KEYAGHI [ON THE LAND]
Crownpoint, New Mexico
LARP 702 // PennDesign
Instructor // Laurie Olin
Partner // Brett Kessler
To this day, the Navajo Nation spanning from parts of Arizona to New Mexico, remains largely off-grid. Water, internet, and other basic resources are not a common commodity. Crownpoint, NM holds the Navajo Technical University, which not only strives to keep the cultural legacy of the Navajo people, but maintains an advanced fabrication lab that works with advanced institutions such as NASA.
With an unusual amount of educated young people leaving the Nation to find opportunities elsewhere, our group sought to develop a new housing and development hub geared to let the most educated stay and grow while working symbiotically with the university. Our goal was not only to create a sense of place by integrating cultural ideas of closeness with the land, but to open up sufficient public space as a driver of community and economic growth.
Lessons
"Research + face-to-face is important. This studio was incredible in that we researched about the place, culture, and people before we visited. Being welcomed into the reservation felt like a privilege. No amount of reading/deducing compares to meeting actual people."