Plains Tipi Architecture

The tipi, or tepee, is a conical lodge tent distinguished from other conical tents by the smoke flaps at its top, traditionally covered with animal hides or pelts and, in more recent generations, canvas, stretched over a framework of wooden poles historically twelve to twenty five feet long. The word entered English as a loanword from the Dakota and Lakota languages, and the tipi served as the portable dwelling of Indigenous Plains peoples including the Sioux, Iowa, Otoe, Pawnee, Blackfeet, Crow, Assiniboine, Arapaho and Plains Cree, suited to a nomadic way of life built around quick assembly and disassembly. Tipis remain in use today, primarily for ceremonial purposes, typically with canvas coverings rather than hide.