The radial glulam structure of the Seneca Nation’s Allegany Council Chamber in Salamanca, New York, is patterned after the 13 lunar phases in tribal calendars. Image © Ivcave Photography. Courtesy Two Row Architect
The rising popularity of mass timber products in Canada and the United States has led to a rediscovery of fundamentals among architects. Not least Indigenous architects, for whom engineered wood offers a pathway to recover and advance the building traditions of their ancestors. Because timber is both a natural, renewable resource and a source of forestry jobs, it aligns with Indigenous values of stewardship and community long obscured by the 20th century’s dominant construction practices.
