Isabel Li

Engaging with the Native American culture of Nevada, the project transcribes the landscapes from a number of reservations across the state into an architecture that is cut into the surrounding site. Taking in Native American concepts of the sky and the ground, the building sits as part of their cosmic sphere, connecting to above through views and to the ground through materiality. 

A series of sweat lodges and other vernacular spaces are woven into the building, where gentle transitions in materiality and climate democrat the move from one landscape to another. 

Together, these become a microcosm of the indigenous lands that responds to the overbearing cultural appropriation of the Las Vegas strip by proposing an architectural counterpoint that draws from the spirit of its sources rather than becoming a parody of it.