Niitsitapi Early Learning Center

Niitsitapi Early Learning
Center

year

2017

client

Alberta Infrastructure & Calgary Board of Education

location

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

TAWAW role

Architectural Design

architect of record

Beck Vale Architects

1

Background

Cultural Celebration

The aim of the Niitsitapi Early Learning Center is to provide a wraparound approach to learning. The center is a place for the urban Indigenous community to learn about and celebrate Aboriginal culture and languages.

2

Approach

Contemporary and Tradition Balance

Key attributes of Aboriginal Learning to incorporate in the center including: holistic, lifelong, intergenerational, experiential, rooted in Aboriginal languages and cultures, spiritually oriented, a communal activity, and an integration of Aboriginal and Western knowledge.

5

number of community engagements

3

Impact

Knowledge Holders

Five major engagements were held, in addition to a number of one-on-one interviews with Elders and leaders from the Aboriginal community. Eleven distinct tribal groups are represented in the design.

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