On Wednesday, May 3, 2017, five speakers from the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design presented their research at the University of Toronto's event Future Environments: Art and Architecture in Action. The audience learned how architecture defines our environment, be it external environments, such as the green roofs dotting our cities skylines, or internal environments of our buildings.

Dean Richard Sommer and U of T President Meric Gertler provided opening remarks and Nora Young, from CBC’s hit radio show, Spark, moderated the evening.

The event featured presentations by:

• Emerging Canadian designer and researcher Brady Peters presenting Architecture, Atmosphere, Computation;
• Toronto-based scholar, composer and artist, Mitchell Akiyama presenting Matter and Metaphor;
• Director of the Green Roof Innovation Testing Laboratory, Liat Margolis presenting Green Roofs: Interdisciplinary by Nature;
• Founding partner at the design practice Lateral Office, Mason White presenting Micro-environments;
• Director of Visual Studies, Charles Stankievech presenting The Rare Earth Age of the Canadian Arctic.

“Architecture and art are as much a way of finding the world, as of forming it, and have surprising and often misunderstood historical and contemporary relationships with scientific inquiry,” said Richard Sommer, Dean and Professor of Urbanism at the Daniels Faculty. “This event will present members of the Daniels Faculty whose research moves beyond traditional text and mathematical modes of ideation to explore intersections between design, the environment, and visual culture.”

Barbara Fischer, Executive Director of U of T's Art Museum and Associate Professor in the Daniels Faculty's Visual Studies program, closed out the evening. The audience was invited to view the exhibition It's All Happening So Fast at the Art Museum which focused on the history of the Canadian landscape and the future impact of extraction industries on our perceived national identity.

Watch the talks on the Daniels Faculty Youtube Channel.

This event was brought to you by: Science & Engineering Engagement at the University of Toronto & the Daniels Faculty at the University of Toronto

Photo, top: Courtesty of Brady Peters - Project Distortion, Distortion Music Festival, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2010 | Photo by Anders Ingvartsen