“Soil in our Hands” features a rammed-earth community kitchen designed and built by three Syracuse School of Architecture faculty in partnership with Deaf New Americans, a local non-profit organization led by Deaf immigrants and resettled refugees.

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In 2022, the organization launched a community farm, providing a safe space for Deaf immigrants to share skills and knowledge from their home countries by growing and selling fresh familiar produce and creating a space of belonging while celebrating food and culture.

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As their farming team flourished, the need for an outdoor kitchen emerged – a place where farmers could prepare daily meals as they work, where local residents could partake seasonal cooking lessons from the farmers, and where stories would be shared over the warmth of freshly cooked cultural dishes.

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In the summer of 2024, with a modest budget of $7,000 and boundless energy from Syracuse Architecture students and community volunteers, we decided to build everything together with our own hands. We embraced local soil as our primary construction material to minimize cost and environmental impact, while honoring our deep-rooted connections to the nourishing earth beneath our feet. This earthen kitchen also makes room for the Nepalese farmers to continue their tradition of cooking in an earth hearth (chulo).