b. 1934, Calgary, Alberta
First Nations Affiliation: Métis, Blackfoot

Website: http://www.dcardinal.com

A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin (1963), Douglas Cardinal is best known for his unique organic architecture marked by curvilinear lines, and informed by a Native worldview. The Canadian Museum of Civilization in Hull, Québec (1989) is an outstanding example of his design style and sense of vision. His firm is one of North America's pioneering users of computer-assisted drafting systems, and was selected by the Government of Canada as a demonstration site to test and advance Canadian CAD technology. He has received numerous honourary doctorates and awards of excellence, including The Caledonian Prize Lectureship in Edinburgh, Scotland (1997), the National Aboriginal Achievement Award (1995), and the Canada Council Molson Prize for the Arts (1992). In 1990, he was made an officer of the Order of Canada. He is the principal designer for the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian, to open in Washington D.C. in 2001, and the award-winning Cree village Oujé-Bougoumou in Northern Québec.

S E L E C T E D   P R O J E C T S

View images of many of Cardinal's projects, arranged by category at http://www.dcardinal.com   (for example: Museums; Educational; Religious; Office Buildings. . . ). Here is a very short list of some well-known commissions:

S E L E C T E D   B I B L I O G R A P H Y

"Aboriginal Achievement Awards foster proud new image: presentation ceremony tonight in Vancouver honouring 14 winners underlines dramatic changes in attitudes." Globe & Mail Metro Edition, 31 March 1995, p. C2.

"Aboriginal awards: Indian lawyer, artist, athlete among honored (National Aboriginal Achievement Awards)." Vancouver Sun, 17 March 1995, p. B2.

Acland, Joan Reid. "The Native Artistic Subject and National Identity: A Cultural Analysis of the Architecture of the Canadian Museum of Civilization, Designed by Douglas J. Cardinal." Ph. D. diss., Concordia University, 1994.

Acland, Joan Reid, and Caroline Stevens. "Building sovereignty: The architectural hybridity of Oujé-Bougoumou." Canadian Issues 21 (1999).

"Architect loses bid to block Red Deer church expansion." Winnipeg Free Press, 3 June 1995, p. D20.

"Artists, architect are honored for their work (National Aboriginal Achievement Awards)." Toronto Star, 16 March 1995, p. A10.

Boddy, Trevor. The Architecture of Douglas Cardinal. With essays by Douglas Cardinal. Edmonton, Alberta: NeWest Publishers, 1989.

"Building on the natural world: Douglas Cardinal drew on his Métis heritage when he designed the Museum of Civilization in Hull. He was similarly inspired for Washington's National Museum of the American Indian, one of the plum architecture jobs of the decade." Globe & Mail Metro Edition, 26 October 1996, p. C22.

"Canadian plans museum of the American Indian." Vancouver Sun, 10 June 1996, p. A10.

"Canadian principal designer: Washington site of Native museum." Daily Commercial News 69, no. 114 (11 June 1996): A5, A7.

"Cardinal signs new Smithsonian museum (National Museum of the American Indian Mall Museum)." Windspeaker 14, no. 5 (September 1996): 13.

"Cardinal's Red Deer calamity (St Mary's Catholic Church)." Insite: Architecture & Design, 5, no. 1 (September 1995): 14.

"Designs on America: Canadian Native architect Douglas Cardinal (designs the National Museum of the American Indian, Washington)." Financial Post 90, no. 17 (27-29 April 1996): 27.

Di Rienzo, Paul. "Breaking new ground: Contemporary Canadian architecture." Visual Media 10, no. 3 (January/February 1998): 20

"Giving Mona Lisa a moustache (St Mary's Catholic Church to be altered)." Daily Commercial News 68, no. 109 (6 June 1995): A5, A7.

Hansen, Thomas. "Achieving a breakthrough (1995 National Aboriginal Achievement Awards)." Performing Arts & Entertainment in Canada 29, no. 2 (Spring 1995): 24-26.

Hill, R William. "Douglas Cardinal's architecture of consensus." Aboriginal Voices 4, no. 3 (July/August/September 1997): 32-35.

"Hotel borrows from nature: Douglas Cardinal's curving Turning Stone Casino Resort near Syracuse, NY, evokes his Canadian Museum of Civilization." Globe & Mail Metro Edition, 13 December 1997, p. C25.

Krakauer, Jon. "A new vision for a museum on the Mall: Architect Douglas Cardinal hopes to realize his plan for making the National Museum of the American Indian into a Washington landmark." Smithsonian 27, no. 2 (May 1996): 76-79.

"It may be an immaculate conception, but who owns the moral rights? A commentary on Douglas J. Cardinal vs. St Mary's Church of the Immaculate Conception." Building 45, no. 4 (September 1995): 9-10.

"Micro-surgeon among achievement winners (National Aboriginal Achievement Awards)." Vancouver Sun, 31 March 1995, p. B3.

"A monument to God, or Douglas Cardinal? The Ottawa architect condemns an addition to his Red Deer church as philistine and racist (St Mary's Church)." Western Report 10, no. 20 ( 12 June 1995): 40.

Mitchell, Teresa. "Moustache on the Mona Lisa (Architect tried to prevent an addition from being built on to his original structure)." Law Now 20, no. 2 (October/November 1995): 5.

"A mustache on the Mona Lisa? Where does an architect's moral rights end and today's economic realities begin? That's a question the courts will have to decide." Canadian Interiors 32, no. 3 (August/September 1995): 14-15.

"Native way has its say (National Museum of the American Indian planned in Washington, D.C.)." Daily Commercial News 68, no. 84 (1 May 1995): A5, A7.

"A statement in stone and steel: Architect creates monument to American Indians (National Museum of the American Indian)." The (Montréal) Gazette, 30 June 1996, p. C6.

University of Calgary. Canadian Architectural Archives. The Douglas Cardinal Architectural Drawings: An Inventory of the Collection at the Canadian Architectural Archives, University of Calgary Library. Compiler, Linda Fraser; editor, Kathy E. Zimon; introduction, Rhodri Windsor Liscombe. Calgary, Alberta: University of Calgary Press, 1997.