Learning from the Past
Building Towards the Future

Recent trends in building design and construction are moving towards the integration of green building principles.  Green building principles revolve around building environmentally sound, resource efficient buildings that save and renew energy by utilizing current technologies which also address cost saving measures, human health issues, and general aesthetics in design considerations.  

The St. Regis Mohawk Tribe Environment Division acquired funding for a project that incorporates green building principles as the Environment Division develops a conceptual design for a new Environment building.  An important part of the “Green Building for the 7th Generations” project is community involvement.   Two-way communication between the project team and the community will be established by collecting comments and information about the conceptual design of the new building while educating the community about green building practices.  One strategy to gather information from the community uses a focus group format.  Focus groups are useful in obtaining insights into a target audience’s perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes toward specific issues. 

As Mohawk people we’ve had a special relationship with nature that dictates we “give-back” to the Earth. What better time to utilize new technologies to improve environmental conditions of our surroundings by constructing  buildings that incorporate reciprocal principles of our Mohawk traditions rather than extracting resources that may not be renewable and don’t take into account the future of our community. 

To date, the Green Building project has experienced steady progress as we’ve conducted a design charette or brainstorming session with Tribal personnel to prioritize elements to be included in the final design of the new building.  In addition, the project has conducted 2 focus groups to educate community groups on green building practices. 

Click on the following images to see pdf slide shows of the floor plans and Site plans for each model. Right button click,over an image, and click "Save Target As" to save the file to your computer.

Atrium Core	Solar Spine