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INDIAN RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL HISTORY AND DIALOGUE CENTRE

from Canadian Architect August 2022

from Canadian Architect August 2022, page 30

THE BREARLEY SCHOOL

INDIAN RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL HISTORY AND DIALOGUE CENTRE

LOCATION University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC ARCHITECT Formline Architecture PHOTOS Andrew Latreille Photography

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.

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.

OPPOSITE The Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre sits near the university’s clock tower and Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, the repository of the university’s archives. LEFT The roof’s water is captured and falls down a glass channel between two copper clad columns, representing the tears of survivors from residential schools. RIGHT, TOP TO BOTTOM View from the outdoor learning plaza created on the roof of exhibition space, with seating steps overlooking the courtyard; a wall clad with woven Western Cedar flanks the main stair.

Because it was to serve all the diverse range of Canada’s First Nations, symbols and materials were selected to evoke a pride of culture for Indigenous peoples from many different cultural heritages. Walls and floors are constructed from spruce-pine cross-laminated timber, while the wooden roof structure has an asymmetrical butterfly wing shape, selected to provide clear spans, extensive overhangs, and a low roof profile at the highly visible campus core. Charred cedar planks double as markers of scarring, contrasting with a visually porous Douglas Fir glulam curtain wall that brings north light through the interior. Rainwater is collected from this roof, then descends down along a glass and copper-lined scupper to the garden pond. Copper was a high-status material for many Canadian First Nations and Canadian public buildings; the rainwater is an analogue for the tears shed in remembering. The main public stair features a garden view at one side and is brightened at the top by sparkling clusters of LED ring lights. Its inside wall, lined with woven Western Red Cedar strips, is an interpretation of traditional woven baskets. :: Jury :: This project deals with the difficult topic of reconciliation and trauma and addresses it in an architecture that challenges the common aesthetic perception. The community-driven process brings symbolism and generates dialogue through its overall assembly of elements. The jury felt the project delicately balanced this complexity.