New design of a 13,000sf STEM building for the College of the Muscogee Nation. The CMN leadership requested a balance between traditional academic architecture and respect for Muscogee Culture.
The design team developed the building’s relationship to the site featuring solar alignments that allow for a skylit oculus to track the suns path along terrazzo bands across the floor celebrating the equinox and solstices. The sun follows multiple paths across the floor depending on the time of the year. The common area welcomes students and guests to the facility with a check-in and pre-function reception area. Comfortable seating will offer spontaneous discussion/interaction between the faculty and students. Symbology is woven throughout the building including references to directions, colors and their meanings, The number 4 and its multiples are found throughout the spaces and is expressed in the Common Area by 4 wood columns. The college’s guiding principles of wisdom, respect, integrity, humility and responsibility are expressed in the Common Area in the native Muscogee language, and on the exterior of the east wall. The english analogs are letters mounted horizontally that reveal their translation as the sun shines through them.
