The Green New Deal Superstudio is a joint initiative of the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) in association with the Weitzman School of Design McHarg Center, the Center for Resilient Cities and Landscapes, the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), and the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA). The year-long open call was designed to give form to policy ideas by translating the core goals of decarbonization, justice, and jobs into place-specific design and planning projects. It attracted the participation of 3,000 designers and students from over 90 universities across 10 countries, including the Daniels Faculty at the University of Toronto.  

The projects ranged from pragmatic to speculative and covered a wide variety of issues, innovation, scales, and geographic regions. A curated set of 55 projects were selected to illustrate the breadth of work submitted and are organized into six categories: Adapt, Empower, Energize, Remediate, Retrofit and Cultivate. 

Out of 670 submissions, two Daniels Faculty Masters of Landscape Architecture projects from last year’s Integrated Urbanism Studio (Design Studio 3) were selected: Re:charge by Joey Chiu, Agata Mrozowski, Tina Cui, and Nadia Chan; and Welcome To Black Creek: Re-Imagining Water as Life by Alex Sheinbaum, Agata Molendowski, Evelyn Babalis, and Natasha Raseta. Alongside, three projects were selected from Architectural Design Studio 4  (ARC2014): East Harlem: The Bank by Natalia Enriquez Goyes and Clara Ziada; Buildings within Buildings by Lucy Yang, Jeff Jang; and Overlapping Celebration by Zak Jacobi, Evan Webber.

Design Studio 3 is an integrated urbanism studio led by studio coordinators Fadi Masoud, Michael Piper, and Mason White, in which students from all three of the Daniels Faculty's design disciplines — architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design — collaborate on shared projects. In the fall 2020 semester, student groups investigated and reimagined Toronto's postwar neighbourhoods, taking into consideration social inequality and the environmental imperatives of the Green New Deal.   

Assistant Professor Fadi Masoud shares: “As evident by many of the projects from the Green New Deal Superstudio, landscape architecture strategies, tools, and methods will be central to the retrofit and adaption of cities to climate change. The Daniels Faculty student projects foreground key relationships between design and social, environmental, and policy opportunities." 

Design Studio 4, also known as comprehensive design studio led by studio coordinator Sam Dufaux, is where Master of Architecture students create detailed whole-building designs.  The Studio explores both the conceptual and technical dimensions of post-carbon thinking at the building scale. It asked the students to re-think and reimagine the social and material dimensions of buildings to create a Net Zero Center for Activism in East Harlem. 

Studio Coordinator Sam Dufaux shares "The work by the students for the Green New Deal Superstudio demonstrates a new attitude toward the climate and social crises. The projects not only imagine a new type of civic institution but also demonstrate how it can be built around the principles of circularity, energy efficiency and low carbon construction. Training our students with this focus is essential given that buildings generate nearly 40% of annual CO2 emissions and that we have less than 9 years to decarbonize our industry."

The full set of submissions are catalogued and freely accessible as part of the Green New Deal Superstudio archive in the JSTOR digital library. Each submission includes three image boards and descriptive text. The curators included Barbara Deutsch (LAF), Kate Orff (SCAPE; Columbia University), Kofi Boone (North Carolina State University), Kristina Hill (University of California, Berkeley), Michael Johnson (SmithGroup), and Roberto Rovira (Florida International University). 
 
Learn more about the Green New Deal Superstudio curated projects through its website.  

Re:charge - Joey Chiu, Agata Mrozowski, Tina Cui, and Nadia Chan 

Joey, Agata, Tina, and Nadia write: "Our project is called Re:charge. It looks at redefining the existing technology, industry, and open spaces of West Rexdale through the lens of the Green New Deal. Most of the site is currently occupied by the Woodbine Racetrack and Casino, with plans for a mega entertainment complex. However, we envision a different development approach that prioritizes community investment and climate change adaptation and mitigation. Our proposals centre around investing in local renewable energy production to power community infrastructure and empower the community. There are three main programmatic areas. 

The Efficiency Commons takes the existing warehouse and manufacturing district and retools it for new green energy generation and green manufacturing jobs. It will house new high-tech industries and the Sleepless Circuit, a new entertainment destination. The Common Sink is a large central green space on the defunct Woodbine Racetrack. This new park will include a horse sanctuary, a large wetland green space, a successional forest that connects the two ravines, and a land-art sculpture park that takes into consideration hydrology and habitat connectivity. The Verve is a long north-south mixed-use residential, manufacturing, and employment corridor that has a unique typology of warehouse co-op housing and civic amenities that do not currently exist. It includes artist-run galleries, and the Knowledge is Power Community Center. The corridor creates connections between residential areas within West Rexdale and provides connection to a new GO transit hub near Pearson." 

Website 
 
Instructors: Fadi Masoud and Megan Esponeko 

Welcome To Black Creek: Re-Imagining Water as Life - Alex Sheinbaum, Agata Molendowski, Evelyn Babalis, Natasha Raseta 
 

Alex, Agata, Evelyn, and Natasha write: "The reality is that WE ARE IN A CLIMATE CRISIS. While we understand the normalcy of a fluctuating landscape, our urban systems and regions are built with static, unchanging infrastructure that can rarely withstand modern ecological disasters. 

In identifying Rockcliffe-Smythe and the Black Creek as a significant design action zone in Toronto, this project strives to gain a better understanding of the relationship between water as infrastructure and water as life, since both the natural and built systems exist symbiotically within our urban environment. 

Though there is no perfect solution to the growing ecological crises faced by Toronto's vulnerable communities, the project's thoughtful design integrates and innovates socio-ecological resiliency strategies tailored to the Rockcliffe-Smythe neighbourhood, including new housing programs, research facilities, floodable programming, and spaces for engagement. These interventions desegregate human and natural communities and reconnect people to their environments within newly designed spaces full of life, all grounded by the Black Creek." 

Website 

Instructors: Fadi Masoud and Megan Esponeko 

East Harlem: The Bank - Natalia Enriquez Goyes and Clara Ziada

Clara and Natalia write: "Our project exploits the opportunity in embracing 'waste' as a valuable resource that is being discarded. By designing within the principles of a circular consumption model, we treat the building as a new home for materials within a continuous recovery and reutilization process. This narrative lends itself to a focus on embodied energy where the material choices, their lifecycle considerations, and design for (dis)assembly become main strategies. The dynamics between physical durability and functional obsolescence underline the need to accommodate adaptability and flexibility to maximize the life cycle and minimize the ecological footprint of building components. The Bank stands as an intermediary between multiple iterations in a cycle of disassembly and new assembly."

"Through continuous chains of supply and demand, The Bank connects donors to builders, users, and consumers. The centre acts as a physical and social infrastructure mediating between people and materials. It provides a space of education, information sharing, and material distribution. Besides serving as a storage facility, it lends the community a toolkit for constructing change."

Website

Instructor: Sam Dufaux
Studio Coordinator: Sam Dufaux

Buildings within Buildings - Lucy Yang, Jeff Jang

Lucy and Jeff write: "This proposal provides a platform for social and environmental activism. It announces the urgency of social and environmental reform through relinquishing ownership of the ground plane, offering an open courtyard for the community in East Harlem."

"The courtyard is a public and flexible space where social movements and voices are amplified, but also hidden processes of building construction and demolition waste are brought to the foreground. The proposed building not only serves as a storage area for salvaged building elements, but it is also comprised of reclaimed elements itself. Reclaimed windows and bricks from the local contexts become critical components that give the project its architectural identity and reduce embodied energy."

"The concept of nested thermal buffer zones, inspired by the flimsy facade of reclaimed windows, also bolsters the building performance. The temperature gradient blurs the distinction between outside and inside, creating a composition of buildings within buildings that is composed of found objects."

Website

Instructor: Carol Moukheiber
Studio Coordinator: Sam Dufaux

Overlapping Celebration - Zak Jacobi, Evan Webber

Zak and Evan write: "Harlem as a community has a rich heritage tied to celebration. Celebration plays an active role in encouraging social gathering and empowering community members through the sharing of experiences, stories, and talents. This project looks to create spaces of celebration through diverse and dynamic programs that overlap and blend into one another, augmented and emphasized by floods of colour, prompting informal interactions between community members. This is done in consideration of the site's connection with environmental and ecological systems and how this enhances and engages with acts of celebration."

Website

Instructor: Sam Dufaux
Studio Coordinator: Sam Dufaux

Popular depictions of Toronto paint the city as a skyward-reaching metropolis of concrete and glass. But beneath the built environment, complex ecosystems are hidden in plain sight — and to find them, says sessional lecturer Michael Ormston-Holloway, all you have to do is look. And bring a sketchbook. 

As part of the Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA) program, Ormston-Holloway led Field Studies I, which encouraged new students to critically examine the landscape while capturing their interpretations in drawing. Over the course of a week in late August, students were asked to observe the living and non-living elements of the landscape through a different lens: Ormston-Holloway challenges his students to examine the landforms, soil, drainage and vegetation of the city.  

“One of the principal goals of the course is to have you be landscape detectives,” he adds. “Landscape architects need to be so many things. It’s a field ecology course, so we’re not spending as much time looking at deficiencies in concrete as much as living systems. Why is one living system a healthy ecological model? Why is another more contrived or gestural?” 

Last year, with courses being delivered online, Field Studies I was held remotely, with students creating one-kilometre corridors of study beginning at their front doors. This year, with in-person activities slowly returning, Ormston-Holloway started the course by bringing students to sites around the city: first, they visited midtown’s Wychwood Park, a former artists colony featuring many homes designed by British-Canadian architect Eden Smith. Next, students were shuttled to the rugged Scarborough Bluffs, known for its scenic views of Lake Ontario. Finally, students headed downtown, riding the ferry to the Toronto Islands.  

This isn’t exactly tourism — the long pants and closed-toe shoes, even with the humidity pushing temperatures past 40 C, indicate there’s more afoot. In actuality, Ormston-Hollowell is leading students across the shoreline of Lake Iroquois, a proglacial lake that once sat atop parts of the city. The  contours of the ancient lake are easily visible in the city’s bluffs and escarpments, but the region’s glacial history is also relevant in less obvious ways: it determines the structure, texture and pH of the soil beneath the group’s feet. 

It's not the only thing the MLA detectives investigated. Early on during the group’s walks, Ormston-Holloway directs attention to the sound of water rushing underneath certain manholes. That’s the sound of Garrison Creek, a major waterway that — to the uninitiated — is largely invisible. And that’s by design. 

“It’s about how humans manipulate urban environments,” he says. “In the time of water-borne illnesses, water wasn’t coveted at all. We added waste to our water systems, then piped and buried them so we could build a city on top of it. That’s completely counter to how we would design now. And thank God for that.” 

The design decision of city planners — and previous generations of landscape architects — looms large, as the city’s natural systems are interconnected in ways many might not imagine. The Toronto Islands, once fed by sediment from the eroding Scarborough Bluffs, are now being “starved” by the development of the Leslie Street Spit, a man-made headland that juts out from the western corner of Ashbridges Bay. It’s proof that, for landscape architects, interventions can have cascading effects. 

“This sustainably fed system is now gone,” says Ormston-Hollowell. “So now we, as people, need to step up and manage it in way that’s resilient and sustainable. Or at the very least, more sustainable.” 

The conversations, and sketches, continued the following day at the Evergreen Brickworks, a former quarry site that now features trails, ponds and wetlands. There, the group snaked their way through the Don Valley’s sub watershed — land where water flows through before it reaches Lake Ontario — and worked their way towards Corktown Commons, at the mouth of the Don River. After days of walking, the conversations start to get “really good.” 

“Often, I teach in a way that gets a concept across, but [in the field], biology doesn’t always behave itself. And inevitably, a student will have a question that bends the conversation in certain ways,” he says. “That’s the real value of going on a big walk every day. [In the Don Valley], we start to talk about the importance of parks to floodplains, and how we develop these systems. To get a bit more technical, we look at flood protection landforms that trigger planning that wouldn’t have happened otherwise.” 

In the field, Ormston-Holloway, who is also a partner at landscape architecture firm Planning Partnership, encourages his students to sketch as he might at his practice: sometimes, they toy with the speed of sketches. They use heavier and lighter leads. Some include richer detail. It’s an exercise that helps students learn how to inventory what they’ve seen — and back on campus, they’ll use digital tools, like AutoCAD, to design and draft their findings. 

On the final day of Field Studies I, those sketches are rendered beautifully in panels, affixed to a classroom wall. And while Ormston-Holloway has run through similar activities for 17 years, this part never gets old. “I’ve seen a lot of students [come through this field course], and the one thing they’ve had in common is the pride they feel when they pin up their final panels,” he says. “The struggles many students go through — some haven’t spent time with Adobe or CAD software — it all happens in a week. From the start, to five days later, they produce something that’s polished. Something they’re extremely proud of.” 

Welcome to the field. 

Anishnaabe painter Que Rock has been selected as the artist for the Daniels Mural Project by the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design for its inaugural Indigenous installation. The selection was announced on Sept. 30, 2021 during an event commemorating Orange Shirt Day and the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation at the Daniels Buildings' Stantec Architecture Courtyard, located at 1 Spadina Ave.. 

The temporary mural by Que Rock, who is a member of Nipissing First Nation, will honour the 215 children discovered at a residential school in Kamloops, B.C., and the unmarked graves that continue to be discovered across Turtle Island. Using the Daniels Building’s north façade as a canvas, the work depicts a sun on its left — representing the Seven Grandfather Teachings of humility, courage, honesty, wisdom, truth, respect and love — while its right features Grandmother Moon, representing the connection to Turtle Island, the water nation and Mother Earth. At the mural’s centre, children are carried by eagles to the spirit world; the eagles carry fish for the healing journey. 

“My goal is to portray the teachings of my ancestors, sacred geometry and Laws of Nature in all my art forms,” says Que Rock. The goal, for the Daniels Mural Project, “is a visual healing experience.” 

Que Rock describes his street art-inspired style as “making the woodlands dance.” In his large-scale art projects and canvas work — which include mural projects with StreetARTToronto (StART), a visual land acknowledgement at the St. Lawrence Centre of Arts and a medicine wheel-inspired work for the Toronto Transit Commission’s Ride Guide — the artist incorporates Anishnaabe teachings with a unique style that blends abstract forms with realism and expressionism.  

“The mural project is an important step in our continuous process towards collectively answering the calls of Truth and Reconciliation as a University, a Faculty and as individuals,” says Professor Juan Du, Dean of Daniels Faculty. “Que Rock’s artwork will be a visible reminder that every child matters, and that there is much work to be done in the path to healing. The Daniels Faculty seeks to promote dialogue and to generate better understanding of previously overlooked histories and cultures. We look forward to using the north façade of the Daniels Building as a platform for further education and programming this year.” 

The Daniels Mural Project is part of U of T’s response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report, Answering the Call: Wecheehetowin, responding specifically to Call to Action no. 2, a strategy for the funding and placement of more Indigenous public art across all three campuses in close consultation with local Indigenous communities. It will be produced in partnership with the University of Toronto Post-Secondary Fund for Aboriginal Learners.

Proposals were received from an open call issued by the Daniels Faculty in collaboration with the Daniels Art Directive, a student-led art collective, and Elder Whabagoon, the First Peoples Leadership Advisor to the Dean. The submissions were reviewed by the Indigenous Advisory Panel — comprised of a group of Indigenous Daniels community members including James Bird, Melissa Deleary, Jaime Kearns, Robin Rice and Brenda Wastasecoot. 

“Indigenous artists do the hard work of bringing our stories to life to be shown and seen by the world,” says the Indigenous Advisory Panel’s Brenda Wastasecoot. “They tell our histories, our truths and speak to our wisdom and strength.” 

Visible day and night, the mural encourages community members to engage with the history of the land and Indigenous teachings. “We're thankful to connect with the stories and cultural knowledge shared by Que Rock, the Advisory Panel, Elder Whabagoon, and many more Indigenous community members,” says the Daniels Art Directive’s Michelle Ng. “As this project grows, we further commit to truth and reconciliation.” 

Press inquiries: sara.elhawash@daniels.utoronto.ca

On Sept. 30, the Daniels Faculty will hold an event to commemorate the survivors of residential schools and their families. The commemoration will have in-person and online components; as it coincides with Orange Shirt Day and the newly created National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (NDTR), we encourage all community members to wear an orange shirt in honour of Stswecem'c Xgat'tem First Nation member Phyllis Webstad’s story. 

In the spirit of reconciliation and healing, we have also prepared resources that urge our community to support the ongoing process of reconciliation — and to acknowledge that every child matters. Here’s how the Daniels Faculty will commemorate Orange Shirt Day and the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in 2021. 

The Daniels Faculty’s event for Orange Shirt Day and NDTR 

If you’re on campus on Sept. 30, an Orange Shirt Day item will be distributed at the east and west doors of the Daniels Building starting at 8:30 a.m. These will be available until the start of the event at 2 p.m. 

At that time, community members, led by Dean Juan Du and First Peoples Leadership Advisor to the Dean Elder Whabagoon, will congregate at the Stantec Architecture Courtyard — outside the Daniels Building at the north façade patio — for brief remarks. Next, a moment of silence will be observed at 2:15 p.m. in memory of the 215 bodies found at a residential school in Kamloops, B.C., and the discoveries that continue to be made across Turtle Island. 

The event will conclude with the announcement of the artist for the Daniels Mural Project, as selected by the Faculty’s Indigenous Advisory Panel. A new vision for north façade will be unveiled as part of the Daniels Faculty’s response to the U of T Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action; particularly, it responds to Call to Action No. 2, a strategy for the funding and placement of more Indigenous public art across all three campuses in close consultation with local Indigenous communities. 

Observing a moment of silence 

For those unable to join us in person, we encourage you to take a moment of silence at 2:15 p.m. with your class or by yourself to honour the healing journey of the residential school survivors, their families and their communities. 

The Daniels Faculty’s virtual background for Orange Shirt Day and NDTR 

If you’re learning or working remotely, we have developed a virtual background that can be used on Zoom or Microsoft Teams. When using these backgrounds on either app, please uncheck “mirror my video.” Click the thumbnail below for a full-sized image.

 

Resources for the Daniels Faculty community 

For more information on Orange Shirt Day and the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, please see the following resources. The National Residential Schools Crisis Line can be accessed at 1-866-925-4419. 

Digital resources 

• Assembly of First Nations Toolkit 

• Indigenous U of T 

• Hart House Events 

• About Orange Shirt Day 

• Canadian Residential School History 

• Residential School Timeline 

• U of T’s Truth & Reconciliation Calls to Action 

Book and print resources 

• The Orange Shirt Story by Phyllis Webstad 

• Fatty Legs: A True Story by Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton 

• Speaking Our Truth: A Journey of Reconciation by Monique Gray Smith 

• Broken Circle: The Dark Legacy of Indian Residential Schools by Theodore Fontaine 

• 7 Generations: A Plains Cree Saga by David Alexander Robertson 

• Pathways of Reconciliation: Indigenous and Settler Approaches to Implementing the TRC's Calls to Action by Aimée Craft and Paulette Regan 

Video and films 

• You Are on Indian Land (Michael Kanentakeron, 1969) 

• Mother of Many Children (Alanis Obomsawin, 1977) 

• Sisters & Brothers (Kent Monkman, 2015) 

The John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design is excited to present its public programming for fall 2021.  

Through a series of book talks, panel discussions and lectures, our aim is to foster a meaningful dialogue on the important social, political and environmental challenges that confront our world today. How might we create new knowledge and leverage it as a tool for critical reflection and, ultimately, collective change? Our programs, and the difficult questions that motivate them, address a range of topics that are central to what we do: the relationship between the built and natural environment, land and sovereignty, the city and social justice, technology and building practice and resiliency and climate change, among others.  

Fall 2021 marks a period of new beginnings for the Daniels Faculty. As we embark on this academic year, we also reflect on our role as an institution for learning and knowledge creation. To this, we are supplementing our events with exhibitions that similarly probe at the boundaries of our various disciplines. Whether in the Architecture and Design Gallery, our corridors, or the north façade of the Daniels Building, the work on view this year asks: how do we engage with the world as it is at this moment?  

All events are free and open to the public. Register in advance and check the calendar for up-to-date details on hybrid events that offer a virtual and in-person experience: daniels.utoronto.ca/events.  

Fall 2021  

October 7, 6:30 p.m. 
How...?: Ten Questions on the Future of Education and Engagement
Dean’s Opening Dialogue  

Juan Du (Daniels Faculty Dean and Professor, University of Toronto), in conversation with: 
Shashi Kant (Forestry 1996; Professor of Forest Economics and Sustainability, University of Toronto)   
Kaari Kitawi (Landscape Architecture 2015; Urban Designer, City of Toronto)  
Bruce Kuwabara (Architecture 1972; Architect and Founder, KPMB Architects)  
Yan Wu (Visual Studies 2015; Public Art Curator, City of Markham) 
 
How...? Ten Questions on the Future of Advocacy and Change 
Exhibition – Thesis Projects in Architecture, Forestry, Landscape Architecture, Urbanism and Visual Studies 

Oct. 14, 12 p.m.  
Natural Architecture — An Archeology of the Future 
Lina Ghotmeh, 2021-2022 Frank O. Gehry International Visiting Chair in Architectural Design 

Oct. 21, 6:30 p.m. 
Robots as Companions 
Sougwen Chung (Artist, New York) 
Madeline Gannon (Artist, Researcher, Pittsburgh)  
Moderated by Maria Yablonina (University of Toronto, Daniels Faculty) 

Oct. 25, 1 p.m.  
Shared Space, Shared Vision, Shared Power: Advancing Racial Justice in American Cities 
Stephen Gray (Harvard University, Graduate School of Design) 
Co-moderated by Fadi Masoud and Michael Piper (University of Toronto, Daniels Faculty) 

Oct. 26, 6:30 p.m. 
Book Talk: Barry Sampson: Teaching + Practice  
Editors:  
Annette LeCuyer (University of Buffalo, School of Architecture and Planning) 
Brian Carter (University of Buffalo, School of Architecture and Planning) 
 
Contributors: 
George Baird (University of Toronto, Daniels Faculty)
Bruce Kuwabara (KPMB Architects) 
Jon Neuert (Baird Sampson Neuert Architects) 
Pina Petricone (University of Toronto, Daniels Faculty) 
Brigitte Shim (University of Toronto, Daniels Faculty)   
Nader Tehrani (The Cooper Union, The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture) 
 
Speakers: 
Stephen Bauer (Reigo & Bauer)   
Geoffrey Turnbull (KPMB Architects)   
Novka Cosovic (Bau & Cos Studio) 

Nov. 2, 6:30 p.m.  
Artist Talk with Que Rock 
Que Rock (Artist) 

Nov. 15, 12 p.m.  
Revisiting the Commons 
Kofi Boone (North Carolina State University, College of Design) 
Co-moderated by Liat Margolis and Fadi Masoud (University of Toronto, Daniels Faculty) 

Nov. 18, 6:30 p.m.  
Book Talk: Terra-Sorta-Firma  
Editor: Fadi Masoud (University of Toronto, Daniels Faculty) 
Contributors:
Luna Khirfan (University of Waterloo, School of Planning)  
Xiaoxuan Lu (The University of Hong Kong, Division of Landscape Architecture)  
Ben Mendelsohn (Portland State University, Film and Digital Culture)  
Michael T. Wilson (RAND Corporation) 
Moderated by Brent D. Ryan (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)  

Nov. 30, 12 p.m.  
Book Talk: Landscape Citizenships  
Editors: 
Dr. Tim Waterman (The Bartlett School of Architecture, Faculty of the Built Environment) 
Jane Wolff (University of Toronto, Daniels Faculty) 
Dr. Ed Wall (University of Greenwich, Landscape Architecture and Urbanism) 

Learn more about News and Events and Exhibitions, follow along with the Faculty on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and sign-up for This Week @ Daniels to receive current information on upcoming events. 

Three Daniels Faculty student projects have won Toronto Urban Design Awards (TUDA), the biennial program announced.  

Each winner was revealed in a virtual ceremony earlier this week: Power and Place was the recipient of an Award of Excellence. Elsewhere, Embodied Energy: Living Lab and XS Spaces: A New Laneway Urbanism earned Awards of Merit. All won awards in the student category. 

Held by the City of Toronto, the TUDA program recognizes architects, landscape architects, artists, city builders and students who help improve the livability of their cities. This year, the TUDA received 170 submissions across nine categories, with the student category inviting theoretical or studio projects.  

Here’s a closer look at the three ambitious student projects that won TUDA recognition. 

Power and Place 

Developed by third-year M. Arch students Erik Roberson, Yoyo Tang and Zak Jacobi, the Award of Excellence-winning Power and Place proposes a design intervention for Princess Gardens — located in Toronto’s west end — that includes affordable housing, energy infrastructure and new community spaces.  

Initially completed as part of the Integrated Urbanism Studio — which, for fall 2020, challenged students to reimagine Toronto’s postwar neighbourhoods through the lens of the Green New Deal — the plan challenges the inequities built into an area populated with detached, single-family homes. Daniels professor Mason White was the team's studio instructor, along with fellow studio coordinators Fadi Masoud and Michael Piper. 

Developed around the site of a future Eglinton Crosstown Light Rail Transit (LRT) station, the project proposes the addition of mixed-use, mid-rise development the reimagination of a present hydro corridor. Along Eglinton Avenue, where the LRT station will reside, Power and Place proposes the replacement of parking lots of car- and bike-sharing facilities, with buildings that will provide space for housing, offices and local retailers. Along Kipling Avenue — another major thoroughfare — mixed-use developments will step back the Princess Gardens’ interior, integrating with the existing low-rise subdivisions. 

The reimagined hydro corridor, along the Princess Gardens’ western edge, will add solar panels, wind turbines and kites that harness high-altitude wind energy to the Etobicoke Spine. With renewable energy, community space and mixed-use development, the project aims to make the suburbs more equitable — and explores the possibility hidden in Toronto’s residential neighbourhoods. 

Embodied Energy: Living Lab 

Agata Mrozowski and Madison Appleby’s Embodied Energy: Living Lab earned a TUDA Award of Merit for its reimagination of Willcocks Street on U of T’s St. George campus. Along with proposing a pedestrian-centred redesign, Embodied Energy aims to increase the area’s permeability — which will take pressure off existing city infrastructure — while adding learning spaces focused on urban ecology. The project was completed as part of Landscape Design Studio 2, led by Associate Professor Liat Margolis and Assistant Professor Elise Shelley. 

First, the project considered Willcocks’ current state. While walking the stretch, Mrozowski and Appleby noticed three things: first, boulders line the street in an attempt to direct pedestrian and car flow. Secondly, they noticed vegetation pushing its way through paving patterns. And finally, the influence of Modernist architecture was notable in the area’s usage of concrete laid along vertical plains. 

Reconstituting the site’s existing materials — ashpalt, concrete and clay, after all, all have natural origins, histories and life cycles — Embodied Energy imagines the site with five programmatic zones. Grass seams, with species common in alvar prairies, are proposed; canopy and understory layers expand from existing tree locations; rock gardens include excavated deposits of piled concrete; boulders are employed as landmarks and gathering spaces; and finally, experimental drifts are the site’s living lab, where students and passersby can note how species change over time. 

The reconstitution of existing materials was key to Embodied Energy. It’s an approach that, in the project’s description, aims to honour objects as keepers of memory — a perspective understood by many Indigenous worldviews. “By honouring the spirit and life-cycle of these materials, and centering land-based learning pedagogies, our project also responds to the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action for more Indigenous spaces on campus,” write Appleby and Mrozowski. 

XS Spaces: A New Laneway Urbanism for Toronto 

The city’s laneways are often hidden in plain sight, but they needn’t be. As part of an undergraduate thesis project — with Jeannie Kim, an associate professor, as its instructor — Declan Roberts developed XS Spaces: A New Laneway Urbanism for Toronto, a project that aims to reclaims these spaces for city-dwellers. And, as the project’s title suggests, it imagines laneways not as excess spaces, but as untapped urban resources. 

In their current state, laneways are “functionally obsolete, devoid of ownership and surrendered to the car,” per the project’s description. The thesis project activates these spaces by turning them into decentralized, hyper-local and DIY spaces — and by framing them not simply as interstitial areas, but as connective tissue for the city. Roberts imagines a new street typology for the laneway, and one that is geared towards the pedestrian — not the vehicle. 

In examining the renderings produced for XS Spaces, the transformation is vivid. First, housing lines the newly pedestrianized laneways, and with them, come rooftop patios, colourful clotheslines and gathering spaces carved from cantilevered buildings. Between the houses, recreational and gathering spaces abound, with benches, planters, greenhouses, community gardens and even a volleyball net. In renderings, the project’s DIY proclivities are especially evident: note, for instance, a film screening projected against the side of a home. 

XS Spaces imagines that these redesigned laneways can address the housing crisis, sustainability, urban circulation and public-space access. Hidden no more. 

Welcome and acknowledgment

Welcome to the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design at the University of Toronto! I wish to acknowledge this land on which the University of Toronto operates. For thousands of years it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and the Mississaugas of the Credit. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land.

The vision for our Faculty

The Daniels Faculty is diverse and dynamic, hosting nearly 20 academic programs, and home to 2,000 students, staff and faculty members from around the world. With the recent joining of U of T’s forestry programs, we continue to advance innovations in teaching and learning by bridging the studies of the built and natural environment. We ask, what happens when we position our design and research by approaching the world as it is, as one environment? More importantly, how could we generate new knowledge and leverage it as a tool for critical reflection, and ultimately, societal change?

I look forward to fostering thoughtful dialogues both on and off campus, as we seek the common ground that is fundamental to addressing urgent social, political and environmental challenges. There is exciting potential for further interdisciplinary and cross-sector collaborations across the University — as well as with communities in Toronto and around the world. As we embark on a new academic year, there is no better time to reflect on our role as an institution for learning, discovery and knowledge creation.

The evolution of our school

The University began as a royal chartered King's College in 1827. Seeking secularization and independence, it became the nondenominational University of Toronto in 1850. The study of the built and natural environments are well-established fields of academic inquiries within the University. In fact, the Daniels Faculty hosts both Canada’s first architecture program, established in 1890, and the country’s first forestry faculty in 1907 — both early programs across North America as well.

Today, the University of Toronto has evolved into one of the world’s top research-intensive universities. And the Daniels Faculty is now an unparalleled centre for learning and research, with graduate programs in architecture, forestry, landscape architecture, urban design and visual studies — as well as unique undergraduate programs that use architectural studies and visual studies as a lens through which students may pursue a broad, liberal arts-based education.

The purpose of our institution

The University and our Faculty have evolved, but it is worth remembering that they have always aspired to both intellectual and societal pursuits. I would like to share a statement of purpose published by the University’s Governing Council in 1992, for I found it to be deeply inspirational and acutely relevant as we move forward within a world with ever-increasing complexity. It reinforces the fundamental principles of our teaching, learning, research and services.

Within the unique university context, the most crucial of all human rights are the rights of freedom of speech, academic freedom and freedom of research. And we affirm that these rights are meaningless unless they entail the right to raise deeply disturbing questions and provocative challenges to the cherished beliefs of society at large and of the university itself. It is this human right to radical, critical teaching and research with which the University has a duty above all to be concerned; for there is no one else, no other institution and no other office, in our modern liberal democracy, which is the custodian of this most precious and vulnerable right of the liberated human spirit.

An invitation to participate

This statement is a reminder to our community of the responsibilities we share. Today, critical teaching and research must confront pressing social and environmental problems — issues that, in our globalizing world, impact everyone. Those problems, and the necessary solutions, transcend disciplinary and national borders. We are also reminded to cherish our individual uniqueness — cultural, political, social, racial, gender — and to recognize our common pursuit of human purpose in a shared global environment.

We invite you to join us in this humanist pursuit, through learning in classrooms, researching in labs, participating in our online and in-person public programs and working together in our communities at home and abroad.

Juan Du (she/her)
Dean and Professor
John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design

Excerpt from the “Statement of Institutional Purpose,” University of Toronto Governing Council, Oct. 15, 1992. 

At the Daniels Faculty and across U of T, we’re continuing to prepare for in-person learning and increased on-campus activities this fall. As we’ve shared throughout the summer, students, faculty, and staff should plan to return to campus this September.

What will fall 2021 look like at the Daniels Faculty?

Recent news from Ontario’s Ministry of Colleges and Universities indicates that if vaccination rates and public health indicators continue improving, universities will be permitted to resume in-person instruction without physical distancing or capacity limits on gatherings. Masks in indoor settings will still be required.

Fall term lecture and studio courses at the Daniels Faculty are scheduled to begin in-person on Thursday, September 9, with some in-person field courses beginning in August. If you have a question about your date of arrival, please contact registrar@daniels.utoronto.ca.

Faculty, librarians, and staff should be in conversation with their supervisor to confirm plans for fall 2021. Please reference UTogether’s Resources for faculty, librarians, and staff for answers to FAQs.

What if I am not able to be on campus by the first day of classes?

For undergraduate and graduate students who will not be able to be in Toronto on the first day of classes due to extenuating circumstances: the Office of the Registrar and Student Services will evaluate applications for virtual learning for a two-week period (September 9-23).

Each application will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Incoming and current students will receive more information from the Office of the Registrar and Student Services by mid-August.

Students seeking an accommodation due to a disability should contact Accessibility Services as soon as possible to discuss their individual situations: accessibility.services@utoronto.ca.

How is U of T preparing for a safe return to campus?

U of T is closely monitoring the Government of Ontario’s plans for safely re-opening our province. As Ontario moved into Step Three of its Roadmap to Reopen, efforts for a safe arrival of new and returning students continue, including preparation of residences and programs to assist students arriving from outside of Canada.

• How U of T is preparing for a safe return to campus
• International Student Arrival
• Quarantine Information for Students Entering Canada
• Residences and Off-campus Housing

We understand that there will be questions as plans are finalized and we move into the last month of summer. The Daniels Faculty will provide another update in August, and we will continue to share news along the way.

Until then enjoy the rest of summer, and we look forward to seeing you in person this fall.

Three recent Daniels Faculty graduates from the Class of 2021 sat down with us to remember their time at university and share advice for new and current students. From memorable courses and favourite spots on campus, to critical first-year skills and advice for maintaining balance – read on for their responses.

Sheetza McGarry – Bachelor of Arts, Architectural Studies

What is your favourite memory at U of T and the Daniels Faculty?   

I don't think I can pick just one. However, I would say the community in general. The friendships made at this faculty become your teammates, support network, and family away from home. The relationships formed with faculty members are so supportive and really opened my eyes to the possibilities of architecture and design beyond this academic stage.  

What do you know now that you wish you’d known when starting your program?   

Self-care and socializing are just as important as school. You need to find a balance. It's 10x harder to do your best work alone and when you're not taking care of yourself.  

What skills do you think first-year students should focus on developing?   

Getting used to synthesizing large readings will definitely help with the first-year reading requirements. It also never hurts to get a leg up on the Adobe Suite (specifically Illustrator and Photoshop), Rhino, and AutoCAD. However, most importantly I'd just say keep creating, find what gets you excited and explore it.  

What was your favourite course that you took at Daniels?  

Any of the design studios of course. I also loved Artist's Writings. It was a great way to read pieces from creatives that we learn about in theory classes. From reading their works and having critical discussions about them in class, I discovered a lot about my own practice and places I grappled with my identity within the art and architecture field. The projects that came out of this class are some that I hold closest to my heart, and have gone on to inform the way I approach my artistic practice whether that be visual arts, writing, or architecture and design.  

How do you maintain a good work/life balance?   

It's a constant process of reminding myself to take breaks and step back. Without it, it can get a bit too easy to lose perspective on your work and academics in general. Don't forget to be excited about things outside of school: a meal you're really interested in trying to cook, a park you want to read in, or a new cycling route. Also, surrounding yourself with people you mesh well with will make work/life balance seamless as you'll support one another and remind each other to have fun!  

What is your favourite spot on campus?  

​The Bamboo Garden in the Terrence Donnelly Centre! Brightens any rainy or snowy day.  

What tips for success do you have for first-year students at Daniels? 

Find people you work well with and have fun with and hold on to them. With so much change going on at this stage in life, you'll grow more than you can ever expect. Having a community to do that with is the best feeling as you enter adulthood! Your community will become your collaborators, critics, and of course friends. Finally, remember to take care of yourself and have fun - it'll go by quick so make the most of it!  

Juliette Cook – Master of Architecture

What is your favourite memory at U of T and the Daniels Faculty?   

There are a few, but one of my favourite memory at Daniels comes from first year, when two of the people in my studio and I agreed we would never stay past 10pm. Fast forward to the weekend before the first deadline, we were in studio figuring out how to unroll surfaces and glue our models together, and stayed until about 2am. While we were tired and disappointed we didn’t abide by our ‘rule’, we sort of chuckled about it, and since we all lived in the East end, Ubered home together when we were done. Those two people have remained two of my closest friends throughout the program. You definitely bond during those late nights in studio! 

What do you know now that you wish you’d known when starting your program?   

It is never worth skipping a meal – always take that time away from your computer to nourish yourself and give your brain a break. 

  What skills do you think first-year students should focus on developing?   

I think it is important to ask for support in developing skills to design with climate change in mind; in other words, thinking about embodied and operational carbon. This may take the form of learning software skills (daylighting, energy intensity, carbon accounting, etc.) to learning about societal and environmental strategies for environmental management. One course that I think should be incorporated into first-year learning is Doug Anderson’s ‘Indigenous Perspectives on Landscapes.’

I also think it would be beneficial to have some small group exercises in studio, for example for doing precedent analysis, or even site analysis. Group work is an integral part of being in the field and practicing those skills in school will translate well to any workplace where you would work alongside a team (i.e. most workplaces!) Finally, students should be open-minded to experimenting with different techniques to find what helps to make their work legible and accessible to others. 

  What was your favourite course that you took at Daniels?  

Barring studio courses, my favourite is a toss up between Peter Sealy’s Berlin in Film summer course, and Tei Carpenter’s By Other Means seminar. From the content to the format of the class, I felt very inspired and motivated by these two. 

  How do you maintain a good work/life balance?   

I worked throughout my degree, outside of school as well as a TA in 2nd and 3rd year. While shuffling around the city commuting and also having to work made my schedule quite tight, both of these activities were a welcome break from thinking about schoolwork. It allowed me to take some space from studio and come back refreshed. I also would not compromise on working out / stretching, and even kept a lacrosse ball in my desk drawer to roll out my tired feet. Reserving time for a partner, friends, and family was key – though I wasn’t physically seeing many of these people over the course of the 3-year degree, regular calls during studio breaks or commutes home were good reminders that life goes on after school. 

 What is your favourite spot on campus?  

The PIT! Great spot to have lunch / take a break with a group of friends. I am not sure if everyone calls it the pit, but it is the auditorium space leading up to the grad studio. With COVID, Daniels Gathertown Edition was also a great place to be!   

  What tips for success do you have for first-year students at Daniels?   

My main tip would be figuring out a workflow that allows you to be efficient, while staying excited about what you are working on. If I felt like working on a perspective collage in Photoshop, even without having more technical drawings completed yet, I rolled with that feeling so that I had a rendered vision of my project that would keep me inspired. Starting tests on representation techniques early helped to confirm whether or not what I imagined in my brain would work out on paper! 

Rida Khan – Master of Urban Design

What is your favourite memory at U of T and the Daniels Faculty?   

It has to be during my online thesis presentation when so many of my past and current teachers all took time out to see my final work. I couldn’t stop smiling. I owe my growth as a designer to their guidance and patience and I am grateful to have created those relationships at Daniels. 

What do you know now that you wish you’d known when starting your program?   

Speak up and ask for help, you are not supposed to know everything.  

What skills do you think first-year students should focus on developing?  

Build your communication skills, understand your strengths, and acknowledge weaknesses you can build on. There are students and faculty who can help you inside and outside the classroom to build you up if you learn how to communicate well. 

What was your favourite course that you took at Daniels?  

Superstudio (the joint course between graduate students in Urban Design, Architecture, and Landscape Architecture). It was memorable. Good memories, bad memories. I felt hopeful and powerless at the same time – it was something!  

How do you maintain a good work/life balance?   

During my time at Daniels I had to constantly remind myself that I am in school to learn and not to prove something at the cost of my physical and mental health- we are intending to become designers not participate in Fear Factor. I made a rule for myself to not do all-nighters (I ended up doing a couple) and focus on the quality not quantity of the ideas I brought forward.  

What is your favourite spot on campus?  

The Daniels building is majestic, and I love to point out to friends that I am associated with it. The Graduate Studio where all the Urban Design, Architecture and Landscape Architecture students worked together is a space of student solidarity and potential. I also love that the Multifaith Centre is just steps away for those moments when you just needed to get away, reflect, or pray.  

What tips for success do you have for first-year students at Daniels?   

Soak in where you are: a top design school in one of North America’s fastest-growing cities surrounded by the best teachers. I encourage students to learn from their instructors and proactively engage in opportunities to uplift your colleagues and communities outside of coursework. 

The Call for Proposals is now open for the inaugural Indigenous mural project at the Daniels Building.  All interested artists are invited to complete the online form or fillable PDF by Friday August 13, 11:59 pm (EDT).  If you are submitting the PDF, please email: danielsartdirective@gmail.com. 

The collaborative process to create the mural is being organized by the Daniels Art Directive (DAD), a student-led art collective, with guidance from Elder Whabagoon, the First Peoples Leadership Advisor to the Dean, and supported by the Daniels Faculty’s Office of External Relations and Outreach. An Indigenous Advisory Panel will select the artist and guide the project team. Read the mural announcement here.

Interested and want to know more? Join the Informational Session on Tuesday, July 20, 1-2 pm. The meeting will be recorded and shared on the Daniels Mural Project webpage following the session.

Register for the Information Session on Tuesday, July 20

Learn more about the Daniels Mural Project: 
daniels.utoronto.ca/outreach/daniels-mural-project