Archinect - News

Vermont's Shelburne Museum names three-firm replacement for Adjaye design

2024-09-26T17:03:00-04:00

The question of who will replace David Adjaye for the opportunity to design the Shelburne Museum’s expanded Perry Center for Native American Art has been answered by the Vermont institution after it cut ties with the architect in July of last year.

Image courtesy Annum Architects

In lieu of a single architect or firm, the museum now says they are pursuing a “collaborative approach” to designing the square-foot Center. Included in the project team are Annum Architects of Boston; the Indigenous owned Two Row Architect of Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation; and Reed Hilderbrand for the landscaping component. Annum, formerly Ann Beha Architects, designed the museum's Pizzagalli Center for Art and Education in 2011.

Image courtesy Annum Architects

"The design of the Perry Center for Native American Art and the many steps that led us to this moment are the result of a collaborative approach focused on communication and relationship building with Tribal Nations to create a national...

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...

A new soccer training center for the Vancouver area designed by Formline Architecture

2024-01-14T14:00:00-05:00

The City of Port Coquitlam in British Columbia, Canada, recently unveiled the final proposed design for one of the province’s largest training and recreational hubs for soccer.

Designed by Indigenous-led, Vancouver-based firm Formline Architecture, the facility will serve as a state-of-the-art soccer and community hub and B.C. Soccer’s new headquarters, with office space for local soccer club Port Coquitlam Euro-Rite FC. The project includes the reconfiguration and improvement of the surrounding Gates Park, which is located just west of downtown Port Coquitlam.

New renderings reveal that there will be a 1,200-seat grandstand covered by a sculpted wooden roof. This space will feature locker rooms, washrooms, a lobby, a meeting space, and other amenities. Additionally, a state-of-the-art synthetic turf field will be constructed to FIFA international competition standards, replacing an existing underutilized grass field. There will also be a multi-use public plaza for community events ...

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...

DIALOG and Smoke Architecture complete Ontario college building inspired by Indigenous principles

2023-09-21T11:36:00-04:00

Toronto-based DIALOG has completed the A-Building Expansion at Centennial College in Scarborough, Ontario. Designed in collaboration with Smoke Architecture, and described by the team as “Canada’s first LEED Gold, zero carbon, WELL certified, mass timber, higher-education facility,” the newly completed scheme “seamlessly blends Indigenous perspectives, sustainability and innovative architecture.”

Image credit: James Brittain courtesy of DIALOG

The project provides 133,000 square feet of new construction in addition to 16,000 square feet of existing renovations. Paying homage to Indigenous traditions and nature-inspired sustainability, the scheme is rooted in the Mi’kmaq concept of “Two-Eyed Seeing,” which “harmonizes Indigenous wisdom and Western perspectives.”

Image credit: James Brittain courtesy of DIALOG

Inspired by how the traditional Anishinaabe Wigwams were designed with their skin pulled up in the summer for air circulation, the team incorporated that same concept for the bui...

Dorte Mandrup team unveils Nunavut Inuit Heritage Center with rock and turf-covered roof

2023-07-18T11:16:00-04:00

Dorte Mandrup has announced their team’s success in an international competition to design the Nunavut Inuit Heritage Center. Located in Iqaluit, Canada's territorial capital, the facility is set to be a cultural bridge promoting Inuit heritage and facilitating “healing and reconciliation between Inuit and non-Inuit communities.”

The winning team included Dorte Mandrup, Guy Architects, LEES+Associates, Adjeleian Allen Rubeli, EXP, Pageau Morel, Altus Group, and indigenous consultants Kirt Ejesiak and Alexander Flaherty.

Image credit: MIR

The design concept is a creative interpretation of community perspectives, traditional Inuit knowledge, and the healing potential of the planned facility. The design takes its cues from the regional topography and environmental phenomena such as kalutoqaniq – patterns formed in snowdrifts by the prevailing wind. Emulating these natural shapes, the building will carve into the rocky hillside, echoing the features of the natural landscape.

“The Nunavu...

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...

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...

Perkins&Will begins construction on mass timber gateway to University of British Columbia campus

2023-01-04T11:15:00-05:00

Construction is underway on the $180 million Gateway Building at the University of British Columbia, designed by Perkins&Will and Schmidt Hammer Lassen. Intended as a “principal point of entry” to the UBC campus, the design of the six-story, 267,000-square-foot mass timber building seeks to balance sustainability, personal well-being, and Indigenous collaboration.

Image credit: Perkins&Will

The scheme comprises two five-story wings connected by a central naturally-lit six-story atrium, which includes a large interconnecting staircase and lounging spaces. The building’s mass timber structure is fully expressed in the interior; a decision driven by the importance of timber for the Indigenous Musqueam people on whose territory the UBC campus sits.

Image credit: Perkins&Will

“This was the first capital project where we did what we call ‘deep engagement’ with the Musqueam,” UBC’s director of planning and design Gerry McGeough told Canada’s Journal of Commerce. “We went through a whole seri...

MASS Design Group announces acquisition of long-time Santa Fe collaborator Atkin Olshin Schade Architects

2022-11-16T12:03:00-05:00

MASS Design Group has announced its acquisition of Santa Fe, New Mexico-based Atkin Olshin Schade Architects (AOS) in a move they say will offer an enhancement of the relationship the two have built already through years of collaboration.

The merger makes the new combined entity Santa Fe’s largest architectural office, with further opportunity to leverage AOS’s Philadelphia operation in order to pursue “innovative approaches to preservation, adaptive reuse, and design for mission-focused organizations throughout the northeast and nationally.”

Previously on Archinect: MASS Design Group founder Michael Murphy announces he is stepping down, will join the faculty at Georgia Tech

It comes just under a month after MASS’s co-founder Michael Murphy left the firm to take a position on faculty at Georgia Tech University, handing over the reins to his former Senior Principal and Managing Director Christian Benimana and Patricia Gruits as well as the firm’s co-founder and current Chief Design O...

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...

Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson) details the push behind its new name

2022-08-19T18:27:00-04:00

Concerns about the university’s association with and commemoration of Ryerson had been voiced by its Indigenous students, staff and faculty for years. How the university addressed those concerns with statements on its website or revised plaques placed next to Egerton Ryerson’s statue fell short of the steps necessary to speak to his legacy or the continued harm it was causing

Egerton Ryerson’s name is inextricably linked to the legacy of murder and abuse within Canada’s residential schools, as he is often cited as the system’s principal designer through his role as the country’s first Chief Superintendent of Education starting in 1844. This relation made the university a target of a nationwide protest movement which eventually took down a statue of the educator in a well-publicized June 2021 kerfuffle.

The rebranding was the product of a working group called Standing Strong (or Mash Koh Wee Kah Pooh Win) that convened with a 22-strong list of recommendations a year ago. Over 2,000 unique names (including the temporary 'X University' moniker) were considered in a public consultation. Dr. Eva Jewell, an Indigenous faculty member who detailed her own past experiences with racism at the school, tells University Affairs it "signals a willingness to listen and an attentiveness to the issues of our time."

Related on Archinect: National Gallery of Canada establi...

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...

Ontario's first mass timber higher education building is taking shape at Centennial College in Toronto

2022-01-10T14:04:00-05:00

The first mass timber academic building in Ontario is taking shape at Toronto’s Centennial College. Located at the college’s Progress Campus in Scarborough, the A-Block Expansion Building will have the potential to be the province's first net-zero carbon, mass timber, LEED Gold higher education facility when completed in 2023.

Image: Dialog

First unveiled in February 2020, the $82 million building was designed by Canadian architecture firm Dialog, in collaboration with Smoke Architecture, and EllisDon as contractor. The design for the expansion was based on the Indigenous concept of “two-eyed seeing,” in which people view the world through an Indigenous lens with one eye or perspective, while the other eye sees through a Western lens. The new campus building aims to embody the college’s commitment to truth and reconciliation, Indigenous education, and sustainable design.

Image: Dialog

“The two perspectives amplified each other,” said Craig Applegath, Principal-in-Charge at DIALOG. “F...

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.”

Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Woods Bagot reveal updated plans for the new Aboriginal Art and Cultures Centre in Adelaide

2021-08-10T18:16:00-04:00

New renderings of Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Woods Bagot's forthcoming Aboriginal Art and Cultures Centre (AACC) have been released following a consultation by the Aboriginal Reference Group (ARG) that updated an original plan released by the firm earlier this year.

The improved scheme was submitted to a State Commission Assessment Panel in Australia last week, bringing the project one step closer to realization in the hopes of providing the city of Adelaide with a new platform for First Nations artists that is both forward-looking and “wholly connected to the landscape,” according to the architect.

Image courtesy of Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Woods Bagot

The design team worked together with the ARG to produce an updated plan that includes a new outdoor primary exhibition space, a more pronounced and environmental envelope, and upgraded water features inside the same 124,000-square-foot Lot Fourteen footprint featured in the original design.

“This project is a path to reconcilia...

Indigenous tribes are making a push for commercial real estate investment in the hopes of building a future for their communities

2021-07-08T19:52:00-04:00

Native Americans have been systematically dispossessed of their ancestral lands for more than a century, thanks to federal land management policies. But a spate of new real estate projects highlights efforts to reclaim that territory, as tribes invest in land development in an effort to diversify their revenue base and support their members.

Only a handful of tribes have pursued ventures involving commercial property outside of gambling and many still reside in poverty-stricken reservations in the U.S. and Canada. A group from the Squamish Nation is behind Canada's largest development in Vancouver while others have made serious investments in tribal-controlled areas with the backing of some major corporate teammates.

The tribes have themselves been the frequent victim of commercial development schemes historically even occasionally leading to violence and mass protests in both countries. Now, recent developments are causing many to herald a tide change in Indigenous relations that may favor those "long-term leaders" investing in real-estate development now.

The Seattle Times has more on the effort here.

New York’s Center for Architecture Launches Digital Residency to Promote New Voices in Design

2021-04-19T11:39:00-04:00

New York’s Center for Architecture has announced the launch of the Center for Architecture Lab – a digital residency dedicated to promoting new voices and ideas in architecture. Created in response to major destabilizing forces, from the COVID-19 pandemic to the racial justice movement in the United States, the program will invite a diverse, multi-disciplinary field of professionals to engage with important issues through the lens of architecture and design. Through this, it hopes to encourage the architectural community to consider outside perspectives, critical questions, and innovative solutions to problems within and beyond the architectural profession.

The multi-month residency program will see a series of individuals, institutions, and organizations contribute their expertise to important questions in the built environment. The program will offer residents full authorship over dedicated areas of the Center for Architecture’s digital platforms, where they will publish compellin...

Architects reconnect with Indigenous traditions in Toronto

2020-09-22T18:30:00-04:00

Smoke detectors and birch trees. These are two things that an architect would not typically mention while talking up an ambitious new building. But for the Indigenous House at the University of Toronto Scarborough, these matters are critical. Here, connections with Indigenous traditions and ways of thinking will be everywhere, from the guts of the building to the landscape that accompanies it.

Alex Bozikovic, The Globe and Mail’s architecture critic, reviews the planned Indigenous House at the University of Toronto Scarborough, designed by Formline Architecture in collaboration with LGA Architectural Partners and landscape architecture firm Public Work.