traditional houses
For thousands of years before our time to a recent past, permanents occupants of circumpolar territory were mostly nomadic hunter-gatherers’ societies.
The first part of the exhibition presents a few examples of traditional housing built and used by these societies. Result of a long heritage of ingenuity and economy they are coherent with the environment, the lifestyle of their occupants and with the meaning of their presence in the cosmos.
This vernacular architecture is seldom the origin of a environment-friendly emerging architecture.
Prototypes & inovations
The second part of the exhibition shows numerous types of houses built since the mid- twentieth century for the sedentary populations of Nunavik to this day.
These types and prototypes were the results of researches trying to optimize the qualities of the northern habitat. They showed variable degrees of success when put in use. Some can be frequently seen across the circumpolar territory; others are more scarce.
IMAGINED HOUSES
The third part of the exhibition is proposing a new perspective upon the northern habitats and show houses that are the outcome of creative processes .
Most of these projects have been designed and developed by students in various studios of the School of Architecture of Laval University. The upper two have been designed by architecture firms (New arctic building and House of families).
