Thanks to generous donations made by alumni and donors, Daniels Faculty students can apply for grants, fellowships, or scholarships to fund travel and research at sites of interest both within Canada and abroad. The application deadline for this year is March 2.

We’ve asked students who received travel awards last year to share their experiences with us. Today, we hear from Master of Architecture student Saarinen Balagengatharadilak, who spent a month in London, UK last summer with support from the Paul Oberman Graduate Student Endowment Fund.

What did you hope to learn during your time in London?
I was interested in the range of sensibility that architects and planners bring to building in historic contexts. There’s a magic to some places rooted in a rich culture and history that’s reflected in its buildings and public spaces. I wanted to learn how housing, public amenities, and institutions were being integrated with big infrastructural projects, while preserving the “magic”.

Why did you go to London for this research?
The challenges of building for a growing city are super intense in London. Intensification is tied to big plans about infrastructure and moving the masses. Amongst giant transit and development plans is an old city with some of the most beautiful parks, plazas, and monuments, all delicately woven into a continuous fabric.

While the stakes for building in such a complex system are extremely high, there’s a healthy appetite on the part of the people and city to embrace bold ideas. I thought it would be refreshing to see some of the successes and shortcomings of this mentality.

Tell us about something interesting that you discovered.
There are so many moments when you walk through plazas, over or under bridges, or through or between buildings that make London feel continuous. I’ve grown so accustomed to the way infrastructure divides cities (like Toronto). London provided a good wake up call about the potential of infrastructure to be more integrated with architecture and landscape.

How has this travel research opportunity enhanced your academic career?
It’s given me a host of lessons and experiences to pull from. There’s a spirit of social enterprise in London that feels as important as the thriving commercialism.

There was one particular event I remember joining, which brought out the socio-political potential of public spaces. Two artists joined together in a walk of compassion through London to show solidarity with refugees world-wide. It started off with dozens of journalists, other media, and about 80 or so people at the Royal Academy of Arts.

The walk was a few miles and we stopped in a handful of public plazas. I remember each time we stopped, a crowd of curious spectators gathered and we would suddenly swell to close to two hundred people.

While Ai Weiwei and Anish Kapoor addressed the press, the group engaged in conversation with the people in the plazas. Some even decided to join in the walk. People continued to talk and exchange thoughts all throughout. The fluidity and frequency of public spaces acted as an armature. There was a spirit of hope and conviction in the crowd that seemed to spread naturally as we filled and emptied plazas.

How will this research inform your future work (as a student or otherwise)?
The more time I spent in a park or plaza, the more I became convinced that a place could be as carefully crafted as a building. The most frequented urban projects had an understanding of place relative to everything it sat beside and between. I remember the walk through the view corridors to St. Paul’s as vividly as sitting in the Cathedral garden.

The research, for me, shows the value in intensifying collaborative efforts between the community, city, developers, and design professionals to address sites more cohesively. I’ve grown more optimistic of the potential for more continuous public spaces in our city.

Do you have any tips for students who may be considering applying for a travel grant this year?
If there is something you’re passionate about exploring…put it in words and APPLY!

For more information on Saarinen’s research in London, read his report: Historical Preservation in the Age of Mass Development.

Visit the Current Students section of the Daniels Faculy's website for more information on the travel awards and how to apply.

Thanks to generous donations made by alumni and donors, Daniels Faculty students can apply for grants, fellowships, or scholarships to fund travel and research at sites of interest both within Canada and abroad. The application deadline for this year is March 2.

We’ve asked students who received travel awards last year to share their experiences with us. Yesterday we heard from Saarinen Balagengatharadilak. Today, we hear from Master of Architecture student Vanessa Abram, who spent a total of eight weeks conducting research in Detroit, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Tokyo with support from the Paul Oberman Graduate Student Endowment Fund.

What did you hope to learn during your time in Detroit, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Tokyo? 
I set out to learn histories of destruction and reconstruction within these cities from 1945 onward.

Why did you choose these cities for this research?
Each of these cities had an important role in wartime production during WWII and each has seen an impressive magnitude of erasure, destruction and material ruin since.

Tell us about something interesting that you discovered.
While in Hiroshima, I met with Mr. Toshikuni Nakagawa from the Municipal Archives where I was shown documentation prepared by Tange Kenzo for the design of 'Peace City Hiroshima' and Peace Park.  Along with this documentation, we went through a number of images that depicted the transformation of the site over the years following the atomic bombing. Tourist facilities and 'Peace Institutions' were among the first buildings to be erected out of the city's ashes. Public housing, as well as health and welfare institutions for both atomic bomb victims and others returning home from their countryside refuge, were to come much later (Tange, Peace City Hiroshima). Photographs of the annual Peace Ceremony held in Peace Park show temporary and precarious housing conditions in the background of many ceremonies, in some cases screened off by a curtain for privacy. Meanwhile, the American Cultural Center was also one of the first buildings to erect itself within the destroyed city. It was, in 1952, "a welcome sight — an oasis in the desert [... amidst] mountains of rubble" (Zqigenberg quoting Abol Fazl Fatouhi, 2004, 94).

How has this travel research opportunity enhanced your academic career?
The opportunity positioned my thesis within a more thorough research framework and historical awareness of my site and thesis topic. It led to me producing a book in conjunction with my thesis that broadened my interests in the subject and enriched the discussion around the architectural project.

How will this research inform your future work?
The research expanded my understanding of the profession beyond traditional limits of architecture to think of construction and destruction as dependent processes; Detroit's expansion, for example, as being a result of it's inner city demolition, or Hiroshima's annihilation as paving the way for opportunistic planning. The project changed the way I was viewing the limits and influence of architecture and design and also exposed me to alternative readings of history. In addition to this broadening of perspective, the research skills I acquired throughout my travel experience will impact my ability to contextualize and frame future projects.

Do you have any tips for students who may be considering applying for a travel grant this year?
Travel grants are a great opportunity to connect with architectural institutions, research groups, and offices across the globe. Take advantage of the experience to learn through local organizations, businesses, and individuals who know the place best!

For more information on Vanessa’s research in Detroit, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Tokyo, read her report: The Destruction of Two Cities

Visit the Current Students section of the Daniels Faculy's website for more information on the travel awards and how to apply.

Director of the Master of Landscape Architecture program Alissa North served as a guest editor of the most recent edition of Landscapes|Paysages magazine – the publication of the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects. The issue focused on the teaching and the practice of landscape architecture, and featured articles by several members and alumni of the Daniels Faculty.

“In this issue, we are particularly interested in those areas where knowledge is flourishing, and especially the exciting and productive interstices between academia and practice,” writes North.

Shelley Long (MLA 2015) wrote an article about “hybrid practices” — a strategy used by some practitioners that combines teaching with practice as a way to incorporate theory into their built work and practicality to their theory. The recent graduate, who is now working as a Landscape Designer at Hapa Collaborative in Vancouver, highlighted North Design Office — the firm of Professors Pete North and Alissa North — as an example of a innovative teaching-based practice.

“Whether the project is a residential garden or international competition, Alissa and Peter North of North Design Office seek out such opportunities to further their investigations into regenerative and performative landscape,” writes Long. "Both professors at the University of Toronto, the Norths’ temporary public art installations experiment with new materials and technologies in a temporary situation for two-to-four years, testing and monitoring them with the intention to apply the principles in future larger public space projects.

Long also described Claude Cormier (BLA 1986) as a designer dedicated to educating clients about good practice, writing, “this type of design leadership through risk-taking is a prevailing attitude at Claude Cormier + Associés (CC+A) in Montreal, where a strong conviction to do only public work and to do something new on every project brings with it the ongoing challenges of getting inventive designs built in low-bid and risk-averse public environments.”

In the article titled "Entangled with the Real World," Jordan Lypkie (MLA 2016) profiled the participation of Daniels Faculty Master of Landscape Architecture students in a design charrette at the Evergreen Brickworks.

“For second and third year students from the Daniels Faculty at the University of Toronto, an Evergreen Brickworks design charrette provided a platform for students to make connections with notable practitioners, including many local landscape architects and national and international icons,” writes Lypkie. The article explored other design/build opportunities for students, including an elective course taught by Professor Pete North on phytoremediation technologies and regenerative landscapes.

In "Gleaning an Ephemeral Wilderness," MLA candidate Kamila Grigo argued for a closer collaboration between native plant nursery staff and landscape architects.

From the article: 

“Form in native nursery landscapes is typically considered aesthetically irrelevant: people and machines must produce crops as efficiently as possible. Nonetheless, within this industrial farming lies potential for closer collaboration between native nursery professionals and landscape architects, not necessarily to aestheticize, but to uncover new typologies. Our practices can be optimized, not only to jump-start succession at sites further afield, but also to magnify a key characteristic of these nurseries not iterated often enough: namely, that they create habitats for local species."

Assistant Professor Elise Shelley wrote the featured article, "Designing Play," on the nuances of playground design in light of stringent Canadian Standards Association standards that have transformed the playing field since their introduction in the 1980s. “In this context, custom designed play spaces which take advantage of unique site characteristics are unaffordable luxuries,” writes Shelley. “Nature is ignored in favour of the tabula rasa, out-of-the catalogue method of playground design.”

Michael Good (MLA 2015) was one of four authors – along with Leila Marie Farah, Mark Gorgolewski, and John Han – of the article "Vivarium: A Sky Condo," which describes the team’s submission to the NYC Sky Condo idea competition. “The Vivarium proposal, our submission to the NYC Sky Condo competition, demonstrates how humans and bugs can coexist and how the latter can be a source of income, ecological regeneration, beauty and protein.”

An article by Robert McIntosh (MLA 2015) and Joanne Proft, explored three university landscapes in various design stages, including the University of Toronto’s St. George Campus, the subject of the Landscape of Landmark Quality competition that was launched in 2015. “The proposal [by KPMB Architect, Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates (MVVA), and Urban Strategies] makes simple, bold moves that unveil the landscape’s hidden potential, by creating new gathering spaces connected by wide, granite-paced pedestrian walkways, and respecting and building on the rich history throughout the campus,” writes McIntosh and Proft. “By opening the door to new ideas, it has shifted the focus back onto engaging landscape and design.”

Assistant Professor Erica Allen-Kim presented a lecture titled Storefront Museums and Pagodas: Memory and Place on Argyle St. at the 68^th Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) Annual Conference. The event took place April 15^th – 19^th at the Holiday Inn Chicago Mart Plaza in Chicago, with Allen-Kim presenting on April 16th.

Allen-Kim’s lecture was based on research from her manuscript Mini-malls and Memorials: Building Saigon in the American Suburb.

“During the late 70s and early 80s, Southeast Asian refugees were resettled in Uptown near Argyle Street, which had been proclaimed a ‘New Chinatown’ by restaurateur Jimmy Wong and the Hip Sing Association in 1971,” writes Allen-Kim. “Through a reading of the vernacular architecture of Argyle Street, this paper illuminates the integral role of buildings and cultural landscapes for communities seeking a center in Chicago.”

The SAH conference aims to bring “discussions of the built environment into the present day.” It will feature “local architects, historians, and policy makers addressing two important issues in architecture and planning: the history and future of Chicago waterways, including Lake Michigan and the Chicago River; and issues of community and preservation in Chicago neighborhoods such as Pilsen.”

Allen-Kim’s research on the Pagoda at the Argyle Red Line ‘L’ Station was also featured in an article published by Curbed Chicago earlier this month. “Her research into its construction brought to light the intricacies of race and resettlement in Chicago's Asian neighborhoods,” writes Patrick Sisson in the article's introduction.

For more information about the conference, visit: http://www.sah.org/conferences-and-programs/2015-conference-chicago/program

Photo courtesy of Erica Allen-Kim

Green roofs have become a staple of sustainable building design. In cities such as Toronto, architects are even required to include them in their designs, depending on the size of the building. Green roofs help mitigate urban heat island effect, absorb storm water, and improve air quality and energy efficiency, among other benefits.

But what if one wanted to install solar panels as well? Would a solar panel system hinder the performance of a green roof? Or could the two systems work together to enhance the benefits that each provide?

These are some of the questions that researchers at the Daniels Faculty's Green Roof Innovation Testing Laboratory (GRIT Lab) will explore as part of phase II of their research, which is looking at how to maximize the benefits of green roofs and solar technology in urban environments like Toronto. The Lab recently received an Award of Excellence from the American Society of Landscape Architects for its rigorous and comprehensive work.

In January, the GRIT Lab started construction on the installation of new solar photovoltaic panels on the south-east side of roof of 230 College Street. The panels will be installed in conjunction with green roof trays (boxes in which various species of plants will be grown).

 

The metal beams pictured above are part of a racking system that will support the solar panels. Green roof trays will be placed underneath the photovoltaic cells, as shown in the diagram below. One of the things the researchers will test is how the plants in the trays survive when placed underneath the angled panels.

Over the summer, researchers — led by GRIT Lab Director Liat Margolis, an Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture and the Daniels Faculty, and her co-researchers from U of T's department of Civil Engineering, Professors Brent Sleep and Jennifer Drake — will install a series of sensors to measure energy output as well as wind, temperature, soil moisture and effluent runoff.

Phase II of the study will run for 3 years in collaboration with the University of Toronto's Civil Engineering Department. It is sponsored by NSERC and several industry and academic partners, which include Sky Solar, Schletter, TerraGen Solar, Siplast, Semple Gooder, Bioroof, Tremco, Dh Water Management, and IRC Building Science Group, as well as the University of Toronto Facilities & Services and the Sustainability Office and the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design.

For more information, visit: http://grit.daniels.utoronto.ca/

Assistant Professor Alissa North has published a new book entitled Operative Landscapes: Building Communities Through Public Space.

Operative Landscapes looks at the "interaction between landscape projects, building development, and urban planning, resulting in neighborhoods and city quarters that offer a higher quality of life." Two hundred pages and beautifully designed, the book showcases projects from around the world, from those in the conceptual and planning stages, to those that have been constructed and are continuing to evolve.

"Urban open space is an ideal medium for positive community transformation, in its ability to be continually remolded and shaped to suit community needs," writes North in the introduction.

Operative Landscapes can now be purchase through Amazon here.

Yonge Street — an online weekly magazine that focuses on innovation, development, neighbourhoods, and community involvement in Toronto — has published an article on the GRIT Lab (Green Roof Innovation Testing Laboratory) at the Daniels Faculty.

Established in 2010 by the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, the GRIT Lab is a 2,000-square-foot state-of-the-art facility that includes 33 green roof test beds, a weather station, and 264 sensors connected to over 5,000 linear feet of wiring. Data on soil moisture, runoff, temperature, rainfall, humidity, solar, and wind is collected every two seconds. The lab sits atop of the Daniels Faculty building at 230 College, and is the only one of its kind testing green roofs in an urban environment in Canada.

"We're hoping this work will potentially influence or augment the green roof standard and green roof monitoring in the City of Toronto, and that it might also affect what industry is actually producing and promoting," Assistant Professor Liat Margolis tells Yonge Street writer Katia Snukal.

Read the full article on Yonge Street's website.

Presented by Arch 392, Waterloo Architecture Students Association and the Society of Waterloo Architectural Graduates

Thursday, February 5, 2009
University of Waterloo
Faculty of Engineering | School of Architecture
7 Melville Street South, Cambridge

Mason White, Lateral Office will present Condomanium: Cities of Convenience and Adrian Blackwell will present Fractured Atlas at this the University of Waterloo's Urban Futures Colloquium.

Please click here for the full itinerary.