Prairie Design Lab

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Prairie Design Lab (PDL) is a podcast on ideas, design, and culture, in collaboration with journalist Terry MacLeod. Each episode covers a range of conversations centered around local and global perspectives and is produced in conjunction with the lecture series at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Manitoba. The host, Terry MacLeod, is an independent Emmy-nominated journalist and recipient of The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal. In his 33 years with CBC, he established himself as a respected, informed, inquisitive, and compassionate presence. He left CBC for new pursuits on Dec 31, 2016. With CBC Winnipeg, he was a host on "Information Radio" and host/producer of "The Weekend Morning Show." In 2005 with Terry hosting, Information Radio was named "The Best Local CBC Radio Program in Canada."

Prairie Design Lab


    • Jul 20, 2022 LATEST EPISODE
    • infrequent NEW EPISODES
    • 4h 52m AVG DURATION
    • 66 EPISODES


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    Latest episodes from Prairie Design Lab

    Episode 32: Cornelia (rebroadcast from October 13, 2021)

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 20, 2022 30:00


    Today the sto­ry of Cor­nelia Hahn Ober­lan­der of Van­cou­ver — one of the great­est land­scape archi­tects of the mod­ern era. The world's most valu­able award in that field is The Cor­nelia Hahn Ober­lan­der Inter­na­tion­al Land­scape Archi­tect Prize. We hear the sto­ry of her escape from Nazi Ger­many, her ear­ly land­scape works in Philadel­phia pub­lic hous­ing, her stun­ning park at Expo 67, her inno­va­tion at Canada's Nation­al Gallery and the North­west Ter­ri­to­ries Leg­is­la­ture, and her pio­neer­ing green roofs at Van­cou­ver's Rob­son Square and Pub­lic Library.

    Episode 31: Passive (rebroadcast from September 29, 2021)

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 13, 2022 754:00


    Local archi­tec­ture to help save the plan­et. The sto­ry of the first com­mer­cial build­ing in all of Man­i­to­ba to achieve ​“Pas­sive House Cer­ti­fi­ca­tion.” We go deep with Stan­tec Win­nipeg — the firm tasked with this lead­ing-edge design at Fort Whyte Alive.

    Episode 30: Half (rebroadcast from September 15, 2021)

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 15, 2022 754:00


    Accord­ing to cli­mate sci­en­tists the plan­et has until 2030 to cut car­bon diox­ide emis­sions in half. Win­nipeg-born Kel­ly Alvarez Doran is a world leader on cli­mate-pos­i­tive design. He describes how to get car­bon out of architecture.

    Episode 29: Bisi (rebroadcast from September 1, 2021)

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 8, 2022 34:00


    Prairie Design Lab returns w/​Sea­son 2. In Episode 1 meet Win­nipeg-born Bisi Williams — The Chief Insights Offi­cer of the Chica­go-based Mas­sive Change Net­work & the part­ner of Bruce Mau. Find out why this expan­sive thinker calls her­self ​“archi­tec­ture & design adja­cent”, a ​“Prairie chau­vin­ist” & a ​“Win­nip­i­geon”.

    Episode 46: Urbanism

    Play Episode Listen Later May 25, 2022 30:00


    Episode 45: WAF

    Play Episode Listen Later May 11, 2022 30:00


    Episode 44: Boomtown

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 20, 2022 30:00


    Episode 43: Atmosphere (Part Two)

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 6, 2022 30:00


    Episode 42: Atmosphere (Part One)

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 23, 2022 30:00


    Episode 41: Firms

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 9, 2022 30:00


    Many stu­dents drawn to archi­tec­ture school imag­ine work­ing with, or cre­at­ing, a small firm and hav­ing a per­son­al impact design­ing unique struc­tures. But the real­i­ty of archi­tec­ture is chang­ing. More and more archi­tects choose to work with larg­er firms and col­lab­o­rate with diverse mul­ti-skilled teams on long-term projects requir­ing intense plan­ning, prepa­ra­tion and financ­ing. In Episode 41 we take a deep look at what it takes to do archi­tec­ture on the ​“FIRM” scale.

    Episode 40: Sets

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 23, 2022 30:00


    In Prairie Design Lab Episode 40 called ​“Sets,” Win­nipeg film-mak­er Guy Maddin reveals how he worked with film design­er and for­mer archi­tect Rejean Labrie to build his world-famous sig­na­ture style. Maddin reveals to Ter­ry MacLeod that he relied on ​“an archi­tec­ture of shad­ows,” sound effects, howl­ing winds and using, as Maddin play­ful­ly puts it, ​“every cheap trick in the book.

    Episode 39: Photographers

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 9, 2022 30:00


    What does pho­tog­ra­phy have to do with how we see archi­tec­ture? Plen­ty accord­ing to gift­ed Win­nipeg pho­tog­ra­phers Jacque­line Young and Lisa Stin­ner-Kun. They tell us about the tools of their trade includ­ing: cap­tur­ing ultra-deep depth of field, image-sen­sors, large-for­mat cam­eras, Pho­to­shop, giga­bite-sized files and phase-one backs.

    Episode 38: Design-Built

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 26, 2022 30:00


    Clay­ton Salkeld, the founder of the Win­nipeg firm ​“Design-Built”, describes him­self and his 18 team mem­bers not as archi­tects but as ​“design­ers with tool belts”. Most are Envi­ron­men­tal Design grads from the Fac­ul­ty of Archi­tec­ture at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Man­i­to­ba. The homes they design and build are defined by time­less­ness and restraint. We find out how their unique hands-on approach is earn­ing them clients and acclaim.”

    Episode 37: Bapiiwin

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 12, 2022 30:00


    Five design teams are com­pet­ing to be cho­sen to design a nation­al mon­u­ment to tell the sto­ry of gen­er­a­tions of LGBTQ2+ peo­ple in Cana­da who have been per­se­cut­ed, abused, dis­missed and mar­gin­al­ized because of who they desire and how they iden­ti­fy. It will acknowl­edge dis­crim­i­na­tion expe­ri­enced by these com­mu­ni­ties and the abuse per­pe­trat­ed by the Cana­di­an state. Bapi­i­win is the work­ing title of the Team SOM mon­u­ment pro­pos­al. We explore their design deeply with team mem­bers from Win­nipeg, New York City and Berlin.

    Episode 36: Imposters

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 8, 2021 750:00


    Cana­di­an cities in film imper­son­at­ing some­where else. Hear the sto­ry from the peo­ple who built Canada's 2121 Venice Bien­nale Pavil­ion on site and on Instagram.

    Episode 35: Tyndall

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 25, 2021 30:00


    Gillis Quar­ries in Gar­son, Man­i­to­ba is 110 years old but its Tyn­dall Stone is 450 mil­lion years old. Hear how this icon­ic Man­i­to­ba lime­stone has become the go-to stone to build some of Canada's sig­na­ture buildings

    Episode 34: Graphic

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 10, 2021 30:00


    This episode explores design through the eyes of three small-scale inde­pen­dent Win­nipeg graph­ic design­ers. Hear about the dar­ing and inno­v­a­tive diver­si­ty of their skills and prac­tices in demand here, and around the world.

    Episode 33: Chochinov

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 27, 2021 30:00


    Allan Chochi­nov has a stun­ning and incred­i­bly diverse def­i­n­i­tion of what con­sti­tutes ​‘design'. This for­mer Win­nipeger is the chair and Co-founder of The Mas­ter of Fine Arts in Prod­ucts of Design Pro­gram at New York's School of Visu­al Arts. Hear how this inno­va­tor is redefin­ing the art and sci­ence of design.

    Episode 32: Cornelia

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 13, 2021 30:00


    Today the sto­ry of Cor­nelia Hahn Ober­lan­der of Van­cou­ver — one of the great­est land­scape archi­tects of the mod­ern era. The world's most valu­able award in that field is The Cor­nelia Hahn Ober­lan­der Inter­na­tion­al Land­scape Archi­tect Prize. We hear the sto­ry of her escape from Nazi Ger­many, her ear­ly land­scape works in Philadel­phia pub­lic hous­ing, her stun­ning park at Expo 67, her inno­va­tion at Canada's Nation­al Gallery and the North­west Ter­ri­to­ries Leg­is­la­ture, and her pio­neer­ing green roofs at Van­cou­ver's Rob­son Square and Pub­lic Library.

    Episode 31: Passive

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 29, 2021 750:00


    Local archi­tec­ture to help save the plan­et. The sto­ry of the first com­mer­cial build­ing in all of Man­i­to­ba to achieve ​“Pas­sive House Cer­ti­fi­ca­tion.” We go deep with Stan­tec Win­nipeg — the firm tasked with this lead­ing-edge design at Fort Whyte Alive.

    Episode 30: Half

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 15, 2021 750:00


    Accord­ing to cli­mate sci­en­tists the plan­et has until 2030 to cut car­bon diox­ide emis­sions in half. Win­nipeg-born Kel­ly Alvarez Doran is a world leader on cli­mate-pos­i­tive design. He describes how to get car­bon out of architecture.

    Episode 29: Bisi

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 1, 2021 750:00


    Prairie Design Lab returns w/​Sea­son 2. In Episode 1 meet Win­nipeg-born Bisi Williams — The Chief Insights Offi­cer of the Chica­go-based Mas­sive Change Net­work & the part­ner of Bruce Mau. Find out why this expan­sive thinker calls her­self ​“archi­tec­ture & design adja­cent”, a ​“Prairie chau­vin­ist” & a ​“Win­nip­i­geon”.

    Episode 16: Supportive (rebroadcast from February 3, 2021)

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 18, 2021 34:00


    Peo­ple with dis­abil­i­ties often face chal­lenges in access­ing resources and fund­ing to pay for their hous­ing and care. We explore what it takes to cre­ate hous­ing to sup­port them in their needs with Amie Gross (NYC), and Emi­ly Bar­ber (U of M Inte­ri­or Design Mas­ters stu­dent) spe­cial­iz­ing in Sup­port­ive Housing.

    Episode 15: Landscape (rebroadcast from January 27, 2021)

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 11, 2021 34:00


    World-renowned French land­scape archi­tect Michel Desvi­gne tells us why trans­for­ma­tion, trans­po­si­tion, and time are at the core of his success.

    Episode 14: Heritage (rebroadcast from January 20, 2021)

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 4, 2021 34:00


    What makes an old build­ing worth con­serv­ing? Three Win­nipeg archi­tects who have focused on her­itage preser­va­tion work explain the chal­lenges and val­ues that infuse their work.

    Episode 13: HOF (rebroadcast from January 13, 2021)

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 28, 2021 34:00


    You start out at a good archi­tec­ture school in your home­town, but — you get rest­less. You want to exper­i­ment with learn­ing & work­ing in a dif­fer­ent set­ting at a new school & work­place — far from home. Today on Prairie Design Lab, we talk with three peo­ple who left for Hong Kong, Oslo & Frank­furt to do just that.

    Episode 12: Cold (rebroadcast from January 6, 2021)

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 21, 2021 34:00


    Cold enough for you? The clas­sic Cana­di­an win­ter ques­tion. We explore the cre­ative impe­tus that cold weath­er pro­vides to two Cana­di­an inter­na­tion­al design fes­ti­vals. We cel­e­brate the suc­cess of Win­nipeg's Warm­ing Huts and Toron­to's Win­ter Stations.

    Episode 11: Interiors (rebroadcast from December 16, 2020)

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 14, 2021 754:00


    With two world-class inte­ri­or design­ers, we explore the frac­tious debate between inte­ri­or design & inte­ri­or dec­o­rat­ing. We find out about the dif­fer­ence between LEED rat­ings for sus­tain­abil­i­ty, build­ing mate­ri­als, ener­gy effi­cien­cy, and the envi­ron­ment. We also dis­cuss the new stan­dard called WELL, which focus­es on human sus­tain­abil­i­ty. These top­ics and much more on Episode 11, ​“Inte­ri­ors.”

    Episode 10: Leadership (rebroadcast from December 9, 2020)

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 7, 2021 754:00


    Episode 10 of Prairie Design Lab is titled ​“Lead­er­ship”. In it, three prac­tice founders explore not the aes­thet­ics of archi­tec­ture but the effec­tive­ness of imag­i­na­tive leadership.

    Episode 9: Clifford (rebroadcast from December 2, 2020)

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 30, 2021 754:00


    The sto­ry of an unex­pect­ed mod­ernist who trans­formed Saskatchewan archi­tec­ture. A Men­non­ite farm boy becomes, in his own words, not an archi­tect but an ​“improver.” Excerpt from Ply­wood World 1970[Source: Face­book — Our Lady of the Lake Chapel at Sil­ton, Saskatchewan]

    Episode 8: Remote (rebroadcast from November 25, 2020)

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 23, 2021 754:00


    Uni­ver­si­ty of Man­i­to­ba Archi­tec­ture grads work all over the world in com­mu­ni­ties large and small. In episode 8, titled ​“Remote,” we intro­duce you to 3 grad­u­ates who have cre­at­ed robust oppor­tu­ni­ties far afield in small remote firms.

    Episode 7: Precocious (rebroadcast from November 18, 2020)

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 16, 2021 754:00


    This week on Prairie Design Lab: a mod­est pre­co­cious ris­ing star in archi­tec­ture & design. How did Tom Fougere trans­form EQ3 into an inter­na­tion­al force? Find out what's next for this gift­ed Winnipegger.

    Episode 6: Roostertown (rebroadcast from November 11, 2020)

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 9, 2021 754:00


    Have you ever heard of Roost­er Town? Most haven't. It was a Win­nipeg neigh­bour­hood that was home to 250 Métis peo­ple between 1900 & 1960. That is until the city forced every­one out to make room for the build­ing of Grant Park Shop­ping Cen­tre and High School. Was it racism or urban devel­op­ment, and what were the con­se­quences? Prairie Design Lab takes an in-depth look. “This is a pho­to of where the Sais fam­i­ly home stood in Roost­er Town. Right where the small white shed stands now beside the PanAm Clin­ic with the PanAm Pool in the back­ground.” — Ter­ry Macleod “This is the new library from the rear. It is built on land that used to be Roost­er Town at Grant and Cam­bridge.” — Ter­ry Macleod “The Grant Avenue and Cam­bridge Street cor­ner with the new Bill and Helen Nor­rie Library in Roost­er Town.” — Ter­ry Macleod

    Episode 5: Qaumajuq (rebroadcast from November 4, 2020)

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 2, 2021 34:00


    Prairie Design Lab takes an in-depth look at how Michael Maltzan Archi­tec­ture beat out 63 oth­er world­wide archi­tec­ture firms to design Win­nipeg's Inu­it Art Cen­tre — Qua­ma­juq. Jury mem­ber Herb Enns explains. Michael Robert­son of Win­nipeg's Cib­inel Archi­tec­ture tells us how he brought Maltzan's incred­i­bly com­plex vision to life by nev­er ​“no”.Music snip­pet of ​“Inu­usiq” pro­vid­ed by The Jer­ry Cans with permission.

    Episode 4: Mamaqtuq (rebroadcast from October 28, 2020)

    Play Episode Listen Later May 26, 2021 34:00


    The world's biggest col­lec­tion of Inu­it art will soon be dis­played at the brand new Inu­it Art Cen­tre at the Win­nipeg Art Gallery. Twelve years in the mak­ing, we will hear from those who made it hap­pen. This includes WAG CEO Stephen Borys and lead­ing expert on Inu­it art Dr. Heather Iglo­liorte of Nunatsi­avut as well as world-famous archi­tect Michael Maltzan of Los Angeles This was tak­en just out on Eclipse Sound off Pond Inlet at the north­ern tip of Baf­fin Island. We are stand­ing in front of the ice­berg that had got lodged in the sound and spent the win­ter there. We were look­ing to har­vest ici­cles to bring back to the elders at Pond who cher­ished the ancient melt­wa­ter from the ice­bergs — Pho­to and cap­tion by Ter­ry Macleod A fam­i­ly on their Ski­doo in Pond Inlet on Eclipse Sound. you can see their dog team beside them and their over­turned komatik (wood­en hand­made sled). In the back­ground are the moun­tains of the Bylot Island Migra­to­ry Bird Sanc­tu­ary. Pond Inlet is now known as Qik­iq­taaluk, Nunavut — Pho­to and cap­tion by Ter­ry Macleod

    Episode 3: Landfills (rebroadcast from October 21, 2020)

    Play Episode Listen Later May 19, 2021 754:00


    The upside of garbage. Ren­o­vat­ing our aban­doned land­fills to cre­ate new parks is mak­ing a big dif­fer­ence in Win­nipeg. What should we do with 2000 acre Brady Road Land­fill — the only active one in the city? A bril­liant young U of M land­scape archi­tect shares her vision for what Brady Road could become.

    Episode 2: Parks (rebroadcast from October 14, 2020)

    Play Episode Listen Later May 12, 2021 754:00


    A diverse com­mu­ni­ty of immi­grants, refugees, indige­nous and Cana­di­an-born work togeth­er to renew and improve a fail­ing down­town park. One of the world's lead­ing experts on urban parks ana­lyzes their efforts and out­lines the changes occur­ring in parks from a glob­al perspective.http://​prairiedesign​lab​.com/

    Episode 1: Lifecycle (rebroadcast from October 7, 2020)

    Play Episode Listen Later May 5, 2021 754:00


    Prairie Design Lab presents — Episode 1: Lifecycle

    Episode 28: Warehouse

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 28, 2021 30:00


    Today's episode, #28, is the final one of the first sea­son of PDL. Don't wor­ry. We'll be back in the fall. Today we explore the impact of 30 years of the stu­dent-pro­duced Ware­house Jour­nal, and we offer you the chance to win a copy.

    Episode 27: Indigenize

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 21, 2021 30:00


    Ten years after set­ting indige­nous achieve­ment as a strate­gic pri­or­i­ty at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Man­i­to­ba, hear about its impact. Two pro­fes­sors and a stu­dent from The Fac­ul­ty of Archi­tec­ture are see­ing many more indige­nous stu­dents, more schol­ar­ships for them, more activism, and more con­nec­tions to indige­nous com­mu­ni­ties across the west­ern hemisphere.

    man fac archi indigenize
    Episode 26: Alluvium

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 14, 2021 30:00


    In episode 26, we dis­cuss a rad­i­cal pro­pos­al for a Toron­to water­front land­mark whose future is in doubt. Ontario Place is fifty years old and has been closed for ten. A team of Uni­ver­si­ty of Man­i­to­ba and Ryer­son Uni­ver­si­ty archi­tec­ture grads and stu­dents tell us about their award-win­ning project that rede­fines rela­tion­ships with nature and mit­i­gates cli­mate change.

    man ontario place ryer toron alluvium
    Episode 25: Japan

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 7, 2021 30:00


    Episode 25 of Prairie Design Lab is titled ​“Japan.” This week we meet Jun Shi­ba­ta, a Japan­ese stu­dent who came to the Uni­ver­si­ty of Man­i­to­ba to learn Eng­lish & study archi­tec­ture and was lat­er accept­ed into the pres­ti­gious Bartlett School of Archi­tec­ture. We also meet an indi­vid­ual from Bran­don, Man­i­to­ba, named Will Gal­loway, who came to the U of M for two archi­tec­tur­al degrees and then pur­sued his Ph.D. at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Tokyo to begin a 25-year career in Japan.

    Episode 24: Lori

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 31, 2021 30:00


    Canada's ​“House of LMD” inte­ri­or design has 40 lux­u­ry projects on the go that can span six years and encom­pass 30,000 sq. ft. After 35 years of suc­cess, Lori Mor­ris shares how this ​“Design Dar­ling” went from small-town Ontario to become North Amer­i­ca's ​“Maes­tra of Majesty.”

    Episode 23: Simplicity

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 24, 2021 30:00


    In Episode 23, we dis­cuss the endur­ing appeal of mid-cen­tu­ry mod­ern fur­ni­ture. Three U of M design­ers con­vers­es on the newest incar­na­tions of the ever-pop­u­lar ​'30s through 60's Eames, Bertoia, and Saari­nen styles.

    Episode 22: Purpose

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 17, 2021 30:00


    Cracked win­dows. Leaky roofs. Aban­doned hous­es. Across Win­nipeg's inner city, there is a great need for improved hous­ing. Many exist­ing homes are old, over­crowd­ed, and in poor repair. We meet the head of a social enter­prise and an archi­tec­tur­al asso­ciate who are work­ing togeth­er to build afford­able new homes. Episode 22 Guests: Kalen Tay­lor, Fletch­er Noonan

    Episode 21: David

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 10, 2021 30:00


    A leader we lost too soon. Archi­tect David Pen­ner died sud­den­ly in Jan­u­ary of 2020 at 61. His lega­cy lives on. We salute the gift­ed design­er & founder of Store­front Manitoba.

    Episode 20: Westcoast

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 3, 2021 30:00


    How is it that two of the most suc­cess­ful West Coast Mod­ern Archi­tec­ture prac­ti­tion­ers both trained at The Uni­ver­si­ty of Man­i­to­ba's Fac­ul­ty of Archi­tec­ture? What was it about The U of M's rigours that pre­pared D'ar­cy Jones and Sean Pear­son for West Coast notoriety?

    Episode 19: Whimsy

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 24, 2021 30:00


    Today on ​“Whim­sy” — Episode 19 of Prairie Design Lab — design to make you smile. Much design, no mat­ter how beau­ti­ful and use­ful, can be sort of seri­ous. We intro­duce you to two Win­nipeg design­ers who put delight, plea­sure, and whim­sy at the cen­tre of what they cre­ate, and peo­ple across North Amer­i­ca are smil­ing as they dis­cov­er it.

    Episode 18: Colour

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 17, 2021 30:00


    When you paint­ed your bed­room last month why did you choose that colour? What's the colour of your favorite sweater? What colour is your front door? What shapes your taste in colours? Episode 18 of Prairie Design Lab meets three peo­ple from the glob­al colour indus­try, with dis­tinct Win­nipeg con­nec­tions, who ana­lyze and shape world­wide colour tastes.

    Episode 17: Books

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 10, 2021 30:00


    What does hand­made book­bind­ing have to do with Inte­ri­or Design? Plen­ty, as we'll find out from a book­bind­ing artist, an Inte­ri­or Design pro­fes­sor, and two stu­dents who saw and felt the link between the two first hand.

    Episode 16: Supportive

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 3, 2021 30:00


    Peo­ple with dis­abil­i­ties often face chal­lenges in access­ing resources and fund­ing to pay for their hous­ing and care. We explore what it takes to cre­ate hous­ing to sup­port them in their needs with Amie Gross (NYC), and Emi­ly Bar­ber (U of M Inte­ri­or Design Mas­ters stu­dent) spe­cial­iz­ing in Sup­port­ive Housing.

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