Native American Museum Concept Design

It's been a few years since I've shown this project. This is a Native American Museum concept design that is based in the Pacific Northwest. The design is very modern, spiritual and attempts to address Native American culture and the Native American life of the past versus the present.

The experience of being inside the museum space is supposed to feel incredibly special, but also separated from the landscape that it is placed within. It is meant to feel like the Native American condition with limited access to the land they once owned and lived on. Now they only have access to slivers and glimpses. These people are for the most part treated as foreigners in their own land, just as the building appears to be foreign and separate from its site. But inside the foreign object is a smooth, large carved out space to allow for the celebration and learning of this culture.

Below are a few simple 3d models showing experimentation with the form and the vertical find.

The design is created by installing large pre-poured concrete panels. These would be connected by thin metal beams for lateral support. There is a dock from the beach to the staircase that brings visitors up inside the egg shaped interior. The shape feels like it has been carved out of the semi-solid piece of concrete almost like a canoe being created out of a hollowed out log. The museum would also be accessible by boat.