Will Alsop in Conversation with Christopher Hume: The Sharp Centre for Design & Beyond

Photograph of Will Alsop
Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - 12:00am to 1:30am

Live: Will Alsop in Conversation

Join us for this public lecture celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Sharp Centre for Design!

It's been called "audacious and delightfully strange." 10 years later, the iconic Sharp Centre for Design continues to make a bold statement.

Famed British architect Will Alsop addresses his experience of designing and building the Sharp Centre for Design at OCAD U, and how this has informed his work over the last ten years. Moderated by Christopher Hume, Toronto Star architecture critic.

Seating is limited. Please register today to reserve your spot! 

www.ocadu.ca/alsoprsvp

Check-in opens at 6:00 p.m.
Please arrive by 6:45 p.m. or your seat will be released.

Venue & Address: 
OCAD University 100 McCaul Street Auditorium, Room 190
Website: 
http://www.ocadu.ca/alsoprsvp
Cost: 
RSVP

Material over Matter

Thursday, October 9, 2014 - 4:00pm

OCADU Instructor: Mark Tholen will give a professional talk

Mark Tholen is a Toronto architect, industrial designer and assistant professor at OCAD U. He has designed buildings in Germany, the US and Canada. In his industrial design found objects and the beauty of natural materials as well as the process of making play a major role in his work.

Venue & Address: 
Room 530 100 McCaul St. Toronto, Ontario
Cost: 
Free

OCAD U HOSTS TRIBUTE FOR ARCHITECT AND EDUCATOR GREGORY H. WOODS

Gregory H. Woods. Photo Canadian Interiors.

OCAD U hosted a tribute in memory of renowned architect and educator Gregory H. Woods in the auditorium at 100 McCaul Street on Wednesday, January 8. Toronto city councillor Adam Vaughan, Ontario Arts Council director and CEO Peter Caldwell, Woods’s design collaborators Dieter Janssen and Ricardo A. Maturana, Woods’s partner, film producer/director Hadley Obodiac and Wood’s friend and colleague Caroline Robbie all spoke at the event in recognition of his outstanding contribution to architecture, design and the art of life. 

Dr. Sara Diamond, OCAD U’s president, who was traveling internationally on the day of the tribute, recorded a special video tribute for the event. Colleagues in the U.K, affectionately known as Woods’s “London Gang,” also provided a memorial video.

A lasting legacy

One of Woods’s last projects was working as a consultant to ZAS Architects on the designs for the new Lassonde School of Engineering at York University, for which his vision was “the cloud.”  In recognition of Woods’s vision and contribution to fulfilling the dream of this new facility, York University announced the creation of a legacy Gregory H. Woods Fellowship in Innovative Design

Woods was also the lead project architect with Alsop Architects on OCAD U’s Sharp Centre for Design, which opened in 2004 and transformed the campus, elevating both the university and Toronto in the eyes of the world. 

Although based in Toronto, Woods worked on award-winning projects all over Canada, the United States, Europe and the Middle East with Robbie Sane, Robbie/Young and Wright Inc. Alsop and Alsop RMJM, and ZAS and ZAS/Taylor Smyth. He was the principal in the firm Gregory Woods Associates. Woods was a graduate of Ryerson University and The Bartlett at UCL. He also studied at OCAD U for a year in 1987-88. He dedicated many hours of teaching design and art history at the Ryerson School of Interior Design and lectured all over the world, including at OCAD U. 

Woods passed away in July, 2013, leaving behind many friends and colleagues at OCAD U.

Learn more:

OCAD U remembers Gregory H. Woods 

The Sharp Centre for Design 

The Lassonde School of Engineering

OCADU launches Faculty of Design Speaker Series with a talk by Paul Raff

Tuesday, October 5, 2010 - 4:00am

(Toronto — October 5, 2010) OCAD University’s Faculty of Design launches its annual speaker series with a free public talk by architect Paul Raff on Thursday, October 21 at 6:30 p.m.

Paul Raff is the founding principal of Paul Raff Studio. Born in Montreal, Canada, he spent much of his childhood in the Canadian prairies, to which he attributes his interest in landscape and atmosphere. He graduated with degrees in architecture and environmental studies from the University of Waterloo, and has worked in architectural firms in New York, Barcelona, and Hong Kong. He now lives in Toronto.

Raff's reputation for excellence was established at the outset of his career in 1993 with an award-winning design for Toronto's waterfront redevelopment. His architectural experience includes involvement in world-class projects such as the Barcelona Olympic Redevelopment, the Chinese Vice-President's House in Shanghai, and the Bluepoint residential resort in Thailand. His art experience includes temporary environmental installations and permanent sculptural works such as the new Regina Gateway commissioned by the City of Regina. In 2001, Raff became the youngest ever recipient of the Ontario Association of Architects' Allied Arts Award for lifetime achievement. In 2009, Raff was awarded the Allied Arts Medal by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. Raff is a frequent guest professor and lecturer. In 2006, he represented Canada at a NAFTA-sponsored architects' lecture series at the University of Illinois in Chicago. In 2010, Raff lectured on Integrity-based Architecture at the Schulich School of Business, York University, Toronto.

In his talk “Radical Situations,” Raff will discuss how situation-based creative strategies radically improve human performance in terms of environmental, economic, and social sustainability. Absolute commitment to every project's unique situation within its total environment, has led to Paul Raff Studio's remarkable innovations and growing impact on local and global architecture and design.

Faculty of Design Speaker Series:
Paul Raff: “Radical Situations”

Thursday, October 21, 6:30 p.m.

OCAD University
Auditorium, 100 McCaul Street, Toronto
www.ocad.ca | 416-977-6000

All are welcome to attend, and admission is free.

The Faculty of Design Speaker Series is generously supported by TD Bank Group, and continues on Friday, November 12 with the talk “How Architecture Shapes Behaviour” by architect Kim Herforth Nielsen of 3XN Architects, Denmark.

About OCAD University (OCADU)
OCAD University (www.ocad.ca) is Canada’s “University of the Imagination.” The University, founded in 1876, is dedicated to art and design education, practice and research and to knowledge and invention across a wide range of disciplines. OCAD University is building on its traditional, studio-based strengths, adding new approaches to learning that champion cross-disciplinary practice, collaboration and the integration of emerging technologies. In the Age of Imagination, OCAD University community members will be uniquely qualified to act as catalysts for the next advances in culture, technology and quality of life for all Canadians.

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For more information, contact:

Sarah Mulholland, Media & Communications Officer
416.977.6000 Ext. 327 (mobile Ext. 1327)

Ecology.Design.Synergy speaker series continues with Manfred Brausem and Martin Liefhebber

Thursday, November 18, 2010 - 5:00am

Green Architecture & New Ideas from Germany & Canada presented by Goethe-Institut Toronto and OCADU

(Toronto — November 18, 2010) The Faculty of Design at OCAD University (OCADU) in partnership with Goethe-Institut Toronto presents the second talk in a speaker series as part of Ecology.Design.Synergy: Green Architecture & New Ideas from Germany & Canada. Strategic Construction: The Architect as Agent for Change brings together German architect Manfred Brausem in conversation with Canadian architect Martin Liefhebber for a free event on Friday, November 26 at 6 p.m. in OCADU’s Auditorium.

The series launched in October with Provocative Visioning: The Artist/Designer as Eco-Provocateur, showcasing the remarkable creative explorations of Berlin-based Friedrich von Borries and Canadian Philip Beesley.

Curated by OCADU Faculty of Design Acting Dean Doreen Balabanoff in collaboration with Goethe-Institut Toronto, this series explores a range of architectural and design practices that are transforming our understanding of ‘sustainability’ within the built environment. This evening showcases two pioneers in passive solar design: Manfred Brausem is embraced as a ‘guiding spirit’ by innovative architectural firms in the US; Martin Liefhebber’s vision extends beyond creating healthy homes to building healthy communities.

About the Speakers:
Manfred Brausem is an accomplished Passive House architect based in Cologne. He has been a pioneer of the Passive House movement since its introduction in Germany 15 years ago. He has realized over 100 passive solar projects, and is one of the most experienced professionals worldwide in the field. The Passive House Standard is hugely successful in Europe. Manfred’s work was instrumental in popularizing it across Europe. In 2015 this energy standard, with an amazing 90 percent reduction in energy use, will become part of the building code in Germany and is being promoted by the European Union for adoption by their member states as part of their commitment to curb climate change.

Martin Liefhebber is one of Canada’s original “bioneers” — using unorthodox materials including straw bale in urban settings and used tires in “earthships” — gaining recognition in 1991 for the award-winning off-grid “Healthy Home”, commissioned by the Canadian Mortgage & Housing Association. Throughout his career, and as principle in his firm (which has grown from Liefhebber Architects to Breathe Architects), Liefhebber has demonstrated his belief that “architecture is something that actually fixes the environment.” This approach is evident in both the Clarkson house, designed for exceptional indoor air quality, and the “MC2” house designed to address affordability, ageing and ambient resource use, and absorbing and circulating sunlight, air and water in a hybrid power system. Liefhebber teaches in OCAD University’s Environmental Design program.

Additional Ecology.Design.Synergy speaker events will include:

Visionary Regeneration: The Historic Fabric Refashioned
Speakers & Date TBA

Fine Tuning: The Building as Ecosystem
Speakers & Date TBA

About the Goethe-Institut Toronto
The Goethe-Institut Toronto (www.goethe.de/toronto) presents important positions, contemporary ideas and arts practices from Germany and Europe to Canadians. Our current focus themes are Culture & Economy, City & Climate, and German film & media art. We organise residencies together with our Canadian partners, offer international liaison work and consulting as well as promote European cultural understanding, e.g. through our cooperation with other European cultural institutes across Canada.

About OCAD University (OCADU)
OCAD University (www.ocad.ca) is Canada’s “University of the Imagination.” The University, founded in 1876, is dedicated to art and design education, practice and research and to knowledge and invention across a wide range of disciplines. OCAD University is building on its traditional, studio-based strengths, adding new approaches to learning that champion cross-disciplinary practice, collaboration and the integration of emerging technologies. In the Age of Imagination, OCAD University community members will be uniquely qualified to act as catalysts for the next advances in culture, technology and quality of life for all Canadians.

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For more information contact:
 

Jutta Brendemühl, Program Coordinator, Goethe-Institut Toronto
416.593.5257 Ext. 205

Sarah Mulholland, Media & Communications Officer
416.977.6000 Ext. 327 (mobile Ext. 1327)

OCADU Faculty of Design Speaker Series continues with Rachel Wingfield

Wednesday, January 12, 2011 - 5:00am

(Toronto — January 12, 2011) OCAD University’s Faculty of Design Speaker Series continues on Thursday, January 27 at 6:30 p.m. with the talk “ArchiLace: Ecomimetic Space Design” by Rachel Wingfield of Loop.pH (UK). Wingfield’s visit coincides with the Toronto International Design Festival, and OCADU’s annual Design Competition.

Rachel Wingfield belongs to an emerging generation of designers redefining conventions of how, why and with what things are made. For Wingfield, the convergence of design and science, and ultimately the synergy with nature, can serve to address some of today's most urgent problems by promoting energy independence, food security, and "metabolic thinking". Her approach to design and fabrication values the physical process of making as much as established research methodologies and theories. This allows for the reinterpretation and integration of forms engineered by humans and nature alike.

In her talk, Wingfield will introduce her design studio Loop.pH, discuss the importance of a trans-disciplinary practice and the convergence between biology, ecology, architecture and design. By presenting ideas learned from ecology and ecomimetics, Wingfield questions how we can create living environments, synthesising living materials and digital tools, and proposes an emerging new role for designers working at an urban scale.

Faculty of Design Speaker Series:
Rachel Wingfield: “ArchiLace: Ecomimetic Space Design”
Thursday, January 27, 6:30 p.m.

OCAD University
Auditorium, 100 McCaul Street, Toronto
www.ocad.ca | 416-977-6000

All are welcome to attend, and admission is free.

The Faculty of Design Speaker Series is generously supported by TD Bank Group, and continues on March 3 with a talk by David Small, Creative Director at Small Design Firm (www.davidsmall.com).

More about Rachel Wingfield:
Wingfield is Research Fellow at Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design, London (UK) and co-director of the design studio Loop.pH. Together with Mathias Gmachl, they specialize in lightweight temporary architecture, responsive environments and create new urban visions. Their portfolio spans the design, construction and fabrication of architectural, structural and responsive textiles for both private and public environments from hospitals, museums to parks and private collections. Their installation work can be seen in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art (NY) and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (UK).
 

About OCAD University (OCADU)
OCAD University (www.ocad.ca) is Canada’s “University of the Imagination.” The University, founded in 1876, is dedicated to art and design education, practice and research and to knowledge and invention across a wide range of disciplines. OCAD University is building on its traditional, studio-based strengths, adding new approaches to learning that champion cross-disciplinary practice, collaboration and the integration of emerging technologies. In the Age of Imagination, OCAD University community members will be uniquely qualified to act as catalysts for the next advances in culture, technology and quality of life for all Canadians.

30 -

Download this release as a PDF file.

For more information contact:

Sarah Mulholland, Media & Communications Officer
416.977.6000 Ext. 327 (mobile Ext. 1327)

OCAD University appoints architect Will Alsop as Adjunct Professor

Thursday, January 13, 2011 - 5:00am

Alsop’s appointment to be celebrated at a book launch
for Will Alsop – The Noise tonight, 6 p.m. at OCADU

(Toronto — January 13, 2011) The Faculty of Design at OCAD University announced today that it has appointed internationally renowned architect Will Alsop, designer behind the Sharp Centre for Design at OCAD University, as an Adjunct Professor. His appointment commenced in November, 2010 and will continue until 2013.

“The Faculty of Design only offers an Adjunct Professor appointment to distinguished individuals who have the special expertise needed to complement our academic programs,” explained Doreen Balabanoff, Acting Dean of OCADU’s Faculty of Design. “Professor Alsop is engaging with us to develop research collaborations and new educational opportunities, at both the undergraduate and graduate level. We value his unique and imaginative approach, his hallmark commitment to connectivity between art and design, and his interest in social issues and innovative participatory design processes.”

In September, Alsop will being teaching an Architectural Design Studio course for upper year undergraduate students, focusing on the local urban context, in collaboration with architect Greg Woods, who worked with him on OCADU’s iconic Sharp Centre for Design, and remains an ongoing business partner.

“Professor Alsop will make a valued contribution to the Faculty of Design and particularly to Environmental Design as it moves forward in defining its future,” expressed Bruce Hinds, Chair of Environmental Design at OCADU.

“Professor Alsop will fulfill the role of eminent guest critic and lecturer, to both our graduate students and thesis level undergraduate students,” commented Martha Ladly, Chair of OCADU’s Interdisciplinary Art, Media and Design Masters program. “Through his practice, Will Alsop has proven to the world his commitment to standards of excellence, and to the necessity of design for humanity through sustainable practices, creativity and imagination. All of these are cornerstones of OCAD University’s philosophy and strategic plans.”

Book launch and signing for Will Alsop – The Noise
Tonight, January 13, 6 p.m.

Alsop and his appointment at the university will be celebrated at a book launch and signing this evening for Will Alsop – The Noise, written by late author Tom Porter and published by Routledge. The event will be held in OCADU’s Great Hall, starting at 6 p.m. The public is invited to attend.

The Noise describes the unique state of Professor Alsop’s inventive mind before the creative imagination starts, and shows how his design process acts as a conduit that catches the dreams and aspirations of others.

The book reveals the creative and artistic vision of Professor Alsop in astonishing detail, charting the design process behind some of his most celebrated buildings, including the coveted Stirling Prize-winning Peckham Library (2000) and the Sharp Centre for Design at OCADU.

Will Alsop comments: “Tom Porter’s expertise in architecture, colour and graphics was second to none and his passing earlier this year was a tremendous loss,” said Alsop. “It is testament to his brilliance that he was able to tackle such an abstract subject and deliver a book that is both revelatory and entertaining.”

Elements of a collaborative project initiated by Professor Alsop, a “two-city exhibition” entitled EnRoute: Proper Behaviour in the Park, will also be on display in the Great Hall. This project engaged OCADU students in a ‘transatlantic painting project’, with Alsop receiving images from OCADU students working in Toronto, as he was painting two large canvases at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. The project asks the mischievous question, “What would you do in public space?”

More about Will Alsop
Professor Alsop is one of the UK’s most prominent architects and is a respected artist who has applied his bold and colourful approach to award-winning projects across the world. His stance is that art and architecture are inseparable disciplines and he actively promotes artistic contribution to the built environment. He is guided by the principle that architecture is both a vehicle and symbol of social change and renewal.

His many awards include the Royal Fine Art Commission Building of the Year Special Award for Fawood Children’s Centre (London, UK), a project that was also shortlisted for the Stirling Prize in 2005.

Alsop is guided by the principle that architecture is both a vehicle and symbol of social change and renewal. This philosophy extends from the design of individual buildings to embracing broader principles of urbanism and city development. He has expertise across every sector, including transportation, health, education, retail, residential, office, public, hospitality, leisure and interiors.

Will Alsop has worked extensively across the UK and internationally, with major projects in cities such as Toronto, Marseilles, Hamburg, Shanghai, Singapore and New York. Recent projects in the UK include the Chips apartments in Manchester, The Public, an exhibition space in West Bromwich, and the Puddle Dock luxury hotel development on the north bank of the River Thames.

In addition to his design work, Alsop follows a parallel path as an artist. His stance is that art and architecture are inseparable disciplines and he actively promotes artistic contribution to the built environment. His paintings and sketches have been exhibited at Sir John Soane’s Museum, Milton Keynes Gallery, Cube Gallery, Manchester and the British Pavilion at Venice Biennale.

Alsop has held many academic posts around the world. He is currently a professor at the Technical University of Vienna. For several years he was a tutor of sculpture at Central St Martins College of Art & Design in London and was visiting professor at institutions including the University of Hanover, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and San Francisco Institute of Art. Alsop is a Royal Academician and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He is a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Royal Architecture Institute of Canada.

About OCAD University (OCADU)
OCAD University (www.ocad.ca) is Canada’s “University of the Imagination.” The University, founded in 1876, is dedicated to art and design education, practice and research and to knowledge and invention across a wide range of disciplines. OCAD University is building on its traditional, studio-based strengths, adding new approaches to learning that champion cross-disciplinary practice, collaboration and the integration of emerging technologies. In the Age of Imagination, OCAD University community members will be uniquely qualified to act as catalysts for the next advances in culture, technology and quality of life for all Canadians.

About the Faculty of Design at OCADU
The Faculty of Design provides a provocative, diverse and culturally rich environment, guiding the development of critical thinking, innovation and responsiveness in the context of human and environmental needs. Our primary objective is to enable students to develop their own voice in the formation of ideas and in the expression of these ideas through both verbal and visual language.

We seek to empower each student to develop a personal voice grounded in historical and contemporary knowledge, equipped with vital skills in creative practice as well as critical analysis.

Our guiding theme of ‘design and humanity’ provides a strong and ethical foundation for all of our programs, and shapes our students’ educational experience. Drawing on depth of insight, our emerging designers and thought leaders will shape, enhance and transform the world in which they live, creating innovative responses to changing economic, technological and social realities.

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Download this release as a PDF file.

For more information contact:

Sarah Mulholland, Media & Communications Officer
416.977.6000 Ext. 327 (mobile Ext. 1327)

Established scholars and emerging thinkers converge in Toronto for Architecture is All Over

Tuesday, February 8, 2011 - 5:00am

(Toronto — February 8, 2011) OCAD University is proud to support the sold-out transdisciplinary symposium Architecture is All Over, examining the pathology, ubiquity and negentropic potential of architecture, to take place on Saturday, February 12 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto.

Co-organized by Esther Choi, Assistant Professor in the Departments of Criticism & Curatorial Practices and Photography at OCAD U, and Marrikka Trotter, co-founder and editor of Work Books, Architecture is All Over is an international symposium featuring provocative papers from emerging thinkers and challenging conversations between established scholars both within and outside the discipline of architecture. In addition to presentations from Choi and Trotter, the symposium features an impressive panel of experts from around the world, including:

  • Dr. D. Graham Burnett, Professor of History and History of Science at Princeton University and an editor at Cabinet magazine;
  • Dr. Jill H. Casid, Associate Professor of Visual Culture Studies in the Department of Art History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison;
  • Dr. Sara Diamond, President, OCAD University;
  • Dr. David Gissen, Associate Professor of Architecture and Visual Studies and the Coordinator of the history/theory curriculum for architecture at the California College of the Arts;
  • Dr. K. Michael Hays, Eliot Noyes Professor of Architectural Theory at Harvard University Graduate School of Design;
  • Patty Heyda, Assistant Professor in Urban Design & Architecture at Washington University in St. Louis;
  • Dr. Sanford Kwinter, Professor of Architectural Theory and Criticism at Harvard University Graduate School of Design and co-director of the Master in Design Studies program;
  • Jennifer W. Leung, Critic at the Yale School of Architecture and an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Architecture at Columbia GSAPP;
  • Trevor Patt, Researcher and Instructor at the Media X Design Lab in the School of Computer and Communications Science and School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland;
  • Dr. Andrew Payne, Senior Lecturer in the Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at the University of Toronto, where he also teaches in the Literary Studies Program;
  • Richard Sommer, Dean, John H. Daniels School of Architecture Landscape and Design, University of Toronto;
  • Olga Touloumi, an architectural historian in training, studying the disciplining of architecture in its marginal engagements with the arts and the sciences, and a PhD Candidate at Harvard University;
  • Mason White, Assistant Professor in the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design at the University of Toronto;
  • Alexander Hilton Wood, a graduate student in the S.M.Arch.S. Program in the History, Theory, and Criticism of Art and Architecture at the MIT School of Architecture and Planning.

All contributions will offer new ways to analyze, re-imagine and foment architecture’s paradoxical contraction and expansion as it both affects and is affected by a larger milieu, and is situated within a range of spatial practices.

The first of three sessions, The Pathology of Architecture will explore architecture’s (in)ability to cope with the challenges and contradictions inherent in its own indeterminate identity. Mason White (University of Toronto) will discuss how other practices have poached terms and territory from architecture as a disciplinary agent. Jennifer Leung (Yale) will examine the architectural responses to existential external threats and internal weaknesses, focusing on the strategies of heraldry, camouflage and risk. A psychoanalytic conversation between the architectural theorists, K. Michael Hays (Harvard) and Andrew Payne (University of Toronto) will close the session.

The Nebulous and the Infinitesimal will survey architecture’s simultaneous tendencies to both expand and evaporate. Alexander Hilton-Wood (MIT) will present the case for smallness in architecture. Olga Touloumi (Harvard) will take on the surprising power of architecture as electronic media. To conclude this session, the historian of science, D. Graham Burnett (Princeton), and architectural theorist, David Gissen (California College of the Arts), will discuss alternative architectural approaches to environmental modification that recognize our dawning apperception of our agential extension.

Finally, Negentropic Machines will feature speculative proposals for architecture as it could become. It will include a presentation by Patty Heyda (Washington University in St. Louis) arguing for architecture’s emergence in the waste zones created by large-scale urban infrastructural development, and a provocation by Trevor Patt (EPFL) about the agonistic potential of a forgetful, generic architectural interface. A conversation between the architectural theorist, Sanford Kwinter (Harvard), and the historian and theorist of visual culture, Jill Casid (University of Wisconsin-Madison), will explore how architectural discourse might formulate new, critical and interpretive vantages capable of reimagining the monstrous actions we release into the world as possibilities rather than pathogens.

Architecture is All Over is made possible through the financial support of OCAD University, Office of the President; University of Toronto John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design; in conjunction with the Social Sciences Humanities Research Council of Canada and Bohart.

Architecture is All Over
Saturday, February 12, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

TIFF Bell Lightbox
Reitman Square, 350 King Street West, Toronto

Organizer Biographies
Esther Choi is Assistant Professor in the Departments of Criticism & Curatorial Practices and Photography at OCAD University, an artist, and the co-founder and editor of Work Books. She is the co-editor of Architecture at the Edge of Everything Else (Work Books / MIT Press, 2010). Her current work explores the collision between empiricism and biopolitics in a range of postwar spatial practices within architecture and the visual arts.

Marrikka Trotter is a PhD student in Architecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the co-founder and editor of Work Books, and the founder of the Boston-based art and design initiative, The Department of Micro-Urbanism. She is the co-editor of Architecture at the Edge of Everything Else (Work Books / MIT Press, 2010). Her current work examines the problematic yet productive intersection between aesthetic and geological notions of form and formation in topographical and architectural discourse at the turn of the nineteenth century.

Presenter biographies and a complete schedule of events.

About OCAD University (OCAD U)
OCAD University (www.ocad.ca) is Canada’s “University of the Imagination.” The University, founded in 1876, is dedicated to art and design education, practice and research and to knowledge and invention across a wide range of disciplines. OCAD University is building on its traditional, studio-based strengths, adding new approaches to learning that champion cross-disciplinary practice, collaboration and the integration of emerging technologies. In the Age of Imagination, OCAD University community members will be uniquely qualified to act as catalysts for the next advances in culture, technology and quality of life for all Canadians.

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Download this release as a PDF file.

For more information contact:

While the symposium is sold out, members of the media interested in interviews or attendance may contact conference organizer Esther Choi.

Sarah Mulholland, Media & Communications Officer
416-977-6000 Ext. 327 (mobile Ext. 1327)

Ecology.Design.Synergy series continues with a talk by Barbara Hoidn and George Stockton

Thursday, February 24, 2011 - 5:00am

(Toronto — February 24, 2011) The Ecology.Design.Synergy: Green Architecture & New Ideas from Germany & Canada speaker series, launched in 2010 by the Goethe-Institut Toronto in cooperation the Faculty of Design at OCAD University (OCAD U), continues with a talk by Barbara Hoidn and George Stockton on Wednesday, March 9 at 6 p.m. Hoidn and Stockton will address the theme Reclaiming The Land: The Designer as Eco-Regenerator.

Curated by OCAD U Faculty of Design Acting Dean Doreen Balabanoff in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut, this series explores a range of architectural and design practices that are transforming our understanding of ‘sustainability’ within the built environment. Past speakers in the series have included Friedrich von Borries, Philip Beesley, Manfred Brausem and Martin Liefhebber.

About the Speakers:
Barbara Hoidn studied architecture and city planning at the University of Karlsruhe in Germany. She worked as a project architect for the Public Building Administration in Frankfurt/Main and for several years as a project partner with the office of José Paulo dos Santos, Oporto, Portugal. In 1994 she joined the strategy department of the Senate Building Director of Berlin as Head of the Architecture Workshop. In this position she was responsible for the development of public urban design guidelines and the consultation of private projects in central Berlin, the concept and organization of symposia, conferences and exhibitions on urban development in Berlin. From 2000 to 2001 she was head of a team in the housing department of the Senate Department for Urban Development in Berlin, responsible for the handling of several national and European urban renewal programs in Berlin. In 2001, with Wilfried Wang, she founded the office Hoidn Wang Partner in Berlin.

George Stockton is a landscape architect and planner who has been working with Moriyama & Teshima Planners Limited since 1969. Now President of the firm, he has been Project Director of several long-term environmentally sensitive visionary plans which have won major international awards from the Waterfront Center in Washington. In recent years, Stockton has built up a significant body of work in the Middle East, where he headed a team of landscape architects and engineers to undertake the Wadi Hanifah Comprehensive Development Plan to rehabilitate an ancient drainage system in central Saudi Arabia. Over a ten-year period, using ground-breaking processes of bio-remediation, a near-extinct ecosystem and important natural heritage site has been restored and enhanced as an environmental, recreational and tourism resource. The project won the 2010 Aga Khan Award for Architecture.

Ecology.Design.Synergy:
Green Architecture & New Ideas from Germany & Canada

March 9, 6 p.m.
Reclaiming The Land: The Designer as Eco-Regenerator
Barbara Hoidn & George Stockton

OCAD University
Central Hall (Room 230), 100 McCaul Street, Toronto
416-977-6000 | www.ocad.ca

All are welcome; admission is free. Limited seating available; guests are advised to arrive early.

Next in the Ecology.Design.Synergy Speaker Series:

April 7, 6 p.m.
Reclaiming the City: The Architect/Planner as Eco-Urbanist
Stephan Lanz & Graeme Stewart

Stephan Lanz has been working in urban development and lectures at the Faculty of Social and Cultural Studies at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt/Oder. As a founding member of metroZones - Center for Urban Affairs, he is active in various urban and cultural networks in Berlin and is the editor of the book series "metroZones".

Graeme Stewart is an associate with E.R.A. Architects (Toronto), a noted Canadian architectural firm specializing in professional heritage consultation and adaptive reuse of existing buildings, exemplifying the philosophy that the greenest building is the reused building. Renowned projects include the Stone Distillery at the Distillery Historic District (2007), and the Artscape Wychwood Barns (2009) in Toronto. Stewart’s focus has been with more recently built landmarks, including the 1,000 modern apartment buildings from the 1960s and 1970s, known to be among the most energy inefficient of the Toronto’s building stock. Stewart oversees the ‘Tower Renewal Project’, implementing green technologies, re-skinning, clean energy and urban agriculture.

About the Goethe-Institut Toronto
The Goethe-Institut Toronto (www.goethe.de/toronto) presents important positions, contemporary ideas and arts practices from Germany and Europe to Canadians. Our current focus themes are Culture & Economy, City & Climate, and German film & media art. We organise residencies together with our Canadian partners, offer international liaison work and consulting as well as promote European cultural understanding, e.g. through our cooperation with other European cultural institutes across Canada.

About OCAD University (OCAD U)
OCAD University (www.ocad.ca) is Canada’s “University of the Imagination.” The University, founded in 1876, is dedicated to art and design education, practice and research and to knowledge and invention across a wide range of disciplines. OCAD University is building on its traditional, studio-based strengths, adding new approaches to learning that champion cross-disciplinary practice, collaboration and the integration of emerging technologies. In the Age of Imagination, OCAD University community members will be uniquely qualified to act as catalysts for the next advances in culture, technology and quality of life for all Canadians.

- 30 -

Download this release as a PDF file.

For more information contact:

Jutta Brendemühl, Program Coordinator, Goethe-Institut Toronto
416.593.5257 Ext. 205

Sarah Mulholland, Media & Communications Officer
416-977-6000 Ext. 327 (mobile Ext. 1327)

OCAD University appoints Dr. Gayle Nicoll as Dean, Faculty of Design

Wednesday, June 8, 2011 - 4:00am

(Toronto—June 8, 2011) OCAD University (OCAD U) has appointed Dr. Gayle Nicoll as Dean in its Faculty of Design, effective July 1, 2011.

“We’re very pleased to welcome Dr. Nicoll to her new position here within our Faculty of Design,” said Dr. Sarah McKinnon, Vice-President, Academic at OCAD University. “She brings with her a wealth of experience that will help us continue to enhance our curriculum, support our faculty and grow our research initiatives.”

A Toronto native and current member of the Ontario Association of Architects, Dr. Nicoll holds degrees in architecture from Ryerson University, Clemson University and Georgia Institute of Technology where she obtained her PhD in 2006. Dr. Nicoll’s career focus for the past twenty years has been in multi-disciplinary design education and she has substantial experience both as an administrator and as practicing architect. During this tenure, she has worked to develop a comprehensive understanding and ability in pedagogical management and has taught a broad range of courses in architectural design, building science and professional practice at many levels within design programs. Dr. Nicoll’s teaching and research work has focused on issues related to public health, sustainability, human behavior and building performance. Her recent work on Active Design practice has been presented at many conferences and includes the multi-award winning publication, The Active Design Guidelines.

Dr. Nicoll was the Program Director of the Department of Architectural Science at Ryerson University from 1992 – 2001 and she has recently completed a term as Chair of the Department of Architecture at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). Throughout her administrative career, she has demonstrated a commitment to multi-disciplinary education and, in her previous position at UTSA, was responsible for several key initiatives including building the leadership, managerial and administrative abilities that enhance collegial relationships among the faculty, staff, students and professional community; expanding the opportunities for service learning through design-build and community-oriented curriculum; improving administrative effectiveness; restructuring curriculum to accommodate growing undergraduate and graduate programs within a time of economic restraint; improving physical facilities that support curriculum and research; and enhancing professional development of students and faculty.

About OCAD University (OCAD U):
OCAD University (www.ocad.ca) is Canada’s “University of the Imagination.” The University, founded in 1876, is dedicated to art and design education, practice and research and to knowledge and invention across a wide range of disciplines. OCAD University is building on its traditional, studio-based strengths, adding new approaches to learning that champion cross-disciplinary practice, collaboration and the integration of emerging technologies. In the Age of Imagination, OCAD University community members will be uniquely qualified to act as catalysts for the next advances in culture, technology and quality of life for all Canadians.

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For more information contact:

Sarah Mulholland, Media & Communications Officer
416-977-6000 Ext. 327 (mobile Ext. 1327)

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