Toward Unsettling
A view of the pool in Iqaluktuutiaq (Cambridge Bay), Nunavut, as captured by community members for Google Maps. The pool was closed in 2019. (Image: Google Maps)
In November 2020, the Grierson Research Group received a presentation by Alexandra Pereira-Edwards, Misca Lagassé and Zaven Titizian of their project Toward Unsettling.
Toward Unsettling, a project initiated through the Canadian Centre for Architecture’s Masters Student Program, provides a collaborative platform to engage in retrospection and revision of architectural pedagogy, scholarship, and practice. Stemming from an initial investigation into swimming pools in Nunavut, the project expands beyond these bounds to highlight the ongoing effects of settler colonialism on lands and bodies, and to identify how design practices and pedagogies remain complicit in its proliferation. The project, comprised of a contextual article, a collaborative and open-access syllabus, and a supplementary index, is a step toward creating and sustaining forms of settler accountability while recognizing the multiplicity of voices seeking to disrupt colonial action. The project invites others to contribute materials and resources in hopes of making the project as inclusive, expansive, and critical as it can be.
Bios:
Alexandra Pereira-Edwards is a Masters of Architecture student at Carleton University. Her thesis research investigates the intersections of space, intimacy, and infrastructure, with a focus on sex work in Canada. She holds an undergraduate degree in environmental design from the University of Manitoba, and worked as a furniture and product designer prior to pursuing her Masters degree.
Instagram handle: allypereiraedwards
Misca Lagassé is a third year Masters of Architecture student at the University of Toronto. She holds an undergraduate degree in Fibres and Material Practices and Art History from Concordia University. Her research interests include vernacular architecture, craft, and contemporary art.
Zaven Titizian is a Masters of Architecture candidate at the University of Waterloo. His thesis research looks at the spatial and material consequences of displaced culture—specifically considering the home of the diaspora as a space of resistance against the institutional archive—tracing how the movement of people, plants, and other matter continue to rearrange our built environment. He also holds an Honours Bachelor of Architectural Studies degree from Waterloo and has over four years of experience working in the architectural profession.
Instagram handle: zaventitizian