Wanda Dalla Costa, AIA, LEED A.P. holds a joint position at Arizona State University between The Design School as Institute Professor, and the School of Construction as Associate Professor. She is a member of the Saddle Lake First Nation and has spent nearly 20 years working with Indigenous communities in North America. Her current work focuses on re-operationalizing Indigenous ways of knowing, being and connecting in contemporary architecture education and practice. Her interests include co-design methodologies, Indigenous place-keeping and climatic resiliency based in regional architectures. Dalla Costa was the first, First Nation women to become an architect in Canada, and is part of a team of Indigenous architects representing Canada at the 2018 Venice Biennale. Dalla Costa’s coursework at ASU includes Indigenous Planning, Architecture and Construction and a multidisciplinary Indigenous Construction Studio, where architecture, construction and planning students work directly with tribal communities. Dalla Costa is a member of the following boards and organizations committed to advancing construction and architecture in Indian Country: Advisory Board, Construction in Indian Country (CIIC) at Arizona State University; member, American Indian Council of Architects & Engineers (AICAE); member, the American Indian Science & Engineering Society (AISES); member, Royal Institute of Architecture Canada (RAIC) Indigenous Task Force; Chair, Education Subcommittee of RAIC’s Indigenous Task Force. Dalla Costa holds a Master of Design Research (City Design) from the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) and a Master of Architecture from the University of Calgary. Her company, Redquill Architecture (www.RQarc.com) is based in Phoenix, Arizona.
Education
- MA, Design Research in City Design, Planning and Policy, Southern California Institute of Architecture, 2011
- MA, Architecture, University of Calgary, 2002
- BA, Sociology, Native Studies, University of Alberta, 1991