A group of undergraduate students and recent graduates from the Daniels Faculty working under the name MaW Studio (@StudioMaW) have designed their first built project: The Coffee Lab.

Situated inside a two-square-meter former window display forming part of 141 Spadina Avenue in Toronto, the tiny café serves customers through a window that opens up to the sidewalk. Vestiges of a former Mama's Pizza sign provide a lit arrow pointing to the Lab.

The coffee shop could be the smallest in the world — its owner, Joshua Campos, is currently seeking certification from Guinness. According to Christopher Hume in the Toronto Star, the new café is "an excellent example of how even the tiniest spaces can be used creatively in a city like Toronto." The project has also been profiled in NOW.

The Coffee Lab project is MaW Studio's first commission. "The project exploits and augments the dissociation between container (window display), sign (Mamma's Pizza sign), and program (coffee shop), by producing a design that breaks the café itself down into smaller and more complex dislocations," writes the collective.

On the north wall, a classicized ornamentation begins at counter height and folds onto the ceiling. At times it resembles a standardized molding, while at others it morphs into a forced perspective. On the exterior wall, the logo of the coffee shop — a golden baroque frame — transcends its print format to become a three-dimensional object.
 

Originated in response to The Coffee Lab project, its first commission, MaW Studio's collaborative practice is interested in methods of dislocation. Differing from the stylistic trend of architectural Postmodernism that emerged in the last century — while still inescapably rooted in a Postmodern condition — the Studio's aim is to activate the often dormant political capabilities of surfaces and spaces through a constructed out-of-placeness. MaW Studio's conceptual  toolbox borrows from gestalt psychology, phenomenology, film theory, and Mannerism.

PROJECT: The Coffee Lab
LOCATION: 141 Spadina Avenue, Toronto, Canada
YEAR: 2018
CONCEPT/DESIGN: Sebastian Lopez Cardozo
VISUALIZATION: Neil Xavier Vas
PROJECT MANAGER: Daniel Lewycky
DESIGN/FABRICATION/INSTALLATION:
Adriana Sadun
Kian Hosseinnia
Neil Xavier Vas
Sebastian Lopez Cardozo
CLIENT: Joshua Campos, o/a "The Coffee Lab"

About MaW Studio:

Adriana Sadun completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Toronto with a double major in architecture design and visual studies. Currently, she is a Master of Landscape Architecture candidate at the Daniels Faculty. Adriana worked as a Digital Manager for SHIFT Magazine, the undergraduate publication at U of T architecture and online blog for the Daniels Faculty. She has also participated in different design projects and competitions, including Deconstruct, the winning proposal for the TEDxUofT Installation Design Competition for the 2018 conference that took place at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto. Adriana's interest focuses on reconfiguring our understanding of art and architecture through the exchange of a broad spectrum of disciplines, from visual arts and photography to digital fabrication and urban studies.

Daniel Lewycky is a Toronto-based designer whose interests lie in the intersections between architectural processes and at points of dimensional translation. When not designing, building or running clientside relations for MaW, he can be found playing venues as the frontman for the local baqnd Dorval, editing ARTIFIZI, producing ARTIFIZI Video, and making a mean stovetop Latté.

Kian Hosseinnia is a fourth year undergraduate student studying architecture and philosophy at the University of Toronto. Along with his studies, Kian has collaborated with a number of students and professionals on a number of built and research projects. The built projects include Float, an outdoor interactive project built in the summer of 2015 with Situate | Design | Build at 401 Richmond, Toronto; and Aperture, the winning proposal for the building of a temporary parklet for Café Mosaic in Edmonton, Alberta in the summer of 2017. Kian has also participated in the research for Professor Stephen Verderber's book Innovations in Behavioral Health Architecture. Kian's own research intersts lie at the intersection fo philosophical argumentation and architecture theory, where he is currently researching and writing about contemporary philosophy and architecture with Professor Matthew Allen.

Neil Xavier Vas is a young designer and visualization artists from Toronto, earning a Bachelor's degree in Architecture from the University of Toronto in 2017. Neil has taken the helm of architectural knowledge and pursued it throughout various educational and professional outlets. One of his many achievements was to co-author a competition entry, "House for Bowie," which received an honourable metion from and was displayed at the Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urbanism in Bucharest, Romania. Neil now practices as an architectural designer through various outlets, honing a passional specialty in architectural visualization. He is set to continue his education in architecture at the University of Toronto in the fall of 2018 and seeks to be an architect, in time.

Sebastián López Cardozo is the founder and editor-in-chief of ARTIFIZI (@artifizi),  editor at Dialogos Journal for Social Justice, and a research assistant for Mary Louise Lobsinger. His editorial work has taken him to the offices of Greg Lynn, Andrew Kovacs, and Bureau Spectacular, in Los Angeles, where he conducted his first interviews for the publication. He is currently working on the re-launch of his digital publication, and is collaboratind with Johannesburg scholar Sumayya Vally for the release of ARTIFIZI's very first print issue, to be release on January 5th. Most recently, he worked for Partisans Architecture, where he became involved in an exhibition in collaboration with Storefront for Art and Architecture and EDIT.

A team of students from the Daniels Faculty — John Nguyen, Stephen Baik, and Abubaker Bajaman — has received a 2018 International VELUX Award for students of architecture.

Held every other year, this prestigious competition challenges students "to explore the role of daylight in architecture and inspire new thinking" around how to use daylight as a main source of energy and light and how to ensure the "health and well-being of the people who live and work in buildings."

Assistant Professor Mauricio Quirós Pacheco supported the master of architecture students in their submission, which received first place in Daylight Investigations category within "The Americas" region. The team's project, titled "Daylight to Water" will represent North America at the World International Festival in Amsterdam November 28-30, where the top global prize will be selected.

Submissions to the competition were reviewed by an international jury comprised of renowned architects selected in collaboration with the International Union of Architects.

This is the first time that a team of students from a Canadian University has won a top award in the VELUX competition. Nguyen, Baik, and Bajaman beat out teams from Harvard, Cornell, UC Berkeley, UCLA, and elsewhere.

The Daniels students' project proposes a system that uses "natural daylight heat to capture moisture within the air in humid environments and transform it into usable water."

"Environments such as Deserts benefit greatly from this implementation as light rains often evaporate in the air before touching the ground," write the team in their submission. "Our proposal would allow dry climate regions to gather ambient moisture and transform it into usable water until there is enough to use."

For more information on "Daylight to Water" and the International VELUX Awards, visit the competition's website.

On June 14, the Daniels Faculty held a reception to celebrate students graduating from our Honours Bachelor of Arts, Architectural Studies; Honours Bachelor of Arts, Visual Studies; Master of Architecture; Master of Landscape Architecture; Master of Urban Design; and Master of Visual Studies programs.

During the reception, a number of students were bestowed with awards, established through the generous support of Daniels Faculty donors and friends. Pictured at the top of this page is Kinan Hewitt, who received the OAA Architectural Guild Medal, with OAA Senior Vice President & Tresurer, Kathleen Kurtin.

Providing recognition and financial support to our students is essential to sustaining the high reputation and scholarship that the our Faculty enjoys, and we are deeply grateful to everyone who has made this possible.

Below is a list of the awards that were presented — and the names of those who received them. Congratulations to all!

Undergraduate

Academic Merit Award
Chen Yu Huang / Tian Wei Li / Aaron Chung-Lon Lo / Elif Ayse Ozcelik / Robert Kenneth Raynor / Artin Sahakian / Rachel Jeanne Schloss / Taylor James Urbshott / Yujie Wang / Chenglin Zhu / Clara Ziada

Daniels Undergraduate Community Leadership Award
Najia Fatima (pictured above) / Robert Kenneth Raynor / Ece Ulusoy

Daniels Undergraduate Critical Practices Award
Laura Tibi

Daniels Undergraduate Design Award
Tian Wei Li

Daniels Undergraduate History and Theory Award
Yasmine El Sanyoura (pictured above)

Daniels Undergraduate Studio Art Award
Emily Nalangan (pictured above)  / Qian Zhou

Daniels Undergraduate Technology Award
Taylor James Urbshott

Distinction
Dina Al Masri / George Barcham / Irem Benli / Marienka Bella Bishop-Kovac / Victor Yih-Sheng Chang / Eric Co / Shalice Coutu / Ambra Del Frate / Daniel Dempsey / Bo Fan / Xinting Fan / Cody Foo / Bita Gharadaghi / Zeshen Hu / Julia Anna Johnston / Yunqian Li / Jiawen Lin / Peiyun Liu / Kate Marie Lyne / Richard Riad Mohammed / Soha Sadegi / Veronika Salamun / Christine Song / Jingchu Sun / Ece Ulusoy / Hao Ran Wan / Linru Wang / Ziai Wang / David Warrick / Joyce Szeman Wong / Chuchu Xie / Yixin Yang / Kristen Yue / Meichun Zhu

High Distinction
Connor Edwin Arms / Chaya Bhardwaj / Sean Broadhurst / Nicolas Castaneda Torres / Selina / Margo Chau / Nina Christianson / Adaeze Onyinyechukwu Chukwuma / Yasmine El Sanyoura / Yuan Fang / Najia Fatima / Jenna Li Rei Gauder / Jonathan Patrick Graham / Sierra Lucia Gri / Jessica Ho / Chen Yu Huang / Qiao’Er Jin / Adolphus Yik Chun Lau / Jia Wen Li / Tian Wei Li / Ming Liu / Nian Liu / Xin Liu / Aaron Chung-Lon Lo / Sebastian Lopez / Bryn Martin / Farah Michel / Emily Nalangan / Elif Ayse Ozcelik / Odin William Paas / James Alexander Profiti / Robert Kenneth Raynor / Alexandra Shea Rigby / Adriana Priscilla Sadun / Artin Sahakian / Homa Samiezadeh / Rachel Jeanne Schloss / Dinky Shah / Haocheng Si / Alexandra Jane Spalding / Laura Tibi / Olivia Tjiawi / Taylor James Urbshott / Lisa Kathryn Veregin / Yujie Wang / Kimberley Sonia Wint / Carolyn Wu / Chenglin Zhu  / Clara Ziada

Graduate

Academic Honors Certificate
Yossr Abou Elnour / Jaysen Paul Ariola / Herman Borrego / Maxine Cudlip / Michael DeGirolamo / Darryn Mitchell Guise Doull / Kinan Hewitt / Catherine Beatrice Howell / Vincent Alexander Javet / Marianne Lafontaine-Chicha / Irene Ying-Ju Lai / Meikang Li / Jia Lu / Liusaidh Howorth / Murdoch Macdonald / Lauren Pamela Marshall / Noah Mcgillivray / Kearon William Roy Taylor / Genevieve Simms / Michael Townshend

AIA Henry Adams Medal & Certificate
Kinan Hewitt (pictured top of page)

Alpha Rho Chi Medal
Matthew De Santis (pictured above)

ARCC / King Student Medal
Richard Freeman

ASLA Certificate of Honor
Vincent Alexander Javet / Marianne Lafontaine-Chicha

ASLA Certificate of Merit
Meikang Li / Qiwei Song

CSLA Student Award of Merit
Stacey Zonneveld

Faculty Design Prize
Maxine Cudlip / Michael DeGirolamo / Catherine Beatrice Howell

Governor General’s Academic Medals Program
Tian Wei Li

Heather M. Reisman Gold Medal in Design
Genevieve Simms

Irving Grossman Prize
Kellie Chin (pictured above)  / Lauren Pamela Marshall

John E. (Jack) Irving Prize
Jaysen Paul Ariola / Jia Lu (pictured above with Associate Professor Liat Margolis and Assistant Professor Pete North)

Kuwabara-Jackman Architecture Thesis Gold Medal
Herman Borrego

OAA Architectural Guild Medal
Kinan Hewitt

OALA Certificate of Merit
Marianne Lafontaine-Chicha (pictured above with Assistant Professor Pete North and Ingrid Little, Registrar, OALA)

RAIC Honour Roll
Irene Ying-Ju Lai / Liusaidh Howorth Murdoch Macdonald / Noah Mcgillivray / Kearon William Roy Taylor (pictured above with RAIC representative, Barbara Ross. Absent from the photo: Liusaidh Macdonald)

Both Graduate and Undergraduate

Gordon Cressy Student Leadership Award
Marienka Bella Bishop-Kovac / Karima Habib Peermohammad / Naomi Shewchuk / Christine Song

New infrastructure has the power to transform the nation. That's the inspiration behind the CanInfra Ideas Contest, which challenges university students, academics, professionals, think tanks, and others to develop new infrastructure ideas for the 21st century.

The winners of this year's competition were announced on May 30th, and a team that included recent Daniels Faculty HBA, Architectural Studies graduates Ji Song Sun and Hasnain Raza Akbar took third place, with an award of $10,000.

The team's submission, "Taking the High Road," proposes highway lanes that can wirelessly charge the batteries of electric vehicles while they are driving. This new infrastructure would help encourage the uptake of zero-emission vehicles on Canadian roads — one of the Government of Canada's goals. The team's design also includes rotating solar panels and wind turbines that would generate electricity from the sun and from wind turbulence created by the traffic.

"As an architectural designer, it was my great pleasure and honor to serve the team for the past several months by helping them visualize the ideas through 3D rhino models, renderings, diagrams, and physical models," said Sun, who participated in a number of architectural competitions throughout his undergraduate career will be joining the University of Calgary's Master of Architecture (Environmental Design) program this fall.

Akbar helped the team create cohesive visuals and focused on design elements of the highways as well as the over all infrastructure.

Other team members include, from U of T: Project Manager Jing Guo, who is currently pursuing a masters degree in applied science; Economic Consultant Benjamin Couillard, who holds a BA and MA in economics from the U of T; industrial engineering masters student Pavel Shmatnik, who led the group's research team, and life sciences graduate Thenvin Giridhar, who created animations. Aliyah Mohamed, a graduate of McMaster University, was the finance and feasibility lead; and Tashi Nanglo, who graduated from the University of Guelph, was the video director for the project.

Above: Team members for the project "Taking the High Road" pictured with Canada's Minister of Finance Bill Morneau

The CanInfra Ideas Contest was presented by The Boston Consulting Group in Canada and sponsored by Brookfield Asset Management, RBC, CIBC, Deloitte, Torys LLP, and media partner The Globe and Mail.

The winning team, "IceGrid: A Renewable Energy Microgrid for Nunavut," from Memorial University in St John's, proposed building "solar- and wind-powered micro power grids to replace dirty fuel-burning systems in rural communities. The IceGrid plan starts with a site in Iqaluit, Nunavut, and would scale to other rural communities across Canada's north."

For more information on the winning teams, visit the CanInfra Ideas Contest website.

Cross-posted from U of T News

By Romi Levine

Toronto continues to grow, with sky-high condo developments, and pricey boutiques and restaurants sprouting up in neighbourhoods across the city. But amidst the revitalization and gentrification are groups of people – low income residents and new immigrants, for example – driven out of their neighbourhoods by rent hikes and expensive shops.

Though understanding and supporting the city’s most vulnerable residents is traditionally in the realm of disciplines like social work and anthropology, Shalice Coutu is bringing social justice to architecture.

Coutu, who is part Métis, graduates Thursday from architectural studies at University of Toronto’s John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design. She is hoping to improve the lives of Canadians through built environments.

“I’m not in it necessarily for the building and the art form of architecture, but more in it to make people's lives better,” says Coutu, who will be continuing her studies at U of T, pursuing a master’s in architecture.

Coutu grew up in Prince Albert, Sask., a city of about 35,000 people. There, she cultivated an understanding of what inequality looks like.

“Coming from a small town in Saskatchewan that definitely has its share of poverty – I'm not oblivious to poverty around me, and I make a point to help those people,” says Coutu, who spent many summers helping her brother run a volleyball camp in rural areas and First Nations reserves in Saskatchewan.

Though she was always interested in architecture, Coutu began her university career in Saskatoon where she studied psychology.

“Our opportunities in Saskatchewan are a little less available,” she says.

But once she found out about the Daniels architecture program, she put the wheels in motion to transfer to U of T.

To continue reading, and for the full article, visit U of T News.

Degree: Honours, Bachelor of Arts, Architectural Studies & Visual Studies

What was the most enjoyable or memorable part of your degree?
Visual studies studios and moments shared with friends.

Image, above: the only thing i know | Out of frustration with the circumstances that have contributed to my unfamiliarity with Chinese writing, I impulsively and obsessively fill a 4-yard length of white synthetic silk, fervently claiming the only thing I know how to write: my name.

What advice you would give to a new student?
Pour your love and effort into the things you make; really try to embrace everything you do.

Image, above: the whirlpool | I am weighed down; the whirlpool will consume me.

How has your understanding of architecture changed over the course of your degree?
I have learned that you can be more than an architect with an architecture degree.

Image, above: us | A depiction of the relationship I have with one of the shadows I have encountered.

What are your plans after graduation? How has this degree prepared you for the future?
I am looking forward to finding design and art-related work. The degree has shown me how flexible my creativity can be.

Image, above: aeh khee | White paper chrysanthemums, used as funerary flowers in Chinese communities, act as stand-ins for the bodies of the Chinese-Indonesians slaughtered during the mass killings of 1965-1966. My work seeks to dignify the hundreds of thousands lost and to serve as a reminder of the importance of reconciliation.

Illustration in slideshow, top:
uggggggggh | A self-portrait on one of my low days.

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Convocation for #UofTDaniels students was on June 14. This month we are featuring our graduates, including their work, their memories, and their advice for new students. Follow #DanielsGrad18 for more!

What was the most enjoyable or memorable part of your degree?
My final thesis project and the experience of collaborating with professors and industry leaders. 

What inspired your thesis topic?
My thesis topic was inspired by my own personal experiences exploring local healthcare settings.

Tell us more about your thesis!
My thesis explored the use of the atrium as an architectural design device to generate a possible therapeutic response within a healthcare setting. I proposed atrium designs that provide: way-finding hierarchy logic, circulation clarity, natural light, and open space for prospect/refuge. The atriums also appeal to both healthcare staff and patient needs. These atriums work in conjunction with courtyards and green spaces to provide occupants with the opportunity for new discoveries. I chose the site of Toronto's Sick Kids Hospital as an exploratory playground from which to create different atrium designs in response to unique needs within a newly proposed and existing historical fabric of the hospital.

What advice would you give to a new student?
Have clear logic for your thesis and maintain it throughout every aspect of the design.

What are your plans after graduation?
I am continuing to design healthcare architecture that would focus on bettering patient experiences.

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Convocation for #UofTDaniels students was on June 14. This month we are featuring our graduates, including their work, their memories, and their advice for new students. Follow #DanielsGrad18 for more!

What was the most memorable part of your Master of Architecture degree?
I think the most enjoyable part of my studies was having a community of classmates and professors whom I was always able to discuss and exchange ideas with. 

What inspired your thesis topic?
My thesis topic was inspired by my frustrations with the way our city is developing, and from the desire to participate constructively in the discussion on how we can change the city we live in.  Defining public spaces in an ever more privatized urban realm is a continued interest of mine, and something I would like to continue to work on in my professional career as well.

Tell us more about your thesis!
My project creates an urban promenade from the ground floor to the roof. Conventional private residence amenities ( gym, party room, and lounge) are converted into public amenities such as co-working spaces, basketball courts, a dance studio, a botanical garden and skating rinks. Seasonal programming such as warming huts in the winter, and market stalls in the summer, transform the podium into an active space all year long. The premise of this research is that without changing the tectonic and infrastructural needs of the tower and podium, spaces can be redesigned with a more public ambition.

What advice would you give to a new student?
Work and travel! If you can, do an internship or semester abroad. 

What are your plans after graduation?
I'd like to get some insight into how other countries in the world are approaching similar architectural and urban problems, and work in an architecture office outside of Canada before maybe one day opening my own office.

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Convocation for #UofTDaniels students was on June 14. This month we are featuring our graduates, including their work, their memories, and their advice for new students. Follow #DanielsGrad18 for more!

Unceded: Voices of the Land — Canada's exhibition at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale — is the country's first Indigenous-led entry in architecture's most prestigious international festival. Presented by acclaimed architect Douglas Cardinal, with co-curators Gerald McMaster and David Fortin, the exhibition presents the work of 18 Indigenous architects from across Turtle Island (Canada and the United States).

In addition to highlighting and celebrating the contributions of Indigenous designers in the field, the exhibition underlines the important role of Indigenous architects in shaping the country's future.

“I firmly believe that the Indigenous worldview, which has always sought this balance between nature, culture and technology, is the path that humanity must rediscover and adopt for our future," said Cardinal in the Canada Council for the Arts' media release. "The teachings of the Elders are not the teachings of the past. They are the teachings of the future.”

As Murray Whyte reports in the Toronto Star, "the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada lists only 12 members who identify as Indigenous," but that could change, writes fellow Star columnist Shawn Micallef, “if educators and funding entities worked to attract youth to the profession using all the resources available and let them know they won’t be alone.”

Perhaps with the future in mind, Unceded curators enlisted James Bird, who will be starting his Master of Architecture degree at the Daniels Faculty this fall, to help coordinate a group of Indigenous architecture students from across Canada, including Daniels Student Katari Lucier-Laboucan. The university students will act as cultural ambassadors, offering tours, providing translations, and answering visitor questions at the exhibition over the course of its run.

A knowledge keeper from the Nehiyawak nation and Dene Nation, Bird, who recently completed his Bachelor of Arts in Indigenous Studies and Renaissance Studies at U of T, decided to pursue his undergraduate degree followed by a master’s in architecture after nearly 30 years as a carpenter, journeyman, and cabinet maker. He is also a member of the RAIC’s Indigenous task force, launched in June 2016 to seek “ways to foster and promote Indigenous design in Canada.”

For more information on the Canadian exhibition at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale, visit www.unceded.ca, and read Elizabeth Dowdeswell’s article “Celebrating Indigenous people through their architectural vision,” in the Toronto Star.

What was the most memorable part of your Master of Architecture degree?
My education at Daniels taught me how to design through research. It strengthened my capacity in analysis and design. I learned how to build architecture in my bachelor degree, but  Daniels taught me why to build it.

What inspired your thesis?
After a class trip to Utah, where we saw great land art, I wanted to further explore the relationship between humans and landscape.

Tell us more about your project!
At the Francon quarry in Montreal, plowed snow is stored during the winter, contaminating the soil and groundwater in surrounding marginalized communiites. I proposed desrupting this cycle of resource extraction and disposal with a remediation project that transforms snow from waste into a cold energy source. Through heat exchange and desalination, contamination is reduced while the proposed structure creates a recreational space for the neighborhood and rconnects them to the site. Transformed, the urban void created by the quarry helps rehabilitate the city.

What are your plans after graduation?
I have a strong desire to excel in the profession, and am seeking to align myself with a company positioned for strong growth!

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Convocation for #UofTDaniels students is on June 14. This month we are featuring our graduates, including their work, their memories, and their advice for new students. Follow #DanielsGrad18 for more!