On Relational Design and Inter-nation-al Diplomacy

Named as an Emerging Voice by the Architectural League of New York in 2024, educator and registered architect David Fortin will share work from design studios he led at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture focusing on reconciliation and diplomacy. 

From 2022–2025, a series of design studios explored the role that reconciliation can play in rethinking spaces for Canadian diplomacy moving forward. A brief history of the Canadian embassy reveals a tension between the expression of a 'nation' within another nation's territory. There is the responsibility to both demonstrate respect for the host nation, while also expressing the values of the guest nation, even if not always aligned. The first two studios looked at the Canadian embassies in Mexico City and Washington in collaboration with Global Affairs Canada, while the third examined one site in Manhattan (UN Headquarters) and one in Brooklyn (Prospect Park), working closely with the founders of the Éenda-Lŭnaapeewáhkiing Collective. In all cases, questions were raised about the presence of Indigenous peoples and their values within nation-state spaces for diplomacy, as well as the expressed value of reconciliation through architecture and placekeeping within the urban environment.

Speaker:
David Fortin, Principal, David T Fortin Architects

Moderator:
Christian Hart Nakarado, Assistant Professor of Ecological Design, Wesleyan University 

About the Speaker:
Born and raised throughout Alberta and Saskatchewan, David Fortin is a Member of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (MRAIC), a LEED accredited professional, and a registered architect in the provinces of Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. He previously worked on various commercial and residential projects throughout Western Canada with firms such as GEC Architecture and McKinley Burkart Architects in Calgary, as well a number of projects as a private practitioner. Since 2005, he has taught architecture in the UK, USA, and Canada, leading undergraduate and graduate courses in architectural design, history and theory, as well as design studios working with First Nations communities and developing an introductory building science course on designing for climate change. He has taught design-build studios using straw bale construction with the Northern Cheyenne in Montana and in rural Kenya, and in 2017 led a graduate design studio working with Batchewana First Nation where students designed a conceptual vision for a 50,000 square-foot Health and Social Hub. Fortin has also taught architectural history from the Renaissance through to the Early Modern period.

Fortin is a citizen of the Métis Nation of Ontario and member of the RAIC Indigenous Task Force that seeks ways to foster and promote Indigenous design in Canada. He is the first Indigenous person to direct a school of architecture in Canada, and was co-curator, with Gerald McMaster, of UNCEDED: Voices of the Land, Canada’s official entry to the Venice Biennale in 2018 (presented by Douglas Cardinal). From 2018–2021, he coordinated a project with the National Research Council of Canada, and partnering with various Indigenous architects, to work alongside remote northern communities to develop their own approach to housing that serves their needs and desires. Fortin has served as a mentor for the Indigenous Homes Innovation Initiative led by Indigenous Services Canada and worked with three communities on design as part of that initiative. He also acted as Design Architect with Edwards Edwards McEwen Architects for a 9,000-square-foot addition and renovation project for Gabriel Dumont Institute in Saskatoon, where he was invited to combine his design and research expertise to offer a vision for a unique contemporary Métis urban architectural expression. Fortin's multi-year research project into Red River Métis contributions to architectural thinking was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and has emerged as central to evolving discussions about Métis architecture, both historically and in contemporary terms (metisarchitect.com). 

This event is part of the Indigenous Society of Architecture, Planning, and Design's ‘Thinking/Being/Designing for the Collective’ series, developed in collaboration with the Center for Architecture. Drawing inspiration from Archtober 2025’s theme of “Shared Spaces,” join ISAPD to imagine a world where space and resources are shared responsibly and reciprocally. As we respond to the complex collective experience in 2025: learn Indigenous principles to re-establish a cyclical and renewable relationship with the environment, develop material conditions where communities can unite across separation, reflect on the role that reconciliation plays in rethinking spaces for diplomacy, and focus on design practices and tools where cultural lineages and lived histories intersect.

If you register for a virtual ticket, you will receive an email with a Zoom link to access the program.