Culturally driven architecture
Spaces shaped around culture, identity, and the communities they serve.
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Native-owned architecture / Cottage Grove, Minnesota
Designing with purpose.
Grounded in Native wisdom.
First American Design Studio creates culturally driven architecture for Tribal Nations and community partners.
View projects- Native-owned
- Architecture practice
- Community
- Centered planning
- Education
- And civic design
- Cottage Grove
- Minnesota
Culture guides the work
A Native-owned practice shaped by cultural integrity, community, and the Seven Teachings of the Anishinabe.
The practice
Design begins with listening.
Community-centered planning
Planning grounded in trust and partnership.
Education and civic design
Architecture for learning, gathering, and public life.
Selected projects
Places that carry culture forward.
Education
Four Winds Alternative and CTE High School
The practice describes Four Winds as the first school designed to be net zero on tribal land in the country.
Culture
MHA Nation Cultural Interpretive Center
Centered around a design that mimics an Earth Lodge structure.
Hospitality
Sky Dancer Casino & Hotel
Official project work published by First American Design Studio.
The approach
Legacy and lived experience, together.
First American Design Studio is guided by the Seven Teachings of the Anishinabe. The practice states that DSGW Architecture is a partial owner, bringing legacy and lived experience into the same studio.
Meet the principalPrincipal architect and owner
Mike Laverdure
AIA, NCARB
Mike Laverdure is a citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa and the Principal Architect and Owner of First American Design Studio.
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