Dennis Holloway, An Architect in Northern New Mexico

Architecture/NativeAmerican | Home | Early Work

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Since early childhood, I have been fascinated by Native American architecture. But in the place where I grew up in Shiawassee County, Michigan, I can not remember ever seeing a single artifact of the original Chippewa Indian buildings or places they built--so transformative was the modern farming to Michigan's Lower Peninsula! Still, I used to wander the forests and fields near Durand in search of some evidence that the Chippewa had been there. The school library was no help--only one book on architecture titled, "The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World".

In northern New Mexico I was astonished to see so many architectural ruins of the prehistoric Indians still evident in the landscape. Seeing the ruins of these splendid buildings and villages was like seeing for the first time the cultural landscape of a continent. As a hobby, I have been studying these buildings ever since--at every spare moment. They have become an important inspiration to me in my architecture practice here in the Southwest US.

Included in my work shown in this section are several virtual reality reconstructions of wonderful Indian places that no longer exist, except as rubble mounds and collapsing walls, the spoils of a still-mysterious catastrophe. Whenever I can get my hands on hard archaeological data--measured wall plans and vertical dimensions with number of stories--I construct on my Macintosh computer a three dimensional model of the place and then, using an electronic process called "ray tracing", I snapshot and animate the model. The software I use to build and render all of the models is VIDI Presenter Professional. If I can find a good photograph of the existing ruin I can cyber-montage the reconstructed model image into its landscape setting using Adobe Photoshop. In this regard the aerial photographs of Paul Logsdon have been very helpful.

Around 1990 I realized that manual drafting tools no longer served me, and I leaped into cyber-space without any clothes. Was it scary? No--and for the first time, it is as if the medium and the designer are one. The medium is the designer.

Sometimes, late in the New Mexico night, when I work on these models, (and without trying to sound too strange) I often get a feeling that the spirits of the builders of these great places are standing over my right shoulder and guiding my Macintosh mouse--helping me to visualize and image what great village building was for them. It is an honor and a privelege to share with you what they have taught me...

See a QTVR Panorama of my reconstruction of so-called Deracho,
a thirteenth-century Zuni pueblo in west central New Mexico.
See list below for more still pictures of the model.

SEE ALSO:

Native American Virtual Reality Archaeology: An Architect's Perspective,
This paper by Dennis Holloway is published as a chapter of the book, VIRTUAL REALITY IN ARCHAEOLOGY, Edited by J.A. Barcelo, M. Forte and D.H.Sanders, ArcheoPress, Oxford, England, Spring, 2000.

THE PACES:

NEW ADDITIONS TO THE
VIRTUAL REALITY ARCHAEOLOGY ARCHIVE:

The Places in this "NEW" section have been built during the winter of 1999-2000:

Chetro Ketl Ruin@ 2000AD (Chaco Culture National Historic Park)
Kiatuthlanna Pithouse Group #1 and Pueblo (Ancestral Zuni village)
Kiatuthlanna Pithouse Group #1 Construction System Sequence
(Zuni Ancestral site)

The Places in this section have been built during the winter of 1998-1999:

Acoma Pueblo, @ 1934 A.D.
(Data from1934 Historic American Buildings Survey Project (HABS))
Pecos Pueblo
(Ancestral village of Jemez Pueblo, Pecos National Historic Park, Pecos, New Mexico)
Unshagi
(Ancestral village of Jemez Pueblo, New Mexico)
Seshukwa
(Ancestral village of Jemez Pueblo, New Mexico)
Navaqueotaka
(Sinagua Culture, North Central Arizona)
Kuaua
(Rio Grande Anasazi, Ancestral village of Sandia and Isleta Pueblos,
Coronado State Monument, Bernalillo, New Mexico)
Kinishba
(Mogollon Culture, East Central Arizona)
Los Muertos
(Hohokam Culture, South Central Arizona)
Tyuonyi
(Ancestral village of Cochiti Pueblo and other modern Rio Grande Tewa Pueblos,
Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico)
Casa Grande
(Hohokam Culture, Casa Grande National Park, South Central Arizona)
Pueblo Grande
(Hohokam Culture, Phoenix, Arizona)
Cline Terrace
(Salado Culture, East Central Arizona)

PLACES WHICH HAVE PREVIOUSLY BEEN POSTED:

CHACO CANYON:

Chaco Canyon (Chaco Culture National Historic Park, New Mexico)
Pueblo Bonito (Chaco Canyon)
Pueblo Bonito Construction Sequence
(Chaco Culture National Historic Park, New Mexico) See the steps in the construction of this magnificent village architecture.
Pueblo del Arroyo (Chaco Culture National Historic Park, New Mexico)
Pueblo del Arroyo Construction Sequence
(Chaco Culture National Historic Park, New Mexico) See the steps in the construction of this magnificent village architecture.
Pueblo del Arroyo Rotation Animation
(Chaco Culture National Historic Park, New Mexico) See this never before imaged Anasazi village rotationally animated.
Penasco Blanco (Chaco Canyon)
Hungo Pavi (Chaco Culture National Historic Park, New Mexico)
Pueblo Alto (Chaco Culture National Historic Park, New Mexico)
Tsin Kletsin (Chaco Culture National Historic Park, New Mexico)
Kin Kletso (Chaco Culture National Historic Park, New Mexico)
Wijiji (Chaco Culture National Historic Park, New Mexico)

OTHER ANASAZI PUEBLOS &
ANCESTRAL VILLAGES OF MODERN PUEBLOS:

Kwastiyukwa (Jemez)
Aztec Ruins West, East & Earl Morris Ruins (Aztec, New Mexico)
Deracho (Zuni)
Quicktime Virtual Reality Panorama (QTVR Pano) of
Deracho Reconstruction, Zuni Ancestral pueblo, (West Central New Mexico)
Aztec Ruins Great Kiva (Aztec, New Mexico)
San Mateo (Chacoan)
Crumbled House (Chuska)
Kin Tiel (Zuni)
Yellowhouse (Zuni)
Atsinna (Acoma-Zuni), El Morro National Monument, New Mexico
Village of the Great Kivas (Zuni)

RIO GRANDE ANASAZI PUEBLOS &
ANCESTRAL VILLAGES OF MODERN PUEBLOS:

Arroyo Hondo, (near Santa Fe, New Mexico)
Pot Creek Pueblo (Taos & Picuris)
Hupobi Pueblo (Tewa, near Ojo Caliente, New Mexico)
Tsping (Chama River below Pedernal Peak, New Mexico)
Po-Shu-Ouinge (Tewa, near Abiquiu, New Mexico)

OTHER NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBAL HOUSE TYPES:

(Note: these following models are part of an expanding series of architecture and village design of the tribes of North and South America. Please visit my Site again to see updates in this section.)

"ThreeAffiliated Tribes Earthlodge Dwelling"
(MANDAN-HIDATSA-ARICKARA).

Thompson Tribe Pithouse (Thompson)

RECONSTRUCTIONS OF HISTORIC HISPANO
BUILDINGS OF TAOS VALLEY, NEW MEXICO

(Note: these following models are part of an expanding series of culturally indigenous architecture and village design of North and South America. Please visit my Site again to see updates in this section.)

St.Francis de Asis Church (Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico. This model constructed from HABS data.)
Martinez Hacienda (Taos, New Mexico)

(Take note, 3D VR modeling fans: VIDI, the producer of "VIDI 3D Presenter Pro", the software I use for all my 3D modeling has gone out of business, but will be soon be releasing to the ENTIRE MACINTOSH COMMUNITY a full unlocked version of their 3D virtual reality modeling software--FOR FREE!! To find out how to participate in this great event, click on the banner below:

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Your comments and feedback are welcome. Please contact Dennis Holloway, Architect, via e-mail:

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