Location: Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory

Client: Tyendinaga | Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte

Size: 5,640 sq. ft.

Status: Study, to be completed Winter of 2025

Team Members: Eladia Smoke, Larissa Roque, Sarah Tyler

Location: Brantford, Ontario

Client: Brantford Native Housing

Status: Study completed, 2024

Value: $13.5 million

Size: 22,500 sq. ft.

Team Members: Eladia Smoke, Kyara Wendling, Lily Desmoulins

Brantford Native Housing has outgrown their existing administrative and operational spaces and hope that a new facility will aid in their continuous dedication to provide effective, efficient and culturally appropriate services.The development of a new facility and related programs promotes the important work the BNH accomplishes within the urban and rural areas of Brantford and Brant-County communities that they serve. The new facility consolidates two existing buildings into one new larger structure, facilitating the integration of staff, clients, and tenants, and fostering a cohesive narrative of inclusivity and collaboration to strengthen community bonds and shared purpose. Moreover, this consolidation promotes continuity in operations, improves access to support services, and strengthens the cultural identity of the Brantford Native Housing community, ensuring a more cohesive and nurturing environment for all clients. The new development will bring generations together into a shared community space of discovery.

The facility is classified as a mixed-use residential building, with commercial and public assembly spaces.The basement level accommodates a leasable multipurpose space complete with washrooms, a kitchen and an office; storage space; public outreach programming space complete with a reception, washrooms, and private counseling space; and a staff area with private offices and an open office space. The ground level accommodates a large public programming space with a kitchen; a laundry facility; a reception area; private meeting rooms; and staff space complete with private offices, an open office space, and a staff room and kitchen. The second and third level accommodate 6 1-bedroom units respectively, for a total of 12 1-bedroom units. The civil and landscaping scope includes parking, lot grading, green space, site services, etc. The study completed 2024 includes an assessment of the current facility and Class C construction estimate.

Location: Orangeville, ON

Client: Credit Valley Conservation

Size: 1,000 sq ft.

Status: Concept completed, 2021

Team Members: Eladia Smoke, Larissa Roque, Jennifer Kinnunen, Chelsea Jacobs

With: Smoke Architecture Inc. and Trophic Design

Credit Valley Conservation Authority (CVC) retained Smoke Architecture Inc. (SAI) and Trophic Design (TD) to work collaboratively with the Credit Valley Trail Indigenous Roundtable (IRT) to develop a conceptual design for Key Site #1 - Island Lake Conservation Area based on the outcomes of the Credit Valley Trail Indigenous Experience Implementation Plan (CVTIEIP). The CVTIEIP provides a framework for bringing Indigenous placemaking to life.

The work done for Island Lake Conservation Area is just the first intervention in a series of seven Key Sites that CVC is undertaking to support the actualization of Indigenous placemaking along the Credit Valley Trail. Our study establishes the design direction for development of Key Site #1, Crane Site. Through several virtual design workshops, SAI, TD and the IRT developed designs for the Indigenous Gathering Space.

The gathering space is inspired by Crane/Ajiijak’s role as a speaker in the Anishinaabe clan system, its ability to traverse land/water/sky, its physical form (wings) and its nesting habits. As a nod to its role as a speaker, the Indigenous gathering space includes tiered amphitheatre seating and several rows of movable seats around a central fire. The orientation lends itself to the space’s role for gathering, ceremony and teaching. The gathering space is made in a circle - the way we gather and the way a crane builds its nest. Thin wood members supported by the fishing weir tripods are arranged to provide a windbreak - mimicking the protective wings of a mother crane sheltering her offspring.

When you look at a crane standing in the water, you will see it observing the world above the waterline. The Indigenous gathering space’s structure transitions into a dock that extends over the lake and provides users with a similar unique vantage point.

Location: Matimekush-Lac John, Quebec

Client: Innu Nation of Matimekush-Lac John

Budget: $2million

Size: 8,400 sq. ft

Status: Construction Documents

Team Members: Eladia Smoke, Chelsea Jacobs, Julie Bedard

With: Ashini consultants

This is a project for the community of Matimekush Lac John located next to the town of Schefferville near the Quebec-Labrador border. The community is accessible by train and plane. Last year, the community center was burned down. The project consists of the construction of a new community center. This center will be used to hold meetings, community dinners meetings, community dinners, events such as weddings or receptions etc.

Location: Pickerel, Ontario

Client: Henvey Inlet First Nation

Budget: $11 million

Size: 14,000 sq. ft. , 1-storey plus mezzanine

Role: Architect

Status: Study completed 2017

Henvey Inlet chose the Thunderbird as design inspiration for the new community hub for this small community just south of Sudbury. The building will combine conference, recreational, and wellness programming into a new facility that exemplifies Anishinaabeg identity. Existing trail systems will be joined together to form a new ceremonial landscape that includes a sweat lodge, roundhouse, and outdoor pow wow grounds, all surrounded and connected by the new community centre.

The roundhouse is a ceremonial building form, in contemporary use in our communities since pre-contact times. The spiral form represents a community and nation initiating growth and transition. The slope of the roof visually and spatially connects to gateway columns that rise from the land, representing land-based teachings coming together with contemporary action. In this way the building symbolizes self-defined adaptation, arising from a deep connection to land. The roundhouse is built using indigenous lumber from sovereign land cleared for Henvey Inlet’s wind farm. This exemplary energy project has also provided part of the funding for this project.

Feasibility Study

Location: Taykwa Tagamou Nation, Ontario

Client: Taykwa Tagamou Nation

Value: $5 million

Size: 6,000 sq. ft.

Status: Study completed, 2018

With: SBA Engineers

This community centre on Taykwa Tagamou Nation will host several community service providers and an annual conference, along with childcare, meeting rooms, and multi-purpose spaces for local events. The connection to the outdoors is significant because the annual conference is partly held outdoors. The plan centres around a community tree, which is a sculpture created by Elders and other community members representing Taykwa Tagamou’s long history as Muskegowuk, and their connection to the land. This is placed in a central welcome atrium at the east entrance to the building. The building’s angular design is inspired by Muskegowuk geometric bead patterns.

Feasibility Study

Location: Capreol, ON

Client: Wahnapitae First Nation

Size: 6,100 sq. ft.

Value: $5 million

Status: Study completed, 2020

Team Members: Eladia Smoke, Larissa Roque

For many years Wahnapitae First Nation (WFN) has needed a new youth centre to host educational programming and daycare services for various age groups in the community. In March 2019, WFN commissioned Smoke Architecture Inc. to conduct a feasibility study to determine the technical viability of developing this facility. Room to grow and adapt to the needs of the community were paramount in the design of this facility. As a result of 3 engagement sessions with the community, the proposed facility will accommodate:

• 14 preschool/kindergarten children + 14 more preschool/

kindergarten children OR 12 infants/toddlers (achieved by

converting the elders room to a dedicated a nap room)

• 14 students/adults in the resource room

• 30-40 students/adults in the multi-purpose room

• 10 staff, either full or part-time

In addition to the building, the proposed landscape design celebrates WFN’s strong cultural identity that originates from their people and their relationship to the natural environment. Preservation of both is critical, both for economic development opportunities, but also the preservation of our Anishinaabe culture and traditions. The people who choose to live and work in the community are adventurous spirits with a strong sense of identity and community pride. Attracting more young members to return to the community will only benefit the economy.

New Construction
Location: Frenchman’s Head, ON

Client: Lac Seul First Nation

Value: $11.3 million

Size: 23,400 sq. ft., 3-storeys

Status: Design Study complete 2014, funding phase

Role: Principal Architect (design study, programming, collaborative/integrated design, site analysis, schematic design)

Lac Seul First Nation commissioned a design study to determine the feasibility for developing a new office building in Frenchman’s Head, ON. Obishikokaang Administrative Offices will have several major tenants , including Tikinagan Child & Family Services, Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority, Independent First Nations Alliance, Northern Nishinaabe Education Council, as well as Lac Seul First Nation chief, council, and administrative entities. Best practice research and extensive consultations included a Collaborative Design Process that included administrators and staff from each tenant group that informed the schematic designs.

This office represents another investment in the communities of Lac Seul First Nation, completing a larger economic development strategy that has included a new Events Centre including arena and conference facilities and extensive housing improvements, both new construction and renovation. This critical mass of development will result in numerous related benefits, and has the potential to spur further investment in this growing community.

Location: Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory

Client: Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte

Construction value: $30 million

Size: 88,000 sq. ft.

Status: Feasibility completed, 2019

Team Members: Eladia Smoke, Larissa Roque

SAI supported MBQ to apply for funding on a tight deadline with a proposal for an ambitious new arena and community services complex. Project leadership emphasized the importance of conservative design and construction to achieve budget feasibility for a very large facility. While the design remained highly schematic, the application was successfully completed on a very short timeline.

SAI valued the process of learning about Tyendinaga: the high value placed on supporting community health, Haudenosaunee specific principles and priorities, and gaining a cohesive overview of existing community amenities and how best to expand on them.