Pueblo Housing Restoration

Russell Coriz

Santo Domingo Pueblo, Jemez Pueblo, San Felipe Pueblo

"Sharing One Skin: Okanagan Community" Article Summary

Armstrong, Jeanette. “Sharing One Skin: The Okanagan Community,” in Jerry Mander and Edward Goldsmith (eds), The Case Against the Global Economy. San Francisco, CA, Sierra Club Books, 1996. Pp 460-470.

In the article, “Sharing One Skin: Okanagan Community,” the author talks about the importance of introducing yourself in your own native language, the four capacities of self, the importance of the community, the importance of the earth, and creating communities of heart. The author describes where she comes from and who her family is. The reason for this is because when she introduces herself to other people within her Okanagan community in her own native language, they may not know who she is. In the article the author describes her mother as, “a river Indian,” and her “father’s people are mountain people.” Later in the article we get a sense of what her community sees and their, “ideas of what [the Okanagan Community] are as humans.” They describe this concept calling it their four capacities of self. The four capacities of self are the physical self, emotional self, thinking-intellectual self, and spiritual self. The physical self meaning, “one part of the whole self that depends entirely on the parts of us that exist beyond the skin.” The emotional self is their “sense of place…, it connects to other parts of our larger selves around us.” The thinking-intellectual self is their, “‘spark that ignited’ In Okanagan language this means that the other capacities we engage in when we take action are directed by the spark of memory once it is ignited.” The spiritual self is our true self, who we truly are as a person and who we are on the inside. Throughout the article the author describes her native culture and their view on life, the way they view certain aspects of life.

Native American Identity Article Summary

Horse (Kiowa), Perry G. “Native American Identity.” New Directions for Student Services, vol. 2005, no. 109, 2005, pp. 61–68., doi:10.1002/ss.154.

In this article “Native American Identity” the author talks about the many aspects of Native American Identity and the challenges we’ve faced throughout history. That main aspect is the difference between Native Americans that lived in the 20th century to the American Indians that were living in the past and how our culture changed. Not even just changed but language differences, political and legal status of American Indians, racial attitudes towards American Indians and personal sensibility. In the article the author talks about how many Native American tribes and nations have adapted to the western civilization ways and how they’ve slowly started losing their culture and traditions. Even with the racial attitudes of white privilege and how American Indians don’t have the same resources to further their education.

Pueblo Architecture

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Pueblo architecture". Encyclopedia Britannica, 1 Oct. 2015, https://www.britannica.com/technology/pueblo-architecture. Accessed 6 October 2021.

In this article pueblo architecture is traditional architecture mainly used by the Pueblo Indians in the southwestern part of the United States. These multistoried homes were modeled by the cliff dwellings that were built by the Ancestral Pueblo (Anasazi) back in the AD 1150. The article described the construction materials of limestone blocks or adobe bricks. Adobe bricks are made from clay and water. Their measurements of the adobe bricks are “8 by 16 inches, with a thickness of 4 to 6 inches.” These adobe bricks were used to “form the walls of each room,” also eventually some of the “buildings can be up to five stories tall.” The article states that “each floor is set back from the floor below, so that a given building resembles a stepped pyramid.” With the pueblo people using this form of architecture it enables each roof to be a terrace. In order to get into the rooms of the buildings they had to use ladders due to the entrance doors being located mainly on the second level. The base level or ground floor had no doors and was mainly used for storage. According to the article, “numerous families may live in a given building.” Each pueblo typically had two or more kivas (ceremonial rooms).

History: Ancestral Pueblo Architecture

New Mexico Museum of Art. (2010). New Mexico art tells its history. New Mexico Tells New Mexico History | History: Ancestral Pueblo Architecture. Retrieved October 8, 2021, from http://online.nmartmuseum.org/nmhistory/art-architecture/ancestral- pueblo-architecture/history-ancestral-pueblo-architecture.html.

In this article the New Mexico Museum of Art arranged the pueblo timeline into pueblo periods. Pueblo period 1 was around AD 700, where rooms were built above the ground, made use of canyon overhangs and caves. During this time the above shelters were made of stone and mud. During the Pueblo period II the shelters developed multi-storied houses which were made, “from stone masonry and subterranean ceremonial kivas.” After this continuation the Pueblo period III continued to “[evolve] into extraordinary architects, masons and community planners.” One of the more famous sites during the pueblo period III time is Chaco Canyon. According to the article, “Archeologists believe that Chaco Canyon was an important spiritual center for the Ancestral Pueblo people, based on the great number of kivas, and the many spiritual objects found in the ruins. There is also a belief that Chaco buildings were carefully aligned in order to observe lunar and solar cycles. Periods of drought, and possibly other strife, caused the inhabitants of Chaco Canyon to leave by the 14th century.” After this incident the moved toward the Rio Grande were it was the start of Pueblo Period IV where most shelters were made with puddle adobe, stone and sod blocks. Doors and windows were minimized and just like the last article ladders were used to get into the homes of and base floors were used for storage. Taos pueblo was the first pueblo to settle during this period. After the contact with the Spanish many pueblos started adapting the technique of forming adobe bricks by “forming mud into sun dried adobe bricks.” Pueblo period V is the current period we are in today. At this time both Spanish and Pueblo cultures shared and sometimes adapted construction techniques and designs.

An Understated Sacredness

Swentzell, Rina. “COLORES | Rina Swentzell: An Understated Sacredness | New Mexico PBS.” YouTube, uploaded by knmedotorg, 30 November 2009, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zHAiOKN6Vo

In this video the greenhouse effect and the over population changed the world's view and could potentially be the end of nature. One answer they focused on was learning from other cultures, for example the Pueblo Indian world views. They get this Pueblo view perspective from an architect, Rina Swentzell, of the Santa Clara Pueblo. She states that, “at the center of the pueblos belief system is the conviction that people are not separate from nature and natural forces, the goal of human existence is to maintain wholeness or oneness with the natural universe.” Based on her statement they noted that the Pueblo and Anasazi cultures survived for more than a thousand years or more based on the strength of that conviction. They made the connection that what they built from the earth is just as much a part of nature as any mountains or land forms are. They were able to see that Earth is a sacred space, “a concept the modern world desperately needs to understand.” The video states that the “pueblo people don’t preach sacredness, they live it.” They viewed their architectural work as shrines that have been a part of this earth for a long time. “The house and Kivas also emulated the low hills and mountains and their interconnectedness to the earth” as Swentzell stated. Rina Swentzell shares the Pueblo perspective of housing and pueblo architecture and describes it in a way that every building and piece in their pueblo community connects to different aspects of the earth. Each position of houses, the materials used to build their communities all were used in a very special way to resemble different aspects of the Earth.

Pandemic relief helps Santo Domingo Pueblo fix storm-damaged adobe homes

In this news article from the Santa Fe New Mexican, Santo Domingo experienced a bad hail storm in 2010 that severely damaged many homes in the historical plaza area and other homes around it. Later in 2013 flooding hit the Pueblo and even more homes got damaged and some weren’t able to be lived in. About 160 homes in Santo Domingo are damaged and are on the list for renovations and restorations. In the article, “The state committed $2 million in state funding and $1.4 million in federal CARES Act money to help restore the historical village after setting aside $28 million in CARES funds for New Mexico’s tribal communities.” Santo Domingo’s goal was to spend the full amount for the first eight homes on the priority list by the end of the summer. When the tribe first started asking for money to start the project, the Indian Affairs Department gave them $20,000 as first but then the amount ended up to be $50,000 for technical assistance so they could launch the project.

Vitu, Teya. “Pandemic relief helps Santo Domingo Pueblo fix storm-damaged adobe homes.” Santa Fe New Mexican, 30 March 2021, https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/pandemic-relief-helps-santo-domingo-pueblo-fix-storm-damaged-adobe-homes/article_6ba2cbd4-90d3-11eb-80a8-ef9c195f6f49.html. Accessed 4 Nov. 2021.

Community Meeting PowerPoint Presentation

In the power-point presentation the Santo Domingo Tribal Housing Authority came in with a mission statement. In the mission statement it read that, “The Santo Domingo Tribal Housing Authority is committed to providing housing opportunities that sustain, support and maintain traditional family values, self-sufficiency, and Santo Domingo life.” Their vision is to “enhance Santo Domingo Pueblo life by providing housing opportunities.” The housing authority is planning on using a piece of land in the pueblo called the “Cottonwood subdivision” to build homes for families that have low income. The piece of land is around 10 acres that should be able to accommodate 34 homes. 15 of those homes will be rentals while 19 will go to families with 184 loans.

Editor. “Community Meeting PowerPoint Presentation.” Housing Authority Virtual Community Meeting, Santo Domingo Tribal Housing Authority, 23 September 2021, Online, Virtual Powerpoint Presentation.

Harvard Indigenous Design Collective, Native Housing Panel 1

This panel hosted the nation's leading Indigenous architects, designers, and urban planners to discuss Native Housing. They noticed that housing has led to subdivisions in native communities and not much identity and families in some of these communities. They want to educate people to move away from some of these “smurf” housing dealing with the same design in each house and no flavor or changes in each house. Housing plays a significant role these days in many indigenous communities. Drainage is something that is very crucial especially in the southwestern environment. Under the current federal funding model, it would take 120 years to resolve Indian Country’s housing crisis.

“Harvard Indigenous Design Collective, Native Housing Panel 1.” YouTube, uploaded by Harvard Indigenous Design Collective, 13 April 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watchv=fK6xW_hrNU&t=193s

The Architecture of the Forbidden City

In the article, they were talking about the Chinese architecture in the Forbidden City located in Beijing, China. The Forbidden City was built and used during the Ming and Qing dynasties ranging from 1368-to 1911. The city’s basic material used is wood which makes up most of the city. Surrounding the city's walls that are 8m high and 3.8 km long. Outside those walls is a ditch that surrounds the city that is 50m wide. The four entrances face North, South, East, and West directions. Most of the important buildings are covered with yellow and white glazed tiles while the other buildings use red tiling. In traditional Chinese architecture, they emphasize the left side of the buildings to be improved and promoted, meaning the Ancestral Temple is on the left. On the other hand, the right side means demotion, which leads to the idea that the temple of the Earth and crops is on the right. Within their architecture the wooden columns and roofs are what support the structure while the walls are used as decoration, meaning that if you were to take down a wall the structure would not fall apart. This is because the emperors at the time will be able to make adjustments to their liking, making the city evolve as a new emperor took over the palace.

Noguès, Olivier. “Architecture of the Forbidden city.” Wonders of the World.

https://www.wonders-of-the-world.net/Forbidden-city/Architecture-of-the-forbidden-city.php. Accessed 28 February 2022.

Neoclassical Architecture in American Academic Buildings

In the article neoclassical architecture is divided into three groups, Palladian, Classical Block, and the Temple. For Palladian, this design is built to impose, which is an edifice, rather than a building. This movement, while mostly uncommon, can be found in college campuses in urban settings, or those having a campus in a major metropolitan area. Classical Block is more commonly known as Federalists, or in some cases, Colonial Revival, this type of building is most prevalent in the United States and a staple feature of traditional college campuses. Temple, is conflicting with the church and state separation and the secular nature of the United States education system, this style is uncommon domestically but is popular throughout Europe. This movement may also be referred to as Italian Neoclassical. Some college campuses have these styles of neoclassical architecture such as Harvard, MIT, Williams College, University of Virginia, etc.

Canning, John. “Examples of Neoclassical Architecture in American Academic Buildings.” John Canning Perfecting Preservation. https://johncanningco.com/blog/neoclassical-architecture-in-academic-buildings/. Accessed 28 February 2022.

Spanish Colonial Style

Spanish Colonial Style is very similar to the Pueblo Architecture because since the Spanish come to the Pueblo people they would later learn to adapt their Colonial style architecture. In the Spanish Colonial style, they were using adobe bricks and their doors would be very narrow and windows would be small. In the ceiling, they would have vigas that would extend to the outside of the houses as decoration. Corridors are also established due to the Spaniards taking more priority in class. Meaning that the upper class more wealthy people, their skin would be whiter, meaning they are out of the sun more and not doing hard labor and such while the lower class people are out in the sun all day working, making their skin more tan or dark.

Art History 101. “Spanish Colonial Style.” Youtube, 20 Oct 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kd-nF2eFgDk.

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