Swan Lake Water Walk
The Swan Lake Water walk project was done through environmental design
in the winter of 2018. I want to share some of the written content of this project as well as the graphics as I feel it has particular relevance and overlap with the mission of Narratives. My goal was to hear many voices to begin my research and let that lead my project.
STORIES
“Stories matter. Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign, but stories can also be used
to empower and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of people, but stories can also repair the dignity of people...
When we reject the single story, when we realize there was never a single story about any place,
we regain a kind of paradise.”
- Chimamanda Adichie, Novelist
Speaking to people and listening to stories imbued my research process with meaning and set the stage for developing a direction for design. The list of voices that informed my project is long. I had the privilege of learning from: James Beddome, the leader of the Green Party, Diane Maytwayashing, First Nations wise woman, Lionel Meeches of Swan Lake Reserve, and so many more. Other voices came from written documents and online research. As I listened and learned, a sense of my design came into being.
Through my research I gathered themes of compassion for our landscape, the needs for keeping the wetlands, for community, a need to connect in public space. The words of others echoed in my mind, as I moved forward into the territory of bringing form to language, as many of the conversations could be translated spatially.
WATER WALK: SWAN LAKE
The title of my project comes from an activity initiated by First Nations woman Josephine Mandemin, who lead extensive “water walks” in which water was carried great distances in a copper pot, in order to draw attention to the various destructions of our water system. I consider my project to have been a kind of water walk, beginning with a research trip into the landscape of South Western Manitoba. Eventually focusing on Swan Lake, connecting to the water and sharing about the impacts people have on that water.
Throughout the project I grappled with the concept of reconciliation with the land and with the people who are her stewards. My design became a way of creating lines and circles and paths on which people could connect, and in which attention could be drawn to water health and reconciliation.
This project has taken me through an amazing synchronous water walk. My design process made it clear to me that the Reconciliation of Land is the Reconciliation of People, because if we are caring for the land, we are coming together, despite all differences.
DESIGN:
The goal in the design is to create space for the Swan Lake Reservation community to gently enhance the opportunity to commune with the outdoors, to support connection with surrounding communities and showcase the changing conditions of Swan Lake, and the connected lakes of the Pembina Valley. Along with the coming ecological changes that will be taking place due to agreements between communities to enhance the lake ecologically.
To bring in light touches that honour compassion for the land, with very few structures to honour the land itself. The design includes pathways, boardwalks, lookout spots and fishing piers to draw movement along the lake and support fishing tourism, and to highlight the beautiful rolling hills of the Pembina Valley.
1. PATHWAYS
The dotted lines designate the pathways along the lake. The inner pathway is the Lakeside View path which closely follows the shoreline. The outer pathway follows edges of the terrain, and is geared toward those that would be interested in recreation.
Both paths intertwine so as to allow for loops of movement and time that support a variety of traveller needs.
The quote on “Twisted Narratives,” aided specifically in thinking about circulation around Swan Lake, to the goal of the design which is to create an experience of unity.
2. BOARDWALKS AND FISHING PIERS
The piers are placed in accordance with points in the landscape in which there is beach and the topography gradually lowers unlike some areas that have sharper drops.
There are floating boardwalks on either end of the lake to enable individuals to meander through the wetlands. The boardwalks
also have circular rest stop platforms for observing wildlife and picnicking.
The depth of the lake is 2.2 M at it’s deepest and may be raised to about 3.2-4 metres deep to enable better conditions for fishing on the lake. Both the pathway and the boardwalks are designed to accomodate
to the changes that are anticipated in the coming years through use of height and the lakeside pathway distance from the current water level which is 10 metres away from the lake.
3. STORYTELLER HILL
The topography of this area is built up to create a space of visibility, bringing people closer to the sky, with an overview of Swan Lake and the Pembina Valley. This is a resting point and a space for sharing, conversation, and stillness. At the peak point of the hill is a lookout structure that carries you higher to view the lake. It has four platforms to honour the four directions. The structure is made of copper to signify the copper water pails used to carry water on the Water Walk. Copper has a spiritual significance as a precious metal container used for carrying water, one of the four elements necessary for all life. In the clan system of the original clan mothers, the 6th clan has the colour red, representing the sixth moon cycle, and “The Storyteller,” of the clan system. Hence why the hill is the point for storytelling, story listening. This woman is also the keeper of humor and through this, the hope is that this space is both for play and reflection.
"Politics demands dialogue, conversation. It’s the Greek ideal of the Agora, an open space where we discuss and recognize the needs of others. Key to this, [Hannah Arendt] believed, was storytelling...”Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it. It brings about reconcilliation of things as they really are.”
- Hannah Arendt, Political Scientist