UMATILLA ELDER HOUSING AND DAY CENTER

An intense charrette programming session with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation elders and our design team created a plan for a housing care model culturally responsive to their elder housing and day center needs.  Our role was to facilitate a conversation, to listen, to discuss. Together, we explored opportunities and arrived at a solution specific to the culture and the needs of the Umatilla – a solution that would not have been possible without this process – a solution to allow the Umatilla Elders to age in an environment directly tied to their history, culture, and values. Based on their historic July Grounds, the project includes an Elder Center for teaching and passing on tribal culture to the tribe’s youth.   At the conclusion of the charrettes, the input and cooperative efforts of many was translated by our design team into an architectural scheme – in 3 ½ days.