Students and faculty from the Design Planning Assistance Center (DPAC) in the University of New Mexico's School of Architecture and Planning returned to Santa Rosa this week to present the “Santa Rosa Community Visioning Plan" at the high school auditorium.
“This community session is a follow-up to a similar meeting we held in Santa Rosa in March,” said José Zelaya, visiting instructor, architecture. At that session, students presented their ideas for Blue Hole improvements, suggested uses for the Ilfeld building and design ideas for the courthouse square. They then opened the meeting to public comment and took those ideas back to the studio.
“We also had a session with Guadalupe County representatives because they own the courthouse square. We had suggested using the old courthouse for a museum, but it is their desire to restore the old building to use as the courthouse,” Zelaya said.
Zelaya said the goal is to renovate the old courthouse and the annex and turn the annex into a judicial center.
The group is a collaboration of architecture and landscape architecture graduate students and faculty, including Zelaya, and Alf Simon, director of landscape architecture. The group has been working in conjunction with Guadalupe County and Santa Rosa city officials during the spring semester in a visioning plan for the revitalization of downtown Santa Rosa, the redesign of the courthouse square, urban infill projects and implementing a design code.
The visioning plan also addresses improvements and a long-term plan for the Blue Hole area, including amenities for scuba divers, hikers and others.
DPAC, recipient of an Award of Distinction for the Rocky Mountain West Region of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), has worked on more than 900 projects throughout New Mexico for low-income families, disadvantaged groups, neighborhood associations, Native American communities, social service organizations and others.
Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920
Posted by kwentworth at May 6, 2004 03:02 PM