YEV: Contextualizing Infrastructure in a Remote Setting 

Through the design of a regional airport, YEV explores how architecture responds to the environment and local culture, suggesting a new vernacular for infrastructural urbanization in remote natural contexts. Situated at the mouth of the Mackenzie River Delta, directly on the tree-line, Inuvik is the last stop along the Dempster Highway. As such, the Mike Zubko Inuvik Airport (YEV) operates as a gateway to the North, connecting many arctic fly-in communities to the rest of Canada. Due to permafrost, services and infrastructure must be constructed above ground, creating a visceral understanding of these industrial operations within the landscape. The Inuvik airport aims to use the local climate as a temporal resource, referencing traditional First-Nations technique while highlighting airport operations. The airport becomes a reflection of the natural and industrial processes happening around it, establishing itself firmly within its specific context.