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AARLUK - NAUJATT CENRE FOR ATHLETIC ACHIEVEMENT
Course
1st Year Master Studio
Advisor
Robert Boraks
Location
Najuaat, NU
Date
2017
The Canadian average for number of suicides per 100,000 people is 10.90. Compare that to Nunavut’s rate of 71.00 suicides per 100,000 people and one can see that this number is quite shocking. The goal for my intervention in Naujaat was to improve the current resident’s mental health and to implement a program that will ensure future residents do not suffer from similar obstacles.
Aarluk is a building that the community of Naujaat could go to at any time to play, practice, and compete at different sports. It is built to accommodate all sports that are part of the biennial Arctic Winter Games (AWG), as well as all ancillary tasks associated with hosting the games. Having a dedicated sport centre in Naujaat will entice the residents to participate in sport and become passionate about it. All other communities that participate in the AWG would come to know Naujaat as the leader in Arctic sports, giving the residents of Naujaat something to take pride in abe passionate about.
“To a large extent, traditional healing draws its efficiency from its rootedness in a local community with a shared social life.”
The Inuit’s connection with the land is an essential element to their spiritual thinking that has been lost over the last number of decades. I proposed a landscaped path surrounding Naujaat that would provide opportunities to recconnect with the land. This path would have multiple different nodes that would allow the Inuit to reconnect with elements from nature and the land. The main node along this path is the sport centre.
The main sports space in the building has a large, floor to ceiling window overlooking Naujaat and the surrounding land. It would be able to open and retract, becoming a venue for outdoor sports such as snowshoeing and skiing.
