Over the course of three weeks this summer, a building made of straw bales and stucco will rise from the wind-swept Montana plains–and you’ll be able to follow construction online, through the photographs and writings of University of Wisconsin-Madison student participants Leigh Gevelinger, from Cuba City; Kassie Victora, from Arcadia; Suzie Snyder, from Chippewa Falls; and Laura Theis.

Part of the American Indian Housing Initiative (AIHI), the project for the past several years has drawn faculty and students from the University of Washington, Penn State University, and most recently the UW-Madison. The AIHI’s goal is to promote green building technology and sustainable development, and also create a learning and educational exchange between tribal and academic communities.

This summer, Sam Dennis, a professor of landscape architecture in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, and four landscape architecture undergraduate students will join dozens of others to create an early childhood learning center on the campus of Chief Dull Knife College on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Montana. Built with sustainable technologies and “green” construction techniques, the center will provide a much-needed childcare space for students and staff. Dennis is also planning a playground project, which will encourage children to learn about nature though play in the same way their parents and grandparents might have done.

“We try to use landscape projects to bring Cheyenne youth and elders and college students together,” says Dennis. “I want local kids to see that, in certain contexts, they’re smarter than the college students, and I want Wisconsin students to understand the role landscape plays in shaping their own identities. This is a truly mutual learning experience for everyone involved, no matter what their background–it’s about bringing together the resources and the expertise of the Cheyenne and other people to create a sustainable partnership.”

Another Wisconsin connection to the project is multi-disciplinary artist Bently Spang, who holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from the UW-Madison. A member of the Northern Cheyenne Nation, Spang’s work focuses on his experience as a contemporary Cheyenne, and he collaborates with young people from the reservation on public art projects that are installed in the landscape spaces Dennis and his team create.

You can read the students journal entries at http://montanaexperience.blogspot.com/, and see photos from the build site at http://www.flickr.com/photos/montanaexperience/.