ARCHITECTURE AS A CULTURAL TOOL: A HOUSING PROPOSAL FOR A CREE COMMUNITY ON THE WESTERN JAMES BAY

Abstract

This thesis is a northern response to the dwelling culture and housing shortage of the Cree community in Moosonee, Ontario, located on the Western James Bay. The program of this thesis centres on housing, shared workshop space, and a public room, all designed specifically for those with the greatest need, multi-generational families, the elderly, and single parents with children. By anchoring the project with the premise of home as a zero point, a necessary place of beginning, I examined the typology of the house and its ability to respond to both landscape and culture. The housing responds to existing patterns in material culture, social structure, and ways of experiencing the land. Through this project I have investigated the myriad ways in which architecture can act as a cultural tool that reaffirms a sense of place and responds to living patterns and the northern climate.