The Daniels Faculty’s former building at 230 College Street is now being renovated to become the home of U of T’s student union — but the its Green Roof Innovation Testing Laboratory on the rooftop, remains in full swing. We spoke to Master of Landscape Architecture students Catherine Howell and Hadi El-Shayeb about their experience working at the GRIT Lab this summer and the plans to launch a second site on the roof of the Faculty's new home at One Spadina Crescent.

How did you become involved with the GRIT Lab?
Catherine: The GRIT Lab was one of the main drivers for me to come to Daniels. I did my undergraduate degree in health studies at Queen’s and when figuring out what to do next, I saw the GRIT Lab website and thought, “this is so cool!” It was an interesting facet of landscape architecture and architecture that I had never heard of before. I had it in the back of my head that I wanted to help out in some way. I had Liat Margolis as a professor in first year, and she was very inspiring. The opportunity to work alongside Liat, while playing an active role in the green infrastructure movement, has made for an extremely engaging summer thus far.  

Hadi: I’ll be starting the Master of Landscape Architecture program in September. I did my undergraduate degree in Planning at the University of Waterloo, and a lot of my research was on climate change adaptation. I also worked for the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change as a Policy Intern on renewable energies, and attended the COP22 Marrakech the UN Climate Change Summit that happened in Morocco last November. The GRIT Lab was very interesting to me because green roofs are an opportunity to adapt to climate change. I messaged a few professors, including Liat, and thankfully she responded to me and added me onto the project. I have always been interested in landscape architecture and its role in ecological design. I’m really interested in environmental and climate change adaptation. GRIT Lab is a subset of that.

What are your responsibilities at the Lab?
C: We’re the “nine to fivers,” the Lab Managers and Research Assistants, so we have to be surface-level experts in everything, from electrical wiring to coding to sensors. The GRIT Lab is a system: it includes physical inputs, such as sunlight and water; the sensors that monitor factors such as rainfall, soil moisture, and water retention; a computer; and then the production of infographics that demonstrate these processes. We have to understand all levels of that process. We also have to help coordinate a number of people who are doing research here, including undergraduate, masters, and PHD engineering students. We need to make sure they’re happy with the data being collected, troubleshoot broken sensors, and so on. We’re also working on articles for publication that summarize GRIT Lab research so that it is understandable to the general public.

Sedum planting | Photo by Josie Harrison

And what has some of that research found?
C: I’m writing about green roof hydrology and how green roofs hold onto water. Right now, it’s understood that they can absorb up to 50% of stormwater, but actually with the right combination of plants and soil they can hold onto 70-80%, which is huge. Especially in cities like Toronto where we now have the Green Roof Bylaw, you can really maximize the benefits of your green roof if you know the right combinations. It can function as a low impact development option: if you have enough green roof coverage on your building then you might not have to install any ground water storm management infrastructure like swales or cisterns to meet the wet weather flow standards.

H: One of the articles I’m writing is on growing media, its effect on different performances, and how selecting different media can have different benefits. For example, both mineral-based and compost-based growing media are popular in Canada and Southern Ontario. It is believed that compost-based media compacts and loses organic content over time, but our studies show that it doesn’t actually do that, and, additionally, it can absorb about three times more water than mineral-based meda.

meadow planting | Photo by Josie Harrison

C: I’m also writing about bees and Sedum versus meadow planting. Right now there is a big push to promote native pollinators in Ontario. It has been shown that native plants attract more native bees, but Sedum, which is not native to this region, is the preferred green roof planting type. It goes to show that we have to carefully consider plant selection on green roofs if we want to promote biodiversity. With more and more greenroofs being built, the plants we choose could have a regional impact on ecological diversity.

What have you learned from your experience working at the GRIT Lab so far?
H: Seeing the technical components put into this green infrastructure has been a big thing for me. The importance of data collection and the nitty gritty details has been eye-opening. I’ve learned that there is a strong need to collect all the data to improve our systems.

C: I was surprised by how varied green roofs can be, and how the variables (planting type, depth, soil, irrigation type) can have different outcomes. I thought it would be pretty simple, like you can spread out a mat of Sedum and call it a day. But not all green roofs are created equal and you need to figure out the location, the size, and what you want your main objective to be to design one properly. Consciously designing green roofs is incredibly important for maximum effectiveness.

Catherine Howell looking south down Spadina Avenue from the roof of One Spadina. PhD student Omar Bawab is helping develop plans for a second site of the GRIT Lab over the summer | Photo by Josie Harrison

How will the GRIT Lab expand its research at One Spadina?
C: There is a giant cistern underneath One Spadina that holds all the rainwater that falls on the property. They want to use the grey water from the cistern to irrigate the green roof. We need to test the quality of that water and how it will affect the various plants on the roof. There will be quite a lot of urban contaminants, including salt from de-icing the walkways. I’m curious to see the results from that, whether the water will need to be treated or not.

H: Omar Bawab is an international PhD student here on a global exchange program, to help develop the plans for the green roof testing beds at One Spadina. He has a lot of experience with green roofs and particularly connected cisterns for water collection, which is the main purpose for building this roof. Catherine and I will be helping him draft the visual representation for the project.

GRIT Lab student researchers, from left to right: Redwan Baba & Diego Domingo, undergraduate students, Civil Engineering; Catherine Howell, MLA; Eric Wang, undergraduate student, Civil Engineering; Hadi El-Shayeb, MLA; Marisa Fryer, graduate student, Civil Engineering | Photo by Josie Harrison

How do you think your experience this summer will influence your future research or ambitions?
H: One thing I’m finding really interesting is linking the local scale action at the GRIT Lab to global scale policies. We have these huge ambitions to bring down emissions and stop the global average temperature from increasing, but how do we do that at a local scale? I’m interested in the role that landscape architecture can play in this.

C: Learning so much about green roofs as a summer job has really piqued my interest in them. As a landscape architect, I would love green roofs to be a big part of my practice when I start working in the field.

This summer, the Research Opportunity Program (ARC399H1) was conducted as a two-week intensive workshop offering undergraduate students the unique opportunity to design and build a structure on Hart House Farm.
 
Students spent the first week in a studio setting on the St. George campus, designing and prototyping a collaborative project using both digital and analog tools and materials. During the second week, they stayed at Hart House Farm to collectively assemble the structure they designed. Taught by Instructors William Haskas, and Matei Denes of PlusFARM, the studio (entitled “Nocturne Elemental”) was established as an environment for discourse, digital design, craftwork, fabrication, and construction with a particular emphasis upon the areas where analog and digital design overlap, trade places, and inform each other.
 
Following an initial analysis of a pivotal cinematic moment, students worked with Rhinoceros and Grasshopper to explore generative workflows and fluidity in form-making. This was followed by a series of physical prototypes developed around the simple program of a space for projection and different forms of bodily occupation. In the absence of a specific site or material constraints, the exuberant forms were then evaluated in terms of their potential performative success.
 
The project was then developed through a poly-authored digital design process, allowing every student to embed, share, and infuse their ideas upon the final outcome. In keeping with this model of collaborative authorship, the students decided collectively which scheme to invest in and take to Hart House Farm the following week.
 
For the second half of the course, students continued to develop and refine the scheme while camping on site, ultimately fabricating a collaboratively-built structure that functions as a screening pavilion, a beacon, and a viewing device that is intended to transform our understanding of the natural setting of Hart House Farm.
 
PlusFARM is an internationally recognized design and fabrication studio with built projects in London, Lima, Toronto, and New York City. Working with both digital and material design, the studio inverts traditional, authoritarian, top-down design to explore horizontal platforms of participation and production through the practice of “poly-authorship,” which responds to how digital technologies have changed the way artchitecture is being taught, practiced, and managed.

Visit our Facebook page for more photos.

Photos above by Harry Choi

A team of undergraduate students from the Daniels Faculty — including Kian Hosseinnia, Pearl Cao, Tina Siassi, Dimah Ghazal, and Ous Abou Ras — won the URB PRK Emerging Young Architecture + Planning Program (EYAPP) design-build competition. The competition “was inititiated to provide an outlet for students and interns in Architecture and Planning to showcase their creative talents and show to the community the importance of design and how it can be both clever and environmentally sustainable."

Each year, students are challenged to create a summer refuge or “parklet” within a city using innovative strategies and sustainable materials. This year the site was two parking stalls on Whyte Avenue in Edmonton Alberta.

Hosseinnia and Cao were guests on CBC’s Edmonton AM to discuss their design on June 8.

The students are now raising money to realize their winning plan. The extra funds will assist them securing the necessary materials.

“This is a very important project for us as it gives us the opportunity as emerging designers to provide for the public and enhance their social experience of Whyte Avenue,” write the students on their Go Fund Me page. “We greatly appreciate your support in helping us with this exciting project and for taking the time to read about our cause.”

Daniels Faculty undergraduate student Victoria Cardoso was part of the winning team in the “Towers on the Ravine, 1967-2067: Transitioning to Net-Positive Biophilic Urbanism” competition, which took place in May. Her team members included York University graduate students Alex Gatien, Assaya Moustaqim-Barrette, Kiana Javaheri, Nick Brownlee, and Steven Glass.

The competition, launched at the 2017 Ontario Climate Symposium May 11 & 12, asked students to envision the transformation of the tower neighbourhood north of Finch on Kipling Avenue into a resilient and environmentally and socially sustainable community.

The winning proposal included a focus on honouring indigenous history; strategies for addressing the projected population increase; the formation of a local community land trust to develop, fund, and manage public spaces; recognition of emerging technologies such as autonomous vehicles; and the reintegration of a ‘lost’ stream  with the neighbourhood’s commercial and public spaces.

A number of other Daniels Faculty students participated in the competition. They included: Master of Landscape Architecture students Catherine Howell and Stacey Zonneveld; Master of Architecture students Zoal Razaq, Shou Li, and Xiaolong Li; and undergraduate students Adaeze Chukwuma, Feng Le, Tian Wei Li, and Yujie Wang. Images from Howell, Li, Razaq, and Zonneveld’s proposal (Alisa Nguyen was also part of this team) are pictured above.

First year Masters of Architecture student Josh Silver recently published the second issue of his zine titled Cntrl+Z[ine]. The publication imagines a series of narratives using fellow student work as a starting point.

Writes Silver:

"Architectural images contain accidental moments of narrative: a scale figure, a shadow designed, a moment, a view. The latent narratives can begin to reveal themselves as stories of poems or songs or essays or memories remembered in passing. This publication explores those accidents of representation; the stories of images, the places imagined but remembered nevertheless as real déjà vu."

CNTRL+Z[ine] #2 includes work from Masters of Architecture students Yasmin Al Sammarai, Bobbi Bortolussi, Diana Franco, Avi Odenheimer, Siri Hermanski, Martin Drozdowski, and Jess Misak. The full issue can be viewed on Issuu.

Image, top: Self-portrait by Josh Silver

On April 18 and 19, third year Masters of Architecture students presented the thesis preparation work that they completed for the studio course ARC3016. In this course, students had the opportunity to explore potential thesis ideas under the guidance of faculty members Aziza Chaouni, George Baird, Michael Piper, Brigitte Shim, John Shnier, and Shane Williamson. 

For the full photo album, visit the Daniels Faculty Facebook page.

Click here to learn more about the Daniels Faculty's Master of Achitecture program.

On April 15th, undergraduate students from the Daniels Faculty's Honours, Bachelor of Arts program in Architectural Studies presented their final projects in the new building at One Spadina Crescent. The work shown on this day came from all the undergraduate Winter 2017 studio courses. Lower year studio courses presented methods and processes of design that utilized multiple forms of visual communication. Upper year studio courses explored increasingly complex design problems and more advanced topics in the history and technology of architecture, landscape architecture, and urbanism.

Click here to learn more about the Daniels Faculty's Bachelor of Arts in Architectural Studies program.

A number of artists affiliated with the Daniels Faculty will be participating in this year’s Gladstone Grow Op exhibition at the Gladstone Hotel. The annual event celebrates innovative ideas in the fields of landscape architecture, garden design, art, and place-making. Using video, sound performance, photography, new media, animal parts, the human body, and more, Grow Op promises to make us think differently about the landscapes that shape our cities and our cities’ relationship to the land. This year’s exhibition was juried by Andrea Mantin (MLA 2009), Victoria Taylor (MLA 2008), Layne Hilton, and Graham Teeple.

Daniels students, alumni, and faculty participating in the 2017 Gladstone Grow Op include Jordan Duke and Dayne Roy-Caldwell (both MLA 2016), Katie Lawson (current MVS-Curatorial student), D & S Projects — the firm of alumna Katie Strang (MLA 2015) and Christine Dewancker — Lecturer Shadi Ramos (MLA 2010), and PseudoStudio — the firm of Greg Bunker and Shira Davis (both MLA 2013).

Other artists include David Ballantine, Melanie Billark, Bruno Billio, Liam Blackwell, Micah Donovan, Agnieszka Forfa, Eve Gane, Julie Gladstone, Martha Barron Griffith, Monica Gutierrez, John Haney, Byron Hodgins, Rebecca Jane Houston, Hayden King and Susan Blight, Aisling O’Carroll & Sara Jacobs, Olga Klosowski, Becky Lauzon, Lindy Wilkins & Dushan Milic, Michelle Hunniford & Magdalena Milosz, Kate & Claire Nelischer, Rachel Grice & Rekha Ramachandran, Safiya Randera, Daniel Ranger, Miles Rufelds, and The Urban Apothecary.

Grow Op takes place April 19 to 23, with an Opening Reception on Friday, April 21. For more information, visit the 2017 Gladstone Grow Op website.

Photo, top: Urban Hermit Retrospective by Greg Bunker and Shira Davis

Current MArch student Kinan Hewitt and recent graduates Rupali Morzaria (BArch 2016) and Gabriel Valdivieso (MArch 2016) are among the winners of the HOLLYWOOD Design Competition hosted by Arch Out Loud. "Capitalizing on theiconic prominence of its site beneatht the famed Hollywood sign," the competition asked "participants to design a house of the future that demonstrates the use of innovative technology and integrative environmental strategies."

The Last of the First by Rupali Morzaria and Gabriel Valdivieso

Morzaria and Valdivieso collaborated to create “The Last of the First,” which won Director’s Choice. The project “integrates an interior kinetic volume—a rotating platform, that contains the circulation and specialized functions (kitchen, study, bedroom, washroom) of the unit,” writes Morzaria and Valdivieso in their project description. “Our design liberates its user from the constraints of static architecture, eliminating sequential circulation, fixed program, and a definite perception of space.”

LANDhouse by Kinan Hewitt and Dorothy Jones

Hewitt and competition partner Dorothy Jones received Honorable mention for “LANDhouse,” a proposal that resurrects the original “Hollywoodland” sign.

From the project description:

“Every house has a story, this is the story of the LAND house. Grounded in the history and culture of the site, this is not the last house on Mulholland, but perhaps the first. I can remember when the sign read HOLLYWOODLAND, announcing the arrival of the neighborhood, and the exile of the last four letters. I took it upon myself to resurrect these letters, and allow them to accomplish their fundamental purpose. The letters once again glow among the flashing of signal towers and warmth of homes. I find solace, retreating into LAND, and excitement in wandering its eminence.”

Photo, top: The Last of the First by Rupali Morzaria and Gabriel Valdivieso

Toronto’s Lower Junction neighbourhood (Lower JCT) — in particular, an eight-acre development site about three blocks south west of Bloor Street and Lansdowne Avenue — is gearing up for big changes. The industrial brownfield site where Sterling Road bends to meet Perth Avenue just east of the West Toronto Rail Path (WTR) will soon be transformed into a mixed-used community, with the new home of the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto Canada (MOCA) at its heart.

With the overall site development approved and implementation of key development blocks underway, graduate students from the University of Toronto’s John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design explored the design of the area’s open spaces including a public park and POPS (privately owned public space) that extends through the core of the development to the West Toronto Railpath. As part of her third year graduate design studio, entitled Art Site Urbanism, landscape architect and Daniels Faculty Lecturer Victoria Taylor challenged the students to take a different approach to site design research, one that focused on the important role that public art can play in “reading, understanding, and ultimately informing” the open space design.

“We studied the Land Art movement from the 60s and the work of artists currently working at the intersection of landscape architecture, architecture and public art,” says Taylor. “This research inspired an early group project that involved a series of site-specific ‘pop-up’ installations built right on the West Toronto Railpath. Engaging in the public space adjacent to the studio site gave the students a new confidence and interest in seizing the opportunity to contribute to the conversation about the design of the new neighbourhood.”

Castlepoint Numa, together with Greybrook Realty Partners, is leading the site’s transformation, which is expected to bring 1,000 new residents and 3,500 jobs to the area, as well as new community amenities, including over an acre of new parks and open spaces, affordable housing, and a new day care facility. MOCA’s new home on Sterling Road is now under construction in the heritage-designated Tower Automotive building, which is being restored and preserved by architectsAlliance.

“I was extremely interested in the diverse social context surrounding the site,” said Master of Architecture student Karima Peermohammad. “The park will be immediately surrounded by residential, light industrial, commercial, rail path, and of course cultural uses.”

Karima Peermohamed's proposal Perth Collective explores a mix of ecology, residential, employment, and museum spaces

Peermohamed’s proposal focused on extending these uses to the open space surrounding the buildings through careful consideration of scale, boundaries and textures. Her plan incorporates opportunities for social interaction among a diverse group of users.

In a neighbourhood that already attracts artists and gallery-goers alike, taking a more interdisciplinary approach to the design of the community’s shared open spaces and using public art as (as Peermohammad describes it) a lens through which to better engage with and understand the site provides designers with a greater set of tools to develop their creative vision. It’s an approach that has become more common in Toronto since 2008, when the City mandated that public art be included the development process.

As part of their early course research, the students explored public art projects in Toronto and Cleveland, including LANDstudio, a firm that specializes in public art, collaborative planning, programming and sustainable building design.

'Scape Canvas by Tom Kwok

For his final project, Master of Landscape Architecture student Tom Kwok proposed creating opportunities to bring art from inside MOCA outdoors. In his design, the park became a “canvas” where public art, including projections, interactive art, and performance, can be displayed. He says one of his goals was to create an art and cultural destination in Toronto, using landscape architecture to complement MOCA’s activities and programing.

“I enjoyed designing for a site that is simultaneously in real life development,” says Kwok. “It was exciting to know that our work will attract interest from stakeholders.”

Artistic Influx by Shaine Wong

Renderings by Master of Landscape Architecture student Shaine Wong show water flowing through a portion of the park, which would become a skating rink in the winter. An earth bridge extending from MOCA’s entrance would provide a sheltered area for programming, while a pathway through the park would connect to the West Toronto Railpath.

In February, Taylor, with support from Castlepoint Numa and Greybrook Realty Partners, held an exhibition of the student’s work at the developer’s gallery space on Sterling Road. The event gave neighbours, MOCA members, railpath advocates, and others the opportunity to view the ideas generated in the studio.

"The work presented by the students demonstrated a very thoughtful design process that responded to the complexity and opportunities of the site,” said Alejandra Perdomo, Planner/Development Coordinator at Castelpoint Numa. “We are very happy that the Lower Junction could provide a hands-on educational opportunity for students and future designers"

Chainlink, by Noah McGillivray

For the students, the exhibition was an unique opportunity to appreciate the possible impact of their work beyond the studio’s Final Reviews.

“The experience was very rewarding,” said Wong. “We received a lot of positive feedback. And it’s exciting to know that our projects could possible play a role in the future design of the site.”

Representatives from the City of Toronto Planning and Parks department, Castlepoint Numa, MOCA, and Toronto’s design and arts community worked with the students, providing feedback on their ideas throughout the term.

David Liss, Artistic Director and Curator at MOCA, noted how important it was for the students to understand the site and surrounding context.

“[The students] challenged their imaginations and, to some extent, even challenged the nature of the site, which I thought was great, rather than totally give in to expectations and predictable solutions,” he said. “They made the most of an unusual opportunity to wrap their imaginations around a very relevant 'real world' situation: how to examine and create engaging social space within the context of urban intensification in a rapidly evolving city.”

1. Transition Node, by Yusong Li  2. Play(ed)ground, by Sébastien Beauregard  3. Art in Four Seasons, Landscape in Four Elements, by Shahrzad Khatami