METROPOLIS MAGAZINE FEATURES UNM SMITH PLAZA!

We are super excited to receive this national attention with our design collaborators: SURFACEdesign and MRWM Landscape Architects. This recognition not only affirms the strength of the design for our beloved UNM, but confirms our commonly held values in the strength of COLLABORATION. We are honored with this moment in the spotlight! We look forward to more opportunities to elevate and uplift the spaces in New Mexico. Our commonly held belief in materiality and its enduring qualities are investments into our culture, place and labor. We seek to incorporate our local traditions with contemporary expressions of architecture.

“All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.” - Martin Luther King Jr.

SMITH PLAZA WINS BRICK DESIGN AWARD! →

Thank you Brick Industry Association for this design award! M+Y with Landscape Architects MRWM, and SURFACE DESIGN practice the words of our geist teachers:

“Architecture starts when you carefully put two bricks together. There it begins.”- Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

“Even a brick wants to be something. A brick wants to be something. It aspires. Even a common, ordinary brick... wants to be something more than it is. It wants to be something better than it is.” - Louis Kahn

The humble bricks come together to repeat its own measure, its patterns, with the ever presence to adjust its position. These movements in material bring beauty and elegance to textured space of the outside. The brick is the same but different in its ability to modulate the unit for its fullest expression. The brick is common, but rich and impressive by the artful hand/mind of the craftsperson! The brick aspires to be more, just as all architectural projects aspire to be more. It is our designed intention to take common materials, common circumstances and heighten the architectural potential for all buildings!

UNM SMITH PLAZA: CAMPUS OASIS IN A DESERT SOON TO EMERGE

Albuquerque, NM. UNM Student Affairs website is very informative of the goals and use of Smith Plaza. The project is wIll on its way. The community of UNM will soon be able to circulate through Smith Plaza. Some elements are being built off-site and brought onto campus. The Plateaus, the Lobo Landing and the Lantern Shades are coming together to create an inviting plaza for outdoor unwinding.

McCLAIN+YU VISITS CONSTRUCTION SITES WITH STUDENTS AND YOUNG PROFESSIONALS

In an effort to help build knowledge across Albuquerque's professional groups, McClain+Yu supports and are excited to take students and others on visit of our construction sites.  Smith Plaza on the campus of the UNM is taking shape and the brick paver work is beautiful. In the works of Louis Kahn, "You say to a brick, 'What do you want, brick?' And brick says to you, 'I like an arch.' And you say to brick, 'Look, I want one, too, but arches are expensive and I can use a concrete lintel.' And then you say: 'What do you think of that, brick?' Brick says: 'I like an arch.'"

Even the humble brick expresses an ability to be extraordinary. The brick paver work in Smith Plaza is an occasion to celebrate the BRICK!

UNM SMITH PLAZA PROGRESS

Since January, the design team for the University of New Mexico's Smith Plaza Renovation, collaboration between McClain + Yu, MRWM, and SurfaceDesign, has been hard at work gathering input from the university community for this re-imagined "living room" of campus. This input informed the team's initial design, and we were excited to recently present the team's work to the community over three days and gather feedback. The responses have been outstanding and the team is looking forward to progressing the design.