‘Build it and they will come’ understates the need for a UNM campus in Rio Rancho. The city has grown exponentially, West side public schools are burgeoning, and UNM West educates more and more students face-to-face.
Photo: School of Architecture and Planning Dean Roger Schluntz, kneeling, reviews maps from the UNM West site.
“Additionally, the number of main campus students with West side zip codes number over 6,000,” said Jerónimo Domínguez, UNM vice provost, Extended University. The commute to main campus from the West side is time-consuming and an impediment for many students, he added.
With the ink dry on paperwork transferring 222 acres from the State Land Office to UNM, Interim President David Harris gave Roger Schluntz, dean, School of Architecture and Planning, the charge to develop design concepts for a full service campus that could eventually support 12,000 students. Schluntz, who came off sabbatical for the project, pulled together a team to participate in a campus master planning design charrette.
He drew upon internal expertise from faculty and students at the school, plus institutional experts, Domínguez, Steve Borbas, campus planner; and Sue Mortier, landscape architect. Nationally, Schluntz recruited professionals from other universities as well as from the local professional community. The City of Rio Rancho was represented, as well.
The charrette team visited the site – adjacent to the new Santa Ana Star Center in what will be the new Rio Rancho downtown – and walked around to get a sense of the landscape and views. “We also looked at how the campus could integrate with the new town center planned there,” Schluntz said.
Team members were armed with notebooks of information about Rio Rancho, the site, climate and sustainability. Prior to the charrette the deans of the UNM’s schools and colleges, as well as the Vice President of Student Affairs, each submitted a report indicating what courses and services they might offer at the new campus as well as an idea of what facilities would be needed to provide those services. That information was in the notebooks, too.
Topographic maps, plans of other campuses, charts of native plants and more were posted on the walls of the charrette room. Team members, some equipped with laptops and others with paper, pens and markers, set out to develop UNM West.
At the close of the first day, they came together to pin up first drafts. Design teams were created to develop specific ideas further. They designed and re-designed. What their minds imagined, their fingers created. One team worked diligently to develop policies on sustainability. The final day, four designs were presented to a group of UNM administrators, Rio Rancho officials, students and other guests.
The “Preserve Desert” design featured a gardened arroyo, multi-use terraced parking on a compact campus. “Sandia Vista” design took advantage of the high ground facing the Sandias with an eye toward development in phases with cohesiveness at any point in time. The goal of Sandia Vista is to create view corridors, integrate town and gown, and harvest wind and water.
The “Academic Paseo” design also looks to create a seamless environment with the adjoining civic core. The designers see within the academic paseo a collegiate lawn that is demonstrative – or able to be used to teach through example. The design features tightly clustered buildings and a one-to-one relationship with the land.
The “Community Forum” views an integrated campus with architecture, landscape architecture and sustainable principles. It envisions educational programming and place, an academic village and a continuum from the natural to the built. The designers worked with an open-ended growth strategy.
Ric Richardson, acting dean of the School of Architecture and Planning, took a lead role in sustainability policy recommendations. He said, “We will put together a five-page policy white paper for the president, regents and governor. It puts a guidance system in place now for financing.”
Short, medium and long-term goals guiding sustainability principles and policy opportunities were presented. Ideas included carbon neutrality, water harvesting from permeable surfaces, wind harvesting and micro-wind turbines, passive lighting, multi-use parking, green roofs, arcades and covered walks.
Schluntz said, “Our expectation is that we will move forward with a request for qualifications for a master plan, informed by the ideas from the charrette.
“We were approached with the presumption that students will be able to earn a degree at UNM West. This academic community has expressed a great deal of interest from to serve this area of the state. I was pleased with the commitment and expectation that this will be a wonderful campus where we will want to send our grandchildren to attend” Schluntz said.
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu