DesignBuildBLUFF, with generous support from the Utah Humanities Council, is please to announce the next presentations in the Friday Night Lecture Series.  Our presentations have been engaging, informative, and accessible–we encourage all to attend.

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Our next trip down will feature two presentations:

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Friday, February 26

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Ben Bellorado

Seeing Through Their Eyes: Understanding the Development and Spread of Rock Art Traditions in the Comb Ridge Area and Landscapes Beyond

Rock art provides one of the most direct paths for archaeologists to see what ancient peoples were actually thinking as moved within their landscapes.  This presentation will document the development of various rock art imagery styles in the Four Corners Region and discuss how rock art research can help archaeologists understand the ways prehistoric cultures interacted with their environments over time.  Recent archaeological surveys on Comb Ridge, just west of Bluff Utah, have documented several hundred rock art panels as part of the larger effort to document cultural resources in the Comb Wash, Comb Ridge, and Butler Wash areas.  Comparing this new body of rock art data to Native American oral traditions and landscape ecology studies is providing archaeologists with a variety of important insights about the prehistoric occupants of Southeastern Utah.  Preliminary results from the ongoing rock art research for the Comb Ridge Survey Project will be discussed.

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Friday, March 5

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Clayton Long

The Navajo Culture Based on the Four Directions

The audience will have a broad view of the Navajo life as the presenter unfolds the culture as labed the path of the Sun (East, South, West and North).

We welcome any and all to these presentations, given at the Recapture Lodge in Bluff, Utah.  Our presentations begin at 7:00 and last approximately an hour.  This program has received funding from the Utah Humanities Council.  The Utah Humanities Council promotes understanding of human traditions, values, and issues through informed public discussion.  Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication/program/exhibition/website do not necessarily represent those of the Utah Humanities Council or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

DesignBuildBLUFF, with generous support from the Utah Humanities Council, is pleased to present its Friday Night Lecture Series.  Our next trip down, we’ll have two presentations:

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Friday, February 5th

Joe Pachak

Ancestral Pueblo:  Cultural Forms  found in Archeoastronomy, Rock Art  and Architecture

The prehistoric archaeological record gives us the information to see how iconography shaped architectural forms.  We will explore the rock art through time from Basket Maker into Puebloan culture. Icons found in rock art display Creation Mythology of the Basket Maker People, the landscape and the sky, the light and the dark, inspires these  icons and establish a very strong tradition that is carried into the Puebloan culture.

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Friday, February 12th

Caroline Lameman

My Understanding of Where I Belong

During my talk, I would like to speak about my life off the reservation and how when I came back, it was difficult to fit back into the community I had never really belonged to. At the same time, I would like to describe the connections between clans and how I fit into the system. When I came back, I began to become interested in how a lot of people were somehow related and that I had a lot more family than I would have thought before. The clan system is really more complicated and complex than it appears to be, and can get confusing. I would like to explain it and break it down in my terms so that more people can understand how we relate to each other as kin. With my knowledge of the system, I now know where I belong with my people.

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We welcome any and all to these presentations, given at the Recapture Lodge in Bluff, Utah.  Our presentations begin at 7:00 and last approximately an hour.  This program has received funding from the Utah Humanities Council.  The Utah Humanities Council promotes understanding of human traditions, values, and issues through informed public discussion.  Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication/program/exhibition/website do not necessarily represent those of the Utah Humanities Council or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Often times when we are close to a project, or consistently exposed to something, we stop seeing its potential, its impact and its unique qualities.  With this in mind, DesignBuildBLUFF has launched fundraising efforts and media outreach outside of Utah – places where most people have never heard of Bluff, or the concept of giving a Navajo Family a home each year.

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This shift in geographic reach now also includes the students. After years of being known as the University of Utah’s program, DBB is spreading its wings, and making its unique curriculum available to architecture students from universities across the globe.  Students at U of U will still be able to participate and receive credits from DBB, but so will students from institutions like University of Colorado and University of New Mexico.  In the weeks and months to come, DBB will be announcing more universities that will be participating in its program as soon as next fall.

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In December, the DBB team went to Phoenix to hold the first of several fundraisers.  With endless help and insight from Julie and Tim Louis, and Carrie and Jon Hulburd, “A night for Imagination” was launched at Sanctuary at Camelback.  The first-time, on-the-road fundraising effort taught the DBB team much that they will use as they continue the concept in new cities, namely Denver, next month.

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What: A Night for Imagination – DesignBuildBLUFF

When: February 6, 2010 – 5:30pm

Where: Denver Country Club, 1700 E. 1st Avenue

Why: 100% of proceeds will go toward building a home for a Navajo family

RSVP: www.designbuildbluff.org/RSVP

DesignBuildBLUFF extends wishes for a Happy New Year and our warmest thanks to all of our supporters from the past year.

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Your contribution is greatly appreciated by all of the DesignBuildBLUFF staff, our graduates, and our current students.  Your support allows us to continue our mission of providing a unique educational experience to tomorrow’s architects and a home for a deserving family.

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Special thanks to:

Mark and Kathie Miller Foundation

Alta Club

Elizabeth H. Solomon

Harold W. Keland

Tim Louis

Nicole E. MacClaren

Gwen Reddish

John D. & Kristi Cumming

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Please see the list of all benefactors.

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We sincerely look forward to continuing our relationship with all of our benefactors and supporters.

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Respectfully,

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DesignBuildBLUFF

At DesignBuildBLUFF we teach the architects of tomorrow more than just how to design a structure. We teach them how to use their hands, hearts and heads to create a home that is both at one with the landscape and challenges the preconceived notions of what a building can and should be. And we need your help.

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On February 6th, you are invited to join our community of designers and dreamers for a night of celebrating the imagination. Here you will be able to learn more about our mission and contribute to our future. 100% of proceeds will go towards the construction of a new home for a deserving family on the Navajo Reservation in Bluff, Utah.

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With students from across the Four Corners, including the University of Utah, Arizona State University, University of Colorado and University of New Mexico plus Montana State University, the work you support now will inspire architects across the country for years to come.

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To confirm your attendance, extend regrets, or learn more about supporting DesignBuildBLUFF go to: www.designbuildbluff.org/RSVP.

For questions and more information, please call us at 435 649 7080 or email office@designbuildbluff.org.

getting ready for the big party...

We’re just one week away from the start of our new fundraising campaign.  We’re kicking ‘A Night of Imagination’ off in Phoenix, Arizona at Sanctuary on Camelback on December 5th.  The evening will continue with a cocktail dinner buffet at the home of Julie & Tim Louis.

Right now we’re adjusting the last details of the event and fine-tuning the evening’s presentations.  The excitement in the office (and Phoenix) is at an all-time high as we put the finishing touches on the gathering.  We’ve invited students from past years down to share their experiences as well as all of the DesignBuildBLUFF staff.  We’ll have Iliza Shlesinger from NBC’s Last Comic Standing and ‘Imagine It! 2′ to keep us on our toes as well as local figures from Phoenix.

Sanctuary on Camelback is situated on 53 breathtaking acres of lush desert and clings to the north slope of its namesake mountain overlooking Paradise Valley, Arizona.  We’re planning this fundraiser as a departure from the standard ‘Dinner and Auction’ event.  We’re sure that our guests will enjoy the new format–stay tuned to hear the details of the event!

DesignBuildBLUFF recently entered the Benally House for The 2009 Excellence in Masonry Design Awards.  On November 13th, we were invited to the Little America Hotel in Salt Lake City to receive recognition from the Utah Masonry Council for creative reuse of material.

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Atsushi Yamamoto, a member of DesignBuildBLUFF staff and one of the students who designed and built the Benally House, attended the reception to receive the award.

We’re thrilled that a 1,200 square foot, student-designed and -built project can inspire such a reception.  It was fantastic to see our project right alongside capitol buildings, high schools, and much larger projects.

At DesignBuildBLUFF we teach the architects of tomorrow more than just how to design a structure.  We teach them how to use their hands, hearts, and heads to create a home that is both at one with the landscape and challenges the preconceived notions of what a building can and should be.  We need your help.

On December 5^th you are invited to join our community of designers and dreamers for an evening of celebrating the imagination.  At this engagement you will be able to learn more about our mission and contribute to our future;  100% of proceeds of this event will go towards the construction of a new home for a deserving family on the Navajo Reservation near Bluff, Utah.  Additionally, there will be a live multimedia variety show “imagine it! 2 The Power of Imagination” starring Iliza Shlesinger, winner of NBC’s Last Comic Standing.

To confirm your attendance, extend regrets, or learn more about supporting DesignBuildBLUFF go to: www.designbuildbluff.org/RSVP.

Hank Louis, founder of DesignBuildBLUFF, recently gave a presentation at Salt Lake’s Alta Club, a gathering place for Utah’s business, educational, and political leaders.  Hank’s presentation, given the evening of October 21, also kicked off an exhibit of DesignBuildBLUFF’s work in the Alta Club’s gallery.

Hank presenting DBB's history and work in the Alta Club library.

DBB images hanging in the halls of the Alta Club.

The exhibit will hang until March 11, 2010.

DBB extends heart-felt thanks to all who attended this presentation and to all of the Alta Club members and staff who made the presentation and exhibit possible.

To learn more about the Alta Club, please visit the Alta Club Website.

Janet and her daughter are answering the students' questions.

Just as the annual fundraiser for DesignBuildBLUFF was coming to a close, a new group of students was en route to the U of U College of Architecture + Planning. Many of those students traveled from counties afar, drawn to the school by DBB’s fresh approach to hands-on learning.
The class of 21 is by far the most female-dominated in DBB’s history with only eight male students. “I’m interested in how the demographic will influence the design,” says Professor Hank Louis.

In the past month, the class has chosen a family in Bluff, Utah that will receive a new home by next spring. The students’ next step is creating 10 possible designs for the family, that a jury will whittle down to three contenders by November. The family then chooses a home design from the top three – with the students slated to begin construction by January.

When asked about the future of DBB, Louis responded: “It’s bright—we’re growing and learning with the hopes of expanding this to a year-round program where we can positively influence more people with more housing—not just in Utah—but anywhere.”