URD1503H S
Instructor: Nicolas Barrette
Meeting Section: L0101
Thursday, 12:00pm - 3:00pm
 

“We look at the present through a rear-view mirror. We march backwards into the future.” - Marshal McLuhan
 

Attitudes towards economic markets, climate, resources, technology, and housing are transforming. Familiar facets of life have been challenged. Deeper reflection must occur at the level of society, and new models of developing and maintaining built environments are required.

Architects and urban designers work at the coalface of these rapid transformations. At one point or another, they will be involved in deciding the fate of an existing building or neighbourhood by determining whether or not it will be i) left unchanged, ii) adapted, or iii) removed entirely. These decisions will be influenced by various factors and governed by prevailing policies, plans, program, codes, standards, guidelines, laws, charters, designations, districts, zones, attributions, values, material conditions, historical evidence, contexts and of course, economics.

Communities, contexts, and meanings are entwined in the process of speculation and ever-accelerating urban development. On the one hand, old buildings can provide meaning as waypoints or anchors throughout space and time. On the other hand, they can be seen as obstructions that limit the potential of new development trends. These two poles show how ideas of permanence and value are continuously revised. This course will aim to investigate the territory between these positions.

We will focus on developing an understanding of the mechanisms at play in the conservation of heritage buildings, considering new ways in which architects and urban designers can intervene effectively and sympathetically within these existing contexts. In moments of rapid change, the past can become a canvas from which we draw selective and idealized models to manage the present. It can also become a place for circumspection and longing for a way of life and solutions that are no longer tenable.

Much of this will focus on Toronto - an economically, culturally, and architecturally diverse city. It will examine its past and ever-changing present though transformations spanning two and a half centuries. The course will reflect on revised material cultures, typologies and meanings that have emerged from the process of heritage planning. It will also examine different treatments, interventions, and consequences arising from the adaptation of buildings and new demands for intensification, efficiency, and sustainability.

Students will be exposed to a range of published material and will involve in-class discussions, written reflections, creative interrogations, and local site visits. Relevant histories and case studies representing both local and international contexts will be drawn from. Sessions will also be animated by guest speakers from allied disciplines who will expand on course themes and encourage debate.