The Daniels Building at One Spadina is now bustling with hundreds of architecture, art, landscape architecture, and urban design students, but many may be unaware that the building's contemporary addition was constructed with some help from an unusual building material: recycled kayaks. The repurposed kayaks make up the “bubbles” in One Spadina's bubbledeck floors — an innovative structural detail that incorporates spherical voids (i.e. bubbles) into what would otherwise be a solid concrete slab.

A traditional concrete floor slab is made up of concrete poured into a solid form with steel reinforcements (called rebar) laid throughout. The thickness can vary depending on the type of occupancy, the span in between beams, and a variety of other factors. However, because of the nature of forces moving through a floor, it is actually unnecessary for it to be solid concrete.

Building a solid concrete floor is a simple and well-known practice, but it can result in an excessively heavy floor. As Tom Beresford, Project Manager at NADAAA explains on the firm's blog, introducing spherical voids (i.e. "bubbles") reduces the concrete’s weight while maintaining its structural integrity, which allows the floor slab to achieve longer spans. The bubbledeck slab performs like several “I-beams” stitched together: the concrete mass is concentrated at top and bottom of the section, where compressive and tensile bending stresses are greatest and where they are most needed.

Writes Beresford, "Voided slab’s longer, beam-less spans, combined with its smooth ceiling finish, allowed the [One Spadina] design team to transform spaces that would have otherwise been cluttered with concrete beams and drop panels into clean architectural volumes."

Bubbledeck systems allow designers and builders to produce and use less concrete and more recycled materials, lowering energy consumption and carbon emissions.

But why kayaks?

When we told visitors during Doors Open in May about the bubble deck beneath their feet, they were curious: Why were old plastic kayaks were used? Was there something special about their material? Was there a large recall in the recent past? How many kayaks are people discarding these days, anyway?  We asked Jerry Clarke-Ames at BubbleDeck North America for answers.

He explained that the bubbledecks used at One Spadina come from Metelix Products Inc, based out of Brampton, Ontario. Metelix manufactures molded products with High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) which is used to create kayaks. Occasionally, a kayak will be rejected by quality control, and this rejected kayak will be regrinded and saved to make the "bubbles."

"There is no reason to specifically use kayaks," he says. "It's a matter of coincidence."

Fun fact: One recycled kayak can produced fourty bubbles.

Visit NADAAA’s blog for a full description on the construction process and materials used in the bubbledeck slabs.

Photos by Peter MacCallum; Images courtesy of NADAAA.

Updated: March 17, 2022

In order to minimize uncertainty and disruption to students, staff, faculty and university communities, U of T will maintain COVID-19 vaccination and masking policies until at least the end of the current term.

Resources for all Daniels community members

All members of the Daniels community should familiarize themselves with the following resources before coming to campus.

Building hours (all times listed below are Eastern Time)

The Daniels Building at 1 Spadina Crescent is open during regular business hours between Monday – Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and is accessible by fob 24 hours, 7 days a week.

Office of the Registrar and Student Services

Virtual support

Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

In-person support

Monday to Friday, 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Wednesdays 10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Workshop

The workshop is open Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. The assembly room is fob accessible after-hours.

Digital Fabrication Lab

Monday to Friday, 9:30 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Eberhard Zeidler Library

Monday to Thursday, 9 a.m. – 9 p.m.
Friday, 9 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday, 12 p.m. - 5 p.m

IT Help Desk

In-person support is available Monday to Friday between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.

To receive assistance from IT staff, one must first create a ticket. Tickets are tracked to ensure your questions are answered in a timely manner, and to monitor ongoing issues so that we can continue to improve our service.

North and South Borden

The Borden Buildings are open during regular business hours Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m, and are accessible by fob 24 hours, 7 days a week.

Earth Sciences Building

The Earth Sciences Building will be open during regular business hours Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and is accessible by fob 24 hours, 7 days a week with fob access after-hours.

UTogether

UTogether is the main resource for the latest updates and FAQs from the University of Toronto: utoronto.ca/utogether.

UCheck

All members of our community who enter U of T campuses this winter must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and will be required to upload proof of vaccination via UCheck. UCheck must be completed every day, before arriving on campus.

Daniels Faculty COVID-19 FAQs

The Daniels Faculty will continue to update and add new answers to FAQs as the term progresses: Daniels Faculty COVID-19 FAQs.

Current Students

If you are a current student with an urgent need, please contact the Office of the Registrar and Student Services (ORSS): registrar@daniels.utoronto.ca.

COVID-19 Updates for Students

Resources

COVID-19 Updates for Students

Mental Health HUB – student mental health resource
NAVI – Your Mental Health Wayfinder
Good 2 Talk Student Helpline 1-866-925-5454 – professional counselling, information and referrals for mental health, addictions and well-being.
My SSP for U of T Students (support available 24/7) 1-844-451-9700 – immediate counselling support is available in 35 languages and ongoing support in 146 languages
St. George, Health and Wellness Centre

Faculty and Staff

Daniels faculty, librarians, and staff should be in conversation with their supervisor to confirm plans for winter 2022. Please reference UTogether’s Resources for faculty, librarians, and staff for answers to FAQs and the HR & Equity COVID-19 Main page.

Special Note

The Province and the University will continue to monitor the public health situation and its potential impact on Provincial and University health related policy. Changes will likely occur as the province and its municipalities adjust to new data about the virus. Under these circumstances, please be advised that changes to the delivery of courses, co-curricular opportunities, programs (including clinical programs or opportunities) and services may become necessary during the academic year. The University thanks its students, faculty and staff for their flexibility during these challenging times as we work together to maintain the standards of excellence that are the hallmark of the Daniels Faculty and the University.

Banner image: A mural by Nipissing First Nation artist Que Rock adorns the north facade of the Daniels Faculty at 1 Spadina Crescent. (Photo by: Harry Choi)

Designed by Nader Tehrani and Katie Faulkner, the Daniels Faculty’s nearly finished new home at One Spadina Crescent has been receiving accolades from both members of the public (search #OneSpadina on instagram and twitter) and the media (see Architecture Critic Alex Bozikovic’s review in the Globe and Mail).

Tehrani and Faulkner are principals at firm NADAAA. And with the completion of The Daniels Building at One Spadina, the Boston-based firm will have a total of three architecture school buildings under its belt — “a feat that no one else is known to have achieved,” reports Architectural Digest. Tehrani has also designed the buildings for the architecture school at Georgia Tech and the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne.

From Architectural Digest:

Now he is preparing for the opening of the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at the University of Toronto on a prominent site with an existing neo-Gothic building, which he incorporated into the new structure. Given that the school offers training in architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design, Tehrani made sure the building “engaged all three disciplines.” Indeed, like the other two buildings, it invites collaboration; Tehrani says that “with the withering away of architecture as a siloed practice, we need buildings that encourage interdisciplinary thinking.”

As the Dean of the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at Cooper Union in New York, Tehrani is familiar with the needs of architecture schools and can easily put himself in the place of a dean working with a designer. Close collaboration is key, he tells Architectural Digest.

At One Spadina, NADAAA collaborated with Adamson & Associates (the project’s Architect-of-record), heritage architects ERA, and landscape architects Public Work.

Visit Architectural Digest’s website to read the full article: “Nader Tehrani Is Literally Shaping the Future of Architecture.”

Photos by Nic Lehoux

A grand total of 8,213 people visited One Spadina May 27 & 28 during Doors Open Toronto. The event offered the public an early look at the Daniels Faculty’s new home as it nears completion.

The site “was one of this year's popular destinations,” reported Urban Toronto. “Photographers and urban enthusiasts were drawn to the NADAAA- and Adamson Associates-designed facility for views of its juxtaposition of restored heritage and modern design.” Heritage architects ERA were responsible for the renewal of the original building, while the firm Public Work are the project’s landscape architects.

Globe and Mail architecture critic Alex Bozikovic reviewed the nearly complete Daniels Building earlier in the month, calling it "one of the best Canadian buildings of the past decade." It is "spectacular," he says, "rich with arguments about how contemporary architecture, landscape, and urbanism can work with history and build the city of the future."

The CBC was among the visitors on May 28th, interviewing Dean Richard Sommer in the third floor Graduate Design Studio for the evening news. 

Many people who participated in the weekend event were interested in the history of the building. The original cloister, designed by the firm of Smith & Gemmel for Knox College, was constructed in 1875. During World War One, it was a military hospital where Amelia Earhart volunteered at the time.

In the 1940s, One Spadina was home to Connaught Laboratories, where insulin was produced. Sandy MacPherson (pictured above, with Linda Tu) found the office where his father worked in those days. He remembered visiting him there as a child. The space is now part of the Office of the Registrar and Student Services.

Many Daniels Faculty alumni also came by for a first look of the new building, and were welcomed in an alumni lounge set up for the event. Nazila Atarodi (MUD 2008) generously volunteered her time to meet and greet graduates of the Faculty over the weekend. 

An exhibition of graduate student work was also on display throughout the building. Produced by an exhibition team that included students Brandon Bergem, Katerina Gloushenkova, and Serafima Korovina, with Faculty Advisor Assistant Professor Jeannie Kim, the exhibition showed the breadth of creative questions and research topics our students tackle to address the many design challenges we face in our shared quest to make a better world. 

Classes at One Spadina are set to start in September. The building will officially open in the fall.

The Daniels Faculty is opening the doors to its new home at One Spadina Crescent during Doors Open Toronto, May 27 & 28. This will be the first public preview of the new Daniels Building, which is now nearing completion. All alumni, prospective students, and members of the general public are invited. Doors will be open from 10:00 - 4:00pm May 27 & 28. Please use the main east entrance, via the Russell Street crosswalk.

Visitors will take self-guided tours through the renewed heritage building and its contemporary addition, whose expansive, column-free studio space provides an unparalleled view up Spadina Avenue. Students, faculty and staff will be on hand to provide information on the history, design, and plans for the building. An exhibition of work by our graduate students in architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design will be on display throughout the building. When it officially opens in the fall, the new home of the University of Toronto's John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design will be a focal point for students, scholars, artists, and urbanists worldwide.

https://www.daniels.utoronto.ca/about/one-spadina/university-toronto-transform-iconic-toronto-landmark-new-home-john-h-danielsPhoto by Nic Lehoux

Globe and Mail architecture critic Alex Bozikovic recently reviewed the nearly complete Daniels Building, calling it "one of the best Canadian buildings of the past decade." The building is "spectacular," he says, "rich with arguments about how contemporary architecture, landscape, and urbanism can work with history and build the city of the future."

Photo by Nic Lehoux

Designed by Nader Tehrani and Katherine Faulkner, principals of the internationally acclaimed firm NADAAA — in collaboration with Architect-of-record Adamson & Associates, landscape architects Public Work, and heritage architects ERA — the revitalized One Spadina is intended to be an urban design exemplar and catalyst for the transformation of U of T’s western edge on the Spadina corridor. Once completed, One Spadina will be a showcase for the city and the University, and a world-leading venue for studying, conducting research, and advocating for architecture, landscape, and sustainable urbanization.

Learn more about the One Spadina project:

•     read our fact sheet
•     visit the Daniels Faculty’s Boundless webpage
•     view photos documenting the construction process by Peter MacCallum

Photographer Peter MacCallum has been documenting the construction of the Daniels Faculty's future home at One Spadina Crescent since the spring of 2014. Designed by NADAAA, the new Daniels Building includes a renewal of the south-facing 19th century Gothic Revival building (now complete) and stunning contemporary addition, which will house studio space, an advanced fabrication lab, and an architecture and design gallery.

Below are photos MacCallum took this past November and December. Visit the UofTDaniels Flickr page to view construction images from April 2014 to present.

(Photo, above, by Tom Ryaboi / tomryaboi.com)

In June of 2013, the University of Toronto’s John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design unveiled its plans to transform One Spadina Crescent into a focal point for education, research, and outreach — a centre where students, scholars, artists, and urbanists throughout the city and around world can convene to discuss and debate the most pressing design issues and creative challenges facing society today.

Today, with the project well underway and scheduled for completion in 2017, the Faculty hosted an event in the emerging Daniels Building to thank and celebrate the many members of Toronto’s architecture, design, development, business, and philanthropic communities who have come together to support this vision. Their gifts, totaling over $28 million to date, are a testament to the incredible promise of this project, which aims to situate architecture, landscape architecture, art, and urban design among the key disciplines to transform the way we conceive and build cities and other environments in the 21st century.

“Our donors’ generosity will have a profound impact not only on the quality of education and research at the Faculty, but also on our ability to engage communities in the Greater Toronto Area as well as a global network of partners and collaborators,” said Professor Richard Sommer, Dean of the Daniels Faculty. “Our role is to bring critical new ideas, technical knowhow and artistry to the task of imagining and – literally – building a better future. The new Daniels Building at One Spadina is a physical embodiment of that promise and possibility.”

Among the celebrated donors present at today’s event, were John H. Daniels (BArch 1950, LLD Hon. 2011) and his wife Myrna Daniels, whose historic $24 million donation, $19 million of which was earmarked for the One Spadina project, has been a catalyst for the Faculty’s recent expansion and transformation.

“The Daniels Faculty stands out among its peers in North America for its excellence in scholarship and breadth of programming,” said Professor Meric Gertler, President of the University of Toronto. “John and Myrna Daniels, and our wider community of alumni and friends, are enabling us to enhance the Faculty’s standing as a world-leading school of architecture, landscape, and design, while contributing to U of T’s growing role as a city-builder here in Toronto. It is incredibly exciting, and we are immensely grateful for their leadership, generosity, and commitment.

Eberhard and Jane Zeidler, well known throughout Toronto for effecting positive change in their own right, were among other distinguished guests. The architect of Toronto’s Eaton Centre and Ontario Place, Eberhard Zeidler and his family — which includes alumna Margie Zeidler (BArch 1987) — have left a lasting mark on the city. The couple’s generous gift to One Spadina will fund the Eberhard Zeidler Library, which will provide students, researchers, and design aficionados throughout Toronto with unrivalled collections in art, architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design.

Also recognized was Eve Lewis — who together with her late husband Paul Oberman, brought to light the important role that developers can play in heritage preservation in Toronto. Lewis joined forces with Oberman’s business partner Ron Kimel and their respective families to provide funding for the planned Paul Oberman Belvedere, an elevated terrace on the formal south-facing entrance to the original 19th century heritage building, where students and the public will gather for celebrations with a view down Spadina Avenue to the lake.

Nader Tehrani, principal of the firm NADAAA — who, with collaborator Katie Faulkner, designed the new complex at One Spadina — was also in attendance, along with Michael McClelland (BArch 1981), founding principal of ERA Architects, the project’s preservation architects, and Marc Ryan, principal and co-founder of Public Work, the project’s landscape architects.

Architecture and development firms throughout the city — including The Daniels Corporation, Stantec Architecture, KPMB Architects, Hariri Pontarini Architects, Perkins+Will, Greensoil Investments, DiamondCorp, Giannone Petricone Associates Inc. Architects, Janet Rosenberg & Studio, ERA Architects, superkül, Kohn Shnier Architects, and Shim-Sutcliffe Architects — have provided generous support for the Daniels Building at One Spadina as well. Thanks to their engagement and charitable gifts, the Daniels Faculty’s capital campaign has met 80% of its fundraising goal. The Faculty is working to raise an additional $8 million in private gifts to meet its ambitious target as part of U of T’s Boundless campaign.

With a combined 30,000 square feet of undergraduate and graduate studio spaces that boast commanding views over the city, an innovative fabrication lab, and additional spaces for graduate and undergraduate scholars to meet informally, the Daniels Building will further enhance the faculty’s ability to attract exceptional students to its programs in architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, and art/visual studies.

The new building will help strengthen the Faculty’s award-winning research and outreach facilities as well. Its Green Roof Innovation Testing Laboratory (GRIT Lab), for example, will have the opportunity to expand its research through a second site at One Spadina, with funding from Tremco Incorporated, while the Global Cities Institute (GCI) — which is leading the creation of the first internationally certified standards on city data and metrics — will relocate to a 2,324-square-foot street-front pavilion on the north-western edge of the building in a future phase of the project. GCI will be linked to a planned Model Cities Theatre and Laboratory that will bring together the Faculty’s talents in data visualization, 3D modeling, digital fabrication, and design and analysis, and place them within a public forum to develop holistic solutions to complex urban problems. A new 400-seat principal hall will enable the Faculty to elevate its popular public programming and lecture series, while a large 10,000-square-foot Architecture and Design Gallery will present internationally significant curated exhibitions on architecture, design, and cities — the only one of its kind devoted to these themes in Ontario.

“The Daniels Building at One Spadina Crescent will provide us with a site to advance collaboration across all disciplines with a stake in the built environment, creating a space for modeling new modes of research, practice, and outreach,” said Professor Sommer. “This is a key moment in the history of our Faculty, and I am heartened by the members of the community who have stepped forward to join us in creating this project. The citizens of Toronto and the many visitors to Toronto — and actually anyone who is interested in architecture or the nexus between landscape, art, and cities — will be drawn to the Daniels Faculty at One Spadina.”

Learn more about the One Spadina project and our generous donors. View our Fact Sheet [PDF].

Last month, the new home of the Daniels Faculty, now under construction at One Spadina Crescent was featured in Award magazine. The feature provided an overview of design — by Nader Tehrani and Katie Faulkner, principals of the internationally acclaimed firm NADAAA — which blends together historic and new with a modern three-storey addition to the heritage Gothic Revival building on site.

The article explored how the restructuring and growth of the faculty will be further facilitated by its new home, as well as the positive impact that the project will have on the City of Toronto. 

The Daniels Faculty has hired acclaimed photographer Peter MacCallum to document the transformation of One Spadina Crescent. His photos show the progress of the project, and new images are posted to the Daniels Faculty website every month.

Click here to view a gallery of Peter MacCallum's One Spadina photos — including those documenting the construction that took place last month. 

Nader Tehrani and Katie Faulkner, Principals at NADAAA, received a Holcim Award last week for their design of the Daniels Faculty’s new home at One Spadina Crescent, one of Toronto’s most prominent and historic addresses. Presented by the Holcim Foundation, the awards recognize “projects and visions that contribute to a more sustainable built environment.”

The Holcim Awards jury called the One Spadina project “a rare approach towards bringing a heritage building back to life through new construction, one respectful of the existing structure, while introducing new spatial qualities to the entire ensemble.”

The foundation also commended the project’s approach to sustainability: “The project’s basic objectives are to rehabilitate existing urban, landscape, and architectural elements — and, to demonstrate the [University of Toronto’s] aim to foreground sustainability as part of its pedagogic program via state-of-the-art construction materials and energy systems.”

The jury further commended the design for creating a dialogue "between the past and the present,” adding that this dialogue is “most clearly expressed in the sequence of spaces at the intersection of the ‘new’ and the ‘old’.”

Renewal of the existing historic building on the iconic site is now underway, and work to build the stunning modern addition will commence this fall. Once complete, the project will be a model of sustainable construction, with a resilient structure and the ability to adapt over time. Features such as rainwater harvesting, extensive daylighting, bicycle parking, and green roofs built to incorporate photovoltaic technology as it evolves are part of a broader low-carbon approach to lowering the project’s environmental impact.

The Holcim jury expressed a particular respect for “the efforts undertaken to integrate environmental principles in the development of the design, without falling into the pitfalls and clichés of ‘sustainability’. On the contrary, new standards for architecture are confidently brought to the fore.”

Architecture and Urbanism Professor Richard Sommer, Dean of the Daniels Faculty, joined Baudouin Nizet, CEO of Holcim Canada, and jury member Lola Sheppard, a partner with Lateral Office, to present Tehrani and Faulkner with the award on September 18th in a ceremony at Toronto’s Evergreen Brickworks.

The Holcim prize is one of many awards that NADAAA has received. Earlier this month, the office was named the top design firm in the United States for the second year in a row by Architect, the magazine of the American Institute of Architects. Tehrani has received fifteen Progressive Architecture Awards, the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Architecture (2002), and the Cooper Hewitt Award for Architecture (2007). Recent commissions either completed or underway include the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne, and the College of Architecture at the Georgia Institute of Technology.  

One Spadina is a $72-million dollar project, which has received substantial support from the University of Toronto and lead donors John and Myrna Daniels. Last year, the Daniels Faculty launched a campaign to raise $50-million, $45 million of which will support the redevelopment of One Spadina ($5 million of John and Myrna Daniels’ gift is devoted to new scholarships for students.) The Faculty’s fundraising campaign has recently received several new landmark gifts from alumni and friends, and continues to seek new levels of support from a broad spectrum of donors in the art, design, and city building community. The One Spadina project will have a major impact on students, the professions, and the city.

The Holcim Foundation has recognized the work of several members of the Daniels Faculty in recent years. Lecturer Jonathan Enns also received an award at last week’s ceremony. The designer — whose current work investigates how design systems (digital and otherwise) can be used to understand, manipulate and intelligently introduce foreign elements into design geometry — was awarded a “Next Generation” prize for his development of an interlocking panelized timber system. Professor Aziza Chaouni received the International Gold Award in 2009, and Professor Mason White won the North American Gold Award in 2011. Przemyslaw Latoszek won third prize in the Next Generation category while he was a student at the Daniels Faculty in 2011.

The Holcim Foundation received a total of 211 entries in this year’s North American competition. Out of these, the One Spadina project and Jonathan Enns’ work were the only Canadian projects to be recognized.

Local community paper, The Annex Gleaner, featured the Daniels Faculty's plans to transform One Spadina on the front page of its April issue. The historic site, now under construction, will be the new home of the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design.

Chair of the Harbord Street Business Improvement Area (BIA), Neil Wright called the planned complex "a 'stunning mixture of heritage conservation and modern architecture' that creates an essential link between the community and the university."

Designed by Nader Tehrani and Katie Faulkner of the award-winning firm NADAAA, plans for the new complex are marked for their "openess to the surrounding neighbourhood, sustainable urban design, and preservation of the historic building's heriage," reports the the Gleaner.

"The structure is meant to link the community in the west and the university in the east," said Daniels Faculty Dean Richard Sommer.

Click here to view a PDF of the full article.

For more information on One Spadina:

• view our renderings
• read our press release and fact sheet
• watch our video