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

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

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

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

Register

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Friday, December 6 to Thursday, December 19
Daniels Building
1 Spadina Crescent

Whether you're a future student, an alum or a member of the public with an interest in architecture, forestry, landscape architecture or urban design—you're invited to join the Daniels Faculty for Fall 2024 Reviews. Throughout December, students from across our graduate and undergraduate programs will present final projects to their instructors and guest critics from academia and the professional community. 

All reviews will take place in the Daniels Building at 1 Spadina Crescent from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. (unless otherwise stated). Follow @uoftdaniels on social media and join the conversation using the hashtags #danielsreviews and #danielsreviews24. 

Please note that times and dates are subject to change. 

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

Friday, December 6 | Undergraduate  

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

Monday, December 9 | Undergraduate 

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

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

Tuesday, December 10 | Graduate and Undergraduate 

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

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

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

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

Wednesday, December 11 | Graduate 

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

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

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

Thursday, December 12 | Graduate  

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

Friday, December 13 | Graduate 

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

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

Monday, December 16 | Undergraduate 

Undergraduate Thesis 

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

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

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

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

Tuesday, December 17 | Undergraduate 

Undergraduate Thesis 

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

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

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

Wednesday, December 18 | Graduate 

Fall 2024 Option Studios 
ARC3015/LAN3016/URD2013 

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thursday, December 19 | Graduate 

Fall 2024 Option Studios 
ARC3015/LAN3016 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“The most valuable tool in addressing the climate crisis is collaboration,” says Matt Arnott, reflecting on his time as a 2024 Holcim Foundation Fellow. 

Now a third-year Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA) student, Arnott traveled to New York City this past August to participate in the inaugural Holcim Foundation Fellowship in North America. Focused on the theme “Decarbonization at Scale,” the competitive two-week program brought together participants from architecture, engineering, urban planning and landscape architecture to tackle pressing sustainability challenges.  

Read on to learn more about his experience creating connections, designing beyond neutrality, and how he plans to incorporate this knowledge into his final year of the MLA program.

How did you first learn about the inaugural Holcim Foundation Fellowship? What inspired you to apply? 

I found the fellowship through an Instagram story. I felt the theme was of great importance. As the pressures of the climate crisis continue to compound, I feel the role of the designer must adapt, placing the socioecological impacts of our work at the fore. 

Tell us a bit more about your experience over the summer.

The fellowship was incredibly enriching. By engaging with workshops, lectures and site visits, we were exposed to the numerous angles that you can frame sustainability. Some of my highlights include a trip to the Parsons Healthy Material Lab where we explored ecologically and health-conscious alternatives to traditional building materials; a visit to the future site of the New York Climate Exchange led by representatives from SOM who emphasized the role of landscape in sustainable design; a salvage material reuse workshop facilitated by ARUP; and examining socially responsible approaches to sustainability at Henning Larsen. 

The Fellowship’s central theme was “Decarbonization at Scale.” How has it impacted your perception of sustainability in the built environment? 

I feel that as designers we have the unique opportunity to shape how we care for and engage with our surrounding environments. Sustainability has always been something near and dear to my heart, however, the ways that we can engage with sustainable design have always felt vague to me. The fellowship offered an opportunity to bridge this divide, giving firsthand and tangible insight into the most current approaches to tackle the layered challenge(s) of climate resiliency. 

In speaking with professionals navigating the complex world of sustainability within the (L)AEC industry, I could develop an actionable tool kit for sustainable design. I was encouraged to challenge the unwavering industry standard, framing the design process as an opportunity to be ecologically beneficial—not just neutral. Most importantly, the fellowship made clear that no one person alone can tackle the issue of sustainability—the most valuable tool in addressing the climate crisis is collaboration. 

How do you plan to incorporate what you learned into your future projects? 

During the fellowship, we were asked to explore themes of decarbonization as they relate to our individual research interests. In preparation for my thesis this coming year, I had the opportunity to study forestry management systems as they relate to the increasing threat of wildfires with Professor Robert Wright. During the fellowship, I was exposed to the industry of carbon dioxide removal (thanks to Professor David Benjamin of Columbia GSAAP). The industry seemed aligned with my previous research and I was curious about what potential synergies existed. 

As we developed our research project throughout the course of the fellowship, I was given the time, space, and support to flesh these ideas out further. (If you’re interested, snippets from all of the fellows’ research projects can be found here.) Moving forward, I hope to integrate the work from the fellowship into potential design strategies for my thesis! 

Arnott's fellowship research project (images above) looked at the scalable potentials of biochar. Here, it was argued that through engaging with both short- and long-term interventions, biochar appears as a key tool in the pursuit of decarbonization and an even more vital agent in the process of carbon dioxide removal. By leveraging instances of oversight in larger supply chains and the remnant materials found following wildfires, adaptable land-based solutions can be created bringing the industry closer to its goals of net zero. 

What advice would you give to future students considering applying for this fellowship or similar opportunities? 

Apply! Apply! Apply! The people you’ll meet along the way will become valuable connections and friends. Walk into each experience with open eyes and ears, allow conversations with those outside of your field to highlight gaps in your knowledge, and be open to change! 

Welcome to the start of the 2024-2025 academic year! Whether you’re a returning student at Daniels or this term is your first, I hope that your time at the Faculty is a happy and productive one. Our school is a special place at the University of Toronto and within the city of Toronto, and we want you to reap as much from your experience here as possible.

Over the next few weeks and months, I’ll look forward to connecting with as many of you as I can. If you have any questions or concerns now or throughout the coming year, please reach out to either the Office of the Dean (daniels-dean@daniels.utoronto.ca) or the Office of the Registrar and Student Services (registrar@daniels.utoronto.ca) at any time. 

This year as in previous ones, your coursework will be complemented by an exciting roster of extracurricular offerings. Launching this month, our Fall 2024 Public Program series includes lectures and presentations by some of the leading designers and thinkers in their fields. 

Among them this term are Chris T Cornelius of Wisconsin-based studio:indigenous (September 26), multidisciplinary artist Pio Abad (November 4) and Canadian architect Omar Gandhi (November 21). The series will kick off next week, on September 12, with a lecture by this year’s holders of the Frank O. Gehry International Visiting Chair in Architectural Design: Jing Liu and Florian Idenburg of New York practice SO-IL. 

In addition, look out for the staging of two new exhibitions at 1 Spadina this term—Urban Domesticity (opening September 12 in the Larry Wayne Richards Gallery on the ground floor of the Daniels Building) and Shaping Atmospheres (in the lower-level Architecture and Design Gallery starting October 2)—as well as a range of year-round activities planned around the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Black History Month and other noteworthy dates. 

Your schoolwork, of course, will keep you very busy, but I urge you to attend and to take in as many of these inspiring and illuminating events as you can. The Public Program at Daniels is a valuable resource available to our entire community and we hope that you’ll take advantage of it to the fullest. 

Have a great first semester!

Robert Levit (he/him)
Acting Dean
John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design

The John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at the University of Toronto is excited to present its Fall 2024 Public Program. 

Through a curated series of lectures, exhibitions, book talks, discussions, and symposia, this semester’s program raises questions and delves into contemporary issues facing the built and natural environment. From housing typologies and modern legacies to Indigenous storytelling and the intersection of climate science, geopolitics, and artistic perspectives, we explore a diverse range of topics aimed at fostering dialogue and exchange across our disciplines. 

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

Register

September 12, 6:30 p.m. 
Gehry Chair Lecture: Urban Domesticity 
Featuring Jing Liu and Florian Idenburg (SO–IL) 

September 12-October 25 
Exhibition: Urban Domesticity 
Larry Wayne Richards Gallery 

September 26, 6:30 p.m.
Future Ancestor 
Featuring Chris T Cornelius (Oneida) (University of New Mexico; studio:indigenous) 

October 17, 6:30 p.m. 
Architecture of Health: The Annual Zeidler-Evans Lecture
Designing for Older Persons in a Transforming World 
Featuring Dr. Diana Anderson, Molly Chan (NSDA Architects) and Stephen Verderber (Daniels Faculty, University of Toronto) 

October 18, 12:30 p.m.
Radio-Activities: Architecture and Broadcasting 
Featuring Alfredo Thiermann (EPFL) 

October 24, 6:30 p.m.
George Baird Lecture
Housing_Medium Please! 
Featuring Elizabeth Whittaker (Graduate School of Design, Harvard University; MERGE Architects)  

November 4, 6:30 p.m.
MVS Proseminar Artist Talk 
Featuring Pio Abad 

November 7-8 
Shaping Atmospheres  
Symposium organized by Ala Roushan (OCAD University) and Charles Stankievech (Daniels Faculty, University of Toronto) with support from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) 

November 7, 6:30 p.m.
Symposium Keynote: Shaping Atmospheres
Featuring Holly Jean Buck (University at Buffalo) and David Keith (University of Chicago) 

October 2-December 21 
Exhibition: Shaping Atmospheres 
Architecture + Design Gallery 

November 21, 6:30 p.m.
Where the Wild Things Are 
Featuring Omar Gandhi (Omar Gandhi Architects) 

November 22-23 
Preservation? Modernist Heritage and Modern Toronto 
Symposium organized by Aziza Chaouni and Robert Levit (Daniels Faculty, University of Toronto) 

November 22, 6:30 p.m. 
Preservation? Modernist Heritage and Modern Toronto 
Keynote Presentations and Discussion

For Fernanda de Carvalho Nunes, an architect and urban planner who recently completed the Master of Landscape Architecture program at the Daniels Faculty, city building today falls short unless it also encompasses sustainability, resilience and inclusivity. 

The new alumna’s education and designs, consequently, focus as much on fostering social justice and ecological balance as they do on planning problems. 

Her MLA thesis project—which was recognized with the Faculty’s John E. (Jack) Irving Prize, established by the Isles Foundation to support thesis projects that achieve integration between the fields of landscape architecture and ecology—addresses the preservation and expansion of climate-resilient mangroves in Florianópolis, Brazil, an island city grappling with, as de Carvalho Nunes puts it, “the tension between development and environmental conservation.”

In this struggle, she has written, “mangroves [in Brazil] often fall victim to private interests,” despite “their immense cultural and ecological value.”

This trend, she points out, “mirrors a global decline; between 1990 and 2020, mangrove areas shrank by 1.04 million hectares.”

By advocating for a paradigm shift—i.e., the integration of ecological preservation into urban planning as a rule—de Carvalho Nunes (pictured below) prioritizes the long-term health of natural landscapes over profit-driven development, going beyond the conservation of mangroves to create a blueprint for sustainable urbanization that can be replicated in other regions facing similar challenges. 

The strategic interventions she proposes, such as stormwater management and cultural preservation, aim to maximize ecological potential while fostering a harmonious relationship between urbanization and the natural environment.

Her work is also a testament to what can be achieved when passionate individuals are supported by those who have faith in their potential. 

“I believe that progress signifies the continuous journey toward a more just world,” de Carvalho Nunes says.

“For me, that means embarking on a career shaping inclusive urban environments that prioritize social equity and environmental stewardship.”  

Banner image: Recent Master of Landscape Architecture graduate Fernanda de Carvalho Nunes’s research into mangrove expansion in Brazil focuses on a specific infill site spontaneously colonized by mangrove species in the city of Florianópolis.

Over three days in late 2022, the Daniels Faculty’s  Centre for Landscape Research, led by Associate Professor Fadi Masoud, hosted the first post-pandemic gathering of the Great Lakes Higher Education Consortium, an academic action group dedicated to fostering a more resilient, climate-ready Great Lakes Basin through the study and promotion of “integrative blue-green infrastructure.”

The Consortium had been co-founded in 2020 by the Council of the Great Lakes Region (CGLR), the University of Toronto and the University of Illinois System. A year later, four other major universities joined the group, which aims to address the region’s most pressing environmental challenges by encouraging regular and impactful collaborations among academics, industry and governments.

On the heels of the 2022 conference, the Consortium released a summary report entitled REIMAGINING WATER II: The Future of Blue-Green Infrastructure in the Great Lakes Basin. The group has also launched a website featuring an interactive map of Great Lakes cities and case studies associated with them.

Together the two resources offer practitioners and policy makers “a clear path” toward developing the kind of region-specific planning and design initiatives that will become increasingly essential as jurisdictions across the Great Lakes grapple with climate-related issues such as the flooding (pictured above and below) that caused an estimated $1 billion in damage this month in Toronto.

“Landscape architects have been at the forefront of designing integrated blue-green systems,” says Masoud. “We work with terrain, water (blue) and vegetation (green) to shape the public realm and urban infrastructure as a foundational disciplinary premise. 

“Climate shocks and stresses, such as urban flooding and extreme heat, remind cities worldwide of the need to integrate dynamic blue-green systems as critical landscape infrastructures. These infrastructures will increase cities' capacity to adapt to climate change. The Great Lakes warrant their unique set of landscape-based urban design standards, as each region’s physiographical conditions and pressures vary.”

The question of the Great Lakes Basin as a unique environment is at the core of the Reimagining Water project and of the RWII report, which cites “the mismatch between policy and technical guidelines for green/blue infrastructure developed on the East and West Coast [of North America] and the specific conditions of the Great Lakes.”

“This disconnect in technical terms,” it continues, “is complemented by a cultural disconnection. Progressive practices in green/blue infrastructure design are suspect here if they haven’t been developed or proven here.”

The 2022 conference, which Masoud co-organized with James Wasley of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, brought 45 participants from academia, professional disciplines, NGOs and government to the Daniels Faculty.

Among the topics they discussed were a vision for the Great Lakes Basin as an ecological unit, the promise of common project types in terms of fostering resilience and the connection between social and climate justice.

All of its findings and more are presented in the report. The work of the Consortium is ongoing and further conferences are planned.

Images of Don River flooding in Toronto by Paul Faggion

A design team headed by JA Architecture Studio, the practice co-led by Assistant Professor Behnaz Assadi and alumnus and former lecturer Nima Javidi, has been selected by the Ontario Association of Architects (OAA) to transform the grounds of its Toronto headquarters into “a more sustainable, accessible, artful and welcoming space.”

Called The Grounding Meadow, the winning design (pictured in slideshow above) was chosen anonymously by a five-person jury.

The design team, which also includes landscape architect and sessional lecturer Todd Douglas of Janet Rosenberg & Studio and civil engineer Kayam Ramsewak of MTE Consultants, receives a $20,000 prize and the job of refashioning the OAA property, which is located at 111 Moatfield Drive near the Don River. 

Praised for its “embrace of natural systems that allow the landscape to evolve as a biodiverse ecosystem with minimal intervention, as well as its thoughtful integration of public art and innovative stormwater-management strategies,” the winning proposal addresses the site both ecologically and culturally.

“It allows water to freely run underneath the wild meadow, bringing a more natural ecology to the site and welcoming stormwater to support and sustain the habitat,” says the OAA. “The project also pays homage to Indigenous communities by including plants of cultural significance, including a diversity of perennials and grasses that will also attract pollinators, wildlife and birds.”

“Our project,” explains Javidi, “tries to address the two core themes of the competition—climate change and Reconciliation—through one legible protagonist: the ground. We aimed to translate our awareness of the importance of land, its history and ecology into a spatial and experiential one.”

Assistant Professor Assadi adds: “By recalibrating the contours of the site, we converged the flow of water, people and plants into an ecological threshold where the overlay between the act of entering, the collection of water and the changing landscape will make the visitors physically aware of the interrelationship between architecture, access and ecology—an awareness long embedded into the Indigenous way of coexistence with nature.”

Launched in March, the OAA’s Landscape Design Competition challenged competitors to reimagine the terrain of the OAA headquarters as a symbol of design innovation, environmental sustainability and active community involvement, “creating an inviting space that respected environmental principles and celebrated the natural beauty of the Don River ravine.”

Among the eligibility requirements was that each team include a full member of the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects (OALA) and a civil engineer. Membership in the OAA was not a requirement, although Javidi is an OAA architect.

In addition to the jury, a technical advisory team comprising a landscape architect, a civil engineer and a cost consultant, as well as senior OAA staff and members of its Building Committee, offered feedback on all submissions. The 19 interdisciplinary teams that submitted proposals were kept confidential from the jury and OAA.

For a full list of participating teams, visit the OAA website. Construction on the exterior overhaul is anticipated to begin in the spring of 2025. 

In addition to securing the OAA redesign, JA Architecture has also received an Honourable Mention in the international competition to design the Museum of History and the Future in Finland's oldest city, Turku.

Called Dot, Dot, Dot, Dot, JA’s design for the facility, on the tip of the Turku Peninsula, comprised a linear cluster of two-and-a-half-storey architectural volumes (one of which is shown below) that would maximize water views but be open at ground level to the city.

More than 400 proposals from around the world were accepted for evaluation.

The winning design, announced at Turku Castle on June 17, was submitted by Finnish firm Sigge Architects Ltd.

Jason Nguyen, Assistant Professor in the history and theory of architecture, is the 2024 beneficiary of the Mayflower Research Fund, the research endowment established by a generous donor in 2018 to encourage and stimulate study in the fields of architecture, landscape architecture and urban design, allowing for collaboration with other areas of the University where appropriate.

Nguyen’s awarded research project, “Crafting Contracts: Law and the Architecture of Commemoration in Old Regime France,” looks at building practice and the regulatory bodies that structured it during the 17th and early 18th centuries in France. The project considers how reforms in contract and cost management contributed to a reframing of the architect as a civil and commercial figure at the dawn of the modern age.

Beyond its scholarly impact, the research is significant because it provides an historical instance in which debates on labour and project financing helped establish the scientific and institutional grounds on which the profession of architecture first came and continues to be practiced.

“The award means quite a lot, and is a testament to the work that I have been undertaking since my doctoral dissertation,” says Nguyen. “[The award] will help advance the project through one of the last stages of research, which considers how the streamlining of contract documentation abetted the professionalization of the architectural trade during a period of momentous social and intellectual change.”

In particular, this facet of the project examines how the architect and theorist Pierre Bullet (1639-1716) streamlined the drafting, notarizing and filing of legal contracts into professional architectural practice, taking a lawsuit that he and sculptor Philippe Magnier filed in November 1698 against the estate of Jean Coiffier de Ruzé, the Abbot of Effiat, as a starting point.

In that injunction, Bullet and Magnier sought compensation for drawings and models they had completed for the abbot, who had hired the pair to design and build a sumptuously decorated family mausoleum in Paris. When the abbot died unexpectedly in October 1698, he left a mountain of unpaid bills and, ultimately, insufficient direction and funding to see the mausoleum finished. The French court’s eventual decision, which privileged the architect’s contract, stands as a legal precedent in the professionalization of architectural practice.

Remarkably, Bullet had warned of labour and fee disputes in his treatise Architecture pratique (1691). The book included sample contracts as guides for architects to measure decoration and draft expedient legal documents. This move helped to formalize the architect’s civil function as a coordinator of labour and arbiter of taste in an increasingly commercial society. That Bullet’s study unfolded alongside contemporaneous theorizations of the social contract by the philosopher John Locke and habits and customs by the jurist Montesquieu testifies to the period’s broader concerns for legal order and the structures of modern governance.

“Contemporary conversations in Canada about labour rights and the politics of project financing and development have parallels in this formative moment in architectural history,” says Nguyen, who plans to apply his Mayflower funding to research-related travel, publishing, and student training.

“The training will include primary and secondary source documentation, mapping and digital reconstruction of since-lost buildings,” he says.

Nguyen’s broader project, of which this research is a part, is titled Bodies of Expertise: Architecture, Labour, and Law in Old Regime France. 

“Ultimately,” he says, “Bodies of Expertise will argue that the effort to establish a legal category of expertise, rooted in the labour and law of building practice, directly contributed to the professionalization of architectural practice as well as the crystallization of public and commercial culture at the dawn of the modern age.”

Aspects of this research have to date been published in a variety of journals, including Grey Room, Livraisons d’histoire de l’architecture and Oxford Art Journal.

Drawing image: An anonymous drawing, likely after Pierre Bullet, depicts the Mausoleum for Antoine Coiffier de Ruzé, marquis d’Effiat, at the convent of the Filles de la Croix in Paris (c. 1698). The drawing is housed in the Nationalmuseum Stockholm in Sweden.