Published May 2003

Architects weave tribes’ cultural history
into casino’s exterior design

By John Wolcott
SCBJ Editor

When construction began on the Tulalip Casino in April 2001, the architects — Ruhl-Parr & Associates of Bellevue — had less than 60 percent of the drawings finished.

But that was according to plan for a fast-track project, said the firm’s senior associate, John Moran.

“It was just one of the challenges, but (general contractor) Mortenson-Gobin did real well in coordinating the work. We were just trying to finish the drawings ahead of the carpenters,” he said.

That fast-track timetable worked, producing a highly complex, high-tech, imaginative, creatively designed $72 million casino that will open to the public June 5, just two years after work began.

“The building itself is not pushing the envelope, but creating the big dome in the middle (with a roof of fiber-optic ‘stars’ in local constellation patterns) was certainly one of the greatest construction feats of the project,” he said.

Outside, the casino has concrete masonry walls for color and texture. On the multi-peaked roofline are several pyramid-shaped lights that rotate through the colors of the rainbow, and more lights outline the roof lines and walls of the casino, he said.

It was Jerry Ruhl who came up with the idea of the long entrance to the casino and filling the space with ponds, four fountains, an Indian spear fisherman, a “black fish” — an Orca whale — and waterfalls on the entryway walls of the casino, Moran said. To accommodate those features, the casino was built farther back on its site.

The design idea, he said, is that as visitors drive past the island of rock and trees — a centerpiece for a roundabout that eliminates the need for traffic lights in front of the casino — they see the whale, the fisherman and salmon, water fountains, waterfalls and then the interior carpet with its blue river design leading people to the center of the casino where a sculpture depicts an underwater realm with salmon swimming toward the domed ceiling.

“Besides the glitz and lighting and games, they wanted to remind people who their hosts are,” Moran said.

A Tulalip tribal committee worked closely with the architects to ensure a proper depiction of the Tulalip Tribes’ cultural heritage throughout the casino and grounds.

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