Time and structure; expectation and construction; landscape and architecture; history and myth. The foundation is a joint which carries extraordinary potential to speak of the cultures that built it. This text tells stories about three cultures whose identities are interwoven with their foundation-building. Tracing a path among the distinct ways in which they found, it values the foundation as a marker between anticipating and making in the architectural process; an ambiguous joint between land and building; an invisible structure of the surfaces we touch; and an indicator of an attitude towards time. The narrative begins in Rome and concludes in the James Bay Lowlands of Northern Canada. Both indigenous cultures represent extremes in notions of ???foundation???: Rome???s tufa block substructures have borne buildings stratified over millennia; while the subarctic Omushkego Cree have traditionally had no permanent foundations, their building traces perceived in subtle differences of soil composition. A third base in the Netherlands is both a fulcrum and foil, as the nation???s diverse local and large-scale strategies negotiate heavy and light building traditions, and offer another distinct set of considerations in preparing ground. The aim of this book is two-fold. Firstly, it is to restore the foundation to the purview of the architect. Groundwork is more than a technical puzzle: it is also a deeply imaginative act. Secondly, this text seeks to understand why cultures found the way they do, and to give consideration to the unique inheritances offered by diverse foundation-building traditions.

This research endeavour with Moose Cree First Nation provides insights into how emerging Indigenous methodologies are fundamentally grounded in an Indigenous epistemology that, for the purpose of this project, was found to be integral to youth and community wellbeing. More specifically, this project highlights an Indigenous perspective of health and wellbeing, milo pimatisiwin, that yields individual, collective and relational strengths with its focus on reconnecting youth to the land. This thesis offers methodological contributions in an effort to discuss research with Indigenous peoples beyond the participatory paradigm; it also develops on coming to know through the “visiting way” and elaborates further on Indigenous methods such as learning by doing concepts and conversational method. Discussing approaches of coloniality and settler-colonialism highlighted territoriality and land dispute issues, but most importantly here, these approaches established how the land is at the very core of the Omushkego people’s epistemology. Two land-based initiatives with Moose Cree First Nation were examined in this study. The initiatives provide insights into Indigenous resurgence as they relate to the land, to spirit, and to life stage teachings. The community experiences suggest how vital it is to center Indigenous knowledge in research and land-based initiatives for youth wellbeing as they contribute to developing, integrating and applying Indigenous methodologies, given this process is inter-related to fostering milo pimatisiwin. The Omushkegowuk people’s conceptions of health and wellbeing challenges colonial ideas and actions, and just as important, it allows for the production of knowledge within the context of Indigenous methods, experiences and wisdom.