Lambton College’s Indigenous Outdoor Gathering Space offers students a place to connect with culture on campus. The pavilion can host ceremonies, cultural teachings, storytelling, sweat lodges, and pow wows. The design is set within a natural site, allowing students, faculty, and visitors to connect with Mother Earth.

The form is inspired by the local regional precedent, the wigwam structure, and comes complete with built-in seating and a central fire inside. The site chosen is an optimum area on campus, nestled in the forest, allowing for increased biophilic connections, to which are accentuated by the integration of natural materials and references to local flowers.

Through engagement with the local community and Lambton College staff, a number of cultural associations were brought forward including: seven grandfather teachings, clan system, medicine wheel, and four directions, and a connection to the sky.