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A community college providing 21st century job training repositions itself with a new institutional master plan arising from an inclusive engagement process and robust data analytics

Bringing disciplines together at the heart of campus

University of New Mexico
Facility Concept Plan
Southwest Region
Lens Services: Participatory Visioning & Planning, Managing Change

An innovative concept plan imagines the future of humanities and social science research, learning, and gathering at the heart of one of the nation’s most diverse public research universities.

The University of New Mexico, serving a diverse and multi-cultural community, adopted a new strategic plan that outlines ambitions to extend the institution’s impact over the next several decades. Centered on the institution’s sustainability and equity commitments, the plan includes groundbreaking research in service of the public good, a transformation of the student experience, and enhanced cross-disciplinary collaboration. In partnership with McClain + Yu, our team developed a concept plan for a new academic facility that will support these strategic objectives, bringing 24 departments and associated programs together to the heart of its historic campus.

Fostering 21st century teaching and learning; robust campus development

Collaborating with academic and facilities partners, we developed a five-month participatory engagement process that resulted in a clear, compelling vision for the future of the university’s largest academic division. Building alignments between strategy, culture, and facilities planning, we guided the university in the iterative development of a set of guiding principles. These principles were then used to evaluate and refine design ideas, resulting in a forward-looking space program and concept design plan that is aligned with institutional strategy and responsive to diverse lived experiences.

The comprehensive Concept Design Plan envisions an innovative facility that draws people to the heart of campus. Doing so creates an integrated web that:

  • Brings individuals and disciplines together as one university while celebrating distinct identities and traditions.
  • Supports R1 research in all its forms.
  • Provides a flagship-quality educational experience for the emerging American majority.
  • Sustainably supports the university in its evolution over the next 50-100 years.
Confidential university banner courtyard
Fostering 21st century teaching and learning; robust campus development
Balancing ambitions with spatial and financial constraints, the program identifies core activities and experiences that will be hosted in shared spaces in the new facility. Meanwhile, departmental synergies are strengthened through the equitable determination of which groups will have their home bases in the new building. The proposed building’s massing and organization takes cues from regional vernacular architecture, celebrating place and culture, while providing world-class facilities that build community, enhance wellbeing, and support innovations in teaching, learning and research for decades to come.
Fostering 21st century teaching and learning; robust campus development

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