Designing an Intergenerational Cultural Incubator with the Lower Sioux

Designing an Intergenerational Cultural Incubator with the Lower Sioux

In partnership with Pyatt Studio, based in Boulder, Colorado, BNIM was recently selected to design the Lower Sioux Intergenerational Cultural Incubator (LSICI) in Morton, Minnesota. The purpose of the LSICI is to strategically promote intergenerational engagement, cultural transmission, and economic well-being at the Lower Sioux Indian Community.

The incubator will feature community gathering spaces for youth, adults, and elders while supporting entrepreneurial development and education. A feasibility study completed in May 2018 outlined desired programming for the space based on feedback from community focus group discussions. These include: individual artist studios and shared arts studios for collaborative work and intergenerational transfer of knowledge; a public gallery space and retail space (with online selling platform); classrooms for entrepreneurial training; a commercial kitchen; computer lab with media room and radio station; a library; meeting spaces; dedicated activity spaces for each age group; and a large, shared community space that is open to the public for community gatherings and events.

“The center will support business development while celebrating our community, making it a place for multiple generations of Lower Sioux members to come together for training and production,” Lower Sioux President Brian Pendleton said in a statement, thanking the Shakopee community and the authority for making the project possible.

The project will be realized through a 17,000 square foot newly constructed facility, scheduled to be complete by October 2020.

Previously, Pyatt Studio and BNIM worked together with the Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation (TVCDC) in Pine Ridge, South Dakota on a Community Center and Bunk House. The project followed a master plan created by BNIM for the Oglala Lakota Nation on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in 2009.

Read the Press Release here.