Media Releases

Daniels Faculty Master of Landscape Architecture students take first place at 8th International Biennial of Landscape Architecture 

October 2, 2014

TORONTO, ON — The Daniels Fac­ul­ty is pleased to announce that its Mas­ter of Land­scape Archi­tec­ture stu­dents have won first place in the 8th Inter­na­tion­al Bien­ni­al of Land­scape Architecture’s Inter­na­tion­al Exhi­bi­tion of Uni­ver­si­ty Projects. The announce­ment was made this past week­end dur­ing the Bien­ni­al in Barcelona.

The jury — com­prised of prac­tic­ing land­scape archi­tects and aca­d­e­mics in the field — com­mend­ed the stu­dents for the scope of land­scape archi­tec­tur­al-relat­ed con­cerns that were incor­po­rat­ed into each project, “from empir­i­cal enquiry on issues of plan­ning and ecol­o­gy to high­ly devel­oped spa­tial for­mu­la­tions.” The intent and design of each pro­pos­al was “always visu­al­ized in a high­ly sen­si­tive way,” it said, adding that the Daniels Faculty’s pro­pos­als “do not aim at fixed end sce­nar­ios but leave room for devel­op­ment.”

Orga­nized by the Asso­ci­a­tion of Archi­tects of Cat­alo­nia (COAC) and the Poly­tech­nic Uni­ver­si­ty of Cat­alo­nia, the Inter­na­tion­al Bien­ni­al of Land­scape Archi­tec­ture pro­vides a forum for vig­or­ous study of land­scape inter­ven­tions, from the per­spec­tive not only of land­scape archi­tects, but of those from oth­er dis­ci­plines linked to its study and evo­lu­tion. Held over the course of three days (Sep­tem­ber 25–27), the Bien­ni­al includ­ed a sym­po­sium to facil­i­tate the dis­cus­sion of “the evo­lu­tion of land­scape archi­tec­ture world wide.”

“I am extreme­ly proud of our stu­dents and advis­ing fac­ul­ty for receiv­ing this award,” said Alis­sa North, Direc­tor of the Mas­ter of Land­scape Archi­tec­ture pro­gram. “The prize is espe­cial­ly reward­ing as the stu­dent work dis­played at the Bien­ni­al rep­re­sents projects com­plet­ed over the course of our three-year pro­gram. The breadth, visu­al clar­i­ty, and ana­lyt­i­cal rigour of the projects illus­trates the exem­plary work of our stu­dents.”

The stu­dents’ work will remain on dis­play as part of an exhi­bi­tion at the Tech­ni­cal School Supe­ri­or of Archi­tec­ture of Barcelona from Sep­tem­ber 25 until Octo­ber 11th.

Stu­dents with work in the exhi­bi­tion include:

  • Sara Aha­di (MLA The­sis Advi­sor: Alis­sa North)
  • David Burns (MLA The­sis Advi­sor: Robert Wright)
  • Rui Felix and Logan Lit­tle­field (Design Stu­dio 4 Final Project; Instruc­tors: Elise Shel­ley, Jane Wolff, Nina-Marie Lis­ter)
  • Nicholas Gos­selin (Design Stu­dio 2 Final Project; Instruc­tor: Pete North)
  • Mary Hicks (MLA The­sis Advi­sor: Alis­sa North)
  • Emil­ia Hurd (MLA The­sis Advi­sor: Georges Farhat)
  • Sar­ry Klein and Sarah MacLean (Design Stu­dio 4 Final Project; Instruc­tors: Elise Shel­ley, Jane Wolff, Nina-Marie Lis­ter)
  • Shel­ley Long and Grace Yang (Design Stu­dio 4 Final Project; Instruc­tors: Elise Shel­ley, Jane Wolff, Nina-Marie Lis­ter)
  • Eliza Opres­cu (MLA The­sis Advi­sor: Robert Wright
  • Vinh Van (MLA The­sis Advi­sor: Pete North)

Images of the projects can be viewed on the Daniels Fac­ul­ty web­site at: http://www.daniels.utoronto.ca/news/2014–10-01/daniels-faculty-master-landscape-architecture-students-take-first-place-8th‑0

The Jury was com­prised of:

  • Jor­di Ros, Dean of the ETSAB (Archi­tec­ture Uni­ver­si­ty of Barcelona)
  • Chris­t­ian Phong­phit, Teacher at the School of Archi­tec­ture and Design of King Mongkut’s Uni­ver­si­ty of Technology,Thonburi, Thai­land
  • Juan Manuel Palerm, Archi­tect and pro­fes­sor of the Las Pal­mas de Gran Canaria Uni­ver­si­ty, pres­i­dent of UNISCAPE
  • Lisa Diedrich, Pro­fes­sor in land­scape archi­tec­ture at The Swedish Uni­ver­si­ty of Agri­cul­tur­al Sci­ences
  • Rafael Nar­bona, Land­scape archi­tect and pres­i­dent of the AEP (Span­ish Land­scape Archi­tects Nation­al Asso­ci­a­tion)
  • Víc­tor Ténez, Archi­tect and mas­ter in Land­scape Archi­tec­ture, head of Coor­di­na­tion of Urban Plan­ningin the Met­ro­pol­i­tan Area of Barcelona, teach­ing at Mas­ter of Land­scape Archi­tec­ture.

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For more infor­ma­tion, con­tact:

Dale Anne Dun­can
Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Offi­cer
John H. Daniels Fac­ul­ty of Archi­tec­ture, Land­scape, and Design
Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to
Tel: 416–978-2253
dale.duncan@daniels.utoronto.ca