Living Tradition: Supporting the Inuvialuit Community of Tuktoyaktuk Through Productive Cultural Space

Abstract

Global connectivity is affecting culture in the Canadian North. The Inuvialuit people of Canada’s Northwest Arctic have experienced a long history of contact with foreign cultures that has led to the homogenization, assimilation and erasure of their distinct local culture.

This thesis investigates how productive cultural space can combat historic colonizing forces by supporting the cultural traditions of remote Canadian arctic communities.

By analyzing past foreign cultural encounters and speculating future changes to the community, this thesis develops a programmatic strategy rooted in maintaining communal activity, traditional knowledge and resource accessibility, while also providing a place for tourist interaction and exchange. By developing community narratives, this thesis develops a methodology for siting future polar developments that reinforces the communities socio-cultural activities. Architecturally, this thesis investigates Inuvialuit artifacts in order to set up culturally rooted design principles that work in conjunction with contemporary building technologies to accurately represent contemporary Inuvialuit culture.