university of new mexico sMITH plaza “great room”

ALBUQUERQUE, NM

Working with Pland Collaborative of Albuquerque, NM, and SurfaceDesign of San Francisco, CA, M+Y renovated the University of New Mexico's historic Smith Plaza and Union Square to provide a student-friendly space that complements and respects the buildings that define the plaza.

The Smith Plaza renovation includes familiar elements of the Southwest landscape, such as "lomas" mesa tops, to create a desirable outdoor environment on campus. Friendly, oversized urban lamps enhance the evening atmosphere. A majority of the work included extensive demolition and re-building of hardscapes and softscapes that occur in the vicinity of two landmark buildings on UNM's campus: John Gaw Meem's Zimmerman Library (recently added to the National Register of Historic Places) and the Student Union Building. Designers from the M+Y team have been experienced and are greatly familiar with UNM’s campus since the early 1990’s. Their understanding of the intricacies of its existing historical buildings was critical due to the proximity of the underground Center for Southwest Research, the roof of which serves as the main entrance to the building.