Wašiw Art Installation
As part of the community design & outreach course, I collaborated with two classmates and a community partner from the Washoe Tribe to design an open, publicly accessible, and culturally respectful art installation honoring the First Nation history of the Circle of Stones that was removed from what is now the flooded Stampede Valley.
Year Fall 2025
Catergory
Architecture
Project Information Visual Design, Creative Strategy,
Guerilla Marketing
In Collaboration With* Tess Grundhoefer,
Ananya Naik,
Community Partner Washo Elder,
Lisa Grayshield
*Special thanks to Professor Seth Wachtel
Final Path Rendering PRECEDENT
Instead of proposing a conventional standalone art installation, our team focused on physically returning the circle of stones to the site and designing a pathway as the installation itself. The path invites visitors at the reservoir to walk, learn about Washoe culture, and experience the restored Circle of Stones as a living place of story and gathering rather than a distant artifact.
Circle of Stones Wašiw Weaving ArtWašiw Weaving Art WAŠIW PATTERNS
Early on, we learned that the Washoe culture is renowned for its basket weaving, so our team began with research into Washoe history and traditional basketry. From that, we compiled bunch of patterns and motifs that represent Washoe culture. These basket designs inspired the pathway’s geometry and surface pattern, translating woven structures into a spatial and visual experience along the walk.
MASSING DIAGRAM
PROGRAMMATIC SECTION
INFORMATION STANDS
SITE PLAN
The project is located near the Stampede Reservoir, where the original stone circle once stood before the valley was flooded. The pathway is positioned near the main road so visitors who stop for a short break can walk from the general parking down to the shoreline, interacting with the restored Circle of Stones, and learn about the Washoe community through the informational stands while also looking out over the lake toward the original location of the circle.
PROPOSAL POSTER
All of our research and design work was refined into a single visual proposal poster intended to be shown to our community partner at the end of the semester. We wanted to market and center our concept around the tagline ‘BRING THEM BACK!!!’, emphasizing how the original stone circle has been displaced and left miles away from their home landscape in Stampede Valley.
Because our community partner, Lisa Greyshield, does not have an architecture or engineering background, we chose to minimize technical diagrams and sections. Instead, we prioritized renderings and visualizations so it would be easier for her and the broader community members to imagine/understand how the project would feel and function on the actual site.
FINAL SHOWCASE
Our proposal was showcased in the USF Art + Architecture Fall Showcase, where we had the opportunity to present the project to Lisa Greyshield (elderly member of the Washoe community and our community partner on this project).