Tiny House Infographic project meets Kickstarter goal

I’ve switched focus as of late to cleverly designed urban sardine cans geared toward young professionals who are willing to forgo full kitchens and make do with Murphy beds, but the tiny house movement is going strong as ever.

Case in point: Diminutive dwelling demigod Jay Shafer is now cooking up an entire tiny house village dubbed the Napoleon Complex in Sonoma County, Calif. (AKA Land of the Tiny House People). Zoned as an RV park with about 40 to 70 petite residences and loosely based on the cohousing model, the intent of the community is to “create a contagious model for responsible, affordable, desirable housing.” With a proposed opening date of 2015, I'm thinking that it will be the perfect place for Austin Hay to settle down in after he graduates from college!

And then there’s Ryan Mitchell, a Charlotte, N.C.-based tiny house devotee and editor/founder of "tiny lifestyle" website The Tiny Life. A few weeks back, Mitchell launched a Kickstarter campaign that would enable him to create an infographic that tells the story of tiny houses and the people who decided to live in homes of reduced square footage.

A Kickstarter campaign for an infographic? Yep. After embarking on a survey in which more than 2,300 tiny house people responded in under 48 hours, Mitchell knew that he had to share the massive amount of data he had collected in a visually appealing yet informative manner and, well, talented graphic designers cost money. With that, he launched the Kickstarter campaign with the goal of $1,000 to help pay for a designer and bring the infographic to life.

That said, Mitchell has already met his goal. But with a few days left until the campaign expires, tiny house lovers can still contribute and receive one — or a few — of the perks associated with backing the project: bumper stickers, an early release of the infographic, a 12-by-8-inch print of the campaign’s nifty promotional graphic, and a pre-release of Tiny Life’s upcoming ebook “Cracking the Code.” Big spenders will even receive a one-hour phone chat with a tiny house guru.

Walking or driving along Montreal Road through Vanier during the past year, it has been impossible not to notice the dramatic curving walls rising from the ground at the corner of Bradley Avenue.

Construction on the new $14.2-million Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health is expected to be completed in March. An official opening is set for May 9, though executive-director Allison Fisher promises an open house the last week of March for the neighbourhood.

"I think a building like this always brings possibility, especially in a place like Vanier," says Fisher. "That something as beautiful as this, as important as this, is going up brings possibility to everybody who is engaged and everybody who lives around it."

Designed by Ottawa architect Douglas Cardinal and his son Bret, the new building is clad in a golden, rough-cut stone that contrasts with the polished transparency of blue-green glass flowing across it. The materials evoke cliffs, water and sky.

It's the same Minnesota limestone used in Cardinal's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. In Ottawa, he is best-known for the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau.

Since 1998, Wabano has provided health, social services, counselling and cultural programs for Ottawa's 35,000 people of aboriginal origin. Crowded and busy, it has a waiting list of 200 families, shared offices, and lack of quiet space for activities such as after-school tutoring.

Carlie Chase, Wabano's director of initiatives, observes that there is no direct translation of the word "health" in Ojibway. The closest is "Mino Biimaudziwin" which means living a good life.

The architecture of the building is part of the idea. "If our way of being in the world is creating the good life, if that is how health is defined, then you must create space that reflects that," says Fisher.

"If you think of the one thing we should be creating beautiful it should be the things we go in when we're not well," she says. "When you are at your worst is when you are sick. If you come into a space that is beautiful and you belong in it, then you get better."

The new three-storey structure wraps around Wabano's original two-storey building, combining it into one facility, both functionally and es-thetically, and adding 25,000 square feet. The old building, with 15,000 square feet, has been renovated to meet contemporary building codes. Parking is underground.

"You'll see there are curves everywhere," says Fisher. "This is not a square building." Light streams in through large windows. "It's much brighter."

Conspicuous from the street is a new domed gathering space that can accommodate up to 500 people, bringing inside a larger public. It will be rented for events, conferences and celebrations and used by Wabano for educational purposes. Every Wednesday night there will be opportunities to learn about aboriginal culture, open to all.

"We're very invisible in this city," says Fisher. "One aspect for us was to become visible people with value, and to be proud to show who we are."

Wabano - which means new beginnings in Ojibway - will become Canada's first national centre of excellence for aboriginal health care. It will house a maternal and child wellness centre, expand programs in chronic disease, women's health and mental health, and introduce a social enterprise program to develop job skills. The expansion will enable Wabano to double the number of clients from 10,000 to 20,000 a year.