The new headquarters building for the Oklahoma-based Choctaw Nation was designed by New Fire Native Design Group. Photo: Simon Hurst, image courtesy New Fire Native.

As architects, we are charged with creating spaces that not only meet our clients' functional needs but also present an aesthetic that embodies who the client is and what matters to them. When determining that aesthetic, a client's culture often becomes a key consideration. And while it may be tempting these days to rely on Google searches about the history of a certain heritage to save time, the most successful designers that incorporate culture respectfully and artfully take the time to listen and learn directly from their clients as they begin each new project.

As a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and president and founder of New Fire Native, my experience working closely with tribal clients has underscored to me that values, history, societal roles, beliefs, language, and traditions all play into culture. There is a complexity in part because culture is not something you can succinctly explain. It’s deeply embedded as we grow up. It’s all those things around us that affect how we see the world. While my personal and professional experience is closely tied to sovereign tribes of North America, the overarching lessons I have learned are applicable when working with any client that wishes to enrich their building and design projects by incorporating and honoring elements of their unique culture.

Culture is not just iconography.

Incorporating culture in design is not just picking out a symbol; that is a small portion of culture.

When working with a client whose culture is central to the project, it is critical that architects and interior designers work to understand and carefully consider how to incorporate many cultural aspects into their work and understand the deeper meaning behind shapes, symbols, and words.

For a period of American history beginning in the 1700s and extending into the early 1900s, removing culture from indigenous tribes was actual federal policy.

For a period of American history beginning in the 1700s and extending into the early 1900s, removing culture from indigenous tribes was actual federal policy. From the illegality of traditional religious ceremonies to requiring Native American children to attend boarding schools where they were forced to assimilate and abandon their identities, languages, and beliefs, tribes had to take their culture underground or see it taken away. The fact that tribes had to fight so hard to hang on to who they are understandably ties them strongly to their unique cultures. The same can be said for many other historically enslaved and oppressed people who have endured cultural erasure.

Immersion inspires meaningful design.

To appropriately incorporate a client’s culture into a project, many designers and architects first spend time researching to find all the information they can about the client. While this can be helpful background, it is important to remember that much of the information available is presented through the lens of someone who is not a part of that culture. Prioritizing materials developed by sources within the culture when possible is good. Hosting a visioning session with the client leadership and asking which aspects of culture ought to be expressed in the building’s design is even better. But from my experience — aside from growing up in a culture — immersion is the ideal way to truly gain an understanding of your client’s history, values, and beliefs and how those have been expressed over time through symbols, music, art, and language. It is also critical to remember how their cultural roots have shaped their modern way of life and their goals and vision of the future for their community.

The most successful designers that incorporate culture respectfully and artfully take the time to listen and learn directly from their clients as they begin each new project.

In the preliminary stages of working on the design for the Choctaw Nation’s headquarters building which opened in June 2018, the tribe went above and beyond to immerse the architectural design team in Choctaw history, art, clothing, and meaningful symbolism, hosting a day-long program for the firm. This experience was invaluable and what we learned that day was reflected throughout the project.

Choctaw Headquarters design statement: Our design objective is to celebrate and reflect on the culture and values of the Choctaw Nation by telling the story of the past, present, and future through the use of symbolism, geometries, and nature.

When developing the designs, we kept coming back to the symbols, patterns, and colors we learned about during the cultural immersion day and how they held meaning for the Choctaw people. They tied into our design as we were selecting finishes, designing floor patterns, selecting the wall coverings.

The Choctaw tribe’s veneration of nature led the team to develop five color schemes — Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, and Sun. Every level of the headquarters building has a different scheme, and the designers selected different patterns and textures to correspond with each. In some cases, we used the symbols in more bold and obvious expressions, and in other instances, the shapes were utilized in a more understated way. For example, on the ceiling of the Sun level, the seal of the Choctaw Nation is backlit in the center with wood panels radiating outward creating a sun pattern.

The diamond symbolizes the diamondback snake, which is held in high esteem for Choctaws because if it is respected the snake will behave peacefully, but when threatened, it will strike.

Walking through the completed building, I am still proud of the many subtle incorporations of the diamond shape throughout the design. The diamond symbolizes the diamondback snake, which is held in high esteem for Choctaws because if it is respected the snake will behave peacefully, but when threatened, it will strike.

Drawing from the design statement, we wanted to incorporate the diamond in ways that helped tell the story of the past, present, and future of the tribe. With this in mind, we took inspiration from the very traditional row of diamonds border you see on Choctaw dresses and incorporated it on the front of the building. To represent the future, we used a contemporary diamond pattern in the design of the water wall.

Some cultural themes represented in elements of the Choctaw headquarters’ design carry multiple layers of meaning for the tribe, like the theme of family. From far back in the tribe’s history, family is at the center of societal traditions — a Choctaw motto is “Faith, Family, Culture.” Even today, people with Choctaw heritage travel to Durant, Oklahoma to meet with genealogy experts and discover or understand more about their familial roots. In the headquarters design, the family theme is incorporated in myriad ways, from depictions of a tree representing family in the café design to more nuanced references in fire symbolism throughout the structure. Fire has long signified family for the Choctaw tribe, harkening back to days when family units gathered around a campfire.

Immersion is the ideal way to truly gain an understanding of your client’s history, values, and beliefs and how those have been expressed over time through symbols, music, art, and language.

My team and I use these lessons and this process of immersion in our work today. Even when working with my own tribe on the new Muscogee Creek Nation Courthouse, for example, it is important for my team and for me to hear from leaders within the community about how they experience the culture and their ideas on what elements are most important to share with the outside world.

Listen.

I will never forget the many conversations we had with members of the Choctaw Nation after the completion of their headquarters. They were words of respect, pride, and gratitude for incorporating their culture in a way that was elegant and thoughtful.

While some tribes have intersecting histories and overlapping symbolism, every tribe is different, and for every project, we pride ourselves on our willingness to learn first in order to design projects that are uniquely meaningful to the client’s culture.

My favorite feedback to receive from our clients is simple: “You listened.”

As experts in our field, it is often our instinct to lead with design ideas that we think fit the client’s needs, and in some cases, this tactic works out okay. However, when it comes to working with clients who are asking us to incorporate deeply-rooted cultural aspects into their projects, it is best to first come to the table with an open mind — ready to listen and to learn.