by Dan Snook
Associate Principal
Working with tribal organizations presents intriguing design opportunities. The River Tower Hotel at Northern Quest Hotel & Casino outside of Spokane offers an example of building a working relationship with tribes, in which maintaining a balance of collaboration, sensitivity to complex histories, and expectations of an aspirational client leads to extraordinary results.
The underlying goal of River Tower was to create a structure embodying heritage and contemporary culture to tangibly connect people with tribal hosts.
At the onset of the design process, the project team met with leaders of the Kalispel Tribe to listen and learn about tribal history, meaningful touchpoints and themes to be incorporated into the hospitality experience. These included the values, history, language and traditions that contribute to their culture. Every design decision supports guest experience and connections to tribal culture and place. The hotel’s undulating form of raised metal panels evokes a weir structure, a traditional fishing system of woven fencing extending across a river to snare salmon.
The distinctive River Tower Hotel celebrates hospitality, pride of heritage and is a contributing element of Tribal growth and regional impact supporting a promising future. Grounded in cultural roots, it expresses the Tribe’s modern way of life and projects a vision for ongoing success.
Check out the article here — Designing with Cultural Integrity.