Aerial photo of Gathering Circle (June 2025, courtesy of PUBLIC WORK). NDG group photo by Sean Liliani and photos of planting at Gathering Circle by Prof. Liat Margolis and PUBLIC WORK. 

A new building dedicated to gathering, ceremony and Indigenous-centred learning has opened at U of T Scarborough, creating a visible expression of the university’s ongoing commitment to reconciliation.

The 10,700-square-foot building brings together academic and social spaces for Indigenous students, offices for Elders and Indigenous staff, areas for Indigenous-centred research and flexible spaces for exhibitions, gatherings and ceremonies.  

Indigenous House was designed by Alfred Waugh of Formline Architecture + Urbanism in association with LGA Architectural Partners and PUBLIC WORK. Waugh, a member of the Fond du Lac Denesuline Nation of Saskatchewan, says the building’s curved form draws inspiration from a wigwam and longhouse. Architect and alumnus Drew Adams (MArch 2011) was the project architect with LGA and is also quoted in a story in the Globe and Mail.  

The Gathering Circle, located next to Indigenous House, was designed by PUBLIC WORK through a new collaborative planting design model developed with Nikibii Dawadinna Giigwag (NDG). The Gathering Circle is centred around a sacred fire and open to the sky, framed by native oak and salvaged log seating with view toward Highland Creek. It provides a welcoming place where Indigenous students, staff, faculty and community members can gather for ceremony, learning, reflection and fostering engagement with Indigenous knowledge and enduring connections to the land. Landscape architect and alumna Asuka Kono (MLA 2017) was the project lead with PUBLIC WORK.

NDG is a U of T-based summer employment program that connects Indigenous youth with land-based traditions and pathways into architecture design and ecological restoration. It was co-founded by Professor Liat Margolis with Elder Whabagoon in 2018.  

For Gathering Circle, NDG youth and partners planted 400 plants among the repurposed logs. These include over 20 species that are typically found in Southern Ontario's black oak savannahs. Wild lupine, butterfly weed, spotted bee balm, rattlesnake master, rough blazing star and other beautiful plants were selected for their medicinal gifts, their specialist relations with insects and their synergies as companion plants. These plants compose the ground layer of the multi-layered food forest NDG researched and co-designed with PUBLIC WORK for two years. 

Read more

U of T Scarborough News: Indigenous House opens at U of T Scarborough creating a new space for gathering, learning and reconciliation 

The Globe and Mail (paywall): The new Indigenous House at U of T Scarborough accomplishes a rare 21st-century feat by architecture critic and Daniels sessional lecturer Alex Bozikovic

With files from NDG, The Globe and Mail and Don Campbell Senior Writer and Editor, U of T Scarborough News