The Museum : Building a Native Place

The Architectural Design Process

Beginning in the early 1990s, NMAI opened dialogues with Native communities and individuals across the hemisphere. These early meetings resulted in the museum's landmark document The Way of the People (1993), which reached beyond the basic requirements of the building to incorporate Native sensibilities throughout the museum building.

A series of themes emerged from the dialogues. One involved the intuitive nature of the building: it needed to be a living museum, neither formal nor quiet, located in close proximity to nature. Another was that the building's design should make specific celestial references, such as an east-facing main entrance and a dome that opens to the sky. Many comments expressed the desire to bring Native stories forward through the representation and interpretation of Indian cultures as living phenomena throughout the hemisphere.

Some basic parameters for the building structure were dictated by the 4.25-acre trapezoidal site, the building restrictions for the National Mall, and an active creek bed flowing below the site. These challenges were addressed initially by the design team of GBQC and Douglas Cardinal, Ltd., which included consultants Douglas Cardinal (Blackfoot), Johnpaul Jones (Cherokee/Choctaw), Donna House (Navajo/Oneida), and Ramona Sakiestewa (Hopi). The building's distinctive curvilinear form, evoking a wind-sculpted rock formation, grew out of this early work, forming the basis for the architecture.

Following this conceptual design work, the project was further developed by Jones, House, and Sakiestewa, along with the architecture firms Jones & Jones, SmithGroup in collaboration with Lou Weller (Caddo) and the Native American Design Collaborative, and Polshek Partnership Architects. This extended collaboration resulted in a building and site rich with imagery, connections to the earth, and layers of meaning. The building is aligned perfectly to the cardinal directions and the center point of the Capitol dome, and filled with details, colors, and textures that reflect the Native universe.

Inside the Museum

The design team was asked to create a palette of colors, materials, symbols, and forms that would imbue the building and site with a Native sensibility. Themes emerged, including abstractions of nature and astronomy. The paving pattern for the Welcome Plaza area outside the east entrance plots the configuration of the planets on November 28, 1989, the date that federal legislation was introduced to create the museum. The center of the plaza is the polestar, Polaris. The museum's south-entry plaza records lunar events, and, inside the building, the Potomac celebrates the sun. The angles of solstices and equinoxes are mapped on the Potomac's floor, and a light spectrum is cast above by the sun shining through prisms set into the south-facing wall. The colors throughout the building are inspired by the natural world and the museum's collection. Objects from the collection lend their hues to areas throughout the building.

Welcome Wall

Hundreds of written and spoken words meaning "welcome" in Native languages from throughout the Americas are projected onto a 20-foot screen just above the Welcome Desk inside the east entrance to the museum. The Welcome Wall is an evolving project, with different languages added regularly.

The Potomac

Rivers often serve as points of reference and connection for the people who live near them. In building a distinctly Native public space on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., an area that lies between two rivers, the Potomac and the Anacostia, this idea was a major influence.

Early in the consultations with Native communities, it became clear that the museum required a large central gathering place that needed to be more than a simple rotunda; this space should refer to the organization of the Native world and be a place of connection to contemporary Native activity. Further, it should honor the Native people from the Washington area.

The resulting space, the Potomac (from the Algonquian/Powhatan word thought to mean "where the goods are brought in"), is the point of entry for most visitors and a venue for a variety of performances and other cultural exchanges. Soaring 120 feet to the top of the dome and spanning more than 120 feet to the top of the dome and spanning more than 100 feet in diameter, the Potomac is the very heart of the museum building, the sun of its universe, and celestial references abound.

Main Theater

The design for the Main Theater, located on the museum's ground level, was inspired by the metaphor of a perfect storytelling venue: a clearing in the woods under a bright night sky. Native stories are often told in winter or at night, and visual references to this setting include the moon, the texture of ice, colors used by the Inupiaq people of Alaska, and Raven, a trickster character often found in American Indian stories. Vertical wood paneling surrounds the 322-seat circular theater, evoking a dense hardwood forest, and above, a dark blue ceiling twinkles with constellations. Cast-glass sconces along the back wall recall the phases of the moon.

This gathering place brings visitors close to Native performers by incorporating a unique lateral aisle that allows performers to move from the stage through the audience in full circle, consistent with many Native dances. Equipped with multi-media projection systems, language-translation systems, and superb acoustic qualities, the theater hosts a diverse program of Native musicians, theater companies, dancers, film festivals, and storytellers.

Lelawi Theater

The 125-seat circular Lelawi (leh-LAH-wee) Theater on the museum's fourth level offers a dazzling multi-media experience designed to prepare museum0gers for the themes and messages they will encounter during a visit to the museum. Who We Are, a 13-minute presentation, immerses viewers in the vibrancy and diversity of contemporary Native life and explores, from a Native perspective, the strength that different communities across the hemisphere derive from their connections to land, community, religion, self-government, and self-expression.

Mitsitam Café

Mitsitam (mit-seh-TOM) means "let's eat" in the Piscataway and Delaware language. The Mitsitam Café, located on the museum's ground level, offers meals and snacks based on the indigenous foods and culinary traditions of the Americas. Visitors may be surprised at both the variety of regional cuisines and the number of familiar foods that have their roots in Native agriculture. This soaring two-story dining space, which reflects the colors and textures of corn, beans, squash, and fish, overlooks the water feature that winds along the north side of the building.

The café provides the museum a venue to express the importance of Native foods. For most indigenous The café provides the museum a venue to express the importance of Native foods. For most indigenous cultures of the Western Hemisphere, food is not only a source of physical sustenance; the traditions related to securing, sharing, and celebrating food are central to the spiritual well being of each community. The spiritual significance of food sources-from buffalo and salmon to corn and squash-stems from the acknowledgment that the Creator, spirit beings, and animal spirits bestow nourishment for the good of the people.

In the traditions of giving thanks, food is the bond that fosters good relations. Expressions of generosity, humility, and gratitude reach enormous proportions in Native communities at times of feasts, celebrations, and other community gatherings. The offering of food is a central gesture of hospitality. You are welcome here. Eat with us, visit with us. Celebrate. Mitsitam!

The Chesapeake Museum Store

This upscale shop features jewelry, textiles, and other works by Native artisans. The design of the store itself incorporates the handiwork of contemporary Native artists, with countertops and benches built of cedar and alder and adzed by master carvers. Fine purple and white tiles, crafted from Quahog shells, were inlayed in the display cases by members of the Wampanoag tribe of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. The word "Chesapeake" is the name that local Native peoples gave the bay, meaning "great shell bay" or "mother of waters."

The Roanoke Museum Store

Beside the Potomac staircase, a 20-foot-tall totem pole carved by Tlingit artist Nathan Jackson links the first-level Chesapeake Museum Store with the second level's Roanoke Store. Overlooking the Potomac area and featuring a view of the National Mall, the Roanoke Store offers a wide variety of merchandise, including crafts, books, music, souvenirs, and toys. Roanoke, now chiefly known as the name of a town in Virginia, originally meant "shell of lesser value." It referred to the white shell beads---less highly valued than purple beads---found in the wampum strings some East Coast tribes used for exchange and formal communication.

Window on Collections: Many Hands, Many Voices

Window on Collections features the remarkable breadth and diversity of Native American objects. More than 3,500 objects from the museum's collection are presented in this series of exhibitions, located on the third and fourth levels of the museum. Housed in drawers and glass-fronted cases, objects are arranged by categories including beads, peace medals, arrowheads and other projectile points, containers, dolls, and objects featuring animals.

Through the use of interactive technology, visitors can enjoy a self-guided learning experience. They may access information about each object; watch video clips of community members and specialists talking about broad categories or particular objects; and, through computerized imagery, electronically rotate a selection of objects for 360-degree viewing or zoom in on special details.

Native American Boatbuilding Traditions

In many contemporary Native communities, the revival of boatbuilding traditions has become a focal point for cultural renewal. A celebration of this revival is the opening theme for the museum's Potomac area. Through 2006, several vessels-from Native Hawaiian canoes and Netsilingmiut-style kayaks to the totora-reed boats of the Aymara people of Bolivia and Peru and the elaborately carved boats of the Northwest Coast-will be constructed in the Potomac by master Native boat-builders and their apprentices. Hands-on activity tables allow visitors to try out boatbuilding skills such as hide-scraping and birchbark-lacing, and multimedia stations offer videos of boatbuilding activities and links to websites. A variety of public programs related to boats and navigation are slated, including music and dance performances, storytelling, lectures, and craft demonstrations.

Resource Center

The Resource Center (RC) on the museum's third level is a public reference area where visitors learn more about the Native peoples of the Americas and the exhibitions, programs, and collections of the museum. The RC is open seven days a week, and other than for workshops, appointments are not required. The Resource Center comprises the Interactive Learning Center (ILC), with 18 public-access computers; a work-study area where adults and children can use Resource Center reference materials and access online information; and a classroom, equipped with laptop computers and a large plasma video and data monitor, available by appointment for guided hands-on sessions. Reference collections include books, audio, video, CD-ROMs, pamphlets, and hands-on "discovery boxes."

The Native Landscape

Native people believe that the earth remembers the experiences of past generations. The National Museum of the American Indian recognizes the importance of indigenous peoples' connection to the land; the grounds surrounding the building are considered an extension of the building and a vital part of the museum as a whole. By recalling the natural environment that existed prior to European contact, the museum's landscape design embodies a theme that runs central to NMAI---that of returning to a Native place. More than 33,000 plants of 150 species can be found throughout the landscape and its four habitats.

Forest

A forest environment runs along the northern edge of the museum site. Forests have provided indigenous cultures important materials for shelter, firewood, medicines, and other purposes. More than 25 tree species are included in the forest, including red maple, staghorn sumac, and white oak.

Wetlands

Culturally important to many tribes, wetlands are rich, biologically diverse environments. Wild rice, morel mushrooms, marsh marigolds, cardinal flowers, and silky willows are among the species planted at the eastern end of the museum site.

Meadow

Buttercups, fall panic grass, and helianthus are among the plants featured in the meadow, located southwest of the museum building.

Traditional Croplands

This area on the south side of the building features medicinal plants and some of the food crops that Native peoples have given to the world, including the "Three Sisters"-corn, beans, and squash. The plants in this area are cultivated using traditional Native agricultural techniques.

Grandfather Rocks

More than 40 large uncarved rocks and boulders, called Grandfather Rocks, welcome visitors to the museum grounds and serve as reminders of the longevity of Native peoples' relationships to the environment. The Grandfather Rocks, hewn by wind and water for millions of years, were selected from a quarry in Alma, Canada. The boulders were blessed in a special ceremony by the Montagnais First Nations group prior to their relocation to ensure that they would have a safe journey and carry the message and cultural memory of past generations to future generations. Upon arriving in Washington, the boulders were welcomed in a blessing by a member of the Monacan Nation of Virginia.

Cardinal Direction Markers

A subtle yet significant design concept, the Cardinal Direction Markers are four special stones placed on the museum grounds along the north-south and east-west axes. Those axes intersect at the center of the Potomac area of the museum building, linking the four directions to the circle of pipestone that marks the figurative heart of the museum. These markers also serve as metaphors for the indigenous peoples of the Americas. The stones have traveled from the far reaches of the hemisphere in collaboration with their Native source communities: Hawaii (western stone); Northwest Territories, Canada (northern stone); Great Falls, Maryland (eastern stone); and Puerto Williams, Chile (southern stone).