March 13, 2025—Albuquerque, NM—University of New Mexico School of Architecture and Planning (SA+P) Indigenous Design + Planning Institute (iD+Pi) is pleased to announce a partnership with the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center (IPCC) to guest curate a major exhibition at the IPCC Museum entitled Restorying Our HeartPlaces: Contemporary Pueblo Architecture.
The co-curators of the exhibit are Theodore (Ted) Jojola, Ph.D. (Isleta Pueblo), UNM Distinguished Professor/Regents’ Professor, and Lynn Paxson, Ph.D., Iowa State University Emerita Professor of Architecture and member of the American Indian Council of Architects and Engineers. The temporary exhibition will be on display from March 25 to Dec. 7, 2025 in the IPCC Museum’s newly renovated South Gallery. Restorying Our HeartPlaces: Contemporary Pueblo Architecture will focus on a near-present history of the architectural sovereignty that emerged after the 1975 Indian Self-Determination Act. It showcases the work of traditional and professional Pueblo architects and designers while representing design concepts from regional ancestral sites that continue to influence 20th and 21st century Pueblo architecture.
The exhibition is supported by several grants. iD+Pi garnered funding from the Chamisa Foundation, the Indigenous Design + Planning Institute’s Frontier Endowment, and the UNM School of Architecture and Planning. The IPCC received funding from the New Mexico Humanities Council, Noon Whistle Fund, and First Nations Development Institute.
Organized around United States government policies impacting Pueblo people, Restorying Our HeartPlaces: Contemporary Pueblo Architecture grounds its narrative in the importance of land and places. Beginning with the origin stories of the “HeartPlace,” which was rechristened by the Spanish as the “plaza” after colonization, the exhibit guides visitors on a journey emphasizing new architecture created by Pueblo architects and designers. This architectural renaissance emerged in response to local tribal control gained through the 1975 Indian Self-Determination Act. Spaces are presented in the context of the federal policies that impacted the architecture of the built environment and Indigenous peoples’ lives.
Visitors will hear incredible stories shared by Pueblo architects as well as the elders who inspired them, conveying the origins and roots of Indigenous placemaking. The exhibition features an immersive experience which transports visitors on a digital tour of the beautiful Acoma Pueblo Sky City Cultural Center. The exhibit will include a short, animated story of how, over the generations, the Pueblo ancestors learned to harmonize with the environment through their unique buildings and villages—relationships that still exist today.
According to co-curators Dr. Jojola and Dr. Paxson, “Rather than an exhibit of simply images of finished buildings as objects, we seek to go deeper, telling the stories of the places and how and why they came to be and their use in Pueblo communities. This exhibit seeks to increase the awareness of Indigenous design, highlighting Pueblo practitioners so that people can see the high quality of their design work and its relationship to ancestral practices. It is important for upcoming young Indigenous people to see this work as necessary for exercising the sovereignty of their communities.” The IPCC Museum Team expressed their excitement for this innovative exhibition. “We are honored to partner with the Indigenous Design + Planning Institute to share these narratives of Pueblo sovereignty, ancestral to contemporary, in the context of both the built environment at large and the Cultural Center, a gathering space whose architecture is modeled after Pueblo Bonito at Chaco Canyon. We look forward to the rich dialogue that the exhibition will offer visitors.”
In addition to the co-curators, a team of Indigenous architects, designers, and interns has been assembled as the advisory body for the exhibit. They include Charelle Brown (Santo Domingo Pueblo); Janet Carpio (Laguna/Isleta Pueblo); Beverly Diddy (Diné/Hopi); Miriam Diddy (Diné/Hopi); Theodore Edaakie (Isleta Pueblo); Cynthia Figueroa-McInteer (Laguna Pueblo); Anjelica S. Gallegos (Jicarilla Apache/Santa Ana Pueblo); Brandon Adriano Ortiz (Taos Pueblo); Halle Sago (Zuni Pueblo/Mescalero Apache); Elizabeth Suina (Cochiti Pueblo); Brian Vallo (Acoma Pueblo); and Garron Yepa (Diné/Jemez Pueblo).
An associated program series, “Meet the Architects & Designers: Pueblo Architecture Today,” accompanies the exhibition and is supported by the New Mexico Humanities Council. The speaker schedule is as follows:
April 12, 5-8pm, Grand Opening Reception & Program, with co-curators Dr. Ted Jojola, Dr. Lynn Paxson, and speakers Dr. Cynthia Chavez Lamar (San Felipe Pueblo/Hopi/Tewa/Diné) and Duane Blue Spruce (Laguna Pueblo/Ohkay Owingeh)
April 13, 11am-1pm, Dr. Cynthia Chavez Lamar and Duane Blue Spruce
April 26, 11am-1pm, Cynthia Figueroa-McInteer (Laguna Pueblo) and Anjelica S. Gallegos (Jicarilla Apache/Santa Ana Pueblo)
May 10, 11am-1pm, Garron Yepa (Diné/Jemez Pueblo) and Miriam Diddy (Diné/Hopi)
June 28, 11am-1pm, Theodore Edaakie (Isleta Pueblo) and Juliet Pino (Zia Pueblo)
August 2, 11am-1pm, Beverly Diddy (Diné/Hopi) and Brandon Adriano Ortiz (Taos Pueblo)
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About the Indigenous Design + Planning Institute (iD+Pi): The Indigenous Design + Planning Institute is an initiative of the School of Architecture and Planning, University of New Mexico. iD+Pi was created in the Fall of 2011. Its goal is to educate and inform Indigenous design and planning by engaging faculty, students, professionals, and community leaders in culturally responsive practices. Its three principal areas of activity are academic, professional, and tribal. iD+Pi works in an interdisciplinary fashion with the three major programs in the School of Architecture and Planning by providing a learning environment for students, faculty, and professionals. Its activities serve to inform Indigenous design and planning practices. To learn more, please visit Indigenous Design + Planning Institute | The University of New Mexico.