This Friday, December 6, George Baird, Professor Emeritus and former Dean of the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, will present the Laurence A. Cummings Lecture on Cultural History at St. Jerome's University at the University of Waterloo.

Baird's lecture, titled "Thoughts on Agency, Utopia and Property in Contemporary Architectural and Urban Theory," will discuss and criticize the uses of the concept of ‘utopia’ in some contemporary authors on architecture and urban form, and will explore the implications of those usages, particularly in respect to the phenomenon of human ‘agency.’

Baird is the founding principal of the Toronto-based architecture and design firm Baird Sampson Neuert Architects. His 2011 book, Public Space; Cultural/Political Theory; Street Photography was published by SUN Publications. In 2011, he was awarded an Honorary Degree in Engineering by the University of Waterloo. Baird is the 2012 winner of the Topaz Medallion of the American Institute of Architects and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture.

For more information on the lecture, click here.