Dana Salama 


دانة سلامة 


Designer/ artist/ researcher/ facilitator interested in spatial politics, “unauthorised” heritage,  participatory design. Currently based between Tkaronto and North Africa. 

NCARB Candidate. 

︎︎︎︎ ︎︎︎︎ ︎︎︎︎ ︎︎︎︎ ︎︎︎︎ ︎︎︎︎ ︎︎︎︎







 
Projects (select)

  1. Co-founder, board member @ SHEEEPschool. https://sheeep.school/
  2. Co-curator (with Aziza Chaouni), editor, researcher, writer. “Modern West Africa: Recorded.” Short film at La Biennale de Venezia - Curator’s Special Project, Guests from the Future, 2023. For Aziza Chaouni Projects.
  3. Research Partnership, ‘Locating Colonial and Racist Spaces in “Canada.” 221A (Vancouver)- Principal Investigator: - a participatory mapping project (with the Architecture Lobby Tkaronto) 2020- 2023. 
  4. Project manager, researcher. Centre International du Commerce Extérieur de Dakar (Getty Conservation Institute “Keeping it Modern” grant). For Aziza Chaouni Projects. 2021 - 2023.
  5. Project manager,  researcher. Sidi Harazem Thermal Bath Complex (Getty Conservation Institute “Keeping it Modern” grant). 2019 - 2023 For Aziza Chaouni Projects. 
  6. Project manager, designer. Joudour Sahara Cultural Centre. 2019 - 2022. For Aziza Chaouni Projects.
  7. Project manager, researcher. Old Fourah Bay College (World Monuments Fund). For Aziza Chaouni Projects. 2022.
  8. Project manager, The Future of Ontario Place Project. For Aziza Chaouni/ University of Toronto (2020-21). 
  9. Viva Voce: An Election Procession. Short film. 2020. View at dsko.earth.
  10. Designer/ coordinator, Waiting Wombs Trust Rescue centre for women with fertility issues. Feasibility Study and Fundraising Initiative; Nairobi, Kenya (2018-19).
  11. Various private commissions and single-family residential projects. 

Awards

  1. Institut du Monde Arabe (Arab World Institute Design) Impact Award - Affordable Anti-Seismic Prototype House, 2024. Schematic design (pro-bono) for Aziza Chaouni Projects, with Ines Smouni.  
  2. LafargeHolcim Award for Sustainable Construction Global Bronze Prize (project author with Aziza Chaouni Projects)- Joudour Sahara Cultural Centre, 2021.
  3. LafargeHolcim Award for Sustainable Construction Middle East + Africa Acknowledgement Prize (project author with Aziza Chaouni Projects)- Joudour Sahara Cultural Centre, 2021.
  4. Abraham Rogatnick Book Prize, 2019.
  5. Canadian Architect Student Award of Excellence (nomination), 2019.
  6. Blank Space’s Outer Space Competition Honourable Mention, 2019.
  7. UBC Faculty Project Selections 2016-19.


Grants

  1. $100,000 CAD - Canada Council for the Arts “Digital Now” Grant for countermap.land. With ARCCA  (Artist-Run Centres and Collectives Conference), 221A.  For The Architecture Lobby’s Tkaronto Chapter. 2021.
  2. $180,000 USD- Getty Conservation Institute “Keeping it Modern” Grant for Centre International du Commerce Extérieur de Dakar. With Aziza Chaouni Projects. 2020.  

Organizing 

  1. Steering committee, Ontario Place for All, 2023- present. 
  2. Research and Education Coordinator, , The Architecture Lobby Tkaronto (TAL-TO) , 2021-22. 
  3. Founding member and chapter co-steward, The Architecture Lobby Tkaronto (TAL-TO) , 2020. 
  4. Outreach coordinator, For a Feminist Architecture (FaFa). 2018-19.

Positions 

  1. Member, Africa Alliance at Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. 
  2. Director, *countermap.
  3. Sessional lecturer,  John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design. 
  4. Sessional lecturer, OCADU Faculty of Design.
  5. Consultant, Aziza Chaouni Projects, 2023- 24. 
  6. Associate, Aziza Chaouni Projects, 2020- 2023. 
  7. Architectural Designer, Aziza Chaouni Projects, 2019-20. 
  8. Architectural designer, Measured Architecture Inc., 2017-19.
  9. Graduate teaching assistant (Measured Architectural Drafting), The University of British Columbia, 2019.
  10. Architectural Designer, Van Elslander and Associates Architects, 2016-17. 
  11. Financial coordinator, Ryerson Artspace at the Gladstone 2015-16. 





Exhibitions + Curation 

  1. Exhibition Designer. Sidi Harazem Thermal Bath Station Exhibition (for Getty Conservation Institute) (stalled due to COVID-19).  Sidi Harazem, Morocco. For Aziza Chaouni Projects. 
  2. Lead Curator and Exhibition Designer. SALON19, (2019). DUDOC, Vancouver.
  3. Project Designer. Restock (Central Bar at Interior Design Show West), (2019). A bar constructed from the salvaged remains of a Vancouver special, for Measured Architecture Inc.
  4. Guest Curator.  Unfolding Landscape, (2019). Patron Art House, Vancouver. 
  5. Project Feature. Gaining Altitude, (2019). Livingspace Interiors, Vancouver
  6. Project selection, Ryerson University Year End Show, (2014-16). Paul H. Cocker Gallery, Toronto.

Publications 

Published 

  1. Author, “Architecture Falls Silent” Essay in Call to Arms: Art, Activism and the Neoliberal Age. E-book, Peripheral Review. Upcoming. 
  2. Co-author (with Andi Argast, Nicholas House, Sam Young, Rithikha Rajamohan) and designer, “Networked Cooperative Ecosystems: New Labour Configurations & Opportunities for Mutualism.” Essay for V6A Labs, 2024. 
  3. Co-editor, graphic designer; “Keeping it Modern: Modern Heritage Under Pressure. Perspectives from the Global South.” Ebook, University of Toronto Press.  2023.
  4. Conservation Management Plan for Centre International du Commerce Extérieur de Dakar (Senegal). For The Getty Conservation Institute. 2022.  
  5. Conservation Management Plan for Old Fourah Bay College (Freetown, Sierra Leone). For World Monuments Fund. 2022. 
  6. Co-author, C-A-L-L + R-E-S-P-O-N-S-E:  A participatory column by the Architecture Lobby’s Toronto Chapter for Azure Magazine- exploring definitions of public interest in the architectural field, (2021). Links: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
  7. Research, writing (with Sarah Labahn) and publication design, Beyond
    Two-Persons Per Room: Understanding the Cultural Variances of
    Housing Suitability in Canada. For BC Housing, (2018).
  8. Co-founder and designer (with Alena Pavan), Fa ( A Feminist
    Architecture Zine), (2018-19).


Talks/ Panels/ Workshops 

  1. Guest lecturer, “People Archives,” The University of Toronto, 2024. 
  2. Guest lecturer, “*countermap,” The University of Toronto, 2024.
  3. Workshop co-facilitator with Dana Prieto, “GROUND WORK,” SHEEEPschool, 2024. 
  4. Guest lecturer, “Design for the 99%; Conservation through collaboration,”  John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design, 2023.
  5. Speaker, “Reconciling memories: transcultural dialogue in Africa,” University College of Turin, 2023. 
  6. Guest lecturer, panelist, “Developing micro-public spaces in the medina of Fez,” University of Toronto, 2023. 
  7. Speaker, “On Hybrid Practice,” Intima2 (online) 2023. 
  8. Guest lecture “Countermapping,”  Azrieli School of Architecture, Cartleton University, 2022.
  9. Speaker, “Reviving the Sidi Harazem Thermal Bath Complex”, Congress of Thermal Tourism, Oursense, Spain, 2022. 
  10. Panelist, “Tangents”  University of British Columbia School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, 2021. 
  11. Speaker, Christina Battle: Connecting Thru Grasses @ Mackenzie Art Gallery, 2021. 
  12. Speaker with Kareem Obey, “Deep City: Climate, Crisis, Democracy, and the Digital,” EPFL, 2021. 
  13. Speaker, Toronto Room Journal Launch. 2019.

Guest Critic

  1. Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan Ann-Arbor. 
  2. School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA), Univeristy of British Columbia 
  3. John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, University of Toronto. 
  4. Department of Architectural Science, Toronto Metropolitan University. 
  5. School of Architecture, Waterloo University.

Education 

  1. PhD student, Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan Ann-Arbor, 2024- 2029 (anticipated). 
  2. Master of Architecture (honours), School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at The University of British Columbia, 2017-19. 
  3. Bachelor of Architectural Science (honours), Toronto Metropolitan University, 2012-16.