Joseph Kunkel is a principal at MASS Design Group, an award-winning nonprofit that researches, builds, and advocates for architecture centered on justice and human dignity. MASS – which stands for Model of Architecture Serving Society – employs more than 150 architects, landscape architects, engineers, builders, furniture designers and makers, writers, and filmmakers representing 20 countries.
A citizen of the Northern Cheyenne Nation, Kunkel directs the organization’s Sustainable Native Communities Design Lab in O’ghe P’oghe (Santa Fe, New Mexico). His research on affordable housing for tribal communities has led to best practices and the Healthy Native Homes Roadmap.
Known for his exemplary work on sustainable development in Indian Country, Kunkel’s long list of honors includes support from the National Endowment for the Arts and ArtPlace America, an Obama Fellowship, a Creative Capital Award, and the Enterprise Rose Architectural Fellowship.
We are in an affordable housing crisis, and the need is particularly acute in some Native communities. What are some factors you consider when confronting this challenge?
There is currently a need for 200,000-plus housing units in Indian Country, and the traditional methods of providing housing are insufficient. We must be more creative in how we think about finance, development, and design – and lift up the communities we work with. Many communities haven’t historically had access to design experts or individuals in professions like architecture and planning, so we are often working upstream.
While housing is critical, you have noted that it is not the only solution for building thriving communities.
We work early in the process to understand the critical needs around housing. But housing can’t be the solution by itself. Communities need access to education, clinics, transportation, and public spaces, so we think holistically.
We are also lifting up the climate crisis and how we respond from the design perspective to issues such as excessive heat and cold. We need to think more critically about systems we design to heat and cool under-resourced communities. [The systems] need to be more efficient and effective.
In the Dakotas, for example, heating bills can exceed $400, $500 a month, and for those who are under-resourced, that could be used on childcare, healthy food, or higher education.
You have said that your organization’s work goes beyond design and architecture – it’s also connected to sovereignty.
How can communities – and not just tribal communities – be more sovereign and independent? We want to make sure communities can be resilient during the next extreme disaster. It’s all interrelated. If we look at the economy and think about energy or solar development, how are we training skilled and unskilled labor, so those dollars turn over within the community rather than being extracted?
It’s a holistic way of thinking about community development – from the minutia of how buildings work, to the larger perspective of what makes a good community in terms of economy, resilience, labor – the full spectrum.
Can you share an example of a community doing this kind of work?
The chairman and the community of Caddo Nation in Oklahoma have been really focused on investing in their community. They have been purchasing buildings in downtown Anadarko and thinking about arts and economic development – what is the potential of a cultural district within a community, and how to activate artists and small businesses to bring it all together.
The tribe and the chairman have also been focused on creating energy resiliency and solar production. In Oklahoma, it’s expensive to make buildings fully electrified because gas is cheaper since it’s subsidized. So, for one project, we built two systems so that in the immediate future they can take advantage of subsidized gas, but later in the future, the building can transition and become fully electric.
What keeps you inspired and motivated?
We were just preparing for a retreat for MASS and our co-founder Alan Ricks said we’re fighting for a world that we want, not the world we find ourselves in. And that’s very true.
We’re filled with optimism for what the world could be.
The built environment has a lot of potential impact, but within the communities we work, it hasn’t contributed positively. How do we change that narrative to ensure the built environment is contributing to their well-being, providing for the individuals and the environment, the climate, the people, the plants, and the animals? All those aspects are inter-connected.
You discussed some of the challenges you face while working with Native communities, such as lack of capacity and slow timelines. But there is also so much we can learn from Native communities. What is an example of that?
We can learn how to create architecture that reflects the beauty of nature – and that’s what we’re working towards.
Communities are architects of their own vision, and that vision is a commitment to long-term change. As architects, designers, and planners, we have a lot to learn. We have a lot to offer, too, because we can bring design processes that can meld with community vision – but we need to meld those two. It’s something I’ve learned from working in and alongside a community.
You mentioned food systems and food sovereignty as another critical area. At Three Sisters Kitchen, a nonprofit food space in Albuquerque, you are turning to innovative practices when it comes to design and material selection.
We are working with them to create a commercial space to make healthy food, package it, and sell it back to the community, so more people can access heathy and affordable food.
We’re trying to push design in a way to think about our carbon impact, and how to limit carbon-heavy materials like concrete and steel and think about these buildings as wood structures. There is this preconceived notion that we need gas stoves, but over 50% to 60% of energy used in gas stoves goes to waste. When using induction, all that energy is going to cooking, so thinking about those little things is critical.
When it comes to foundations, for the past 30, 40 years we’ve been told concrete is the way to go. It’s strong and durable, but it’s high in carbon and most of the carbon footprint is in our foundations. How do we minimize that?
Rubble foundations were done 100 years ago, so maybe we need to go to older technology that’s more environmentally friendly and has a smaller carbon footprint. Sometimes it is about looking back and making the old new again.
You’ve said that one of your priorities is to scale up, and push your field forward over the next 10 to 15 years. How do you think about that kind of work?
MASS as an organization can’t do it alone, so we need to think about how we’re influencing the profession – including designers, architects, and planners – about what a built environment can be. How do we set precedents with our projects, and how do we push the boundaries? How can we be the lighthouse for other architects, engineers, and firms?
We must continue to push the bounds of what we’re doing in terms of thought leadership. It won’t always be embraced, whether from the profession itself or the construction industry, and we’re constantly getting pushback like, ‘That’s not how we build.’ It’s about balancing and finding the middle point.
Those that take the most risk reap the biggest pay and typically that’s the developers, so architecture and design teams have been taken out of the conversation. We want to put ourselves back in the conversation and say, ‘This is how we could be building and designing.’ That comes with a certain amount of risk, and we need to be okay with that if it will serve a greater purpose.
Vesna Jaksic Lowe is an award-winning journalist. This profile is the fifth in our series, The Resilient 7, celebrating leaders building a more sustainable future. Read previous installments: Bomee Jung: Helping Housers Build Resilient Homes, Oji Alexander: Building Wealth and Resilience through Homeownership, and Luke Ilderton: A Passion for Equitable Decarbonization.
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