University of Utah designs, builds and donates house to Navajo mother

       Steve Arave, one of the University of Utah graduate students,  in front of the finished project.

EVERY year for about 10 now, the University of Utah, with help of architecture graduate students, has designed, constructed and donated a new house to a Navajo in need, in the Bluff, Utah area.
The latest home was given to a wheelchair-bound woman on April 27, 2014. 
These projects are part of "Design Build Bluff."
Located on a windy hill southwest of Bluff, the unique looking home overlooks Monument Valley, Navajo Mountain, Bear's Ears and virtually every other local geographical feature with its commanding view.
With only about $25,000 "seed money," the students built a 900-square-foot, one-level house in less than four months.
The woman will live there with her son.

                                        Inside the house.

                                            The happy new home owner.
   

Worth at least $60,000, the cost difference came with the donated labor and many donated materials.
The home is located at the end of about a 3-mile-long dirt road, with the only neighbors some miles away being the woman's relatives on the Navajo land.
The U. of U. does this homebuilding in the spring. The University of Colorado does a similar building project every fall in the Bluff area.
Graduate students live at a "campus," an old farm house and grounds on the northeast side of Bluff, during the construction.
I tried to woo a number of media outlets in Salt Lake City to do a story on this worthy annual effort, but failed.
The presentation of the home was simply heart-warming and proves good things do happen in the world.

                                       Monument Valley, as seen from the home's front yard.

                              The backside of the house and yard.

                The crowd at the dedication/presentation of the new home, southwest of Bluff, Utah.