Design Build Bluff

In the Rural Studio model, students abandon the comforts of campus and home for a cooperative life, to learn about architecture through action.

The design-build paradigm emphasizes experimentation, scale mock-ups, in-process design iterations, consensus-building through ideas and emotions, and juxtaposing diametrically opposed cultures.

The program emphasizes the design and construction of homes using "green-build" techniques such as passive solar, rainwater catchment, permaculture, earthen plaster, rammed earth, straw bale construction, cellulose insulation, Icynene foam (a green, water-based, open-celled building insulation product), and materials salvaged from the landscape of the reservation itself such as a substratum of natural clay, and reed from the local riverbed.

The projects are completed on a modest cash budget, largely due to grant funding, and made possible by the generosity of the local design and construction community.

Building sustainable, off-grid homes that have little impact on the environment accomplishes for the Navajo Nation the mission of respecting the landscape while providing adequate housing.