DAS Bash: celebrating 75+ years of architectural education at TMU
The Paul H. Cooper Gallery, located on the main floor of TMUs Architecture Building at 325 Church St., Toronto. Photo by Alex Berceanu.On October 24, 2024 the Department of Architectural Science (DAS) at Toronto Metropolitan University launched a month-long exhibition entitled DAS Bash, showcasing 75+ years of architectural education. Hundreds of alumni, students, faculty and friends gathered for the opening event, featuring funky archival displays, vintage drafting equipment, student and faculty work spanning three-quarters of a century, experimental digital fabrications, and a large interactive model of the Architecture Building itself home of the Department since 1981.TMU alumni presenters at the DAS Bash: David Campbell, Associate at Arup (Toronto); Tura Cousins Wilson, Co-founding Principal of SOCA; Jake Chakasim, Assistant Prof. Carleton University; Gayle Meeks, Associate and Technical Director at Perkins&Will; Aaron Budd, Principal and Director of Regenerative Practice, SvN; Paige Crewson, Senior Adviser, Kennaley Construction Law; Tania Bortolotto, Founder and President, BORTOLOTTO; Robin Snell Director (Senior Partner) Parkin Architects; Ian Dance, Dillon Consulting; and Dami Lee, Architect, YouTuber, and Founder of Nollistudio.The opening event also featured a series of Pecha Kucha presentations by distinguished alumni whose graduation years spanned from 1980 to 2017.Tura Cousins Wilson, Co-founding Principal of SOCA, presenting at the DAS Bash. Photo by Alex Berceanu.Photo credit: Alex BerceanuThe DAS Bash, which runs through Nov. 28, is conceived as a living work-in-progress, with interactive displays to prompt fresh reflection on the past and present and reimagining DAS futures.The large working model of the Architecture Building (at 1:25 scale) serves as a centerpiece for interpretive interaction. Collaboratively designed and constructed as a DAS dream machine, memory theatre and experimental apparatus, it serves to inspire, enact and envision the schools potential for continued physical and pedagogical transformation.The student built model of the DAS Architecture building is fully interaction, encouraging visitors to move the elements around and inhabit the model.Each wing of the model is on wheels, encouraging visitors to move the elements around and inhabit its creative foundations, which include a built-in seat or stage representing the schools Pit, a central gathering and presentation space.Photo by Matthew Chetuti.The buildings iconic double atriums (designed by Ron Thom Associates) continue to serve as lively social chambers; with diagonal stairways and internal view-corridors enlivening its core. Upper studios and ground-level workshops are the schools hands-on innovation zones. Its curvaceous central gallery added in 2013 by Gow Hastings Architects has become the schools energizing heart and much-loved critical forum for collective experimentation, community outreach and creative research.Photo by Matthew Chetuti.Photo credit: Alex BerceanuOne of the extensive undertakings of the exhibition is a 20-meter (65-foot) long interactive timeline, encircling the walls of the Paul H. Cooper Gallery. This timeline plots DAS accomplishments and transformations from 1948 to the present, showing a wide range of information: from the schools inaugural annual tuition of just $25; to yearbook images of early graduates, including the first Lady Draftsmen; to dramatic accounts of a 1968 student revolt and a 1978 fire at the schools prior premises; to narratives about the people, program developments and provocations that have contributed to making DAS the uniquely innovative and highly relevant place of discovery it is today.TMUs Department of Architectural Sciences (DAS) began as a School of Architectural Draughting in 1948, it was among the inaugural programs of what was then Ryerson Institute of Technology. Modeled partly on MIT in Cambridge, RIT was an ambitious educational experiment conceived by founder Howard Kerr, and created in response to social and technological changes sweeping society after World War II.Over the years, DAS programs have maintained balance of mind and skill, with robust liberal studies which have been integral from the start bolstered by an evolving architectural curriculum with varying emphasis on draughting, building technology, construction management, landscape architecture, and urban planning.The 20-meter (65-foot) long interactive timeline of the DAS program history, encircling the walls of the Paul H. Cooper Gallery. Photo by Alex Berceanu.Starting in 1973 the Department embraced a holistic vision of Architectural Science, integrating Architecture, Building Science and Project Management. In 2010, DAS earned professional accreditation for its architecture program, and now offers graduate programs in each of its complementary disciplines, including a PhD in Building Science and a newly launched PhD in Architecture focused on design research. More on DAS here.Students and alumni alike were drawn to the many archival items on display at the exhibition, including the original construction drawings for the DAS architecture building shown here. Photo by Alex Berceanu.According to DAS Chair Lisa Landrum, the model in the gallery and timeline on the wall are not the full story, but serve as scaffolds for extending more narratives and innovations. We invite alumni, professional partners and the entire DAS community to interact with the displays and collaborate in building our model of education together.The DAS Bash exhibition is open weekdays until November 28, 2024, at the Paul H. Cooper Gallery, located on the main floor of TMUs Architecture Building at 325 Church St., Toronto.Curation of DAS Bash was led by DAS professors Lisa Landrum (Chair), Carlo Parente (Gallery Director), and Jurij Leshshyshyn with students and recent graduates, notably Ozlem Bektas, Kolbie Fung and Raymin Sidhar (archival research, led by Prof. Leshshyshyn); Jessica Gu and Christian Maidankine (timeline graphics), Matthew Chetcuti (model), with support of several other students, faculty and staff, and contributions by TMU Archives and Special Collections.The exhibition is made possible with the generous sponsorship of Walters Group, and additional support of Arup, Perkins&Will, Dillon Consulting and Kennaley Construction Law.Teagan Hyndman is a MArch student at TMU.The post DAS Bash: celebrating 75+ years of architectural education at TMU appeared first on Canadian Architect.
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