Dr. Lisa Landrum
Areas of Specialization
Architectural Design
History & Theory
Poetics & Ethics
Imagination
Representation
Performing Arts
Agency
Pedagogy
Education
| Year | University | Degree |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | McGill University | PhD |
| 2003 | McGill University | MArch II (post-professional) |
| 1995 | Carleton University | BArch |
Selected Courses
| Course Code | Course Title |
|---|---|
| AR 8102 | Architecture Seminar in Critical Practice |
| AR 8228 | Research Seminar in Global Communities |
| AR 8231/ASC 900 | Selected Topics - Tactical Urbanism |
| ARC 920 | Advanced Architecture Design Studio |
| ASC 704 | Independent Study: Architectural History, Theory, Representation |
| ASC 201 | Ideas Tech & Precedents I |
Spotlight
Dr. Lisa Landrum believes architects have crucial roles to play in advancing climate action, social justice, and cultural vitality. Today's complex challenges require reimagining what, how and why we design, and who we design for and with. Engaging more radical and comprehensive forms of imagination is key for leveraging architecture’s potential to foster justice and joy.
Landrum is a licensed architect, award-winning teacher, widely-published author, fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, and respected leader in architectural education. She is past-President of the Canadian Architectural Certification Board, former Chair of TMU’s Department of Architectural Science, and has held multiple leadership roles at other academic institutions at Faculty and Department levels for research, cooperative education, doctoral studies, design thesis, and architectural accreditations.
She holds a professional Bachelor of Architecture from Carleton University and a post-professional Master’s and PhD in Architectural History and Theory from McGill University. Prior to graduate studies, Landrum acquired substantial professional experience in New York City, including architectural design and project management with leading firms, design-build projects, and restoration of significant heritage buildings across Manhattan. She is nationally recognized for launching and leading the Canadian Architecture Forums on Education (CAFÉ), a SSHRC-supported initiative begun in 2019 fostering exchange among all Canadian architecture schools, and for contributions to Rise for Architecture, working across sectors to mobilize an architecture policy for Canada. Her scholarly research examines the interactions of architectural imagination, agency, theatre and democracy. Publications include Women Changing Architecture (Centre de Design 2026), Theatres of Architectural Imagination (Routledge 2023), Narrating the City (Intellect 2023), and contributions to numerous books and journals.
Research Highlights
Theatres of Architectural Imagination
With expertise in the dramatic origins of architectural acts, Landrum is at the forefront of creative scholarship engaging architecture as a performing art. Her wide-ranging publications, exhibitions, artifacts, and events explore interactions of architecture with theatre, fiction, philosophy, and democracy. Publication & events: Theatres of Architectural Imagination (2023 Routledge) (external link) ; 2021 Archimagination (external link) series; and (PDF file) 2021 Symposium (external link) and Entr’Actes Exhibition (external link) .
Towards Equity in Architecture
Through creative projects and research mobilization, Landrum is advancing understanding and action toward greater diversity and inclusion in architectural education and practice. Work includes CAFÉ Capital (external link) , a national forum series on equity in architecture; Women Changing Architecture (external link) , celebrating impactful practitioners in Ontario and Quebec; and Unstacking the Deck (external link) , celebrating early women architecture graduates and calling for further action beyond binaries, beyond borders, and toward Indigenous sovereignty.
The Future of Architecture and Architectural Education
How is architecture changing? How are pedagogical modalities adjusting to keep pace? With initiatives like the Canadian Architecture Forums of Education (external link) (launched in 2019 ) and Rise for Architecture (external link) (with a 2023 report), Landrum is working with students and partners across academic, professional, and regulatory sectors to rethink the future (and history) of architecture and the architect’s role in society. Check out highlights from her three years as DAS Chair here.
- Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada
- 2019-2023: SSHRC Connection Grants for the Canadian Architecture Forums on Education (CAFÉ)
- 2022: Unstacking the Deck – ‘Commendation’ for the Milka Bliznako Research Prize by the International Archive of Women in Architecture.
- 2021: Exhibitor and curator of Archimagination for the ALN SunShip exhibition at CITYX Italian Virtual Pavilion, 17th International Architecture Biennale
- 2022 & 2018: Students’ Teacher Recognition Award for Teaching Excellence
- 2017: Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring Award, University of Manitoba
- Women Changing Architecture / Femmes architectes du changement (external link) , ed. Louise Pelletier, with Lisa Landrum, Jennifer Esposito and Jonathan Tourangeau. Montreal: Centre de Design, 2026.
- Theatres of Architectural Imagination (external link) , ed. Lisa Landrum and Sam Ridgway, London and New York: Routledge, 2023
- Narrating the City (external link) : Mediated Representations of Architecture, Urban Forms and Social Life, ed. Ayşegül Akçay Kavakoğlu, Türkan Nihan Hacıömeroğlu & Lisa Landrum. Bristol, UK: Intellect / University of Chicago Press, 2021
- Architecture in Canada: A Vision for the Future (external link) – Toward an Architecture Policy for Canada, contributing-author with Rise for Architecture, 2023
- CAFÉ Summary Report (external link) – summarizing outcomes of the Canadian Architecture Forums on Education, 2020
- “Winging it with Alberti: Learning from Distance” in Remote Practices: Architecture at a Distance (external link) , ed. Matthew Mindrup and Lilian Chee. London: Lund Humphries, 2023
- “Campus Architecture: The Radical Medium of Learning” in Canadian Modern Architecture 1967 to the Present (external link) , ed. Elsa Lam and Graham Livesey. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2019
- “Poetic Imagination and the Architecture Poe” in Reading Architecture, Literary Imagination and Architectural Experience (external link) , ed. Angeliki Sioli and Yoonchun Jung. New York: Routledge, 2018
- “Miming a Manner of Architectural Theory. Eudaimonia: A Pantomime Dream Play” in Confabulations: Storytelling in Architecture (external link) , ed. Carolina Dayer, Paul Emmons and Marcia Feuerstein. New York: Routledge, 2017
- “Varieties of Architectural Imagination” in Warehouse 25, ed. Alena Rieger and Ally Pereira-Edwards. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba, 2016
- “Architects of Playtime: Cities as Social Media in the work of Jacques Tati” in Filming the City: Urban Documents, Design Practices, and Social Criticism Through the Lens (external link) , ed. Edward Clift, Ari Mattes & Mirko Guaralda. Bristol, UK: Intellect Books, 2016
- “Chōra before Plato: Architecture, Drama and Receptivity” in Chora 7: Intervals in the Philosophy of Architecture (external link) , ed. Alberto Pérez-Gómez and Stephen Parcell. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2016
- “Poetic Persistence and Architectural Renewal: the fruits of investing in an economy of stories” Economy and Architecture (external link) , ed. Juliet Odgers, Stephen Kite and Mhairi McVicar. London: Routledge, 2015
- “Before Architecture: Archai, Architects and Architectonics in Plato and Aristotle (external link) ,” Montreal Architectural Review, Vol. 2 (2015)
- “Modus Operandi of an Architectus Doli: Architectural cunning in the comic plays of Plautus” in Architecture’s Appeal: How Theory informs Architectural Praxis (external link) , ed. Marc J. Neveu and Negin Djavaherian. London & New York: Routledge
- “Performing Theōria: Architectural Acts in Aristophanes’ Peace” in Architecture as a Performing Art (external link) , ed. Gray Read & Marcia Feuerstein. London: Routledge, 2013
- “Ensemble Performances: Architects and Justice in Athenian Drama” in Architecture and Justice: Judicial Meanings in the Public Realm (external link) , ed. Nicholas Temple, Jonathan Simon and Renee Tobe. London: Routledge, 2013
- Chair, Canadian Council of University Schools of Architecture (CCUSA) (2025-present)
- Chair, Department of Architectural Science at TMU, 2023-2026
- President (2022-2024), and Director (2019-2025), Canadian Architectural Certification Board (CACB),
- Registered Architect in Ontario and New York State
- Associate Dean, PhD Design & Planning Program Chair, and Co-op Academic Liaison, Faculty of Architecture, University of Manitoba (2017-2023)
- Executive Member, Building Equality in Architecture (BEA)-Prairies
- Working group member, Rise for Architecture, 2017-2023
1. Architectural Education
- Dr. Lisa Landrum wraps up three impactful years as DAS Chair, Aug. 6, 2026.
- Reimagining Lincoln Alexander Law (external link) , Nov. 28, 2025. (external link)
- Law + Architecture exhibition event (external link) , Dec. 3, 2025.
- Designing Agency: Lisa Landrum on Inclusive Architecture Education (external link) , Azure, June 2024.
- (PDF file) Building a better future: how can architecture help make a better world? (external link) , Futurum Careers, March 2024.
2. CAFÉ:
- 1,000 students weigh in on future of Canadian architectural education (external link) (article)
- CCUSA Announces CAFÉ Capital towards Equity in Architecture (external link) (article)
- Canadian Architecture Forums on Education (Café) Series Report (external link)
- Canadian Architecture Forums on Education (external link)
3. Rise for Architecture:
- Call for Action: The Rise for Architecture Report (external link) (article)
- Angus Reid and Rise for Architecture release national study results, launch survey (external link) (article)
- The Future of Architecture in Canada (external link)
- Policy: Rise for Architecture (external link) (article)
4. Unstacking the Deck:
- Unstacking the Deck (external link)
- Unstacking the Deck: A double deck of cards created by Winnipeg-based Lisa Landrum celebrates Manitoba's women architects (external link) (article)
- Full House: U of M professor's playing-card project honours early women in architecture and their often unsung achievements (external link) (article)
- Unstacking the Deck: A Game of Change Playing Cards (external link)
5. Theatres of Architectural Imagination: