At the Center for Native Arts and Cultures in Portland we started the project looking at the values of the client, the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation. Equity, central to the client’s mission, is expressed in the landscape through celebration of Native knowledge and connection to historic ecology. Historically, the building was located at the edge of a creek, which still flows today, buried in the basement of the building. Inside the building the creek will be featured in a contemplative space. In the landscape, the site’s strong connection to water is celebrated on all levels of the building. In the courtyard, rain gardens filter water from the roof, evoking the building’s historic location next to the creek and wetland. A native meadow on the roof references the camas meadows of the Willamette River Valley. The plants, selected in collaboration with Native plant experts, are significant for Native foodways, medicinal, or artistic practices.