Podcast #1 : The Oak Savanna and ITECK Center
The Voices at the Intersection of Indigenous Traditional Ecological and Cultural Knowledge and Architecture Series
This series focuses on interdisciplinary efforts to rethink approaches to research, design, student engagement, and placemaking through a unique collaboration between Portland State University’s Indigenous Nations Studies Department’s ITECK Program and the School of Architecture on a landscape and building project.
Since 2011, Judy Bluehorse Skelton has worked on the project site known as the PSU Oak Savanna with Indigenous Studies students in efforts to learn about and restore Native habitat to the PSU Campus. The site is dedicated to the relationship between the First People and the Native vegetation of Oak Savannas, and a vision for the site developed to create a minimally-managed outdoor classroom and community gathering building that shares the natural history of the Willamette Valley, offers space for reflection and healing, creates wildlife habitat, and demonstrates Indigenous land practices for food, medicine, art, and ceremony.
In 2021, Professor Sergio Palleroni invited architecture faculty and students to engage with Indigenous Studies faculty and students to develop ideas for an ITECK Center on the Oak Savanna through design studios, seminars, and fieldwork opportunities. One project led by Professor Travis Bell in 2023 resulted in the design of a stage for the Pickathon music festival that was meant to be deconstructed after the festival and rearranged as a pavilion on the Oak Savanna. This pavilion marks the first step toward activation of the site through a collaboration with the School of Architecture and Center for Public Interest Design.
Building upon the collaborations to date, the PSU School of Architecture and Center for Public Interest Design are using this opportunity to examine the role of the architect to center Indigenous knowledge toward more equitable and resilient communities and ecologies, and to reimagine an architecture pedagogy informed and transformed by Indigenous Traditional Ecological and Cultural Knowledge. This series will explore lessons learned to date through this effort, concepts driving this work such as un-building and culturally-specific design, and challenges in overcoming the dominant narratives of contemporary education and professional practice.
Article by Sergio Palleroni. Edited by Ron Acob.
Oak Savanna and ITECK Center Video
The first episode of this series takes us to the Oak Savanna and ITECK Center at Portland State University. Listen to Judy BlueHorse Skelton, Emma Johnson, Mendy Miller, Athena Rilatos, Clifton and Christine Bruno and Emma Jewell Cohen as they tell us the story of the Oak Savanna and Indigenous Traditional Ecological and Cultural Knowledge (ITECK) Center. Our storytellers will also introduce us to various topics, including the relational worldview and the ITECK Certificate Program, and explore what lies at the intersection of ITECK and Architecture.
Full Episode Transcript
Pt. 1: Introduction to the Oak Savanna and ITECK Center and the ITECK Certificate Program
Pt. 2: The Intersection of ITECK and Architecture
The second episode of this series delves into how students, faculty, and community partners have contributed to the interdisciplinary efforts to reclaim and restore the Native Oak Savanna at PSU as a place for gathering, food, medicine, and ceremony, and the renovation of the ITECK Center. Listen to Sergio Palleroni, Eric Giovannetti, Gianna Sullivan, Travis Bell, Sam Barber, Sham Aldura, Razan Zainab, Edward Hodge and Ardon Lee as they highlight how the project is driving a shift in interdisciplinary education, sustainability, and traditional architecture practices by creating shared courses across departments and organizing community engagements.
FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT HERE
PT 1: Introduction to the Center for Public Interest Design and PSU School of Architecture
Pt. 2: How does the intersection of ITECK and Architecture contribute to a shift in interdisciplinary collaborations and architecture practices?
In this podcast
Storytellers
This podcast series is made possible through collaboration between the Indigenous Nation Studies Department’s ITECK Program, Portland State University’s School of Architecture, and the Center for Public Interest Design. Throughout the series, you’ll hear engaging discussions and stories about the Oak Savanna and ITECK Center at Portland State University. Indigenous and non-Indigenous leaders, architects, educators, students, and community members share their insights and experiences, offering rich weaving of stories and perspectives.
Judy Bluehorse Skelton
Indigenous Traditional Ecological and Cultural Knowledge Certificate Program, Indigenous Nations Studies
Emma Johnson
Indigenous Traditional Ecological and Cultural Knowledge Certificate Program, Indigenous Nations Studies
Mendy Miller
Indigenous Traditional Ecological and Cultural Knowledge Certificate Program, Indigenous Nations Studies
Athena Rilatos
Indigenous Traditional Ecological and Cultural Knowledge Certificate Program, Portland State University School of Architecture
Clifton Bruno (Left), Christine Bruno (right)
Indigenous Traditional Ecological and Cultural Knowledge Certificate Program
Emma Jewell Cohen
Indigenous Traditional Ecological and Cultural Knowledge Certificate Program, Indigenous Nations Studies
SERGIO PALLERONI
Center for Public Interest Design, Portland State University School of Architecture
Eric Giovannetti
Center for Public Interest Design, Portland State University School of Architecture
Gianna Sullivan
Center for Public Interest Design, Portland State University School of Architecture
Sam Barber
Center for Public Interest Design, Portland State University School of Architecture
Sham Aldura
Center for Public Interest Design, Portland State University School of Architecture
Ardon Lee
Center for Public Interest Design, Portland State University School of Architecture
Razan Zainab
Center for Public Interest Design, Portland State University School of Architecture
Edward Hodge
Center for Public Interest Design, Portland State University School of Architecture
Travis Bell
Center for Public Interest Design, Portland State University School of Architecture
Host
Ron Acob
Center for Public Interest Design, Portland State University School of Architecture