TAMIL COMMUNITY CENTER AKAFLDWRL x Angela Silver HEAVY ABUNDANCE RADICAL OBLIGATION 2021-
team: Andrew King, Angela Silver, Jasper Silver-King location: Toronto
THE TAMIL COMMUNITY CENTER:
will be a powerful symbol of the Tamil people throughout Canada and beyond;
will create a sense of belonging for newcomers and existing community members, establishing a collective place of memory;
will be a place of inclusion – for Tamil, Indigenous, and many other groups in Scarborough and the adjacent communities within the GTA, southern Ontario and beyond;
will be an accomplishment resulting from the work of many over a significant number of years; the culmination of conversations, stories, and knowledge that will finally be given new form in the Tamil Community;
will hold a position on powerful land adjacent to the Rouge National Park. The experience of the building cannot be separated from its position in the landscape.
will be an important center of culture and community for Tamil, but should also be recognized as a gift for the people of Toronto.
goes well beyond its name or building type – It will be a symbol of respect for tradition and culture that embodies perseverance in the face of immense adversity. This project will be a significant and positive endeavour for everyone involved, Tamil and Torontonian, community member and visitor.
siting is not happenstance. Its site in Scarborough is meaningful dueto the critical mass of Tamil people that have made the area home since their arrival in Canada. To parallel this migration and resettlement, the building will develop in the spirit of Tamil geographic origins, yet also feel equally grounded in this specific location
FIVE IDEAS / FIVE DRIVERS
THE VESSEL 5 LANDSCAPES LANGUAGE INNER/OUTER COMMUNITY
The pre-design study was inspired by Tamil culture and history. These five ideas are important in framing the project’s success as a place of enjoyment and meaning for these communities. These ideas frame the pre-design concepts as the TCC moves forward, as they will be the primary qualities of the inherently trans-disciplinary process, creating a seamless design story between the landscape, the building form and the interior experiences.
The architecture of the TAMIL COMMUNITY CENTRE is generated through the intersection of these five ideas as they emerge as five DESIGN drivers that underlie the conceptual exploration of the design, that to some degree are fully engaging a project of cultural inclusion and environmental resilience. When composed together, these design drivers create a more detailed framework that goes beyond programmatic requirements and sets out an armature that is embedded in place, and frames community experience. The user experience of the projected is defined by the landscapes of Uma Sankar Seka. For the TCC these are more specific, intertwined experience that converge landscape and architecture. They are metaphors, but also directly linked to the project’s physical moments, interlinked experiences and specific programmatic or formal elements. These elements all somehow converge at the central courtyard, the primary place, within the building.