Track 4/Volet 4

CS4.2: Unsettling Monuments & Navigating Commemorations

Friday, November 15, 2024

10:30 AM – 12:00 PM EST

CE: 1.5

Session Chair(s)

Tiffani Simple, RA

Principal
Simple Design Studio-Architects, P.C.

Speaker(s)

Kemba Braynon, AIA (she/her/hers)

Associate
Quinn Evans
Julia Gersovitz, O.C. OAQ OAA AANB FRAIC FAPT CAHP

Director, Professor of Practice
EVOQ Architecture Inc. McGill University, Canada
Danica Mitric, M.Arch, B.A.S. (she/her/hers)

Junior Conservation Architecture Representative
PSPC/ Carleton U /Nottingham Trent U, Canada
Paige Murray (she/her/hers)

Master's Student
Western University
VW

Vanessa Wolfe, CLSC

Councillor
Muskowekwan First Nation, Canada

This session has qualified for 1.5 LU|HSW Credits

This session examines the delicate processes of transforming spaces burdened by historical trauma into sites of remembrance, healing, and empowerment. Through a series of case studies, participants will explore the challenges and opportunities inherent in preserving and recontextualizing heritage sites that carry difficult histories. The presentations will highlight how historic preservation, community engagement, and adaptive reuse can facilitate reconciliation, empower marginalized communities, and ensure that the past serves as a foundation for a more inclusive future. Attendees will gain insights into the complexities of commemorating contested histories, strategies for fostering partnerships in the spirit of reconciliation, and innovative approaches to recalibrating monuments and heritage sites to reflect contemporary values.

Learning Objectives:

Identify historical context and impact by analyzing how these sites reflect broader societal divisions and traumas.
Evaluate different approaches to dealing with controversial monuments and sites and understand how these methods can contribute to more inclusive public narratives.
Explore methods for developing partnerships and relationships with affected communities, emphasizing the importance of collaborative decision-making in the preservation and adaptive reuse of heritage sites.
Illustrate how adaptive reuse of heritage sites can create spaces of healing and inclusion, empowering communities that have been historically marginalized.

Presentations:

10:30 AM – 10:50 AM EST

(CS4.2) Muskowekwan IRS - A Rejuvenation of a site of Darkness into the Light
Speaker: Danica Mitric, M.Arch, B.A.S. (she/her/hers) – PSPC/ Carleton U /Nottingham Trent U
Speaker: Vanessa Wolfe, CLSC – Muskowekwan First Nation
Session Chair: Tiffani Simple, RA – Simple Design Studio-Architects, P.C.
10:50 AM – 11:10 AM EST

(CS4.2) Removing Barriers and Building Bridges: Harnessing the Power of Preservation to Empower and Uplift Marginalized Communities (Birwood Wall – from Black/White divisions to symbol of pride)
Speaker: Kemba S. Braynon, AIA (she/her/hers) – Quinn Evans
Session Chair: Tiffani Simple, RA – Simple Design Studio-Architects, P.C.
11:10 AM – 11:30 AM EST

(CS4.2) Sorting the Tangle of Commemoration; A Heritage Conservation Perspective
Speaker: Julia Gersovitz, O.C. OAQ OAA AANB FRAIC FAPT CAHP – EVOQ Architecture Inc. McGill University
Session Chair: Tiffani Simple, RA – Simple Design Studio-Architects, P.C.
11:30 AM – 11:40 AM EST

(CS4.2) Strategic Forgetting or Selective Remembrance: Preserving the Built Heritage of the London Asylum for the Insane through oral Histories
Speaker: Paige Murray (she/her/hers) – Western University
Session Chair: Tiffani Simple, RA – Simple Design Studio-Architects, P.C.