In a crowded conference room, an architect and the project director glanced nervously at each other as they sat across the table from a diverse collective of Alaska Native students, university faculty, tribal elders, and project stakeholders. After several weeks of conflict-laden stakeholder meetings on the design inspiration for the new Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program (ANSEP) Facility and several rejected design mockups, the duo was about to play a wild card. They could feel the thick tension in the room. They were at the end of the project's design budget, pressed by the schedule and desperately needed to bring the stakeholders to resolution. Margaret, the project director, took a deep breath, walked to the front of the room and began to softly tell a story grounded in Alaska Native history.

Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program ANSEP was created to promote the hiring of indigenous Alaskans in the fields of science and engineering by increasing the number of individuals on a career path to leadership within these fields. ANSEP students are teamed to form an academic community. Supporting this shared experience, many live together on campus, are co-enrolled in classes and work in organized study groups. The ANSEP community wanted an architecturally distinctive building that reflected their unique mission and culture. Two critical success factors for the design were established: First, the building design should foster a sense of pride, community and identity. Second, it should outwardly express a connection to the Alaskan Native community through its form.

Since cultural sensitivity was of key importance, RIM First People, an Alaska Native-owned company specializing in cultural design projects, was selected to design the 12,250 SF educational facility on the University of Alaska Anchorage campus. RIM Architects, a local Anchorage architectural firm and sister company of RIM First People, was the architectural consultant.

A Collaborative Design Approach
Margaret Nelson, an Alaska Native businesswoman, was the ANSEP project director for RIM First People. Aaron Joseph, a RIM Architects principal, led the architectural team. As the blending of the cultural understanding with the architecture was imperative to the success of the project, the two formed a close partnership.

To better utilize the resources of the ANSEP community for this project, a Design Advisory Committee (DAC) including ANSEP students, University staff/faculty and Alaska Native tribal community leaders was formed. Over a five-month concept design phase period, the DAC met several times to establish the goals and expectations for the facility, review the design team's progress and provide on-going input and guidance.

The Downfall of Pre-determined Solutions
During the initial DAC meetings, it became apparent that members of the Committee had pre-determined ideas about the building's form. The ANSEP students and faculty felt the new facility should replicate a wooden "longhouse", a Tlingit and Haida community dwelling specific to that Alaska Native Tribe in Southeast Alaska. Prior to selecting the architectural firm, they had made several public presentations on this concept idea to various funding sources and the student community.

At the onset, the RIM First People and RIM Architects design team was pleased that the DAC had provided the initial inspiration for concept designs. However, in subsequent design meetings, it soon became clear the pre-conceived longhouse form should be reconsidered for several reasons. First, from a purely architectural standpoint, the size of the facility and the constraints of the site did not lend itself to the longhouse form. Typically, a longhouse dwelling is a one-story rectangular building sided in rough cut lumber. Dimensions are usually 20 feet wide and can be anywhere from 40 to 200 feet long. Traditionally, the idea behind the longhouse form is to house a family. As the family grows over time, the structure grows horizontally to accommodate them. The program requirements of the ANSEP facility simply did not lend itself to the scale of the longhouse typology, and it was clear that to alter the building to meet the program requirements would result in a building form that no longer resembled a longhouse.

In addition to the scale issues of the longhouse form, there were significant cultural issues. The site for the facility was located in Southcentral Alaska on Athabascan land. The Alaska Native tribal community leaders serving on the DAC felt very strongly that putting a Tlingit cultural building type on Athabascan land was disrespectful and inappropriate. Furthermore, the elders felt the form of the building should represent all five Native Alaskan cultures since the facility would serve students from each of those cultures. The students on the DAC acknowledged the input of the elders. However, they countered that their generation did not care as much about the specific regional culture as long as it was distinctly Native in its appearance. Since they were so publicly invested in the original concept, the normally shy ANSEP students were fairly firm in their wish to have the building represent the Alaska Native culture as a longhouse.

A Committee Divided
It soon became clear to the design team that the DAC was dividing into two distinct factions; the ANSEP students and the Native Community leaders. Because the facility was also being funded by private donors, the university made it clear that all interests needed to be taken into account so both the users and the Native community could take ownership in the resulting design.

The dilemma was further complicated by the nuances of communications with the DAC, who were primarily Alaskan Native. The RIM team felt that if they rejected the DAC's longhouse idea they would lose momentum, the committee's respect and alienate the members who were so invested in the original concept. This was perhaps one of the most significant issues faced by the design team. They decided that in order to move the project forward, they must look into other design inspiration concepts and hope one could be developed that mutually satisfied all the stakeholders.

The RIM team began looking at other traditional Native building typologies that might be more representative of all Alaska Native Cultures. However, with each different building typology the team investigated, there were conflicting issues with the scale or the site. Furthermore, each new approach that was presented was rejected by the students on the DAC, simply because the new design solution was not a longhouse.

Abstract Thinking Leads to Solution
The major turning point in the project came when the RIM team decided to meet separately with a select group of elder committee members in order to solicit their advice. That meeting led to the project's breakthrough. Rather than focusing on a building typology that reflects a specific building form, it was decided to focus on an object that was relevant to all Alaska Native cultures and could more easily be applied to the scale of the facility's program. The chosen object was a native water vessel; a canoe.

The canoe is a recognizable symbol that has historically been used by all five of the major Alaska Native cultures. It is traditionally an object built by a group of people as a community project. It represents a journey that will sustain a community by providing them transportation and access to life sustaining practices. The canoe not only represented ANSEP's mission of community building and shared experiences, it was an engineered vessel that represented the journey of the science and mathematics-minded students.

A Break in Silence
The RIM team quickly completed concept designs for the facility that abstracted the canoe form and created a visual slide show presentation to help describe the concept to the DAC. On December 2, 2004, Margaret, Aaron and the RIM team anxiously entered the crowded conference room knowing that committee approval of this highly abstract design concept was critical to keeping to the project's budget and schedule. A covered model was gently placed in the center of the table. Margaret set the stage by elegantly describing the "ANSEP journey" of the educational program's history to the group. She spoke of the history of the canoe and its connection to all Alaska Native cultures. Aaron then began describing the elements of the unique architectural composition that responded to her story. He carefully leaned across the table and lifted the model cover to unveil the vision for the new ANSEP building. The room was noticeably and uncomfortably silent as each person studied the new form. Slowly, one by one, the participants began to look at the design as a cultural and scientific expression rather than simply an expression of a Native dwelling. Approval of the design was unanimous.

Together, with the help of the elder Committee members, the RIM team was able to raise new regard and vision with the ANSEP students. Their identity was not grounded in the fact that they were Alaskan Natives, but more that they were Alaska Native engineers.

Lessons Learned
There are two significant lessons to be learned from this process. First is the difficulty of overcoming preconceived design ideas. Looking back, it would have been beneficial to have established a process early on in the project to acknowledge and evaluate ideas without developing a specific solution. Great buildings come from great ideas which need to be distilled prior to starting the design process. These ideas should be utilized to measure the response of any design to the original intent. Secondly, once the conceptual ideas are agreed upon, the stakeholders should participate at strategic milestone discussions to participate and evaluate the designs throughout the design process. Furthermore, it would be beneficial to all if, after the facility is occupied, the DAC evaluated the final performance of the entire project.