Thunder Valley House
DD, CA
2012
Pine Ridge Reservation, SD
Pine Ridge is a U.S. Indian Reservation in South Dakota and home to the Oglala Lakota tribe. At the time of design, Shannon County, located in Pine Ridge, faced an 80% unemployoment rate and an average annual income below $3,000. These issues stemmed from a lack of affordable housing and land ownership.
Students from the University of Colorado joined students from the Oglala Lakota College and South Dakota School of Mines and Technology to develop designs for four homes to be construced on the reservation. These homes were designed as living laboratories to collect data on energy use and air quality. The experiement would provide data on best practicies for residential construction on the reservation.
After completing the designs, the students worked with local labor to build the first of the four homes planned for the site. This single family home was constructed using straw bale and stucco walls.