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https://reasonstobecheerful.world/how-architecture-can-make-indigenous-traditions-visible/>
"When you walk into the Indigenous Outdoor Gathering space at Lambton College
in Sarnia, Ontario, it’s hard to know whether you have landed in the past or in
the future. One might wonder if the round building is a traditional healing
space, with its wigwam-like structure and an open fireplace in its center, or
an innovative, contemporary art project, with its glass ceiling and metal bands
that resemble ancient basket weaves. Buffalo, birds and other native animals
are drawn onto the ceiling and glass walls; paw prints walk up the sides. The
pavilion melds past and future to host sweat lodges, cultural teachings, pow
pows and ceremonies for people in the present.
“The cultural content is layered in this building,” architect Wanda Dalla Costa
explains. “It’s over the top, because we need to overcome the invisibility of
our culture and push so far through.”
Dalla Costa, a member of the Saddle Lake Cree Nation and Canada’s first First
Nations female architect, seeks to innovate contemporary architecture by
integrating the rich history of Native culture. She calls herself a “double
underdog,” being female and a minority in architecture, but believes the
perspective adds strength: “I’ve learned to deeply listen to underserved
voices.”
Her path into architecture is as unusual as her buildings. She became
interested in construction and urban planning when she started traveling around
the world in 1990. Instead of one gap year as planned, she ended up backpacking
for seven years through 40 countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Asia
and Latin America. “Visiting the Angkor Wat temples in Cambodia or seeing wall
reliefs in India, which describe the entire history of the people, I noticed
how visible people’s traditions still were in buildings. I thought to myself,
the little boxes we have here in North America have nothing to do with our
culture. There is such a disconnect. Why couldn’t we uplift visibility using
the tool of architecture?”
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*** Xanni ***
