Built objects of the everyday can be instrumentalized to convey subversive messages of power. Still, the prevailing conception is that power dynamics are shaped by and conducted through written policy documents and cartographic drawings. The work of the Vertical Geopolitics Lab seeks to recentre the study of how sovereignty is acquired and disputed as a practice-based matter of space and power in the built environment.

Since the 2021-22 academic year, the teaching branch of VGL, directed by Lukas Pauer, has been based at the University of Toronto’ Daniels Faculty. As such, the lab runs a series of elective seminar and thesis research studio courses in an effort to expose, challenge and reconstitute the pervasive and ongoing reality of imperial-colonial expansion. For examples of past course offerings, see:

ARC3710HS Selected Topics in Architecture: Recognizing Facts on the Ground

ARC3020YF Design Studio Research 1: Counterhegemonic Architecture

The lab welcomes inquiries regarding opportunities such as thesis supervision, research assistantship, scholarship, fellowship and grant applications. This could also entail collaborative and visiting engagements with practitioners, scholars or students from all disciplines within and beyond the university. Ideas for potential research topics may focus on but do not have to be limited to power dynamics in the built environment.

Past collaborators and guests for input lecture prompts, skills workshops and presentation forums have included Ingrid Schroder (Cambridge AHA Arch/AA SoA), Susan Schuppli (UoL Goldsmiths VC CRA), Ruben Pater (“Untold Stories”/KABK), Deborah “Deb” Cowen (UofT A&S SofE G&P), William “Bill” Callahan (UoL LSE IR), Diane Davis (Harvard GSD), Richard Anderson (UoE ECA ESALA), Geoff Manaugh (“BLDGBLOG”), Dongsei Kim (AxU Studio/NYIT SoAD), Christopher “Chris” Lee (“Ciaro Lexicon”/Pratt SoD), Ellyn Walker (UofT Mississauga DVS), Ijlāl Muzaffar (Aggregate Collaborative/RISD Arch) and Patricio Dávila (YU AMPD/OCAD FoD).

Inquiries and expressions of interest can be sent to Lukas Pauer.

Fig 1. Student work sample from a final report submitted as part of an elective seminar course at the UofT Daniels. (Michelle Li, ‘Chinese-German CWCA CRBGPB Berlin Zoo Giant Panda Enclosure,’ in ARC3710HS Selected Topics in Architecture: Recognizing Facts on the Ground, University of Toronto Elective Seminar Course Student Work, instructed by Lukas Pauer, 2022).

Fig 2. Student work sample from a final report submitted as part of an elective seminar course within the Vertical Geopolitics Lab’s teaching branch at the UofT Daniels. (Michelle Li, ‘Chinese-German CWCA CRBGPB Berlin Zoo Giant Panda Enclosure,’ in ARC3710HS Selected Topics in Architecture: Recognizing Facts on the Ground, University of Toronto Elective Seminar Course Student Work, instructed by Lukas Pauer, 2022).

Fig 3. Student work sample from a final report submitted as part of an elective seminar course within the Vertical Geopolitics Lab’s teaching branch at the UofT Daniels. (Michelle Li, ‘Chinese-German CWCA CRBGPB Berlin Zoo Giant Panda Enclosure,’ in ARC3710HS Selected Topics in Architecture: Recognizing Facts on the Ground, University of Toronto Elective Seminar Course Student Work, instructed by Lukas Pauer, 2022).

Fig 4. Student work sample from a written-visual assemblage submitted as part of an elective seminar course within the Vertical Geopolitics Lab's teaching branch at the UofT Daniels. (Liane Werdina, ‘Israeli Am Kalavi Foundation Jerusalem Dance of Flags Parade Marches,’ in ARC3020YF Design Studio Research 1: Counterhegemonic Architecture, University of Toronto Thesis Prep Research Studio Course Student Work, supervised by Lukas Pauer, 2022).

Fig 5. Student work sample from a written-visual assemblage submitted as part of an elective seminar course within the Vertical Geopolitics Lab’s teaching branch at the UofT Daniels. (Liane Werdina, ‘Israeli Am Kalavi Foundation Jerusalem Dance of Flags Parade Marches,’ in ARC3020YF Design Studio Research 1: Counterhegemonic Architecture, University of Toronto Thesis Prep Research Studio Course Student Work, supervised by Lukas Pauer, 2022).

Fig 6. Student work sample from a written-visual assemblage submitted as part of an elective seminar course within the Vertical Geopolitics Lab's teaching branch at the UofT Daniels. (Liane Werdina, ‘Israeli Am Kalavi Foundation Jerusalem Dance of Flags Parade Marches,’ in ARC3020YF Design Studio Research 1: Counterhegemonic Architecture, University of Toronto Thesis Prep Research Studio Course Student Work, supervised by Lukas Pauer, 2022).

Fig 7. In-progress student work sample from a design research project proposal submitted as part of an elective seminar course within the Vertical Geopolitics Lab's teaching branch at the UofT Daniels. (Bryson Wood, ‘As it once was: Reconstructing the Past in a Future Ukraine,’ in ARC3020YF Design Studio Research 1: Counterhegemonic Architecture, University of Toronto Thesis Prep Research Studio Course Student Work, supervised by Lukas Pauer, 2022).

Fig 8. In-progress Student work sample from a design research project proposal submitted as part of an elective seminar course within the Vertical Geopolitics Lab’s teaching branch at the UofT Daniels. (Bryson Wood, ‘As it once was: Reconstructing the Past in a Future Ukraine,’ in ARC3020YF Design Studio Research 1: Counterhegemonic Architecture, University of Toronto Thesis Prep Research Studio Course Student Work, supervised by Lukas Pauer, 2022).

Fig 9. In-progress student work sample from a design research project proposal submitted as part of an elective seminar course within the Vertical Geopolitics Lab's teaching branch at the UofT Daniels. (Bryson Wood, ‘As it once was: Reconstructing the Past in a Future Ukraine,’ in ARC3020YF Design Studio Research 1: Counterhegemonic Architecture, University of Toronto Thesis Prep Research Studio Course Student Work, supervised by Lukas Pauer, 2022).

Fig 10. In-progress student work sample from a design research project proposal submitted as part of an elective seminar course within the Vertical Geopolitics Lab’s teaching branch at the UofT Daniels. (Bryson Wood, ‘As it once was: Reconstructing the Past in a Future Ukraine,’ in ARC3020YF Design Studio Research 1: Counterhegemonic Architecture, University of Toronto Thesis Prep Research Studio Course Student Work, supervised by Lukas Pauer, 2022).

Fig 11. In-progress student work sample from a design research project proposal submitted as part of an elective seminar course within the Vertical Geopolitics Lab’s teaching branch at the UofT Daniels. (Bryson Wood, ‘As it once was: Reconstructing the Past in a Future Ukraine,’ in ARC3020YF Design Studio Research 1: Counterhegemonic Architecture, University of Toronto Thesis Prep Research Studio Course Student Work, supervised by Lukas Pauer, 2022).

Fig 12. In-progress student work sample from a design research project proposal submitted as part of an elective seminar course within the Vertical Geopolitics Lab’s teaching branch at the UofT Daniels. (Liane Werdina, ‘The Washing of a Kurdish History along the Tigris River Basin,’ in ARC3020YF Design Studio Research 1: Counterhegemonic Architecture, University of Toronto Thesis Prep Research Studio Course Student Work, supervised by Lukas Pauer, 2022).

Fig 13. In-progress student work sample from a design research project proposal submitted as part of an elective seminar course within the Vertical Geopolitics Lab’s teaching branch at the UofT Daniels. (Liane Werdina, ‘The Washing of a Kurdish History along the Tigris River Basin,’ in ARC3020YF Design Studio Research 1: Counterhegemonic Architecture, University of Toronto Thesis Prep Research Studio Course Student Work, supervised by Lukas Pauer, 2022).

Fig 14. In-progress student work sample from a design research project proposal submitted as part of an elective seminar course within the Vertical Geopolitics Lab’s teaching branch at the UofT Daniels. (Liane Werdina, ‘The Washing of a Kurdish History along the Tigris River Basin,’ in ARC3020YF Design Studio Research 1: Counterhegemonic Architecture, University of Toronto Thesis Prep Research Studio Course Student Work, supervised by Lukas Pauer, 2022).

Fig 15. In-progress student work sample from a design research project proposal submitted as part of an elective seminar course within the Vertical Geopolitics Lab’s teaching branch at the UofT Daniels. (Liane Werdina, ‘The Washing of a Kurdish History along the Tigris River Basin,’ in ARC3020YF Design Studio Research 1: Counterhegemonic Architecture, University of Toronto Thesis Prep Research Studio Course Student Work, supervised by Lukas Pauer, 2022).

Fig 16. In-progress student work sample from a design research project proposal submitted as part of an elective seminar course within the Vertical Geopolitics Lab's teaching branch at the UofT Daniels. (Liane Werdina, ‘The Washing of a Kurdish History along the Tigris River Basin,’ in ARC3020YF Design Studio Research 1: Counterhegemonic Architecture, University of Toronto Thesis Prep Research Studio Course Student Work, supervised by Lukas Pauer, 2022).

Fig 17. In-progress student work sample from a design research project proposal submitted as part of an elective seminar course within the Vertical Geopolitics Lab’s teaching branch at the UofT Daniels. (Liane Werdina, ‘The Washing of a Kurdish History along the Tigris River Basin,’ in ARC3020YF Design Studio Research 1: Counterhegemonic Architecture, University of Toronto Thesis Prep Research Studio Course Student Work, supervised by Lukas Pauer, 2022).