Shannen Koostachin Elementary School

Children of Attawapiskat First Nation

For Project 2 I am continuing on with my thesis statement and strategies from Project. They are the following:

Thesis

The number of people who lack access to safe drinking water suffer and are killed needlessly from curable waterborne disease every day are daunting; nearly half of all people in developing countries suffer at any given time from a health problem caused by water and sanitation deficits. Architecture has the potential to integrate crucial water collection and storage strategies to make a significant improvement in this growing global phenomenon.

Strategies

• Develop flexible, multifunctional building components and spaces with sensitivity to vernacular and cultural implications.
• Integrate and encourage connectivity of resources.
• Optimize architectural opportunities for passive water collection and storage.

Site Selection

I was advised in the critique of my Fog House to move my site to somewhere apart from the global south for Project 2, so I thought I would come to Canada... only to find that there are third world conditions in our own province.

The Attawapiskat First Nation is located west of James Bay on the northern bank of the Attawapiskat River. It has been highly documented in recent years because of the dire housing crisis its 2000 residents face, as well as for its involvement in the Idle No More movement. Due to its isolated location, the reserve is accessible by plane in the summer, and ice road in the winter. Therefore, goods and materials are about 3x more expensive than in Toronto and it may be beneficial to integrate prefabricated building components into my design in addition to culturally sensitive and vernacular materials wherever possible. Many of the residents live in sheds without running water or sanitation, so my school has the opportunity to act as a gathering space and to engage my second strategy of integrating connectivity of resources.

There is also a serious educational crisis in Attawapiskat First Nation. The lone elementary school on the reserve was shut down in 2000 due to a fuel leak, and the 500 children have been educated out of cramped portables that are completely inadequate to meet their educational needs. In addition, the Victor Diamond Mine to the east of the reserve is both a major polluter of the local water resources, as well as the primary source of employment, though the community has a staggering 70% unemployment rate. The lack of access to safe drinking water, adequate education and other basic services are poignant issues in this community and others like it across Canada. Thus, the optimization of passive water collection and storage is crucial to this community.

A new elementary school designed by PBK Architects is currently under construction on the eastern edge of the reserve, and I intend to propose an alternative. Due to the markup in cost of materials and transportation, the new elementary school has a budget of $31-million. I have analyzed the drawings for the new school and I do not believe that the design will be able to solve the crisis in this community. Aboriginal children often drop out of school extremely early, sometimes before graduating elementary school. The majority of children have unemployed parents and so do not see any incentive in education. Therefore, my design for a new elementary school must be active and engaging to motivate children to follow through in their education to one day find gainful employment outside of the reserve, or to help ameliorate the conditions within.

Additional Requirements:
In addition to my three main strategies, the school must also:

• Use water as the primary element to improve the wellbeing of students and their families in Attawapiskat
• Have the capacity to educate >500 children
• Be active & engaging (no boxes)
• Feasible and intuitively operated
• Act as an emergency shelter
• Engage in soil remediation

See the below video for more info about Attawapiskat's struggle for a new elementary school: