Merging psychiatry and design “to build with care”
Before turning to architecture, Ann-Catherine Lemonde (she/they) had a budding career as a researcher and intervention worker in mental health, social housing, and community services.
Lemonde holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology (Neuroscience) and a Master of Science in Psychiatry with a focus on the social and transcultural aspects of mental illness.
From 2018 to 2020, she worked as a researcher at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute in Montreal. Feeling “disconnected,” Lemonde moved to activities that were “hands-on.” She became a case manager at a housing first program for people who were previously unhoused, and then an urban agriculture project manager, developing community gardens at subsidized housing sites.
During that time, Lemonde began visiting the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal. “In learning about architecture, landscape, and urban planning, I found all these different parts of my interests and values coming together.”
In 2022, Lemonde enrolled in STUDIO FIRST to help think through career possibilities. That fall, she was accepted to Carleton University’s three-year Master of Architecture program and is now in her final year. Read about Lemonde’s experiences in this interview.
Ann-Catherine Lemonde completed a BSc in Neuroscience at Bishop’s University in 2017 and a MSc in Psychiatry at McGill University in 2020.
“I want to work with people who are sensitive to the emotional, social, and political dimensions of space and who are working toward collective access and comfort in the built environment.”
What were you doing before and why did you get into that field?
Prior to starting at Carleton, I spent my time either as a researcher at the mental health hospital or working across Montreal through the community sector thinking about how services and spaces might hinder or support healing. I have a BSc in Neuroscience from Bishop’s University and a MSc in Psychiatry from McGill University. I was drawn toward this field, in part, because of my own experience with mental illness. In addition, I had a budding curiosity toward understanding emotional landscapes not only biologically and psychologically but also through a social and political lens.
After these years of theory and research, I felt slightly disconnected from the community and was itching to work in something more creative and hands-on. I started a position as an intervention worker in housing while staying loosely connected to research projects in psychiatry and urban planning. A year later, I moved toward a smaller organization where I helped care for an expanding community garden project across multiple social housing sites. While I learned a lot from this period of my life, I noticed that I was drawn to thinking about things spatially and wanted to be in a more creative field.
Lemonde’s drawing, Movement across cities in more-than-human worlds, won an award in the school’s 2024 Murray & Murray Competition.
How did you decide to make the switch to architecture?
There wasn’t an exact moment that sparked my desire to study and eventually work in architecture, but instead a collection of experiences that over time made it impossible to ignore. I was spending more and more time at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal. In learning about architecture, landscaping and urban planning I found all these different parts of my interests and values coming together.
How did STUDIO FIRST help?
STUDIO FIRST was wonderful! The instructors were super helpful in helping us think through whether architecture was a good fit for us, and the projects exposed us to a nice range of theory and design. I was most apprehensive about the digital workflows which I had zero prior experience with, but I slowly gained some confidence and walked away with a rudimentary knowledge base that was incredibly useful when starting my first semester at Carleton.
Lemonde made this drawing, My commute to and from the gardens, in STUDIO FIRST. It formed part of her MArch application portfolio.
Why did you choose Carleton?
I really enjoyed my experience with the instructors through STUDIO FIRST. I was also drawn to the workshop access (e.g. wood shop, welding, printing, etc.) and some of the research that was happening here. A big part of my decision also involved staying near my community in Montreal where I eventually want to work.
How would you describe your experience of the first year of the MArch 1 program?
I was oscillating between the absolute joy of being in a field that sparks so much curiosity in me while also juggling the surreal experience of jumping into a completely new field with a steep learning curve. I shed a few tears that first term, from both ends of that oscillation.
I learned to trust the process and eventually found a pace and workflow that works for me. I also can’t imagine that first semester without my classmates. We leaned on each other for support, and it made all the difference.
Design for an Urban Forestry Knowledge Centre (image above and below). Lemonde won first place in the 2023 Stantec Architecture Prize for Excellence for this project, produced in Gateway Studio during the second year of architecture school.
What has been the biggest challenge/obstacle? How did you overcome it?
I found the program all-encompassing the first year. It was hard to find time outside of school. I knew that I needed time to rest for my mental health but was still figuring out how to balance everything. I also really enjoy the process of design-based work and find it’s all too easy to get into the zone and lose track of time. Each semester became more enjoyable than the last as I gained experience and got better at setting boundaries with my time.
What has been the best part?
I love being and making in studio and how this process gets combined with theory-based work. It’s interesting to see how my previous interests and values are evolving as I approach them through a critical architectural lens.
I’ve also really enjoyed how many of the professors at Carleton use collaborative and creative pedagogy methods. One of the strengths of the three-year stream is that it brings together people with all these different and unconventional backgrounds which adds immense value to the learning environment.
I sometimes still can’t believe that I’m here and studying something that brings me so much joy and aligns so well with my interests.
Case study model by Lemonde
What is your Master of Architecture thesis project?
I’m interested in an interstitial green space at the east end of Tiohtià:ke, so-called Montreal. I think it’s a compelling subject for architects, not because it demands a design solution, but because it prompts critical reflection on our methodologies, particularly as they relate to decolonial work and coming to know a place.
In thinking about how designers can responsibly engage in the production of space with care, I’ve started to critically examine the ways our representation communicates the material reality of landscapes. As the connection between human and non-human ecologies gains prominence in the architectural field — a field simultaneously grappling with its role in climate change — the in-between offers a valuable space for pause.
Images from Lemonde’s in-progress thesis work. They are site photographs that are double exposed and souped in vinegar made from fruit grown on the site. “I was trying to get at the different uses of a site that is often positioned as dead or neglected when, in reality, it is very much alive, active and evolving.”
What advice would you give to someone considering a major pivot?
Don’t hesitate to reach out to programs, ask to speak to professors and current students, and even reach out to a firm and see if you can chat with an architect. All these conversations were super useful in helping me make the very personal decision to switch careers.
What kind of new career do you envision for yourself?
Every year, I get a clearer and clearer sense of the types of people and values that I’d like to be surrounded by and the kind of community or place I’d like to be working in. I think a lot about what it means to build with care, not just as a moral stance, but in how care extends to very practical and material realities.
I want to work with people who are sensitive to the emotional, social, and political dimensions of space and who are working toward collective access and comfort in the built environment.
Ann-Catherine Lemonde served as a studio assistant for STUDIO FIRST 2024. Now in the final year of the three-year Master of Architecture, she is working on her thesis.
