Peter Osborne
Assistant Professor
Peter Osborne is a designer, architectural educator and Assistant Professor of Architecture, Climate Adaptation and Building Rehabilitation at Carleton University. He was previously a PhD Fellow at McGill University, and before that, a Knox Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. He is the founder of PAGANARC, a transdisciplinary design practice focused on forestry and wood construction. Peter has previously worked in the design offices of MILLIØNS, NADAAA, Michael Maltzan Architects, and RDHA, contributing to numerous award-winning projects.
Peter’s research program develops new concepts for a functionally adaptive architecture that supports ecosystem resilience and adaptability. He asks how to design, retrofit, and adapt buildings as part of their natural ecological cycles. His architectural interest in these ecological cycles is a catalyst for architectural adaptation, a new focus on materials, and the decarbonization of the construction industry.
Currently, his research interest lies in understanding how wood construction approaches impact forest composition, natural disturbances, and climate change from the local to global scale. This way, the carbon displaced from forests for buildings will continue to be replaced for years to come. He derives most of his insights about these relations through the trait-based plant-to-building approach called Forest-Building, field studies, and design-build work.
Education
(forthcoming) PhD in Architecture, McGill University, Canada
M.Des Energy & Environment, Harvard University, United States
M.Arch, University of Toronto, Canada
B.Com, Queen’s University, Canada