Jury comment:

“The University of Toronto Daniels Building and landscape at One Spadina Crescent grapples with a challenging but glorious site. The landmark roadway circle and heritage building were inherently disconnected from adjacent streets and the University of Toronto campus, but remained a highly visible and historically significant site in the city. The designers have ingeniously exploited these constraints delivering an iconic landscape and building expansion that serves as a significant anchor to the University campus and, playing up its 360 degrees of exposure, addresses the public around the circle. To the south, the original building stands proud above new tall grasses. To the east and west, entrance plazas serve to connect to adjacent neighbourhoods, and to the north, a planted amphitheatre forms a dramatic space for outdoor events and lounging.

In particular, the jury applauds the striking and experimental landscape design which is bold enough to make a statement in this space of non-stop traffic. Sloping planted landforms and a wild plant palette challenge expectations of more mundane campus landscape design and offer great diversity in a relatively small area. It serves as a marker of design experimentation – an important indication of the activities within the building’s walls.”

More information on the Toronto Urban Design Awards Program can be found HERE.

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This award celebrates building owners who have undertaken projects to conserve or adapt a historic property or architectural feature of a historic property within the municipal boundaries of the city of Toronto. Congrats to the Daniels Faculty! See the full list of nominees HERE.

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The Daniels Building is the winner in the Architecture + Climate Change category and will be featured in Architizer’s upcoming Phaidon compendium, which will be available for pre-order this fall.

See all the winners HERE.

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The Daniels Building has won the SCUP/AIA-CAE Excellence in Architecture for Building Additions or Adaptive Reuse Honor Award. Congrats to our team! See this year’s winners in all categories HERE.

Photo by Michael Muraz

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On this Earth Day 2019, the AIA has announced the recipients of the 2019 AIA COTE Top 10 Awards which includes the Daniels Building. The COTE Top Ten Awards is the industry’s best-known award program for sustainable design excellence. Each year, ten innovative projects are recognized for their integration of design excellence with environmental performance.

The Daniels Building at the University of Toronto embodies a holistic approach to urban design and sustainability. As the new home for the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, its purpose is to engage students and the broader community in dialogue with the built environment. At the center of one of Toronto’s few circular parcels, the project anchors the southwest corner of the University and opens the circle to the public after years of inaccessibility. It restores the historic building while adding a new addition with integrated stormwater management, green roof, voided-slab floors, and ample daylight.

Read more on the sustainable and pedagogical aspects of the Daniels Building including the integration of community voices and needs, the ecological curriculum, water systems, energy and resources usage, and economy of means HERE.

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The Daniels Building is a recipient of the 2019 Education Facility Design Award for Design Excellence, sponsored by the American Institute of Architects’ Committee on Architecture for Education. View all 2019 recipients HERE.

“These projects showcase innovation across the entire learning continuum, displaying how architects are creating cutting edge spaces that enhance modern pedagogy.”

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Congratulations to our team, especially conservation specialists, ERA Architects, for winning the Lieutenant Governor’s Ontario Heritage Award for Excellence in Conservation for the Daniels Building. The Ontario Heritage Trust writes: “One Spadina Crescent is one of Toronto’s most prominent architectural sites. The historical building, site rehabilitation and new addition re-establishes One Spadina as a gateway to the University campus and reintroduces it to the public perception […] a showcase for the city and an international focal point for education and research on architecture, art and the future of cities. The rehabilitation and new addition at One Spadina Crescent provides a significant expansion to the heritage building for use by the faculty and its students as design studios, fabrication shops, a multi-functional principal hall, library programs, social spaces and offices.”

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