Gather, Bridge, Weave, Dream: A Two Eyed Seeing Approach to Architecture and Design

Abstract

This thesis emerges out of my belief that any tangible effort towards a future more sustainable than our present reality requires the integration and amplification of Indigenous perspectives. This thesis aims to unite the strengths of the sustainable architecture discourse as experienced through my own perspective and the ways of knowing and experience of Indigenous communities. Harnessing diverse perspectives is facilitated through Two Eyed Seeing, developed by Mi’kmaq Elder Albert Marshall as a means of cross cultural collaboration and co-learning. Design methods for developing a Two Eyed Seeing approach to architecture are explored and subsequently illustrated in the context of on reserve housing in a Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq community. This thesis represents my co-learning journey to understand how architecture can work to reconcile disparate worldviews. This co-learning journey to develop a Two Eyed Seeing approach to architecture is told in four parts: gather, bridge, weave and dream.