The Pawnee Tribe and the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums reached out to OSU to design a state of the art cultural center. The Pawnee wanted this center to have a museum, teaching classroom, a space to display their sacred items, and an outdoor gathering space. They wanted this cultural center to be a home for their tribe as well as an educational opportunity for visitors. Currently, the Pawnee has a variety of items in the Smithsonian, but they are unable to get the items back until they have a space to display the items that is up to Smithsonian standards. On this project we worked with the Pawnee Tribe, having many detailed and culturally sensitive conversations. We presented several times and after receiving feedback, went back to the drawing board. We also had to be cautious of their fairly tight budget, giving them everything they need, but not presenting them with anything that they could not make a reality.
