SCALE 1:1 LIGNEOUS ARTEFACTS FOR LAKE MANITOBA FIRST NATION’S NEW GREEN HEART

September 25, 2024 —

Project-based learning is essential in acquiring critical competencies in design education. For example, preliminary courses at the Bauhaus in the 1920s thoroughly prepared students for professional design careers. The teachers shared a desire to use pedagogical means and programmes to encourage holistic and creative thinking. Inventive experiments using a wide range of materials such as glass, wood, metals, and ceramics were at the core of Bauhaus education, with its workshop-centred concept.

Ligneous Artefacts is the title of the ARCG 7102 studio taught by Professor Dietmar Straub at the University of Manitoba during the summer term of 2024. The goal was to design and build a series of non-standardized site-specific features for the Shared Path, a trail landscape designed by Professors Dietmar Straub and Anna Thurmayr from the Department of Landscape Architecture that turns a site on Lake Manitoba First Nation land into a gathering place where young and old can meet, share, and create new stories. The artefacts had to be developed as informal place-making tools that enrich the landscape and inspire social interaction. The design approach was based on an attitude of the German sculptor Rudolf Wachter: “I work with wood, and the wood works with me.”

Within four weeks, including field trips, community engagement and an on-site visit, the studio team progressed from rough drafts to a final product. Cutting, sawing, grinding, sanding, routing, drilling, and chiselling, …. after one week of sweat and hard work, all pieces were ready for assembly. The professional execution of all fabrication steps happened in close collaboration with the workshop of the Faculty of Architecture, University of Manitoba. Special thanks to Kellen Deighton for his priceless involvement in this studio project and Shaun De Rooy and Isaac Keeper-Muswaggon for their precious contribution!

Dietmar Straub have frequently invited students to gain hands-on experience on outreach projects. They were involved in tree-pit construction and asphalt painting. They dug in Winnipeg clay, compacted Manitoban limestone, hammered stones, bricks, logs and asphalt, used brushes and paint rollers and now fabricated five ‘masterpieces’ of wood and some metal parts. Dietmar Straub wants to apply this model to narrow the gap between theory and practice and to create a closer relationship between scholarly work and teaching. With its workshop-centered concept, the Bauhaus design education still seems to work as a timeless inspiration for passionate design education and students:

“The bench studio allowed me and the group to expand our understanding of a ‘bench’ or an outdoor piece. This summer studio is valuable because we learned how to build and work with wood on a 1-1 scale for the Lake Manitoba First Nations community to use. After much research, iterative design, site visits, and consultations with the community and occupational therapists, it is rewarding for a student to be part of a design-build studio that stretches the imagination yet is grounded in reality.” (Marie Alexie T. Seno)

“The Ligneous Artefacts project was our first experience designing and seeing our ideas come to life. It united all the students, fostering teamwork, creativity, and problem-solving. We hope the Dog Creek 46 community enjoys the artefact as much as we enjoyed building it.” (Vanessa Dos Santos Martins Macedo Alfonso)

STUDENTS
Marty Derksen; Vanessa Dos Santos Martins Macedo Alfonso; Michael Fitzpatrick; Carlo Gonzales; Augusta T. Ho; Kanika Mehta; Rownak Jahan Moutosi; Brady Ricketts; Marie Alexie T. Seno; Ruichen Zhu;