Kaid Benfield

A new Native American village based on tradition helps a Tribe reclaim its sustainable roots

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The Ohkay Owingeh Tribe and Pueblo in New Mexico has returned to its roots with an award-winning, mixed-income housing project based on traditional Native forms. It's an exciting and inspiring project. Built by the Ohkay Owingeh Housing Authority explicitly as an alternative to sprawl-type housing, Tsigo Bugeh Village is a $5.3 million residential community that reflects traditional pueblo living with attached units divided around two plazas, one oriented to the solstice and the other to the equinox, as the tribe’s original pueblo was built. As the Housing Authority’s website points out, the homes are attached, their scale and massing similar to the original Ohkay Owingeh pueblo: “this is key to our architectural heritage, and the idea of community living that is central to our way of life.”...

Native Nations
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Benfield, Kaid. "A new Native American village based on tradition helps a Tribe reclaim its sustainable roots." Switchboard: National Resources Defense Council Staff Blog, February 8, 2012. Article. (http://www.citylab.com/housing/2012/02/native-american-public-housing-project-returns-its-roots/1172/, accessed February 24, 2023)