Episode Details

"We can find ways to live with water instead of against it."

Are you interested in amphibious architecture? What do you think about the aboriginal understanding of water? How can we live with water instead fighting it?

Interview with Elizabeth English, founder and director of the Buoyant Foundation Project and Professor at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture. We will talk about her vision for the future of cities, culture and values, amphibious architecture, indigenous water understanding, and many more.

Elizabeth C. English, Ph.D., is Founder and Director of the Buoyant Foundation Project, a not-for-profit leader in amphibious technologies for affordable flood-resilient housing. A Professor at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture, her research focuses on amphibious foundations as a climate adaptation strategy that preserves traditional homes and cultural practices. She works with Indigenous and low-income communities in Louisiana, Canada’s north, Jamaica, Bangladesh and Vietnam. Her background includes extensive research in wind engineering and hurricane mitigation. She holds degrees from Princeton, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania.

Find out more about Elizabeth through these links:

• Elizabeth English on LinkedIn
• Buoyant Foundation website 
• @BuoyantFndProj as Bouyant Foundation on X
• Elizabeth English at the University of Waterloo

Connected episodes you might be interested in:

• No.282 - Interview with Keygan Huckleberry about disaster resilience
• No.292 - Interview with Anthony Acciavatti about the importance of water
• No.412 - Interview with Louis de Jaeger about the need for nature
• No.416 - Interview with Raoul Rugamba about culture in Africa
• No.427R - Thriving with water: Developments in amphibious architecture in North America

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