Toronto U of T: John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design | 18.9m | 3s | U of T | NADAAA

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$14-million gift launches transformation of architectural education at the University of Toronto



The University of Toronto today announced an historic $14-million gift from John and Myrna Daniels to the Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design, the largest ever private gift to any architecture school in Canada.

The gift will fund a major physical expansion and renovation of the Faculty and will also endow a scholarship fund for outstanding architecture, landscape and design students. In recognition of the powerful impact this gift will have on the University, U of T will name the Faculty the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape & Design. John Daniels received his Bachelor of Architecture degree from U of T in 1950 and went on to become one of Canada's most important developers of residential communities.

"The Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design has a fabulous tradition of contributing to the creation of beautiful and functional buildings and sustainable cities," says David Naylor, President, University of Toronto. "The Daniels' remarkable benefaction will play a pivotal role in the education of the next generation of architecture leaders in Canada."

The Dean of the newly named John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture says that this gift will help the Faculty solidify its position among the top architectural schools in North America. "We thank John and Myrna for their outstanding leadership and for providing U of T with an opportunity to recruit the country's top students," says George Baird. "Of the $14-million donation, $9 million is designated towards a renovation and expansion of the building the school has occupied since the 1960s."

The rest of the gift will be designated towards an endowed fund named The John and Myrna Daniels Scholars that will be awarded annually with preference given to students who are the first in their family to attend university.

John Daniels says the gift has given him an opportunity to thank U of T for the education he received. "My education at U of T laid the foundation for a highly rewarding career and really is the basis for my success in real estate development. Housing is an essential need, everyone needs a roof, and I believe everyone can benefit from an education. I hope that this gift will enable more students to pursue their dreams."

Long regarded as Canada's premier university for the study of architecture, the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design houses the earliest established university program in Canada. Today, the Faculty offers rigorous graduate programs of study in three interrelated disciplines: architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design.

John Daniels, a proud alumnus of the University of Toronto, is an entrepreneur, architect and successful businessman who played a key role in the creation of such landmarks as Toronto's Eaton Centre and the Toronto-Dominion Centre. He was the moving force behind the "New Town" of Erin Mills, the largest planned community in North America before founding The Daniels Corporation in 1983. Today, he is the Chairman and CEO of The Daniels Corporation – a leader in the North American building industry.

Myrna Daniels is a former Professor of Speech Pathology and has worked in hospitals and universities in New York. Together with her husband John Daniels, Myrna has supported causes in health care, education and the arts. The Daniels are noted philanthropists in Toronto, New York and Israel.
 
Evan:

I doubt it - they used to have an undergrad program but that got eliminated during restructuring of the school in the 90s I think.

re: expansion

I haven't came across much info regarding the project, other than the fact that it has been on the burner for ages. The Eric Arthur gallery and the library redo was presumably the first phase.

AoD
 
I think it is about time that they renovate and expand the building- it has some nice spaces, but is very outdated and is in dire need of some help. Also, I never knew that the Chairman of Daniels would actually hold architecture with such high esteem? Hard to imagine that they even know what architecture is, given such acclaimed masterpieces as the NY Towers in NYCC. Those are beauts eh!!

Also - UofT doesn't have an undergrad architecture program? Since when?

p5
 
From the Globe:

SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE

Developer gives U of T a $14-million gift
ELIZABETH CHURCH

EDUCATION REPORTER

May 28, 2008

More than 50 years ago, John Daniels got a helping hand from the University of Toronto when his part-time wages weren't enough to cover his fees at the school's faculty of architecture.

Mr. Daniels, 81, returned the favour yesterday, with a $14-million gift to his former faculty. The donation includes $5-million for scholarships, with preference going to budding architects who, like Mr. Daniels, are the first in their family to go to university.

"Education is the foundation of so much that I have been able to accomplish," the Toronto businessman and developer told a crowd in a basement room at the faculty's century-old building. "Today, we return a great debt."

Yesterday's donation also includes a $9-million contribution to a major renovation and expansion of the school's College Street site. In recognition of the gift, the school will be renamed the John H. Daniels faculty of architecture, landscape and design.

"What we desperately need is more space," architecture dean George Baird said. "We would like this to be the premier school in the country."

The renovation of the building, he said, will help with that goal. The faculty has been in its existing home since 1960, when the faculty of dentistry moved out.

Mr. Daniels, who graduated in 1950, spent his first year in architecture at a makeshift campus in a munitions plant in Ajax, Ont., because the university was crowded with returning soldiers. Still, he said, he was surprised by the space available to today's students. "They are crowded together like cattle," he said. "The conditions are terrible."

The proposed building project will include energy-efficiency upgrades, an additional floor and more studio space, and is expected to cost about $21-million. The university has agreed to contribute $4-million to the project and the rest will be raised through private donations. Construction is expected to begin in about three years.

Prof. Baird said the new money for scholarships is equally important to the school and will double the funds available.

Mr. Daniels said his wife, Myrna, deserves credit for that part of the gift, an acknowledgment of his own humble background. A first-generation Canadian, Mr. Daniels arrived from Poland when he was 12 on the eve of the Second World War. He told the crowd yesterday that he knew no English and spent his first months in a kindergarten class before moving to Grade 5 and then Grade 8 that year.

After graduating from the University of Toronto, Mr. Daniels became a key player in the Canadian building industry. He played a role in landmark projects including Toronto's Eaton Centre and the Toronto-Dominion Centre. He is the chairman and chief executive officer of Daniels Corp., a residential development company he founded in 1983.

"It really is the Canadian dream," said prominent Toronto architect Bruce Kuwabara, who was at yesterday's announcement. Mr. Kuwabara said the school has been working for several years to attract a major donation for its building project. "With something like this, everything is timing."

Mr. Daniels said he decided to make the gift now while he is able to enjoy it and because he saw the need. His nephew, former U of T law school dean Ron Daniels, also played a key role in arranging the gift.

David Palmer, U of T's chief fundraiser, called the donation "utterly transformative," noting it is the largest to a Canadian architecture school.

Earlier this year, Montreal developer David Azrieli gave $5.5-million to Carleton University's architecture school, taking his total donations to that school to more than $8-million.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080528.DANIELS28/TPStory/TPNational/Ontario/

AoD
 
And from the Star:

U of T architect school gets $14M from Daniels
May 28, 2008 04:30 AM
Paola Loriggio
Staff Reporter

The University of Toronto's school of architecture is looking forward to a facelift – and a new name – thanks to a $14 million donation by a prominent alumnus and his wife. The donation, made by real estate entrepreneur and architect John Daniels and his spouse Myrna, a former professor, is the largest private contribution on record to a Canadian architecture school, say university officials.

"It will give us more space, better quality space ... and has the general effect of increasing the profile of the school," said George Baird, dean of the newly christened John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design.

The school plans to spend about $9 million to expand the U-shaped third and fourth floors used for student studios, as well as add a fifth floor onto its College St. building, Baird said.

Money will also be spent for a general renovation of the building, its first since the architecture faculty took over the premises from the school of dentistry in 1961.

The total bill is projected at roughly $20 million. The Daniels donation is "enough to actually start planning" the work, Baird said, while doing more fundraising.

Construction could begin within three years, he said.

A portion of the Daniels donation will fund a yearly scholarship, with preference given to a student who is the first in his or her family to attend university.

A 1950s graduate at U of T, the Daniels Corporation founder said in a statement that the gift was his way of thanking the school for laying the foundation for his successes in real estate development.

He was involved in the creation of the Toronto Dominion Centre and Eaton Centre, and spearheaded the Erin Mills planned community.

http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/431973

AoD
 
to clarify:

U of T used to have a 5-yr professional architecture undergraduate degree (B.Arch), but phased it out in the late 90s.

It continues to provide two different architecture majors - design and theory + criticism - to students seeking a B.A. through the arts and sciences faculty.

I went through the program myself, majoring in design, and am now in the grad school getting a professional degree (M. Arch.)

On another note, I'm excited to hear that the long-discussed renovations are actually going to happen. The architecture building is an absolute wreck - run-down, overcrowded, outdated, and poorly planned. Kind of ironic that this is a facility with nearly two hundred architects/aspiring architects under its roof...
 
^^Thanks for the clarification about the B.Arch. That makes more sense now - but with your grad studies tacked onto the 5-year undergrad, wouldn't you be studying for 8 years?

The building is in horrible shape, and I have heard from friends who have studied there, that they usually go elsewhere to do their work, unless completely necessary.

So, if they now have enough money to start the planning, who are they going to choose to do the building? Will there be a competition?

p5
 
The B.A. is only a 4-yr program, so it takes a total of 7 yrs of education to be trained as an architect at u of t. it's quite a long program, but architecture is complicated, high-stakes stuff, so I don't mind taking my time to learn it. Very few places in North America still offer undergraduate professional degrees in architecture - Waterloo and Carleton are the only two in Canada, I think... Maybe one of the Quebec schools too. Generally speaking, Master's degrees in architecture are becoming the standard.

Regarding the process for choosing an architect, I would guess that there will be pretty rigourous consultation of students and faculty regarding what we want from the building and then the resulting brief will be awarded to a local firm with connections to the school. Baird Sampson Neuert, Kohn Shnier, etc. I'm guessing it will be more political favoritism than fair competition, but who knows.
 
Architect selected: Office dA

http://www.cdnarchitect.com/issues/ISArticle.asp?aid=1000343140

Architect selected for University of Toronto's John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design expansion

The John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design at the University of Toronto announced that a design team led by Boston-based architectural firm Office dA has been chosen to transform its facilities.

Led by partners Monica Ponce de Leon and Nader Tehrani, Office dA represents a new breed of designers who create beautifully crafted works of architecture that seamlessly integrate green technology and aesthetic refinement. The firm has designed award-winning projects around the world.

“Monica Ponce de Leon and Nader Tehrani are not only among the most innovative and accomplished young practitioners in North America, but are also distinguished educators,” said Professor Richard M. Sommer, dean of the Faculty. “Their approach to the project and their scheme masterfully balance the need to create an internal life and coherence for student-centred, studio-based studies with a requirement that the school become a better platform for engaging the public on issues of architecture, landscape architecture and urbanism.”

With a venerable history of professional design education in Canada, the Daniels Faculty was renamed in 2008 to recognize the historic gift by alumnus John Daniels and his wife, Myrna Daniels, directed at renewing its facilities as well as providing financial support to students. With the Daniels gift, an ambitious campaign has been launched to secure other significant gifts from those with an interest in advancing the art of architecture, landscape architecture and urban design.

Earlier this year the Faculty began a search to select an architectural team to design a project that would address the accelerated growth of its programs and research endeavors, as well as situate new technologies and laboratories that would allow Daniels to remain at the forefront of design education.

Office dA’s concept was selected after successfully meeting the criteria for originality, technical and aesthetic innovation and sustainability.

"Of the commissions one could have the honour of being bestowed, this is one of the greatest; where questions of pedagogy and design come into direct contact, confluence and friction,” Tehrani said. “It is a rare occasion when one's client is one's best collaborator and fiercest critic all at once, and thus we look forward to this as a significant opportunity and a design challenge.”

The project will integrate high-performance environmental elements in the façade with revitalized interior spaces in the Daniels building. Key features include a new auditorium, a vertical telescoping atrium, upgraded studio and meeting spaces, a rooftop library and adjoining greened terrace with views of downtown Toronto. The scheme aspires to meet the highest possible standards of environmental sustainability and performance. The Daniels building is located at the southwest threshold of U of T’s St. George Campus.

Office dA’s design will help advance the Faculty’s ambition to become a focal point at U of T for research and speculation on better ways to design and inhabit the built environment.


Office dA’s recent projects include the Fleet Library at the Rhode Island School of Design, the Tongxian Arts Center in Beijing, an intergenerational housing centre in Chicago, the first LEED-certified large residential project in Boston and a Canada-US border station.

The firm has received notable acclaim for its work, including an award in architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and nine Progressive Architecture Awards in architecture and urban design. Recently, the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum honored Office dA with the prestigious National Design Award in architecture.

Ponce de Leon is dean of the A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan. Tehrani is professor of architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Toronto firm Adamson Associates is the architect of record on the project and Coen + Partners of New York/Minneapolis is the landscape architect.

An ongoing display of Office dA’s conceptual design is on view in the alcove of the Eric Arthur Gallery, John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at 230 College Street in Toronto.
 
and from Daily Commercial News....

140.jpg


Boston’s Office dA takes lead on University of Toronto LEED Gold project

Telescoping atrium among key features

PATRICIA WILLIAMS

staff writer

A design team led by Boston-based architectural firm Office dA has been chosen to transform the facilities of the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design at the University of Toronto.

The faculty said the project will integrate high-performance environmental elements in the façade with revitalized interior spaces. The conceptual design includes a plan to clad the building with a second glazed layer to create a double façade.

Key features include a new auditorium, a vertical telescoping atrium, upgraded studio and meeting spaces, a rooftop library and an adjoining greened terrace with views of downtown Toronto. LEED Gold is being targeted.

The Office dA team includes architects of record Adamson Associates of Toronto and landscape architects Coen + Partners of New York and Minneapolis. The team was chosen from an initial field of 40 that submitted expressions of interest.

Five teams were shortlisted.

A faculty spokesperson said a construction start date has not been established. Nor has a budget been finalized. Construction will be phased.

Earlier this year the architecture faculty began a search for a team to design a project “that would address the accelerated growth of its programs and research endeavors as well as situate new technologies and laboratories that would allow Daniels to remain at the forefront of design education.â€

Office dA’s concept was selected after successfully meeting the criteria for originality, technical and aesthetic innovation and sustainability, the faculty said.

“Their approach to the project and their scheme masterfully balance the need to create an internal life and coherence for student-centred, studio-based studies with a requirement that the school become a better platform for engaging the public on issues of architecture, landscape architecture and urbanism,†said Professor Richard M. Sommer, dean of the faculty about the St. George campus structure.
 
I am very excited for this though I'm going to have to put up with it during construction at some point. The current building, however, is just a terrible layout and it will be great to have something done to it. Go Faculty of Architecture! :)
 
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