Kōjihge Pavilion
Tū KimeCorten Steel Weathering SteelLuwechon (Iskut), BC, CanadaFabricated by Starmaker WeldingDesigned by Miscellaneous Arts Activities Inc. Commissioned by Tahltan Central Government, 2025, 2026Tū Kime, “Water House,” is the first of two structures within Kōjihge Pavilion, featuring Tūdese, river-water perforated walls reflecting the sacred relationship Tāłtān people have with water.
Kōjihge Pavilion is rooted in the architectural traditions of Tāłtān Kōjihge, campsites, which have long tied Tahltan people to the land. Tahltan people moved camps with the seasons, erecting lean-to structures made of poles, covered with brush for insulation and finished with weather-resistant animal-hide tarps. The pavilion draws from these land-bound structures, translating their form into a permanent public space.
Tū Kime features a double lean-to silhouette constructed from corten steel. The rusted metal references the iron oxide our Tahltan Ancestors used to make red paint. Red is the colour of our mountains, and it makes our blood red too—showing that we are both spiritually and physically connected to the land and our bloodlines, the rivers.
To evoke the movement of waterways through dynamic shifts in light and shadow, we transformed the river motif into a perforated halftone pattern rendered in diverse punch sizes. The perforated walls are designed to support interchangeable content panels, including maps, text, images, and artwork, allowing the structure to hold and share different layers of knowledge over time.
Artworks:
Lifeblood, by Tsēmā Igharas, Mirrored Alucobond, 2025
Loon’s Beak, by Vernon Asp, Powder-Coated Steel, 2025
This Tahltan Central Government Initiative was funded by the Province of British Columbia through the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport, with generous donations of material and artwork production from Parker Johnston Ind. & LKMē Metal Products.