The Gathering Ground

People enjoying a water fight outdoors near a pavilion with wooden beams and festive decorations.
  • Modern building with striped roof amidst grass, scattered birds in sky, and person walking under pink sun.
    The Gathering Ground
  • Architectural layout with a curved building design, terrain mapping, and conceptual graphics in red tones.
    The Gathering Ground
  • Red architectural sketch of a multi-structure design in a sloped landscape with scattered trees and people.
    The Gathering Ground
  • Modern walkway bridge over grassy landscape with people walking and sitting nearby.
    The Gathering Ground
  • Architectural section of a modern building with open interiors and structural supports.
    The Gathering Ground
  • People enjoying a water fight outdoors near a pavilion with wooden beams and festive decorations.
    The Gathering Ground
  • Architectural illustration of a modern building with a rooftop deck and surrounding trees.
    The Gathering Ground
  • Architectural illustration of a modern building with horizontal lines and minimalistic red tones.
    The Gathering Ground
  • Outdoor patio with people sitting at wooden tables, chatting and enjoying the sunny day under a clear sky.
    The Gathering Ground
  • Technical architectural drawings detailing construction layers and an exploded building structure diagram.
    The Gathering Ground

Team:

Students: Seth Hennessy & Tanner Kloster

Faculty: Kate Brashear

 

ARCH 311 / Spring 2026

Gathering Ground is a Burmese refugee cultural community center designed to create belonging, cultural continuity, and civic connection in Lincoln Nebraska. Rather than treating displacement as temporary, the project proposes permanent community infrastructure that welcomes refugees as neighbors. The design is shaped around shared rituals such as tea, cooking, making, learning, gathering, and celebration. Located in Trago Park, the building acts as a civic threshold between downtown, the university, and nearby neighborhoods. Its open, flexible design allows people to gather on, in, and under the building, transforming unfamiliar ground into a place of ritual, exchange, and belonging.

List awards earned

BVH Architecture-Norman Ochsner Design Excellence Award