The Hozho house was designed + built by 20 University of Colorado Denver graduate students of Architecture in 2013. Partnering with Design BuildBLUFF and the University of Utah, the home was constructed for a Navajo family living near Bluff, Utah. 

 

Hozho is a Navajo word described as peace, balance, and beauty. It can also be interpreted as In Beauty I walk and also It has become beauty again.

Peace describes our clients, a soft-spoken Navajo couple, and the complimenting relationship between the house + the land. Balance speaks of the relationship between the public + [cedar clad] private spaces within the home. Beauty is the simplicity of the final product.

Inspired by the existing shade house on the client’s site, students began to interpret the site in the way their clients saw the land. They took into consideration the views they looked towards, textures they gravitated towards, and people they wanted to share their home with. Similar to the orientation of the shade house, the home opens up to the North, pointing towards Blue Mountain. Programmatically, the home is separated into public and private spaces. The private boxes [bedroom + bathroom] are differentiated as separate volumes and clad with cedar in contrast to the clean white walls. The home aims to provide a place to intimately retreat as well as spaces for family + celebration. The north-facing patio has become integral to the Hozho house, a space in which family gathering culminates and extends into the surrounding landscape.