Photo by Lea Keller courtesy of NCCR Digital Fabrication

University of Toronto MArch alumnus Nicholas Hoban is a computational designer, roboticist, fabricator and educator. He works at the intersection of computational design, robotics, construction and simulation in pedagogy, research and practice. In addition to being a lecturer, he is the director of applied technologies at Daniels, where he oversees one of the country's most advanced fabrication environments: a high-bay robotic cell at the heart of the Daniels Building. 

The foundation for it, he says, was laid in Zurich. Hoban was part of the inaugural cohort to graduate with a master of advanced studies (ETH) in architecture and digital fabrication.

In the above interview, Hoban talks about his very first steps in the MAS ETH DFAB and remembers how, as a student, he and his colleagues had to define their own working parameters, spec their own equipment and build out a functional robotic cell from the ground up. 

"That knowledge wouldn't have been afforded to us if I had just worked on a pre-set up robot," he says, noting that when the time came to build the Daniels lab, he already knew exactly what to do.

Today, his research focuses on timber, including lightweight active timber structures and reciprocal timber shells. Hoban believes robotics and computational design are necessary levers to modernize the North American construction industry and grow collaboration between academia and industry. 

The National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) Digital Fabrication is Switzerland’s initiative to lead the development and integration of digital technologies within the fields of architecture and construction. Initiated at ETH Zurich, dfab.ch is partnered with EPFL Lausanne, the Hochschule für Technik Rapperswil, the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, the Bern University of Applied Sciences, Università della Svizzera italiana (USI) and Empa.

With files from dfab.ch – Alumnus Nicholas Hoban: How Digital Fabrication Found Its Way To Canada

John Ecker, Chair, Board of Directors, Ontario Heritage Trust, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Amory Ngan, City of Mississauga, forestry manager, and the Honourable Edith Dumont, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario at the April 17 Ontario Heritage Trust awards ceremony (photo by Dahlia Katz courtesy of the Ontario Heritage Trust).

City of Mississauga, forestry manager, Amory Ngan, an assistant professor, teaching stream, in the Institute of Forestry and Conservation at U of T’s John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, leads the team being recognized with the Lieutenant Governor’s Ontario Heritage Award for Excellence in Conservation.

The Ontario Heritage Trust works to preserve and celebrate Ontario’s cultural and natural heritage and keep it and meaningful for future generations. The Lieutenant Governor’s Ontario Heritage Awards recognize volunteers, professionals and organizations for their heritage contributions.

The City of Mississauga is Ontario’s first municipality to use goat grazing for invasive plant species management. In 2025, the project "Prescribed Grazing for Invasive Plant Control, Mississauga," was expanded to cover five wetlands, woodlands and parks throughout the city. The approach combines traditional grazing with modern monitoring to tackle invasive plant species, reducing herbicide use, preventing seed spread while reaching difficult terrain.

“This recognition celebrates innovative work to protect Ontario’s natural heritage,” says John Caspersen, director of forestry programs at the Daniels faculty. “It’s inspiring to see Amory and the City of Mississauga forestry team honoured, and the impact of their work recognized across Ontario.”

Ngan accepted the award on behalf of the City of Mississauga’s forestry division at the Lieutenant Governor’s Ontario Heritage Awards on April 17.

Ontario's regulator of professional foresters (RPF), the Ontario Professional Foresters Association, features an article by master of forest conservation graduate Stevie Rae Luzzi (MFC 2024) in the latest issue of The Professional Forester.

Sharing our roots: journeys to becoming a professional forester introduces some of Ontario’s new registered and associate professional foresters by sharing the personal stories behind their decision to join the profession and their experience as a professional forester so far. It highlights the wide range of backgrounds and career paths that strengthen forestry in Ontario and the value this diversity brings to the profession.

In another story, RPF and alumnus Fred Pinto (BScF 1978) and John Pineau, content and production coordinator for The Ontario Woodlander magazine, trace the origins of the U of T field camp to the Temagami forestry protests of the early 1990s.

Read the latest issue of The Professional Forester (PDF)

Photo at Sugarstone Farm courtesy of John Pineau

Organized in collaboration with the Foolhardy’s Red House Restoration Project and the Town of Perth, the Tay Basin Landscape Ideas Competition invited creative proposals for the redevelopment of the Tay Basin site as a flexible and welcoming public square. Open to all Daniels students, the competition was also integrated into LAN3200: Landscape Architecture Competitions, a graduate seminar in the Master of Landscape Architecture program, taught by Professor Alissa North.

On Friday, March 27 the competition jury shared their thoughts on the student work, highlighting what they found most compelling in the submissions. Selected projects will move on to a public exhibition in Perth later this spring:

First Place           

TAY ISLAND SQUARE (#012)
By third-year master of landscape architecture (MLA) students Claire Leverton and Benjamin Dunn (pictured above)

Second Place     

AVENUE OF THE ARCHIVES (#007)
Second-year MLA student Katherine Gorelik (pictured above)

Third Place            

WATER AS COMMON GROUND (#003)
Third-year master of architecture (MArch) students Zhongzhu Li and Yunle Chen (pictured above)

Honourable mentions

PERTHITE PLAZA (#010)
Third-year MLA students Jaeyong Ahn and Suet Wing Lo

TAY BASIN LANDSCAPE DESIGN (#006)
Third-year bachelor of arts, architectural studies (BAAS) undergraduate Valeriia Puchnina

Submissions pictured above 

The competition thanks the jury members: 

— Robert Allsopp, Fellow of the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (CSLA) and Partner Emeritus DTAH

— Alex Bozikovic, Architecture Critic, The Globe and Mail, Lecturer and Visiting Critic at the Daniels Faculty

— Victoria Gibb-Carsley, Executive Director, Perth and District Community Foundation 

— Noah Greer, Manager of Construction and Development Support, Town of Perth

— David Leinster, Principal, Landscape Architecture, The Planning Partnership  

— Cathy McNally, Director of Community Services, Town of Perth

— Adam Smith (Jury Chair and Competition Co-Coordinator), Architect, RAW Designs Inc.

— Gary Waterfield, Perth Councillor

The QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026 evaluates institutions across 55 specific subjects, grouped into five broad fields, based on academic and employer reputation, bibliometrics and international collaborations 

The University of Toronto has been ranked first in Canada and among the top 17 universities globally in all five broad subject fields tracked by the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026.

Published by London-based Quacquarelli Symonds, the annual rankings assess institutions across 55 specific subjects grouped into five broad fields based on academic and employer reputation, bibliometrics and international collaborations.

U of T ranked among the top 17 in every broad field: life sciences and medicine (12th), arts and humanities (14th), social sciences and management (15th), natural sciences (16th) and engineering and technology (17th).

It also landed in the top 10 globally in six specific subjects – nursing (fourth), sports-related subjects (sixth), psychology (eighth), education and training (10th), English language and literature (10th) and philosophy (10th).  

“These results reflect something we’re especially proud of at the University of Toronto – our world-leading scholarship across an incredibly wide range of disciplines,” said U of T President Melanie Woodin. “This breadth of excellence is testament to the outstanding talent and dedication of our faculty, students and librarians across the humanities, social sciences, sciences and professions.”

This year's rankings evaluated more than 1,900 institutions using five indicators: surveys of academics; surveys of employers; citations per paper; research productivity and impact; and scope of international research collaborations.

U of T held or improved its position in 30 subjects compared to last year. Notable gains included: psychology (up five spots to eighth); biological sciences (up six spots to 16th); communication and media studies (up eight spots to 21st); and politics and international studies (up 12 spots to 22nd).

U of T was one of just seven universities to rank among the top 25 in 33 specific subjects. The others were: the University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, Harvard University, University of California, Berkeley, Stanford University and the National University of Singapore.

It also ranked in the top 50 in 48 specific subjects – more than any other university in the world.

Overall, U of T continues to be ranked among the top 30 universities globally across the five most closely watched international rankings: QS World University Rankings, U.S. News & World Report’s Best Global Universities, Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings, ShanghaiRanking Consultancy’s Academic Ranking of World Universities and National Taiwan University World University Rankings.

Story by Adina Bresge republished from U of T News

Photo of the Eberhard Zeidler Library at the Daniels Faculty by Alice Xue Photography

Photo by Alice Xue Photography

The University of Toronto ranked first in Canada – and among the top 30 universities worldwide – in all 11 major subject areas tracked in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings by Subject 2026.

U of T was one of just six institutions in the world – and the only Canadian university – to achieve a top 30 spot in all of Times Higher Education’s broad subject areas, which range from arts and humanities to engineering and life sciences. The others were the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Cambridge, Harvard University, Stanford University and the University of California, Los Angeles.

The rankings, which evaluate both teaching and research, placed U of T ninth in the world in medical and health – the same spot in the top 10 it has held for the past three years. 

“The University of Toronto’s consistently strong performance in these rankings reflects the outstanding contributions of our faculty, librarians, students and staff,” said U of T President Melanie Woodin.

“It is a testament to their dedication, creativity and excellence across an incredibly broad range of disciplines.

Read the full story at U of T News

Luka Stoikos, who competed in both football and track and field as a member of U of T’s Varsity Blues, took his first actual run down a bobsleigh track in October (photo by Barry McCluskey) 

Eight months ago, Luka Stoikos was chasing a professional football career. Now, the University of Toronto architecture student is pushing for the podium at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games as a member of Team Canada's bobsleigh team.  

“These last eight months feel pretty surreal,” says Stoikos. “But ultimately, I'm just filled with a great sense of gratitude for how the story unfolded.” 

For the former Varsity Blues football and track and field student-athlete, the road from Toronto to Milan was far from carefully mapped out – or even planned. 

He had been preparing for the Canadian Football League’s three-day scouting event, known as the CFL Combine, when he decided to attend a similar event for potential Olympic athletes called RBC Training Ground.  

“RBC Training Ground came to U of T and I was like, I've already trained for the combine, I might as well just do another one,” says Stoikos, who is pursuing his bachelor’s degree in architectural studies at the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design. 

He connected with Bobsleigh Canada at the event and was invited to a camp – but football was still the focus. Stoikos had spent years training – early mornings in the weight room, extra sprint work, film sessions, intense combine prep – and had earned a reputation at U of T for being a powerful, explosive athlete. He was the kind of player who could break tackles, win races downfield and grind through any workout thrown his way. 

“I was like, 'Listen, I'm still trying to get drafted to the CFL here. If for whatever reason that doesn't work out, I'll give you a call.’” 

Then, after being selected by the BC Lions in the 2025 CFL draft in April, Stoikos made it nearly all the way through training camp but was cut the day before the Lions’ second preseason game.  

For many athletes, that moment would have marked the end of a dream. For Stoikos, it quietly opened a new door. 

“The night I got cut, the first phone call I made was to my parents,” he recalls. “The second one I made was to my contact at Bobsleigh Canada. I said, 'Hey, when do I start?’” 

His first bobsleigh experience in Calgary was anything but glamorous, however. 

“It was my first time touching a sled,” says Stoikos. “It wasn't even necessarily a real bobsled, just the frame sled that we use for training.”  

Inside the Ice House, an indoor training facility, athletes pushed – sprint, drive, reset, repeat – and Stoikos’s years of Varsity Blues training were immediately apparent. The same lower-body power that fuelled his football and track and field career quickly translated to the most critical part of a bobsleigh race: the start. 

“I'd touched the sled less than 10 times, pushed a pretty respectable time in the Ice House, and they seemed pretty impressed,” Stoikos recalls. 

His first run down a bobsleigh track in October was eye-opening. 

“They brought us to Whistler to actually go down the track for the first time,” he says, likening the experience “to being in a bathtub and then being put into the clothes dryer and then going down a mountain.” 

Following a training camp in Whistler, coaches pulled him aside with the big news: he would be going to the Bobsleigh World Cup.

“That was the most emotional part for me because I realized this Olympics thing might not be so crazy after all.” 

By November, Stoikos was racing internationally against the best athletes in the world. When the season ended, the team returned to Calgary to find out whether they would be Olympics-bound. 

The coaches called him into the office and asked him how he thought his first year had gone. 

“I told them I thought it was pretty good. I love the sport, obviously, and I think I've got a lot to learn still.”

Then came the words that changed everything. 

“They said, 'Congratulations, you're going to the Olympics.' It was … pretty sweet,” Stoikos says. 

His eight-month journey from Bobsleigh novice to Olympian still doesn't feel real. 

“It was a lot of just betting on myself,” he says, crediting the many people who helped shape him at U of T, including strength and conditioning coaches Christopher Johnson and Seamus Egan-Elliott, track and field coaches Carl Georgevski, Rostam Turner and Yolanda Sternberg and his many football coaches. “I made a big decision, pursuing a sport that I had never actually done. I'm just very, very grateful it all worked out.”

As the grandson of Macedonian and Italian immigrants, Stoikos says the opportunity to represent Canada at Milano Cortina 2026 is deeply personal. 

“Canada gave my family so much when they moved here,” he says. “For me to be able to give back and represent that country is honestly a blessing.” 

Story by Jill Clark (varsityblues.ca) republished from U of T News

Anna Renken, a PhD candidate at the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, with a collaborative specialization in environmental studies, has been recognized by the Graham Foundation with the 2025 Carter Manny Research Award. 

Founded in 1956, the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts fosters the development and exchange of diverse and challenging ideas about architecture and its role in the arts, culture, and society. The award supports emerging scholars completing exceptional doctoral dissertations in this area.  

Renken’s doctoral thesis explores how North American architect-led laboratories advanced ecological design through engagement with science and technology from the 1970s to 1990s. Her research seeks to contribute to new histories of ecological design. Renken also received the Beatrice and Arthur Minden Graduate Research Fellowship from U of T’s School of the Environment. 

“Congratulations to Anna for this prestigious recognition of her research,” said Professor Claire Zimmerman, director of the PhD program at the Daniels Faculty. “The Carter Manny is the most celebrated doctoral award in our field. Anna’s work exemplifies the bold, interdisciplinary inquiries our graduate students are undertaking.”

Renken’s doctoral supervisor is Associate Professor Mary Louise Lobsinger and interdisciplinary committee members include James Graham, an assistant professor at the California College of the Arts, Assistant Professor Jason Nguyen, Avery Slater, an associate professor in the Department of English & Drama at the University of Toronto Mississauga and a research lead at U of T’s Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society, and Zimmerman. 

Scaffold* Journal is accepting submissions for its third iteration, Re:view. This volume shifts its focus to a different architectural tradition: the review. 

As the Call highlights, the ‘re-’ of ‘review’ implies the action of looking again. In the first stage, contributors are asked to engage with the notions of repairing, recalling, reclaiming, recalculating, and reimagining as a means to explore a contemporary issue in their respective disciplines. The second stage calls contributors to review the work of another contributor, fostering conversation and manipulating the processes, hierarchies, and dialectics that have historically structured the review.

The submission period runs from November 28th, 2025 to January 30th, 2026. The journal encourages submissions from all areas of study, levels of scholarship, and institutions. To submit, visit scaffoldjournal.com.

The Autumn 2025 issue of U of T Magazine (Big Country, Big Ideas: Unapologetically bold solutions for a better Canada) features the award-winning building designed by Lateral Office, co-led by project team members, Professor Mason White with Lola Sheppard and alumnus Kearon Roy Taylor (MArch 2018). 

The Inuusirvik Community Wellness Hub, located in downtown Iqaluit, received a 2025 AZ Award of merit, for buildings under 1,000SqM.

Professor White has long focused his architectural research on the North—most recently recognized through numerous awards, such as: AZ Award 2025, 2024, Canadian Architect Award of Merit 2023, and the Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction, Silver Award 2021. 

In the interview with editor Scott Anderson, Mason said: The Inuusirvik hub’s creation owes much to its client, the Qaujigiartiit Health Research Centre, founded and led by [Dalla Lana School of Public Health graduate] Gwen Healy Akearok (PhD 2015). “This project would not exist without her innovative vision for community health," said Mason.

Read more in U of T Magazine

All photography ©2024 Andrew Latreille. All rights reserved.'

Project Credits: Owner – Qaujigiartiit Health Research Centre, Architect – Lateral Office and Verne Reimer Architecture, Engineering – WSP Canada, Interiors – Lateral Office, Landscape – Lateral Office, Builder – NCCD