Upon learning he was shortlisted for an Ontario Association of Art Galleries (OAAG) Award, Henry Heng Lu (MVS 2017) said he felt happy just to be nominated — he did not expect that he would actually win. After all, it is rare for a student-curated exhibition to receive Exhibition of the Year (Budget under $20,000 - Thematic).

“When it was announced that I won, I thought, ‘This is happening?’” he said. “I was so thrilled. The award is a great encouragement.”

Held last year at the Art Museum at the University of Toronto, Lu’s now award-winning exhibition Far and Near: the Distance(s) between Us was his final project in the Master of Visual Studies, Curatorial Studies program at the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design. It is also the first student-curated exhibition at the Art Museum to receive an OAAG Exhibition of the Year Award. The show — which included a video screening, artist-talks with Karen Tam and Chih-Chien Wang, a public lecture with Ken Lum, and off-site projects at U of T’s John M. Kelly and E.J. Pratt Libraries — explored the work of Canadian artists of Chinese descent and narratives of Chinese Canadian culture.

“We are exceptionally proud of Henry Heng Lu and his well-deserved win at the OAAG Awards. The exhibition, Far and Near: the Distance(s) between Us, represents Henry’s Graduating Project for the MVS degree in Curatorial Studies and is an example of the extraordinary work that students are producing at the Art Museum. The award is wonderful acknowledgement of Henry’s passionate curatorial commitments to connect artists and communities across generations and diasporic backgrounds,” said Barbara Fischer, Director of the Daniels Faculty's Master of Visual Studies program in Curatorial Studies and Chief Curator of the Art Museum.

Lu says U of T’s Art Museum — one of the largest gallery spaces for art exhibitions and programming in Toronto — is a valuable resource for students.

“I owe a lot of thanks to my advisor Barbara Fischer for giving me the opportunity to do the show at the Art Museum and guiding me through the planning and execution processes for this project,” says Lu. “The rest of the Art Museum team was also pleasant to work with. I felt very supported.”

As an undergraduate student, Lu majored in Studio and Arts Management at U of T’s Scarborough campus. It was at that time, as an international student and newcomer to Canada, that he started exploring work created by Canadian artists of Chinese descent, questioning how Chinese art is defined, and wondering why it is usually presented in “cultural clusters.”

“Later on, I got very interested in what being Chinese means in Canada and how ‘Chinese’ identities are configured and fabricated and started my investigation,” he says. “Canadians of Chinese descent have been gradually taking up a bigger role in Canadian cultural dynamics but it seemed to me that artistic practitioners from this population didn’t often get themselves heard. I wanted to learn more about their experiences.”

The exhibition featured works by Alvis Choi aka Alvis Parsley, Chun Hua Catherine Dong, Gu Xiong, Will Kwan, Ho Tam, Ken Lum, Morris Lum, Ho Tam, Karen Tam, Chih-Chien Wang, Paul Wong, and Winnie Wu.

Lu is currently Artistic Director at the Modern Fuel Artist-Run Centre in Kingston, Ontario, as well as an independent curator and artist, whose projects were most recently presented at Trinity Square Video and Nuit Blanche Toronto. Together with Yanjing Winnie Wu (HBA 2016) he cofounded Call Again, an initiative “committed to creating space for contemporary diasporic artistic practices and to expanding the notion of Asian art in the context of North America and beyond.”

The annual OAAG Awards recognize exhibitions, publications, and programming in Ontario’s public art galleries. Art Museum Curator, Sarah Robayo Sheridan was also shortlisted for a 2018 OAAG Award for Short Text (Under 2,000 words) for Figures of Sleep. And though his was the first student-curated show at the Art Museum to win Exhibition of the Year at the OAAG Awards, Lu was not the first student to have his exhibition recognized by the Association: in 2015, Liora Bedford’s, MVS exhibition Image Coming Soon #1 received an honourable mention for Exhibition of the Year (Budget under $10,000).

“We are delighted for our colleagues in the Art Museum, and also for Henry,” said John Monahan, Warden of Hart House, where the Art Museum’s Justina M. Barnicke Gallery is located. “The fact that he won his award for his graduating exhibition in the Master of Curatorial Studies program at the Daniels Faculty only makes his success that much sweeter, for it reminds us, yet again, that the work of the Art Museum and Hart House makes an essential contribution to both the artistic and the academic life of this university.”

Lu says he was very fortunate to be a part of a cohort of amazing artists and curators at U of T. “The sense of community among us was very important to me,” he said recognizing Sandra Brewster (MVS 2017) among those who helped him figure out how to integrate his grad school experience with the broader art world. In addition to Fischer, he said Daniels Faculty instructors Lisa Steele, Kim Tomczak, Ed Pien, and Will Kwan also played an important role in helping him shape his work. “Looking back, the best part of my degree was when my ideas were challenged, and I had to actively brainstorm ways to respond and defend them.”

About the Art Museum at the University of Toronto
Comprised of the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery and the University of Toronto Art Centre, which are located just a few steps apart, the Art Museum at the University of Toronto is one of the largest gallery spaces for visual art exhibitions and programming in Toronto. Building on the two galleries’ distinguished histories, the Art Museum organizes and presents a year-round program of in-house and off-site exhibitions, as well as intensive curricular and educational events. Learn more at artmuseum.utoronto.ca

About the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design
The University of Toronto's John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design provides interdisciplinary training and research in architecture, art, landscape architecture, and urban design. Located in the heart of Toronto, the Daniels Faculty fosters a prominent community of students, scholars, and art and design professionals committed to initiating new modes of research and practice tuned to a changing planet and the evolving needs of society. Its mission is to educate students, prepare professionals, and cultivate scholars who will play a leading role in creating more culturally engaged, ecologically sustainable, socially just, and artfully conceived environments.

When Rachel McKenna-Marshall ran the Toronto Waterfront 10K, she got to see a display of the fruits of her labour from the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design.

 

Marshall, who came to U of T to study architecture two years ago, will be graduating this fall with a double major in architectural studies and visual studies.

 

This summer, McKenna-Marshall took an intensive course where the class designed and built a meditation pavilion for athletic apparel firm Lululemon, with groups working on different aspects of the final product.

 

She and a few classmates “were the most excited about it, so we got a lot done” – including building meditation chairs by hand. 

 

The pavilion was displayed at the Toronto Waterfront 10k. “It was really incredible,” she says, of seeing the pavilion in use, post-race.

 

McKenna-Marshall also did an independent study this summer involving her artwork. She took underwater photos of friends in a pool, which served as the source images for her paintings.

 

Her project was conducted under the supervision of Associate Professor Sue Lloyd, who praises McKenna-Marshall’s productive and self-led efforts and says the course allows students to do work at the master's level.

 

Looking back, McKenna-Marshall is grateful for the opportunities she’s had, especially working closely with faculty members. “They care about the individual students.

 

“I think that it’s really good to have a lot of creative people in the same space," she says. "I think it helps your work, I think it helps what you produce."

Avi Odenheimer always wanted to find a way to thank John and Myrna Daniels for making it possible for him to complete his education. On November 12, he had an opportunity to express his gratitude in person at the John and Myrna Daniels Scholars Luncheon hosted by the Daniels Faculty.

After enjoying a warm lunch and remarks from fellow students, Dean Richard Sommer, and David Palmer, Vice President, Advancement, Odenheimer presented Mr. and Mrs. Daniels with a watercolour painting he created of the Daniels Building — “the building they worked so hard to make possible,” he says, crediting the historic gifts Mr. and Mrs. Daniels made towards the revitalization of the Faculty’s new home at One Spadina Crescent.

Avi Odenheimer presents his drawing of the Daniels Building to John H. Daniels | Photo by John Hyrnyk

With his wife completing her PhD at the University of Toronto, Odenheimer says it would not have been possible for him to study at the Daniels Faculty without Mr. and Mrs. Daniels’ support. The third year Master of Architecture student is one of 81 talented students who, since 2008, have received John and Myrna Daniels Scholars Awards, established 10 years ago thanks to a $5-million gift from the couple to create an endowment that provides financial aid to high achieving graduate students in need.

Current John and Myrna Daniels Scholar Bahia Marks, who spoke at the luncheon, said the award is supporting her goal to better understand the role that architecture can play in addressing inequality through community-led design of the built environment. During her childhood in Apartheid and Post-Apartheid South Africa, Marks says she witnessed extreme wealth and poverty at a young age.

Bahia Marks makes remarks at the John and Myrna Daniels Scholars Luncheon

“What struck me most at the age of 10 was how the quality of housing was related to economic status and race,” she said. “I was really looking for a school that would allow me to learn the skills, attitudes, and qualities of an architect; the role of housing in society; and how to empower youth to contribute to the betterment of their neighborhoods.”

Though only in her first semester of studies, Marks has already connected with a youth program based in Toronto’s St. James Town and Regent Park neighbourhoods, where she hopes to empower a younger generation to be active community builders. At the same time, she is throwing herself into studio work, learning from her colleagues and professors.

John and Myrna Daniels Scholars with John and Myrna Daniels; Dean Richard Sommer; and former Scholar David Freedman, associate, Foster + Parners

The establishment of The John and Myrna Daniels Scholars Awards is but one part of Mr. and Mrs. Daniels legacy of support. In 2008, they made a historic gift of $14-million — $5 million of which went towards graduate student awards, and $9 million of which was a key catalyst in the expansion of the Faculty’s new home. It was in recognition of this gift that the name of the Faculty was changed to the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design. In 2013, Mr. and Mrs. Daniels made an additional gift of $10-million towards the Faculty’s capital campaign to revitalize One Spadina Crescent, an award-winning building where both graduate and undergraduate students at the Daniels Faculty study today. They joined by Toronto architects, alumni, and business leaders who have also generously supported the capital campaign.

Front row, left to right: David Palmer, Vice President, Advancement; John H. Daniels; Myrna Daniels; Dean Richard Sommer
Back row, left to right: Jacqueline Raaflaub, Director of Advancement, Daniels Faculty;  Tom Dutton, The Daniels Corporation; Jim Aird and Christine Mattear, John and Myrna Daniels Foundation

At the luncheon on November 12, a new gift announcement was made: an additional $6-mllion from the John and Myrna Daniels Foundation to establish the John and Myrna Daniels Foundation Opportunity Awards, which benefit both graduate and undergraduate students studying architecture, landscape architecture, visual studies, and urban design at the Daniels Faculty.

This latest gift brings Mr. and Mrs. Daniels total support to a remarkable $30 million.

For Odenheimer the award does more than provide valuable financial assistance. It also inspires his work.

“Knowing that someone has invested in my degree has pushed me to work much harder than I would normally,” he says. “It has provided an added purpose and meaning to my studies. I know that I will continue in the spirit of Mr. and Mrs. Daniels and their foundation. I perceive this scholarship not as a donation but as an investment, which I plan to return back to the community in the form of my future architectural work.”

All photos by John Hryniuk

U of T announces a new $6-million gift to create the John and Myrna Daniels Foundation Opportunity Awards to help talented graduate and undergraduate students at the Daniels Faculty shape the future of architecture, landscape architecture and urban design.

John and Myrna Daniels’ philanthropy has been a game-changer for architecture education in Canada. With this additional gift—which benefits students who might not otherwise have the chance to pursue studies at the University of Toronto—their support is growing stronger.

Announced Monday November 12, an additional six-million-dollar gift—from the John and Myrna Daniels Foundation—adds to an already impressive legacy of support for the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design and for its students, who are being prepared to design and build the environments around us. This latest gift brings Mr. and Mrs. Daniels’ support to a remarkable $30 million.

“Like John Daniels, creative people across the Daniels Faculty are thinking of ways to design better communities that reflect a commitment to social uplift,” says President Meric Gertler. “Today the Daniels Faculty is a globally recognized school and at the forefront of city-building. This is due primarily to the transformative philanthropy of John and Myrna Daniels, whose most recent support will ensure that qualified students will have the means to pursue an excellent education.”

Long-term, visionary support

The new gift adds to the Faculty’s endowment and will benefit students far into the future. It will also help ensure that the Daniels Faculty can both attract and remain accessible to high-ranking, deserving candidates. Recognizing the importance of this gift, the University of Toronto will match the annual payout on the endowment for students, thus doubling the impact of the gift. The John and Myrna Daniels Foundation Opportunity Award will support students who demonstrate both financial need and academic merit.

John H. Daniels (BArch 1950, Hon LLD 2011) is an architect and veteran developer with a keen passion and track record for building socially sustainable and livable urban environments. He is the former Chairman and CEO of Cadillac Fairview Development Corporation, and founder of The Daniels Corporation, one of Canada’s largest and pre-eminent builders and developers. Some of the corporation’s most renowned projects in Toronto include the redevelopment of Regent Park and the TIFF Bell Lightbox and Festival Tower.

“This is the most recent in a number of catalytic gifts from John and Myrna to the Daniels Faculty,” says Dean Richard Sommer. “Thanks to their incredible commitment and support, our students are tackling the very real challenge of transforming Canada’s urbanizing cities and landscapes. We are extremely grateful to them; their generosity will enable us to compete for talent globally and help ensure that our school plays a leading role well into the future.”

An outstanding legacy of giving

Both Mr. and Mrs. Daniels serve among the Honorary Chairs of the University of Toronto’s historic Boundless campaign. Their first gift of $14 million, in 2008, helped create the John and Myrna Daniels Scholars Award and provided capital support for the school’s expansion. To date there have been 81 John and Myrna Daniels Scholars, all professional master’s students with financial need, and some are notably the first in their families to go to university. Through their studies, the Scholars—and, indeed, students across the faculty—have been exploring the various ways that design addresses 21st-century challenges, such as the relationship between growing inequality and cities, architecture and human health, digital technology and craft/construction, and data analysis and sustainable development.

A second major gift of $10 million from John and Myrna Daniels, in 2013, made it possible for the Daniels Faculty to undertake an ambitious transformation of One Spadina Crescent, where the school is located today. Toronto architects, alumni and the business community continue to make donations to One Spadina’s ongoing capital campaign, supporting a project that has been acknowledged by Toronto architecture critic Alex Bozikovic as “one of the best buildings in Canada of the past decade.”

“This latest commitment from John and Myrna through their charitable foundation brings their visionary and generous commitment to $30 million,” says David Palmer, Vice President Advancement. “Their support has helped the Daniels Faculty attain a new level of global leadership. It now attracts the finest young minds and faculty from Canada and internationally, who are dedicated to creating more livable communities for people around the world.”

Photos, top: 1) Sarah Martos (MArch 2016) 2) Isabel Amos (MArch 3), Avery Clarke (MLA 2), Zoona Aamir (HBA 3). Model by Raymond Garrioch (MArch 2).

A model by the Office of Adrian Phiffer — the firm of Daniels Faculty Lecturer Adrian Phiffer — will be featured in the group exhibition, MIRABILIA, December 1-15. Master of Architecture students Angela Cho, Matthew Leander Kalil, and Avi Odenheimer were also part of the project team.

Exhibition curators challenged architects and artists to create a model that represents one of the invisible cities from Italo Calvino’s book of the same name. The exhibition showcased one model for every city narrated in Calvino’s text, each at 20x20 cm.

As described in the exhibition brief, “The aim of the project is the creation of a space in which to discuss, undermine and investigate the idea of landscape. Artists, architects and photographers will participate with multiple interpretations on the subject.”

Phiffer and his team worked on the model for the city of Melania from the chapter titled “the City and the Dead.” Their model explores the relationship between and the unification of an immortal city and its mortal citizens.

Visit the Office of Adrian Phiffer’s website to learn more.

Last week, graduate students in the Architecture and Urban Design programs at the Daniels Faculty got a chance to connect with principals and professionals from the architecture and design community, who generously volunteered to share their insight and advice.

With 32 professionals and alumni attending the event, students had an opportunity to share their concerns, ask questions, and receive valuable tips on how to advance their studies and skills to land on their desired career path.
 
“I was really worried about the future and what to expect after graduation,” said Master of Architecture Student Zoha Nekouian. “I asked what firms expect from students and the answers were really relieving.”
 
Students who attended the event agreed that it was a positive and helpful experience.
 
In his conversation with Alex Josephson, Master of Urban Design student Saif Malhas learned that there is no perfect candidate and that your skills will always have room to grow.
 
Master of Architecture student, Weixin Zhao, who is completing her thesis this year, learned to not be afraid of approaching the designers themselves and applying to them directly when looking for jobs. 
 
The one-on-one conversations provided the students with a more in-depth and direct exchange of knowledge and guidance.
 
 "It was nice to have people show interest in what you wanted to do and keep the conversation going," said Master of Architecture student Sky Ece Ulosoy.
 
The Daniels Faculty would like to extend its gratitude to all the professionals, most of whom are alumni, who participated in this event with our students.

Our idea looks at desks that are interchangeable and moveable. Everything is controlled by artificial intelligence that records people’s stages of work and when certain people need to be clustered together. A series of curtains make the spaces but are moveable themselves. The AI will also record people’s daily patterns and attempts to gradually transition layouts in-between stages of a project to be minimally intrusive overtime. This constant flux in arrangements will help keep the workers more engaged.
 

There were 38 finalists in the competition, which was open to all. Of those, 9 received honourable mentions, and 3 winners were selected. Nguyen, Bajaman, and Baik's project will be featured in the Non Architecture Competitions book and website.

To learn more about the Daniels students' project, visit the Non Architecture Competitions website.

Second year Master of Architecture students Pedram Karimi and Ehsan Naimpour joined forces with four Schulich Master of Real Estate and Infrastructure (MREI) students to compete in the 7th annual NAIOP Development Challenge. On October 4, following live presentations made by three finalists, the Daniels Faculty / Schulich team — named “Four Corner Investments” — was awarded first prize. It was the only student team among the three finalists. 

Each competing team produced a development proposal for a prominent site in Toronto and were required to consider real-life scenarios including cost analysis and architectural design. The Four Corner Investments team's proposal included a high rise rental apartment that complements two existing office towers.

Writes Four Corners Investments:

In order to unify the entire development scheme, the team envisioned a set of bridges, a life science incubator space, and retail to unify all the buildings at the podium level. By providing multi-floor connections, the bridges aim to give emphasis to the circulation and enhance interaction.

The residential tower accommodates a vertical, yet community-oriented form of living. In its entirety, the building form consists of three jagged and dynamic blocks that offer live and leisure space within each individual block. The jagged form allows for more considerate setbacks and provides a unique presence in the fabric and skyline of the city.
 

Congratulations to the winning team members:

From the Daniels Faculty: Pedram Karimi and Ehsan Naimpour 
From Schulich: Jordan Trinder, Umehani Kanga, Alannah Bird, Bao Nguyen

Lead image, top, by Norm Li.

Students in Matthew Brown’s LAN3016 Option Studio “On The Edge” recently returned from a research trip to Newfoundland where they experienced first-hand rural coastal communities' way of life  and the complexities that have resulted from outmigration. 

The communities of Newtown and Freshwater warmly hosted the students for 3 days and shared with them the unique culture found in rural outports. Students had the opportunity to explore and document resettled communities, local fish plants, tourist attractions, heritage structures, vernacular architecture, and significant cultural landscapes, as well as run engagement workshops with officials and community members to learn from the profound knowledge of the local people. 

The two communities will be the subject of student design interventions, the goal of which is to aid in the revival of rural place-based economies. The work from the semester will be compiled into a document that will be given back to the communities as a resource to enable them to undertake their own visioning work while providing fresh perspective.

While in Newfoundland, the students also had the opportunity to tour the Fogo Island Inn and recent work of the Shorefast Organization to better understand the impact of a contemporary vernacular architecture and design on the Island. 

The students’ visit ignited an incredible amount of excitement within the rural communities and on the island — their activities were featured on both Newfoundland television and CBC Radio. 

Click here to listen to CBC Radio's full interview with Sessional Lecturer Matthew Brown.

For the second year in a row, a graduate studio from the Daniels Faculty has received ARCHITECT magazine's Studio Prize.

The Studio Prize "recognizes thoughtful, innovative, and ethical studio courses at accredited architecture schools" across Canada and the United States. The Daniels Faculty's Option Studio "Coding Flux: In Pursuit of Resilient Urbanism in South Florida" (LAN 3016) taught by Assistant Professors Fadi Masoud, who coordinated the course, and Elise Shelley is among this year's six winners.

Rayna Syed (standing at right) and Alexandra Lazervski (third from left) present their plans for a southern Florida county that faces flooding challenges, increasing water levels and salt water damage (photo by Harry Choi)

The award-winning studio challenged students to develop design solutions to address increased flooding from rising sea levels and intense storms, such as hurricanes, in South Florida — events that are becoming increasingly common to due climate change.

Writes ARCHITECT:

The responses, which the students presented to Broward County representatives who visited Toronto, ranged from a “freshwater credit” system that incentivizes residents to capture excess rainwater in cisterns on their property to a “flux” zoning code that changes as rising sea levels impact land-use patterns around the county. Yet another proposal considers the county’s western border, which abuts the Everglades wetlands, more as an inland “coast,” with recreational and tourism possibilities, and less as a site solely for real estate development, which might leave the area more vulnerable to sea level rise. Juror Jennifer Yoos, FAIA, lauded the students’ approach to “rethinking how these design processes should be done.”

This was the fourth time Masoud has led a hands-on, pragmatic studio focused on South Florida, and Broward County officials say it was the first time their office had worked with such a studio on planning ideas. They say they welcomed the outside insight, and have begun to incorporate some of the students’ ideas, like flux zoning, into their long-range planning.
 

U of T News covered the student's work in the studio last year, from the start of the term in September to final reviews.

Students who participated in the award-winning studio include: Chaoyi Cui, Marianne Lafontaine-Chicha, Meikang Li, Niloufar Makaremi, Leslie Norris, Natalie Schiabel, Qiwei Song, Zainab Al Rawi, Meng Bao, Chukun Chen, Mengqi Dai, Jessica Guinto, Tania Hlavenka, Joshua Kirk, Alexandra Lazaervski, Ning Lin, Aidan Loweth, Carlos Portillo, and Rayna Syed.

For more information, visit ARCHITECT's website.th Florida" recently received the Sloan Award, a Studio Prize from Architect magazine.

Image, top, by: Qiwei Song, Meikang Li, and Chaoyi Cui