Project Statement
The Pte Oyate Academy re-conceptualizes Native
American traditions and incorporates into the daily
experience of the site. The planning of the academy,
from the program siting strategy to the planting, creates
an experience which shapes and re-shapes the student’s
perception of themselves and their connection to the
world.
Project Narrative
The Oceti Sakowin inhabit the Black Hills of
western South Dakota in and around the seven reservations
which are all that remain of the original 60 million
acre Great Sioux Reservation. The Academy is to be located
adjacent to the Black Hills, a sacred centre of the
world to the Sioux tribes and an area of great bio-diversity
and unique geomorphology. The 480 ha site, is uniquely
characterized by two ephemeral stream corridors, grassland
valleys and steep slopes which peak to configure a family
of five forested hills.
The extreme physical conditions of environment
pose a design challenge for a campus and thus have been
thoroughly considered and are deliberately incorporated
into the academic experience. Our design takes advantage
of aspect, orientation to Inyan Kara (a sacred mountain
to the Lakota Indians), traveling time/distance in the
campus, seasonality and daylight conditions, and visual
connections between programs. In addition, the design
preserves existing stream corridors and riparian vegetation,
incorporates the planting of indigenous and culturally
significant flora, and identifies spaces for a range
of sacred ceremonies.
The majority of native children attending
the college preparatory boarding school will be from
the seven surrounding reservations. The program is designed
for a live-in population of 300 students and 50 staff
with guest accommodations. Initial enrollment is proposed
for 150 students, spread equally between male and female
(grades 8-12). Classroom facilities for Grades 8 and
9 are segregated by gender, while grades 10-12 are coeducational.
The potential for future expansion is incorporated for
a projected population of 450 students. Our phasing
explores horizontal and vertical nestling strategies,
boundaries between landscape and architecture, and organization
of the academy.
For an academy that is expected to grow
by 300% in a short period of time, it made sense to
create a ‘core’ form which things expand
upon. Our core consists of the Library, Auditorium,
Dining Hall and Administration Center is located on
a south-facing slope at the junction of two uniquely
grasslands. The students ‘migrate’ between
the dorms, classrooms, and the core throughout the course
of the day. Daylight conditions are recognized as an
element with the power to transform one’s perception
of space, time, and connection to the land. As the student
walks through the landscape they would perceive different
aspects of it at different times with varying degrees
of lucidity. The changing landscape is perceived in
relation to one’s self identity.
Ceremonies and rituals celebrate and symbolize
the progression of the individual through a life period.
These symbolic moments add clarity to the gradual and
imperceptible process of change which occurs within
an individual. In addition, these symbolic moments can
become a catalyst for change. As a primary objective
of the school’s daily educational program is the
interweaving of ceremonial and educational programs
in its site planning and design. It is the expressed
intention of the Oceti Sakowin to use this project as
an effort to generate a 21st century expression of authentic
tribal values manifest in all aspects of the campus,
both as an expression of their cultural heritage and
as a model upon which other indigenous peoples can build.
The ceremonial spaces have been sited in consideration
of a number of principles, engaging the temporal and
seasonal qualities of the site, the relationship to
earth, sky and the four directions which speaks to the
Lakota Mandala, the relationship to water, solar and
visual aspect, journey and proximity. The frequency
of use will dictate the necessity for the location of
particular ceremonial spaces and sites have been envisioned
in relation to frequency of use, being placed within
a framework of proximity based upon daily and weekly,
monthly and seasonally or yearly use, related to exposure
and distance to the core of the campus.
To establish the needs of these spaces,
four types of ceremonies have been considered. The first
ceremony is the “Hunksapi”, or the Initiation
Ceremony, which is held for both boys and girls and
is often times now combined with the ceremony known
as “Making A Relative”. The second is the
“Powwow”, the third is the Sweat Lodge and
the fourth are Isolated Prayer Locations, which are
specifically unprogrammed spaces. The Ritual Food and
Powwow Ring is a ceremonial complex for the preparation
of ritual foods such as Buffalo and ‘wasna’,
a mixture of dried meat and chokecherry, a location
for Powwow and other large outdoor gatherings, such
as the Graduation Ceremony, and accommodations for visiting
Elders, academics and family members. An enclosed pasture
for Buffalo will be provided allowing for children to
learn the traditional way to make a kill in a natural
setting. The design for the Hunksapi creates a place,
which is both accommodating of active and passive participation
in ceremony and prayer, however allows for a non-prescriptive
design agenda. Journey, through the landscape, becomes
a highly charged concept, as does Transition and Engagement
for this ceremonial space dedicated to performance of
traditional Initiation and Making A Relative Ceremonies.
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