For many remote northern communities, especially Native American communities, school design, construction, and heating would be more culturally and technologically appropriate if local materials and expertise were utilized. Following World War II, the period of the most rapid "de-localization" of northern communities, the allegedly uncomfortable log/frame schools were gradually replaced by larger, more modern, structures. The de-localized school's design is not congruent with local cultural configurations. Expensive, physically unsuitable, imported materials are used in construction done by imported laborers. The facility's electrical, heating (dependent on imported fuel), water, and sewer systems are costly to install and maintain. All of these factors lead to the school building being an alien object in the local indigenous community. Students are more likely to have a successful learning experience if the physical school environment reflects a culturally compatible social and physical environment in which the indigenous culture is recognized and built upon. The standardized approach to school design has not allowed for local user participation in planning and design. Log schools provide a physically, technologically, and economically appropriate alternative for northern communities in forested areas that wish to maintain local control. An example of the construction of a rural Alaska high school illustrates conflicts between outside architects and local citizens and the influence of building codes and health and fire safety standards. Examples are given of other alternative construction designs in northern areas that take advantage of local resources and labor. (Contains 15 references.) (SAS)