Dear students, faculty and alumni,

As a new semester begins, I want to unequivocally affirm the Daniels Faculty’s commitment to addressing systemic racism within our school and within our professions.

If we practise our disciplines without consideration of structural inequity, we risk perpetuating unfairness by permanently encoding it into the fabric of the environments in which we live and work. As a Faculty, we are committed to thinking about how we can plan and design buildings, cities, landscapes, forests, and artworks that heal the divides between us.

I commend the students, faculty, and alumni who endorsed the Daniels Do Better letter for calling attention to these issues. Your recommendations have been heard. And I want you to know we are committed to doing better together.

Since assuming the role of interim dean, I have now taken primary responsibility for ensuring that the Faculty takes the necessary steps to learn and understand the issues and their contexts, and to form a plan to address them in a way that ensures enduring change.

This process began with an open, moderated discussion in July, and we plan to hold a second public meeting this October as a chance for everyone to both hear and voice their feedback on the process. Moving forward, we will work collaboratively with the Student Equity Alliance and student representatives on the Diversity and Equity Committee to adjust the format of these discussions to ensure that it is accessible to everyone. We will share more information about the next public meeting by the end of September.

The Diversity and Equity Committee met weekly through July and August to discuss the strategy for immediate and long-term actions. In continued efforts to remain accountable and provide transparency, I want to use the framework of the Daniels Do Better letter to share an update on committee’s work these past two months.

I recognize that this update is not a complete picture of the necessary work ahead. These initial steps are only the beginning of our Faculty’s long-term commitment to building a more diverse and equitable environment. I am looking forward to working closely with the entire Daniels community to implement new approaches and solutions that we can all be proud of, and to sharing further updates with you as the semester progresses.

Robert Wright
Interim Dean

Diversity and Equity Strategic Plan

The Diversity and Equity Committee has begun the process of developing a measurable long-term plan to dismantle systemic institutional racism within our Faculty. This plan will be made publicly available on our website when completed.

Building Internal Resources

We are in the process of creating the Diversity and Equity Office and we will hire a Diversity and Equity Officer. This full-time position will report to the Dean of the Faculty and the Vice-President, Human Resources and Equity, providing an additional level of accountability beyond the Daniels Faculty. The Diversity and Equity Office will play a critical role in responding to immediate concerns outlined in the Daniels Do Better letter and developing the long-term plan. We will share the position description when it is posted and expect the hiring process to begin at the end of September.

The committee has created eight work-study positions to provide paid opportunities for in-depth student participation in the committee’s work to counter racism and systemic discrimination: Diversity and Equity Committee Research Assistants (four positions) and Diversity and Equity Committee Administrative/Communications Assistants (four positions). We are committed to inclusive hiring and will prioritize the participation of Black, Indigenous, and racialized community members.

These positions are posted online through the Career & Co-Curricular Learning Network. If you are interested in learning more about these positions, please contact Jane Wolff, jane.wolff@daniels.utoronto.ca.

Decolonizing Curriculum and Pedagogy

Decolonizing our curriculum is an ongoing process — and we are committed to doing the work. Addressing systemic inequity within our school, and our professions, is a priority and commitment for all levels of staff, faculty, and administration.

The Diversity and Equity Committee is currently engaged in an assessment of the Faculty’s curriculum in relation to many societal issues. We are also learning from and working with, individual instructors who have created and are now expanding the content of their courses to further address these issues. Jane Wolff, associate professor and current chair of the committee, and Bomani Khemet, assistant professor, started conversations with program directors this summer to discuss how immediate curriculum changes can be implemented.

I am in active discussions with Liat Margolis, associate professor and director of the landscape architecture program, to establish an Elder-in-Residence program, or a Council of Elders, to advise the Faculty on the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, and provide approaches to decolonizing our curriculum. I look forward to providing another update on this program soon.

Daniels moved to online course evaluations in the Winter 2020 semester. Daniels staff have been working with the Centre for Teaching Support and Innovation to standardize the evaluations, and we will publish the findings when this work resumes. (It was put on hold during COVID-19 but we are committed to following through with CTSI’s facilitation to ensure inclusivity and equity.)

Hiring

Daniels, as part of the University of Toronto, is committed to employment equity — but clearly our present representation does not match our ambitions in this area. We are currently in the process of identifying future Faculty requirements and the need to establish more clearly anti-racism and anti-bias protocols into our hiring processes.

In response to the request to immediately hire three Black and two Indigenous tenure-track faculty members, with a focus on women and/or Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans, Queer, Two Spirit, and Non-binary professionals (LGBTQ2S+), across undergraduate and graduate streams: I want to express the Faculty’s commitment to diversifying its representation, but I also have to acknowledge the limitations in our ability to make immediate hires. I can assure you that this recommendation will be a part of the Daniels Diversity and Equity Office’s long-term plan, and I can provide an update on our current hiring status.

At present, we have three faculty searches that were at the point of final interviews but were suspended due to COVID-19. We were able to get University permission to complete those searches. The University has indicated to us that they are open to further supporting an additional hire that will prioritize representation. Given that I, as interim dean, am only in this position until a new dean can be hired — all further faculty searches will take place following the next dean’s appointment. In the meantime, we will review our hiring processes and faculty needs, and make recommendations as to how to increase the Faculty’s diversity. These recommendations will be given to the Provost and the next dean.

We recognize that cultivating long-term relationships and networking with guest critics, sessional lecturers, and part-time lecturers is an equally critical part of representing diversity in the Faculty. As to financial compensation: it is mandated by the University through union agreements. All guest critics, sessional lecturers, and part-time lecturers are treated equally with respect to compensation.

Training

The Daniels Faculty provides its search committee members with unconscious bias training and members are strongly encouraged to attend training sessions prior to the start of each search. Workshop and studio assistants complete mandatory AODA training. Within the bounds of union agreements and regulations we will work on a staff training program with an emphasis on equity and accessibility.

The Diversity and Equity Committee has requested group Faculty and staff training specific to racial injustice through the Anti-Racism and Cultural Diversity Office (ARCDO). The committee has also requested training by the Toronto Initiative for Diversity & Excellence (TIDE) to address unconscious bias. Due to delays related to COVID-19 and demand for training, dates have not yet been finalized, however, we will begin this process this Fall. If you have a question or suggestion related to training, please contact Harold Tan, harold.tan@daniels.utoronto.ca.

The Diversity and Equity Committee is working on developing a system for collecting race-based and diversity data that will allow us to address systemic and institutional barriers. In the committee’s August 6 meeting, committee members Mary Lou Lobsinger, associate professor, and Mauricio Quirós Pacheco, assistant professor, outlined questions that will allow us to better assess faculty diversity in nuanced ways (you can view the meeting minutes on the Diversity and Equity section of our website).

Counselling services

The University of Toronto provides a number of resources for community members looking for ways to combat — or heal from — the effects of discrimination and violence. Free counselling services are available for full-time and part-time undergraduate and graduate students across U of T, including Daniels Faculty students. We have gathered these resources and posted them on the Diversity and Equity section of our website. We will continue conversations with the Student Equity Alliance to ensure that counselling services are accessible to our student body.

Community Outreach

We are committed to fostering social and academic spaces where Black and Indigenous students can lead, network, and thrive. And we want to hear from student groups about what we can do to best support them.

The Office of External Relations and Outreach, as well as the Diversity and Equity Committee, have ongoing conversations and collaborations with the Black Architects and Interior Designers Association (BAIDA), Building Equality in Architecture (BEAT), and Black Artist Union (BAU). We are committed to strengthening our existing relationships with these organizations, supporting their work, and sharing their resources with the Daniels community.

Updates on outreach from this summer include:

• When summer programming moved online this year, the Office of External Relations and Outreach offered Chromebook technology loans to families in effort to expand access to our student camps. Our intention is to seek grants and other funding to provide bursaries to low-income campers.
• We are proud to support the Daniels Art Directive and their mural project that will install “Support Black Designers” on the Daniels Building’s north facade next month.
• We are in discussion with BAIDA, GALDSU, AVSSU as a collaboration for the 2020-21 Pan Canada Lecture Series.
• We will further our relationship with BAIDA through increasing the number of BAIDA members included as Guest Critics; offering BAIDA’s services to review student portfolios; supporting BAIDA’s junior school outreach; connecting BAIDA with Black Student Groups; and exploring potential opportunities for exhibitions.

If you have a question about community outreach, please reach out to Nene Brode, nene.brode@daniels.utoronto.ca.

Resources and Financial Support

Addressing the concerns raised in this section of the Daniels Do Better letter will be ongoing work for the Diversity and Equity Committee and the Diversity and Equity Officer (when hired). This will be an important part of the conversation that we need to have collectively — as a community — and the student body will be involved in the discussion as we prioritize transparency across our administration and communications.

Communications

We commit to developing an equity-focused communications plan in collaboration with students, student groups, and the Diversity and Equity Office. And we will audit our social media platforms through an equity-based framework. If you would like to join the conversation around communications and social media, please contact Hannah Brokenshire at hannah.brokenshire@daniels.utoronto.ca.

Safety and Accessibility

The Faculty is committed to ensuring access and safety for all members of our community in our spaces. We will consult Black, Indigenous and Persons of Colour, designers, students, and alumni to ensure access and safety in all Faculty spaces. We can confirm that members of our events and student services staff have received conflict resolution and de-escalation training, and we acknowledge that we need to provide additional training in the future. The committee will provide an update on this work in the coming months.

Kamila Grigo (MLA 2017), a graduate of the Daniels Faculty, has written an article for the summer 2020 issue of Ground, the official magazine of the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects. She argues that embracing Copenhagen's approach to blue infrastructure could help southern Ontario reimagine its relationship with its local waterways, many of which have been irreversibly altered to facilitate industry and human habitation. Adopting a Copenhagen-style strategy, she says, would both make Ontario's municipal waterfronts more pleasant and harden them against damage from climate change.

Kamila writes:

[Copenhagen's] precedents can be adapted to southern Ontario’s increasingly densifying waterfront municipalities as a means of developing a progressive urban relationship with water. A new surface hydrology can replace the existing, dysfunctional drainage system with one equal to the task of climate adaptation, all the while fostering an equitable, meaningful connection to an essential resource. It is possible to build cities that embrace the water.

An animation she created, in which she shows how these types of projects might be distributed in Toronto, is embedded above.

Read the full article in Ground magazine

This year's Daniels Faculty graduating class had an extraordinary final semester. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic a few weeks before final reviews and critiques, many final-year students had to rearrange their lives just as their studies were at their most intense. Despite all of this, they still managed to excel.

Ahead of today's virtual convocation ceremony, we caught up with five new Daniels graduates who were among the recipients of this year's Gordon Cressy Student Leadership Awards, which recognize students who demonstrate exemplary service and commitment to the university. We spoke with them about their favourite Daniels memories, the impact of the virus, and what they're planning to do next.

Yasmin Al-Samarrai (MArch 2020)

What's your favourite Daniels memory?

The community ​at Daniels really makes it what it is. I have many fond memories of time with friends. When I was a part of GALDSU (the graduate student union), we organized an end-of-year party at Hart House. We all dressed up to the nines, and we had an open bar, ​which is always fun. It was a really wonderful and collective experience — one that gave us the opportunity to celebrate our accomplishments in style.

How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect your last semester?

I'm very lucky, because I actually defended my thesis in December, so I was able to avoid the ways in which COVID altered the experience at Daniels. The pandemic has affected our commencement ceremony, though, which is very disappointing. But we've adapted by going virtual, and hopefully we will have a chance to celebrate once things ease up a little.

What are your post-graduation plans?

I was an intern last summer at RAW Design, here in Toronto. I was lucky enough to get offered a position over the winter, while I was still finishing up my last semester. I travelled in January, before the world collapsed, and started a full-time job as soon as I returned. For now, my adult plans are to pay off my student debt. With that said, we live in a pretty precarious time where architecture and design are crucial tools for change, so I would love to do what I can to be better and effect positive change for our communities.

What advice would you give a starting Daniels student?

My advice would be to not be afraid to approach students of different cohorts, especially in the upper years. We all have experienced the struggles and stress of being first-year students at Daniels. It's important to chat with others, to not feel alone.

Also, really prioritize mental health. Go out with your friends. Sleep. School is important, and obviously we all put our lives on hold for the program — but in order to really make it worthwhile you have got to enjoy yourself, so you're not completely burnt out by the time you graduate.

Kevin Nitiema (BA 2020)

What's your favourite Daniels memory?

One of the best memories that I had at Daniels would have been this year, when the whole undergraduate thesis class visited Chicago during the reading week break. We all got to share a 10-hour-long bus ride. It was really, really great to bond with peers outside of an academic setting. We were able to socialize, but also hold academic conversations around what our thesis work would involve. It was an opportunity for us to get closer, but also to experience life in another city that I had never been to.

How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect your last semester?

I was raised in South Africa, so my family is there right now. And a lot of borders are closed, so that's affecting me. My plan was to stay and work in Toronto. I'm adapting those plans on a weekly basis.

What are your post-graduation plans?

I'm taking online courses on topics that are interesting to me. I've also been conducting my own personal research for a couple years now. That has been affected by the global pandemic, but I'm trying to adapt. And I expect to do my master's in maybe a year or two, but probably not in Canada.

What advice would you give a starting Daniels student?

I would really encourage incoming students to not only be involved at Daniels, but also to seek opportunities outside of Daniels. I evolved my own passion for design and technology by connecting with a lot of engineering students throughout my undergrad studies. I worked with them on different projects, both academic and personal. And I've been a don at an Arts and Science residence, and that really helped me reshape my experience as an undergraduate. It really exposed me to different worlds.

Cezzane Ilagan (BA 2020)

What's your favourite Daniels memory?

One of the earliest Daniels memories that I find special was my experience as an orientation leader in second year. That was the same year when we finally moved into One Spadina, and that's when it really felt like Daniels was becoming our second home. I really bonded with a few of the students in my group. And I'm excited to say that some of them have been elected to executive positions on AVSSU for the next school year. It feels like I really had an impact on them and their experience at Daniels.

How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect your last semester?

For my thesis, I was originally supposed to create a series of these small-scale models. I couldn't produce those models, so I presented my research, instead. And I also did a small set of collages. They were inspired by Mies van der Rohe and his style of rendering.

What are your post-graduation plans?

I'll be coming back to Daniels for my Master of Architecture. I'm excited to return to my second home and see all the familiar faces that I've missed these last few weeks.

What advice would you give a starting Daniels student?

Get involved in clubs. I think it's a really great way to meet new people and to enrich your university experience. Also, I've found volunteering at Cafe 059 to be a really fun experience. It's a great way to meet and chat with new people, and it's also a great way to get a break from studying.

Elspeth Holland (MLA 2020)

What's your favourite Daniels memory?

It might be controversial, but I had an excellent Superstudio experience. I had an amazing group. I was working with three architects, which for me is the biggest strength of the faculty: the cross-disciplinary exposure in courses. We each played our own role in this massive master plan project we were working on. And we became wonderful friends, too.

How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect your last semester?

I've been very impressed with how the landscape architecture department has dealt with COVID. Having my thesis reviews during that time was challenging, but I had a fantastic panel of people who were able to tune in. Some of them were from far away, and I don't know if they would have been able to attend our reviews before COVID, so them being there was a positive result from all this. Also, I saw all kinds of interesting new ways of approaching graphics that were sometimes really beneficial to people's workflows.

What are your post-graduation plans?

This is the challenge of COVID. It's really difficult to answer, because I'm uncertain. I do have a contract with a firm in New York. I'm really excited and hopeful, but of course I may not be looking to go and visit New York for the foreseeable future. In the meantime, I'm still working with Justine Holzman, doing research. I'm part of a team of four other students at Daniels who are doing some work with her this summer.

What advice would you give a starting Daniels student?

One of the things that has helped me, not only at Daniels but just in general, is taking opportunities and getting involved. I think the best thing about Daniels for me was that exposure. The more you can get to know people who have different skills than you, the better off you are.

Kian Hosseinnia (BA 2020)

What's your favourite Daniels memory?

I have really good memories of being a TA, especially for Peter Sealy's JAV101 section last year. The experience of working with students — especially first-year students — and trying to communicate some of the things that I have learned, was really nice.

How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect your last semester?

One thing that changed was the scholar-in-residence program that I was involved in. It was supposed to be an experience where students from all over campus would gather and live together for a month and do research, but it ended up being more of an online program through Zoom. The experience ended up being wonderful.

And I had to adjust my work as a TA as a result of the pandemic. Instead of desk crits and pinups, we had to provide feedback to students on Quercus, by looking at their PDF submissions every week. The final review was also very different. Students had to submit a video or audio of them presenting their work and we (Peter Sealy, a guest critic, and myself) had to record our comments and feedback to be sent to students. Overall, I think the shift was successful.

What are your post-graduation plans?

I'm starting graduate school in the fall, at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

What advice would you give a starting Daniels student?

One of the things that helped me a lot was getting involved as much as I could in different ways. I did club work, and student union work. I was in AVSSU for a while. I also worked for the Faculty for a while. All of that really helped me get to know the community. And I'd add that it's valuable for students to get to know their profs. Making the effort to connect with professors will enrich their academic lives at Daniels.

When Tye Farrow (BArch 1987), a Daniels Faculty alumnus and president of the University of Toronto Alumni Association, first heard that cities and countries around the world were building temporary hospitals for COVID-19 patients, he was impressed by the initiative — but he was underwhelmed by the design. The makeshift patient rooms were frequently small, dark, and spartan. Many were little more than curtained-off areas inside retrofitted convention centres. He wondered: what if there was a way to design a hospital ward that was quick to build, but that still provided a high-quality environment for patients and medical workers, with ample space and light?

Then it occurred to him: there was a way.

For the past few years, Farrow's practice, Farrow Partners, has been experimenting with Grip Metal, a super strong, velcro-like material made by Nucap, an automotive brake manufacturer. Grip Metal uses tiny metal hooks to securely attach itself to a variety of materials, like wood, concrete, and plastic. Two-sided Grip Metal — a metal strip with hooks on both its upper and lower surfaces — can be used as a substitute for chemical adhesives.

Before the pandemic, Nucap and Farrow Partners had jointly developed a way of using Grip Metal to bind scraps of wood into sturdy wooden bricks, about the size and shape of concrete blocks. The bricks are assembled with Grip Metal and then subjected to enormous pressure by an industrial press, which causes the Grip Metal's tiny hooks to form a permanent mechanical bond with the wood. The bricks' tops and bottoms are lined with more Grip Metal, which allows them to be securely stacked, without any need for skilled carpentry or masonry. They're like Lego bricks — except they're large and stable enough to be used in full-sized, real-world construction.

Top: a wooden brick, with Grip Metal surface. Bottom: a close-up of a strip of Grip Metal.

Farrow decided that he would attempt to use these wooden bricks as the basis for a new type of quick-assembly hospital for COVID-19 care.

Within a few weeks of the onset of the pandemic, Farrow Partners had arrived at a design that achieved the hoped-for standard of quality — and, crucially, was easy to build with a minimum of involvement from skilled trades. Farrow calls the design the "Solace Rapid Assembly High Performance Covid-19 Inpatient Bed Solution."

"Right now, if you build a building, approximately 80 per cent of the cost of the building is labour," Farrow says. "With these wooden bricks, the skilled labour cost is brought down significantly. I could stack the walls myself. You can build something rapidly that's as strong as it would be if you were using concrete blocks, and it has the feel of a permanent building."

Unlike many other designs for temporary hospital spaces, Farrow's design does not repurpose an existing structure, like a convention centre or a shipping container. The entire frame of the temporary hospital ward is made from Grip Metal–equipped wooden bricks. Once stacked, the velcro-like surfaces of the bricks interlock, holding the bricks tightly together. Tie rods secure the structure, allowing it to resist physical stress.

Farrow's goal with the design was to create an interior that "causes health" by immersing patients and healthcare workers in a (relatively) pleasant environment, with plenty of natural light.

"Sitting in a black box is really bad for your health," Farrow says. "There are studies that show if you take a patient that has had heart surgery, and you put them in an inpatient room that has a view of the sky, they heal faster, they use less medicine, they have better outcomes, and they have shorter stays in the hospital."

Drawing on considerable past experience designing hospitals and other healthcare facilities, Farrow Partners' architects came up with a U-shaped floor plan. On the edges of the U are 12 patient rooms, each one 12 by 14 feet. The generous square footage ensures that medical workers can move freely around a patient's bed, which greatly eases the process of performing medical procedures.

The Solace Rapid Assembly floor plan.

In the centre of the U is a clinical workstation, where medical staff can don or remove protective equipment and perform other work functions. All the patient beds face inward, toward the workstation, in order to allow medical staff to monitor their charges at all times. This arrangement created a design problem: if the only thing in a patient's line of sight was the workstation, how would it be possible for them to see natural light?

To address this, Farrow's designers added a row of windows around the ceiling of the workstation. A patient reclining in a bed would be sitting at precisely the right angle to see a sliver of sky.

A section of a patient room, showing the sightline from bed to window.

Farrow's designers also gave some thought to the space's mechanical elements. Each room in an intensive care unit requires numerous electrical and gas connections. Maintaining those connections in a COVID-19 ward presents an obvious hazard to technicians, who might be exposed to the virus while fixing some machinery. The Farrow Partners design addresses this problem by putting all of the structure's mechanical and electrical systems in a corridor behind the patient rooms, separated by a wall.

The floor plan is designed to be repeatable. Two of the U-shaped 12-bed wards could be linked together to form a 24-bed, square-shaped ward. Two or more of those 24-bed squares could be linked with corridors to create even larger hospital floor plans.

At the end of the temporary hospital's service life, Farrow says it would be possible to reuse much of the structure. The Grip Metal bricks can be pulled apart, much like Lego blocks, and saved for future use.

Nucap is currently manufacturing thousands of Grip Metal bricks, using wood salvaged from wooden shipping pallets. Farrow Partners, for its part, has already used some of the bricks to build a full-sized mockup of three intensive-care patient rooms inside a barn in King City.

According to Farrow, there is considerable interest from government and industry in using the bricks to construct temporary hospital spaces. "We've had discussions not only with hospitals, but in education and long-term care," he says. "And that's not only locally, but in the United States and Israel."

Drew Adams (MArch 2011), at the age of 35, has already had a distinguished career in the nine years since he graduated from the Daniels Faculty. Now he has something else: the 2020 Emerging Architect Award, from the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada.

The award, formerly known as the "Young Architect Award," is given each year to a young architect who has demonstrated excellence in design, leadership, or service to the profession. Adams sees the win as a heartening vote of confidence in his career path, which has focused mostly on design for nonprofit clients. "What stands out to me is that it affirms a type of community-focused work that is too often under-recognized," Adams says. "More than ever, I'm optimistic about community-impact work and what we can still achieve together through collective action."

Adams is currently an associate at LGA Architectural Partners, where he has worked for the past seven years. He was the project architect for LGA's Evergreen Brick Works' Future Cities Centre, a former kiln building that now serves as a multifunctional event space. The project is known as one of Toronto's best and most prominent examples of adaptive reuse.

The Evergreen Brick Works' Future Cities Centre. Photograph by James Morely/A-Frame.

Adams also had a leading role in creating LGA's design for Eva's Phoenix, a transitional housing centre for homeless youth, located in downtown Toronto. The building's 10 townhouse-style units provide a supportive environment for young people who need a safe, temporary place to live, learn, and recover from trauma.

The RAIC jury noted Adams's frequent conference appearances and university guest lectures, as well the quality of his design work.

The jury writes: "Drew’s work displayed an impressive commitment to the benefits of material research, technical explorations of building systems, energy modelling, and daylight studies all in the service of designing and building a more inclusive living environment for those most in need in our communities."

Adams received the 2011 Irving Grossman Prize for his final thesis on innovative and sustainable housing design. Before entering the Daniels Faculty's Master of Architecture program, he graduated from the University of Waterloo, with a bachelor's degree in urban planning.

A graduate of the Daniels Faculty's Master of Visual Studies program has just been awarded one of the highest Canadian honours for work in the visual arts.

It was announced on February 19 that Deanna Bowen (MVS 2008) was one of eight winners of this year's Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts. She is the first graduate of the Master of Visual Studies program to receive this particular award.

Bowen, who has lived and practiced in Toronto for over two decades, is known for multimedia, multidisciplinary artwork that explores racial prejudice and the history of black communities in Canada and the United States. Her work often draws on her own family history, which she traces to ancestors who were enslaved in the pre-Civil War American south.

Photograph of On Trial The Long Doorway.

Among Bowen's recent accomplishments are a Guggenheim Fellowship and a solo exhibition at the Contemporary Art Gallery in Vancouver. She recently completed a curatorial residency at the Thames Gallery, in Chatham, Ontario. And she's currently a lecturer in the Master of Fine Arts program at Goddard College, in Vermont.

She has produced a steady stream of critically lauded artwork in a variety of media over a span of 30 years. Her recent output is typically diverse. On Trial The Long Doorway, created in 2017 for Mercer Union and later re-mounted at the Contemporary Art Gallery, consisted of a series of film sets. Within those sets, Bowen staged live rehearsals and recordings of her own adaptation of a 1956 CBC teledrama about a black legal aid lawyer who is tasked with representing a white student. Her 2017 video work, We Are From Nicodemus, blends art and documentary to tell the story of African American migration to the Canadian Prairies, using Bowen's own family history as an example.

After Lisa Bate earned her Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Toronto in 1987, it didn't take long for her to conquer the world — and that's not much of an exaggeration. She's now a principal and global sustainability lead at B+H Architects, a major firm with offices in several countries. She spent four years in Shanghai, managing the company's Chinese operations, while simultaneously leading B+H's efforts to design sports venues for the Toronto Pan Am/Parapan Am Games. In 2018, she expanded her global reach by becoming chair of the board of the World Green Building Council, an international organization that works to mitigate the negative environmental impacts of the global building and construction industry. We spoke with her about how she built her career, and how her U of T education helped give her a start.

How did you get to be chair of the World Green Building Council?

Canada is one of 70 or so countries that belong to the World Green Building Council. It's an organization that brings countries together — because what you do within your borders isn't the only thing that matters. Earth, wind, water, and groundwater all move between.

There are 15 seats on the council's board, and the representatives have traditionally been CEOs or past chairs of the Green Building Councils of individual countries.

I was elected chair of the Canada Green Building Council — the first female chair — and remained there until 2014. And then I got nominated to the board of World GBC in 2015. I'm now nearly finished my two-year term as chair of the board.

What kind of work does the council do?

One initiative is "Better Places for People," which is about building with the health and wellbeing of occupants in mind — meaning, thinking about indoor air quality, pollution, all of those kinds of pieces. And then we have "Advancing Net Zero," which is about making it so that all construction and building projects consume net zero carbon over their lifespans.

World GBC is having tremendous impact and supporting a lot of data collection. What I find amazing is the army of engineers that are currently getting a billion data points around the globe to be able to monitor airflow, air quality, pollution, weather impacts, and all kinds of other inputs.

What inspired you to become an architect?

When I graduated from high school in 1980, women were still often expected to join the country club and become a wife and mother. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, so I did a summer program at OCAD in environmental design, and I really liked it.

I went to interior design school at the University of Manitoba. (I also was accepted at Parsons and Rhode Island Institute of Design, but my father bribed me with clothing in exchange for choosing the school with lower tuition.) While I was there, it became abundantly clear that I wanted to go into architecture.

I ended up going to U of T. I can't say I was a very good student. I was a last-minute worker who always figured out a different way to look at things. I ended up going away to study abroad, and then a dear friend fell ill with AIDS and got quite sick, so I took the year off and graduated in 1987.

How did you get where you are today, professionally speaking?

After university, I started off working for a few smaller practices, all three of whose partnerships broke up within a year or two. When I ended up at the Colborne Architectural Group, the market was in a downturn and they were really struggling. I brought on a couple of clients who had significant projects, so I was encouraged to go out on my own.

That was in 1991. In 1998, I brought in a colleague who had established an amazing design business, and we started DesignArc Architect. Later, I was interested in going international, but my partner wasn’t, so we decided to part ways. I launched Six Degrees Architecture and Design, which was acquired by B+H Architects in 2007.

It sounds like you had strong business sense early on. Was that something you learned on the job?

My father was an obstetrician and gynaecologist. My mom raised three kids, but when we were older, she went back to school to do management training and ended up running my father’s business and another doctor’s business as well. When I started out on my own, I did all the invoicing myself. I really learned all the roles within the company so I could understand it.

You said earlier that you broke up a business partnership to go international. Why were you so determined to do that?

Initially, our clients here were hiring us to fix up old buildings. We did a bunch of Laser Quest sites in old warehouses and a number of restaurant retrofits. I wanted to change our reputation and get more work on greenfield sites, so looking at international opportunities was a strategic move. A member of my staff was from China and offered to leverage relationships he had there. The first competition we won there was all around sustainability. We got a ton of press for it, and developed a reputation for being experts in the field.

What are the major obstacles to addressing environmental problems in the construction industry?

Of the 39 per cent of global carbon that comes from constructing buildings, 28 per cent of that is in operations, and 11 per cent of it is generated from the embodied carbon supply chain, which includes the CO2 generated during processes of extraction, manufacturing, packaging, shipping, and construction.

I rarely say "climate change." I will say "climate deterioration." Because the climate has always changed. Yes, there have been droughts, yes there have been global warmings, but nothing on this unprecedented scale. Should we not be smart enough to future-proof for this?

What advice do you have for architecture students who want to integrate more sustainability into their projects?

For me, it has always been part of the focus: how to be mindful about materials, how to use fewer materials, or how to repurpose derelict buildings. For students who are interested in this, I recommend getting involved in local initiatives. When my parents were buying a condo up north, for example, I sat on the building committee for it, just to see what architects did. But there are also opportunities to get involved in organizations like BEAT or the local GTA chapter of the Canada Green Building Council.

You graduated with the class of 1987, which remains one of the most tight-knit and engaged alumni cohorts in the history of the Daniels Faculty. How has being part of that group affected your life and career?

What I find with the class of '87 is that there's friendship and collaboration that happens, because each person has figured out their own unique self-positioning, and what drives them. It's a highly collaborative group who are often competitors, but who are friends and colleagues first.

Dear Friends,

It is my pleasure to provide you with an annual overview of recent achievements and events and to highlight programs and milestones we look forward to in the year ahead.

New Programs for advanced study

The 2019-2020 academic year brings with it new and improved programs for our students, including revamped post-professional programs and a new PhD Program in Architecture, Landscape, and Design.

The long-awaited and recently approved Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Architecture, Landscape, and Design is a unique, internationally positioned, interdisciplinary program that will advance research and scholarship to address the social, environmental, historical, physical, and technical dimensions of architecture, design, and the constructed environment. Through their advanced research, our PhD students will be able to pursue any number of distinguished paths, working on issues such as sustainable approaches to housing; history and heritage; models of urban intensification; designing healthier environments; and modeling better ways to plan, design, and develop various forms of urban infrastructure. The program received formal approval from the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities on June 7, 2019, and applicants will begin to be considered this year. Our first group of PhD students are scheduled to start in September 2020.

Our newly-configured post-professional Master’s programs, now one year in length, will provide a challenging and rigorous forum for those wishing to extend their previous education in architecture, landscape architecture, and design. Oriented around a series of design-research concentrations, including computation and fabrication, health and society, and sustainability and environment, our post professional program will allow students wishing to advance their careers in specialized areas to build a cohort of collaborators across all of our disciplines and model new modes of research-driven practice.

U of T’s forestry programs join Daniels

In June, U of T’s Governing Council approved a plan to restructure the University’s Faculty of Forestry and have its graduate programs join the Daniels Faculty, effective July 1, 2019. We are excited to join forces with U of T’s forestry faculty, staff, and students to maintain and expand upon their outstanding programs and vital scientific research.

Bringing forestry’s strengths in ecosystem management, biomaterials science, conservation science, urban forestry, and mass timber technology together with our strengths in architecture, urban design, art, and landscape architecture is going to create a unique — and, we believe, powerful — interdisciplinary approach. Potential areas of collaboration include environmental design, land conservation, and wood-based design construction. We look forward to sharing more about the activities and impact of students and professors in forestry over the course of the upcoming year.

Recognition for our existing programs

Our professional Master of Architecture and Master of Landscape Architecture programs were subject to separate accreditation reviews by external visiting teams this past academic year. Both programs have received a full term of accreditation, and a large majority of the detailed accreditation criteria were found to be well met. The visiting teams expressed overwhelming support for the quality and breadth of our programs, noting, in particular, the value of having graduate and undergraduate programs in architecture, landscape architecture, visual studies, and urban design under the same roof. They also commended our new building/site for its broad array of facilities, and for its role in allowing for more dynamism and openness in both social and creative exchanges at the faculty. The assessors made special note of the quality and dedication of our faculty, and the diversity and energy of our students.

The quality of our programs continues to be recognized in other ways as well. For the second year in a row, for example, one of our graduate option studios received ARCHITECT magazine’s Studio Prize, which “recognizes thoughtful, innovative, and ethical studio courses at accredited architecture schools” across Canada and the United States. Taught by Assistant Professors Fadi Masoud and Elise Shelley, the course “Coding Flux: In Pursuit of Resilient Urbanism in South Florida,” which explored design solutions to address increased flooding in South Florida, was among this year’s six winners.

And for the second year in a row a recent Daniels Faculty graduate was awarded the Prix de Rome in Architecture for Emerging Practitioners. Kinan Hewitt (MArch 2018), a designer currently working at KPMB Architects in Toronto, is this year’s recipient. The Prix de Rome in Architecture for Emerging Practitioners is awarded to a recent graduate from a Canadian architectural school who demonstrates exceptional potential in contemporary architectural design. Hewitt plans to use the funding he receives from the prize to study successful approaches to co-housing in cities around the world. He hopes to determine how similar approaches could be applied in Canada, where the cost of housing, particularly in cities, continues to rise.

Growing support for our students

Given the changing provincial funding landscape around post-secondary education, with cuts to tuition fees and student eligibility and funding for the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP), the proportion of unmet financial needs among our students is likely to increase markedly this year. Thankfully, our students continue to receive financial support and recognition of their studies through the generosity of our donors and friends. Last year, we announced a new $6-million endowment creating the John and Myrna Daniels Foundation Opportunity Awards, which will help talented graduate and undergraduate students at the Daniels Faculty shape the future of architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design.

The gift from the John and Myrna Daniels Foundation adds to an already impressive legacy of support for the Daniels Faculty and for its students, who are being prepared to design and build the environments around us. It also brings Mr. and Mrs. Daniels’ support of the school to a remarkable $30 million.

A full list of awards available to both undergraduate and graduate Daniels students is now available on our website. Together, these awards provide valuable financial assistance to our students pursuing academic study and research that will impact the future of cities, landscapes, and communities around the world.

Some of the other important awards established in recent years include the: Professor Blanche Lemco van Ginkel Admission Scholarship, John E. (Jack) Irving Prize, Barbara Allen Memorial Scholarship in Visual Studies, Nelson Wong Architect Inc. Award, PFS Studio Award of Excellence, Peter W. and Linda D. Hamilton Award in Social Housing, Mary M. Rose Scholarship, Ted Teshima Memorial Leadership Award, MLA Award for Creative Ecological Design (established by Professor Emeritus Ed Fife), Dee Dee Taylor Eustace Boundless Promise Award, and the Peter Turner Boundless Promise Award.

Expanding our teaching and expertise

With our student population now close to 1,500, we are continuing to grow our complement of faculty and build expertise across our disciplines to enhance our teaching and research. Our number of faculty have more than doubled over the past decade. At the same time, we have increased the number of women and other underrepresented groups among our faculty ranks at the highest rate of any U of T division (and we still have the capacity to grow).

The Faculty completed six searches over the past year. These included positions with expertise in Architectural Design, with Vivian Lee, Adrian Phiffer, and Mauricio Quirós Pacheco receiving new appointments as Assistant Professors, Teaching Stream. We have also added a position in Urbanism and Urban Design. Michael Piper, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream was appointed to this role.

In addition, we are bolstering our teaching and research in Architectural History and Theory with two new positions. Effective July 2020, Jason Nguyen will join us as an Assistant Professor. In the field of Digital Architecture, Maria Yablonina will join the Daniels Faculty on January 1, 2020, as an Assistant Professor.

Our expanding research footprint

One of our priorities for the year ahead is to strengthen our research and better share the impact of our faculty’s work. A number of grants awarded to our faculty in the past year support work in key areas, including climate change and resilience, affordable housing, community development and urban design, post-war heritage, and mass timber building. Our faculty have also been investigating how architecture can better serve Indigenous communities. The following is an overview of some of our recent grant recipients.

Working with the Arctic Indigenous Wellness Foundation, as well as traditional healers, elders, and youth, Associate Professor Mason White has been studying how architecture and design can empower and inspire self-determination and reconciliation among Indigenous people in the North. Supported by a SSHRC Connection Grant, this research is identifying design tools and processes to facilitate greater participation and collaboration and is guided by the view that the design of buildings is a critical part of reconciliation. A separate project by White, based on design research developed with support from a SSHRC Partnership Development Grant, will be represented at the 2019 Oslo Architecture Triennale. The project, called "Boom-Bust," is a survey of the architecture and infrastructure associated with various economic booms (and busts) in Newfoundland — from cucumber greenhouses to margarine factories to fish plants to amusement parks. The research also features new proposals for minor architectures, or steady-state cooperatives.

Building on her celebrated green roof research, Associate Professor Liat Margolis has received support for a number of projects addressing green infrastructure, sustainable design, and urban ecosystems. She is part of a large cross-university research team that received a $1.6 million NSERC grant for a new six-year interdisciplinary training program that will prepare the next generation of engineers, landscape architects, and scientists to design, create, and manage green infrastructure for Canadian cities. She also recently received a grant from the Office of the Vice-President and Provost’s Access Programs University Fund to establish a new pathway to post-secondary education program for urban Indigenous youth. A partnership between the Daniels Faculty, First Nations House, and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, this powerful Elder and mentor-led employment program brings together Indigenous cultural teachings with architectural design and environmental conservation field work.

Toronto’s affordable housing crisis is at the centre of Assistant Professor Victor Perez-Amado’s research, which is focused on a key demographic group facing a dearth of housing options: seniors. In the wake of Toronto’s condo boom, Perez-Amado is exploring the relationship between current housing typologies and the needs of this vulnerable group.

A desire to understand the potential and social dynamics of our urban spaces underpins separate research initiatives led by Assistant Professor Erica Allen-Kim and Assistant Professor Petros Babasikas. Partnering with Toronto’s Chinatown Business Improvement Area, Allen-Kim received a SSHRC Partnership Engage Grant to study the heritage of Chinatown West and the impact that changing social and spatial dynamics and evolving demographics are having on its economic and social vitality. Babasikas, meanwhile, co-founded 6 Place Toronto, a McLuhan Centre for Culture and Technology Working Group, to examine the intersection of media and architecture in public space. The interdisciplinary group also includes Assistant Professor Charles Stankievech, Associate Professor Jesse LeCavalier, and lecturer Mark Sterling from the Daniels Faculty, as well as contributors from U of T’s School of Cities.

Assistant Professor Fadi Masoud, who was a member of the Flood Resilient Working Group that contributed to the City of Toronto’s first Resilience Strategy, received support from the Anne C. Irving Oxley (BA ’93 Vic; MLA) Research Fund to study the future of suburban parks — including their social and ecological potentials. His research is inspired, in part, by the Toronto Region Conservation Authority’s Sustainable Neighbourhood Action Program (SNAP), which is working to engage communities in the implementation of a broad range of climate change-related urban and suburban renewal initiatives in the public and private realms. Masoud also recently received research funding from Broward County Florida to design and develop an interactive web platform for resilience planning and design. The platform will help the County better understand and communicate the issues facing its urban fabric as a result of increased flood vulnerability due to climate change.

Daniels faculty are also enhancing our appreciation and understanding of post-war modernist architecture, both in Toronto and abroad. In 2017, Associate Professor Aziza Chaouni received a grant from the Getty Foundation to help revive the Sidi Harazem Thermal Bath Complex in Morocco — the first site in North Africa to receive support from the Keeping it Modern Fund. She received additional support this year for a workshop and exhibition in Morocco to reflect on the knowledge gained from the conservation process and draw attention to the global importance of modern architectural heritage.

Associate Professor Rob Wright (who recently completed his University appointment as Interim Dean at the Faculty of Forestry) was part of a team comprised of representatives from U of T and four other post-secondary institutions, as well as FPInnovations, to develop a Mass Timber Institute. Established in 2018 and led by Anne Koven, an adjunct professor in the forestry program, this is Canada’s first research and teaching collaborative focused on mass timber tall building construction and specialized education in the use of advanced wood products. This virtual institution supports Ontario’s commitments to sustainable forestry, sustainable wood products, and low-carbon construction.

Finally, Associate Professor Laura Miller’s book, Toronto’s Inclusive Modernity | The Architecture of Jerome Markson, will be released in early 2020. Supported by a grant from the Graham Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts, this book interweaves the story of Toronto’s emergence as a cosmopolitan city with the first comprehensive critical assessment of Markson’s diverse body of architectural work. Miller examines Markson’s long, inventive career, exploring how his architecture registered important shifts in sociopolitical attitudes, urban policies, and modes of architectural production in the post-war decades. Markson (BArch 1953) is an alumnus of the Daniels Faculty.

Simultaneous with the book’s release, the exhibition A Quite Individual Course | Jerome Markson, Architect, will open in the Larry Wayne Richards Gallery. Designed and curated by Miller, the exhibition will focus upon Markson’s broad portfolio of housing designs, from bespoke single-family housing to speculative housing models, and from multi-family social housing to market-rate condominiums.

The Daniels Building remains in the spotlight

This fall marks the start of our third academic year at One Spadina Crescent, and the Daniels Building continues to garner significant recognition through numerous publications and local and international awards — a total of 18 awards to date. In the past year, we received a COTE Top Ten Award for sustainable design excellence from the American Institute of Architects, a Society for College and University Planning (SCUP) Excellence Award for building additions or adaptive reuse, and a Lieutenant Governor’s Ontario Heritage Award of Excellence in Conservation. We were also recognized with The Architect’s Newspaper’s Best of Design Award in the Education category. In September, the project received a Toronto Urban Design Award. Special thanks to our project designers, NADAAA; architects of record, Adamson Associates; preservation architects, ERA; landscape architects, Public Work; planners and colleagues within the University of Toronto; and our faculty for the important roles they played in bringing the Daniels Building to life.

I am also proud of the recognition that One Spadina received this past year for its landscape design, including a 2019 National Award from the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects. Public Work, the project’s landscape architects, are to be commended for their thoughtful and creative design, which offers research and pedagogical opportunities for our students; provides sites for experimentation, interaction, and repose; and connects the site of our Faculty to the city.

Our generous donors deserve recognition for their contributions through the capital campaign to build upon One Spadina’s engaging public realm and landscape. The Delaney Family Courtyard, on the east side of the circle, just south of Darwin’s Hill, provides a gathering space for events, such as the annual Orientation Week barbeque. It has also established a welcoming connection to Russel Street and a grand entrance to the building’s contemporary wing. On the north side of the circle, the Stantec Architecture Courtyard, just outside the bifold door of our new Fabrication Lab, offers an extended outdoor work area for the construction and display of large-scale models, and an aesthetically pleasing area to convene, lounge, and enjoy the sun amidst the large-scale berms that bookend the north-facing entrance to the workshop.

Additional public installations are in progress. In 2020, the Paul Oberman Belvedere will be completed. This grand platform outside the Daniels Building’s historic front entrance will re-establish the circle as a prospect to the lake and offer an outdoor area for talks, events, and gatherings. I would like to thank Eve Lewis and Ron Kimel, and the Lewis, Townley, Oberman Family and Kimel Family for their generosity in supporting this vision. This engaging public space will both symbolize and showcase One Spadina Crescent’s role as a focal point for public engagement and outreach on issues related to the fields of architecture, art, and urbanism.

The Faculty’s capital campaign includes additional naming opportunities, not yet funded.
Philanthropic investments in some of our building’s most notable spaces — from the Graduate Design Studio to the Fabrication Laboratory and Main Hall — will help bring them to their full potential to the benefit of our students, faculty, and community. Gifts to the Daniels Faculty will, in turn, bring recognition to the alumni, design, and business leaders engaged in city building, here at the University and internationally.

Boundless by Design: Campaign update

In December of last year, President Meric Gertler announced a new benchmark for philanthropy in Canada, with the University of Toronto’s BOUNDLESS campaign realizing a total of $2.641 billion in donations from alumni and friends. This achievement will enable the University to pursue its academic mission and, in doing so, contribute to the city, province, and country.
 
Together, we can claim our part in the Boundless fundraising achievement and legacy. From the inception of the University’s campaign (publicly launched in 2011) until this past May, we have raised $44.8 million in philanthropic gifts from our own alumni and friends. The leading investment made by alumnus John H. Daniels and Myrna Daniels has redefined what is possible for our Faculty, and they are the first to join me in appreciation of the contributions made by many others to our campaign.

Thus far, 982 members of our community have pledged their support of the Faculty. Of those, 66 donors have made major gift donations. More than 25 architecture and design firms have participated in our capital campaign thus far, with others still planning to give.

The building campaign and expansion of the school have served to reset the relationship many of our alumni have with their alma mater, providing new opportunities to engage with faculty and students on emerging research and practice within the profession. Our advancement team (Jacqueline Raaflaub, Molly Yeomans, and John Cowling) have conducted countless tours of the new building, hosted alumni reunion gatherings, and visited graduates in their offices and firms to learn more about what matters most to you in your relationship with the school. While I am not able to get out to meet everyone in a given year (our alumni now number 5,025), they have kept me well informed of your work and contributions to the field.

Our campaign has inspired many to make their first gift ever to the Faculty. More than 800 donations at every level have been made to the campaign, pointing to a groundswell of generosity. In addition, 45% of donors are non-graduates — evidence of a strong endorsement of the impact the school has on the professions and the Toronto development and business communities as a whole.  
 
We will be holding a number of celebrations to thank our generous supporters for their contributions to the campaign in the upcoming year. Visitors to the school will see some of our community recognized through signs naming classrooms, labs, and student spaces — and there are additional fundraising discussions underway. The BArch Class of 1987 recently celebrated their shared success in providing more than $100,000 in donations to name the graduate student lounge, which will be known as the Architecture Class of 1987 Student Lounge. Faculty and staff contributed similarly to name the Faculty Lounge. Going forward, we will seek support of new opportunities, including faculty research, student financial support, and program initiatives.
 
With the conclusion of the University’s Boundless campaign, it is fitting to acknowledge the exceptional volunteer leadership of our Campaign Cabinet, who have demonstrated their own generosity and advocacy for the Faculty in the community. My profound thanks to: Honorary Co-Chairs John H. Daniels and Myrna Daniels, Wayne Barwise, Andrea Calla, Mitchell Cohen, David Delaney, Ron Dembo, Tom Dutton, Dee Dee Taylor Eustace, Tye Farrow, Lorne Gertner, Ralph Giannone, Alan Greenberg, Bruce Kuwabara, Eve Lewis, Pina Petricone, David Pontarini, Janet Rosenberg, Alan Saskin, Alan Vihant, and Sol Wassermuhl.  

Outreach, community engagement, and events

Our new facilities have made it possible to expand and enhance our outreach initiatives. This past summer, we ran our first summer programs for children and youth, including Bits & Bytes (ages 9 to 11), DigiFab (ages 12 to 14), and the Daniels Bootcamp (for late high school students and undergraduate students who would like to explore careers in design). By inspiring interest in architecture and design at an early age, we hope to build future engagement with and understanding of the fields — and motivate more young people to consider pursuing an education in architecture, landscape architecture, or urban design in the future.

We are also excited about the roster of public events planned for the year ahead under the theme “Hindsight is 20/20,” which will look at issues that have come in and out of focus over the last 20 years. Featured speakers will include, Billie Faircloth of KieranTimberlake in Philadelphia, who will be presenting this year’s Jeffrey Cook Memorial Lecture; and Teresa Galí-lzard of Arquitectura Agronomia in Barcelona, who is this year’s Michael Hough / Ontario Association of Landscape Architects Visiting Critic. Be sure to visit our website for the complete listing.

Another milestone event is the launch of our 8,000-square-foot Architecture and Design Gallery. Located in the lower level of the Daniels Building, the new gallery will be the only space of its kind in Toronto to present professionally curated exhibitions of international significance, combining architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, visual arts, and other allied design fields.

Our first installation, New Circadia showcases the potential of the new gallery by transforming it into a metaphoric cave — a soft, utopian, dreamlike space of repose and reverie. Inspired by the 1938 Mammoth Cave Experiment — understood as the first staging of a scientific research laboratory for studying natural human cycles of sleep and wakefulness — New Circadia will offer visitors a variety of sensory experiences and will include its own specific series of lectures, happenings, and performances. The following exhibition, Toronto Housing Works, opening Summer 2020, will be equally provocative.

How to stay involved

As always, there are many ways to keep in touch with the Daniels Faculty and play a role in the life of the school. More than 5,140 alumni and friends participated in the school’s mission last year. They attended lectures and reviews, served as informal mentors and guest critics, hosted alumni gatherings and reunions, and interacted with our faculty and students.

We hope that you will join us for this year’s lectures and exhibitions. Watch for new opportunities to collect OAA credits, participate in post-lecture discussions, and join the conversation on social media. We encourage you to meet colleagues for a coffee prior to our lectures — and share your feedback.

Our doors are always open. Please know that you may reach out to us to arrange a visit anytime. I look forward to meeting and re-connecting with many of you over the course of this coming year. Visit us during final reviews, and let us know in advance if you plan to come so that we can connect.

Completion of my term, and the search for the new Dean

On June 30, 2020, I will complete the last of two very fulfilling terms as Dean of the Daniels Faculty. Following U of T convention, I will step down next year, having now served longer than any of the seven Deans in the Faculty’s history. Leading this Faculty as its dean has been one of the most fulfilling periods in my professional life, and I am very proud of what we have accomplished together over the past decade.

The search for the new Dean begins this fall, and involves an Advisory Committee in accordance with University policy made up of the Vice-President and Provost along with colleagues, student representatives, staff, and scholars external to the Faculty. Together, this Committee will select the next Dean. The announcement about the completion of my term and the search can be found here: https://www.daniels.utoronto.ca/info/alumni

Over the next year, I will continue to concentrate on demonstrating how the Faculty’s new expanded platform can deliver on all our teaching, research, and public engagement fronts.  Beyond that, I am looking forward to returning to my life as a professor, designer, and consultant and to continuing to contribute to the life of our school and U of T. I will also be involved in leading and growing our Global Cities Institute, as part of the University’s broader School of Cities project.

I am excited about the many ambitious events and projects scheduled for the year ahead and would like to thank each and every one of you for your ongoing engagement, support, and contributions to the success of the Daniels Faculty.

Yours truly,

Richard M. Sommer
Dean
Professor of Architecture and Urbanism
John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design
University of Toronto

The Daniels Faculty's 1987 graduating class in architecture (who attended what was then known as the Faculty of Architecture and Landscape Architecture) had one of the strangest undergraduate experiences in the history of the University of Toronto. In 1986, just as they were settling into the fourth year of their BArch program, a number of long-simmering ideological disputes between architecture faculty members were boiling over.

In frustration, most third- and fourth-year architecture students boycotted that year's option studios, hoping to prod the university administration into making positive change in the architecture program. Instead, on January 23, 1986, U of T president George Connell announced that he and provost Joan Foley would be recommending that the Faculty of Architecture and Landscape Architecture be eliminated altogether, effective in 1990. (Their decision, although undoubtedly related to the turmoil at the faculty, was triggered by a need to conserve resources in an era of scarce government funding for higher education.)

After a year of protest — following a memorable march to Queen's Park, students designed and sold "save the school" buttons and published their own activist broadsheets — U of T abandoned the shutdown plan. The Faculty of Architecture was restructured and saved. The successful fight bonded the class of 1987 so strongly that they still, more than three decades later, gather for an annual holiday meal. Many of them remain close friends.

This year, the class of 1987 proved that they can still act together when it matters. Members of the class collectively raised over $120,000 to put the finishing touches on the graduate student lounge at the Daniels Faculty's new home, the Daniels Building at One Spadina Crescent. As a result of the extraordinary generosity of this special group of alumni, the lounge will now be known as the Architecture Class of 1987 Student Lounge.

On October 4, a group of alumni, as well as a few invited friends, gathered at One Spadina to celebrate the successful fundraising appeal, and the remarkable transformation of their alma mater. Here are a few photos from the night.

Alan Vihant (BArch 1987), with Associate Professor Pina Petricone and the next generation of the Giannone-Petricone family:

Dean Richard Sommer and Dino Dutra (BArch 1987):

Ralph Giannone (BArch 1987), Steph Ginsberg (BArch 1987), Lisa Bate (BArch 1987), and Birgit Siber (BArch 1987):

Marc Van Ginkel (BArch 1988), Alan Vihant (BArch 1987), and Tye Farrow (BArch 1987), who currently serves as president of the University of Toronto Alumni Association:

Sandor Rott (BArch 1987), Sam Saif (BArch 1987), and classmate Peter Tillman:

Dee Dee Taylor Eustace (BArch 1987):

Ralph Giannone (BArch 1987), Marc Van Ginkel (BArch 1988), and Heather Taylor (BArch 1987):

Photographs by John Hryniuk, www.johnhryniuk.com.