ACO Toronto Annual Symposium

For the past few years, ACO Toronto has hosted an annual heritage symposium – a one day event filled with talks and panel discussions from a wide variety of perspectives on a specific relevant theme. Past themes have included Main Streets, Modernist Schools, and Demolition. While this event has been put on hold in recent years due to the pandemic, we are excited to bring this event back in-person this Fall. Our 2023 theme is Heritage and Housing and the event will take place Saturday, September 23, at the Ontario Science Centre.

You may remember that the ACO already hosted their 2017 symposium on Centennial projects at the Ontario Science Centre, and while they typically offer a new venue every year, due to the recent Province of Ontario plans to demolish the building, this landmark is once again incredibly relevant to the theme. To explore this topic of Heritage and Housing, the symposium will be broken down into 3 sessions: addressing affordability, responding to the climate crisis, and the future of our growing city. Each session will have a diverse range of speakers, including professionals (emerging and established), architects, developers, planners, artists, and academics. The symposium is an opportunity to foster open conversations, learn about different perspectives and new ideas, and work collaboratively towards solutions that we are facing in Toronto.

To explore this theme, the symposium will be broken down into 3 sessions:

• Addressing affordability (10:00 – 11:30 AM)
• Responding to the climate crisis (11:35 AM – 1:00 PM)
• Future of our growing city (2:00 – 3:30 PM)

Each session will have 3-4 presentations and a moderated panel discussion with a diverse range of speakers, including professionals (emerging and established), architects, developers, planners, artists, and academics. The symposium is an opportunity to foster open conversations, learn about different perspectives and new ideas, and work collaboratively towards solutions for the challenges we are facing in Toronto. Speakers and moderators include:

• Chiyi Tam, Executive Director at Kensington Market Community Land Trust
• Elsa Lam, Editor at Canadian Architect
• Joey Giaimo, OAA MRAIC CAHP, Principal at Giaimo
• Justin Pape, Co-founder of Project 107
• Liza Stiff, VP of Innovation at TAS
• Lloyd Alter, Author/Writer and Instructor at Toronto Metropolitan University
• Michael Otchie, OAA RIBA, Architect at ERA
• Monica Hutton, Property Asset Manager at Parkdale Neighbourhood Land Trust
• Nicole Charles, Co-founder of Project 107
• Rashmi Sirkar, Associate Researcher for ReHousing at University of Toronto
• Robert Raynor, Net Zero Coordinator at TAS
• Robert Sims, OAA MRAIC, Principal a KPMB
• Stefan Novakovic, Senior Editor at AZURE Magazine

The symposium will also feature a one-day showing of the exhibit, NOTICE: a change is proposed, by artists Nicole Charles and Justin Pape.

TIME | Doors open at 9:30AM, and the symposium starts promptly at 10AM.

COST | Tickets are $45. Student, recent grad, and ACO NextGen tickets are $20.

REFRESHMENTS | Lunch (1-2PM) and refreshments are provided.

Please email justine@acotoronto.ca if you require any assistance with buying tickets or experience barriers that do not allow you to buy a ticket.