ARCHITECT P3Architecture Partnership
In a marginalized Regina neighbourhood known as North Central, the contemporary mâmawêyatitân centre stands out amid the humble vinyl-sided and eroded clapboard houses. Mâmawêyatitân (roughly pronounced mama-WAH-yah-tin-tin) is a Cree word meaning ?let?s all be together.? In this case, the moniker is quite literal: the building is a conflation of high school, daycare, community centre, library and satellite police station. It?s a weave of wildly variegated, potentially conflict-generating programs within a single complex?which is why its strategic design is so crucial to its success.
The mâmâmeyatitân centre is a bright, contemporary presence in a marginalized community in Regina. Photo by Patricia Holdsworth Designed by Regina-based P3Architecture Partnership (P3A) and funded jointly by the City of Regina and Province of Saskatchewan, the mâmawêyatitân centre was completed in 2017 after a long process of negotiation and consensus building. First, the architects and other stakeholders had to establish trust and buy-in from community members, largely Indigenous and lower-income, who had a right to be skeptical. Aside from belonging to demographic groups that have been systematically marginalized, they had endured vague (and then broken) promises about the proposed centre since the idea was first discussed in 2001. By the time design development finally got underway, the program faced serious provincial funding cuts and had los...