FAUM CDPC

Limestone facade building.
Photo credit: Winnipeg Architecture Foundation

Introducing the FAUM Community Design and Planning Centre

Join us to learn about a new pilot project of the Faculty of Architecture – a Community Design and Planning Centre (CDPC) – and how you can be involved! The CDPC is dedicated to advancing community-based research and creative projects within the realm of the built and natural environments. We partner with diverse stakeholders to tackle pressing local challenges and develop holistic solutions that enhance quality of life and promote equitable access to resources and opportunities.

Woman smiling in front of a grey background.

Mimi Locher

Mimi Locher is an educator, author, and licensed architect, who joined the University of Manitoba Faculty of Architecture as Dean in July 2021. Her teaching and research focus on design practices and processes, community engagement through architectural design, and on Japanese architecture, gardens, and design. Her research spans the disciplines of interior design, architecture, and landscape architecture with a common theme: connecting contemporary design practices to traditional culture through a deep understanding of nature, place, and time-honored design and construction methods and materials.

woman sitting cross legged.

Alixa Lacerna

Alixa Lacerna is a Cebuano whose heart has found home in two places, Cebu (Philippines) and Treaty 1 Territory (Winnipeg, Manitoba). Through travel, Alixa realized that despite crossing different borders, lands needn’t be seen as separate countries, but rather the lands crossing the oceans are extensions of each other. Alixa’s education in environmental design and architecture allowed her to experience the sacredness of Nature’s time, and the surety of slowness. She feels that mainstream design and planning have severed our spirituality and kinship with our animal relatives, land, and water. So as a designer, our reconnection has been Alixa’s daily practice, inspired by the Diné word and understanding of Hózhó—the joy of being part of the beauty of all creation.