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History
Douglas Cardinal is one of Canada’s most influential architects, widely recognized nationally and internationally for his distinctive curvilinear organic architecture. Cardinal was born in Calgary on March 7, 1934 and raised near Red Deer, Alberta. His father Joseph T. Cardinal was a game warden and forest ranger of Blackfoot ancestry and his mother Frances M. Rach was of German and Metis ancestry.
Cardinal studied architecture at the University of British Columbia from 1952 to 1955 while also working as a draftsman in Red Deer and Edmonton to gain experience. Cardinal then left UBC and travelled to Mexico. He worked in Austin, Texas, as a draftsman and in 1958 enrolled at the University of Texas. He received his Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Texas at Austin in 1963 and returned to Red Deer where he established his practice in 1964. Among his first commissions was St. Mary’s Church in Red Deer, completed in 1968. St. Mary’s Chruch brought Cardinal national recognition and has since become an iconic work of Canadian architecture.
The Cardinal practice was an early adopter of digital technology and began using Computer-Aided Design while working on St. Mary’s Church. The expertise of the practice in the use of CAD grew and eventually led to the development of an in-house software program. By 1980, Cardinal used CAD to produce the entire set of construction drawings for the St. Albert Civic and Cultural Centre. Cardinal was among the first architects in the world to work extensively with digital technology.
In 1967 Cardinal moved his practice to Edmonton. Over the next 18 years, Cardinal designed over 100 projects across Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and the Northwest Territories. Major works include Grande Prairie Regional College, Alberta Government Service Centre (Ponoka), Hay River High School, La Ronge Elementary School, Spruce Grove Composite High School, and St. Albert Civic and Cultural Centre, as well as community development plans for several First Nations in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
In 1985 he moved his practice to Ottawa where he was commissioned to design the Museum of Man (Canadian Museum of History) in Gatineau, Quebec. The monumental Museum of Man design led to wide acclaim and recognition for Cardinal. Significant works followed for the practice in Ontario, Quebec, and the United States. Cardinal’s notable works from the Ottawa-based second phase of his career include the York Region Administrative Centre (Newmarket), National Museum of the American Indian (Washington, DC), First Nations University (Regina), Ouje-Bougoumou Village (Quebec), Oneida Hotel and Casino (Verona, NY), Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health (Ottawa), Goodyear Adelante Healthcare Centre (Mesa, AZ), and the Gordon Oakes Redbear Student Centre at the University of Saskatchewan.
Over course of his sixty-year career, Cardinal has received numerous awards and honours, including the Order of Canada (1989), Canada Council Molson Prize for the Arts (1992), RAIC Gold Medal (1999), Governor General’s Award for Visual and Media Arts (2001), United Nations Award for Sustainable Design (2002), IAA World Master of Contemporary Architecture (2006), IAA Grand Prix Crystal Globe (2009), RAIC Prix du XXe siècle (2013), and many others.
Douglas Cardinal lives in Ottawa.