Moriyama & Teshima Architects and Smoke Architecture designed a new significant building for Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario: the Mukwa Waakaa’igan Indigenous Centre of Cultural Excellence. The project intends to welcome visitors to engage with and learn from Indigenous cultural heritage.

At the gateway to campus, in fact, is Shingwauk Hall, a former residential school that operated between 1875 and 1970, where more than 1,000 Indigenous children – separated from their families, cultures, languages, and traditions – were “educated”. Since the school’s official closure, the Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association (CSAA) have been working with Algoma University to spread the truth about the residential school system in Canada. Residential school survivors, student associations, university staff, as well as Indigenous elders and advisors have been consulted extensively in order to achieve a decolonized approach to design.

The new Cultural Centre’s design, in fact, has been articulated following Indigenous teachings – from building form to material selection (mass timber). The concept foresees a sloped configuration reminiscent of Mukwa – meaning “Bear”, a figure of healer and protector – who rises from the ground, “walking north” from the origin of life, water, to the spirits, over the mountains, in the sky. The building rises from the earth and stands through three paths representing the past, the present, and the future, rising above the old residential school and thus providing visitors with a privileged point of view from which to relate to the difficult history of the place.