With an eye on sustainability that, at the same time, honors Native American ancestral lands, Architectural West Magazine recently featured Montana State University’s American Indian Hall.

The article focuses on the creative use of structural insulated panels (SIPs). Our team—Nate Menuez, Rebecca Sheetz, Austin Batson, and MaKayla Beckman—helped their client, ThinkOne Architecture, to design this new hallmark project on MSU’s campus.

According to the article, SIPs are “flexible in design and used in walls, roofs, and floors to create a nearly air-impermeable building envelope.” Using this material allows the design team to optimize energy consumption and address air leakage that meets “stringent criteria of a high-performance structure while prioritizing architectural creativity and aesthetic appeal.”

The AIH team won the Structural Insulated Panel Association’s (SIPA’s) 2022 Building Excellence Awards and it is a certified LEED Platinum V4 project. The construction team cut the structural panels off-site, resulting in significantly less material waste. ThinkOne incorporated a geothermal heating and cooling system, solar systems, high-performance glazing, and recycled materials.

Morrison-Maierle also created the site civil designs thanks to the work of Mike Hickman and Cody Farley. Their approach included numerous curved sidewalks, circular builds, ramps, and other elaborate features not commonly seen on a typical site.