Reclaiming Identities | A Cultural Center for the Tachi Yokut Tribe

The purpose of this thesis project is to answer the question, “How can Contemporary Architecture address the identities of Indigenous people of North America?” Within this thesis project will be a comprehensive Cultural Center design that addresses a specific tribe’s needs in the case of physical needs, mental needs, and most importantly needs of identity. The specific tribe will be the Tachi Yokuts of the San Joaquin Valley, whom used to be the largest tribe in California before colonizer invasion. Since the identity of Indigenous populations in North America have been stripped and forcibly forgotten it is most important to help find it again. The cultural center will use architectural design to create provocative spaces to enrich and bring awareness to the identities of the Tachi Yokut tribe. And will also use the Tachi Yokut’s indigenous building techniques and ideologies to create sustainable designs. To provide for their evolving needs and to be a place for non-indigenous peoples to learn about the culture of the Yokut people, to act as a space of cultural exchange