Douglas Cardinal Architect Inc.

General information

Douglas Cardinal. Architect, designer, planner, activist, philosopher,
artist. Douglas Cardinal is that and more. Douglas Cardinal's life is
dedicated to creating beautiful, thriving harmonious built environments. As
an architect he constructs buildings, as a planner and activist he builds
communities, and as a leader and philosopher, he builds bridges between
dispersed cultures all over the world. Douglas Cardinal personifies the
timelessness of a master builder. Born in 1934 in Calgary, Alberta, his
mother augured early in his childhood that he would become an architect.
His architectural studies at The University of British Columbia took him to
Austin, Texas, where he worked at Jesson Millhouse Greeven with Fred Day
and acquired scholarships to study at the renowned School of Architecture
at the University of Texas. There he found an intellectually stimulating
and socially invigorating environment where in addition to his education in
architecture, he benefitted from actively enjoying himself in the many
human rights initiatives ignited in the United States in the late 1950’s
and early 1960’s. This commitment to bettering human conditions continues
to be one of the major principles of his architecture, from the smallest
detail to the overall design or masterplan. He continues his holistic
multidisciplinary practice in Ottawa, Ontario where he currently resides.
Douglas is a forerunner of all philosophies of sustainability, green
buildings and ecologically designed community planning. His architecture
springs from his observations of Nature and his understanding that
everything works seamlessly together. For him, this principle is
exemplified by the organic signature works of Borromini, Gaudi, Rudolph
Steiner and Frank Lloyd Wright - all of whom have also substantiated such
aliveness through beauty and grace in their architecture. Indeed, Douglas
believes that the practical needs humans have for an architecture must also
include beauty if we are to achieve true sustainability and harmonious
communities. In recognition of such a wonderful principle, Douglas Cardinal
has received many acknowledgments and awards including fourteen Honorary
Doctorates from several universities in Canada and the United States, the
appointment of Officer of the Order of Canada - the greatest honour Canada
as a nation bestows on its citizens, the Gold Medals in Architecture from
the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada and the Union of Architects of
Russia, honorary fellowships to the Society of American Registered
Architects and the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland and the
declaration of being “World Master of Contemporary Architecture” as a
Professor and Academician by the International Association of Architects.
Douglas Cardinal is one of the visionaries of a new world where beauty,
balance and harmony they, and where client, architect, and stakeholder
build together in a common vision. His Curriculum Vitae and all the awards
achieved throughout his brilliant career are simply a testimony of what the
partnership between architect and client can achieve together.