MERIT AWARD
Represents superior accomplishment in the profession of landscape architecture.
NEW UNITAH RIVER CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL MASTER PLAN
“A good example of a planning process that lays out the relationships between buildings and outdoor spaces from concept to site design.”
PROJECT STATEMENT
PROJECT NARRATIVE
Uintah River High School is to be a conduit for a cultural awakening. Located on the Fort Duchesne Ute Indian Reservation in Uintah County, Utah, the design takes advantage of the sites stunning views and other connections to the natural environment.
The current school is located in a remodeled furniture fabrication building and serves grades 9-12. The goal for the new school is to expand the charter to include grades 6-12. Another goal for the new school is to move completely away from a school for students who couldn’t succeed elsewhere to the school of first choice for American Indian students. Since its origin, the school has made significant progress towards this goal.
The design team has met with representatives of the school and the Tribe to discuss the school. Powerful statements were made about giving the students a sense of hope and purpose. A wonderful new building with light, views, and expression of possibilities can foster this hope.
The goal of the new school is to be a conduit for a cultural reawakening. By involving the community, tribal elders and the school, the new space will aid in the transformation of the perception that the High School is an alternative school to a first-choice school.
This school will be located on the Fort Duchesne Ute Indian Reservation in Eastern Utah, Uintah County adjacent to Highway 40, it has high visibility from the highway, with a less trafficked access to the site through a secondary road.
The proposed site has stunning views in all directions. To the South is an existing preschool complex, which will be an important connection to the school campus. Recreation on the Bottle Hollow Lake already takes place, with water skiing, kayaking, fishing (including ice fishing) and swimming.
Expressing a need for student empowerment, Elders and Administrators said, “Kids are visual, and have a keen interest in the arts. This aspect should be used as a vehicle for empowering students to maintain and honor their culture.”
Uintah River High School recognizes the students’ excellent work. Teachers have important part in developing and strengthening students’ education and cultural pride.
Students who start at UHRS graduate, transfer students have a higher dropout rate. The new school will strive to be a 6-12 school, to have students be in the UHRS environment from an earlier age. The school will push to make parents more involved in the education.
Cultural ties are extremely important, such as the Ute language and traditional arts and the critical role they play in the students’ education. Connections to the physical and social community are a major factor in developing a design and program elements for this project.
There is an expressed and implied desire for community spaces, inside and out, where the students can learn about the UTE traditions with the community Elders in a culturally significant area on site.
Ute people have icons which are both literal and figurative. Some of these include the horse and bear which represent strong courageous, ferocious warriors and people that “take care of business.”
Their values include spirituality, wholeness/balance, physical, spiritual, mental and emotional health. In addition to culturally specific icons and images, colors also represent these values. In particular, red, black, white and yellow. Translating these values, images, colors and icons is a satisfying yet challenging task. The school embodies the balance of strong traditional ties such as ceremony, history, and art, with contemporary intellectual thought and teaching methods.
A few explicit goals of the new school are a reflection of community activities and values. Some of the forms included in the site design that embody these goals and values are the Sweat lodge, native trees and shrubs, plant material that are used in healing ceremonies and traditional arts and crafts. Cardinal directions and east entry orientation; the building’s center location for a cultural and spiritual community center; and functional elements such as food nourishment (cafeteria) and nurse’s office (healing); mental health in the science and classrooms; emotional health being represented in counseling and social work areas, and outdoor physical activities that are tied into physical health.
The High School is more than a building or set of activities which occur in a building. This is a place which nourishes the whole person, and the spaces are designed around balance and harmony, permanence, pride, allowing youth to thrive physically, mentally, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually.
A young present-day Ute wishes to be described as an individual person and not fall into the romantic depiction of an Indian. This campus and buildings provide a place for a student of the Ute Tribe, as well as non-Utes who attend Uintah River High School, to be an individual who can recognize and be part of the physical embodiment of cultural values.