Wanda Dalla Costa on indigeneity, design with communities, and connectedness
Architect and educator Wanda Dalla Costa is a member of the Saddle Lake First Nation, the Principal of Tawaw Architecture Collective, and a Professor at Arizona State University, where she is also Director/Founder of the Indigenous Design Collaborative. Her approach to architecture is rooted in her perspective on how communities support people and their cultural lifeways. “We integrate a full indigenous research paradigm in our work. We explore place and purpose through epistemology, or ways of knowing; ontology, or ways of being; methodology, or ways of doing; and axiology, which is about value systems.” Wanda notes that architecture -- practice and education -- may be on the cusp of significant changes. “We need to build multiple knowledges into our work … to create create an Earth-centered architecture.”