One Spadina Crescent

Star Trek transforms U of T building into futuristic space school

geoff.vendeville — Wed, 22 Jan 2020 19:51:01 +0000

Star Trek transforms U of T building into futuristic space school

geoff.vendeville Wed, 01/22/2020 - 14:51

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Characters Kima and Lil are pictured in a recent episode of Star Trek: Short Treks, which transformed the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design into a space school (image courtesy of Michael Gibson/CBS/Bell Media)

Geoffrey Vendeville

Topic

City & Culture

Alumni

Architecture

Film

John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture

One Spadina Crescent

U of T Mississauga

The University of Toronto prepares students to boldly go into their chosen field.

So perhaps it’s fitting that the makers of Star Trek: Short Treks, a web TV series, shot a recent episode inside One Spadina Crescent, home to U of T’s John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design.

In the episode, which can be streamed on Crave TV, the historic, neo-gothic building – which re-opened to critical acclaim in 2017 – is transformed into an extraterrestrial school, where students arrive in a flying shuttle bus and work on 3D screens.

Richard Sommer, the faculty’s dean, said the building is “very cinematic” and a natural choice for a sci-fi film or one set in the future.

“If you look at the architecture of our [design] studio it's very grand. It's among the most interesting large spaces in the city now,” he said.

“You see in these shots both a layer of history – you see the brick, the Gothic-shaped windows – but you also see something that alludes to the future.”

The Short Treks episode, titled “Children of Mars,” tells the story of two 12-year-old girls, Kima and Lil, who start off at odds but soon set aside their differences when disaster strikes.

Experience the day enemies became friends.

Star Trek: #ShortTreks “Children of Mars” January 9th. #StarTrek pic.twitter.com/f2vY22gjVZ
— Star Trek (@StarTrek) January 2, 2020

Those familiar with One Spadina might immediately recognize the 30,000-square-foot design studio with its undulating ceiling and tall windows. In the Star Trek version, holograms float above students' heads. Other parts of the U of T building make an appearance, including a classroom where Lil gets Kima in trouble with their teacher.

Another scene from Star Trek: Short Trek's “Children of Mars” episode, which filmed in One Spadina Crescent’s design studio and a classroom (image courtesy of Michael Gibson/CBS/Bell Media)

The Star Trek spin-off isn’t the only show that has put One Spadina on screens. Disney came to campus last year to shoot another sci-fi project, the Secret Society of Second-Born Royals, set to come out this year on Disney+.

U of T also boasts another connection to the Star Trek universe. Actor and r ecent U of T Mississauga graduate George Alevizos landed a small part on Star Trek: Discovery that sparked conversation about the representation of people with disabilities in entertainment.

U of T's One Spadina Crescent: merging the past with the future

ullahnor — Mon, 08 May 2017 21:41:34 +0000

U of T's One Spadina Crescent: merging the past with the future

ullahnor Mon, 05/08/2017 - 17:41

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“The Globe and Mail” writes about the new home of the University of Toronto’s Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design (photo by Tom Ryaboi)

Topic

The Globe and Mail's Alex Bozikovic calls the new home of the University of Toronto’s Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design “one of the best Canadian buildings of the past decade.”

“Up front, the old Knox College is all Victorian adornment, an array of gables, turrets and lancet arches,” writes Bozikovic, of One Spadina, an 1875 building, designed by Smith & Gemmell as a Presbyterian seminary. “But around back it has a very different vibe. A long, flat glass façade pulls in northern light. Green roofs feed on rainwater. Zigzagging concrete forms say, in their own language: Welcome to 2017.”

He says the building is “spectacular....rich with arguments about how contemporary architecture, landscape and urbanism can work with history and build the city of the future.”

Embracing superarchitecture: U of T researcher on how design can be green and good for our health

Romi Levine — Mon, 17 Apr 2017 15:49:13 +0000

Embracing superarchitecture: U of T researcher on how design can be green and good for our health

Romi Levine Mon, 04/17/2017 - 11:49

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Terri Peters says the natural light at U of T's One Spadina building has "super" qualities (photo by Romi Levine)

Romi Levine

Author legacy

Romi Levine

Topic

City & Culture

John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture

Research

One Spadina Crescent

Faculty of Arts & Science

University of Toronto post-doctoral researcher Terri Peters admires the sunlit graduate studio space on the third floor of the just-renovated One Spadina building – the new home of U of T’s John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design.

The large north-facing windows and the numerous skylights brighten the space without the need for artificial light.

Peters says this space is not only aesthetically pleasing, but it also has benefits to our well-being.

“You’ve got the natural light coming in and there's numerous studies that show increased productivity in day-lit environments,” she says. “Daylight is central to architecture and experience and to energy savings.”

Peters is the Daniels faculty’s only post-doctoral researcher. She studies how architecture and design can be used to both improve people’s well-being and be sustainable – calling the design practice “superarchitecture.”

“The idea with superarchitecture isn't that our buildings will get better, it's that we get better being in our buildings,” she says. “What if the jeans I was wearing were also toning my thighs and exercising me or my jacket should be charging my phone – all these things in our environment are designed and could be making us better.”

Peters guest-edited the most recent edition of Architectural Design Magazine on the topic of designing for health. Starting next month, she will be researching superarchitecture as a cross-disciplinary initiative between Daniels and the School of the Environment in the Faculty of Arts & Science.

“U of T has so many different people working on different parts of this puzzle,” she says. “No one discipline can claim all of this territory.”

The Centennial Park Active House in Toronto was designed by superkül architects with Great Gulf and Velux Canada. It's an example of how superarchitecture can be used when designing homes, says Peters (photo courtesy of Terri Peters)

There has been plenty of proof that improving our surroundings – by boosting natural light, adding greenery and plenty of fresh air – makes us feel healthier, says Peters.

“I've been gathering the evidence for this stuff. If we can prove it and we can argue it better, maybe it'll become a part of green building.”

There are certifications that measure well-being and sustainability, such as the WELL and LEED standards – but there needs to be a more comprehensive system, she says.

“There are challenges because fundamentally it should be about taking the existing condition and making it better whereas these green and wellness rating systems are about benchmarks and standards and measurement – they don't compare itself to itself,” says Peters.

Toronto is beginning to embrace superarchitecture, she says. The Active House – an experimental home designed by architecture firm superkül, which is led by U of T instructor Meg Graham – is putting these principles into practice.

“They're measuring green-ness and health and well-being and they're a bit like demonstration houses – they're not a mainstream way of building but they could be,” says Peters.

As these small examples of superarchitecture become more prominent, people will start to see – and feel – the benefits of conscientious design, she says.

“As people see it paying off, they’ll want these spaces and environments more – it will take off.”

Toronto in 2017: U of T cities experts on the year ahead

Romi Levine — Mon, 19 Dec 2016 22:02:21 +0000

Toronto in 2017: U of T cities experts on the year ahead

Romi Levine Mon, 12/19/2016 - 17:02

Romi Levine

Author legacy

Romi Levine

Topic

McLuhan Centre for Culture & Technology

Toronto

Subheadline

Making Toronto "a stronger, more resilient and more inclusive city”

While global events might bring the doom and gloom, it’s Toronto’s chance to shine in 2017, urban experts say.

As our skyline continues to evolve, planners and architects are making sure our public and private spaces are livable and sustainable. Researchers are finding better ways to move people around the city – and we’re continuing to prove that our cultural scene can compete on the global stage.

So what will move the city forward in the coming year? We asked some of U of T’s most notable city building experts.

For President Meric Gertler, it’s the dramatic change to the university’s downtown campus – the future home of the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design – One Spadina Crescent.

“I just think the transformation that's underway on that piece of land is absolutely breathtaking and profound,” he says. “As Torontonians become familiar with what's happening in that little circle, they're going to get the sense of an amazing transformation and hopefully they'll see it as a very powerful symbol of how the university wants to approach its relationship with the city around us.”

Gertler also hopes the City of Toronto will move forward with projects that will help to make the city more livable.

“That means we have to get to work on building more spaces for recreation,” he says. “We have to continue to move the needle on cycling and alternative forms of transportation rather than car use while ensuring that transit is adequate to the task.”

Public transit has to reach all parts of the city and the surrounding areas to ensure that all residents in the GTA have equal opportunity and access, Gertler says.

Matti Siemiatycki, an associate professor of geography and planning at the Faculty of Arts & Science hopes the massive student transportation survey he helped to create – StudentMoveTO – will help to improve the GTA’s transportation systems.

The survey continues to inspire researchers from across disciplines, he says.

“Different groups at the universities [in Toronto] have run in different and interesting ways with the data, ways that I'm not sure we would have predicted,” he says. “U of T's engineering and geography and planning faculties have been doing really ambitious data modelling to understand the relationship between travel and the city. Ryerson faculty and students have done that too. OCAD has pushed the boundaries on the visualizations.”

Data from the survey is free to access, providing opportunities for students to get involved, says Siemiatycki.

“Students are driving a lot of this because for them, getting access to data is often the key barrier. They have tons of ideas but actually having raw, good-quality, professional grade data is hard for them. And in this case they have it, and they've run in all sorts of amazing directions,” he says.

Read the StudentMoveTO survey results

Shauna Brail, associate professor, teaching stream, and the director of the urban studies program at Innis College, is looking to bring U of T’s city-building experts together in one place, with the launch of a communications hub for all things urban at the university.

“The hub will be a central place to highlight and connect to the incredibly diverse range of work we do in terms of urban research, teaching and outreach across all three campuses and numerous divisions,” she says. “It will feature guest blogs, a faculty directory and links to programs, policy-relevant research and student-centred engagement initiatives.”

Brail, who is the urban affairs adviser to President Gertler, is also involved in a city-led strategy, working together with groups from education, industry and non-profit to find better ways of addressing urban issues like transportation and affordable housing.

“The university has teaching and research strengths in essentially all of the areas under study – from data monitoring to social equity – and we have an opportunity to contribute to the development and implementation of a plan that can help make Toronto a stronger, more resilient and more inclusive city,” she says.

Following the success of the first two McLuhan salons, Paolo Granata, visiting professor and McLuhan Centenary fellow, says he is looking forward to the first salon of the new year, taking place on Jan. 19 at the Toronto Reference Library.

“The salons release the energy of new and outrageous ideas, innovative thought, and transformative understanding and action,” he says.

Granata would love to see Toronto rise to global cultural significance with a UNESCO Creative City designation. He’s hoping the city will take on the initiative.

“The rich diversity of Toronto’s population and its vibrant and ever-growing arts and culture community make it a prime candidate,” he says.

Find out more about McLuhan Salons

Urban studies undergrad and Jackman Humanities Institute fellow Katerina Mizrokhi can’t wait for the big cultural events coming to Toronto in 2017. After spending the summer researching New York City’s cultural institutions, she’s bringing her critical eye to Toronto’s art scene.

“I hope to see the city thoughtfully frame and contextualize these works against our dynamic but contested cityscape,” she says.

A big player in Toronto’s cultural scene, U of T grad Sara Udow – one half of the Crazy Dames – encouraged residents to think creatively about introducing laneway housing to the city at an event that took place at Evergreen Brickworks.

“In 2017, we will be releasing a summary report from the events that outlines participants concerns, ideas and opportunities that came out of the consultations,” she says.

She’ll be spending the coming year travelling to other Canadian cities – from Yellowknife to Vancouver – to spread the world about out-of-the-box city building while also participating in "Growing Conversations" – a City of Toronto project that looks to make Toronto the most engaged city in North America.

Toronto comes out to support One Spadina Crescent

lavende4 — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 17:26:34 +0000

Toronto comes out to support One Spadina Crescent

lavende4 Mon, 11/07/2016 - 12:26

Cutline

Left to right: John H. Daniels, Myrna Daniels, President Meric Gertler, MPP Peter Milczyn, Mitchell Cohen of The Daniels Corporation (Photo by John Hryniuk)

Dale Duncan

Author legacy

Dale Duncan

Topic

City & Culture

John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture

One Spadina Crescent

Architecture

Cities

In June of 2013, U of T’s John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design unveiled its plans to transform One Spadina Crescent into a focal point for education, research, and outreach – a centre where students, scholars, artists, and urbanists throughout the city and around world can convene to discuss and debate the most pressing design issues and creative challenges facing society today.

Today, with the project well underway and scheduled for completion in 2017, the Faculty hosted an event in the emerging Daniels Building to thank and celebrate the many members of Toronto’s architecture, design, development, business, and philanthropic communities who have come together to support this vision. Their gifts, totaling over $28 million to date, are a testament to the incredible promise of this project, which aims to situate architecture, landscape architecture, art, and urban design among the key disciplines to transform the way we conceive and build cities and other environments in the 21st century, said Professor Richard Sommer, the dean of the Daniels Faculty.

“Our donors’ generosity will have a profound impact not only on the quality of education and research at the Faculty, but also on our ability to engage communities in the Greater Toronto Area as well as a global network of partners and collaborators,” Sommer said. “Our role is to bring critical new ideas, technical know-how and artistry to the task of imagining and – literally – building a better future.

“The new Daniels Building at One Spadina is a physical embodiment of that promise and possibility.”

Among the celebrated donors present at today’s event were alumnus and honorary grad John H. Daniels and his wife Myrna Daniels, whose historic $24 million donation, $19 million of which was earmarked for the One Spadina project, has been a catalyst for the Faculty’s recent expansion and transformation.

“The Daniels Faculty stands out among its peers in North America for its excellence in scholarship and breadth of programming,” said U of T President Meric Gertler. “John and Myrna Daniels, and our wider community of alumni and friends, are enabling us to enhance the Faculty’s standing as a world-leading school of architecture, landscape, and design, while contributing to U of T’s growing role as a city-builder in this great urban region. Thanks to your leadership, generosity and commitment, a very important building – and precinct – are being revitalized.”

Eberhard and Jane Zeidler, well known throughout Toronto for effecting positive change in their own right, were among other distinguished guests. The architect of Toronto’s Eaton Centre and Ontario Place, Eberhard Zeidler and his family – which includes alumna Margie Zeidler – have left a lasting mark on the city. The couple’s generous gift to One Spadina will fund the Eberhard Zeidler Library, which will provide students, researchers, and design aficionados throughout Toronto with unrivalled collections in art, architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design.

Also recognized was Eve Lewis – who together with her late husband Paul Oberman brought to light the important role that developers can play in heritage preservation in Toronto. Lewis joined forces with Oberman’s business partner Ron Kimel and their respective families to provide funding for the planned Paul Oberman Belvedere, an elevated terrace on the formal south-facing entrance to the original 19th century heritage building, where students and the public will gather for celebrations with a view down Spadina Avenue to the lake.

Nader Tehrani, principal of the firm NADAAA — who, with collaborator Katie Faulkner, designed the new complex at One Spadina — was also in attendance, along with alumnus Michael McClelland, founding principal of ERA Architects, the project’s preservation architects, and Marc Ryan, principal and co-founder of Public Work, the project’s landscape architects.

Architecture and development firms throughout the city — including The Daniels Corporation, Stantec Architecture, KPMB Architects, Hariri Pontarini Architects, Perkins+Will, Greensoil Investments, DiamondCorp, Giannone Petricone Associates Inc. Architects, Janet Rosenberg & Studio, ERA Architects, superkül, Kohn Shnier Architects, and Shim-Sutcliffe Architects — have provided generous support for the Daniels Building at One Spadina as well. Thanks to their engagement and charitable gifts, the Daniels Faculty’s capital campaign has met 80 per cent of its fundraising goal. The Faculty is working to raise an additional $8 million in private gifts to meet its ambitious target as part of U of T’s Boundless campaign.

See a photo gallery of One Spadina

With a combined 30,000 square feet of undergraduate and graduate studio spaces that boast commanding views over the city, an innovative fabrication lab, and additional spaces for graduate and undergraduate scholars to meet informally, the Daniels Building will further enhance the faculty’s ability to attract exceptional students to its programs in architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, and art/visual studies.

The new building will help strengthen the Faculty’s award-winning research and outreach facilities as well. Its Green Roof Innovation Testing Laboratory (GRIT Lab), for example, will have the opportunity to expand its research through a second site at One Spadina, with funding from Tremco Incorporated, while the Global Cities Institute (GCI) — which is leading the creation of the first internationally certified standards on city data and metrics — will relocate to a 2,324-square-foot street-front pavilion on the north-western edge of the building in a future phase of the project. GCI will be linked to a planned Model Cities Theatre and Laboratory that will bring together the Faculty’s talents in data visualization, 3D modeling, digital fabrication, and design and analysis, and place them within a public forum to develop holistic solutions to complex urban problems. A new 400-seat principal hall will enable the Faculty to elevate its popular public programming and lecture series, while a large 10,000-square-foot Architecture and Design Gallery will present internationally significant curated exhibitions on architecture, design, and cities — the only one of its kind devoted to these themes in Ontario.

“The Daniels Building at One Spadina Crescent will provide us with a site to advance collaboration across all disciplines with a stake in the built environment, creating a space for modeling new modes of research, practice, and outreach,” said Sommer. “This is a key moment in the history of our Faculty, and I am heartened by the members of the community who have stepped forward to join us in creating this project. The citizens of Toronto and the many visitors to Toronto — and actually anyone who is interested in architecture or the nexus between landscape, art, and cities — will be drawn to the Daniels Faculty at One Spadina.”

One Spadina Crescent

Star Trek transforms U of T building into futuristic space school

U of T's One Spadina Crescent: merging the past with the future

Read more at the Globe

Embracing superarchitecture: U of T researcher on how design can be green and good for our health

Toronto in 2017: U of T cities experts on the year ahead

Read the StudentMoveTO survey results

Find out more about McLuhan Salons

Toronto comes out to support One Spadina Crescent

See a photo gallery of One Spadina