Navajo Nation Housing Project
June 27, 2004
By Kris Garrison
photos courtesy of Tolchii' Kooh School District
The non-profit organization "Tolchii' Kooh" is a recipient of a HUD/NAJASDA Grant to build a 36-unit housing project for teachers, staff and public rentals. The homes are located next to the charter school located on the Navajo Nation reservation at Taloni Lake, Arizona -- some 65 miles east northeast of Flagstaff, Arizona or 45 miles north of Winslow, Arizona.
Monolithic Domes are a relatively new architectural concept for the Navajo Reservation, particularly for residential housing.
Joe Hancock, owner of BMJS Contracting Incorporated and General Contractor for the project said, "The homes are almost complete. There are a few details still undone, like sewer hookups on a few of the domes."
The construction of the dome shell was subcontracted to Dome Technology of Idaho Falls, but we finished out the rest of the project."
The 24 domes are expected to open for occupancy mid summer 2004. The 32' domes are built in clusters of four domes. Each group of four is divided into 6 apartments: four one-bedroom apartments and two, 2-bedrooms apartments -- a total of 36 rentals. Teachers and staff will be given first choice with the remaining vacancies given to other Native American residents of the reservation.
Living areas feature ceramic tile with carpeting in the bedrooms. Each unit is complete with a full shower/tub combination, a refrigerator and stove and paid water usage. Tenants will be expected to pay for electricity.
Ron White, Tolani Lake Elementary School Academy Superintendent, said, "We haven't advertised at all for the rentals and we will have more people than we need to fill them up by the time they open in June."
A variety of architecture is built on the reservation, but the idea for using this type of structure for housing came about when Mr. White saw a rendering of a similar rental project in Minnesota in a magazine.
He said, "It wasn't perfectly what we wanted, so we modified it a little. The project architect, Loren Sadler of Arizona was able to make the necessary modifications and make it work for us. Monolithic Domes give the project high energy efficiency, resulting in low utility and heating costs, low wind profiles and less wind damage, and roominess not available in conventional housing. The dome housing should be a very wonderful place to live."
Tolani Lake Elementary School Academy has 73 students and approximately 16 teachers on staff at this time. Future plans for Navajo Nation include an 80-foot dome for a housing office, and warehouse/maintenance support for the 36 housing units. However, funding is not yet available.
For more information about the project you can contact Ron White, Superintendent at (928)686-6351 or e-mail at Ron White or the general contractor at BMJS Contracting Incorportated: (928)289-5996
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