Located next to the Sioux Lookout Meno Ya Win Health Centre, the Jeremiah McKay Kabayshewekamik Hostel offers a warm, welcoming, and secure place for individuals traveling to Sioux Lookout for medical appointments.

The ft3 team travelled to Sioux Lookout First Nation to meet with the Sioux Lookout First Nation Health Authority and Chief. Each participant placed a stone in a collective bowl to symbolize their contribution to the meeting. 

Subsequent meetings followed an Integrated Design Process with 29 surrounding First Nations groups, including Elders who assisted with refining the design concept’s cultural elements. 

The realized hostel features a playful and dynamic façade of locally sourced and milled logs flanking the windows of each wing. These wings converge in the centre to form a timber canopy that frames the boardwalk and entrance underneath.

Behind the canopy is an oversized hand drum. The hand drum unveils itself inside, across the ceiling of the hostel’s open-concept lobby, shifting into a medicine wheel. Black, white, red, and yellow span the wheel’s circumference, invoking the four cardinal directions. Meanwhile, 13 columns (representing Grandmother Moon’s 13 Teachings) are visible and support the drum in a circular formation around the lobby’s perimeter. 

The lobby acts as a central space for all activities, including the main reception area, group dining room, lounge area, and prominent children’s play space. A tipi dwelling further underscores this sentiment, welcoming guests and evoking a sense of arrival that feels like belonging, safety, and retreat. 

Finally, each guest wing has a unique animal name (Bear, Wolf, Eagle, and Rabbit) and paw print. Noted at the wing’s entrance, the animal tracks signify wayfinding cues, with each meandering paw print running down the corridor walls, guiding guests safely to their door.