Nature, winter and architecture: a winter community on Manitoulin Island designed to provide benefits to the residents, landscape and island during the winter months

Abstract

This thesis proposes the design of a community that focuses on architecture, and winter living on the landscapes of Manitoulin Island, Ontario. The proposed community aims to provide solutions in direct response to the social and living challenges brought by the colder months, experienced by permanent residents, summer residents, and tourists. In addition to providing benefits to the users, the solutions to these issues also aim to increase winter population and revitalize the Island during winter months. The question of my thesis is, How can the design of a community aid in improving the social and living challenges faced by residents and tourists, and revitalize Manitoulin Island during the winter months? Manitoulin Island’s landscapes are ideal for camping, boating, hiking, hunting, snowmobiling, and other outdoor activities. Although the Island has a very successful tourism industry, it is still subject to issues experienced by residents and tourists during the colder months. Minimal focus is put on winter living, resulting in a drastic decrease in winter population in contrast to the increase seen during the summer. This decrease is due to the closing of local businesses and campgrounds that are not designed for year-round use in Northern Ontario, thus deterring people from visiting during these colder months. The primary programs that drive the proposed community are a network of trails, marina, beach, residential housing, a market centre, and a variety of social spaces and activities. These programs center around connecting with nature, living with the landscape, and creating a strong social environment among residents and visitors. Most importantly, these programs are designed to provide the visitors and residents of the community with activities and opportunities for a healthy lifestyle during the winter months. The design of the community focuses on the individual human scale, middle scale (larger gatherings of people), and the community scale, as well as the environmental scale. Research presents an understanding of how people live with the landscape, ecosystem services, biophilic design, human needs, landscape needs, and how these are met, as well as how both humans and nature can coexist and benefit from each other. In designing the community, attention is focused on how it is placed in the landscape, public and private space, circulation, and how the design of the site influences the use of the community. A community that is able to successfully implement these characteristics is campgrounds. Campgrounds are studied to determine the patterns, physical layouts, social dynamics, demographics, and statistics that make it successful. On Manitoulin Island, campgrounds have a diverse and strong social network while encouraging respect for the environment; elements that this community hopes to achieve. Manitoulin Island would significantly benefit from a residential community nestled within its winter landscape, designed to respectfully interact with the landscape during all seasons; offering residents year-round access and use to a place that provides lifelong social, ecological, and architectural benefits. A desired benefit of this community design proposal is for it to be highly adaptable for locations throughout Northern Ontario and in other cold climates.