A house is more than a building in many Native American societies. For example, the seemingly simple Plains Indian tipi sometimes expressed its residents’ ideas of the universe. When nomadic Cheyenne bands assembled for ceremonies or councils, they sometimes arranged them in a C-shaped ring that extended up to a mile in diameter and which sometimes included a thousand that were several rows deep. They likened these camps to a circle of stars in the nighttime sky.
People in several tribes painted tipis’ exteriors. The Blackfoot often created a dark band at the bottom, which represented the earth. A large light space in the middle was the area for paintings of visions with spiritual meanings, and spirit animals and birds were often represented. Bands above this inner zone often contained processions of animals or a rainbow. The top was darkened like the bottom, and it symbolized the sky. Disks within it represented stars or entire constellations.
Tipis’ entrances often faced the rising sun, and the oldest male occupant usually slept in the rear. Men usually sat on the northern side and women in the south. People needed to respect each other’s spaces; it was considered vulgar to step between the oldest man and the fire. Hollywood simplified tipis, but every space in them and on their exteriors was highly meaningful; it related people to each other and to the whole universe.
Earth-lodges appeared on the northern Great Plains by 700 CE, and they housed some of the earliest farming cultures in the area. Mandan, Hidatsa, Pawnee, Omaha, and several other societies erected large timber frames with about 100 rafters extending from the outer wall to the inner smoke hole, covered the rafters with woven mats, and piled soil over the whole construction. Some were 90 feet in diameter. Many of their builders saw cosmic symbolism in them. The entrance often faced east, from where the god of light, fire, and war cast his beam into the lodge. He had initially lit fire in an act of cosmic procreation. This event symbolized his first union with Evening Star. A girl came from the union, and she was the first human being on earth. Evening Star presided in the home’s western area, opposite the entrance. She was a goddess of the night and germination, and the corn and buffalo were constantly renewed in her garden. The lodge was thus both universe and womb, and many forces that fostered well-being conjoined in it.
People in several Native American societies saw symbolic correspondences between buildings and the body. The Tolowa of Northern California dedicated a special sweathouse to the spirit of an ancient supernatural salmon just before the annual spawning. As the fishermen entered to pray for a large catch, they believed they were entering the salmon’s body; the ridgepole had become its backbone and the roof boards were its ribs. Some Blackfoot and Kiowa painted “hugging bear” designs on their tipis, with a giant furry creature extending its arms around the building, embracing the occupants and thereby empowering them.
Native American societies have integrated themselves with their natural environments in many ways. You can explore more here.