The National Trust is a Canadian Charity that has a goal of saving of preserving national historic sites and buildings. By working with partners, donors and finders, the National Trust offers various tools so to assist maintaining heritage sites and buildings.
The group feels as if Canada’s call to action was a missed opportunity to address how architecture could play a role in reconciliation. The website mentions some interesting points. One being the how Indigenous communities are willing to showcase their culture through modern building designs, and there lies a great opportunity with the booming construction industry. Many designs can come with a learning center, such as a museum. One sentence I connected with was “how a cultural group depicts itself architecturally is a manifestation of that culture’s desire to persist.” The opportunity of modern architecture incorporating Indigenous structural buildings elements as a means to assist in reconciliation was not something I initially thought of, but this website brought up some valid points.
Hi Michael,
Thank you so much for this contribution discussing Indigenous architecture.
I have spent the majority of the week thus far in the Gathering Place with my International students prior to their return to their home countries. Our campus’ Gathering Place is the hearth of our Indigenous Studies program. It is a round room with drums, fur, feathers, sages, sweetgrasses and cedars of so many kinds. As we read about Ceremonies this week, I asked students to think about the structure of the rooms we were in. Almost immediately, many of my students made an association with Feng Shui. Isn’t it incredible how we find Indigenous concepts internationally? How can we help International populations retain these traditional beliefs rather than succumbing to a narrow Western analysis?