In November 2021, the tribal council approved a project to design the Tyonek Culture Center through collaboration by the Village of Tyonek , Alaska and Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). Two faculty members for the School of Architecture and 4-5 graduate students from the Master of Architecture Program at Georgia Tech have agreed to design a cultural center for Tyonek. Collaborators from Georgia Tech; Richard Dagenhart, Marco Ancheita, and students in their final year of their Masters, will develop the design and produce construction drawings of the site and its buildings.
There are also four main stakeholder groups who will act as pro-bono collaborators on the project:
An individual and/or Alaska-based, architect and engineering firm will be identified to work with the Georgia Tech team given their build expertise. This individual and/or firm will be established prior to the first trip to Tyonek (This may require additional funding to support the overall effort; cost to be determined).
A wood construction engineering advisor will be identified given the tradition of timber-based construction in rural Alaska. C2P2 / EDF has colleagues in Oregon who we believe would be great advisors to the engineering design.
Tebughna and Dena’ina culture advisors, including persons from the Foundation, tribal people and their kids, and anthropologists and ecologists who have participated in previous studies for the Tebughna people, will help Georgia Tech faculty and students weave project design into the cultural landscape of the Tebughna, the Chuitna River Drainage, and the larger Tyonek-area Watershed.
The Cold Climate Research Center (CCRC) in Fairbanks Alaska has agreed to assist in serving as a technical consultant in provided information on construction in cold climates (They may require additional funding to support the overall effort; cost to be determined).
The proposed timeline will be as follows:
February 2022 [3-day visit]: Richard Dagenhart and Marco Ancheita will travel to Tyonek to initiate the project and to gain an understanding of the issues involved in the site, relationships to the village, and the details of the building program. They will also meet with the CCHRC to discuss issues associated with construction in cold, earthquake prone environments.
May 2022 [7-day visit]: Richard, Marco, and the Georgia Tech students will work to understand how the local situation can be woven and embedded into the design, materials, and building siting. At the end of the trip, basic site ideas will be resolved.
June 2022 [3-day visit]: schematic design presentations, discussions, and collaborations with faculty, students, the Tribal Council, Tebungha Foundation, The Tribal Corporation, and others in Tyonek will lead to a design proposal completion at the conclusion of this visit.
July 2022 [3-day visit]: Richard will travel to Tyonek to finalize the design of the project and present design development.
August 2022 [3-day visit]: Richard, Marco, and students will present final drawings and models before moving to construction documents; project will continue remotely as construction begins.