Round Indigenous architecture is both materially efficient and culturally meaningful

Evidence

All fifteen of us can find a comfortable seat around the perimeter. Even without a covering, it feels cozy. Few of us live in round houses anymore, where there are no walls or corners. Indigenous architecture tends to the small and round, though, following the model of nests and dens and burrows and redds and eggs and wombs—as if there were some universal pattern for home. With our backs leaning against the saplings, we consider this convergence of design. A sphere has the highest ratio of volume to surface area, minimizing the materials needed for living space. Its form sheds water and distributes the weight of a snow load. It is efficient to heat and resistant to wind. Beyond material considerations, there is cultural meaning to living within the teachings of a circle. — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 811

Categorization

• SHARE: The ‘all fifteen of us can find a comfortable seat’ and dome design rationale would delight an architecture-interested friend.
• SEED: A short essay angle: what Western building (angular, rectilinear) teaches about the circle-versus-corner cosmologies — walls and corners as a worldview made literal.