The work of three professors from the School of Architecture have been acknowledged by leading organizations.
The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) recognised two Waterloo instructors. Associate Professor Adrian Blackwell received the Housing Design Education award and Professor Lola Sheppard received an award for Faculty Design. The Architectural League of New York named Dr. David Fortin as a winner of their annual Emerging Voices competition.
The ACSA is an international association of architecture schools that aims to empower faculty and prepare future architects, designers, and change agents. The Housing Design Education award, given to Adrian Blackwell, recognises the importance of good education in housing design. The award was given for Blackwell’s work in establishing the Not for Sale! course. This innovative study abroad course took place at the 2023 Venice Biennale of Architecture and covered the complex interrelationships between design, public policy, finance and political action. The Faculty Design award, received by Lola Sheppard, aims to provide a venue for work that advances the reflective nature of practice and teaching. Sheppard, along with colleagues from the Universities of Toronto and Virginia, were awarded for Contested Circumpolar: Domestic Territories. This project and installation examines the complex and contested history of the Arctic, drawing connections between narratives of domestic life and broader sociocultural, economic and geopolitical forces.
The Architectural League of New York is an independent forum that seeks to stimulate thinking, debate, and action on today’s converging crises of racism, inequity, and climate change. Each year the organisation runs the Emerging Voices competition to find individuals and firms with distinct design voices and significant bodies of realized work. This year Dr. David Fortin was recognised for work done by David T Fortin Architect, the firm he founded in 2018. The firm produces a range of work grounded in Indigenous knowledge, from installations and advocacy initiatives to affordable and social housing projects.
Go to Adrian Blackwell, Lola Sheppard and David Fortin to find out more.
Adrian Blackwell
Lola Sheppard
David Fortin