Presented by the Art Museum at the University of Toronto, and curated by Yan Wu (MVS-Curatorial 2016), MAKING MODELS is an exciting new project that brings together architecture and art, staged to advance innovative and critical ideas in experimental architecture in Toronto.
 
Nine Toronto architecture studios and artist groups — which include a number of Daniels Faculty members and alumni — have been invited to propose ideas and prototypes in model form that foster analytical, conceptual, physical and tectonic frameworks for inhabiting and constructing urban space and the public sphere. Produced in various scales that involve speculative, functional, representational and/or relational approaches, these architectural models, in response to the theme “meet me there”, take as their point of departure an exemplary public space – the Sir Daniel Wilson quad, an outdoor courtyard and urban oasis located on the downtown campus of the University of Toronto.
 
The nine proposal models will be on display as a group exhibition MAKING MODELS at the Art Museum from September 6 - October 7, 2017. A select jury composed of art and architectural professionals and university students will choose one model to be realized in 1:1 size on site at the Sir Daniel Wilson quad, in dialogue with the quad’s complex network of movement, vegetation, infrastructure, furniture, and architecture. The installation will be on display from September 21 - November 25, 2017.  The winning model will be announced in August 2017.
 
The nine Toronto architecture studios and artist groups participating in MAKING MODELS include CN Tower Liquidation, LAMAS (the firm of Assistant Professor Vivian Lee and Lecturer James Macgillivray, Lateral Office (the firm of Associate Professor Mason White), Nestor Kruger and Yam Lau, Assistant Professor's Mitchell Akiyama and Brady Peters, Public Studio, studio junction (the firm of alumni Peter Tan and Christine Ho Ping Kong, both BArch 1996) , Terrarea (an art collective that includes Emily Hogg, MLA 2003; Janis Demkiw, and Olia Mishchenko), and UUfie.
 
The five noted professional jurors are Alex Bozikovic (Architecture critic, The Globe and Mail), Tom Dean (artist), Bruce Kuwabara (Founding Partner, KPMB Architects), November Paynter (Director of Programs, Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto Canada), and Irene Sunwoo (Curator, Arthur Ross Architecture Gallery; Director of Exhibitions, Columbia University GSAPP).
 
While the city continues to experience unprecedented urban growth, especially in the area of generic condominium towers, there is also a chronic absence of major exhibitions and public forums for serious, in-depth considerations of the role that architecture plays in the shaping of the urban environment. MAKING MODELS provides a rare and coveted opportunity for established and emerging architects and artists to develop experimental and speculative approaches toward the built environment for broader public consideration.

Model Proposals
September 6 – October 6, 2017
University of Toronto Art Centre
—
1:1 Model Installation
September 21 – November 25, 2017
Sir Daniel Wilson Quad, St George Campus (map)

Daniels Faculty alumna Huay Wee (BArch 1996) joined Rios Clementi Hale Studios (RCHS) in 2007, and recently contributed to the firm's first monograph titled Not Neutral, For Every Place, Its Story.

With more than 30 years in business, the Los Angeles-based firm's projects include Downtown Los Angeles' ROW DTLA,  Columbia Square, Grand Park, and the modernization of The Greek Theatre.

Wee has been a project manager for many of RCHS's residential commissions and advises the firm's teams in navigating the residential building permit process. She has also led the development of the firm's drafting and project organization standards. Her focus on marrying outdoor and indoor living spaces has played a important role in two key projects included in the monograph: The Panorama Residence and Venice House. Huay highlighted both projects in her essay "Three Lessons."

Three of Wee's projects (pictured above) are also featured in the book: the Modern Barn House, The Exchange on 16th, and the Mesa Residence project.

A California-licensed architect and a LEED-Accredited Professional, Wee was born in Singapore, and lived in Calgary and Toronto before moving to Los Angeles in 1998. Before joining RCHS, she worked with a prominent Santa Monica design-build firm. Writes RCHS on its website: "We constantly rely on her excellence in translating design ideas into exquisitely built forms."

 Modern Barn House (images 1&2) | photos by John Ellis

Daniels Faculty Lecturer James Macgillivray has published an essay titled "Tectonics and Space: Architectural Thought in the Films of Robert Beavers" in the first retrospective volume concerned with Beavers's work. The book was edited by Rebekah Rutkoff and published by the Austrian Film Museum. It is distributed by Columbia University Press in North America and available at the TIFF Bookshop.

From the publisher's website:

"In a career spanning five decades, Robert Beavers has distinguished himself as one of the most important American avant-garde filmmakers. From My Hand Outstretched to the Winged Distance and Sightless Measure, his cycle of 18 films made across Europe since 1967, to Pitcher of Colored Light (2007) and The Suppliant (2010), intimate portraits shot in the U.S., Beavers has produced a deeply original film language framed by his use of colored filters and mattes. His investigations of the handwork of anonymous artisans complement his dialogues with Ruskin, Leonardo and Borromini in Ruskin (1975/1997), From the Notebook of... (1971/1998) and The Hedge Theater (1986/2002). This volume contains critical investigations of Beavers' most important films and a collection of the filmmaker's own writings. Occupying a unique space between poetry and philosophy, his aphoristic meditations vivify his own work and generously illuminate the art of film. The essay contributors include Tom Chomont, Don Daniels, Luke Fowler, Haden Guest, Kristin M. Jones, James Macgillivray, Gregory J. Markopoulos, Ricardo Matos Cabo, Jonas Mekas, René Micha, Susan Oxtoby, Rebekah Rutkoff, P. Adams Sitney, and Erik Ulman."

Macgillivray is a founding partner, along with Vivian Lee, of LAMAS a design practice with projects in Italy, Canada and the United States. He is a filmmaker and has published on film, architecture and projection in Scapegoat, ACSA Journal, The Journal of Modern Craft, the Canadian Journal of Film Studies and Tarkovsky, a collection of writings on the work of Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky. In conjunction with his work at LAMAS he is currently writing a book that delineates the notion of space in the arts of architecture and film.

One Spadina recently received an Award of Excellence from the Canadian Institute of Steel Construction (CISC) for its steel-framed roof — the building's signature architectural feature. Representatives from Entuitive, who worked with One Spadina designers NADAAA as the project’s structural engineer and building envelope consultants, were on hand to receive the award May 9.

The roof spans over 110 feet “across a column-less hall that will house the Faculty’s graduate design studios,” writes NADAAA on its blog. “A series of 3 cantilever trusses form the geometry for a modified ‘sawtooth,’ composed of clerestory windows that will admit high-quality northern light into the studios below.”

The architectural category of CISC’s awards honours buildings in which architectural considerations predominantly influenced the design of the structure. The bow-tie configuration of the steel trusses provide a total of eleven clerestory windows. The dramatic ceiling is its own landscape, determined by the structural, lighting and water drainage requirements. It creates a compelling civic interior and spectacular new platform from which to view the city and Spadina Avenue to the north.

Writes NADAAA on its blog:

The trusses themselves do not comprise a true span, in fact, they are 3 distinct structural components: two cantilevers and a link beam.  As such, the trusses function like a cantilever bridge such as the Forth Bridge in Scotland (see also illustration below), or the Confederation Bridge which connects New Brunswick with Prince Edward Island.  Cantilever bridges are characterized by greater structural depth aligned with the vertical supports, tapering to thin cantilevers at opposite ends between two adjacent spans.  These twin cantilevers establish an equilibrium about the vertical support, balancing equal and opposite overturning forces.

Above: “Living model illustrating the principle of the Forth Bridge,” Coutesy of NADAAA

For more details on the design and construction of steel trusses at One Spadina, visit NADAAA’s website.

“Instagram is high-speed design,” says Adrian Phiffer (MUD 2007). The Daniels Faculty Lecturer was written about in Canadian Art as an example of how architects are using the social media platform as part of their practice. He has since followed up with a piece in ArchDaily   explaining “why instagram should be part of every architect’s design process.”

He references Any Warburg, an iconographer, whose work “Mnemosyne Atlas” (1929) included symbolic images “juxtaposed and placed in a sequence in order to construct a visual understanding of the subject matter.” He also talks about OMA’s website, which displays “images of their buildings posted by the buildings’ ‘users’ via instagram.” (The homepage on the Daniels Faculty’s new website also includes instagram images from its own account @uoftdaniels and its followers.)

Last year, Phiffer’s own instagram account @officeofadrianphiffer was listed his account among ArchDaily’s “25 Architecture Instagram Feeds to Follow Now.”

You can read Phiffer’s full article on ArchDaily.

In addition to all the buildings that will be open for the public to explore this weekend — including One Spadina — Doors Open Toronto is presenting a Speaker Series focused on Canadian Architecture, with lectures Friday, May 26 and Sunday, May 28.

From the Doors Open Toronto website:

Keynote Event: What is Canadian Architecture?
East Harbour, 21 Don Roadway
Covered bike racks and free parking available
Friday, May 26, 7 pm

Canada’s landscape is vast and varied, with immense distances separating communities and cities. Much like the diversity that defines the country's identities and geographies, many Canadians embrace multiculturalism rather than assimilation. However, this is not the viewpoint of all, nor entirely representative of Canadian Culture.

Buildings and spaces created by Canadian architects illustrate and illuminate the many varied perspectives of Canadian identity – but, does a distinctly Canadian voice exist in Canadian architecture? A diverse group of leading architects from across the nation (and beyond) debate this in acknowledgement of Canada's 150^th birthday.

Venue provided by East Harbour
Closed-toed shoes are strongly recommended.

Panelists: A.J. Diamond, Omar Gandhi, Valerie Gow, Murray Legge, Susan Scott, Pierre Thibault
Moderator: Beth Kapusta

In partnership with the Toronto Society of Architects

MIA: Where Are the Women Architects?
The Great Hall, 1087 Queen St. W.
Sunday, 4 pm

The representation of women as practising lawyers and doctors in Canada is approximately 40 percent (rising to 61.4 percent for doctors under 35). Why is it then that the similarly demanding profession of architecture stagnated in 2005 and remains at 25 percent? What are the barriers women face in this field, why are they not advancing to leadership levels and what can be done? These questions and more will be discussed on this timely topic, featuring a panel of women architects from all positions in the profession.

Panelists: Mary Lou Lobsinger, Camille Mitchell, Barbora Vokac Taylor, Delnaz Yekrangian
Moderator: Elsa Lam

In partnership with The Great Hall

Photo above: detail of the graduate design studio at One Spadina, by Nic Lehoux

The Daniels Faculty is opening the doors to its new home at One Spadina Crescent during Doors Open Toronto, May 27 & 28. This will be the first public preview of the new Daniels Building, which is now nearing completion. All alumni, prospective students, and members of the general public are invited. Doors will be open from 10:00 - 4:00pm May 27 & 28. Please use the main east entrance, via the Russell Street crosswalk.

Visitors will take self-guided tours through the renewed heritage building and its contemporary addition, whose expansive, column-free studio space provides an unparalleled view up Spadina Avenue. Students, faculty and staff will be on hand to provide information on the history, design, and plans for the building. An exhibition of work by our graduate students in architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design will be on display throughout the building. When it officially opens in the fall, the new home of the University of Toronto's John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design will be a focal point for students, scholars, artists, and urbanists worldwide.

https://www.daniels.utoronto.ca/about/one-spadina/university-toronto-transform-iconic-toronto-landmark-new-home-john-h-danielsPhoto by Nic Lehoux

Globe and Mail architecture critic Alex Bozikovic recently reviewed the nearly complete Daniels Building, calling it "one of the best Canadian buildings of the past decade." The building is "spectacular," he says, "rich with arguments about how contemporary architecture, landscape, and urbanism can work with history and build the city of the future."

Photo by Nic Lehoux

Designed by Nader Tehrani and Katherine Faulkner, principals of the internationally acclaimed firm NADAAA — in collaboration with Architect-of-record Adamson & Associates, landscape architects Public Work, and heritage architects ERA — the revitalized One Spadina is intended to be an urban design exemplar and catalyst for the transformation of U of T’s western edge on the Spadina corridor. Once completed, One Spadina will be a showcase for the city and the University, and a world-leading venue for studying, conducting research, and advocating for architecture, landscape, and sustainable urbanization.

Learn more about the One Spadina project:

•     read our fact sheet
•     visit the Daniels Faculty’s Boundless webpage
•     view photos documenting the construction process by Peter MacCallum

In April, Daniels Lecturer and alumnus Ultan Byrne (MArch 2013) and alumna Elise Hunchuck (MLA 2016) were invited to present their respective research at the "Architectures, Data & Natures: The Politics of Environments" conference in Tallinn, Estonia. Organized by Maroš Krivy and featuring keynote talks by Matthew Gandy (Cambridge) and Doug Spencer (AA, Westminster), the conference interrogated the “two themes that stand out in contemporary architecture and urbanism: ecology, revolving around sustainability, resilience, metabolic optimization and energy efficiency; and cybernetics, staking the future upon pervasive interactivity, ubiquitous computing, and ‘big dat­a’.” The hypothesis discussed at the conference is that “they are really two facets of a single environmental question: while real-time adjustments, behaviour optimisation, and smart solutions are central to urban environmentalism, the omnipresent network of perpetually interacting digital objects becomes itself the environment of everyday life.”

“Typical CAPTCHA Threshold” screenshot by Ultan Byrne, 2017

In response to this environmental question, Ultan Byrne presented his work “Digital Thresholds and the Classification of Network Users” in which he looked to the technologies of the threshold that seek to distinguish ‘human’ from ‘bot,’ questioning them within the framework of urban theory: how can these technologies be conceptually positioned in relation to other technologies of the threshold (the password, the lock, the door, the city gate)? In what way did they develop over time (and with what relationship to research in Artificial Intelligence)? Byrne’s presentation looked to understand the contemporary moment, when it remains technologically feasible and is also considered valuable (economically, socially) to distinguish network users in this way.

Elise Hunchuck presented her project, Incomplete Atlas of Stones, in a presentation with Christina Leigh Geros (Harvard GSD) titled “Cartographies of Residence for Cities yet to Come: Points, Lines, and Fields.” Reassessing the terms of engagement with sustainability and resilience through her field work in northern Japan, Hunchuck presented her survey and mapping of historical environmental data for community-based resilience in the form of tsunami stone markers along the Sanriku Coast. A network of historical data at the scale of 1:1, Elise asks what the epistemological status of these markers might be; what kind of knowledge do they produce; and, what is the effect of these markers on the way communities and governments understand the always present risk of an earthquake or tsunami?

Presented as a case study alongside the PetaBencana initiative (in which the power of citizen cartographers is harnessed by the gathering, sorting, and displaying of geotagged tweets; each tweet sharing individual information about flooding, inundation, or critical water infrastructure in Jakarta, Indonesia), Elise’s Incomplete Atlas asks increasingly urgent questions while proposing transferable, multi-scalar, multi-centered approaches as a way to think in relation to our environments.

Both presentations will be made available online by the Faculty of Architecture, Estonian Academy of Arts, Estonia, in cooperation with the Department of Geography, Cambridge University, UK (the research project Rethinking Urban Nature).

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Ultan Byrne is a researcher with previous degrees in architecture and philosophy. In a combination of teaching, writing, and programming, Ultan considers the relationships between technologies of digital networking and persistent questions of architectural/urban design. Ultan is a lecturer at Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at the University of Toronto.

Elise Hunchuck is a researcher and designer with previous degrees in landscape architecture, philosophy, and geography whose work focuses on bringing together fieldwork and design through collaborative practices of observation, care, and coordination, facilitating multidisciplinary exchanges between teaching and representational methods as a way to further develop landscape-oriented research methodologies at the urban scale. Elise is currently based in Berlin as the research coordinator of anexact office and the project assistant for Reassembling the Natural. A University Olmsted Scholar, Elise is also a member of the editorial board for SCAPEGOAT: Architecture / Landscape / Political Economy. Elise’s field work and research in Japan that formed the basis of her talk and MLA thesis was generously supported by the Daniels Faculty Peter Prangnell Travel Award (2015).

Lead image: “77 Tsunami Stones” from An Incomplete Atlas of Stones by Elise Hunchuck, 2017

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.

Several faculty and alumni will be recognized at the Ontario Association of Architects annual OAA Awards, presented May 26th. 

The OAA Awards offers the Ontario architectural profession an annual opportunity to present its work to a public and professional audience. It advertises the excellence of both individual award winners and the profession as a whole, and it fosters a greater appreciation of architecture and architects among all levels of society, professional and non-professional.

The Daniels Faculty would like to extend its congratulations to alumni and faculty members recognized this year.

Boulevard Club West Wing Replacement by Teeple Architects Inc. Photo by Scott Norsworthy

The Design Excellence category recognized the “innovative skills of Ontario architects in creating spaces, buildings and communities that respect and enhance the environment an enrich human activity.”

• Boulevard Club West Wing Replacement by Teeple Architects Inc. — the firm of Daniels Faculty Instructor Stephen Teeple
• Eva's Phoenix by LGA Architectural Partners (formerly Levitt Goodman Architects) — the firm of Janna Levitt (BArch 1986) and Dean Goodman (BArch 1983)
• Mike & Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Centre, University of Waterloo by KPMB Architects — the firm of Shirley Blumberg (BArch 1976) and Bruce Kuwabara (BArch 1972)
• River City – Phase 1 & 2 by ZAS Architects Inc. — the firm of Paul Stevens (BArch 1987) — in joint venture with Saucier + Perrotte Architects

• Rosemary House (pictured above) by Kohn Shnier Architects — the firm of Daniels Faculty Associate Professor John Shnier
• Story Pod by Atelier Kastelic Buffey Inc. — the firm of Kelly Buffey (MArch 2007)
• Williams Parkway (Phase 1) by Rounthwaite Dick & Hadley Architects Inc. — the firm of Rob Boyko (BArch 1974)

Shobuj Pata by Studio JCI Inc.

The Concepts category recognized the “clarity and uniqueness of expression of an architectural idea as well as promoting the involvement of individuals in the areas of design presentation, art and other design related endeavors.”

• Shobuj Pata – Multi-Unit Residential Development by Studio JCI Inc. — the firm of Jaegap Chung (BArch 1999) and Sue Jean Chung (BArch 1999)
• Forwards and Backwards by Sessional Lecturer Jennifer Davis (MArch 2011) and Jon Sasaki

Ontario Science Centre by Moriyama & Teshima Architects

The Landmark Designation category recognized the “buildings that demonstrate architecture’s beauty, endurance and lasting contribution to community and society.”

• Ontario Science Centre by Moriyama & Teshima Architects — the firm of Raymond Moriyama (BArch 1954; Hon. 1994) and the late Ted Teshima (BArch 1962)
• The Fielding Memorial Chapel of St. Mark, Thornloe University by Townend Stefura & Baleshta Architects — the firm of John Stefura (BArch 1953) and Carl Skerl (BArch 1958)

The final three awards (the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Design Excellence in Architecture, the Michael V. and Wanda Plachta Award, and the People’s Choice Award) will be announced at the Celebration of Excellence Ceremony on May 26th as part of the 2017 RAIC/OAA Festival of Architecture being held in Ottawa.