To read the full story and view images, follow the link to Exploring Woven Relations at the Forks.

Don’t try to drive the homeless into places we find suitable. Help them survive in places they find suitable.–Daniel Quinn

Through a series of conversations, consultations and exchanges we were able to gather a strong group of collaborative agents to tackle the challenge of the Thunderbird House site through the design-build initiative of the Warming Hut. The complexity of both site, program, and culture creates an extremely rich context for learning, and the expertise brought together by the collaborative structure will guarantee a beneficial result to the local homeless community. Damon Johnson, Executive Director of the Thunderbird House, offered his contribution through his deep knowledge of the site and the local culture. Ryan Gorrie and Suzy Melo from Brook McIlroy, led the community design process through a careful and thoughtful Indigenous approach to research and design. Marco Gallo, of 0812 Building Solutions, once again joined us with his design-build teaching skills and extraordinary expertise. Peter Hargraves and Eduardo Aquino joined forces to facilitate the students’ participation and general coordination of the project. Dean Mira Locher joined the team offering her thoughtful expertise in Japanese culture and design.

To save a life is a real and beautiful thing. To make a home for the homeless, yes, it is a thing that must be good; whatever the world may say, it cannot be wrong. –Vincent Van Gogh

Inspired by the 7 fires of the Anishinaabe, at the end we designed an innovative warming device based on the Japanese Kotatsu, storing the heat from a firewood stove, and redistributing it to the legs, a table surface, and around the stove, along with seating amenities, inviting the people to gather around a fire.

In her work, Bond has a particular interest in the built environment and the interpretation of public space. The idea for the project started with the prospect of re-using a material that is quite common in our everyday lives: single-use plastic bags. The intention of the project is to confront a troubling image of waste in the face of out-of-control consumption and environmental destruction. The transformation of an everyday material into a cloud-shaped object suggests the conversion of ecological damage caused by reckless consumerism into something more optimistic or poetic, such as a cloud. The visitor can contemplate the object from the outside and as well from the inside, by inserting “the head into the cloud.” The project intends to raise a collective environmental awareness by using the poetic language of sculpture to this effect. All the plastic used in the project will be recycled by a local company and transformed into composite construction blocks.

This installation is on display in The Forks Market Building until Spring 2020.