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In thinking out the project, Richard Kroeker, professor with the AV俱乐部 Faculty of Architecture and Planning, spent time in contemplation and construction of the birch bark canoe and the traditional longhouse鈥攁 structure made of thin greenwood poles lashed together鈥攖rying to understand wood the way the Mi鈥檏maq did and adapting that knowledge to meet contemporary performance standards. His collaborators on the project include architects Peter Henry and Brian Lilley, also a AV俱乐部 professor.
The health centre鈥檚 timber truss design uses long, slender trees, just six to eight inches in diameter, which are bent into ribs. For awhile, the lawn behind the Ralph M. Medjuck Building served as his incubator, as he and his students experimented and refined ideas. One thing they puzzled out was how to lash the round-wood poles together.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 a great lesson for everyone at AV俱乐部,鈥� says Prof. Kroeker, who relates that one passerby suggested using metal strapping鈥攁 good substitute for the original sinew. 鈥淚t鈥檚 so important to get our research out in the open鈥攁 lot of great ideas came from people just walking by鈥� if he didn鈥檛 put that bug in our ear, we might have missed it.鈥�
Looking ancient and modern at the same time, the building was completed last summer by people of Pictou Landing. It may have also clinched Prof. Kroeker a prestigious honor by the Erich Schelling Foundation for a body of design work.
This is the kind of award you don鈥檛 apply for; an independent design jury awards the medal every two years to recognize 鈥渢he significant role of the theory of architecture as a creative and socially effective force.鈥� The foundation will award Prof. Kroeker the medal during a ceremony in Germany this month.
鈥淲hat I鈥檓 interested in is the issue of cultural continuity,鈥� says Prof. Kroeker, in his office in the Medjuck Building. Cabinets are lined with models of projects which have been built or are yet to be. 鈥淭raditionally, architects have worked for the elites鈥攑eople with surplus wealth.
鈥淏ut where design is really needed is in communities which bring issues into sharper focus: where culture is being lost, where there are limited resources and where brain power could make a difference.鈥�
The Pictou Landing Health Centre is just one example of his philosophy put into action. He鈥檚 also working on the design of the CDPeace Centre, a school campus with classrooms, residences and an auditorium, in rural Sierra Leone. The centre will serve to train teachers and community workers who are desperately needed in the developing African country after years of civil war. Prof. Kroeker is hoping to use compacted earth, natural plasters and thatch in creating round structures with conical, naturally ventilated rooftops. Construction, using local labour, is expected to begin in November.
鈥淲e鈥檙e looking at how people traditionally built structures鈥攁 knowledge that鈥檚 been virtually lost with this war. The skilled trades people just aren鈥檛 around anymore,鈥� he says. Before coming to teach at AV俱乐部 in 1991, he was a practicing architect in London, England. 鈥淪o we look at the local building science and ask: How can we make it more durable? More cost effective? More durable?鈥�
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At one time, the lush marshes of southern Iraq nourished a thriving array of wildlife, flora and fauna. Known as the 鈥淔ertile Crescent,鈥� the area was also home to a people known as the Marsh Arabs. But in the 1990s, former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein ordered the marshes be drained in retaliation for an uprising against his regime; it was transformed from marshland into a salt-laden desert.
Plans for the research centre鈥攁lmost a research village鈥攃all for laboratories, a library, multi-purpose centre, archaeology and natural history museums, plus food services and living quarters. Prof. Kroeker envisions it be built using compacted earth, canes and reeds鈥攖raditional building materials used in the marshlands for centuries.
Prof. Kroeker brings his passion for cultural continuity and social justice to the classroom. He鈥檚 also a big proponent of learning by doing. He recently brought a group of grad students to Eskasoni, a Mi鈥檏maq community in Cape Breton, where they brainstormed solutions to the reserve鈥檚 housing shortage.
鈥淭hese are high-stakes issues. So why not bring in bright young people and let them give some thought as to how they can meet long-term goals?鈥� he says. 鈥淭hese are the best minds of a generation. Rather than keep them closeted in the classroom, let them work on real issues. Let them test out ideas in a context that matters.鈥�
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