Weaving access: ecological architecture for refuge along the Welland Canal

Abstract

To engage everyone, human and non-human, and provide refuge, is an act of kindness. If the world we chose to create will be accessible to everyone, we must design it this way. Sensually, and socially, architecture can act as the tool we use as a community to create a landscape that engages us, while still connecting us to our biographical and geographical history. All within our control, some things, such as the industrial revolution, have forced communities including the indigenous, to move and develop around these infrastructures. Although economical, some infrastructures out of our control were a result of compromises, such as the Welland Canal and the Niagara Escarpment. Which begs the question, how can we provide refuge for the people who built our communities, the specially-abled, and the wildlife we depend on? Perhaps by reclaiming a site that has close ties to this industrial prominence from colonization, and making it our own again. Resembling a community space for healing, and recreation, activities we already informally participate in, and providing a sense of place to the site. In this case, the Welland Canal, and the site adjacent to the West of Lock 4.