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 rooted in the powerful geology of the site and the transformative mission of the Workforce Training Center. This region is shaped by volcanic forces: UNM–Valencia’s original campus lies near the ancient Tome Volcano, while the new remote campus and WTC rise in the shadow of the younger Los Lunas Volcano. Just as these volcanoes once emerged from the earth, the new WTC is conceived as a building that emerges—a bold form rising from the landscape, symbolizing both the geological history of the region and the emergence of new skills, new careers, and a new workforce into the local economy.

Architecturally, the building is inspired by the dramatic fissures that split a cooled lava flow. The massing is carved into distinct volumes separated by angular voids, creating powerful “cracks” in the form that frame views, draw in daylight, and connect occupants to the surrounding terrain. These fissures become moments of pause and orientation, establishing a strong biophilic connection to the distant volcano and the expansive high-desert landscape. While the composition is dynamic, the one-story scale and material palette are carefully tuned to the surrounding residential context, grounding the building in its community.

Materiality further reinforces the story of place. The railroad—long a catalyst for growth and industry in Los Lunas—inspires the building’s metal finishes, which recall the weathered iron of rails and railcars that once carried people, goods, and opportunity across the region.

The landscape continues the narrative. Native, low-water plantings are organized in angular, fractured patterns that echo the volcanic fissure concept and guide visitors through the site. These geometric breaks in the ground plane double as intuitive wayfinding and as subtle depressions that capture and slow stormwater runoff, re-creating the natural processes of the historic terrain. Together, building and landscape tell a unified story of emergence, resilience, and connection between earth, education, and economy.

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

Size: 18,000sf New Construction

Project design as Principal Architect at Studio Southwest Architects