Winter 2026 public program

The John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at the University of Toronto presents its winter 2026 public program.

This semester’s program of lectures, exhibitions and screenings features leading global thinkers and practitioners working across the built and natural environments, contemporary visual art and curatorial practice. 

The program explores themes such as innovative material use and the changing relationships among designers, builders, craftspeople, interactive technologies and AI. It also highlights regional ecologies and decolonizing practices in landscape, urban design, and housing—from Inuit Nunangat to the Middle East—and considers how messiness, imagination and cultural generosity can shape art and design in the public realm.

All events in the series are free and open to the public. Register in advance and consult our website for up-to-date details. Many events will be live-streamed or recorded and made available on the Daniels Faculty YouTube channel.

All times ET (Eastern Time)

Thursday evening lecture series

January 22, 6:30pm 
Jeffrey Cook Memorial Lecture—A Measure of Architecture 
Featuring  Pierre Bidaud (The Stonemasonry Company), Amin Taha (GROUPWORK) and Steve Webb (Webb Yates)  
Exhibition opens: 5:00pm

January 29, 6:30pm
The Annual George Baird Lecture—Building a Planetary Solution: Regenerative Design and Construction for the Future of Human Settlement 
Featuring Alan Organschi (Yale School of Architecture) 

February 12, 6:30pm
Undisciplined: Conversations Across Architectural Knowledge Domains
Symposium keynote lecture by Theodora Vardouli (McGill University) and Daniel Cardoso Llach (Carnegie Mellon University)

February 26, 6:30pm  
Unruly Intelligences: Body, Tools, AI
Featuring Humbi Song (University of Toronto, Daniels Faculty) 
Exhibition opens: 5:30pm

March 5, 6:30pm 
2026 Michael Hough/OALA Visiting Critic in Landscape Architecture Lecture—Unravelling a Colonial Legacy: Grounding Landscape Architecture  
Featuring Dr. Jala Makhzoumi, (International Federation of Landscape Architects Middle East) 

March 12, 6:30pm
The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces
Screening and panel discussion 

March 19, 6:30pm
Land Narratives & Protopian Futures: From Fictions to the Just City
Featuring Toni L. Griffin (Harvard Graduate School of Design and urban american city)

March 26, 6:30pm
The Harold Solomon Kaplan Lecture—Public Act 
Featuring Peter Sampson and Liz Wreford (Public City) 

Visual Studies public lectures 

January 20, 6:30pm
Allison Glenn, Curator, 2026 Toronto Biennial of Art

January 27, 6:30pm
Artist Liam Gillick 

February 25, 6:30pm 
Artist Aimée Zito Lema 

March 3, 6:30pm 
Defne Ayas, Curator, Director of the Van Abbemuseum

March 10, 6:30pm
Artist Lucy Raven

March 31, 6:30pm
Artist and filmmaker Alexandre Singh

Symposia

January 16, 9am–5pm
Sikumit Aisimajugut–At Home on Ice roundtable 
Organized by Mason White (Daniels Faculty, University of Toronto) and Lola Sheppard (University of Waterloo) 

February 11–12
Undisciplined: Conversations across Architectural Knowledge Domains
Organized by Ameen Ahmed, Mono Mo, Brian Slocum and the Daniels Faculty ALD PhD program
Public keynote lecture by Theodora Vardouli (McGill University) and Daniel Cardoso Llach (Carnegie Mellon University), February 12, 6:30pm

Exhibitions at the Daniels Building, 1 Spadina Crescent
Gallery hours: Monday to Friday: 9am–7pm

On now until February 16, 2026
Sikumit Aisimajugut–At Home on Ice
Larry Wayne Richards Gallery 
Roundtable event: January 16, 9am–5pm

January 22–April 3
The New Stone Age: Towards an Ethical Architecture 
Architecture + Design Gallery 
Exhibit opens: January 22, 5:00pm with lecture at 6:30pm 

February 26–March 27, 2026
Unruly Intelligences: Body, Tools, AI 
Larry Wayne Richards Gallery 
Exhibit opens: February 26, 5:00pm with lecture at 6:30pm