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Interweaving with Nature
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Co-Creating contemporary Indigenous spaces that showcase the sophistication of traditional building strategies
Fire Circle at McMurray Métis Cultural Centre
“Over the past decade, we have been reconnecting as a family with our indigenous roots. This journey has revealed that ancestral wisdom offers an inspiring path forward for the healing of our Earth for future generations”
We meaningfully address the Climate Crisis through Regenerative Design by interweaving Nature and Culture. Our holistic, Earth-centred approach is through the sharing of our expertise with communities to reach their goals for ENERGY FOOD WATER Security. This process is founded on listening and learning from elders, knowledge keepers, community members and youth. We share our 36 years of architectural, development and regenerative design expertise to co-create spaces imbued with meaning and cultural resonance. We identify the synergies between Indigenous tectonics and contemporary building techniques to valourize the sophistication of traditional strategies in a fresh way employing the latest in cutting edge technologies. This synthesis of traditional wisdom and high performance building results in deeply sustainable, highly resilient, authentic communities interwoven seamlessly and symbiotically with Mother Earth.
MINDFUL SYNERGIES
Our mission is to re-establish a harmonious relationship with our Earth by mapping out a regenerative Community Plan and culturally resonant architecture. Learning from the sophistication of Indigenous Wisdom on how to live symbiotically with our planet, we create architectural designs that include strategies for Food, Water, Energy Security as well as the revitalization of native biodiversity. Our process optimizes the specific potential of each site so that we can harvest the energies that flow through such as solar, wind, and water. We incorporate contemporary technologies such as green roofs, living walls, Earth tubes and Earth sheltered green houses to interweave with Nature. Our multidisciplinary integrated design team includes architects, designers, structural and mechanical engineers, energy modelers, ecologists and professional grant writers. If you wish to inquire about these services, please contact us here. We look forward to learning about how we can support your community.
FOOD
We employ earth centred Permaculture Design to map the natural energy flows and metabolism of the site. We orchestrate synergies between the crops to ensure that soil fertility is continuously being replenished naturally. Learning from the wisdom of Indigenous cultivation systems such as the Three Sisters, our plant guilds foster mutually beneficial relationships such as nitrogen fixing, soil moisture retention and natural weed and pest suppression. Inspired by the multiple layers of an ecosystem, our food forests produce more calories per acre than monocultures. We promote and design Earth Sheltered green houses to extend growing potential year-round and to assist with the heating of adjacent buildings. Our landscape designs restore indigenous biodiversity and create delightful foraging trails.
WATER
We use a diversity of strategies to harvest and store water on site. Carefully designed earthworks allow us to slow the flow of water through the site to prevent soil erosion and reduce irrigation requirements. This strategy augments infiltration which replenishes soil moisture and recharges the water table. This is most important in coastal areas to prevent salt infiltration in the water table. All of our supplemental irrigation strategies are water and energy efficient.
ENERGY
Passive strategies such as Earth Tubes and Geo-piles temper our buildings naturally and provide a baseline both for cooling and heating to reduce energy consumption and operational costs. Our structures and buildings are solar optimized to ensure that the energy production is in sync with building use.
BIODIVERSITY
All of our project revitalize Indigenous biodiversity to heal our Earth and provide habitat for birds and pollinators with a special focus on Ethnobotanical edible and medicinal plants.
CULTURE
Our holistic process welcomes collaboration with Knowledge Keepers, Elders and community artists to infuse our designs with local traditional art, fostering the valourization of culture.
The rooftop Terrace offers a safe community space. Salish Designs graciously shared by Xwalacktun Harry from Squamish Nation.
FOOD SECURITY This Rooftop Terrace includes 140 sq meter of gardening beds irrigated by rainwater harvesting.
Earth Sheltered Solar Pit House for FOOD WATER ENERGY Security
Contemporary Pit House, a resilient self-tempering environment inspired by the wisdom of Indigenous tectonic.
Contemporary Pit House with inter-seasonal green house.
Tsaw’tsawa Green Hydrogen Facility, Xaxli’p BC
Coastal Solar Plank House
Contemporary Solar Plank House with wood carving from Xwalaktun Harry
Convivial interior of our Contemporary Solar Ready Plank House
NATURALLY FIRE RESISTANT SOLAR LONG HOUSE
EARTH SHELTERED SOLAR PIT HOUSE
Affordable Housing project inspired by traditional basketry.
“We were looking for an architect that could deliver a world class sustainable building that was also able to express our culture in a way that resonated with our Elders, Youth and the community at large. Our selection committee were all in agreement, after a solid presentation by Mindful that met all our goals and aspirations. Mindful were quick to engage with the community at numerous events to get feedback and gain a deep understanding of our community’s hopes and desires for the building. They incorporated this feedback into the design and were always finding opportunities to express our culture in meaningful ways in the building. The iconic Infinity Loop design that they came up with was a strong statement of reclaiming territory but also reconciliation. This really instilled a sense of pride and excitement across the whole membership. To further express our culture, they engaged with the artists in our community to incorporate public art pieces into the project. They really focused on creating spaces that were welcoming to the community and where all the members, from Elders to Youth could feel comfortable and have a sense of pride in their history and culture.”
McMURRAY MÉTIS CULTURAL CENTRE
“Our project could not have proceeded without major grants and the Mindful Team developed an innovative design and a compelling narrative, both of which were instrumental in helping to secure significant grants from all three levels of government. Their inclusive process helped to get buy-in across our diverse membership and ensured that ideas from the entire community were reflected in the design. When there were differences of opinion among the membership, Mindful skilfully found creative solutions to address concerns and build consensus. They brought a lot of management expertise to the table and were always willing to lend a hand on the diverse tasks required to advance a large, complex project. Mindful are resourceful, responsive and can always be relied upon to deliver. Their dedication and attention to detail are extraordinary! ”
“Mindful Architecture provided McMurray Métis with their very professional service for the design of the Cultural Centre that is presently being constructed on MacDonald Island in Fort McMurray, Alberta. The Métis Local wanted to build the Cultural Centre with a focus on expressing our unique culture, and their design incorporating the Infinity Symbol did just that. It really resonated with our whole community and gave everyone a feeling of pride and belonging. As a Métis member and past President of the Local 1935, I was impressed by their previous projects and was very pleased to work with them on our Cultural Centre.
I highly recommend Mindful Architecture and am very much looking forward to seeing the completion of our much anticipated Cultural Centre”