Alexandra (Ali) Kenyon is an architect, urbanist, and mother. With Dutch and Italian ancestry, and raised in the Treaty Four lands of Regina, Ali is interested in the relationship between cities, buildings, and landscapes, their cultural context, and the systems that connect them. Through her work, she is committed to providing design solutions that catalyze community change, now and into the future.
As Associate Principal at hcma, Ali leads teams in the pursuit of maximizing positive impact on communities, through the design of public spaces, aquatic and recreation centres, libraries, outdoor pools, and development plans. Her interdisciplinary background, first in industrial design then architecture, influences the success she has had across project scales – Alley Oop and Ackery’s Alley are two of her non-traditional projects that reshape the urban landscape, while the newly opened təməsew̓txʷ Aquatic and Community Centre brings a new top-of-class civic amenity to a challenging site. Other projects in her portfolio include Wascana Pool in Regina, Minoru Centre for Active Living in Richmond, and Vancouver Public Library’s Brand Guidelines for Interior Spaces, further evidencing her interdisciplinary range, from precedent-setting aquatic centres to place-brand and patron experience design.
Ali also played a key role in the development of hcma’s books, POOLS: Aquatic Architecture and PLACES: Public Architecture, and our collaboration with Aeriosa Dance Company.