Join DIALOG Partners Chen Cohen and Craig Applegath together with Juan Carlos Portuese, DIALOG Associate, Eladia Smoke, Principal at Smoke Architecture, and David Fortin, Principal Architect, Professor, School of Architecture at the University of Waterloo, for their session “Many Hands: Indigenous Co-Design for Higher Education” at the Interior Design Show on April 8, 2022.

Click here to register for this event.

Many Hands: Indigenous Co-Design for Higher Education

This panel discussion explores the integration of Indigenous and western knowledge as a driver of sustainable construction, and the role of a collaborative design process in the creation of inclusive educational spaces, using Toronto’s Centennial College the A-Block Expansion Building as a case study. Designed by DIALOG with Smoke Architecture, the net-zero carbon, mass timber building is a sustainable landmark in the making — and a built embodiment of the college’s commitment to truth and reconciliation. The convergence of sustainable innovation with Indigenous principles is at the heart of a collaborative design process rooted in the paradigm of “two-eyed seeing,” a Mi’kmaq concept of observing the world through both an Indigenous and western lens. In lieu of a sole architectural author, the project fulfills its social and environmental purpose through an inclusive and interdisciplinary design process.

1 IDCEC Learning Hour and Eligible for 1 OAA Learning Hour