Douglas J. Cardinal
| Douglas Cardinal | |
|---|---|
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Cardinal in 2016
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| Born |
7 March 1934 Calgary, Alberta, Canada |
| Alma mater | University of British Columbia; University of Texas at Austin, |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Projects | National Museum of the American Indian; Grande Prairie Regional College; Canadian Museum of History; |
Douglas Joseph Cardinal, OC (born 7 March 1934) is a Canadian architect based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Famous for flowing architecture marked with smooth curvilinear forms and influenced by his Aboriginal heritage as well as European Expressionist architecture, Cardinal is perhaps best known for his designs of the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Quebec (1989) and the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. (1998).
Cardinal was born in Calgary, Alberta, the eldest of eight children of Métis, Blackfoot/Kainai, German and Algonquin heritage. He grew up in Red Deer, Alberta where he attended St. Joseph's Convent Residential School.
In 1953, he attended the University of British Columbia; he later attended the University of Texas at Austin, from which he graduated with a degree in Architecture in 1963.
Cardinal opened his private practice in 1964, and the same year he was commissioned to design St. Mary's Church in Red Deer, Alberta. Construction was completed in 1968, and it has since been recognized as a prominent example in the history of Canadian architecture. In 2007 the church was featured on a Canada Post stamp series featuring four Canadian architects to commemorate the centennial of the Royal Architecture Institute of Canada (RAIC).
Beginning with his work on St. Mary's, Cardinal was one of the first North American architects to use computers to assist in the design process. His curvilinear designs reflect the landscape around them, so that people making use of the building can retain a sense of the surrounding land.
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