The Isleta Pueblo is home to people of the ancient Tanoan tribe. Situated in the foothills between the Rio Grande Bosque and Manzano Mountains, the complex is placed in a natural depression, flanked by two natural promontories. The Isleta people celebrate strong ancestral values as they move confidently into the new millennium.

As the single most prominent function in the complex, the Tribal Council Chambers abstractly evolved as a place of cultural significance and hierarchical importance, the sacred “social kiva.” The spirit and intent of the architectural composition celebrates the cultural interdependence between work, worship and recreation, imparting rhythm and mystery to the aesthetic experience.

The design acknowledges the deep history of the pueblo while embodying a modernist sensibility that is fresh, optimistic and responsive to the regional context, dramatic landscape and environment. It also seeks to do more than merely remember the pueblo people’s built heritage in a literal expression, but rather to recover a sense of a unified architectural ideal based on traditional common center.