Van Gilbert will be honored by the University of New Mexico School of Architecture and Planning with the school’s Distinguished Alumni Award, on Friday, Sept. 30 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the UNM Student Union Ballroom C. Gilbert will be honored for his work as chair of the capital campaign cabinet and for his work as president of the school’s Dean’s Council, a position he held this past year.
Photo: Van Gilbert
Roger Schluntz, dean, UNM School of Architecture and Planning, said, “Five years ago Van Gilbert graciously agreed to chair the all-volunteer capital campaign cabinet for the fund-raising drive for the new architecture and planning facility.
"More importantly, he aggressively championed that effort in exceeding the targeted private giving goal for George Pearl Hall. Van recently assumed the presidency of the Council for Design & Planning Excellence, the school’s membership-based external advisory group. As an alumnus of the school, his dedication to our professional programs and students has been extraordinary.”
Gilbert has spent 30 years designing some of Albuquerque’s most visible structures. Among them, one of his firm’s first projects was to design the Lobo Tennis Club. He also designed the $11 million Albuquerque Aquarium and the new Santa Fe Indian School campus.
Gilbert’s work includes eight projects on Central Avenue, including the renovation of UNM's Popejoy Hall, Nob Hill Shopping Center, the Rosenwald and Crossroads buildings and the Aquarium.
Among other projects of Van H. Gilbert Architect PC is the design or renovation of many of the area’s high-profile cultural centers, including the Popejoy Hall and Fine Arts Center renovation, UNM’s Zimmerman Library addition and renovation, UNM’s Student Union Building addition and renovation, and APS’s Monroe Middle School. Coming projects include the design of the new Centennial Engineering Building at UNM, the second phase of TVI’s new Westside campus, and the Indo-Pacific reef exhibits and diving tank at the Albuquerque Aquarium.
While the basics of architecture – color, texture, spatial qualities, light – stay the same, every project has its own influences and challenges. “Ours is a regional style that takes the environmental qualities of the region and incorporates them into the building,” Gilbert said. “We’re trying to work from the land and the setting and evolve the building from that. Each project has influences from clients and from the area. Every single project is different.”
Gilbert said that the ability to establish long-term relationships with clients is important to his business. “We understand their needs more the more we work with them,” he said. “We understand their constraints and their personalities.” Gilbert’s wife Sandra helps balance the business and creative aspects of running an architecture firm, handling the financial and marketing end.
“The creative aspect is what we think makes architecture a contribution to the community,” Gilbert said. “But you have to examine it from the business standpoints, too. You have to make a profit to put back into the company. The only way you survive is to make sure you’re handling the business as best you can and making the right business decisions.”
The firm has 17 employees, seven registered architects and four graduate architects and an administrative staff. Gilbert is a registered architect in New Mexico, Illinois, Arizona, Texas, and Colorado and a registered interior designer in New Mexico. He holds a Certificate of National Council of Architectural Registration and membership in the American Institute of Architects and the New Mexico Society of Architect.
Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920