In 1981, the Navajo Tribe’s Navajo Nutrition Self-Help Project published a “how to manual” Let the Sun Shine In – Warm Your House & Grow Your Food written by David Hartie-Shutte and illustrated by Gerald Bahe. Although the typography dates it to the very early days of desktop publishing, the content is more relevant now than ever.
The Polaroid photo below is a housing unit for nurses at the Chinle Hospital from the era.
This illustration by architect Dennis R. Holloway from a few years later lead to the construction a deluxe solar hogan at the University of Colorado, College of Environmental Design. Although it created some excitement with the Navajo Housing Authority, it may have been too pricey to be adopted as a design model for the reservation.
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