

The majority of these medications are 'prescribed' by a pharmacy attendant or the patient himself. The three most commonly used medicine-groups are antibiotics, analgesics and vitamins. Nursing infants above all are treated with drugs frequently and intensively. It emerged that pharmaceuticals figure in the treatment of most reported health problems. Equally important was the building’s unobtrusive fit into the landscape, in which its style, lack of rooftop mechanical systems, and harmonious materials make it almost imperceptible from the pueblo.Family use and understanding of modern medicines was studied in two villages in rural Bahia, Brazil.
#Haak modern free
While the building embodies specifically indigenous notions of sustainability, the tribe did not pursue LEED-certification, since some green concepts contradict their idea of natural cycles: for example, water capture would interrupt the free flow of rain.
#Haak modern windows
Territorial-era sash windows and cabinetry similar to Housing and Urban Development interiors reference more recent history. Interiors have rounded and square vigas, split-cedar latillas, and corner fireplaces with pottery chimneys.

At roof level are ladders, parapets, and canales for draining rainwater, and Spanish-style colonnades wrap around the courtyard. Corner windows are both modernist tropes and evocations of similar openings in Chaco Canyon Great Houses, while T-shaped doorways echo Aztec Ruin but with the higher jambs of Acoma. The Cultural Center juxtaposes modern steel with Chacoan masonry and references to the Spanish Colonial mission.

The Center’s mass obscures the mesa until one enters its lobby, when the spectacular cliffs and crowning pueblo appear suddenly, visible behind the welcome desk. Visitors approach from the north, passing stone masonry that represents ancestral ruins. Recalling Acoma origins, the Cultural Center restages a search for Haak’u.

Sheets of mica window glazing provide fire and UV resistance, and external colonnades incorporate stone remnants from the original building as vending spaces for artists. Built with a steel frame, autoclaved aerated concrete walls, and finished in stone masonry and painted stucco, its colors and textures reflect those of old Acoma. Stepped massing emulates Acoma houses, while vertical windows and wall projections break up its shape akin to the pueblo’s landscape of narrow alleys and rock fissures. Oriented to landmarks such as Mount Taylor and Acoma Mesa, the center evokes the pueblo’s form with two parallel room blocks, a connecting lobby, and open courtyard between the two blocks. Vallo describes the hope that the building “ would bring people home, and ultimately represents this grand house that the Acoma people all share, and that we open up to visitors.” Submitted with a miniature exhibit of such materials as pottery, stone, adobe, and corn in a steel box designed to reference the pueblo, their proposal became the basis of the present building.įinished in 2006 and integrating a variety of historical references to avoid fixating on any single period, it accommodates a restaurant, gift shop, meeting rooms, gallery, research library, storage, and restricted repatriation areas. After wide-ranging community consultations, the tribe selected a joint proposal of Barbara Felix Architecture and Design and WoodMetalConcrete Architecture. In 2000, an earlier tourism center burnt down, necessitating planning of a 40,000-square-foot replacement on the same site. The Sky City Cultural Center and Haak’u Museum at the base of Acoma mesa is a gateway for visiting tourists, and represents Acoma’s culture through a modern synthesis of the pueblo’s architectural, visual, and oral histories.Īcoma was among the first Native American tribes to formalize its tourism program, which remains a critical revenue source.
