Johan Voordouw

Associate Professor

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Johan Voordouw’s research interests use design research/research creation methodologies to examine a range of topics. These methods form the foundation of his creative, material, and digital design practice. This work situates new modes of architectural representation and fabrication as an expansion of established art and architectural conventions.

He is developing an idea around architecture as a complication in the landscape. He is interested in pursuing the resultant design implications for program, passive and active systems, and material assemblies.

In July 2025, he will start his second sabbatical. During this time, he aims to complete a series of half-finished projects. This work includes an ongoing project on world heritage, a project on Canadian domestic interiors, a series of digital etchings that spatially catalogue endangered species, and a series of speculative drawings and models exploring clouds — a longstanding technological and environmental interest.

Voordouw’s work has been extensively published and exhibited in Canada, the United States, England, Austria, and the Netherlands. Venues include the Magazin Gallery and Academy of Fine Art in Vienna, the International Architecture Biennale in Rotterdam, the Royal Academy Summer Show London, and the Venice Architecture Biennale. In 2019, he completed an architecture residency at Art Omi. In 2020, he held two exhibitions in Ottawa at the Shenkman Arts Centre and the Lightroom Gallery.

He is a registered architect in the UK, and has worked in professional practice in the U.K., Canada, and the Netherlands. His most notable professional experience was at Foster + Partners in London. Before joining Carleton, he taught at De Montfort University and London Southbank University.