The designer grew up on the Oneida Indian Reservation in Wisconsin. Their home was designed and built by the United Stated Department of Housing and Urban Development (H.U.D.) to house Indigenous people who were forcibly removed and relocated to reservations from their ancestral lands. H.U.D. homes have been an instrument of colonization by removing the option of choice, and failing to support the educational, economic, and cultural advancement of Indigenous people.

To address deficiencies of H.U.D. housing, this structure considers the ways that conventional housing models, especially those from H.U.D., can be improved for Indigenous people.

My H.U.D. house didn’t have…

A porch

A garage

A place for a fire

A view of the sky

A good connection to the Earth

A place to study/read/draw

A good way to get water off the roof

Any regard for the sun/moon

Space for my non-human relatives

The regalia of my culture