Architecture Students Recognized for School Health Care Center Designs

UNM architecture students recently participated in the 2010 Head to Toe Annual conference on school based health care. Gabriella Gutierrez, associate professor, School of Architecture and Planning, engaged 11 architecture graduate students last fall in investigating and designing a school based health care center for a middle or high school founded on method of prefabrication.

Photo (l. to r.): Vanessa Garcia, Luis Marquez, and Kristin Flurry present their design ideas during the Head to Toe conference on school based health care. Not pictured - Edgar Mata.

Design work by four of the students – Vanessa Garcia, Luis Marquez, Kristin
Flurry and Edgar Mata – was selected by board members of the New Mexico Alliance for School-Based Health Care because “the board believed their projects were realistic and beautifully worked out and, most importantly, they could imagine them replacing some the not-so-great environments that school based healthcare programs are housed in around the state of New Mexico,” Gutierrez said.

The New Mexico Alliance for School-Based Health Care, a non-profit advocacy organization, invited the students to participate in conference events at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. Their work was exhibited at the convention center and they were recognized for their design work.

Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu