2026 I-SEED Award Honorable Mention
Caddo Nation Child Care Center
Provides culturally rooted child care that prioritizes whole health, cultural empowerment, and intergenerational connection
Description
The Caddo Nation Child Care Center provides culturally rooted child care that prioritizes whole health, cultural empowerment, and intergenerational connection. The Center seeks to address the Caddo Nation’s currently strained childcare infrastructure, providing culturally-rooted child care. The facility includes classrooms, offices, food preparation facilities, and an aquatic center, in addition to three playgrounds and an open courtyard that connects to trails, forests, and a nearby pond.
Interior details draw inspiration from the Caddo and Great Plains vernacular through regionally specific materials, artists, and makers. Natural materials—such as cedar shake, exposed wood, and a glued-laminated timber structure—are employed throughout the building.
Design strategies include passive design strategies, rooftop and on-site rainwater harvesting, and solar panels.
The Center was the first project built by Arrowood Kakinah Enterprise, a construction company owned and operated by the Caddo Nation, helping to ensure that money spent on the project stays in the hands of Caddo community members.
Stakeholders
Caddo Nation, Caddo Nation Tribal leadership, language and culture bearers and teachers, child-care staff, families, and children
Design Team
Project Architect / Architect of Record: MASS (Model of Architecture Serving Society); MASS Project Team: Joseph Kunkel, Mayrah Udvardi, Taylor Klinkel, Celina Brownotter, Drew McMillian, Francis Fotsing, Shawn Evans, Chris Hardy; Partners: Caddo Nation Economic Development Authority, Arrowood Kakinah Enterprise; Project Consultants: Arrowood Kakinah Enterprise, Diak Architects, Wallace Design Collective, CEC Corporation, Telos Architectural Consulting, The Friday Group, Schultz Squared
Jury Summary
The Caddo Nation Child Care Center is a well-organized, visually documented project that addresses a critical community need while advancing Tribal self-determination, intergenerational connection, and economic opportunity. Developed with the MASS project team and constructed by Arrowood Kakinah Enterprise, a tribally owned company, it is the Nation’s first new public building in decades and demonstrates creative financing through Tribal enterprise and federal resources. Classrooms, a community kitchen, aquatic center, playgrounds, courtyard, trails, forest, and pond support culturally holistic childcare and community life. Caddo-inspired forms, cladding, artwork by local artists, regional materials, passive design, rainwater harvesting, solar energy, and efficient systems strengthen its cultural and environmental performance.