Bianca Dahlman

Miní waką́ nína niyá wašté ųk’úbįkte no - Very sacred water! Give us good health

Miní waką́ nína niyá wašté ųk’úbįkte no is a Stoney Nakoda phrase meaning Very sacred water! Give us good health. The project investigates the connection between body, land, and spirit, through sexual expression. As the act of bathing is inherently sensual, the architecture of natural and built pools at the Cave and Basin Natural Historic Site in Banff, Alberta is studied. It is harmful to insist that all persons are to practice heteronormativity, monogamy, and wait for marriage asexuality. For those who do not fit neatly into these categories, we must practice self-abandonment and perform false sexualities to be considered valid. This violence that has abused sexual and gender expression is the same violence that has abused the land. Through choreographing spiritual experiences, design at the Cave and Basin site directs attention to the reclamation of body, spirit, and land, and the inherent interconnectedness of all three.

This thesis project investigates four hot springs along the eastern slope of Sulphur Mountain at the Cave and Basin National Historic Site in Banff National Park, Alberta. Indigenous peoples have inhabited this area for over 10,000 years (Town of Banff, nd). The Sulphur Mountain Hot Springs were visited for bathing, medicinal healing, spiritual cleansing, marriages, baptisms, and more (Mason, 2014). The project is inspired by diverse sexualities expressed by Indigenous artists and writers.

The Cave and Basin site also provides critical habitat to the Banff Springs Snail, an endangered species endemic to Banff National Park. Though bathing was once permitted at the site, it is no longer permitted. Very Sacred Water Give Us Good Health works with Natural Swimming Pool design guidelines. Natural Swimming Pools (NSPs) utilize chemical free water filtration methods such as gravel settlement ponds and biological filtration from plants. The hydro-botanic ponds provide additional habitat for the endangered Banff Springs Snail, while the recycled water system protects existing snail habitat in at the springs and outflow streams. In doing so, this thesis project creates opportunities for snail inhabitants and human visitors to share the waters in reciprocity once again.

Key Resources

gh3*(n.d.) Borden Park Natural Swimming Pool. lhttps://www.gh3.ca/work/natural-swimming-pool-02

Grasby S., & Lepitzki, D. A. W. (2002). Physical and chemical properties of the Sulphur Mountain thermal springs, Banff National Park, and implications for endangered snails. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 39(9), 1349–1361. https://doi.org/10.1139/e02-056

HCMA Architecture + Design, (2016). Natural Swimming Pools, The Future of Public Swimming without Chlorine. https://hcma.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Natural-Swimming-Pools-Report_HCMA.pdf

Huard, A., & Pellenad, J. (2020) “Sexual Sovereignty”, Briarpatch. https://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/sexual-sovereignty

Koren, L. (1996) Undesigning the Bath. Berkeley, California: Stone Bridge Press.

MacArthur, A., and, Vincent, C. (2017). Nakoda Vocabulary and Phrases. Regina: First Nations University of Canada.

Mason, C.  (2014). Spirits of the Rockies: Reasserting an Indigenous Presence in Banff National Park. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Norr Architects, (August 28, 2013). Banff, Alberta, Cave & Basin N.H.S. – Renewal, As-Built. Architectural Drawing Set.

Tallbear, K. (2018).” Yes, Your Pleasure! Yes, Self-Love! And Don’t Forget, Settler Sex is a Structure”. Keynote lecture, Second Annual International Solo Polyamory Conference, Seattle, Washington.  https://kimtallbear.substack.com/p/yes-your-pleasure-yes-self-love-and