Tachi Palace Casino

Revitalized tribal gaming facility highlights Tachi-Yokut culture, brings community prosperity

Cuningham’s redesign and expansion of Tachi Palace Casino creates a physically and symbolically cohesive entertainment experience that celebrates and strengthens Tachi-Yokut tribal culture.

Previously a series of disconnected, crowded spaces with low ceilings and long, narrow hallways, Cuningham’s design modernizes and expands the casino with a revitalized user experience prioritizing discovery, culture, and comfort. The casino’s once obscured entryway is replaced by a striking porte cochère, exterior lighting, and landscape design that opens sightlines and seamlessly welcomes guests. Inside, vertically striated acoustic elements visually connect the first and third levels of the casino, and an open-layout game floor allows for more thorough use of the space. The renovation also connects the adjacent entertainment center and hotel via a walkway.

Collaborating closely with tribal historians and community members, Cuningham focused on three areas when incorporating Tachi-Yokut cultural motifs into the new space: cultural knowledge and traditions; connections to landscape and nature; and artistic, material, and architectural heritage. Central to this is a celebration of the Tachi-Yokut’s connection to Tulare Lake, a sacred cultural focal point that sustained the Tribe for centuries until a series of exploitative policies, heavy farming, and unsustainable land-use practices caused it to disappear. Other cultural motifs include light fixtures reflecting the tribe’s woven Milky Way baskets, metal elements evoking the native tule grass, and carpeting references the region’s sloughs.