Onondaga Elder Community Center

Fall ‘22 | Critic: Scott Ruff and Anna Dietzsch | In Collaboration with Allie DeVarona

The Onondaga Elder Community Center was proposed as a response to The Onondaga Nation’s request for an intergenerational space. The design was rooted in admiration for traditional Onondaga handicrafts, specifically stone carving. Intergenerational programming and a connection to the site began with a connection to the nearby seed bank, a sacred space to the South. We started with a contour line on the topography and created a fanning system that became parallel to the street. A main continuous sloped path acts as a connecting artery. In keeping with a relationship to the land, the roof is a projection of the slope, moving with the terrain as a lifted surface. Our intention is to anchor the building into the earth while maintaining the overall profile of the landscape, combined with an interlocking system of programming that weaves between interior and exterior. The proposal was a rooted approach to supporting the elder community of the Onondaga nation and the next generation.