Indigenous/traditional

architecture
The field of Indigenous architecture refers to the study and practice of architecture of,
for and by Indigenous people. It is a field of study and practice in the United States,
Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Arctic area of Sámi and many other countries where
Indigenous people have a built tradition or aspire translate or to have their cultures
translated in the built environment. This has been extended to landscape architecture,
urban design, planning, public art, placemaking and other ways of contributing to the
design of built environments.

New Zealand/Aotearoa
Māori

Pataka with tekoteko

The first known dwellings of the ancestors of Māori were based on houses from their
Polynesian homelands (Māori are known to have migrated from eastern Polynesia no later
than 850 A.D.). The Polynesians found they needed warmth and protection from a climate
markedly different from the warm and humid tropical Polynesian islands. The early
colonisers soon modified their construction techniques to suit the colder climate. Many
traditional island building techniques were retained, using new materials: raupo reed,
toetoe grass, aka vines and native timbers: totara, pukatea and manuka. Archeological
evidence suggests that the design of Moa-hunter sleeping houses (850–1350 AD) was
similar to that of houses found in Tahiti and eastern Polynesia. These were rectangular,
round, oval, or 'boat-shaped' semi-permanent dwellings.

These buildings were semi-permanent, as people moved around looking for food sources.
Houses had wooden frames covered in reeds or leaves, with mats on earth floors. To help
people keep warm, houses were small, with low doors, earth insulation and a fire inside.
The standard building in a Māori settlement was a simple sleeping whare puni (house/hut)
about 2 metres x 3 metres with a low roof, an earth floor, no window and a single low
doorway. Heating was provided by a small open fire in winter. There was no chimney.
Materials used in construction varied between areas, but raupo reeds, flax and totara bark
shingles for the roof were common. Similar small whare, but with interior drains, were
[76]

used to store kumara on sloping racks. Around the 15th century communities became
bigger and more settled. People built wharepuni – sleeping houses with room for several
families, and a front porch. Other buildings included pātaka (storehouses), sometimes
decorated with carvings, and kāuta (cooking houses). [77]

The classic phase (1350–1769) which was characterized by a more developed tribal
society expressing itself clearly in wood carving and architecture. The most spectacular
building type was the whare-whakairo, or carved meeting house. This building was the
focus of social and symbolic Maori assemblies, and made visible a long tribal history. The
wall slabs depicted warriors, chiefs and explorers. The painted rafter patterns and tututuku
panels demonstrated the Maori love for land, forest and river. The whare-whakairo was a
colourful synthesis of carved architecture, expressing reverence for ancestors and love of
nature.

A marae at Kaitotehe, near Taupiri mountain, Waikato district, 1844. It was associated with Pōtatau Te
Wherowhero, a chief who became the first Māori king.
Food was not cooked in the sleeping whare but in the open or under a kauta (lean-to).
Saplings with branches and foliage removed were used to store and dry item such as
fishing nets or cloaks. Valuable items were stored in pole-mounted storage shelters called
pataka. Other constructions were large racks for drying split fish.
[79][80]

The marae was the central place of the village where culture can be celebrated and
intertribal obligations can be met and customs can be explored and debated, where family
occasions such as birthdays can be held, and where important ceremonies, such as
welcoming visitors or farewelling the dead (tangihanga), can be performed.

The position of the maihi shown in red

Tānenuiarangi, the wharenui at Waipapa marae, University of Auckland, New Zealand.
Australia
Aborigine
The traditional or vernacular architecture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
in Australia varied to meet the lifestyle, social organization, family size, cultural and
climatic needs and resources available to each community. [1]

Walter Roth: Studies of Aboriginal ethnoarchitectural forms, Queensland, 1897

Aboriginal boys and men in front of a bush shelter, Groote Eylandt, circa 1933

Ethnoarchitectural forms constructed by the Torres Strait Islanders on the exposed beaches and cays at Mt
Ernest Island (Naghi or Nagheer). Lithograph with hand colouring by Melville, c. 1849
Example of Mer Island (or Murray Island) architecture (Torres Strait Islands). Round form covered with
dried banana leaves with sleeping platforms placed inside. Lithograph with hand colouring by Melville, c.
1849

The types of forms varied from dome frameworks made of cane through spinifex-clad arc-
shaped structures, to tripod and triangular shelters and elongated, egg-shaped, stone-based
structures with a timber frame to pole and platform constructions. Annual base camp
structures, whether dome houses in the rainforests of Queensland and Tasmania or stone-
based houses in south-eastern Australia, were often designed for use over many years by
the same family groups. Different language groups had differing names for structures.
These included humpy, gunyah (or gunya), goondie, wiltja and wurley (or wurlie).

Until the 20th century, non-Indigenous peoples assumed that Aboriginal people lacked
permanent buildings, likely because Aboriginal ways of life were misinterpreted during
early contact with Europeans.[citation needed] Labelling Aboriginal communities as
'nomadic' allowed early settlers to justify the takeover of Traditional Lands claiming that
they were not inhabited by permanent residents. [citation needed]

Stone engineering was utilised by a number of Indigenous language groups. Examples of

[2]

Aboriginal stone structures come from Western Victoria's Gunditjmara peoples. These [3][4][5]

builders utilised basalt rocks around Lake Condah to erect housing and complicated
systems of stone weirs, fish and eel traps and gates in water courses creeks. The lava-
stone homes had circular stone walls over a metre high and topped with a dome roof made
of earth or sod cladding. Evidence of sophisticated stone engineering has been found in
other parts of Australia. As late as 1894, a group of around 500 people still lived in houses
near Bessibelle that were constructed out of stone with sod cladding on a timber-framed
dome. Nineteenth-century observers also reported flat slab slate-type stone housing in
South Australia's north-east corner. These dome-shaped homes were built on heavy limbs
and used clay to fill in the gaps. In New South Wales’ Warringah area, stone shelters were
constructed in an elongated egg shape and packed with clay to keep the interior dry.
USA
American Indians
The traditional architecture of American Indians was greatly influenced by the building
materials available in a particular region of the country. There were other determining
factors as well.

Technology imposed three basic structural types: the bent frame with covering, as used for
the wigwam; the compression shell, as used for the igloo and tipi; and the post and beam
wood frame, as used for the lean-to, the shed, and the plankhouse. Frequently the form of a
dwelling utilized more than one technique. Construction practices required great skill, as
workers had to steam a sapling until it bent without breaking, to down trees and split boards,
to rain proof animal hides, to make fiber ties for binding building materials, or to manufacture
adobe bricks.

To protect themselves against the elements, Indians built double-shelled walls of skins or
wood that could be insulated with grass or moss. Walls of cane or reeds were erected around
dwellings to serve as windbreaks. The sides of structures were covered with bark and animal
skin that could be removed on hot summer days. Arbors were built with bough roofs and no
walls so inhabitants could rest in the shade.

Social customs governed the size of a structure. If a man lived with his wife's family when he
married or vice versa, then the dwelling would be enlarged to accommodate the spouse, and
later, children. Many structures, such as the Iroquois's longhouse or the Pueblo's apartment-
style buildings, were built in a modular fashion that allowed remodeling. Circular dwellings
were often joined to nearby structures by passageways.

The economics of food gathering generally required that Indian tribes have more than one
home. Many had summer quarters that allowed easy access to the food source. For example,
the Northwest Coast Indians moved inland to collect berries and fish the salmon-laden rivers;
and the Pueblo Indians moved closer to their fields to tend their crops. More sedentary Indians
in the Northeast would move entire villages to harvest particular runs of fish or birds. They
also moved their villages if the supply of saplings for building materials was used up or if the
garden soil was exhausted. Many southeastern Indians had summer and winter houses next
door to each other with unattached storage units.

Indian views of religion and myths often determined the placement of a dwelling. Prayers
were said before construction and blessings asked for after the structure was complete.
Different dwellings were needed for various religious ceremonies. Specific structures were
designed for sweating, giving birth, cleansing, meditating, dancing, worshipping, and
honoring the dead.

During the immediate precontact period, the styles of Indian architecture can be divided into
broad geographic regions of ecological similarities. The basic structure in the Northeast
woodlands and Great Lakes areas was a frame of bent saplings covered by bark sheets or reed
mats. These wigwams, utilized by three major language groups, the Iroquoian, the
Algonquian, and the Siouan, were usually round or oblong dome-shaped huts averaging
twelve to fifteen feet in diameter. In some areas, the same basic structure was elongated to
stretch 100 feet or more. These longhouses were year-round dwellings for extended families
or were used as lodges for religious ceremonies.

In the Southeast, the Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, and Creeks lived in towns. Often the
chief's house was built on a burial mound; other significant buildings, such as those used for
town council or for worship, might also be situated on top of mounds. Houses were
constructed of timber and wattle and daub, a clay and grass plaster placed over woven laths of
rods or cane; roofs were normally made of thatch, bark, or palmetto leaves. Council houses,
also made of wattle and daub, were built for special meetings and assemblies and could hold
up to 500 Indians on tiers of raised platforms.

Many Plains agricultural groups lived in earthlodge villages. An earthlodge was usually 12 to
18 meters in diameter, but could be larger. Typically, a twelve-post circular arrangement
served to support the walls and roof, with a central four-post-and-beam structure used to
support the 100 or so rafters. The roof was made of willow branches and prairie grass and
topped with sod. These lodges were used during the agricultural season. During hunting
season, the Indians would follow the game employing portable housing. Tipis, designed
around a three-or four-pole foundation, were covered with buffalo hides. When Indians
moved from place to place, dogs carried the poles and hides. Only with the advent of horses
did many Plains Indians take up a nomadic existence with large tipis that could be moved by
large pack animals.

In the far north, Eskimos survived the dark frigid artic in winter houses or igloos. Winter
houses were partially sunk into the ground and their frames were made of whatever could be
found nearby: walls were made of rocks or sod, roof supports, of whale bones or driftwood.
Layers of seal or walrus skins were covered with dried moss or sod and used for roofs. A long
entranceway that angled down and then back up was used to eliminate chilling windblasts and
required inhabitants to climb through a trapdoor into the interior. Igloos were made of snow
blocks angled and tilted to form a dome. They also featured a long entrance passage. In
summer, Eskimos lived in tents of skins covering wooden frames with and without ridgepoles.

Along the Northwest Pacific Coast, Indians harvested planks for their homes from dense
cedar forests. They used post and beam construction with rafters to build longhouses
(averaging sixty-feet long) for multiple families. They grouped these houses in winter villages
facing the shore. Shed roofs and gabled roofs were made with rocks to hold roof planks in
position. In summer, many Indians took planks from their homes to use at salmon fishing
camps, while others built temporary lean-to dwellings out of brush and cedar-bark mats.

In the Southwest, Indians built dwellings four or five stories high using stone or sun-dried
adobe bricks and mortar. Towns were comprised of clustered multiroomed houses with
connecting rooftops, interior passageways, underground religious chambers (kivas), public
plazas, and work terraces. Steps and ladders led to upper floors. The probable ancestors of
these Pueblo Indians were the Anasazis, who built cliff dwellings archeologists believe
suggest the use of sophisticated architects and construction contractors.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ferguson, William M. The Anasazi of Mesa Verde and the Four Corners. Boulder: University
Press of Colorado, 1996.
Morgan, William N. Precolumbian Architecture in Eastern North America. Gainesville:
University Press of Florida, 1999.
Nabokov, Peter, and Robert Easton. Native American Architecture. New York: Oxford
University Press, 1989.
Wedel, Waldo R. Central Plains Prehistory: Holocene Environments and Cultural Change in
the Republican River Basin. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1986.

distribution of Indians in USA

Compendium of Indigenous American house typologies
Structure of the Apache Wickiup

Ojibwe Wigiwaam and Dakota-style tipis (White Earth1928)

llustration of Wikiup- California

Pueblo indian homes today

Tipi floor layout- American Indians
American Indian houses

Native American Indians

Canada
Aboriginals
Indigenous peoples in Canada (also known as Aboriginals) are the indigenous peoples
within the boundaries of Canada. They comprise the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis.
Although "Indian" and "Eskimo" are terms term that have been used, they have gradually
fallen into disuse in Canada, and most consider them to be pejorative. “Aboriginal" as a
collective noun is a specific term of art used in some legal documents, including the
Constitution Act, 1982, though in some circles that word is also falling into disfavor.

The original Indigenous people of Canada developed complex building traditions

thousands of years before the arrival of the first Europeans. Canada contained five broad
cultural regions, defined by common climatic, geographical and ecological characteristics.
Each region gave rise to distinctive building forms which reflected these conditions, as
well as the available building materials, means of livelihood, and social and spiritual
values of the resident peoples.

A striking feature of traditional Canadian architecture was the consistent integrity between
structural forms and cultural values. The wigwam, (otherwise known as 'wickiup' or
'wetu), tipi and snow house were building-forms perfectly suited to their environments
and to the requirements of mobile hunting and gathering cultures. The longhouse, pit
house and plank house were diverse responses to the need for more permanent building
forms.

Tipi
A traditional Iroquois longhouse.

The semi-nomadic peoples of the Maritimes, Quebec, and Northern Ontario, such as the
Mi'kmaq, Cree, and Algonquin generally lived in wigwams. The wood framed structures,
covered with an outer layer of bark, reeds, or woven mats; usually in a cone shape,
although sometimes a dome. The groups changed locations every few weeks or months.
They would take the outer layer of the structure with them, and leave the heavy wood
frame in place. The frame could be reused if the group returned to the location at a later
date.

Further south, in what is today Southern Ontario and Quebec the Iroquois society lived in
permanent agricultural settlements holding several hundred to several thousand people.
The standard form of housing was the long house. These were large structures, several
times longer than they were wide holding a large number of people. They were built with
a frame of saplings or branches, covered with a layer of bark or woven mats.

On the Prairies the standard form of life was a nomadic one, with the people often moving
to a new location each day to follow the bison herds. Housing thus had to be portable, and
the tipi was developed. The tipi consisted of a thin wooden frame and an outer covering of
animal hides. The structures could be quickly erected, and were light enough to transport
long distances.
Details of Ojibwe Wigwam at Grand Portage byEastman Johnson

In the Interior of British Columbia the standard form of home was the semi-permanent pit
house, thousands of relics of which, known as quiggly holes are scattered across the
Interior landscape. These were structures shaped like an upturned bowl, placed on top of a
0.91 or 1.22m deep pit. The bowl, made of wood, would be covered with an insulating
layer of earth. The house would be entered by climbing down a ladder at the centre of the
roof.
Pit house

quiggly holes

Some of the best architectural designs were made by settled people along the North
American west coast. People like the Haida used advanced carpentry and joinery skills to
construct large houses of red cedar planks. These were large square, solidly built houses.
One advanced design was the six beam house, named for the number of beams that
supported the roof, where the front of each house would be decorated with a heraldric pole
that would be sometimes be brightly painted with artistic designs.

Haida houses

In the far north, where wood was scarce and solid shelter essential for survival, several
unique and innovative architectural styles were developed. One of the most famous is the
igloo, a domed structure made of snow, which was quite warm. In the summer months,
when the igloos melted, tents made of seal skin, or other hides, were used. The Thule
adopted a design similar to the pit houses of the BC interior, but because of the lack of
wood they instead used whale bones for the frame.

In addition to meeting the primary need for shelter, structures functioned as integral
expressions of their occupants' spiritual beliefs and cultural values. In all five regions,
dwellings performed dual roles – providing both shelter and a tangible means of linking
mankind with the universe. Building-forms were often seen as metaphorical models of the
cosmos, and as such they frequently assumed powerful spiritual qualities which helped
define the cultural identity of the group.

The sweat lodge is a hut, typically dome-shaped and made with natural materials, used by
Indigenous peoples of the Americas for ceremonial steam baths and prayer. There are
several styles of structures used in different cultures; these include a domed or oblong hut
similar to a wickiup, a permanent structure made of wood and earth, or even a simple hole
dug into the ground and covered with planks or tree trunks. Stones are typically heated
and then water poured over them to create steam. In ceremonial usage, these ritual actions
are accompanied by traditional prayers and songs.

Other aboriginal house types.

Community of Igloos- illustration

Igloo section
Igloo- layout and construction

Igloo- completed abode

Nordic Region
Sámi

Sami with a reindeer

The Sámi people are the Indigenous people of the northern part of the Scandinavian
Peninsula and large parts of the Kola Peninsula, which encompasses parts of far northern
Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia, and the border area between south and middle
Sweden and Norway. The Sámi are the only Indigenous people of Scandinavia recognized
and protected under the international conventions of indigenous people, and the
northernmost Indigenous people of Europe. Sámi ancestral lands span an area of
approximately 388,350 across the Nordic countries.
Homeland of the Sammi people at present

There are a number of Sámi ethnoarchitectural forms; including the lavvu, goahti, the
Finnish laavu. The differences between the goahti and the lavvu can be seen when looking
at the top of structures. A lavvu will have its poles coming together, while the goahti will
have its poles separate and not coming together. The turf version of the goahti will have
the canvas replaced with wood resting on the structure covered with birch bark then peat
to provide a durable construction.

Lavvu
Lavvu is a structure built by the Sámi of northern Scandinavia. It has a design similar to a
Native American tipi but is less vertical and more stable in high winds. It enables the
indigenous cultures of the treeless plains of northern Scandinavia and the high arctic of
Eurasia to follow their reindeer herds. It is still used as a temporary shelter by the Sámi,
and increasingly by other people for camping.
A lavvu in the late 1800s, from "Norge i det nittende aarhundrede" (1900).

There are several historical references that describe the lavvu structure used by the Sami.
These structures have the following in common: [106][107][108][109][110]

1. The lavvu is supported by three or more evenly spaced forked or notched poles that
form a tripod.
2. There are upwards of ten or more unsecured straight poles that are laid up against
the tripod and which give form to the structure.
3. The lavvu does not need any stakes, guy-wire or ropes to provide shape or stability
to the structure.
4. The shape and volume of the lavvu is determined by the size and quantity of the
poles that are used for the structure.
5. There is no center pole needed to support this structure.

Goahti
A goahti is a Sami hut or tent of three types of covering: fabric, peat moss or timber. The
fabric-covered goahti looks very similar to a Sami lavvu, but often constructed slightly
larger. In its tent version the goahti is also called a 'curved pole' lavvu, or a 'bread box'
lavvu as the shape is more elongated while the lavvu is in a circular shape.
A Sami family in front of goahti. The tent in the background is a lavvu. Note the differences in the pole
placement of the two structures. This photo was taken around 1900 in northern Scandinavia.
A reconstruction of a wooden goahti

The interior construction of the poles is thus: 1) four curved poles (2.4–3.7m long), 2)
one straight center pole (1.5–2.4 m long), and 3) approximately a dozen straight wall-
poles (3.0–4.6 m long). All the pole sizes can vary considerably.

The four curved poles curve to about a 130° angle. Two of these poles have a hole drilled
into them at one end, with those ends being joined together by the long center pole that is
inserted by the described poles. The other two curved poles are also joined at the other
end of the long pole. When this structure is set up, a four-legged stand is formed with the
long pole at the top and center of the structure. With the four-legged structure standing up
to about five to eight feet in height, approximately ten or twelve straight "wall-poles" are
laid up against the structure. The goahti covering, today made usually of canvas, is laid up
against the structure and tied down. There can be more than one covering that covers the
structure.
Traditional raised Sami storehouse, displayed at Skansen, Stockholm. A similar structure, is mentioned in
Russian fairy tales as a "house with chicken legs"

Peat goahti from Eastern Finnmark. Late 19th century.