CANADIAN ARCHITECT 08/22
36 GOVERNOR GENERAL’S MEDAL IN ARCHITECTURE
INDIAN RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL HISTORY AND DIALOGUE CENTRE University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC Formline Architecture PHOTOS Andrew Latreille Photography LOCATION
ARCHITECT
In 1993 Alfred Waugh, a full status member of the Fond Du Lac Denesuline First Nation, became the first Indigenous graduate of UBC ’s architecture school. His mother carried the difficult experience of attending a Northern Alberta residential school. The Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre (IRSHDC)’s unprecedented program and its careful siting in a vital setting drew on this knowledge, and its forms were developed in consort with Elders and Indigenous representatives from across the country. The IRSHDC is much smaller than the Brutalist and Collegiate Gothic campus buildings surrounding it; there was early agreement on its modesty of scale and the use of wood as its primary construction material. Space planning required interior and exterior spaces to be equally conducive to large gatherings and solitary moments of reflection, with a design emphasis on serenity and directness. The integration of natural light, a selection of culturally resonant finishes and details, and a close link with natural surroundings were all thought central to the healing process, so the flanking decks and garden are essential components of its conception.
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Buildings promoting human rights tend towards being either monuments or library-archives. While it has elements of both of these, the IRSHDC aspires to something more—a site that facilitates the social act of reconciliation. A much-appreciated new oasis near the main libraries of a mega-university, the IRSHDC is a place of memory, repose and contemplation. The building’s lower level is largely devoted to a public gallery called the “Vault of Memories” with interactive wall displays where citizens—Indigenous and not—can call up photographs, videos and biographies of the students and the places they lived. The entire layout turns around the emotional process of confronting a difficult past, with a sunken garden and natural wetland adjacent, seen against the backdrop of a tiered landscape. Visitors can pass from displays to garden and back again as they wish. Upstairs are meeting rooms with support staff available for counselling and dialogue with visitors, and where programs to advance reconciliation are devised. IRSHDC ’s urban design provides a quiet park for pauses by harried students, while bringing its mission of memory to the core of a contemporary institution.
2022-07-19 3:09 PM
