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Renowned architect’s visit designed to inspire

BY VICKI GILHULA One of the country’s top architects, whose masterpiece is the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Que.
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Doug Cardinal

BY VICKI GILHULA

One of the country’s top architects, whose masterpiece is the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Que., says there are many things the aboriginal community can teach conventional Western thinkers when it comes to designing buildings and planning communities.

Douglas Cardinal, who is of Métis and aboriginal heritage, told an audience at Sudbury Theatre Centre last week that native communities are maternal and communal while Western societies are masculine and hierarchical. Each have a different world view, but they can complement each other, he said. “You can grow larger by embracing other cultures, he said.

Cardinal has done imaginative work with native communities and designed the Museum of the Native American in Washington, D.C. as well as the The Meno-Ya-Win Health Centre in Sault Lookout, and the First Nations University of Canada in Regina, Sask.

He told the audience that communities and buildings should be planned in harmony with nature and the environment.

“A building should speak to you,” and is a piece of art, he said.

His visit was intended to inspire the community about the possibilities of having a school of architecture located in downtown Sudbury. Cardinal was the guest of the Humanities MA program at Laurentian University and the Northern School of Architecture (NOSA). He was one of the judges of the NOSA’s first international Ideas competition.

There will several other prominent speakers visiting the city in the next few weeks who will also challenge people to imagine a different Sudbury. Avi Friedman, a professor of Architecture and director of the Affordable Homes Program with McGill University School of Architecture will speak at a Healthy Community forum Thursday, Nov. 5 at Bryston’s on the Park, and later the same day at the Rainbow Routes annual meeting at 7 p.m. at St. Andrew’s Place.

Design guru Bruce Mau will speak in Sudbury Tuesday, Nov. 10 at a free session at the Cambrian College student centre. This event is sponsored by the City of Greater Sudbury, Imagine Sudbury, the Downtown Village Development Corporation, and Downtown Sudbury as well as other community partners including Northern Life.



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