Design is Ceremony with Chris T. Cornelius
February 9, 2021
6:30 – 7:45 pm
![](https://architecture.carleton.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/ChrisCornelius-1024x1022.png)
Free
Event Registration: https://alumni.carleton.ca/event-registration-architecture-forum-series-with-christopher-cornelius/
Indigenous architect and teacher Chris T. Cornelius will give an online public talk, titled Design is Ceremony, on Tuesday, February 9, at 6:30 p.m. Everyone is invited.
It is the second event in the Azrieli School of Architecture & Urbanism’s 2021 Forum Lecture Series.
![Indian Community School, 2003-2007, Collaborating Designer with Antoine Predock Architect](https://architecture.carleton.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/ChrisTCornelius-02-655x545.jpg)
![trickster (itsnotatipi), 2018](https://architecture.carleton.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/ChrisTCornelius-03-655x545.jpg)
![Domicile_05: Hunting Moon, Finalist - Best Physical Submission | 2012 Ken Roberts (KRob) Architectural Delineation Competition](https://architecture.carleton.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/ChrisTCornelius-06-655x545.jpg)
![Domicile_05: Hunting Moon, Finalist - Best Physical Submission | 2012 Ken Roberts (KRob) Architectural Delineation Competition](https://architecture.carleton.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/ChrisTCornelius-07-655x545.jpg)
![Domicile_07: Thunder Moon](https://architecture.carleton.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/ChrisTCornelius-04-655x545.jpg)
![Domicile_07: Thunder Moon](https://architecture.carleton.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/ChrisTCornelius-05-655x545.jpg)
ABOUT
Chris T. Cornelius is a citizen of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. His research and practice focus on the architectural translation of culture; in particular, American Indian culture. He is the founding principal of studio:indigenous, a design and consulting practice.
In 2018, Cornelius was among 18 distinguished Indigenous architects and designers from across North America who represented Canada in the Venice Architecture Biennale. The exhibit, Unceded – Voices of the Land, was led by Ottawa-based architect Douglas Cardinal.
“Everything for me goes back to Douglas Cardinal,” he told Metropolis magazine. “He’s the elder in our field.”
Cornelius served as a cultural consultant and design collaborator with Antoine Predock on the Indian Community School of Milwaukee. It won the AIA Design Excellence award from the Committee on Architecture for Education.
![](https://architecture.carleton.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/wiikiaami_photo-by-Nick-Zukauskas-768x512.jpg)
His work includes Wiikiaami, an installation designed as a contemporary “wigwam” in Columbia, Indiana, for which he won the inaugural J. Irwin and Xenia S. Miller Prize.
The copper-clad form was inspired by the dwellings of the Miyaamia, the indigenous people of central Indiana. Sitting near the Saarinen and Saarinen-designed First Christian Church, it was displayed as part of Exhibit Columbus 2016-17.
Cornelius is an Associate Professor in the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
He is the recipient of awards and honours, including an Artist-in-Residence Fellowship from the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, where he created a visual translation of the Oneida cosmology.
Cornelius holds a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Virginia and a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He has previously taught at the University of Virginia.
To learn more about his work, visit studio:indigenous or read his interview with METROPOLIS.
Instagram: @christcornelius