AIADO Mitchell Lecture: Joseph Kunkel

Joseph Kunkel, a citizen of the Northern Cheyenne Nation, is the Director of the Sustainable Native Communities Design Lab and the Principal of the MASS Design Group based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. As a community designer and  educator, his work explores how architecture, planning, and construction  can be leveraged to positively impact the built and unbuilt  environments within Indian Country. Joseph’s early work focused on the research of exemplary Native American Indian housing projects and processes nationwide. It has developed into emerging best practices within Indian Country, leading to an online Healthy Homes Road Map for affordable tribal housing development. 

In 2019 Joseph was awarded an Obama Foundation Fellowship  for his work exploring how to create transformational change through  design processes that align with indigenous values and honors the  worldviews of indigenous populations within North America.Joseph is a Fellow of the Civil Society Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.