Gateway to food for thought: cooking up a knowledge diverse library in North Bay

Abstract

All Canadians have the responsibility to understand the history of their community, to embolden one another's voices, and celebrate the land as well as the diversity of cultures upon it. This concept is studied through the design of a public food library in North Bay. Research revealed that important cultural knowledge exchange happens around food. Furthermore, literary knowledge transmission can dismiss various forms of cultural information, such as culinary knowledge. This is especially known to be true for Indigenous voices but also for immigrating cultures. Therefore, a public knowledge resource like a library fails to support everyone equally. As such the question to ask is: how can architecture assist in acknowledging independent cultural identity and reveal the knowledge of a place through food? By investigating literature, mapping, food experimentation, and precedents, this research reimagines the definition of library to be more inclusive to a variety of knowledge forms and cultures.