Douglas Cardinal

Douglas Joseph Cardinal, OC (born 7 March 1934) is a Canadian architect based in Ottawa, Canada. Famous for flowing architecture marked with smooth lines 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).

Life

Born of Métis Blackfoot/Kainai, German and Algonquin heritage, Cardinal grew up in Calgary, Alberta.

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.

Career

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 land that surrounds them.

In 1993, he was hired by The Smithsonian Institution as the Primary Design Architect for the National Museum of the American Indian, or NMAI. The NMAI is situated on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., and directly faces the Capital of the United States of America. After contractual disputes, Cardinal was removed from the project in 1998 before it was completed, but he continued to provide input into the building's design.

Douglas

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Carleton University

Coordinates: 45°22′59″N 75°41′51″W / 45.3831°N 75.6976°W / 45.3831; -75.6976

Carleton University is a comprehensive university located in the capital of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario. The enabling legislation is The Carleton University Act, 1952, S.O. 1952. Originally founded on rented premises in 1942, Carleton would grow in size to meet the needs of returning World War II veterans and later became Ontario's first private, non-denominational college. It would expand further in the 1960s, consistent with government policy that saw increased access to higher education as a social good and means to economic growth, and is today a public university, offering more than 65 academic programs across a wide range of disciplines. Carleton is reputed for its strength in a variety of fields, such as engineering, industrial design, humanities, international business and many of the disciplines housed in its Faculty of Public Affairs (including international affairs, journalism, political science, political economy, political management, public policy and administration, and legal studies).

Chaudière Falls

The Chaudière Falls are a set of cascades and waterfall in the centre of the Ottawa-Gatineau metropolitan area in Canada where the Ottawa River narrows between a rocky escarpment on both sides of the river. The location is just west of the Chaudière Bridge, northwest of the Canadian War Museum at LeBreton Flats and south of the E.B. Eddy complex. The islands at Chaudière Falls are Chaudière Island immediately to the east and Victoria Island east of that. The falls are about 60 metres (200 ft) wide and drop 15 metres (49 ft). The area around the falls was once heavily industrialized, especially in the 19th century, and provided a significant contribution to the growth of the surrounding cities.

The name of the falls comes from the French Chutes de la Chaudière, meaning "Cauldron Falls", historically translated as "Kettle Falls". The shape of the falls before its development resembled a large kettle, better known to today's English speakers as a cauldron.

For the Anishinaabe who gathered at this sacred meeting place from points east, west, and south, the waterfall’s whirlpool was the bowl of a great peace pipe, and its mists were smoke rising to the Creator.