TAWAW uses research-backed methodologies, mentorship programs, and advocacy to ensure Indigenous voices and values are heard.
how we think
Indigenous Engagement Strategy
Success Indicators
Research Document
Advisory Team
Design Drivers
Draft Cultural Interpretative Strategy
Key Themes (non-design applications)
Worldview
Identity
Lifeways
Cultural Interpretative Strategy
Verify Success Indicators Achieved
Sketches/ Renderings
Indigenous
Placekeeping
Framework
(IPKF) ™
1
Indigenous start-up
Our first phase is to align with local Indigenous protocols and processes, including metrics of success to maximize project outcomes.
2
place-based research
Place-Based Research increases cultural fluency before the project begins through the compilation of contextual and historical information.
3
engagements
Engagements provides an opportunity for the community to teach the design team about local history, values, and understandings of place and culture.
4
co-design
Co-Design, phase four, challenges power structures in architecture through an equitable design process, where community members are part of the team.
5
storytelling
At the end of a project, we culminate our learnings in print (maps, archival photos, transcripts) into a Cultural Interpretive Strategy.
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.
