Title:
Principal and owner, Tawaw Architecture Collective
Currently Resides:
Dalla Costa moved to Arizona in 2015 after having moved to Los Angeles in 2010. Her practice now has offices in Calgary and Phoenix. In addition to her work at Tawaw, she is the director of the Indigenous Design Collaborative, and an institute professor at Arizona State University.
Early Inspiration:
Upon completing her undergrad at the University of Calgary, Dalla Costa set out on a backpacking journey that was supposed to last six months, but ended up lasting seven years and saw her live in seven countries. “I became enamoured with how the architecture in cities kept culture alive, how it influenced the way people gather,” she says.
Wanda Dalla Costa has defined her career by “productively disrupting” the field of architectural design to create public spaces rooted in Indigenous worldviews.
“We don’t just design buildings; we try to create spaces where people see themselves and feel seen. We make Indigenous culture visible and ensure the Indigenous people, the original territorial hosts of these lands we occupy, feel their identity in the urban and rural spaces we create,” Dalla Costa says.
Dalla Costa is the first First Nations female architect in Canada. She is a member of the Saddle Lake Cree Nation, located in the Amiskwacīwiyiniwak region in central Alberta. She is also the owner and principal of Tawaw Architecture Collective, which has collaborated on more than 400 community-engagement projects in its 14-year history.
“We specialize in participatory design, because, if you sit alone at your desk, you’ll always get the same ideas. But, when you engage communities, the creative potential multiplies,” Dalla Costa says.
Tawaw collaborated with KPMB Architects and Hindle Architects on the $660-million Arts Commons Transformation project in downtown Calgary, expected to be complete in 2028.
As part of their work, Tawaw worked closely with Treaty 7 Nations and urban Indigenous Elders, Knowledge Keepers and artists to design a space that reimagines the role of Indigenous presence in urban public space, says Dalla Costa. She notes that Indigenous-led design is powered by a deep sense of place attachment and place meaning.
“Indigenous design is about kinship with all living things, not just people, but rocks, rivers, trees. That mindset changes how you build,” she says. “When people feel rooted in their environment, they protect it, care for it, even make sacrifices for it.”
Like dozens of other projects Dalla Costa has worked on across North America, the design of the Arts Commons space incorporates Indigenous traditions, history and culture to create an inclusive, lodge-like gathering space that is meant to draw people of all backgrounds inside. She says the space will have a storytelling circle, which will serve as a beacon to draw people in. The team also incorporated many natural materials in the design to emulate traditional Indigenous building techniques.
“There’s been such an interruption of Indigenous history. Our aim right now is to try and reattach and repair that disconnect,” Dalla Costa says. “Architecture can be used as a tool for reconnection. Reconnection to land, to culture, to each other.”
