People thrive in this space’: Ottawa’s Wabano Centre celebrates 25 years of Indigenous health care – Ottawa Citizen
Nov 27, 2023
“When people come in, they can hear the drums and smell the medicine.”
Allison Fisher was sometimes accused of building a “Taj Mahal” when work was underway on the undulating limestone and glass building that is home to the Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health in Vanier.
Fisher, who is Wabano’s executive director, was undeterred.
“I said, ‘I am building a place of beauty. We are beautiful, we deserve beauty. All people deserve beauty.’” She would often look around Ottawa and wonder why more people didn’t strive for beauty and inspiration in their designs.
“If there was a big earthquake, what building would you feel sad about losing?”
Ten years after it opened its doors on Montreal Road, the building designed by architect Douglas Cardinal and his son, Brett, embodies Fisher’s vision of a health centre: a cultural hub, a place big enough to “build a big canoe and take it out,” a beacon for discussions about reconciliation and, above all, a place of unapologetic beauty.
One of the building’s most moving features is a dome above a tiled design in the shape of a traditional star blanket. Fisher remembered the magical effect of design on sound in some of the cathedrals she had seen in Europe and wanted that same effect built into the Wabano Centre. It was achieved with a dome above the centre of the star.
