Kayla Viray

Thesis Project: The Indigenous Housing Crisis and Modular Design

Imagine a speculative future where Indigenous communities across Canada would no longer face displacement and assimilation. There would be a day where these communities would be given the opportunity and tools to go back to their land, and thrive as a nation.By combining modular and community housing, Indigenous communities all over Canada will have the option to find their way back home.

“Indigenous communities all over the world are being faced with a lack of access to secure housing, poor living conditions, and homelessness. Many homes have issues with mould, a lack of insulation, overcrowding, and being unable to express their culture in their given homes off of their land.This thesis project focuses on how material and modular design can be used to create a system that can respond to being an Indigenous community living in Canada.The integration of material and modular design will allow customizable housing structures to simulate and nourish an Indigenous community's way of life.By exploring material and modular design, a diverse number of cultures and traditions from different Indigenous communities can be framed within their communal housing.The goal is to create modular units that can be mass produced. This provides a blank canvas that can be personalized to fit its user. There is no intention to take away the users culture, only to supply them with a tool.Personalization of the modules include: interchangeable walls, being able to connect/expand units, and extending anchors for varying terrain.Materials such as wood composite and aluminum are used to aid in lightweight transportation and construction on site. Each community will be able to take these modules and make them their own. ”