The pattern of the hallway carpets features stylized writings in the Salish language. It was built in the shape of a sturgeon, which was an important resource for the river-paddling Kalispels, said Julie Holland, the director of marketing for the tribe. Visitors are immediately greeted by large windows, spanning ceiling to floor, at the end of every hallway and inside every room.Įven the median of the grand plaza, which separates incoming and outgoing traffic has meaning. The River Tower’s 192 rooms are on six floors. “That bridge, when you hit that Usk bridge, you do feel like you are going home. “I grew up in Spokane but I spent a lot of my time on the reservation,” Haugen said. “It was a gathering place for the tribes.”Ī skywalk and a series of orange piers that are located in various locations around the tower were made to replicate the wooden piers near the bridge at Usk that crosses the Pend Oreille River onto the 4,500-acre Kalispel Reservation. “The fish weir was a hospitable place where people would come and tell their stories,” Snook said. “We are telling the tribal story in a way that was authentic to them,” Snook said.įor instance, the exterior of the building incorporates wood siding and raised panels that both mimic the materials used in a fish weir – a structure of sticks designed to capture salmon – and tule mats, which are woven stalks cut from bulrush that grow in the swampy areas along the Pend Oreille River. The special features and unorthodox building techniques resulted in an effort that produced a source of pride, he said. The team, which included Lydig Construction, Coffman Engineering, Parametrix and MW Engineers, all of Spokane, then tried to find a way to incorporate those ideas into a working hotel. Rather than building a rectangle filled with rooms, Dan Snook, the project designer and architect with Integrus Architecture, of Spokane, said the team met with Haugen to talk about connections and themes important to the tribe that the designers could try to replicate. “We are proud of being something that attracts people to this community.” “We just want to keep evolving,” said Phil Haugen, CEO of the Kalispel Tribe Economic Authority. With a total 442 rooms once the River Tower opens to the public May 1, the venue has grown to become the largest casino resort in Washington state, tribal officials say. Kalispel Tribe officials have unveiled the River Tower addition of 192 luxury hotel rooms to Northern Quest Resort & Casino in Airway Heights.

It’s the kind of project where the designing architect drives by, stares for a long minute and quietly says to himself: I helped build that.

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