The Center for Western Studies building is designed to embody the character of the region and help make history exciting, accessible, attractive, inviting and visible. It is designed to tell the important story of our region and to recognize the character of the Augustana campus and the Mikkelsen Library to which it is attached.

The building's form: in plan, a square in a circle; in elevation, a series of horizontal lines and in massing, a truncated cone (tipi) intersecting a box - and its materials, primarily regional in origin: like limestone from Mankato, granite from Millbank and brick from northwest Iowa, pay homage to the cultural history, geography and geology of the prairie.