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Architecture

TAWAW utilizes a two-eyed seeing approach, integrating both Indigenous and western approaches to architecture. For collaborators that are new to Indigenous design, TAWAW offers interactive work sessions for our partners and collaborators.
  • Develop high-quality design visualizations;
  • Assure conscious budget management;
  • Deliver drawings and ideas in a proactive manner;
  • Design with ecological, sustainable, and native science/knowledges ways of knowing
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Interiors

Our collaborative approach aims to create highly contextual responses. Original and custom elements – from typeface and wallpaper, to furniture and wall systems– have become our specialty.
  • Design interiors from indigenous perspective;
  • Contribute to the palettes and tones for design;
  • Deliver diagrammatic and/or visuals to accompany program analysis and design understanding
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Engagement

TAW is resilient and efficient with the engagement practice flowing interdependently in the design process of indigenous design work and architecture.
We have a few new items to consider:
  • Learning Modules
  • Engagement sessions
  • Travel
  • Conscious budgeting
  • Appropriate group/community coordination and communication with participants
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Training

We believe there is much to the field that there is to contribute, and it is our role to teach our insights, ways of being and knowing, knowledges systems, and mentorship in an all-level learning .
As part of our training includes:
  • Architectural Mentorship
  • Indigenous Place-based Research
  • Cultural Findings
  • Graphics
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Indigenous Futurities

Traditional knowledge can transcend the stereotype of Indigenous knowledge of the past. We are exploring new modes of cultivating an innovative and exciting work.
We are innovative:
  • Development in AI Technology + Cultural Data
  • Expertise in rendering programs
  • Deliver high-quality visuals
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Place-Based Research

Place-based research is an essential part of our Indigenous Placekeeping Framework. We believe we can offer a new perspective to the research that can uplift architecture in:

  • Deliver conscious and concise research papers
  • Curate knowledges and findings
  • Enhance research through engagement sessions
  • Coordinate research to specific project needs
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Speaking

TAW’s mission to share knowledge extends far from the screen – into the conversations and bigger talks. We believe it is important to diversify and talk about our ways of knowing, being, and learning with the Indigenous and Non-indigenous audiences.

TAW is open to speaking in:
  • Conferences
  • Lectures
  • Podcasts
  • Interviews
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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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