Today, Safdie Architects, with Anishinabe Design, PWP Landscape, and the Cherokee Nation, has unveiled the design for the reimagined Cherokee Heritage Center in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, the capital of the Cherokee Nation. Established in 1967 by the Cherokee National Historical Society on the grounds of the former Cherokee Female Seminary, the Heritage Center served for more than five decades as the Nation's principal cultural institution before closing in 2020. The new campus will transform the 43-acre site into a center for history and culture with a new museum, educational and genealogical spaces, communal gathering areas, and a research center.

Over a multi-year engagement with the Nation, Safdie Architects developed a design that protects and preserves the legacy of the site while building upon it for the future in a way that integrates the project into the existing landscape. Learn more about this project from the Cherokee Nation team HERE.

Images by Mir