Douglas Cardinal is one of Canada’s most influential contemporary architects. Throughout his decades-long career, Cardinal has defined an architecture that emerges from nature, imparting lessons from his Métis and Blackfoot heritage in his characteristic curvilinear designs. Innovating to create ever-more complex, organic forms, Cardinal became a forerunner in the use of computer-aided design, leading his firm to become the first to fully computerize in the 1970s. Cardinal’s distinct vision of architecture has produced some of Canada’s most iconic buildings, among them St. Mary’s Church—the architect’s first major project—sited in his hometown of Alberta; and the Canadian Museum of History, which earned him the prestigious Order of Canada.

Carson Chan is the inaugural director of the Emilio Ambasz Institute for the Joint Study of the Built and Natural Environment at the Museum of Modern Art where he is also Curator of Architecture and Design. He develops, leads, and implements the Ambasz Institute’s manifold research initiatives through a range of programs, including exhibitions, public lectures, conferences, seminars, and publications. Chan’s exhibition, Emerging Ecologies: Architecture and the Rise of Environmentalism, was the first large-scale exhibition exploring environmental architecture at MoMA.