Chad Connery

Chad Connery is Assistant Professor of Architecture at SAPL and co-founder of MOTE Projects, a speculative interdisciplinary design practice engaged in research-creation and site-specific work at the intersection of material, narrative, and place.

Connery's research and design practice operates across scales — from the body to infrastructure — with particular attention to material ecologies, biogenic systems, and the expressive potential of physical matter in architectural form. His work occupies the contested ground between professional design disciplines, bringing together tectonic thinking, investigatory drawing, and a deep interest in radical locality: the idea that meaningful architecture is inseparable from the specific conditions of its making and site. His current research agenda centers on material systems as ecological and cultural agents in the built environment, with an emphasis on the Western Canadian context.

His teaching spans introductory design, architecture studio, building science, materials, and drawing and representation at both the undergraduate BDCI and graduate MArch levels. His pedagogy is student-led and process-oriented, treating matter and systems as primary tools of architectural thought rather than technical supplements to formal design.

Connery's work with MOTE Projects and collaborative partners has been exhibited and published in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and at the Venice Biennale of Architecture. He is the recipient of two Canadian Wood Council Wood Design National Building Awards, two Prairie Wood Design Awards, the RAIC Student Medal, and the AIA Certificate of Merit. He holds a BEnvD (Architecture) and MArch from the University of Manitoba and previously taught at the University of Manitoba and practiced with DIN Projects and Al Coppinger Architect.

← Back to Faculty