David T Fortin Architect

Architectural Education

Since 2005, David has taught architecture in the UK (University of Edinburgh), USA (Montana State University), and Canada (Laurentian University and University of Waterloo), 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, working alongside the Northern Cheyenne in Montana (and Red Feather Development) and in rural Kenya. In 2017, he 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 previously taught architectural history from the Renaissance through to the Early Modern period, and graduate seminars on the following topics: Film and Architecture, The Urban Rural Lab (URL), and The Right to the City. He has advised many Masters of Architecture thesis students since 2008, and led study abroad trips throughout South America (Brazil, Peru, Bolivia) and Kenya, as well as field trips in the USA to Seattle, Portland, New York City, Albuquerque, New Orleans and Mexico City. In 2022 and 2023 David and students collaborated with Global Affairs Canada to examine what the future of Canada’s embassies might be in an age aspiring towards reconciliation.

Community Speaking Engagements

List of Lectures by Principal Architect, David T Fortin

“Confronting Alienation through Design.” University of Lethbridge Architecture and Design NOW Lecture Series. Lethbridge, AB (online). (2024-01-29)

“Icebergs and the Conundrum of Commodity in Indigenous Housing.” University of British Columbia Lecture Series. Vancouver, BC. (2024-01-24)

“On Relationality in Housing and Design.” University of Toronto Fall Lecture Series. Toronto, ON. (2023-11-23)

“Towards a Critical Relationalism: Some thoughts on AI, icebergs and spirit panels.” Keynote Speaker. Living Cities Forum. Melbourne, Australia. (2023-11-15)

“Reconciling History Through Design.” Society of Architectural History Round Table Event (online). University of Maryland, USA. (2023-09-22)

“The Politics of Design in the Age of Reconciliation.” Invited Speaker and Panelist (with Patrick Stewart and Scott Kemp.” Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Vancouver Island South Network Lecture Series. (2023-03-14)

“The Politics of Design in the Age of Reconciliation.” Invited Speaker and Panelist (with Jake Chakasim and Omeasoo Wahpasiw.” NORR-Ed Lecture Series. (2023-02-21)

“Home Alienation and the Politics of Domesticity.” Guest Speaker and Panelist (with Jake Chakasim and Marc Maracle.” Ottawa Art Gallery. Hosted by Carleton University. Housing (for) Canada’s Indigenous Populations. Azrieli School of Architecture Lecture Series. (2023-01-16)

“Towards the Design Lodge.” Keynote speaker at Banff Session 2022. (2022-05-07)

“Transcending ‘Modern’: The infinite potentials for design education and practice.” Keynote speaker and round table event with Dori Tunstall and Evan Jerry at Azure Talks in partnership with IDS, 2022. (2022-04-08).

“Delineating a Dystopia: On the limits of property.” Invited Speaker. University of Manitoba, Landscape Architecture Theory Course taught by Lawrence Bird. (2022-02-14)

“Lines, Land, and Lessons for the Future.” Invited Speaker. Athabasca University Global Studio. (2021-12-08)

A Discussion on Canadian Design. Invited Speaker and Panelist with Andrew King and Leslie Jen. Moderated by Marcus Fairs. Hosted by Lemay Architects and Dezeen. Online. (2021-10-20)

“Towards a Relational Future.” Invited Speaker and Panelist. Manitoba Association of Architects.  Honouring our Mother, Part 1: Indigenous Knowledge, Climate Change and Practice. (2021-10-19)

“Towards a Relational Future.” Invited Keynote Speaker. “At two vast realms: The architect in practice as a being of world and spirituality.” International symposium. Villore Institute of Technology, India. (2021-09-25)

“Another Path.” Invited lecturer and Round Table Participant (with Sanford Kwinter, Bruce Mau, and Sean Connelly, chaired by Neil Leach). “’You can’t do that, Dad.’- said the Millennial to the Boomer: First Meditations on Indigenous Cosmologies, Urgent Knowledge and Humility.” Digital Futures, USC/Tongji University. (2021-06-29).

“The Challenge of Immediacy in Addressing Housing.” Invited lecturer and round table participant. Chiefs of Ontario, Housing Engagement Workshop #2: Immediate Needs. (2021-06-24).

“How to Balance Teaching and Practice.” Invited lecturer for Office Hours, hosted by Esther Choi (2021-06-23).

“Lines in the Land: On the fantasy of property in building a capitalist nation-state.” RAIC Indigenous Design Symposium. Presented with Professor Adrian Blackwell. (2021-06-22).

“Discussion surrounding Scapegoat: c\a\n\a\d\a: delineating a capitalist nation state.” Invited lecturer and Round Table Participant (with Adrian Blackwell, Irena Latek and Dani Kastelein, chaired by Rafico Ruiz). Canadian Centre for Architecture. “Delineating Land: Architecture and Dispossession in what is now known as Canada.” (2021-06-17).

“Reoccupying Design.” Urban Studies and Planning Colloquium Series, University of California San Diego, USA. (2021-05-05).

“Indigenous Design Agency.” Trent University, Indigenous Graduate Student Sharing Circle (2021-01-29)     

“Relationships, Reciprocity, and Respect through architecture.” ACSA Administrators Conference, Invited Closing Keynote Lecturer and Panelist for session titled “Alternative Pedagogies: Indigenous Practices and Pedagogies. (2020-11-06)     

“The Colonial Premise for Contemporary Urban Life.” University of Calgary, Urban Systems Graduate Course. Invited Lecturer. (2020-10-15)     

“Theory, Criticality, and Indigeneity.” Harvard Graduate Design School. USA. Graduate Planning Studio. Invited Lecturer. (2020-09-15)    

“Relationships, Reciprocity, and Respect through architecture.” University of Manitoba, CAFÉ Prairie: Nation to Nation Conversation, Invited Lecturer. (2020-02-28)     

“On the conundrum of boundedness.” University of Waterloo, Architecture Lecture Series, Invited Lecturer. (2020-01-06)     

“Delineating a Nation State: A conversation.” Toronto Art Biennial, Toronto, Ontario. (2019-11-16).

“How are we addressing inclusion in architecture today?” Invited guest panelist. RAIC Festival Plenary BEAT Forum. Toronto, ON.

“Beyond Recognition: Indigenous Possibilities for Architecture in Canada.” Saskatchewan Association of Architects, Annual Conference. Keynote Speaker. Regina, SK. (2019-05-03)

“Panel on Our Place.” Invited Guest Panel Member. American Institute of Architects Student Association (AIAS). Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, USA. (2019-04-05)

“Agency and Indigenism.” Colloquium on Indigenous Architecture in the Americas. Invited lecturer. Buenos Aires, Argentina. (2019-03-18)

“Indigenous Design Agency.” Architecture & Design NOW Series. University of Lethbridge. Lethbridge, AB. (2019-02-11)

“A discussion on Indigenous values, knowledge, health and design.” Capital Plan – Indigenous Engagement Workshop. Health Sciences North, Sudbury, ON.

“Housing and Agency in Remote Canada.” National Housing Conference, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), Ottawa, Ontario. (2018-11-21)

“All their relations: Buildings, economies, and Indigenous design.” State Library of Queensland. Hosted by the Aboriginal Environments Research Centre. University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. (2018-11-08)

“What is your unconscious bias?” Invited panelist by Building Equity in Architecture Toronto (BEAT). Moderator: Brigitte Shim. (2018-10-13)

“A Northern Lobby: School as a political (principled?) platform.” Daniels School of Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Design, University of Toronto, “What is a School? Symposium” (2018-04-28).

“What grounds you?” - University of Calgary, Faculty of Environmental Design, Indigenous Design Symposium, Calgary, AB (2018-01-25).

“Métis domestic thresholds and the politics of imposed privacy” - Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada, - co-authored with Jason Surkan and Danielle Kastelein, presented by Danielle Kastelein (2017-05-25).

Invited round table panelist. Ontario Landscape Architecture Magazine (GROUND). “Northern perspectives: A round table discussion on the role of design and planning in Canada’s Far North.” (2017-10-28)

"The architectural interface and Indigenous peoples in Canada." Saskatchewan Association of Architects, Annual Conference and Meeting. Saskatoon, SK (05-05-2017)

"Integrating Indigeneity into Design Curriculum." OCAD University, Toronto, ON (2017-03-28)

“Urgency, agency, exoticism: Competing metrics for design in northern Canada” - University of Toronto John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, B.E.S.T. Lecture Series, Toronto, ON (2016-11-30)

“Indigenous architecture and design” - IIDEX Canada. Continuing Education Session, Toronto, ON (2016-12-01)

“Métis Design: An Informally Canadian Approach to Architectural Thinking” - Royal Architectural Institute of Canada 2016 Festival of Architecture. Continuing Education Session, Nanaimo, BC (2016-06-10)

“A tectonic question of Métis Centredness” - Association of Critical Heritage Studies, 3rd Biennial Conference. Montreal, QC (2016-06-07)

“Towards an Architecture of Métis Resistance: The Evolving Tectonic and Spatial Orders of a Saskatchewan Vernacular” - Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. (2016-06-04) - co-authored with Jason Surkan, presented by Jason Surkan

“Teaching design in a northern post industrial landscape: The unique context for the emergence of the Laurentian University School of Architecture” - Sudbury Protocol Conference (2016-05-10)

“Indigenous design matters: Emerging directions in architectural research” - Lecture as part of Laurentian University Research Week (2016-03-01)

“Designing for the future: Teaching architecture, from community to detail, in an age of climatic action” - What COP21 means for Climate Change in Canada. Lecture and round table discussion as part of Laurentian University Research Week (2016-03- 01)

“Fabricating and constructing Kikino (“Our Home”): Métis material culture and design during and following the establishment of the Alberta settlements” – Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada, Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, Canada. (2015-06-28)

“Your future will look exactly like ours: The powerful absence of indigenous cultures in 4 science-fiction” - ICIRHS Day (International Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in the Human Sciences), Laurentian University, Sudbury, ON, Canada (2014-12-03)

“Diverse Futures: A discussion on design and aboriginal science-fiction” - Indigenous Week, Laurentian University, Sudbury, ON, Canada (2014-10-20)

“Beyond Style: Reconsidering the Métis Architect” - Laurentian University President’s Soapbox Series, Sudbury, ON, Canada (2014-06-19)

“Indigenous architectural futures: Potentials for post-apocalyptic spatial speculation” - ARCC International conference on architectural research, University of Hawaii, USA (2014- 02-14)

“Speculating about architecture through the lens of indigenous science fiction” – SAGE (Supporting Aboriginal Graduate Students Enhancement) Seminar, Laurentian University, Sudbury, ON, Canada (2013-11-28)

“Sci-fi Thinking” - Montana State University President’s Fine Arts Series, Bozeman, Montana, USA (2013-03-22)

“Habitat 101” - UN Habitat World Urban Forum 6, Naples, Italy (2012-09-04)

“Agile city? Some thoughts on the emerging potentials for development in Nairobi” - Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya (2012-07-12)

“Agri-tectural Systems in Kenya” - Invited Speaker (with Michael Spencer), Public Pecha Kucha, Bozeman, MT, USA (2012- 05-23)

“Engaging meaningful social terrains to create an enduring practice” – Banff Sessions Professional Workshop, Banff, AB, Canada (2012-04-27)

“Other places, other incentives: The African spectacle in cross-cultural education.” 5th African Perspective Conference, Casablanca, Morocco (2012-11-05).

"Urban Agility: Closed and Open Sourced Living Systems for Nairobi", 5th African Perspective Conference, Casablanca, Morocco (2012-11-05)

“Alternative Paths”, Hatch Festival Guest Speaker, Bozeman, MT (2011-10-06).

“The ‘place’ problem: Dealing with complexity and detachment through design”, Namerind Housing Corporation and the National Aboriginal Association of Housing Providers Conference, Regina, SK (2011-09-16)

"Thinking More, Designing More, Making More: Abbau and the Expanding Capacities for Architecture", Creating_Making Forum, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (2010-11-04).

"Slum Fictions: De-delimiting Place in Nairobi", The Place of Research/The Research of Place: ARCC/EAAE 2010 International Conference on Architectural Research, Washington, DC, USA (2010-06-24).

"Between Home and Somewhere: Rethinking Modernization and Nairobi’s Slums", Montana State University Architecture Lecture Series, Bozeman, MT (2009- 10-06)

“Between Everytown and Kibera: Modernization and Science-Fiction", ESALA Prokalo Architecture Postgraduate Seminar, University of Edinburgh, UK (2009-05-14).

"Visionary No More? Koolhaas' Death Stars in the Desert", Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities, Honolulu, HI, USA (2009-01-11)

"Becoming Home, Darkly", Strathclyde University Conference on Architecture, Glasgow, UK (2008-04-17).

“Sci-Fi Brutalism: Identity through Architectural Otherness”, Slade School of Fine Art/Bartlett School of Architecture, Telling Places: Narrative and Identity in Art and Architecture, London, UK (2007-12-06).

“Scattered boundaries: The (d)evolution of home as an architectural concept in science fiction”, CUNY Comparative Literature Conference, City University of New York, USA (2006-11-04).