Métis professor and architect Dr. David Fortin will discuss an emerging positionality in design away from human-centred thinking and instead towards the enhancement of all life. Framed as an evolution from earlier emphases in architecture focused on Critical Regionalism, or the emphasis on design informed by geography, Critical Relationalism instead asks what relationality means in design and how this can guide intentions when approaching the design process.

David Fortin is a Professor at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture and a registered architect in the provinces of Ontario, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, and Alberta. He completed his doctoral studies at the University of Edinburgh in 2009 and has since taught undergraduate and graduate courses in architectural design, history and theory, in the UK, USA, and Canada. David was the inaugural Associate Director of the Maamwizing Indigenous Research Institute and the Director of the McEwen School of Architecture at Laurentian University from 2018-2021. Raised in Alberta and Saskatchewan, he is now a citizen of the Métis Nation of Ontario and member of the RAIC Indigenous Task Force. He has twice been selected with colleagues to represent Canada at the Venice Biennale (2018, 2023) and in 2024 was named an Emerging Voice by the Architectural League of New York. His research and practice focus on questions surrounding speculative futures, Métis architecture and design, and the relationship between design and reconciliation. As an architect and consultant, he has worked with Indigenous communities across the lands now known as Canada, prioritizing their values and voices throughout the various initiatives.