Samantha Eddy Portfolio

Samantha Amy Eddy

The University of Utah, Salt Lake City School of Architecture

Portfolio

Biography

Yá’át’ééh, my name is Samantha Eddy. I am a Diné undergraduate student majoring in Architectural Studies and minoring in American Indian Studies, while concentrating on Indigenous Architecture and Community Engagement at The University of Utah. I study the intersections of architecture, intergenerational knowledge, and cultural resilience. I am a Diné activist and work to re-Indigenize the colonized spaces in the field of architecture. My primary research focuses on studying oral histories in Diné Bikéyah (Navajo Nation). Through my work, I strive to create a better future for my people and other Indigenous communities.

Engaging with my community is work that I am passionate to continue and I intend to pursue my master’s degree in architecture to gain further knowledge on re-Indigenizing spaces with contemporary needs.

Projects:

• Walking with Dinétah

• Light/Shadow

• Spotlight

• National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) Internship

LinkedIn Profile URL: www.linkedin.com/in/samantha-eddy-47a125227

Samantha Eddy

Yá’át’ééh, Shik’éí dóó Shidine’é, Tl’ízí lání nishłį.

Kiyaa’áanii bashishchiin. Táchii’nii dashicheii. Hashk’aa Hadzohí dashinalí.

Education

Research Activities

Publications

I am Many Goat, Born for the Towering House people. My maternal peoples are the Red Running Into the Water. My paternal people are the Yucca Fruit Strung Out In A Line.

The University of Utah, Salt Lake City (May 2023)

Architectural Studies (Major), American Indian Studies (Minor)

• GPA – 3.94, Deans List (2019-2022)

• Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program Grant (Summer 2021, 2022)

• Stantec Equity & Diversity Recipient (Fall 2022)

• Cobell Scholarship Recipient (Fall 2022)

• Wick Miller Scholarship Recipient (Fall 2022)

Little Priest Tribal College, Winnebago, NE (Credits Obtained)

• GPA – 4.0, Dean’s List (2018-2019)

• Student Senate Member

National Renewable Energy Lab, Golden, CO (Summer 2022)

• Full-time Researcher

• “Acheiving Future Low-cost Prefabricated, Passive Survivability Homes for the Diné”

Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, The University of Utah (Summer 2021, Summer 2022)

• Part-time Undergraduate Research Assistant

• “Cultural Resource Mapping” and “Local Building Methods, Techniques and Indigenous Community Engaged Architecture”

Nááts’íilid Initiative, Architectural Designer, Four Corners Region, (Fall 2020 - Present)

• Participating in bi-monthly team meetings, conducting research, and writing grants

Re:Generation Grant, Recipient, Monument Lab, Philadelphia (Fall 2021) - Team: Tonia Chi, Kassie John, Shundana Yusaf

• Proposed a new public-facing art, research, commemoration, and social justice project

• Engaged with a broader campaign of public engagement and participatory data collection in Spring/Summer 2022

JUMP into STEM, Winner, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, (Fall 2021) - Team: Xiang Huo, Xinyang Rui, Xinyan Liu

• Developed holistic solutions to improve the resilience of the built environment

• Designated equity as the central focus of the proposed solution

• Strengthened the ability of the Navajo Nation community to adapt, persist, and recover in the event of natural or man made disruptive events

Undergraduate Research Journal, The University of Utah, (Summer 2020), https://our. utah.edu/urj2020/

• “The Educational Catastrophe on American Indian Students”

Podcast, College of Architecture + Planning, Contributor, “Architecture as a Form of Social Service.” Changing Places. 2022 May 16. https://open.spotify.com/

episode/2NVKyFC2PvUZfMXt9Gt4NX?si=xw9u8vtJSqWE6Ke9RnNlSg

Walking With Dinétah will co-create strategies for cultural resilience and healing through spatialized oral histories, memory work, mapmaking, and participatory art—in other words, through Hózhó náhásdlíí’, or “Walking in Beauty.”

One of ten winning teams of the Monument Lab Re:Generation cohort for the 2021-2022 award of $100,000 with Nááts’íilid Initiative, an intergenerational coalition of Indigenous and diasporic women.

Our team comes together through a common desire for decolonizing art and architectural education, the historical narratives that feed it, and the production of public space that promotes plural ways of belonging and being in the world.

Monument Lab Mellon Foundation

Walking with Dinétah Dinétah, Four Corners Region

For this project, we worked with two chapters in the Navajo Nation: Chilchinbeto and Dennehotso. We spent time with the chapter’s youth. We asked the youth their definition of home and place. We heard stories of waking up early for chores, their love of exploring their homelands through walking, horseback riding, etc.

CULTURAL ASSET MAPPING

After the mapping workshop, the stories will be translated to ArcGIS. We heard a range of stories such as learning names of rock fromations in Diné Bizáád. We will give back to the community by transferring ownership of the digital map to the community, so it may be shared amongst the rest of the Navajo Nation.

WALKING TRAILS

SHADOW LIGHT/SHADOW

A 5-week research and design project exploring the concepts of research, diagramming, and light/shadow within design. I learned how to conduct secondary online research through studying a faith of my choice. The faith I chose to research is outside of my belief system. I worked to analyze the selected faith through diagrams, collages and a light capsule model.

I did research on the Native American Church (NAC). For the watercolor, we were asked to analyze and diagram using watercolor to gain a better understanding of the the NAC.

The charette models were developed with keeping the form of a teepee and a Christian cross.

WATERCOLOR + MODELS

As the sun moves thorughout the day, the sun allows light through the cross cut-out and reflects the cross along the ground floor. At noon, the cross will show completely allowing visitors to reflect and enjoy the light capsule with familiy.

SPOTLIGHT

Located on a four-street intersection with dense vehicular traffic. This area of the city is an impersonal space. It does not exist. it is an environment of quick interactions with no time to pause or reflect. through the abstract use of a stage light plan. It will use polycarbonate architecture so the presence is readable by the community. The intended impact is to revitalize the personality of the neighborhood by creating a sense of pause and an abstract sense of being given a spotlight.

SUN CIRCULATION DIAGRAM

To imitate a spotlight shape, I used collage techniques with floor plans from various projects. With the sun circulation diagram, I studied how the sun would move throughout a building. The concept model shows how light hits an object to increased its contrast. In other words, to make its presence known.

DIAGRAM + MODEL

POLYCARBONATE SHEETS

For materiality, I chose to work with polycarbonate sheets to create a “glow” effect. The curtain wall on the second floor helps the building stand-out and be seen as a welcoming environment. I added a green roof to implement mindfulness while visiting the market.

GREEN ROOF

GREEN ROOF CURTAIN

INTERNSHIP

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Advanced Building Construction initiative (ABC) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) are known to address energy efficient affordable housing shortages; however, a recent HUD report calls for 3x the annual production of affordable housing units in Indian Country.

The Navajo Nation spans over the states of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah with an area of 27,000 square miles.

An interview with local passive builders, Hiroko and Atsushi Yamamoto, laid out passive strategies relevant to use in the Navajo Nation. They work with designbuild school known as DesignBuildBLUFF (DBB). They work in collaboration with the Diné (Navajo). Much of their work includes experimentation with passive strategies, such as natural plaster walls and designing shading devices that are integral in the Diné culture.

How can a Diné family and prefabricated home builder collaborate and make informed decisions to integrate active and passive systems to future homes with least construction cost and delivery time?

Looked at a 150-mile radius for possible collaboration with prefabricated home builders and passive design builders. The planned high-performing prefabricated home builders to serve the Navajo Nation are: Mosaic Housing, B.Public Prefab, and ZenniHome.

Left Image: Samantha and mentor understanding the commponents of a modular home.

DECISION-MAKING FRAMEWORK + GIS MAP