the launch of the program, noting its significance both within the Faculty and beyond. “This program is an important demonstration of our commitment at the school to acknowledging the existence of anti-Black racism and to building a more supportive and inclusive Daniels Faculty,” she says. “I congratulate and thank the tireless members of Black Students in Design for leading this initiative. I wish the participants all the best and look forward to seeing the showcase later this year.”

The mentorship program is just one of the many initiatives organized by BSD, which was founded in 2021 to “create a community for Black students to de-stress, to talk about racial issues in the design industry, and to connect with Black design professionals and with each other,” as James describes it. “It’s created by Black students for Black students.”

In addition to BBSD, the group will be hosting In Conversation with Black Students in Design: Building Black Spaces, an upcoming panel featuring Toronto writer and scholar Rinaldo Walcott, U.S. academic Rashad Shabazz, and Dr. Elizabeth (Dori) Tunstall, the Dean of Design at OCAD University. The event is part of the Daniels Faculty’s 2022 winter programming and is scheduled to take place on February 3.

“It can feel a bit overwhelming sometimes keeping up with BSD work, our studies and just life in general,” says James. She feels, however, that the group is only getting started. “I am beyond excited to see how the program and our group will evolve in the coming years.”

The John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at the University of Toronto is excited to present its Winter 2022 public program. Through a series of book talks, panel discussions, lectures and symposia, our aim is to foster a meaningful dialogue on the important social, political and environmental challenges that confront our world today. How might we create new knowledge and leverage it as a tool for critical reflection and, ultimately, collective change? 

Our programs, and the difficult questions that motivate them, address a range of topics that are central to what we do: design and social justice, building technology and climate change, urban development and real estate, community resiliency, among others.  
 
All events are free and open to the public. Register in advance and check the calendar for up-to-date details: daniels.utoronto.ca/events.  

Winter 2022 

January 18, 12 p.m. ET 
Forest For the Trees: The Tree Planters 
Rita Leistner (Author and Photographer) 
Moderated by Sandy Smith (University of Toronto, Daniels Faculty) 

January 27, 6:30 p.m. ET 
Black Bodies, White Gold: Art, Cotton, and Commerce in the Atlantic World 
Anna Arabindan-Kesson (Author; Princeton University, Department of Art and Archaeology) 
Moderated by Jason Nguyen (University of Toronto, Daniels Faculty) 

February 3, 6:30 p.m. ET 
In Conversation with Black Students in Design: Building Black Spaces  
Rashad Shabazz (Arizona State University, School of Social Transformation) 
Elizabeth (Dori) Tunstall (OCAD University, Faculty of Design) 
Rinaldo Walcott (University of Toronto, Department of Sociology and Equity Studies) 
Moderated by Black Students in Design (University of Toronto, Daniels Faculty) 

February 4, 10 a.m. ET 
Sea Machines 
Keller Easterling (Yale University, School of Architecture) 
Larrie Ferreiro (George Mason University, Department of History and Art History) 
Carola Hein (Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment) 
Niklas Maak (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) 
Meredith Martin (New York University, Department of Art History) 
Prita Meier (New York University, Department of Art History) 
Sara Rich (Coastal Carolina University, HTC Honors College) 
Margaret Schotte (York University, Department of History) 
Elliott Sturtevant (Columbia University, Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation)
Gillian Weiss (Case Western Reserve University, Department of History) 
Co-moderated by Jason Nguyen and Christy Anderson (University of Toronto, Daniels Faculty) 

February 10, 12 p.m. ET 
Thinking Like a Mountain 
Stephanie Carlisle (University of Washington, Carbon Leadership Forum) 
Rosetta Elkin (McGill University, Peter Guo-hua Fu School of Architecture) 
Joseph Grima (Space Caviar) 
Scott McAulay (Anthropocene Architecture School)  
Co-moderated by Kelly Doran, Sam Dufaux and Douglas Robb (University of Toronto, Daniels Faculty) 

February 15, 12 p.m. ET 
Wigs and Women: Korean and Black Migrations and the American Street 
Min Kyung Lee (Bryn Mawr College, Department of Growth and Structure of Cities) 
Moderated by Jason Nguyen and Erica Allen-Kim (University of Toronto, Daniels Faculty) 

February 17, 6:30 p.m. ET 
Tower Renewal and Overcoming Canada’s Retrofit Crisis: Research / Advocacy / Practice 
Graeme Stewart (ERA Architects), presenting research undertaken with Ya’el Santopinto (ERA Architects) 
The George Baird Lecture 
Introductions by Dean Juan Du and Professor George Baird (University of Toronto, Daniels Faculty) 

March 3, 6:30 p.m. ET 
A Place for Life – An Archeology of the Future 
Lina Ghotmeh (2021-2022 Frank O. Gehry International Visiting Chair in Architectural Design) 
Moderated by Juan Du (Dean and Professor, University of Toronto, Daniels Faculty)  

March 29, 12 p.m. ET 
After Concrete 
Lucia Allais (Columbia University, Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation) 
Forrest Meggers (Princeton University, School of Architecture) 
Moderated by Mary Lou Lobsinger (University of Toronto, Daniels Faculty)  

March 31, 6:30 p.m. ET 
Urban Urgencies 
Marion Weiss (Partner, Weiss/Manfredi Architecture/Landscape/Urbanism; Professor of Practice, University of Pennsylvania, Stuart Weitzman School of Design)
Michael Manfredi (Partner, Weiss/Manfredi Architecture/Landscape/Urbanism; Senior Urban Design Critic, Harvard University Graduate School Of Design)
Moderated by Juan Du (Dean and Professor, University of Toronto, Daniels Faculty) 

April 5, 6:30 p.m. ET 
Little Jamaica 
Elizabeth Antczak (Open Architecture Collaborative Canada) 
Romain Baker (Black Urbanism TO) 
Cheryll Case (CP Planning) 
Tura Cousins Wilson (Studio of Contemporary Architecture)
Co-moderated by Otto Ojo and Michael Piper with Black Students in Design (University of Toronto, Daniels Faculty) 

April 7, 6:30 p.m. ET 
Reimagining ChinaTOwn: Speculative Fiction Stories from Toronto's Chinatown(s) in 2050 
Linda Zhang (Organizer and Facilitator; X University, School of Interior Design) 
Biko Mandela Gray (Facilitator; Syracuse University, African American Religion) 
Michael Chong (Author) 
Amelia Gan (Author) 
Eveline Lam (Author) 
Amy Yan (Author and Illustrator) 
Moderated and facilitated by Erica Allen-Kim (University of Toronto, Daniels Faculty) 

April 8, 10 a.m. ET
Design for Resilient Communities International Symposium 
In association with UIA Word Congress 2023: Sustainable Futures - Leave No One Behind
Convenors: 
Juan Du (Dean and Professor, University of Toronto, Daniels Faculty) 
Anna Rubbo (Senior Scholar, Columbia University, Center for Sustainable Urban Development, The Earth Institute) 

Learn more about News and Events and Exhibitions, follow along with the Faculty on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and sign-up for This Week @ Daniels to receive current information on upcoming events. 

Miles Gertler (Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream) and his design practice Common Accounts recently presented Parade of All the Feels at Greater Toronto Art 2021, the Museum of Contemporary Art’s (MOCA) inaugural triennial exhibition.

Common Accounts created a scale architectural model of a parade float installed on the ground floor of MOCA, shown next to pieces by Ghazaleh Avarzamani, Tom Chung, Walter Scott and Julia Dault. The triennial spans all three of the museum’s floors.

“Parade of All the Feels is an architectural expression of the concern for the contemporary phenomenon of feelings-as-facts and ‘emotional geo-spoofing’,” Gertler explains. “It considers the niche ecosystems that form a society of radically independent pluralities and positions ceremonies like parades as pragmatic tools for city-building.”

Photo by Tori Hadkenscheid.

Encased in an acrylic dome equipped with miniature video screens and lights, Parade of All the Feels is drawn from of a more extensive series of floats recently developed by Common Accounts, including a Parade of Healthy Oceans, a Parade of Social Anxiety, a Parade of Cancelled Personalities, and a Parade of Uncomfortable Memes, which will be released in the forthcoming issue of Perspecta (The Yale Architectural Journal).

“This piece builds on our ambition to offer a glimpse both five seconds into the future and into the rear-view mirror of the immediate past,” Gertler says. “It is a meditation on the current moment – on the prioritization, valuation, and organization of emotional information as a political tool and as cultural medium.”

The piece is interactive, with two digital filters that project animated events around the installation, developed in collaboration with Mingus New.

An animated, digital version of some of the parts of the Parade, along with other digital artworks produced by other participants in the show, can be found in MOCA’s GTA360: a virtual environment developed by Daniels Sessional Lecturer, Andy Bako and Master of Architecture graduate student Niko Dellic. Visitors there can interact with each other in real-time, engage in conversations around the hosted works, and the role of digital tools within contemporary art and design practices.

Learn more about Common Accounts.

Photos by Common Accounts.

“Eb Zeidler was a humanist, seeing design in terms of service to the community. His work was innovative and in many cases iconic, but ultimately he wanted to create places for people, not monuments.”

So notes urban designer Ken Greenberg of celebrated architect Eberhard Zeidler, who passed away on January 7 at the age of 95.

In addition to creating some of Canada’s most recognizable structures, from Ontario Place and the Eaton Centre in Toronto to Canada Place for Expo 86 in Vancouver, the German-born architect had a sustained relationship with the Daniels Faculty, culminating in the establishment of the Eberhard Zeidler Library in the revitalized Daniels Building, to which he and his wife Jane (MA Art History, 1989, U of T) generously contributed.

“Eberhard Zeidler leaves important architectural and civic legacies to the city and to the Daniels Faculty at the University of Toronto,” said Dean Juan Du upon learning of his death. “We at the school are deeply saddened by the loss.”

“The name Eberhard Zeidler,” former dean Richard Sommer noted during the 2019 dedication of the Eberhard Zeidler Library and Zeidler Family Reading Room, “is firmly ensconced in the school’s history as one that continues to inspire and shape the architecture education of many faculty, alumni and current students.”

The 37,000-volume library, which also contains a trove of maps, drawings and manuscripts as well as copious digital resources, is only the most prominent of Eberhard and Jane’s contributions to the University. Having established his own practice, now known as Zeidler, in the 1960s, Eberhard was a visiting lecturer and critic at the Faculty before serving as an adjunct professor from 1983 to 1995.

He and Jane were also pleased to invest in and recognize the next generation of architectural talent by establishing the Eberhard Zeidler Scholarship in 1999. Last bestowed this fall, it’s awarded on the basis of academic achievement to a student concluding his or her first year of the Master of Architecture program.

“He was very passionate about the teaching of architecture,” Dr. Zeidler’s son Robert tweeted this weekend. Both Eb and Jane passed on their civic-mindedness to their four children: Margie, Robert, Kate and Christina.

Dr. Eberhard Zeidler and Mrs. Jane Zeidler with their children, from top left, Christina, Kate, Margie and Robert. (Photo by John Hryniuk)

Filmmaker and artist Christina has become a well-known preservationist, transforming neglected historic gems such as the Gladstone Hotel, while alumna Margie (BArch, 1987, U of T) is 401 Richmond’s president and creator; these two projects are now thriving cultural hubs in Toronto. Robert, meanwhile, developed the Cotton Factory project in Hamilton, Ontario, while Kate is a leading interior designer, with more than 25 years in the business.

Such creative acumen owes a debt to Dr. Zeidler’s example. “Eb Zeidler began the transformation of a rather conservative Toronto in the late ’70s by reinterpreting classical architecture spaces in surprising new ways,” says Marianne McKenna, a founding partner at KPMB Architects.

“He cleverly jump-started today’s contemporary Toronto with modern materials and fresh architectural forms. His genius was in creating new public spaces that people actually love to be in. He was an architect who put our spatial experience first.”

Over the years, Dr. Zeidler had been acknowledged with gratitude by the country, city and institutions to which he devoted his talents. In 1989, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Architecture by the University of Toronto. He was also made an Officer of the Order of Canada and received a gold medal from the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada.

According to those who knew him best, however, his real rewards were in the creation and improvement of spaces we collectively use and enjoy.

“He was an exemplary Torontonian [who] involved himself throughout his career in the issues of the day, taking positions when others in the profession did not,” recalls Greenberg.

“At the time of the Central Area Plan [in the 1970s], Toronto’s reform Council wanted to bring people to live in the city’s core, which was rapidly becoming an office monoculture. Eb and a few others stepped up to challenge the development industry of the time by showing how mixed-use could be done.”

For Greenberg, Dr. Zeidler’s work with Michael Hough on Ontario Place is “one of the great demonstrations of a powerful fusion of architecture and landscape.” It is also reflective of his overall approach to architecture and life.

“He was,” says the urban designer, “a great collaborator.”

To learn more about Dr. Zeidler’s life and legacies, visit this website.

Banner image: Dr. and Mrs. Zeidler sign the guestbook at the Zeidler Family Reading Room in 2019. (Photo by John Hryniuk)

On the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, also known as Orange Shirt Day, the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design officially unveiled a new mural design honouring the 215 children whose unmarked graves were discovered in May of last year at the site of a former residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia. Now installed across the Daniels Building’s north facade, the sprawling work by multidisciplinary artist Que Rock, a member of Nipissing First Nation, also commemorates the graves that continue to be uncovered across Turtle Island.

Symbolizing the Seven Grandfather Teachings of humility, courage, honesty, wisdom, truth, respect and love, a sun anchoring the eastern end of the facade extends westward toward the opposite side, where a Grandmother Moon represents the connection to Turtle Island, the water nation and Mother Earth. At the centre of the mural, which is shaded with the colours of traditional medicine wheels, children are carried by eagles to the spirit world. The eagles also carry fish for a healing journey.

“My goal is to portray the teachings of my ancestors, sacred geometry and the Laws of Nature in all my art forms,” explains Toronto-based Que Rock, who is also a musician and dancer. “The goal for the Daniels Mural Project is a visual healing experience.”  

The installation was initiated by Elder Whabagoon, the First Peoples Leadership Advisor to the Dean, in partnership with the Daniels Art Directive (DAD), a student-led group that spearheads exhibitions, workshops and community projects. At their behest, the Faculty put out an open call for mural proposals from First Nations, Métis and Inuit artists living in the Greater Toronto Area and Hamilton. Submissions were reviewed by an advisory panel comprised of members of U of T’s Indigenous communities: James Bird, Melissa Deleary, Jaime Kearns, Robin Rice and Brenda Wastasecoot. Que Rock’s selected proposal was publicly revealed on September 30, 2021.

“We wanted to initiate a response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Report and to U of T’s Answering the Call: Wecheehetowin,” says Michelle Ng, a fourth-year Daniels student and co-founder of DAD. “This inaugural Indigenous public-art piece brings people together for healing. It is only the beginning.”

Que Rock’s visual art, including large street-art projects and works on canvas, draw from both Anishnaabe culture and daily urban interactions. With each piece, he aims to convey Indigenous knowledge, the meaning of sacred symbolism and the primacy of nature, articulating it all in a style he describes as “making the woodlands dance.”

After applying the main motifs in the Daniels mural, the artist invited Daniels Faculty students from across disciplines to add 215 red circles to the installation and to participate in workshops aimed at augmenting the circles based on Indigenous teachings. Those workshops, led by Que Rock, will be held in January, February and March.

Banner image: Indigenous artist Que Rock stands in front of the mural he created for the facade of the Daniels Faculty. (Photo by: Nadya Kwandibens/Red Works Photography)

Daniels students from across disciplines gathered to add 215 red circles to the installation.

“I applaud those involved in the mural project for utilizing our building as a canvas of Indigenous expression and for collectively advancing the process of Canadian reconciliation,” says Professor Juan Du, Dean of the Daniels Faculty.

The project, which also includes an educator’s guide for discussing the mural with high-school students, is part of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion initiatives at Daniels. To learn more, visit the Faculty’s Diversity and Inclusion page.

Follow the Daniels Faculty on social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) for general updates and check out our website for the latest news.

About our Supporters

Thank you to the generous support of the following:

StreetARToronto (StART)
Postsecondary Education Fund for Aboriginal Learners 
Office of Indigenous Initiatives

For media, please contact Sara Elhawash sara.elhawash@daniels.utoronto.ca or call (437)-990-5527.

This December, students in architecture, landscape architecture, urban design and forestry will present their final projects in-person at the Daniels Building on One Spadina Crescent, to their instructors. Students of the Daniels Faculty will also present to guest critics from both academia and the professional community in attendance.  

IMPORTANT UPDATE: The University of Toronto will not be holding in-person exams or reviews effective 8 a.m. on Thursday, December 16, 2021. Instructors will contact individual students. Please see the latest University of Toronto COVID-19 planning update.

Follow the Daniels Faculty @UofTDaniels on Twitter and Instagram and join the conversation using the hashtag #DanielsReviews.

Thursday, Dec 9 | Graduate

Design Studio 1 
ARC1011Y 
9 a.m. - 6 p.m. 
 
Instructors: Vivian Lee (Coordinator), Fiona Lim Tung, Miles Gertler, Sam Ghantous, Aleris Rodgers, Julia DiCastri, Maria Denegri 
Rooms: 215, 230, 240, Gallery, DA170-Raked Seating 
 
Design Studio 1 
LAN1011Y  
9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. 
 
Instructors: Behanz Assadi (Coordinator), Peter North  
Room: 330 
 

Friday, December 10 | Undergraduate

Drawing and Representation 1 
ARC100H1 
9 a.m. - 6 p.m. 
 
Instructors: Vivian Lee (Coordinator), Brandon Bergem, Matthew DeSantis, Daniel Briker, Chloe Town, Danielle Whitley, David Verbeek, Jamie Lipson, Anamarija Korolj, Andrew Lee, Luke Duross, Anne Ma, Angela Cho, Kara Verbeek, Andrea Rodriguez Fos, Nicholas Barrette 
Rooms: 215, 230, 240, 330, 2nd Floor Hallway, Gallery  
 

Monday, December 13 | Graduate & Undergraduate 

Integrated Urbanism 
ARC2013Y, LAN2013Y, URD1011Y 
9 a.m. - 6 p.m. 
 
Instructors: Roberto Damiani (Coordinator), Fadi Masoud (Coordinator), Michael Piper (Coordinator), Christos Marcopoulos, Pina Petricone, Mariana Leguia, Lukas Pauer, Delnaz Yekrangian, Laurence Holland, Jon Cummings, Drew Adams, Robert Wright, Megan Esopenko 
Rooms: 209, 215, 230, 240, 330 

Design Studio II 
ARC201H1 
9 a.m. - 6 p.m. 
 
Instructors: Miles Gertler (Coordinator), Chris Cornecelli, Jennifer Kudlats, Luke Duross, T. Jeffrey Garcia 
Rooms: 242, DA-170-Raked seating, 1st Floor Hallway, 2nd Floor Hallway, Gallery 

Tuesday, December 14 | Graduate

Integrated Urbanism 
ARC2013Y, LAN2013Y, URD1011Y 
9 a.m. - 6 p.m. 
 
Instructors: Roberto Damiani (Coordinator), Fadi Masoud (Coordinator), Michael Piper (Coordinator), Christos Marcopoulos, Pina Petricone, Mariana Leguia, Lukas Pauer, Delnaz Yekrangian, Laurence Holland, Jon Cummings, Drew Adams, Robert Wright, Megan Esopenko 
Rooms: 209, 215, 230, 240, 330 
 

Research Studios / Option Studios 

Landscape Design Studio Research   
Slow Landscape: to a new expression of place 
LAN3016Y  
9 a.m. - 6 p.m. 

Instructor: Victoria Taylor 
Room: Gallery 

Urban Design Studio Options 
URD2013Y  
9 a.m. - 6 p.m. 
 
Instructor: Angus Laurie 
Room: DA-170 Raked Seating 

Capstone Project Presentations in Forest Conservation 
FOR3008H 
9 a.m. - 6 p.m. 
 
See detailed agenda and zoom links here 
 

Wednesday, December 15 | Graduate

Capstone Project Presentations in Forest Conservation 
FOR3008H  
9 a.m. - 6 p.m. 
 
Capstone Project Presentations 
See detailed agenda and zoom links here 

Research Studios / Option Studios 

Mediated Alps: Reconstructing mountain archives and futures 
LAN3016Y 
9:00am - 1:00pm, 2:00pm - 6:00pm 
 
Instructor: Aisling O’Carroll  
Room: 330 
 
Reconceptualizing a 1960’s urban renewal project in downtown Hamilton, Ontario: The Jackson Square Shopping Mall 
ARC3020Y F 
12:00pm - 6:00pm 
 
Instructor: George Baird 
Room: 209 

Framing, Looping & Projecting Quantum Architecture 
ARC3016Y S 
9:00am - 1:00pm 

Instructor: Brian Boigon 
Room: 209 & 242 

Half Studio 
ARC3020Y F 
9:00am - 1:00pm, 2:00pm - 6:00pm 

Instructor: Kelly Alvarez Doran  
Room: 230 

BROWSE, the Gathering 
ARC3020Y F 
9:00am - 1:00pm, 2:00pm - 6:00pm 

Instructor: Lara Lesmes, Fredrik Hellberg 
Room: TBA (Online) 
 

Thursday, December 16 | Graduate

Technology Studio III 
ARC380Y1 
9 a.m. - 6 p.m. 
 
Instructor: Nicholas Hoban (Coordinator), Nathan Bishop 
Online 

 
Research Studios / Option Studios 

Meuble Immeuble 
ARC3020Y F 
9:00am - 1:00pm, 2:00pm - 6:00pm 
 
Instructor: An Te Liu 
Online 

STUFF 
ARC3020Y F 
9:00am - 1:00pm, 2:00pm - 6:00pm 

Instructor: Laura Miller 
Online

Interstellar Architecture: Designing and prototyping a home beyond Earth 
ARC3020Y F 
9:00am - 1:00pm, 2:00pm - 6:00pm 

Instructor: Brady Peters 
Online

Reappraising the Design of Long-Term Care Residential Environments in the Context of COVID-19 
ARC3020Y F 
9:00am - 1:00pm, 2:00pm - 6:00pm 

Instructor: Stephen Verderber 
Online
 

Friday, December 17 | Undergraduate

Post Professional Thesis 1 
ALA4021Y 
10a.m. - 2 p.m. 

Instructor: Roberto Damiani, Coordinator 
Online

Architectural Design Studio 7: Thesis 
ARC4018Y 
12 p.m. - 5 p.m. 

Instructors: Vivian Lee, Mary Lou Lobsinger, Adrian Phiffer, Mauricio Quiros Pacheco, Mason White 
Online

Research Studios / Option Studios 

Bridging the Divide: An Architecture of Demographic Transition 
ARC3020Y F 
9:00am - 1:00pm, 2:00pm - 6:00pm 

Instructor: Shane Williamson 
Online 

Potent Voids 
ARC3020Y F 
9:00am - 1:00pm, 2:00pm - 6:00pm 

Instructor: Lina Ghotmeh 
Online

ARCHIPELAGO, 3.0: Storytelling, Activism, Re-Building 
ARC3020Y F 
9:00am - 1:00pm, 2:00pm - 6:00pm 
 
Instructor: Petros Babasikas 
Online 
 

Monday, December 20 | Undergraduate

Architecture Studio III 
ARC361Y1 
9 a.m. - 6 p.m. 
 
Instructors: Adrian Phiffer (Coordinator), Nova Tayona, Shane Williamson 
Online

Landscape Architecture Studio III 
ARC363Y1 
9 a.m. - 6 p.m. 
 
Instructor: Behnaz Assadi 
Online

Digital Twinning 
ARC465H1 
9 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Instructor: Jay Pooley 
Online
 

Tuesday, December 21 | Undergraduate

Drawing and Representation II 
ARC200H1 
9 a.m. - 1 p.m. 
 
Instructors: Michael Piper (Coordinator), Sonai Ramundi, Reza Nik, Mohammed Soroor, Sam Ghantous, Katy Chey, Sam Dufaux, Scott Norsworthy, Kfir Gluzberg, J. Alejandro Lopez 
Online

Undergraduate Thesis I 
ARC456H1/ARC461H1/ARC486H1 
10 a.m. - 4 p.m. 
 
Instructors: Laura Miller, Nicholas Hoban, Simon Rabyniuk 
Online

Master of Visual Studies Proseminar Winter 2021-2022 series

Cassandra, Cassandra
December 7, 2021 at 6 p.m.
Daniels Building, 1 Spadina Crescent
Main Hall, DA170C

Laurie Kang
December 14, 2021 at 6 p.m.
Daniels Building, 1 Spadina Crescent
Main Hall, DA170C

Stephanie Dinkins
January 25, 2022 at 6 p.m.
Online via Zoom

Srimoyee Mitra
February 1, 2022 at 6 p.m.
Online via Zoom
Passcode: 130223

Nato Thompson
February 8, 2022 at 6 p.m.
Online via Zoom
Passcode: 308365

“Under the Museum, Under the University, Under the City: The Land” Artist Roundtable
Wednesday, March 30 at 4 p.m.
Online | In-person at University College, UC 179

Fadi Masoud, Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture and Urbanism and the Director of the Centre for Landscape Research at the Daniels Faculty recently published an edited volume and graphic atlas titled Terra-Sorta-Firma: Reclaiming the Littoral Gradient (Actar 2020).  

The book documents the global extent of reclaimed coastal lands and provides a framework for comparison across varying geographies, cultures, and histories. For centuries, cities have grown and expanded onto previously saturated grounds; “reclaiming” land from estuaries, marshes, mangroves, and seabeds. While these artificial coastlines are sites of tremendous real estate, civic, and infrastructural investments, they are also the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. 

The book has four parts that question urbanism’s political, economic, and physical relationship to littoral zones, areas that are in a permanent state of flux. Part one highlights the extent of the global sand trade and the methods of coastal land reclamation. Part two documents over 50 case studies of urban districts built on reclaimed land under the categories of “Claiming Territory”, “Geologic Necessity”, “Flamboyant Real-Estate", “Landscaped Brownfields” and "Blue Collar - Brown Water”. The third part is a sub-atlas of Chinese case studies - the world’s largest consumer of sand and where the majority of contemporary land reclamation projects are taking place. The final part includes essays by various scholars who are seeking to define and redefine cities' relationship to their littoral zones and to reconsider the design and construction of land itself along gradients of inundation.

A selection of case studies from the book can be found in the interactive The Littoral Gradient Atlas which showcases a range of coastal urban developments built on reclaimed land and how they change over time.  

The Daniels Faculty is celebrating the launch of the book with Fadi Masoud through an online book talk on Thursday, November 18 from 6:30 p.m. - 8 p.m. which will feature some of the book’s contributors: Luna Khirfan (University of Waterloo, School of Planning), Xiaoxuan Lu (The University of Hong Kong, Division of Landscape Architecture), Ben Mendelsohn (Portland State University, Film and Digital Culture), Michael T. Wilson (RAND Corporation), moderated by Brent D. Ryan (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). 
 
Each contributor of the book represents the story of urban shoreline transformation in a different geography, from China to Singapore, and from Charlottetown to Lagos to Boston. Taken together, the event and the book aim to render visible the ubiquity and precarity of urban coastal reclamation in an age of increased environmental and economic indeterminacy. 
 

Purchase Terra-Sorta-Firma via ACTAR Publishing. Use code TERRASORTAFIRMA15 for a 15% discount 

Read research excerpts "The Littoral Gradient Atlas" and "Urban Districts on Reclaimed Land" on urbanNext. 

Learn more about the Terra-Sorta-Firma project through the Centre for Landscape Research. 

Explore the interactive Littoral Gradient Digital Atlas 

About the book 

Terra-Sorta-Firma: Developing the Littoral Gradient is a critical and interdisciplinary exploration of a continuously urbanizing and expanding littoral edge. The illustrated and edited volume documents urban waterfronts on “reclaimed” land and examines these pervasive environments through their dynamic past and uncertain future. For centuries, cities expanded onto previously saturated grounds; “reclaiming” land from estuaries, mangroves, and sea-beds. Today, the majority of global populations live along a continuously urbanizing and expanding coastline. While these artificial coastlines are sites of tremendous real-estate, civic, and infrastructural investments, they are also the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. As such, this expansion's precarity is dramatically increased by the method in which it is constructed.  
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The book's four parts question urbanism’s political, economic, and physical relationship to land in a permanent state of flux. It challenges designers, developers, policymakers, engineers, and urbanists to reconsider the design and construction of land itself and to re-imagine this most fundamental of all infrastructures along gradients of inundation.  The project collects 50+ global sites that have been mapped with similar cartographic conventions to illustrate the global magnitude of reclaimed coastal lands while essays by various scholars provide a framework for comparison across varying geographies, cultures, and histories.  

About Fadi Masoud 

Fadi Masoud is an assistant professor of Landscape Architecture and Urbanism at the University of Toronto and the director of the Centre for Landscape Research. His research, teaching, and design work focuses on the relationships between environmental systems, design, and instrumental planning policy tools. Masoud currently leads research projects on climate adaptive urban and landscape design, novel resilient urban codes, and the future of metropolitan public open space. Prior to joining the University of Toronto, Masoud held teaching and research appointments at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was trained and practiced as a planner, landscape architect, and urban designer. Masoud currently sits on Waterfront Toronto’s Design Review Panel and is a member of the City of Toronto’s Urban Flooding Working Group. 

Media Inquiries:  
 
Sara Elhawash at sara.elhawash@daniels.utoronto.ca 

The Daniels Mural Project team is launching a week-long series of programming for Treaties Recognition Week from November 1  to 5. Treaties Recognition Week helps to honour the importance of treaties and increase awareness about treaty rights and treaty relationships. Please see the list of events below.

Graphic by Mariah Meawasige (@Makoose)

Monday, November 1

Treaties Recognition Week: Opening Ceremony 
7:44 a.m. Stantec Architecture Courtyard

Join us at 7:44 a.m. outside at the north façade patio of the Daniels Building (Stantec Architecture Courtyard) as we commence the start of Treaties Recognition Week with a sunrise ceremony led by Elder Whabagoon and a Jingledance by Robin Rice. 

Registration is not required 

Treaties Recognition Week: First Story Toronto Story Walk of University of Toronto St. George with Jon Johnson and Jill Carter 
1:00 p.m. online via Zoom

Much of the contemporary and historic relationships, injustices, and struggles related to Indigenous nations in Canada is rooted in treaties. Join Dr. Jon Johnson and Dr. Jill Carter, and others from First Story Toronto for a virtual walk and interactive discussion of places and stories that exemplify some of the historic and contemporary treaties of the Toronto area. Stories will focus on injustice, Indigenous resistance and resilience, and our collective ongoing treaty responsibilities with First Nations communities. 

Register 

Treaties Recognition Week: Canada By Treaty  
6:30 p.m. online via Zoom

Join James Bird and Dr. Heidi Bohaker and Nathan Tidridge as they discuss their travelling exhibition "Canada by Treaty," which explains Canada's history of treaty-making with Indigenous peoples. 

Register 

Tuesday, November 2

Treaties Recognition Week: Artist Talk with Que Rock 
6:30 p.m. online via Zoom

Join artist Que Rock for a discussion on his work, process, influences and mural at the Daniels Faculty and a Q&A with Carolyn Taylor, Project Manager at StreetARToronto at the City of Toronto.

Register

Wednesday, November 3   

Treaties Recognition Week: 'Anishinaabe 101' (including Treaties) with Perry McLeod-Shabogesic 
12:00 p.m. online via Zoom

Learn more about Anishinabe culture and traditions, including Treaties, with Perry McLeod-Shabogesic of the Crane Clan from N’biising First Nation. Truth before Reconciliation.

Registration is not required. Access via the link here.

Treaties Recognition Week: Film Screening “Trick or Treaty” by Alanis Obomsawin 
5:30 p.m. In-person screening

Join us for an in-person screening at the Daniels Faculty of Alanis Obomsawin’s seminal work “Trick or Treaty?” Co-presented with StreetART Toronto. 

Location:
1 Spadina Crescent
Main Hall - Section C (DA170)

Register

Friday, November 5

Treaties Recognition Week: Workshop with John Croutch “Reconciliation: Walking the Path of Indigenous Allyship”  
1:00 p.m. online via Zoom

What does it mean to be an ally to Indigenous peoples? And is it even possible to call yourself an ally or is it more correct to say that one can only aspire to be an ally as allyship is a continuous process of self-reflexivity, learning and acting in a way that decenters whiteness. These are some of the questions and issues that will be explored in this hour and a half presentation, Reconciliation: Walking the Path of Indigenous Allyship. 

Workshop space is limited. Please RSVP at events@daniels.utoronto.ca

Treaties Recognition Week: Closing Ceremony 
3:00 p.m. Stantec Architecture Courtyard

When you open a circle, you must come full circle and close the circle. This closing ceremony led by Elder Whabagoon concludes the our Treaties Recognition Week programming. Additional workshops and events will come throughout the month of November. Join us in saying Milgwetch to all.

Registration is not required.

Generously supported by Postsecondary Education Fund for Aboriginal Learners and StreetARToronto

Resources for the Daniels Faculty community 

We Are All Treaty People - Indigenous Education (utoronto.ca)  

About Treaties (Government of Ontario) 

Anishinabek Nation Educational Resources 

Toronto Area Treaties - The Indigenous History of Tkaronto - Research guides at University of Toronto 

Community Organizations 

LANDBACK is a movement that has existed for generations with a long legacy of organizing and sacrifice to get Indigenous Lands back into Indigenous hands. Currently, there are LANDBACK battles being fought all across Turtle Island, to the north and the South. 

The Ogimaa Mikana Project is an effort to restore Anishinaabemowin place-names to the streets, avenues, roads, paths, and trails of Gichi Kiiwenging (Toronto) - transforming a landscape that often obscures or makes invisible the presence of Indigenous peoples. Starting with a small section of Queen St., re-naming it Ogimaa Mikana (Leader's Trail) in tribute to all the strong women leaders of the Idle No More movement, the project hopes to expand throughout downtown and beyond. 

The Green New Deal Superstudio is a joint initiative of the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) in association with the Weitzman School of Design McHarg Center, the Center for Resilient Cities and Landscapes, the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), and the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA). The year-long open call was designed to give form to policy ideas by translating the core goals of decarbonization, justice, and jobs into place-specific design and planning projects. It attracted the participation of 3,000 designers and students from over 90 universities across 10 countries, including the Daniels Faculty at the University of Toronto.  

The projects ranged from pragmatic to speculative and covered a wide variety of issues, innovation, scales, and geographic regions. A curated set of 55 projects were selected to illustrate the breadth of work submitted and are organized into six categories: Adapt, Empower, Energize, Remediate, Retrofit and Cultivate. 

Out of 670 submissions, two Daniels Faculty Masters of Landscape Architecture projects from last year’s Integrated Urbanism Studio (Design Studio 3) were selected: Re:charge by Joey Chiu, Agata Mrozowski, Tina Cui, and Nadia Chan; and Welcome To Black Creek: Re-Imagining Water as Life by Alex Sheinbaum, Agata Molendowski, Evelyn Babalis, and Natasha Raseta. Alongside, three projects were selected from Architectural Design Studio 4  (ARC2014): East Harlem: The Bank by Natalia Enriquez Goyes and Clara Ziada; Buildings within Buildings by Lucy Yang, Jeff Jang; and Overlapping Celebration by Zak Jacobi, Evan Webber.

Design Studio 3 is an integrated urbanism studio led by studio coordinators Fadi Masoud, Michael Piper, and Mason White, in which students from all three of the Daniels Faculty's design disciplines — architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design — collaborate on shared projects. In the fall 2020 semester, student groups investigated and reimagined Toronto's postwar neighbourhoods, taking into consideration social inequality and the environmental imperatives of the Green New Deal.   

Assistant Professor Fadi Masoud shares: “As evident by many of the projects from the Green New Deal Superstudio, landscape architecture strategies, tools, and methods will be central to the retrofit and adaption of cities to climate change. The Daniels Faculty student projects foreground key relationships between design and social, environmental, and policy opportunities." 

Design Studio 4, also known as comprehensive design studio led by studio coordinator Sam Dufaux, is where Master of Architecture students create detailed whole-building designs.  The Studio explores both the conceptual and technical dimensions of post-carbon thinking at the building scale. It asked the students to re-think and reimagine the social and material dimensions of buildings to create a Net Zero Center for Activism in East Harlem. 

Studio Coordinator Sam Dufaux shares "The work by the students for the Green New Deal Superstudio demonstrates a new attitude toward the climate and social crises. The projects not only imagine a new type of civic institution but also demonstrate how it can be built around the principles of circularity, energy efficiency and low carbon construction. Training our students with this focus is essential given that buildings generate nearly 40% of annual CO2 emissions and that we have less than 9 years to decarbonize our industry."

The full set of submissions are catalogued and freely accessible as part of the Green New Deal Superstudio archive in the JSTOR digital library. Each submission includes three image boards and descriptive text. The curators included Barbara Deutsch (LAF), Kate Orff (SCAPE; Columbia University), Kofi Boone (North Carolina State University), Kristina Hill (University of California, Berkeley), Michael Johnson (SmithGroup), and Roberto Rovira (Florida International University). 
 
Learn more about the Green New Deal Superstudio curated projects through its website.  

Re:charge - Joey Chiu, Agata Mrozowski, Tina Cui, and Nadia Chan 

Joey, Agata, Tina, and Nadia write: "Our project is called Re:charge. It looks at redefining the existing technology, industry, and open spaces of West Rexdale through the lens of the Green New Deal. Most of the site is currently occupied by the Woodbine Racetrack and Casino, with plans for a mega entertainment complex. However, we envision a different development approach that prioritizes community investment and climate change adaptation and mitigation. Our proposals centre around investing in local renewable energy production to power community infrastructure and empower the community. There are three main programmatic areas. 

The Efficiency Commons takes the existing warehouse and manufacturing district and retools it for new green energy generation and green manufacturing jobs. It will house new high-tech industries and the Sleepless Circuit, a new entertainment destination. The Common Sink is a large central green space on the defunct Woodbine Racetrack. This new park will include a horse sanctuary, a large wetland green space, a successional forest that connects the two ravines, and a land-art sculpture park that takes into consideration hydrology and habitat connectivity. The Verve is a long north-south mixed-use residential, manufacturing, and employment corridor that has a unique typology of warehouse co-op housing and civic amenities that do not currently exist. It includes artist-run galleries, and the Knowledge is Power Community Center. The corridor creates connections between residential areas within West Rexdale and provides connection to a new GO transit hub near Pearson." 

Website 
 
Instructors: Fadi Masoud and Megan Esponeko 

Welcome To Black Creek: Re-Imagining Water as Life - Alex Sheinbaum, Agata Molendowski, Evelyn Babalis, Natasha Raseta 
 

Alex, Agata, Evelyn, and Natasha write: "The reality is that WE ARE IN A CLIMATE CRISIS. While we understand the normalcy of a fluctuating landscape, our urban systems and regions are built with static, unchanging infrastructure that can rarely withstand modern ecological disasters. 

In identifying Rockcliffe-Smythe and the Black Creek as a significant design action zone in Toronto, this project strives to gain a better understanding of the relationship between water as infrastructure and water as life, since both the natural and built systems exist symbiotically within our urban environment. 

Though there is no perfect solution to the growing ecological crises faced by Toronto's vulnerable communities, the project's thoughtful design integrates and innovates socio-ecological resiliency strategies tailored to the Rockcliffe-Smythe neighbourhood, including new housing programs, research facilities, floodable programming, and spaces for engagement. These interventions desegregate human and natural communities and reconnect people to their environments within newly designed spaces full of life, all grounded by the Black Creek." 

Website 

Instructors: Fadi Masoud and Megan Esponeko 

East Harlem: The Bank - Natalia Enriquez Goyes and Clara Ziada

Clara and Natalia write: "Our project exploits the opportunity in embracing 'waste' as a valuable resource that is being discarded. By designing within the principles of a circular consumption model, we treat the building as a new home for materials within a continuous recovery and reutilization process. This narrative lends itself to a focus on embodied energy where the material choices, their lifecycle considerations, and design for (dis)assembly become main strategies. The dynamics between physical durability and functional obsolescence underline the need to accommodate adaptability and flexibility to maximize the life cycle and minimize the ecological footprint of building components. The Bank stands as an intermediary between multiple iterations in a cycle of disassembly and new assembly."

"Through continuous chains of supply and demand, The Bank connects donors to builders, users, and consumers. The centre acts as a physical and social infrastructure mediating between people and materials. It provides a space of education, information sharing, and material distribution. Besides serving as a storage facility, it lends the community a toolkit for constructing change."

Website

Instructor: Sam Dufaux
Studio Coordinator: Sam Dufaux

Buildings within Buildings - Lucy Yang, Jeff Jang

Lucy and Jeff write: "This proposal provides a platform for social and environmental activism. It announces the urgency of social and environmental reform through relinquishing ownership of the ground plane, offering an open courtyard for the community in East Harlem."

"The courtyard is a public and flexible space where social movements and voices are amplified, but also hidden processes of building construction and demolition waste are brought to the foreground. The proposed building not only serves as a storage area for salvaged building elements, but it is also comprised of reclaimed elements itself. Reclaimed windows and bricks from the local contexts become critical components that give the project its architectural identity and reduce embodied energy."

"The concept of nested thermal buffer zones, inspired by the flimsy facade of reclaimed windows, also bolsters the building performance. The temperature gradient blurs the distinction between outside and inside, creating a composition of buildings within buildings that is composed of found objects."

Website

Instructor: Carol Moukheiber
Studio Coordinator: Sam Dufaux

Overlapping Celebration - Zak Jacobi, Evan Webber

Zak and Evan write: "Harlem as a community has a rich heritage tied to celebration. Celebration plays an active role in encouraging social gathering and empowering community members through the sharing of experiences, stories, and talents. This project looks to create spaces of celebration through diverse and dynamic programs that overlap and blend into one another, augmented and emphasized by floods of colour, prompting informal interactions between community members. This is done in consideration of the site's connection with environmental and ecological systems and how this enhances and engages with acts of celebration."

Website

Instructor: Sam Dufaux
Studio Coordinator: Sam Dufaux