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Seneca College Odeyto Indigenous Centre

Discipline : Architecture

Categories : Public Building / Higher Education & Research Building : Gold Certification

Odeyto provides a safe and recognizable space for FirstPeoples@Seneca College. The challenge was to create a home away from home, where students can practice their traditions and find family. Conceptually, the addition and renovation are inspired by the image of a canoe pulling up to a dock, stopping to gather knowledge before continuing on life’s journey. The roof resembles an overturned canoe, docking alongside the rigid lines of the existing precast concrete building. The structure alludes to the Haudenasaunee longhouse, a traditional reference reinforced by glass entrances on the east and west. As the only building with an organic curvilinear design, Odeyto breaks away from the colonial grid that dominates campus. Inside, the curved ceiling is supported by 18 glue-laminated Douglas Fir ribs. Their connections are visibly expressed, in celebration of the craft and beauty of the construction of the building—much as a birch bark canoe’s beauty is manifested through its construction.

Collaboration

Architect : Gow Hastings Architects

Interior Designer : Gow Hastings Architects

Architect : Two Row Architect

Engineering : Vanderweston & Rutherford Associates

Engineering : Read Jones Christoffersen Engineers

Engineering : R.V. Andserson Associates

Landscape Architecture : Forrec

Other : A.W. Hooker

Photographer : Tom Arban Photography

Seneca College Odeyto Indigenous Centre

The project in images

INT.DESIGN Magazine

Seneca College Odeyto Indigenous Centre

The project in images

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