The Squamish Nation expects that Senakw will provide a revenue of up to $10 billion and provide housing for Indigenous Canadians.
Revery ArchitectureA drawing of what the Senakw development will look like .
In 1913 , members of the Squamish Nation were forcibly removed from Senakw , a village in present - daytime Vancouver , Canada . Now , having win the land back , they plan to build up an ambitious 11 - tug growing named for their lost village .
“ We want to bring our people back home to that part of our territory,”explained Khelsilem , a Squamish Nation councilor .
Revery ArchitectureA drawing of what the Senakw development will look like.
The Senakw development , projected to include 6,000 housing units and lodging for up to 10,000 , will presently rise from the unused state around Vancouver ’s Burrard Street Bridge . Its 11 towers will range from 17 story to a whopping 59 , and will include nod to autochthonal culture .
Some buildings , for example , are design like “ mountains ” ; others are inspired by Indigenous longhouses .
“ We were inspired by the traditional villages of the Squamish Nation , their mystifying embrace of nature — the mountains , forest and water , their carving and weaving traditions , and cultural association with Salmon River , ” explained Venelin Kokalov , the excogitation principal at Revery Architecture , who came up with the plans .
Revery ArchitectureThe buildings will include 6,000 housing units, with many set aside for Indigenous people.
Revery ArchitectureThe edifice will include 6,000 housing units , with many fix away for autochthonal mass .
The development is alone in a number of other direction as well . For one , Senakw will be extremely dense — more like Hong Kong than Vancouver — and will let in a number of hulk buildings . Its highest project construction , at 59 stories , would bethe third - marvelous building in Vancouver .
All of this is by pattern . Kokalov envisions a “ village in the green ” and noted that Revery Architecture come up with a programme that “ invited [ nature ] into our internet site . ” Indeed , the towers will only take up 15 per centum of the land . The repose will be unripened outer space .
Revery ArchitectureSenakw’s design principal envisions it as a “village” filled with greenery.
In an effort to discourage car use , the maturation will also include far fewer parking spaces than most Vancouver buildings . Instead of parking garages , it will offer biking garages .
Revery ArchitectureSenakw ’s design principal envisions it as a “ village ” filled with greenery .
Senakw stands apart in other ways as well . Very few First Nation tribe own land in urban sphere like Vancouver . Most of them are in more rural parts of the country .
Revery ArchitectureHow the Burrard Street Bridge may be repurposed.
“ If you look at where modesty have been placed in this country , they ’re for the most part on the outskirts , ” explained Ginger Gosnell - Myers , Vancouver ’s first Indigenous Relations Manager , who serve from 2013 to 2018 .
“ That ’s by designing … we ’re count at a deliberate story of excommunication . ”
Indeed , the account at the heart of Senakw is a atrocious one . The Squamish Nation owned the landfor generationsand benefit from its abundance of Pisces the Fishes , elk , deer , salmon , and other wild animals .
But as the metropolis of Vancouver grew , its resident more and more pushed onto tribal domain . In 1913 , Vancouver ’s premier Richard McBride arrange the 150 citizenry living in Senakw to vacate the village . They were render two 24-hour interval to gather their belongings and board a barge that took them north .
Then , Vancouver officials tear down what remained of the hamlet .
Revery ArchitectureHow the Burrard Street Bridge may be repurposed .
In the wake , the Canadian Pacific Railway ( CPR ) set up a termination at the former web site of Senakw . But when CPR tried to sell the country in 1989 , the Squamish people argued that they should get the land back . After a lengthy effectual engagement , they succeed in doing so .
“ This is our gem of developable land and we ’re only give out to get one luck in the next 100 age to evolve it , ” noted Khelsilem .
To unfavorable judgment from Vancouver locals who wanted to be consulted about the undertaking , one tribal member mention , the Squamish Nation was “ never confer and we still are not . ”
Although the development is expected to raise million of dollars in revenue for the Squamish , the import of reclaiming the land goes much deeper . On the development web site , it ’s noted that “ Senakw represent an opportunity to bring around . ”
After all , Senakw is more than the name of the lost small town . It also means , “ The starting time of something beautiful ; esteem for nature , for indigenous peoples , for healing , and for a new way of life forward . ”
After reading about the Senakw development in Vancouver , learn the tragic history ofthe Native American genocide . Then look through these beautiful and startlingNative American portraiture by Edward S. Curtis .
