How Architecture Can Support Anishinaabe Cultural Identity

Author

• Dakota Davis

Files

Date of Award

5-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Architecture

College

Arts and Sciences

Department

Architecture

Faculty Advisor

Stephen Wischer

Studio Coordinator

Stephen Wischer

Faculty Chair

Susan Kliman

Publisher

North Dakota State University

Rights

NDSU policy 190.6.2

URI

https://www.ndsu.edu/fileadmin/policy/190.pdf

Abstract

This thesis investigates how architecture can support Anishinaabe cultural identity through The Gathering House, a living cultural infrastructure for the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa context. The project responds to cultural disconnection, preservation through separation, restricted access to knowledge, and the absence of a persistent public cultural gathering space. Through research, storytelling, fragment studies, artefact work, precedent analysis, and architectural translation, the thesis develops a spatial framework where culture is practiced rather than only displayed. The final proposal is organized around the approach, the process of descent, and three programmatic realms: Material Making and Memory, Ceremony, and Recorded History. Together, these spaces create conditions for cultural knowledge to be retrieved, shared, recorded, and carried forward through everyday participation.

Recommended Citation

Davis, Dakota, "How Architecture Can Support Anishinaabe Cultural Identity" (2026). Architecture Theses. 103.
https://digitalcommons.ndsu.edu/architecture-theses/103