Modern Hogan Log Kits and Plans

Hogans are the round or multi-sided structures traditional to the Navajo people. The design has changed significantly over the years.

Traditional hogans are built of juniper or pine logs. They are covered with mud, earth, and stone to make them water tight and insulated. They are naturally cool in the summer and can be kept warm in the winter. Unlike a yurt, hogans are not built to be moved.

Older designs were round. They were built with upright forked sticks as poles.

In the late 1800s larger sturdier 6- or 8-sided hogans were built using discarded railroad ties. A sod layer was applied over a brush layer to create a roof.

Some older hogans have been improved with modern materials, like glass windows and a shingled roof.

Many modern hogan homes use 21st-century building methods and materials. They are often built on a concrete foundation with insulated walls, glass windows and shingles or metal roofing. Often solar panels provide power for lighting and appliances where infrastructure is a challenge.

Navajo Hogan Roundwood Manufacturing Project

A partnership between Indigenous Community Enterprises, the Navajo Nation, the Cameron Chapter of the Navajo Nation and the Northern Arizona University School of Forestry came up with a model for energy efficient modern hogans using wood that is too small to be logged.

Small diameter wood is left behind when forests are logged, creating a wild fire risk. Indigenous Community Enterprises at Northern Arizona University developed an affordable hogan that can be built using 6- to 9-inch diameter logs. They are designed for maximum heat efficiency and minimal maintenance. Every effort has been made to keep these hogan homes affordable.

The cost of a hogan kit ranges between $13,000 and $25,000; add in construction costs, and the price of an 800 square-foot hogan with a septic system can run between $50,000 and $75,000.

 Closing the Loop
James Bishop Jr, High Country News September 2, 2002

A Dowel Milling Machine can turn raw Ponderosa pine logs from small-diameter trees into perfectly round, uniform poles. Logs are peeled and shaped to a consistent diameter and length. They are molded to create a “universal fit” where they join each other. The logs are shaped for a snug airtight fit with a groove cut into the bottom of each log and a unique saddle-notch with an angle that enables the logs to fit together into an 8-sided structure. Logs can be stacked, with each log fitting closely over the one below, for a strong, interlocking hogan cabin. You can find out more;  Hogans readied for sale By Anne Minard Sun Staff Reporter

Log Hogan Kits

You can find log hogan kits and 6- and 8-sided log cabin kits. The Navajo Hogan Project designed log cabin hogan kits for different needs.

Among the designs offered by ICE are traditional octagonal, one room hogans, an expanded two bedroom version of the hogan called the “Beedezah”, a Longhouse Chieftain model, and typical mountain cabins.

Ron Taylor with SouthWest Tradition Log Homes was interviewed in Renewing the Countryside.

SouthWest Tradition Log Homes now offers kits for octagonal hogans and more conventional log homes to buyers both on and off the reservation…

First the logs are milled perfectly round, like giant dowels, then dried in the dry desert air for up to eighteen months. They then receive a rounded, lengthwise “Swedish Cope” cut that allows one log to be laid atop another; finally, they are cut to length and saddle-notched to fit together…

The modular construction allows these hogans to be built quickly, which helps keep costs down – in fact, they are much cheaper than most log houses, and about the same cost as frame houses of equivalent size. The walls can be put up in as little as a day. But they’ll last a long, long time. As Ron says, “There’s a lot of warmth in log homes. And if your great-great-grandchildren come by, these structures will still be there. In that time a conventional home would have been replaced a few times, and a mobile home ten or twelve times. The value is there.”

Ron Taylor with SouthWest Tradition Log Homes was interviewed in Renewing the Countryside The Hogan Project Reconnecting the People and the Forest

Brett KenCairn Director Indigenous Community Enterprises testified about the Hogan Project before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health on Developing Economic Uses for Forest Fuels.

In our conversations with Navajo people we learned that there was a strong desire to return to more traditional housing designs, namely the octagonally shaped, log built Hogans. These structures were traditionally built from logs of about the same diameter as those we are currently attempting to find uses for. So began a year long process to work with Navajo elders and others to develop Hogan designs that could incorporate small diameter logs, maintain traditional design features, but have the more modern amenities that Navajos would also like to enjoy (indoor plumbing, electricity, well insulated space).

Brett KenCairn Director Indigenous Community Enterprises testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health

The Navajo Hogan Project ran into a lot of roadblocks. Material costs increased exponentially. The most recent information I found is;

SouthWest Tradition Log Homes
P.O. Box 468 Ron Taylor, CEO
Cameron, AZ 86020
Phone: 928‐679‐2031
Website: swtloghomes.com
Fax: 928‐679‐2096

Type of Operation: Sawmill, log homes, fuelwood, mulch, chip and sawdust
Products: Log homes, rough and machined round logs, post and poles, mulch, firewood
Equipment: House and log profile saw, Woodmizer LT 300, custom log notcher, large cut‐off saw, dowel mill

The link to the swtloghomes.com website isn’t good anymore.

One of the first two prototype hogans is a Forest Service office outside the Navajo Community Chapter House. The second is at Leupp Elementary School. The Navajo housing authority used some of the first log hogan kits to build housing for elders in extreme need.

An additional log hogan manufacturing plant was planned for the Fort Defiance area.

This page has a timeline with more recent news: The Navajo Hogan Project 2023 Indigenous Communities Fellowship

Log Hogan Plans

Traditional Style Log Hogan plans and cabin plans inspired by hogans are available.

Clifton Eli Greyeyes shares a free plan for a simple basic hogan on Facebook.

He has very affordable larger more complex plans for homes incorporating the elements of traditional hogans.

Featured Image Traditional Style Log Hogan plan from Clifton Eli Greyeyes.

• Clifton Eli Greyeyes on Facebook 
• CG Solutions on Facebook