Jason Hurd

Whitecap, SK TEXT Pamela Young Dakota Dunes Resort Hotel is a new, 155-room getaway destination with a lot of history behind it. Traditional Dakota territory encompasses parts of present-day Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and the upper Midwestern United States. Following the buffalo, Dakota led by Chief Whitecap (Wapaha Ska) made seasonal rounds through the Prairies until the 1870s, when the Canadian government forced them onto reserve lands. Chief Whitecap settled his followers in Moose Woods, slightly south of present-day Saskatoon, where they became cattle ranchers. Today, Whitecap Dakota First Nation is a progressive, 600-person community that operates a golf course, a casino, and, since 2020, the resort attached to the casino.

For Jason Hurd, managing partner of aodbt architecture + interior design’s office in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, it was important for the Dakota Dunes hotel to convey Whitecap Dakota First Nation history and culture in a way that was meaningful and modern. Hurd, who is Métis, grew up in Prince Albert, where his family has lived since the 1870s. He completed his Master of Architecture at the University of Waterloo in 2007 and worked in cities including London, Melbourne, New York, and San Francisco, before returning to Prince Albert, where he joined aodbt in 2009 and became a partner in 2012. Established in 1980, the firm has a staff of 60 split between its Saskatoon and Prince Albert offices, and has many First Nation clients. “It’s important to be curious, ask a lot of questions, and come with an open heart,” Hurd says of the consultation process with Indigenous clients. “You have to set any preconceived ideas about the project at the door and see where the process takes you.”

Working closely with the client team and a local Indigenous graphic designer, aodbt, in association with LEMAYMICHAUD Architecture Design, developed a design concept for Dakota Dunes based on the four elements and strongly influenced by the Dakota connection to the land. The lobby, with its freestanding fireplaces and charcoal tones and textures, represents Fire. Lined with a river-rock trough and with a suspended, handcrafted canoe as its focal point, the Water-themed main-floor corridor connecting the lobby to the restaurant, lounge and conference centre highlights the Saskatchewan River’s importance to the Dakota as a transportation and trade route. The Land-themed restaurant and bar celebrate Whitecap Dakota ties to buffalo and cattle. The guest rooms, with floorto-ceiling views of the dunes, represent Air. Angled wood panels on the façade and the slanting mullions of the guest-room windows allude to the dynamism of tipi forms and grass bending in the wind.

All parts of the hotel, and especially the rooftop pool, provide expansive views of the region’s distinctive, windswept dunes. To Hurd, two of the most successful design aspects are the transparency of the ground floor and its connectivity to the landscape, with an outdoor amphitheatre and celebration space including a firepit. These exterior gathering areas are partially enclosed by the wind-blocking volume of the hotel tower. “The community hosted ceremonies there for Truth and Reconciliation Day, with a tipi encampment, dancers and food—everything happening in that outdoor space, with people sitting on the embankment,” he says. “It was very much how we hoped it would function, and it made me very happy.”

LEFT The four elements—Fire, Water, Land, and Air—are core themes that structure the Dakota Dunes Resort Hotel, whose design was led by Métis architect Jason Hurd, with a team including Pierre Mierski, Valerie Soucy, Nicole Tiessen, and Eve Morin. The hotel boasts strong connections to its windswept dune surroundings, with a landscape that integrates an outdoor amphitheatre and firepit.