UNM School of Architecture and Planning, City of Albuquerque Rethink Downtown

505 Cen­tral NW

UNM grad­u­ate stu­dents and fac­ulty will be work­ing out of a build­ing at 505 Cen­tral NW in down­town Albu­querque this fall. The ground floor of the build­ing, which the city is allow­ing the UNM School of Archi­tec­ture and Plan­ning to use rent free, will serve as an urban lab­o­ra­tory for teach­ing stu­dents about the built urban environment. UNM will sup­ply com­put­ers and fur­nish­ings for the building.

Dean of the School of Archi­tec­ture and Plan­ning Geral­dine Forbes-Isais says they will spon­sor a lec­ture course and guest lec­tures at the City­Lab as a way to engage the down­town com­mu­nity in dis­cus­sions about Albuquerque’s urban environment.

Projects may include ways to think about how Cen­tral Ave. on Route 66 might be re-imagined for the 21st Century.  Other projects may include ways to think about the urban water­shed and pos­si­ble cat­a­loging of nat­ural and cul­tural resources.

UNM fac­ulty and stu­dents will not be work­ing directly for the city.  Instead they will sup­ply research, sug­ges­tions and ideas that can then be taken to the pro­fes­sional com­mu­nity for development.