DAS News

In this issue: Recap of 2024/25 | Welcome New Students | MArch Student Runner-Up for TO Loo Design Challenge | Honouring Retiring Faculty | Cucinella Exhibit & More!

A Year in Review

As summer comes to a close, we enthusiastically look forward to welcoming new and returning students to the Department of Architectural Science (DAS). Classes start September 2nd, but the fun begins with undergraduate orientation on August 26-27! Thanks to the staff, faculty and student leaders of ACU, AIAS and ARC.SOC who have been busy shaping the dynamic program. 

At this time we also reflect on last year’s highlights - like ScitHub groundbreaking, DAS contributions at the Venice Architecture Biennale, and many other faculty research accomplishments - along with a series of DAS exhibitions that celebrated innovation, sparked dialogue, and connected communities: Buone Nuove, the internationally acclaimed show celebrating women architects locally and globally; DAS Bash, marking 75+ years of architectural education at TMU; Beyond the Wall, a powerful exploration of separation and resilience across physical and political barriers; Waterfront Stories, reimagining Toronto’s Bentway; Year End Show 2025, showcasing DAS student projects; and Architecture for a Sustainable Future (closing Sept. 12), presenting the Vision of Mario Cucinella in collaboration with ICFF Architettura & Design.  

Upcoming, we have On the Edge: Photographs of Toronto’s Downtown Waterfront 2023–2025, opening Sept. 25, a lecture series starting Sept. 11, and important program reviews by the Ontario Quality Council and the Canadian Architectural Accreditation Board, preparations for which have kept some of us busy this summer.  

I am grateful to colleagues for making DAS a collaborative laboratory of purposeful and bold innovation. I especially thank Professors Hitesh Doshi and Paul Floerke who completed terms as Associate Chairs and welcome Carlo Parente and June Komisar to the roles! And congratulations to Professors Mark Gorgolewski, Jurij Leshchyshyn, and Edward Wójs who retire at the end of August. Join us tonight (Aug. 18) at 5pm in the TMU Architecture building upper atrium to celebrate!

We are fortunate to have a DAS community of learners, makers and thinkers. The world certainly needs our city-building skills and compassionate vision for a more sustainable, just and joyful society. Looking forward to continuing our work together on this collective project.

Enjoy the remaining days of summer, and see you soon!

Lisa Landrum, DAS Chair

Welcome New DAS Students!

The DAS Orientation for newly-admitted undergraduate Architectural Science students will begin on Tuesday, August 26, 2025 in person at the Architecture Building (325 Church St.) from 9:00am to 5:00 pm. Lunch will be provided. Be sure to RSVP to indicate dietary restrictions.

On Wednesday, August 27, 2025 the DAS student groups will host informative student-led socials. This is a wonderful opportunity to meet your student leaders, mentors and socialize with other new and returning students of the department. 

The Architecture Course Union (ACU) has set up a WhatsApp group chat for the graduating class of 2029. Please scan the QR code below or click on the chat link to join:

Honouring Retiring Faculty: Decades of Impact at DAS

Professors Mark Gorgolewski, Jurij Leshchyshyn, and Edward Wójs are retiring after decades of service to TMU’s Department of Architectural Science (DAS). Their lasting impact – through teaching, practice, scholarship and leadership – will be remembered by generations of students, faculty, & staff.

MArch student honoured in TO the Loo! Design Competition

M.Arch student Armando Macias Gutierrez earned the runner-up prize for reimagining urban sanitation as inclusive, artistic infrastructure. Developed in collaboration with YIMBY Studio, the design, entitled Loopty Loo, responded to the Toronto Public Space Committee’s call for proposals to the Toronto Toilet Challenge.

DAS Professor Leila M. Farah Shortlisted for 2025 Colvin Prize for Mobs and Microbes

Mobs and Microbes. Global Perspectives on Market Halls, Civic Order and Public Health, a volume Leila Marie Farah and Samantha L. Martin co-edited and published with Leuven University Press was shortlisted for the prestigious Colvin Prize by the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain.

The Vision of Mario Cucinella: Exhibition Closing September 11

DAS is pleased to co-host “Architecture for a Sustainable Future - The Vision of Mario Cucinella”, the first Canadian exhibition dedicated to the work of internationally acclaimed architect Mario Cucinella and his Bologna and Milan-based studio, MCA – Mario Cucinella Architects. Presented in partnership with ICFF Architettura & Design, a key program of the Italian Contemporary Film Festival (ICFF), the exhibition highlights the depth and vision of Cucinella’s architectural practice. Photos from the opening can be found here.

Upcoming 2025/26 Lecture Series

This fall, we are excited to welcome the following speakers to DAS:

SEPT 11 - Danny Roy & Dani Kastelein. Brook McIlroy, Toronto

OCT 23 - Arancha González Bernardo & Michael Fohring. Odami, Toronto

NOV 13  - Carol Phillips. Moriyama Teshima, Toronto

All lectures will run from 18:00 – 19:30 in ARC-202 (“The Pit”), located at 325 Church Street, Toronto unless otherwise noted.

Stay tuned for further details!

Barcelona Studio 2025

August 2025
Text by Sidra Homam

This summer, 17 upper level Architectural Science students embarked on an exploration of the architecture of everyday life through immersion in the urban fabric of both Toronto and Barcelona, Spain.

Led by Prof. Jennifer Esposito, this travel design studio, titled The Architecture of Place: The City is the Museum | The Museum is the City, challenged students to approach design through the lens of dwelling, not as a static form, but as a reflection of how people inhabit, move through, and interact with public and private spaces in their daily lives.

Calling All Student Photographers!

The Architecture Drawing Prize (TADP)

Call For Mentors

TMU Alumni Reunion 2025