Herbert Enns

Professor Enns taught and practiced across disciplines on a wide range of research and creative topics and projects. Maintaining an active architecture practice, curating exhibitions, producing publications, and lecturing widely, he continues to explore new territories of design innovation in architecture, urban design, product design, interdisciplinary creative practice, and digital technology.

Professor Enns joined the Faculty of Architecture as Head of the Department of Architecture in the spring of 1992, was promoted to Full Professor in 2002, and retired in 2022. Professor Enns was Seconded (40%) to the University of Winnipeg as Director, CISCO Innovation Centre for Collaborative Technologies, the University of Winnipeg (2012-18).

Invited to the Architect Selection Committee for the Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG) Inuit Art Centre Chaired by George Baird, Prof. Enns was a member of the Building Committee from 2012 until the project completion in 2022. He also served on the WAG Board of Governors for two consecutive 3-year terms.

Enthusiastic about the immediacy, density and interaction of installations, he has curated a number of exhibitions at the University of Texas at Austin (2010) and the University of Lapland (2011/2012). These explore immersive and media-rich spatial experience, including dense layers of 8 channel (U.Texas) and 4-channel (University of Lapland) spatial audio programming working collaboratively with Örjan Sandred and Gordon Fitzell from the University of Manitoba Desautels Faculty of Music. His most recent installations were in Iceland - the Strange Spaces exhibition at the Icelandic Academy of the Arts; a Masters I studio (Light & Space & Sound) in Hofsós, on the north coast; and an exhibition of Masters I Studio work in the Reykjavik City Hall, Iceland, October 2019.

Professor Enns collaborated with Dr. Serena Kashavjee on the Manitoba Modernist Architecture: 1945-1975 Exhibition at the WAG and the well-known publication Winnipeg Modernist Architecture: 1945-1975 – its second printing of 2,000 copies has sold out.

Mining Location J.O. 180: Experimental Buildings at Shoal Lake – a comprehensive overview of 20 years of design, fabrication and documentation on an island in Shoal Lake, Ontario - was published by the Center for American Architecture and Design, School of Architecture, The University of Texas at Austin (2014), edited by Kevin Alter. Professor Enns served as Chair of the Editorial Board of MOSAIC: An Interdisciplinary Critical Journal - with Dr. Dawne McCance as Editor - from 2000 to 2017. Serving on 5 Accreditation Visiting Teams for the Canadian Architectural Certification Board, he Chaired the University of British Colombia School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture Program Review.

His research interests include Pre-Fab Architecture - a means of integrating high-quality sustainable off-site construction techniques with low-carbon targets specifically for remote sites. Projects include Crow’s Nest Pass, Alberta (2010), Treaty Island, Lake-of-the-Woods (2012) and a series of energy efficient housing units for the IISD / Experimental Lakes Area (2016). With the exception of dual glycol/hot water boilers and cook tops the ELA Units operate entirely on solar energy, including appliances, lighting, radiant floor heat pumps, and communications and control systems. Active solar energy infrastructure is further supported by passive solar gain, high insulation values, compact and efficient spaces, wood stoves, and triple glazed windows. The Units operate year-round.

• Light House, an Addition to the architect Ron Keenberg’s 1974 Residence in Crescentwood, Winnipeg, 2025
• Staff Housing for Manitoba Pioneer Camp on McKinnon Island in Shoal Lake, initiated in 2024
• Collaborating Architect, the Assiniboia Residential School Legacy Group Gathering Place and Markers (2015 - 2025), 621 Academy, Winnipeg. (Designated as a National Historic Site, 2025)
• Staff Education Centre (The SHIP) for Manitoba Pioneer Camp on McKinnon Island in Shoal Lake, completed in 2021.
• The Fortunate House, a major cottage addition on Dominique Island, Shoal Lake, (2021-23)
• Experimental Lakes Area: Low Carbon Pre-Fab Residential Units 01 & 02 (Completed 2016)
• River House, East St. Paul, Manitoba (Completed 2016)
• Lake House, Clearwater Bay, Lake-of-the-Woods, Ontario (Completed 2015)
• Site Renewal Strategy for Manitoba Pioneer Camp, Shoal Lake, Ontario
• Campus Renewal Strategy for the International Institute of Sustainable Development (IISD) / Experimental Lakes Area (ELA), North Western Ontario, Ontario;
• River Series: A New Kitchen System, Sideboard, Wood Box & Tableware, and the MPC Chair are examples of more than 20 industrial products designed in recent years.

Future Studio: An Elective Course in Digital Technology for Undergraduate Architecture Option Students

• in Collaboration with The Hudson’s Bay Company Archive, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, and 3D Solutions;

Strange Spaces, Iceland

• Field Trip and Design Studio with U. Manitoba Interior Design, Landscape Architecture and Architecture students, as well as Masters students from the Dalhousie University Faculty of Architecture (2015) with Tanis Paul, M. Arch. Manitoba and Roger Mullin, M. Arch (FP), Technical University of Nova Scotia

Your Own Harbour, Reykjavik Harbour, Iceland
MB Department of Architecture:

• One Master’s Level Design Studio in Iceland (2016)

Light & Sound, Space & Span: Production & Collaboration Facilities for Iceland's Creative Economy
MB Department of Architecture + U. Texas at Austin School of Architecture Studio: Reykjavik Harbour, Iceland

• Two Master’s Level Design Studios in collaboration with the University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture, with Kevin Alter, M. Arch Harvard, & Tanis Paul, M. Arch. Manitoba (2017, 2018).

Live + Work
Two Special Topics Courses: Hosted by EQ3

• 16 Master of Architecture Students at EQ3 Headquarters, Winnipeg (2017)

New Iceland: Designs for a Settlement Strategy on Iceland’s North Atlantic Frontier at Hofsòs
MB Department of Architecture + U. Texas at Austin School of Architecture Studio

• Master’s Level Design Studio in collaboration with the University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture, with Kevin Alter, M. Arch Harvard, & Tanis Paul, M. Arch. Manitoba (2017, 2018).

Strange Spaces: Icelandic Academy of the Arts, Reykjavik, Iceland (November 2015)

• 15 projects from University of Manitoba and Dalhousie University
• Curated by Tanis Paul, Roger Mullin and Herbert Enns (with generous support from Steven Wheeler, Canadian Ambassador to Iceland.)

Strange Spaces, MAKE, Winnipeg, Canada (March, April, 2016)

• The University of Manitoba and Dalhousie University, curated by Herbert Enns and Jae-Sung Chon.

Mass Market Alternatives (Nov. 2017 - Jan. 2018)
John Szot Studio, Brooklyn, New York

• Faculty of Architecture Gallery, Arch II, curated by Herbert Enns and Jae Sung Chon

Walking on the Moon, Masters I Design Studio in collaboration with the Icelandic Space Agency

• Exhibition at Reykjavik City Hall, 2019