Recovering from the extraction empire: Timmins, Ontario, Canada

Date

2024-04-12

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Abstract

The contemporary mining paradigm operates as an extraction empire—this characterization due to the industry’s control and power over its hosting landscape. With Canada as the predominant emperor, the process of arriving, extracting, and demobilizing has come to define the country at home and abroad. Furthermore, these extraction empires often leave behind environmental and societal scars in their wake. Nonetheless, in a world steadfastly approaching an electric future, mineral extraction is essential. Therefore, this thesis does not take the stance of an ‘anti-mining’ effort; instead, it proposes a more regenerative approach to mining as a whole, involving the development of a framework that fosters the regeneration of the landscape and its people. With a town synonymous with mining, Timmins, Ontario, emerges as an ideal location for implementing this regenerative framework. This thesis outlines a prospective vision for the historic Hollinger gold mine, a site which operates in direct correlation with the city both geographically and historically. This vision, the Hollinger Ecohub Pavilion, showcases how implementing a regenerative framework can aid in recovering from the extraction empire. To ensure meaningful and enduring regeneration plans truly worth their weight in gold.

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Keywords

Architecture, Environmental remediation, Design framework, Mining industry, Regenerative design, Timmins, Ontario

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