UNMV Workforce Training Center

Photos by Marble Street Studios

The UNM-Valencia Workforce Training Center (WTC) endeavors to be the pre-eminent resource for employers, businesses and citizens of New Mexico. Through customized and diverse courses, workshops and trainings the WTC empowers community members to meet their personal and professional goals. The program includes flexible classrooms, computer labs, vocational maker space lab, indoor/outdoor commons spaces, collaborative learning center, offices and the Small Business Development Office (SBDC) to provide a flexible environment responsive to the needs of the community and local businesses.

Design Concept

The design concept is derived from the project site and the goals. The emergence of Lava from earth defines the uniqueness of this site and campus.  UNM-Valencia’s original campus is near the Tome Volcano. This remote UNM-V campus and the new Workforce Training Center (WTC) is in the vicinity of the Los Lunas Volcano. The Tome Volcano is considerably older than the Los Lunas Volcano, and emerged at a later point in time, like the new remote campus. The new WTC building emerges from the earth in the new location, emulating the geological emergence of the volcanoes. Programmatically the project creates “emergence” of skills in students, and then the emergence of workers into the local economy.

The building design concept is based on the concept of “fissures” in a cooled lava flow. The building volumes are divided by angular gaps to emulate the fissures. These gaps provide the opportunity for connection to the site and the landscape. The aperture itself creates a unique biophilic connection through views of the volcano and the natural landscape. The building is one story and the exterior finishes tie into the surrounding residential area in material and scale.

The Railroad has been a long-time historic economic driver of Los Lunas. The metal finishes throughout the building reference the weathered iron of the trains and rails. 

The landscape design utilizes native, low water use, plantings. The Site design is drawn from the reference of fissure concept derived for the volcano as well. The landscape is broken in angular design and creates wayfinding paths. These shifts in the landscape provide the opportunity to create voids to passively capture water runoff, similar to the historic natural landscape.

Client: University of New Mexico Valencia Campus, Los Lunas, NM

Size: 18,000sf New Construction

Project design as Principal Architect at Studio Southwest Architects