Architecture students teach design at SF Indian School

By Carolyn Gonzales

With the Santa Fe Indian School (SFIS) embarking on a $50 million project to rebuild campus facilities on its 114-acre site, UNM Architecture Professor Anne Taylor saw an opportunity to share her graduate students’ expertise with SFIS students.

Indian owned architectural firm ASCG, Inc. and Van Gilbert Architects as well as Flintco Construction have been commissioned to build new facilities at the 100-year-old school. Taylor and SFIS Vice President Hal Schultz agreed the SFIS students could benefit from architectural and construction experiences if they knew more about design.

“The school and the All Indian Pueblo Council and the SFIS school board want to preserve pueblo culture. These students are caretakers of their cultures,” Taylor says. The UNM School of Architecture and Planning have signed an agreement for graduate students to teach at SFIS.

SFIS students integrated their knowledge of pueblo designs and created a centerred plaza space.

Alan Shirley and Michael Antonio, Edward Valley, Mike Nothwang and Jayita Sahni, graduate students in architecture, traveled to Santa Fe each Monday to teach sketching, model building and basic design elements.

SFIS drafting teacher Bryce Townsend, of San Juan and San Felipe Pueblos, primarily presented mechanical drafting. “The UNM students brought in architectural elements and concepts. They broke down the design process into phases. They helped the students develop and refine their sketches and build study models from the sketches. They took them from an original sketch to a final model that they presented at our Academic Fair,” he says.

Michael Antonio, originally from Continental Divide, New Mexico, and a 2002 master’s in architecture graduate, says that the program gave him the chance to give back to Native American youth. “We taught them how to view things, look at nature and their physical environment differently. They learned how to express themselves, in drawing, in models and even expressing their ideas and concepts verbally. It’s what architects do and how they relate to the real world,” he says.

Using a project-based educational plan, the students had four projects to choose from. They could design, build a model for and then build a plant stand. The second project involved renovating and redesigning the drafting studio. Thirdly, they could create a dorm room design. Finally, they could design a model for the Tesuque Pueblo plaza.

Antonio says that the students were initially reluctant to step out of bounds and get creative. “We kept urging them on,” he says. He learned from the students, too. “The students come from many different tribes. As a Navajo I wasn’t as familiar with pueblo culture, but I watched as they integrated their knowledge of pueblo design and created a plaza space in the middle of the room. It was very powerful,” he says.

“The students’ dorm design may be used for the actual project,” says Townsend.

“The kids will be working with the designers and buildings as the remodel takes place,” Taylor says.

Another result of the project is that Townsend has returned to school to become an architect.

“It may take me five to ten years to earn the degree and get the teacher certification, but I do want to return to teaching,” he says. “I specifically want to work in programs like this, perhaps even creating a bridge program between Santa Fe Indian School and the School of Architecture and Planning,”