Tiffany Creyke

RENDERINGS: VIA ARCHITECTURE ABOVE As an Indigenous designer working with Vancouver Coastal Health, Tiffany Creyke was on the client team for the design of an integrated health centre in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, with VIA Architecture.

TIFFANY CREYKE INTEGRATED HEALTH CENTRE

Vancouver, BC TEXT Emma Steen

Working at the crosswords of design, community and infrastructure, Tiffany Creyke navigates public art, Indigenous health and bureaucracy as the Director of Indigenous Design & Projects for Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH). Coming from a planning and sustainable development background, Creyke says her mission is to “create safer spaces for the local community” within VCH’s facilities. She adds, “whosoever’s land the structure is sitting on, people should feel represented, seen and safe.”

Creyke leads the development and dissemination of resources for Indigenous health and wellness, working across multiple Nations and protocols to create meaningful spaces for Indigenous communities to gather and feel cared for in the City of Vancouver and its surroundings. But space and land are not neutral in what we currently know as Canada, and funding adequate opportunities to represent host Nations— as well as urban Indigenous peoples—is a constant balancing act.

“[The need for] reparations goes beyond what you can see, because that is the only way you are going to have sustainable movement,” says Creyke. “Reparations must also include having structural policy pieces in place, so every single person who is involved in the design development of a building is following the same protocol and process.”

Creyke sees the development of health infrastructure through the lens of her work as a curator, community organizer and planner. One of her many projects has involved leading the client side of the design of a new Integrated Health Centre in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, where she has been working closely with Squamish, Musqueam and TsleilWaututh matriarchs.

“Embedding traditional knowledge into contemporary design through the direction of matriarchs—that, to me, is a respectful way of going about this work here,” says Creyke. She shares that the corner structure, designed by VIA Architecture, includes “a sea kelp façade running up the building, with carved house posts and large carved doors that provide a sense of welcome and safety with Indigenous design.” She adds that the building will radiate light “out onto the pavement when it’s dark, creating amenity for the homeless population in that area—we are not only thinking about the people in the space, but those living around the space.”

Community empowerment is integral to Creyke’s goals of reclaiming spaces to serve Indigenous communities in a meaningful and responsible way. “Spatial justice is having yourself represented in the space that you’re in that goes beyond just putting up a piece of art,” she says. “I am trying to get us to the point where we are designing around programming that is more intentional.”