Customisation & Bespoke Design
Architect: JCJ Architecture
Categories: Arts and culture, Bespoke
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Choctaw Cultural Centre: Acoustic panels double as traditional art
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To honor, share, and celebrate the beautiful complexities of the Choctaw Culture, the Choctaw Cultural Centre was commissioned. A variety of custom acoustic solutions were installed in the space, doubling as traditional art through which elements of the Choctaw story are told.
The history of the Choctaw Nation is rich and complex—a story woven with strands of pain, pride, courage, and resilience. The first nation to be forced off their ancestral lands entirely, the Choctaw people took the harrowing, horrific journey known as the ‘Trail of Tears’ in the winter of 1831—walking over 5,043 miles without any food, supplies, or help from the government who evicted them. Now, through the intentional preservation of the rituals, practices, and language of their ancestors, the Choctaw Nation is a thriving 200,000-strong community-based in their adopted home of Oklahoma. To honor, share, and celebrate the beautiful complexities of their culture, the Choctaw Cultural Center was commissioned—with work on the centre beginning in 2018 for a 2020 opening.
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½” Cube™ panels with Surface finish printed texture “weave”
½” Cube™ panels with Surface finish printed texture “weave”
½” Cube™ panels with Surface finish printed texture “weave”
½” Cube™ panels with Surface finish printed texture “weave”
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Project details
For the ceiling, 15,000 ft2 of Cube panels were printed with a rivercane basket weave pattern—the single traditional art for which Choctaw people are most widely recognised. Where specified, the walls are also lined with 2500 ft2 of Cube, however, here, they were decorated with an organic oak leaf pattern, reminiscent of the oak trees that lined the river banks where their ancestors sat to weave baskets. To ensure a smooth, hassle-free install, each panel was trimmed so that they matched perfectly, and a step-and-repeat method was used to guarantee pattern continuity. Cut to resemble the sprawling woodgrain of an ancient tree, the Cube feature in the theatre is double layered, with water-cut Cube in Empire overlayed on a Petronas Cube backing.
Function and design
“Traditional art focuses on skills and knowledge passed down through generations, and while this type of art may be beautiful, its function and usefulness in a culture is what makes it valuable”, an article on the project explains. Referring particularly to the artefacts on display, this perspective is also reflected in the acoustic treatment; adorned with treasured representations of traditional craft, the panels are an artefact in themselves.
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