A cultural reaction, pertaining to social preservation design strategies in architecture, is a form of Organicism. This is when an architectural design as a whole preserves the memories and techniques, such as original work, thoughts and philosophies previously encountered by a society, to maintain and grow ones own social group.
An example of this social preservation seen in an architectural design is the Tijibaou Culture Center, designed by Renzo Piano. The intention of this building is to record and preserve the traditions and culture of the indigenous tribe, Kanaks. The set of buildings is organic by nature because of the specific responses it takes in relation to the local culture. This is seen in the buildings depiction of settlement patterns in the local villages by replicating the clusters of “cases”. The cases within the villages are woven palm fronds and are reinterpreted in the design as mahogany wood. The group of buildings continues to use the adjacent culture and traditions in its design by the materials, patterns and form.
