Osage Nation WELA Childcare Facility

The Osage Nation

The new Osage Nation childcare facility, located on the Wahzhazhe Early Learning Academy (WELA) campus in Pawhuska, OK, is designed to enhance the day-to-day lives of Osage educators, students, and families in the Pawhuska area. The facility spans 18,752 square feet, comprising eight classrooms, outdoor creative spaces, a full-service kitchen, two indoor gross motor skills classrooms, a teacher training room, and office space for WELA administration and staff. The childcare facility sits prominently on the campus landscape, so we, along with our partners at WELA, have collaborated closely to ensure it fits comfortably within the larger campus while still maintaining a playful and serene environment for the children.

Osage Inspiration

The design of this facility was conceptualized around the tie between the Osage People and the natural environment. The building’s exterior utilizes forms and color from the Cross Timbers, an environment found throughout the Nation. Scrub oak trunks and branches inspire elements of the columns, which lift the canopies of the outdoor classrooms, while the colors speak to the natural greens found in the forest. The brick colors and horizontal banding evoke the plains that break against the Cross Timbers—a muted brown and a light tan that showcase the dynamic play between charred earth and winter grasses commonly found after the life-giving rebirth of the grassfire.

Upon entering the building, visitors are welcomed by a striking ceiling treatment reminiscent of Oklahoma sunsets, casting a warm and inviting glow. Along the walls, design embellishments echo the rolling hills of the prairie and the movement of the local bison herd—layering a sense of place into the very fabric of the interior.