Indigenous and Community Hubs - Their Design and Organizational Structure - INTERN

Indigenous and Community Hubs - Their Design and Organizational Structure

This webinar was part of the RAIC 2021 Virtual Conference on Architecture and the RAIC Internation and Indigenous Architecture and Design Symposium

Topics: Indigenous  Design, Indigenous Voices

Length: 1 hour | What's Included: Video, Quiz, and Certificate of Completion 

This webinar is available to stream! 

Collaborations: Indigenous / Non-Indigenous Co-Design and Building with First Nations, Metis and Inuit Communities

The Indigenous population across Canada has been migrating from on reserve locations to urban centres for many years now partly in the hopes of attaining education, employment, and a decent standard of living for their families. In response, a number of urban Indigenous service providers have been created to assist this population in many areas such as education, health, training, employment, affordable housing, the arts, social activities associated with friendship centres, and others. The majority of these Indigenous service providers are located in makeshift structures, and a very few have managed to fund and construct purpose-built facilities. 

Notably, in the last few years, there has been a keen interest in the Indigenous service providers located within certain cities to create Indigenous Hubs. These purpose-built facilities would allow the groups to share amenities such as waiting areas, boardrooms, community kitchens, gymnasiums, classrooms, etc. They would also offer the groups the opportunity to realize reduced operating expenses such as those associated with reception, security, lawyer fees, accounting services, janitorial services, etc. There is a strong belief held that, by combining similar agencies under one roof, net operating costs can be reduced. More importantly, the user experience can be greatly improved through synergies and the Hubs can become galvanizing assets for the populations that they serve. 

Two Row Architect has had the privilege of working on a select number of Indigenous and mainstream hubs. The session will provide the opportunity for the firm to present these projects as case studies. Topics of the presentation will include the vision statements that were prepared for each project, the design strategies that were employed, and the organizational structures established to ensure the long-term economic viability of the Hubs.

Subject Matter Expert

Brian Porter, B. Arch., OAA, MRAIC, Ncarb / Principal, Two Row Architect