The Daniels Faculty is pleased to announce the upcoming symposium: George Baird: A Question of Influence. The symposium honoring the contribution of Professor Emeritus George Baird is scheduled to take place in Toronto on March 9 and 10, 2012.

George Baird retired in 2010 from the University of Toronto, following a term as Dean of the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design and crowning a remarkable career as an educator that began in London in 1965.  In 1993 he was named the George Travelstead Professor at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University where he taught until 2003.  George’s continuing contribution to the field has inspired us to organize a two-day symposium to celebrate his ideas and projects over the past five decades, including the questions they raise in three arenas: theory, the city, and design practice.

The keynote event “Questions of Influence” will feature a discussion between George Baird and Kenneth Frampton, moderated by K. Michael Hays, concentrating on George Baird’s career, contribution, and influence.  The discussion will focus on what lies ahead, as well as reflect on the first fifty years of his career.

The conference is convened by Dean Richard Sommer, Professor of Architecture and Urbanism, at the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design; Francesco Garofalo, professor and curator in Rome; and Bruce Kuwabara founding partner of KPMB Architects.  A parallel exhibition “George Baird: Meanings in Architecture, 1958-1990” will be held at the Eric Arthur Gallery at the Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, University of Toronto, and is curated by Michael Prokopow, Professor at Ontario College of Art and Design University.

Further details, including registration information, will be posted as soon as they are available.

If you have any questions or require further information please do not hesitate to contact Kim Ryan at kim.ryan@daniels.utoronto.ca