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Final Report: Sustainable Housing at Pine Ridge Reservation

EPA Grant Number: SU831856
Title: Sustainable Housing at Pine Ridge Reservation
Investigators: Dunbar, Brian , Elsner, Jeff , Esposito, Derek , Floreani, Chante , Harrison, Kathryn , Hellmund, Paul , Kirkpatrick, Alex , Nobe, Mary , Pickering, Kathy , Plaut, Josie , Riley, David , Rossnagel, Alyssa , Russell, Nate , Smith, Maura , Winfrey, Phillip , Wood, Dane
Institution: Colorado State University , Pennsylvania State University
EPA Project Officer: Nolt-Helms, Cynthia
Project Period: September 15, 2004 through September 14, 2005
Project Amount: $10,000
RFA: P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity, and the Planet (2004)
Research Category: Pollution Prevention/Sustainable Development

Description:

Objective:

Interdisciplinary students studied culture, climate, local/regionally available materials, healthy building techniques, reasonable energy options and sustainable housing technologies appropriate to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The curriculum was an outgrowth of the ‘ecosphere’ diagram created by the CSU Institute for the Built Environment and included below. The eco-sphere served as a guide for the students and other project participants, assuring that the comprehensive nature and interconnectedness of sustainable built environments is constantly regarded. Once students understood the conditions on the reservation, an on-campus charrette and individual research projects would serve to prepare students to work with Oglala Lakota College students to design multiple sustainable housing choices, remodel options, new home options and additions. A main goal of the project has been to begin to document and compile sustainable building information including energy efficient housing options and regional, healthy, environmentally friendly materials for construction.

Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):

Students and faculty at Colorado State University (CSU) formed a special 2004-2005 course that has included interaction with Oglala Lakota College (OLC) students and other residents from Pine Ridge. Students and other project participants have been engaged in learning sustainable building technologies such as energy analysis, building with regionally appropriate materials, innovative site, water and air quality techniques, and other green building strategies. The course has also included a constant focus of integrating cultural and economic issues to sustainable built environments.

The course participants have studied and researched culturally appropriate Plains Indian housing and created a series of collaborative design charrettes centered around sustainable housing issues for the residents of Pine Ridge. The community-based charrettes have begun to provide a forum for mutually beneficial interactions between the Oglala Lakota Nation, CSU students/faculty and non-profits involved in on-going Pine Ridge work. A major goal of the charrettes has been, and will continue to be, to develop regionally, culturally, and economically appropriate building choices for the reservation residents.

Conclusions:

The CSU students studied the social and built environmental conditions at Pine Ridge with the help of reservation residents and Village Earth, a local non-profit that has performed research and outreach programs on the reservation for a number of years, in order to determine what future practices will potentially provide viable solutions to better the people of Pine Ridge, their economic viability, and their precious natural resources. The results of the research, the interactions, and the charrette workshops now forms a basis for Phase II work, compiling the sustainable building information and developing a plan to disseminate the information.

Proposed Phase II Objectives and Strategies:

During Phase II, the interdisciplinary team of OLC and CSU students will visit, study, and document existing alternative buildings on or near the reservation. Students acid faculty will build a database of appropriate sustainable building practices using both the studies of existing buildings and the gathering of information of other methods, materials, and technologies that are culturally, geographically, and economically appropriate to the reservation. This data will then be compiled into a user-friendly guidebook, The Pine Ridge Reservation Sustainable Design Guidebook, that will be produced in both hardcopy and electronic formats. The project implementation strategies include engaging OLC and CSU students in the study of sustainable building strategies, gathering information of existing built environments, compiling the data into a sustainable building design guide, and formatting the guide into book and electronic forms for distribution.

Supplemental Keywords:

Ecology, Human Equity, Sustainable Building, community design charrettes, natural building, , Sustainable Industry/Business, Scientific Discipline, RFA, POLLUTION PREVENTION, Technology for Sustainable Environment, Sustainable Environment, waste reduction, Environmental Engineering, Engineering, pollution prevention design, environmental conscious construction, sustainable housing, green design, green building design, sustainable development, waste minimization, architectual design, ecological design, architecture, alternative building technology, Pine Ridge Reservation, America Indian Housing Initiative
Relevant Websites:

http://www.villageearth.org/ exit EPA
www.ibe.colostate.edu exit EPA

Progress and Final Reports:
Original Abstract

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The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.

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