Built City @ MOV: Culture: Adaptation and Translation

In Nunavut, a place of unique indigenous values, identity, and culture coexist with newly designed environments that reflect a vision for a Canadian North that demands that architects and planners rethink how buildings and infrastructure should operate. Architect and co-curator of Arctic AdaptationsLola Sheppard and distinguished planner William Trousdale will discuss some of the professional, technical, and cultural issues of building and capacity building in Nunavut and other First Nations communities. The evening’s moderator will be architect Patrick Stewart MRAIC, a member of the Nisga’a First Nation.

Date: Thursday, October 8, 2015
Time: 7:00pm
Admission: Adults $14 | Seniors & Students $11 | RAIC Members $11 | MOV Members Free
Tickets: Coming soon!
Dr. Patrick Reid Stewart is a member of the Killerwhale House of Daaxan of the Nisga’a Nation. His Nisga’a name is Luugigyoo of the Village of Gingolx. Patrick was the first architect of First Nations ancestry in B.C. to own and operate an architectural firm in B.C.  Patrick`s dissertation, indigenous architecture through indigenous knowledge: dim sagalts`apkw nisim was featured by the National Post, Vancouver Sun, Montreal Gazette, Calgary Herald, Saskatoon Star Phoenix, Regina Leader Post, Time Magazine, USA Today, gawker.com, MSN, New York Times and the Paris Review. He has two chapters from his dissertation accepted for publication in the forthcoming book, Contemporary Indigenous Architecture: Local Traditions, Global Winds from the University of New Mexico Press. His architectural work is included in the book, New Architecture on Indigenous Lands and in the award winning architectural film documentary, Aboriginal Architecture: Living Architecture. He participated in the award winning film documentary, Something to eat, a place to sleep and someone who gives a damn, a film on homelessness. Patrick is current Chair of the Provincial Aboriginal Homelessness Committee and past Chair (for 9 years) of the Aboriginal Homelessness Steering Committee for Metro Vancouver.

Lola Sheppard’s research exists at the intersection of architecture, landscape, and urbanism. It privileges architecture as a mutable territory that is formed out of and responsive to its history and environment.  The work posits that the role of the architect is not simply problem solver or designer, but cultural, environmental and spatial detective, bringing to light the forces at work within a site-specific climate and geography, and able to look design opportunities.  Much of her recent work and teaching has focused on the role of architecture, infrastructure and the public realm in the unique and challenging context of Arctic Canada.  Lola Sheppard founded Lateral Office in 2003 with Mason White. She is also a co editor of the journal [Bracket] which looks at the intersection of architecture, environment and digital culture. Lateral Office received the Emerging Voices award from the Architecture League of New York in 2011 and the 2010 Professional Prix de Rome award from the Canada Council for the Arts. Lola is an Associate Professor at the University of Waterloo.

William Trousdale is a globally recognized and awarding winning planner, economist, decision analyst and tourism expert. He is a certified professional planner in the United States and Canada. His work has also been given national recognition (two national awards for planning excellence from the Canadian Institute of planners) international recognition (three projects selected for the United Nations Best Practices Data Base) and earned fellowships from the Ford Foundation and CIDA’s Centre of Excellence. Currently he is working with aboriginal communities in Canada, international NGOs and agencies, local governments, research institutes, and the private sector. He has worked on over one-hundred assignments in countries across the Americas, Asia, Africa and eastern Europe. Much of his work has been published in academic journals.

Arctic Adaptations: Nunavut at 15 surveys a century of arctic architecture, an urbanizing present, and a projective near future of adaptive architecture in Nunavut. Each of these components documents architectural history in this remarkable but relatively little known region of Canada, describes the contemporary realities of life in its communities, and examines an adapting role for architecture moving forward. This exhibition marks the 15th anniversary of the founding of Canada’s newest territory, Nunavut, in 1999, and its rapid rise.

Arctic Adaptations: Nunavut at 15 has been organized and curated by Lateral Office, with the support of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada and the Canada Council for the Arts. It is presented and coordinated by the Winnipeg Art Gallery with assistance from the Museums Assistance Program,Department of Canadian Heritage, and presenting sponsor Manulife.

Le cabinet Lateral Office a dirigé et organisé l’exposition intitulée Adaptations à l’Arctique : Nunavut à 15 ans, avec l’aide de l’Institut royal d’architecture du Canada, et du Conseil des arts du Canada. LeMusée des beaux-arts de Winnipeg se chargera de la tournée avec le soutien du Programme d’aide aux musées du ministère du Patrimoine canadien, et du commanditaire principal Manuvie.