Archinect - News

Mecanoo's enigmatic theater design stages Jacob's Pillow for a new era of performance in Massachusetts

2024-11-21T13:17:00-05:00

Mecanoo’s next cultural building in the United States, the new Doris Duke Theater for the Jacob’s Pillow dance center in western Massachusetts town of Becket, has announced its opening date of July 9th, 2025.

After the popular Berkshires destination suffered a devastating loss from a fire in late 2020, the $30 million rebuilding effort was launched, focused on creating a new home that, in the words of the center’s Artistic Director Pamela Tatge, is "grounded in the Indigenous history of the land on which we dance."

Image: Robert Benson, courtesy of Jacob's Pillow

Joining Mecanoo for its reimagined design was Marvel, now fresh off the groundbreaking of its new Bronx Museum of the Arts renovation/expansion and work on the esplanade for the new Universal Hip Hop Museum led by Michael Ford’s BrandNu Design Studio.

Image rendering by Mecanoo Architects and Marvel, courtesy of Jacob's Pillow

Francine Houben, Mecanoo’s founder, says: "At the heart of the new Doris Duke Theatre lies a celebra...

Snøhetta completes new cultural and education facility in Norway inspired by Indigenous design practices

2024-08-23T19:48:00-04:00

A new cultural and educational hub that draws from the heritage and traditional building practices of the Sámi peoples, an Indigenous group in Norway, designed by Snøhetta, in collaboration with Norwegian practice 70°N architecture and artist Joar Nango, has officially opened.

Image: Lars Petter Pettersen/Snøhetta

Called Čoarvemátta, the project takes its name from the Sámi words for horn and root, after the innermost and strongest part of reindeer antlers. The shared facility creates space for the Sámi National Theater Beaivváš and the Sámi High School and Reindeer Herding School.

Image: Lars Petter Pettersen/Snøhetta

The building is located in Kautokeino, a municipality in the middle of Finnmarksvidda, Norway’s largest and northernmost plateau. Čoarvemátta’s design responds to its environment as all the structure’s façades relate to the various landscape spaces that surround them.

Image: Lars Petter Pettersen/Snøhetta

The two-story building sits low in the landscape with proportions...

CannonDesign completes new Western Michigan University student center inspired by Indigenous design elements

2024-03-04T12:13:00-05:00

CannonDesign has completed a new student center at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. Replacing the university’s Bernhard Center, the new three-level building contains gathering and lounge spaces, dining, a bookstore, a future on-campus brewpub, and retail, designed as a “beacon of inclusion,” according to the team.

Photo credit: Christopher Barrett

“Located on lands historically occupied by Ojibwe, Odawa, and Bodewadmi nations, the building is designed to be a student-centered gathering place that champions belonging and honors the roots of Native American heritage embedded throughout the site,” the team notes.

Photo credit: Laura Peters

The building’s 163,000-square-foot plan was designed to create “interstitial opportunities” for students to informally engage with each other. Student feedback influenced the design of various social elements, such as a sitting circle derived from Native American culture. Across the sc...

In Celebration of Indigenous Peoples' Day, here are a few selected lectures and events to add to your calendar

2023-10-09T08:00:00-04:00

In honor of today's Indigenous Peoples' Day celebration, we are highlighting a collection of events and lectures advancing the discourse on Native American traditions, rights, and cultures in the built environment that will be taking place this week and throughout the fall.

Affirming Indigenous Worldviews

Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation
New York, Monday, October 9

The fourth AFFIRMATIONS discussion, "Indigenous Worldings," on October 9 at 6:30 PM, features Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui and Paulo Tavares. The discussion will be followed by a response from GSAPP Assistant Professor Emanuel Admassu.

Bridging Academia and Indigenous Communities

University of Pittsburgh Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences
Pittsburgh and online, Monday & Tuesday, October 9 & 10

The school's Department of History of Art and Architecture in conjunction with the Carnegie Museum of Natural History presents special Indigenous Peoples' Day programming on Oct...

Florida State University and UCLA share resources to create a new history of Indigenous thatch work architecture in the Americas

2023-05-26T12:00:00-04:00

A new project led by Florida State University associate professor Paul Niell is working to retrace the lineage of thatch work architectures used by different African and Indigenous diaspora groups throughout the Americas in the hopes of documenting and preserving their impact on history for future generations of scholars.

Niell teaches Caribbean art and architectural history in the school’s College of Fine Arts with a focus on the architecture and cultural landscapes of the Hispanophone Caribbean in the late-18th and early-19th centuries.

Recently, he coordinated with UCLA associate professor Stella Nair, several graduate students, and representatives of different Indigenous groups to organize a three-part conference titled “Forgotten Canopy: Ecology, Ephemeral Architecture, and Imperialism in the Caribbean, South American, and Transatlantic Worlds,” that provided a framework for further study into the vernacular domestic structures that predominated in both regions.

A modern examp...

Adjaye-led expansion announced at Vermont’s historic Shelburne Museum

2023-05-09T16:50:00-04:00

Adjaye Associates has just been announced to lead the design of the newly-commissioned Perry Center for Native American Art at the Shelburne Museum in northern Vermont.

The project’s brief calls for a “sustainable building with integrated landscape created in collaboration with Indigenous voices whose cultures and people are represented in the works to be stewarded in the space.”

The extension will be 9,750 square feet in total and created at a projected cost of $12.6 million. Once completed it will join the Shelburne’s stock of 39 other structures, the most recent of which, the Pizzagalli Center for Art and Education, was designed by Annum (formerly Ann Beha Architects) in 2011.

Previously on Archinect: Several museum expansions and design research projects among National Endowment for the Humanities grant recipients

“Our team is inspired by the potential of the Perry Center to not only enhance Shelburne Museum as a destination for education but also to amplify and empower the Indi...

Incorporating Indigenous principles, Seneca College's new Health and Wellness Centre proposes an 'architecture of reconciliation'

2023-05-01T11:56:00-04:00

A new collaborative higher-ed project from Two Row Architect and DIALOG has been proposed for Canada’s Seneca Polytechnic College in Toronto.

The proposal calls for a new Health and Wellness Centre to be delivered at the eastern edge of the school’s Newnham Campus, transforming an aged sports center structure into a multi-level complex that serves the academic community of more than 30,000.

“There are a number of big ideas that have inspired this design. One is the idea that this building will be an intimation of what an 'architecture of reconciliation' could look like,” DIALOG Partner Craig Applegath said in a statement. “And such a wonderful way of not only connecting and reconciling Indigenous and settler cultures but also of providing a gateway for potential new Canadian students to imagine what the reconciled future Canada might look and feel like. Another is that this is intended to be a truly environmentally responsible building: with plans for net-zero carbon, and sustainab...

A new grant will support Indigenous students and curriculum development at the University of Calgary's design school

2023-03-31T15:55:00-04:00

A new grant meant to encourage Indigenous students’ participation in the architectural field has been announced by the University of Calgary.

The $120,000 CAD ($88,600 USD) grant is being funded by the Alberta Real Estate Foundation (AREF) and will help the university’s School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape (SAPL) further develop its existing Indigenous Pathways Program while integrating Indigenous knowledge and subject matter into the brand-new Bachelor of Design in City Innovation (BDCI) degree.

The school shares that the BDCI is also its first-ever undergraduate degree offering. Sessional instructors and staff from the Indigenous community will also be recruited as a result of the funding, which helps to underscore the central mission and principles of the institution. Currently, the SAPL is the province’s only accredited architectural degree program.

“This project elevates real estate leadership in our province through inclusion, representation, and professional standa...

Architecture of Mesa Verde's Sun Temple reveals ancient astronomical observatory

2023-03-22T10:39:00-04:00

It’s sheer genius...The architect did this with no known writing or numerical system, no computers. They laid it out with yucca cords and sticks. They were the Michaelangelo of their time.

A diagram of Sun Temple drawn by pioneering archaeologist J.W. Fewkes (National Parks Service)

David Gilbert digs into recent analysis by Dr. Sherry Towers who believes cliff-dwellings in southwestern Colorado’s Mesa Verde National Park comprise one of the most advanced astronomical observatories in the ancient world. Though at least some indigenous Hopi argue they were more places for collective celebration, not measurement, of solar and lunar cycles.

UNM architecture chair Chris Cornelius offers NYT an insight into how his Indigenous heritage informed his career

2023-03-10T14:42:00-05:00

Just over one year since Chris Cornelius took up his role as the Chair of the Department of Architecture at the University of New Mexico, the architect and educator has spoken to The New York Times on how his career was informed by his upbringing and his Oneida heritage.

An enrolled member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, Cornelius is also the founding principal of studio:indigenous, a design practice that serves American Indian clients. Back in 2017, to mark Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Archinect included Cornelius’s firm in a list of our favorite contemporary practices led by Indigenous architects.

“In our neighborhood, there were no trees or sidewalks,” Cornelius told The Times about his childhood in a federal public housing project on the Oneida Indian reservation. “When I saw how different life was off the reservation, I began to think about how I could make an impact on my environment.”

Art Gallery of Ontario reveals Selldorf, Diamond Schmitt, and Two Row-led expansion design

2023-03-02T16:52:00-05:00

The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) has just revealed the initial plans for its new Dani Reiss Modern and Contemporary Gallery project led by Selldorf Architects, Diamond Schmitt, and Two Row Architect.

The 40,000-square-foot addition will add 13 galleries in order to expand its total exhibition space by 30%. The project is being funded by a $35 million donation from Canada Goose CEO Dani Reiss and, led by Two Row, has sought expensive input from Ontario’s Indigenous community in addition to the other two architect-advisors that were announced by the gallery last year.

The AGO says: “These conversations and others are instrumental in leading the team to adopt adaptability, accessibility, relevancy, zero carbon operating, and inclusivity as their guiding principles.”

Rendering courtesy of Art Gallery of Ontario, Diamond Schmitt, Selldorf Architects, and Two Row Architect

The project will accomplish a zero carbon emissions output for all its operations and otherwise be designed along int...

Portland State University enlists Australian architect to develop Indigenous Center and surrounding oak savanna

2022-10-13T10:02:00-04:00

Kevin O’Brien, an acclaimed Indigenous architect from Australia, has embarked on a year-long collaboration with Portland State University. His involvement centers on the restoration of a campus oak savanna and the design-build of a facility at the site that will host the school’s Indigenous Traditional Ecological and Cultural Knowledge (ITECK) program.

O’Brien joins the University’s School of Architecture as its 2022 Distinguished Visiting Professor. He will lead a one-week Indigenous design methods workshop for undergraduate and graduate students. He will also meet with students in PSU’s Indigenous Nations Studies program, engage with architects from local firms, and host a public lecture. As stated on PSU’s website, “O'Brien will challenge students to rethink their assumptions about architecture's relationship to the land, how they imagine the city, and how we learn through doing.”

The Queensland-based architect works as a Principal at Australian practice BVN Architecture. He als...

A ‘pillar in the reconciliation of Indigenous and Western ways of living and building’ — design reveals a new public library in Saskatchewan

2022-10-12T21:21:00-04:00

A joint team of Formline, Chevalier Morales, and Montreal’s Architecture49 has revealed its design for a new library project in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

The firms say the project is conceived as a “pillar in the reconciliation of Indigenous and Western ways of living and building” that will serve as an important precedent as the first “major public building” in an area with the highest ratio of Indigenous residents of any other major city in the country.

The new central library will link to the nearby Remai Modern Gallery and several small shops near the site to form a small new cultural hub along Second Avenue. The design team says it was directed by the city’s relatively low park-to-person ratio in the selection of form, materials, and the arrangement of public spaces in and around the 142,000-square-foot structure. Overall, some 45% of the site will include landscaped public spaces punctuated by the building's oval footprint.

Image courtesy Formline, Chevalier Morales, and Archi...

Activists claim censorship as Mexico City plans to replace feminist 'anti-monument'

2022-08-22T14:16:00-04:00

Residents of Mexico City are decrying a decision by officials to remove a statue protesting gender violence that had been mounted by activists last year. El Universal reported that Claudia Sheinbaum, who serves as Head of Government in Mexico City (a position akin to a state governor), had made the call to remove the feminist “anti-monument.” The statue currently appears in a roundabout in the city, and will soon be replaced by another monument

Sheinbaum has previously announced the commission of artist Pedro Reyes to replace a colonial-era sculpture by Frenchman Charles Cordier that depicted Christopher Columbus in light of the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples protest last summer.

Previously on Archinect: Christopher Columbus statue to be replaced by a monument to Indigenous People in Mexico City

Reyes’ commission was quickly scrapped in favor of an “anti-monument” that debuted in its place on the roundabout in September, prompting officials to almost immediately announce it would be supplanted by a recently-discovered pre-Hispanic relic titled The Young Woman of Amajac. Now the non-hierarchical group behind the protest piece says Sheinbaum is dishonoring what has become a symbolic site for feminist causes nationwide.

“The government trying to take back anti-monument spaces is another way of them trying to silence us,” Ceci Flores, founder of the group Searching Mothers of Sonora, recently told Courtho...

Mukwa Waakaa'igan Indigenous cultural center project unveils updated design

2022-07-28T17:44:00-04:00

New renderings have been revealed for the planned Mukwa Waakaa’igan Indigenous Centre of Cultural Excellence at Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, previewing a futuristic nod to the past while extending the conversation around an issue that’s been at the forefront recently as Pope Francis makes his long-awaited public apology tour across Canada.

The project is being headed by Moriyama & Teshima with Smoke Architecture, an Ontario studio focused on First Nations and Indigenous communities. The team says they intend it to serve as a showcase of the “truth-telling” work their client, the Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association (CSAA), has pursued in shedding light on the injustices that took place during Canada’s fraught residential schools era.

Image courtesy Moriyama & Teshima Architects

Per the architects: “The architectural design has been articulated through consideration of Indigenous teachings, from building form to material selection. The new Cultural Centre's ar...

Grimshaw reveals final designs for City Rail Link, New Zealand's largest ever infrastructure project

2022-06-10T16:29:00-04:00

Grimshaw has released the final designs for City Rail Link (CRL), the largest infrastructure project ever in New Zealand. Situated in Auckland, it includes three train stations, designed in collaboration with WSP as part of the Link Alliance, a consortium of seven companies delivering the main station and tunnels for the project. Upon completion, CRL will double the capacity of the city’s rail network and will serve as a powerful expression of Māori cultural heritage and history of Tāmaki Makaurau.

Te Wai Horotiu Station. Image render courtesy of Grimshaw.

CRL is New Zealand’s first completely underground railway line. It comprises a 2.14-mile twin-tunnel underground rail link up to 138 feet below Auckland’s city center. The project also includes the transformation of the Britomart Transport Center into a two-way through-station, the construction of two new underground stations, and a new interchange station.

Karanga a hape Station. Image render courtesy of Grimshaw.

The station desig...

Fentress Architects selected to design the California Indian Heritage Center in Sacramento

2022-05-11T15:26:00-04:00

Fentress Architects has been chosen by California State Parks and the California Indian Heritage Center Task Force to design the California Indian Heritage Center (CIHC) in Sacramento.

Per a press announcement, the site will be a destination where “visitors from across California, the nation, and the world will be drawn to this center of statewide significance for cultural preservation, learning and exchange, land stewardship based on Native American values, and a place to engage all visitors celebrating the living cultures of California tribal communities.”

California Indian Heritage Center location plan. Image via Final General Plan & Environmental Impact Report, 2011.

The 51-acre CIHC will be located at the confluence of the American and Sacramento Rivers in West Sacramento. The project reflects a decades-long collaboration between the state and California Native American tribal governments and communities, along with allied individuals and institutions. The development gained mo...

National Gallery of Canada establishes Indigenous Ways and Decolonization Department

2022-02-17T13:10:00-05:00

There is welcome news in Ottawa, home of the National Gallery of Canada (NGC), a city that has been under a state of emergency the past while due to the ongoing “Freedom Convoy” protest. The gallery, which had closed due to the Omicron surge but has delayed its re-opening because of the demonstrations, announced on 8 February that it had created a Department of Indigenous Ways and Decolonisation [...].

The department will focus on reimagining the gallery’s programming and policies to better reflect Canada’s diversity and its Indigenous populations. Its first Vice President, Steven Loft, who is of Kanien’kehá: ka (Mohawk) and Jewish heritage, will be joined by Michelle LaVallee, who is Anishinaabe (Ojibway) and a member of the Neyashiingamiing Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation in Cape Croker, Ontario, with Canadian settler heritage from her mother. She will serve as the department’s director, set to start on March 21. LaVallee will work with other senior management, in addition to the curatorial department and the Indigenous art team.

The pair will work to deepen the gallery’s relationship with Indigenous communities globally with a focus on decolonization and reconciliation.

Australia allocates $228 million towards new Indigenous cultural center in Canberra

2022-02-07T12:15:00-05:00

A new Indigenous cultural precinct where repatriated ancestral remains will be cared for, and where Indigenous Australia’s history will be unfurled through a large but little-known collection, is set to become a reality in four years on the shore of Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra.

Australian prime minister Scott Morrison and the minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt made the joint announcement on January 4th. The precinct, named Ngurra, which means home, will receive $228 million from the federal government for its construction. A national architecture competition for its design is set to be launched this month.

Sitting in the heart of Australia’s capital, Ngurra will house a National Resting Place for Indigenous remains that have been repatriated from overseas collections, and it will serve as the new home for the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS). While there have been decades-long calls for a National Resting Place, reactions to Ngurra have been mixed, with critics believing money would be better spent alleviating the poverty that Indigenous communities face.

Design team selected to envision a new Indigenous cultural center in Ontario

2022-01-12T19:25:00-05:00

The heart of one of Canada’s oldest and most notorious educational institutions is about to be renewed thanks to a forthcoming Indigenous center for cultural excellence called Mukqua Waakaa’igan on the campus of Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

Moriyama & Teshima Architects and Smoke Architecture are the team behind the plan to build the space that will serve as an important hub to the university. Its name translates to “Bear’s lodge” in Anishinaabemowin and is evocative of its use as a learning archive and place of healing for the Indigenous community. The architects say their proposal was developed in homage to the triadic directions of Memory, Present, and Future laid forth in a native text called The Sweetgrass Path.

According to the university, Mukqua Waakaa’igan is meant as a showcase for the decades-long pursuit of “truth-telling work” undertaken by the Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association and the Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre. Aside from the archi...

The University of Arizona launches Indigenous Resilience Center, addressing environmental issues

2021-09-17T13:31:00-04:00

The University of Arizona is launching a new interdisciplinary center that will partner with Native American nations to work on projects that address environmental issues.

Called the Indigenous Resilience Center, the program will be a partnership between Native nations and the university’s Arizona Institutes for Resilience, Agnese Nelms Haury Program in Environment and Social Justice, and multiple faculty members and academic programs that focus on supporting the resilience of Indigenous communities.

The center’s faculty and staff will work directly with tribal leaders and governments to co-design community-driven solutions that address issues facing Native communities, such as climate change. Projects will focus on areas including agriculture, solar energy, off-grid water resources, food resources, Native plant adaptation, and health.

Karlet...

University of New Mexico announces Chris Cornelius, champion of Indigenous design culture, as new Chair of Architecture

2021-09-10T17:16:00-04:00

The University of New Mexico (UNM) has announced Chris Cornelius as their new Chair of the Department of Architecture. A prominent advocate for the awareness of architecture’s connection with culture, particularly American Indian culture, Cornelius is set to take up the role on November 1st, 2021.

An enrolled member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, Cornelius is also the founding principal of studio:indigenous, a design practice which serves American Indian clients. Back in 2017, to mark Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Archinect included Cornelius’s firm in a list of our favorite contemporary practices led by Indigenous architects.

His work has been recognized through numerous honors, including a Smithsonian Institution Artist in Residence Fellowship from the National Museum of the American Indian in 2003, and the 2017 Miller Prize from Exhibit Columbus. He was also among a grou...

Christopher Columbus statue to be replaced by a monument to Indigenous People in Mexico City

2021-09-07T15:41:00-04:00

As part of an International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples celebration in Mexico City on Sunday, Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum announced a major new addition to a space in the city’s historic Paseo de la Reforma recently vacated by a monument to its colonial past.

Artist Pedro Reyes has now been commissioned for a replacement of a monumental bronze sculpture depicting Christopher Columbus by the Frenchman Charles Cordier that has moved around the city to its eventual place on the historic boulevard since being inaugurated by the controversial President Porfirio Diaz in 1877.

The statue was removed in October of last year in advance of the Dia de la Raza, a holiday that has in recent years drawn protests marking the arrival of the infamous colonizer in the Americas.

Reyes’ commission will depict an Indigenous woman from the Olmec civilization and come with a title that refers to a Uto-Aztecan word for “land.”

They need much more: $90 Million granted for affordable housing in Tribal communities

2021-04-14T11:50:00-04:00

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has announced over $90 million in grants allocated for affordable housing in Tribal communities. The funds, distributed to 24 Tribes and Tribally Designated Housing Entities (TDHEs) are intended to support the construction of new houses, the rehabilitation of existing housing, and the delivery of vital infrastructural projects.

Awarded as part of HUD’s Indian Housing Block Grant (IHBG), the funds are expected to support the construction of approximately 350 housing units. Commenting on the funding, HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge said “this past year was a stark reminder of just how important access to safe, stable housing is — especially in Tribal communities disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The funding HUD is awarding today will support much needed affordable housing investments in Indian Country.”

The Make It Right Foundation's proposal for Native American housing in Montana. Credit: GRAFT

The new...

Desert X 2021 showcases site-responsive installations that 'refuse the notion of the desert as homogenous entity'

2021-03-15T16:06:00-04:00

In January 2021, we previously reported Desert X's plans to postpone the third edition of the Coachella Valley's highly anticipated international art exhibition due to increasing Covid-19 cases. However, last Friday, the Coachella Valley "opened" their desert exhibitions to the public.

From March 12th to May 16th, visitors can experience site-specific installations that touch on the desert "as a place and idea." By honoring landscapes and its people, this year's programming will "build on themes explored in previous iterations, looking deeper at ideas essential to the sustenance of our future and identity and the histories, realities, and possibilities of the Coachella Valley and its many communities," shares Desert X.

Desert X expresses their goals of unpacking issues pertinent to what society is currently facing today. Topics include "the history of land rights, ownership, and stewar...

The new Mukilteo Multimodal Ferry Terminal in Washington is inspired by the Coast Salish longhouse

2021-01-05T13:08:00-05:00

The LMN Architects-designed Mukilteo Multimodal Ferry Terminal has officially opened in Mukilteo, Washington. The two-story terminal building is inspired by the tribal longhouse built and used by the region's Coast Salish tribes. Designed in partnership with KPFF Consulting Engineers, the new structure replaces the previously existing terminal built in 1957.

"We listened intently and realized our project had to tell a story, one that had been partially hidden from the general public for years and covered under a Cold War fueling tank farm and a pioneer lumbermill before that," said Charlie Torress, Mukilteo Design Project Manager at Washington State Ferries (WSF) in a statement. "The group of designers asked to bring the project together embraced the goal of designing a new ferry terminal that honored and respected the history and values of the Coast Salish people. While only a transportation facility, it owes a debt to the generations of people who occupied this beautiful piece of ...

Inside Winnipeg's growing Indigenous design scene

2020-06-22T16:00:00-04:00

As American architecture firms and institutions continue to grapple with inadequate levels of diversity and inclusion, Canadian groups are highlighting an increased willingness to highlight and support the work of Indigenous designers.

A recent CBC article highlights the Brook McIlroy Indigenous Design Studio, a focus within the Winnipeg, Canada-based practice that engages with Indigenous communities and worldviews as a part of its overarching ethos. The firm, according to the architects, positions Indigenous designers to lead "co-creation teams with Canadian professionals whose families have come from all over the world," and has worked to nurture Indigenous design talent for over a decade.

Previously on Archinect: "GSD students launch Harvard Indigenous Design Collective." Photo courtesy of Wikimedia user Gunnar Klack.

Brook McIlroy senior associate, Ryan Gorrie, who is Anishinaabeg from the Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek (Sand Point First Nation on Lake Nipigon) region tells CBC, ...

GSD students launch Harvard Indigenous Design Collective

2020-06-04T16:05:00-04:00

Harvard University Graduate School of Design students Elsa Hoover, Zoë Toledo, Heidi Brandow, and Jaz Bonninou have come together to create the Harvard Indigenous Design Collective (HIDC), a group that "promotes design by and for Indigenous communities as foundational to the history, theory, and practice of design fields."

The four students all hail from Native American backgrounds themselves and, according to the The Harvard Gazette website, represent the largest cohort of Native American students to ever attend the school at once.

Bonnin, a student in the M.Des. program of Yankton Sioux, Blackfoot, Irish, Danish, French, Panamanian, and Mexican Native descent, tells The Harvard Gazette, "I am enrolled in a master’s of design program, focusing on issues of conservation and preservation. My goal is to specialize in designing atriums, courtyards, and indoor-outdoor garden spaces for small-scale residential, commercial and adaptive-reuse clientele.”

Hoover, an M.Arch. student of Anish...

Seneca College's Centre for Innovation facilitates storytelling with Indigenous cultural elements and inspiration

2020-03-11T11:58:00-04:00

As part of Seneca’s commitment to furthering Indigenous education, Perkins and Will has unveiled the Centre for Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurship (CITE) on the Newnham Campus. Perkins and Will worked in collaboration with the First Peoples@Seneca Office to ensure that the Indigenous communities the building represents would be conveyed in the design and artwork throughout the structure.

A highly visible atrium runs along the building’s southern edge and connects CITE with Newnham Campus on multiple levels. Bleacher stairs allow students to showcase their work and adaptable, modular interiors provide flexible classrooms and breakout spaces.

"We developed a very fulsome consultation process to ensure that Seneca’s Indigenous communities took pride and saw themselves reflected in the building," said Mark Solomon, Dean of Students and Indigenous Education at Seneca in a statement. "CITE is about ingrained knowledge that has been part of the land for generations...We needed to ...

AIA San Francisco and the Center for Architecture + Design Present “Villages of West Africa” Exhibition

2020-02-27T18:55:00-05:00

This post is brought to you by AIA San Francisco

The American Institute of Architects, (AIASF) and the Center for Architecture + Design are launching the 2020 exhibition season with the opening of "Villages of West Africa: an intimate journey across time" on view February 27 to April 20 in the Center for Architecture + Design Gallery, 130 Sutter Street, Suite 600 in San Francisco.

Experience the tantalizing photography of Steven and Cathi House of House + House Architects whose diverse body of work reveal the remarkable beauty of the people, land, villages, textiles, and vernacular architecture across seven countries of West Africa, situated between the Sahara Desert and Atlantic Ocean.

With over 500 evocative photographs and insightful commentary, “Villages of West Africa: an intimate journey across time” reveals the remarkable beauty of the people, land, villages, textiles, and vernacular architecture across seven countries of West Africa, situated between the Sahara Desert and ...