Award

D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 4 | 73 Bigstone Cree Nation High School P H OTO G R A P H Y BY TO M L A D EM A N N /CO U RT E S Y B I GS TO N E C R EE N AT I O N EDU C AT I O N AU T H O R I T Y BIGSTONE CREE NATION HIGH SCHOOL by ROBIN BRUNET B igstone Cree Nation High School is a landmark for Alberta-based Bigstone Cree Nation (BCN) as well as the Bigstone Cree Nation Education Authority (BCNEA): it, in addition to the K3 to Grade 9 Oski Pasikoniwew Kamik school, gives BCN, for the first time in its his- tory, the ability to exercise its Treaty Right to Education regarding control of Indigenous Peoples' education. The new Grades 7-12 high school includes 14 classrooms, a woodshop, an outdoor classroom, an industrial kitchen for life skills such as dress- ing game meat, and many design elements that reflect BCN culture as well as the surrounding forests. BCN in 2017 retained Stantec Architecture Ltd. to conduct a feasi- bility study that illustrated the need for a secondary school and paved the way for funding, and in November 2019 design work commenced. But the advent of the COVID lockdowns proved to be arguably the proj- ect's biggest challenge, as Stantec principal Heather Bretz explains: "Bigstone has a long history of intense involvement in the design of its schools, and prior to the lock- downs we were meeting with school staff, elders, and community mem- bers, in order to develop a school that would embody Cree culture. But the lockdowns ended all that." Fortunately, Stantec came up with ways to maintain engagement remotely, one example being the inclu- sion of drawing competitions and surveys in the homework packages that were sent out by BCNEA to students. After several iterations, the final design was completed in November of 2021. The most striking aspect of the building is its configuration as an inwardly-curving semicir- cle. "It's the core of all the school's teachings, in addition to accom- modating corridors with clear views of the exterior," Bretz says. An entry at the centre of the semi- circle leads directly to a learning commons, the visual showcase of which is a Cree tepee (which required a 10-metre cut into the concrete floor to enable the structure to sit at grade). "We located an elder's room beside the commons as well as a family room, and the entire area is replete with acoustic panels, the pattern of which mimics that of a blanket given to me by a stakeholder when we were in community consultation," Bretz says. Located behind the semicircle is something vitally important to Cree culture: an industrial kitchen with a freezer next to a clean lab. "This allows for the hunting of game, freez- ing it, then rendering it and serving it to the kitchen," Bretz explains. A neu- tral colour palette encompassing a polished concrete floor, while anod- ized aluminum and wood components were selected for throughout the facil- ity, with splashes of colour derived from a Cree medicine wheel. Wood was also used for the elab- orate outward-jutting cladding adorning the semicircle. "Lots of vertical striping represents the sur- rounding forest, as do the metal panels with striping that wrap around the building," Bretz says.

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