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year

2019

client

True North Studio Developers

location

Phoenix, Arizona

TAWAW role

Architectural Design

architect of record

Archicon, Architecture and Interiors, LC

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1

Background

Urban Placekeeping


Co-created with True North Studio and Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian artist, Thomas “Breeze” Marcus, the seven-story parking garage for Grace Lutheran Church occupies a prominent place in downtown Phoenix, directly across from Hance Park. The garage offers visitors to the park a shaded pedestrian breezeway, connected to a street parking area designed to host vendor trucks.

2

Approach

Representation

 
Phoenix elders, during focus groups to dicuss representation, shared that the most unifying notion to represent all Indigenous nations was nature. In response, Breeze created an Indigenous design reflective of Phoenix’s history: the original canal water ways honoring the ingenuity of the local Hohokam people who brought water to the valley.

5

number of community engagements
3

Impact

Engaging Aesthetic

 

The design features local plants and basketry connecting to generations of stories from this region. The garage is made of a series of fiberglass perforated panels, with perforation ranging from 2″ to 8″, that will wrap from the east, north, and west elevation. Designed with integrated LED lighting, the structure will provide a glowing backdrop for the park’s evening events.

Awards

Honorary Fellow


The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada is proud to announce that Wanda Dalla Costa, a prominent Indigenous voice and practitioner in North American architecture, has been awarded honorary fellowship for 2022. Wanda Dalla Costa is a member of the Saddle Lake Cree Nation and was the first First Nation woman to become an architect in Canada. Her firm, Tawaw Architecture Collective, is based in Phoenix, Arizona. She is the director and founder of Arizona State University’s Indigenous Design Collaborative, a community-driven design and construction program that brings together tribal community members, industry and multidisciplinary teams of university students and faculty to co-design and co-develop solutions for tribal communities. Dalla Costa is a prominent Indigenous female voice within the architectural profession–specifically within the academic sphere in North America.
Awards

YBCA's 100 Honorees: Wanda Dalla Costa


Indigenous Design Collaborative's founder and design director Wanda Dalla Costa was recognized as YBCA 100 list of change makers and cultural activists working at the intersection of art, social change and civic life.
Awards

Trailblazer Award: Wanda Dalla Costa


Presented this year as part of NZ20, the world's largest net zero conference and expo, the Trailblazer Awards celebrate leaders who are building a net zero future through their work in the carbon, energy, water, waste, transit and/or policy sectors.
Awards

St. Lawrence Center Competition Award 2023

Awards

Jeff Harnar Award
Unbuilt Architecture 2021

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