Joseph Kunkel Speaks About Designing With Dignity: Policy, Advocacy, and the Art of Architecture

A citizen of the Northern Cheyenne Nation, Joseph Kunkel is a community designer and educator focused on sustainable development practices for Indigenous communities. As a Principal at MASS Design Group, Joseph directs the Sustainable Native Communities Design Lab in O’ghe P’oghe (Santa Fe, New Mexico). His work includes exemplary Indian housing projects, such as the Wa-Di Housing Project, a 41-unit affordable housing development supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and ArtPlace America and his research on affordable housing led to an online Healthy Homes Road Map for tribal housing development.

Joseph became an Obama Fellow in 2019 for his work with Indigenous communities and is a fellow of the inaugural class of the Civil Society Fellowship, a partnership of ADL and The Aspen Institute. Most recently, Joseph was named a 2022 Rubinger Community Fellow by the Local Initiative Support Corporation (LISC). The University of Maryland’s Alumni Association awarded him the 2021 inaugural Elaine Johnson Coates Award. He received his Master of Architecture from UMD.