Before any design work begins, Tawaw roots each project in human-centered design—centering people, place, and process. We begin by aligning with the Owner group to understand their mission and desired process. This includes identifying the appropriate level of engagement, the voices needed for maximum impact, and honoring local norms, protocols, and opportunities for reciprocity—such as involving youth, tradespeople, small businesses, and artists.

Next, we extend our team by inviting local experts—leaders, Elders, artists, culture bearers, and knowledge keepers—to participate. Their lived experience and place-based knowledge guide the direction and relevance of the project. Together, we develop a comprehensive engagement plan, mapping out when and where community conversations will happen, and how we’ll share back what we’ve learned. Finally, we co-create measurable outcomes with the Owner group to track both immediate and long-term impacts.

This phase focuses on building cultural fluency before any design work begins. We gather rich contextual and historical information about the region, including architectural traditions (archetypes), the meaning and materiality of local forms, and elements of material culture—such as art, regalia, symbols, and crafts.

We also explore revitalization efforts, traditional land boundaries, sacred places, and knowledge systems, including ethnobotany, Indigenous sky science, and kinship structures. This research ensures the design is not only functional but deeply rooted in the cultural and historical landscape of the community.

Design has historically excluded community voices. At Tawaw, we reverse that pattern by approaching engagement as a reciprocal process. Our method of human-centered engagement ensures that designers listen and learn, rather than lead from a position of authority.

We often work alongside a small Indigenous advisory team and offer a range of engagement formats, including focus groups, large community design charettes, and one-on-one conversations. These sessions help us explore local understandings of Indigenous science and ecologies (plants, animals, geography, sky), worldviews and values (ways of

being, protocol, social organization), and material expressions (symbolism, spatial norms, architectural forms).

In this phase, what we’ve heard becomes the foundation for design. We create a set of Indigenous Design Drivers—key principles rooted in community input that guide the project. These drivers are vetted by the community and act as north stars throughout the design process.

We maintain a transparent and responsive process, with regular check-ins to share progress and adapt as needed. In parallel, we create a visual storytelling booklet that documents the journey—capturing community engagement, voices, quotes, imagery, historical context, plans, renderings, and budgets. This becomes a shared artifact of the process.

The final phase focuses on outcomes. Early in the process, we establish impact measurements to evaluate social, economic, and environmental success. These might include job creation during construction, increased community capacity, or improved K-12 educational outcomes tied to a culturally aligned school design.

By making these impacts visible, we help uncover the network of relationships and systems that contribute to lasting, positive change. In this way, the project becomes more than a structure—it becomes a story of connection, care, and co-creation.