Architecture, Public Space, and the Future We Design Together

Hi there. The countdown is officially on – the DesignTO Festival runs January 23 to February 1 and we’re now less than two weeks away. It’s time to mark your calendars so you don’t miss a moment of the ideas, experiences, and encounters that will animate the city.

DesignTO is a charitable arts organization that believes design can create a sustainable, just, and joyful world. As Canada’s largest annual design festival, we bring people together to design a better future – one rooted in innovation, community, and possibility. Every exhibition, talk, installation, and event is curated through this mission.

This week, we’re turning our attention to the built environment – the buildings, public spaces, infrastructures, and mobility systems that shape how we move, feel, interact, and communicate. Design, in this context, is far more than aesthetics; it’s innovation and problem-solving that influence wellbeing, accessibility, climate resilience, cultural storytelling, and the way we steward the places we share. Much of the Festival’s programming asks how we can nurture our built world – caring for land, water, habitats, and communities while reimagining how cities evolve.

Across Toronto, you’ll find countless exhibitions, tours, films, and installations exploring architecture and the public realm. The 10 features below are just a taste of what’s in store. They span speculative housing solutions, cycling futures, responsible use of reclaimed materials, cultural memory, and new models for healing, advocacy, and environmental responsibility in city-making.

There’s so much to see – and even more to explore. Let’s rethink the spaces we share, together.

10 Must-See Built Environment Events and Exhibitions: 

Art and Architecture Trivia Night
Wed, Jan 28 2026; free with RSVP
Arts & Letters Club,14 Elm Street

Join the Toronto Society of Architects and the Arts & Letters Club for a lively trivia night exploring where art and architecture meet. Test your knowledge of Toronto’s galleries, public art, and the creators shaping our built environment. Come solo or with a team of up to four; individuals will be grouped on-site. Enjoy drinks, conversation, and friendly competition, with a prize for the top team. Free and open to all with RSVP.

Drawed’ Through
Jan 23 – Feb 1, 2026
The Drake Hotel, 1150 Queen Street West

Created by Myles Burry and Kate Golding, this installation merges Newfoundland and Labrador’s vernacular architecture with its rugged landscape. Burry draws from the decorative traditions of Wesleyville, while Golding brings her pattern-making practice shaped by local flora, fauna, and coastal forms. Together, they create a mirrored, wallpapered artwork of 27 pieces featuring floral motifs, historic paint colours, and architectural symbols. Woodworking is completed by Bonavista Creative Workshop.

Drifting
Jan 23 – Feb 1, 2026; free with RSVP
Haven Brews, 222 Finch Avenue West, Unit 101, North York

This project explores how healing, land-based practices, and urban design can shape a trauma-informed Toronto. Drawing on Hong Kong migration stories and Indigenous knowledge through a Two-Eyed Seeing lens, it presents speculative models, an Urban Healing Space Framework, and street-level research. Aligned with SafeTO and the TRC Calls to Action, the exhibition includes gatherings and workshops that re-centre care in public-space planning.

How Heavy is a Building? 
Jan 25 – Feb 1, 2026
The University Club of Toronto, 380 University Avenue

Created by Ha/f Climate Design and Make Good Projects, this film uncovers the hidden material, cultural, and environmental weight of architecture. Through investigations of three landmark Lisbon institutions, it reveals how concrete, steel, HVAC systems, and other materials embody energy, labour, and history. Linking Lisbon and Toronto, the project highlights global extraction and reuse networks, translating technical research into an accessible, bilingual narrative that reimagines buildings as dynamic records shaping more sustainable futures.

Ideas Forum: Advocating for a Better City
Wed, Jan 28, 2026; free with RSVP
Online

Hosted by DesignTO in partnership with the Toronto Society of Architects, this forum spotlights five speakers advancing change in Toronto’s built environment: Active18, Cycle Toronto, Parks People, Moriyama Teshima Architects, and Toronto Metropolitan University. Through rapid-fire presentations and a moderated Q&A, they share advocacy strategies spanning community engagement, built-heritage stewardship, policy research, and public-space innovation. The event highlights how collaboration and collective action can drive a more inclusive, resilient, and future-focused city.

Impossible Toronto: On the Courtyard
Jan 23 – Feb 1, 2026
TYPE Books, 883 Queen Street West

Led by Studio VAARO, Gabriel Fain Architects, and the Neptis Foundation, this project examines how the European courtyard block – an overlooked “missing middle” typology – could address Toronto’s housing crisis. A window installation at TYPE Books visualizes how four- to six-storey courtyard forms might fit the city’s fabric, while public talks explore design strategies, policy pathways, and housing culture. Through research and engagement, the team reimagines historical models to inspire more attainable, human-scaled urban living.

Renovatio ex ruina
Fri, Jan 30, 2026; free with RSVP
Ouroboros Studio Space, 178 Queens Quay East, Building A

Hosted by Arcana Materials Co. and furniture designer Daniel Gruetter, this project debuts an experimental bar crafted from 110-year-old reclaimed bricks and wood salvaged from Toronto’s built heritage. At Ouroboros Studio Space, the team showcases how clinker bricks and contemporary design can merge environmental stewardship with cultural memory. A one-night public reception invites visitors to explore innovative material reuse and the creative potential of repurposed architectural elements.

Signs of Change: Pedaal
Jan 23 – Feb 1, 2026
Pedaal Bikes + Coffee, 168 Brunswick Avenue

Hosted by Signs of Change with Pedaal Bikes + Coffee and collaborators from Radical Norms and OCAD University Research, this installation uses fictional street signs to spark dialogue about the future of cycling and urban mobility. It invites visitors to imagine how climate, technology, and policy could shape more inclusive streets, offering a creative forum to share ideas and frustrations. The space becomes a site of collective future-making amid today’s car-centred infrastructure.

The Weather Holds
Jan 23 – Feb 2, 2026
The Bakery, 2 Fraser Avenue

Hosted by Liz Teston and Catty Dan Zhang of the University of Tennessee, this installation explores space-making through air, water, and microclimates. Using six tangible design products – including simulations, milli-fluidic prototypes, DIY drip cooling, thermal drapes, and mock-ups – the project experiments with atmospheric vernacular typologies to create exterior-interiors, intimacy, and spatial comfort in public realms. It investigates how environmental forces and human physiology can inform architectural design, offering imaginative yet grounded approaches to contemporary space-making.

Tracing Symmetries
Jan 14 – Feb 14, 2026
Urbanspace Gallery, 401 Richmond Street West

This photographic exhibition explores Islamic geometry and its evolution in art and architecture. Drawing from field research across 17 countries and 40 cities, Safoura Zahedi traces historic patterns while envisioning contemporary applications. Her multidisciplinary practice combines art, architecture, and craft, using geometry as a spiritual and design tool to create immersive experiences that connect cultures, spaces, and the natural world.

View the full Festival schedule and start planning your 10-days of DesignTO today!