Program Overview

Program Overview

The Trickster Studio is a university program that focuses on addressing the complex and deeply systemic issues of housing access, particularly for First Nations, Mťtis, and Inuit people moving to Winnipeg. The program is centered around the archetype of the Trickster, a figure present in Indigenous cultures, who reveals hidden truths and challenges perceptions of reality.

Program Objectives

The program aims to imagine mixed-use urban developments that are ecological, dynamic, culturally rooted, and connected to the land. It seeks to create architecture rooted in future-oriented, circular, bio-based principles that challenge current systems.

Program Structure

The studio will be structured around two primary assignments:

• "The Alchemist and the Trickster," which will explore the narrative through experimental drawing and collage, using shapeshifting to reveal hidden truths and construct unpredictability and indeterminacy.
• "The Tale of the Trickster," which will translate insights from the first assignment into architectural inquiries.

Supplemental Activities

To supplement the studio, students will attend two workshops strategically scheduled to align with their progress. These workshops will allow students to experiment and build with biogenic materials and expand their understanding of ecological design practices and circular economies.

Research Areas

The program will focus on the following research areas:

• Indigenous worldviews and their connection to land, water, place, family, kin, animals, cultures, languages, and identities.
• Ecological design practices and circular economies.
• Biogenic materials and their application in architecture.

Program Details

The program is offered in the Winter Term 2025, with the course code EVAR 4010, and is led by Shawn Bailey.