David Fortin // PhD, OAA, SAA, Architect AAA, AIBC, MRAIC, LEED AP
Born and raised throughout Alberta and Saskatchewan, David 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. David has also taught architectural history from the Renaissance through to the Early Modern period. David 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. David 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 9000 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. David’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 (www.metisarchitect.com). In 2024 David was named an Emerging Voice by the Architectural League of New York.
A copy of David’s current CV can be found here.
Celina Rios-Nadeau // B.A.S, M.Arch
Born in Sudbury, Ontario, Celina Rios-Nadeau was raised in Rivera, Colombia, and moved permanently to Sudbury in 2001. Celina obtained a Bachelor of Architectural Studies (B.A.S.) from the McEwen School of Architecture. In 2020, she completed her Masters of Architecture (M. Arch) degree at the McEwen School of Architecture. Her thesis Honouring Water: Remediating an Anthropocentric Worldview focused on the importance of Water from an Anishnawbek view and integrated that within purification processes such as biofiltration. Guided through community involvement by the Atikameksheng Anishnawbek First Nation, the project sought to reframe the understanding of Water, and how communities can reclaim self-governance with their relations to Water that have always existed. Celina received the Ryan and Eric Levitt Memorial Graduate Award. She has previously worked at EVOQ Architecture with the Inuit and First Nations team on housing projects and research. Celina is of mixed Colombian, Canadian, and Abénakise ancestry, her relations are from Odanak, a First Nation community located in Quebec.
Maeve MacDonald // B.A.S. M.Arch
Born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, Maeve Macdonald graduated with a Bachelor of Architectural Studies (B.A.S) and Masters of Architecture (M.Arch) from the McEwen School of Architecture in Sudbury, Ontario. Maeve's innate love for the outdoors, desire to protect natural environments and strong understanding of her surroundings has shaped a unique personal perspective. Her thesis “Architecture Through a Lens: Re-framing Narrative Sovereignty, Landscape and Indigenous Film Pedagogy” was guided through community involvement and experiences with The Weengushk Film Institute, located on Manitoulin Island, Ontario. Taking on the role as a facilitator, Maeve designed through her own lens and the community lens to generate a school for the Weengushk Film Institute that was responsive to their collective needs and desires. The goal of the thesis was to re-frame readers’ perspectives, deconstruct a traditional approach to architecture, welcome Indigenous filmmakers and their stories, and continue a conversation about narrative sovereignty. Maeve received the MSoA Architecture and Society Award in 2021 for this project due to its focus on social awareness and response to a community’s needs. During her graduate degree, she also participated in David Fortin’s Indigenous Design Studio which involved building a Birch Bark canoe alongside Métis elder Marcel Labelle.
Maeve was awarded the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) in 2019 and received the SOPREMA undergraduate final project award for outstanding design and creativity. She has been actively involved and inspired by the arts and culture of Sudbury, co-curating Sudbury Nuit Blanche and as the architecture school’s student council President. Her past work experience includes working with Diamond Schmitt Architects in Toronto and ODA Architects in New York City.
Maeve has always expressed a strong passion and connection with northern environments, and has spent many summers growing up and guiding canoe trips in northern Ontario, Quebec and Labrador.
Tyelor Farmer//B.A.S.
Born in New Castle County, Delaware (USA), Tyelor Farmer graduated with an Associate's Degree in Criminal Justice from Delaware Technical Community College in 2016 and then earned a professional Bachelor of Architectural Studies (B.A.S) from Drexel University in 2023. During his time in school, he worked in both fields of study, garnering a deeper understanding and appreciation of the systems at play that govern why the American legal system operates within the boundaries it does, as well as the dynamics between the justice system and the public and how home and urban environments affect those relations. It was these experiences that inspired him to begin working with Breckstone Architecture in 2016, which partnered with non-profit organizations to build and restore homes within historic black-owned neighborhoods in Wilmington, Delaware. From there, Tyelor furthered his experience with Tevebaugh Architecture, working in high-end commercial office and municipal projects for private clients, the State of Delaware, and the City of Wilmington from 2018-2024. Throughout his various professional endeavours, Tyelor has acquired extensive experience in all aspects of architectural design and production, including construction drawings and building envelope design.
Using both experiences he gathered, he centred his B.A.S. thesis on creating an Urban Development and Multicultural Center within the Navajo Nation to create a new environment for the Southwest Natives of America developing a new framework of planning and architecture. The project sought to bring an uplifting environment that harkened on the values and needs of the Navajo people such as cultural perpetuity, community actualization, and self-actualization, while also diving into the history of the Navajo, Hopi, Hohokum, Anasazi, and its relations to the Aztec and South American counterparts that helped shape the Southwest region of America today.
Tyelor's heritage is of African American, French and German, and The Confederation of Sovereign Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribe with relations to the Turtle Clan of the Mitsawokettes of Sussex County Delaware.