2017 WINNER - SUNDIAL HOUSE, SANTA FE, NMSPECHT ARCHITECTS, Austin, TX and New York, NY
The Sundial House in Santa Fe is the 2017 winner of the Jeff Harnar Award for Contemporary Architecture in New Mexico. The designers are Specht Architects, with offices in Austin, TX and New York City. This ridgetop house in Santa Fe is organized around a pair of perpendicular concrete walls. The walls serve as an element of continuity, linking interior and exterior spaces with the landscape beyond. A narrow skylight runs the entire 125' length of one wall, casting changing shadows on the board formed concrete over the span of the day.The front of the house is set into the earth. The entry procession flows through a recessed courtyard into a cool, private vestibule. An opening cut into one of the concrete walls then leads into the main body of the house, where panoramic views of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains are revealed. The large expanses of glass are deeply shaded by the cantilevered roof forms that create portales around the perimeter.
2016 Winner - ABC LIBRARY AT CENTRAL AND UNSER, Albuquerque, NMRMKM ARCHITECTURE, PC, Albuquerque, NM
The ABC Library @ Central and Unser received the 2016 Jeff Harner Award for Contemporary Architecture in New Mexico. Opened in 2015, it is the first city library to be built in 17 years. It sits on the northwest corner of Central and Unser in Albuquerque. The building features a variety of reading areas, including one for adults and one for children. A 150-seat community room is a feature that can be rented for meetings. Located on the old Route 66, with terrific views of the Sandia Mountains, the design team worked closely with the library staff to ensure the building had a presence on the street. The goal was to increase the visual importance of the building to create a landmark in the community.
2015 Winner - Centennial High School, Las Cruces, NM
DEKKER / PERICH / SABATINI, Albuquerque, NM
ASA ARCHITECTS, Las Cruces, NM
Centennial High School opened in 2012 and is sited on the eastern edge of Las Cruces, taking full advantage of the prominent view of the Organ Mountain range. The winning facility resulted from a collaboration of two prominent New Mexico architectural firms, Dekker/Perich/Sabatini in Albuquerque and ASA Architects in Las Cruces.
The campus plan nestles buildings and outdoor spaces within the natural topography and maximizes views of the nearby Organ Mountains. The campus layout of separate buildings organized around a series of outdoor plazas and courtyards takes advantage of the Las Cruces climate to provide a rich learning experience, minimize indoor circulation, and provide gathering areas protected from sun and wind.
Extensive daylighting with translucent panels, solar hot water systems, efficient lighting systems and sensors, and landscape water harvesting promote sustainability throughout the campus. Additionally, an energy-efficient ice storage mechanical system allows the District to save money through off-peak energy usage.
In 2015, the Jury also chose to formally recognize with Honorable Mention citations four other entries. These include three projects in Albuquerque, the Levitated Toy Factory Devendra Contractor, Architect (DNCA, LLC), Georgia O’Keeffe Elementary School (Jon Anderson, Architects), Casitas de Colores (Dekker/Perich/Sabatini), and Torcasso Residence located near Santa Fe and designed by the Texas firm Page Southerland Page.
2014 Winner - Terminal Hangar Facility at Spaceport America, Truth or Consequences, NMFoster + Partners, London, UK
SMPC Architects, Architect of Record, Albuquerque, NM
This building is a combined terminal and hangar facility that serves as the base for Virgin Galactic’s spaceflight operations. The round building form and apron reflect their brand, an “iris”, viewed from space. To preserve the El Camino Real view shed, the undulating roof and berms, which mimic the rolling hills and colors of this high desert plain, reduce its apparent scale and shroud it with a veil of mystery. Incorporating sustainable passive design principles, the round partially buried form encapsulates the largest area within the most efficient building envelope. Its orientation, in combination with the berms, MSE wing walls and roof overhangs, shelter it from prevailing winds while the concrete slabs and stair towers further temper the high-desert climatic extremes. Sustainable features include high-performance glazing and skylights, an earth tube labyrinth to pre-condition ventilation air year round, displacement ventilation technology, supplemental hydronicheating, de-stratification fans, sophisticated lighting controls and an energy management system.
2013 Winner - Lone Mountain Ranch House, Rural New MexicoRick Joy Architects, Tuscon, AZ
A solitary six bedroom family retreat on a 27,000-acre Wagu beef ranch in the high desert landscape of New Mexico, USA. A central wood living deck with thru-views divides the house. The Master bedroom and office suite is on the east and the guest bedroom wing to the West. The two forms are clad in dark stained wood in the shadows below the silver corrugated sheet-metal roof. A singular twisted hip roof with perimeter gutter channels water to water harvesting cisterns at the two opposing corner-points of the house. A secret roof deck for stargazing.
2012 Winner - University of New Mexico, George Pearl HallAntoine Predock Architect, Albuquerque, NM
Jon Anderson Architecture, Executive Architect, Albuquerque, NM
Designed by world-renowned architect Antoine Predock, FAIA, the AIA 2006 Gold Medal recipient, George Pearl Hall is a state of the art learning and teaching facility. The 108,000 square foot building is the gateway to the UNM campus and home of the School of Architecture and Planning. With five levels of academic space, the building contains undergraduate and graduate design studios, a critique bridge, classrooms, computer labs, fabrications lab, exhibition gallery, and auditorium. The Fine Arts Library occupies the full fifth floor and has become a favorite study space for students from throughout the UNM campus. “In the Southwest, I have always thought of the fundamental connection between the earth and sky through the mute blank adobe walls that you find here. This has influenced me enormously. There is such a completeness in adobe architecture; the wall acts as a bridge between earth and sky" - Antoine Predock. Two levels are dedicated to graduate and undergraduate studios and faculty offices. Each student receives an individual studio space within the shared open studio format—a layout that encourages informal collaboration and exchange. The building is structured around a central stairway that promote interaction between students and faculty throughout the day.
2011 Winner - Barcelona Elementary School, Albuquerque, NMBaker Architecture + Design. Albuquerque, NM
The Barcelona Elementary School Classroom Building Addition for the Albuquerque Public School system is phase one of a two phase project. Designed as an exciting and functional facility, which promotes creativity and is conducive to teaching and learning, Barcelona Elementary School was the first building in the state of New Mexico to receive USGBC LEED For Schools, Gold Certification. The 980 square foot classrooms, which house 4th and 5th grade students, were designed to be spacious, quiet and naturally lit. These large classrooms, which were requested by the user group, allow for various furniture layouts, reduce overcrowding and can facilitate project-based learning. The solar orientation and natural daylighting strategies had the most profound effect on the building’s design. The site constraints required a north-south alignment and east-west exposures which can be difficult in New Mexico’s climate. The architecture responds with 10’ deep portals on the east and west sides, and large north-facing light monitors in every classroom which bring natural light into the back of the room. The Art/Music Classroom serves a second function as an important gathering space for local community events and is designed as a prominent neighborhood landmark. Since the Barcelona campus has a very limited area, it was especially important that the building be integrated into the site in a non-intrusive way. The bifurcated building footprint strengthens the existing circulation artery from the playground to the field through the new breezeway. The design also provides a safe and sheltered waiting area for students at the pick-up / drop-off area.
The Jury also chose to formally recognize with Honorable Mention two other entries. These include two projects: Gallery 1022, Architect (Edward Fitzgerald), Santa Fe County Public Works Complex (Michael Freeman). The Jury also gave a Citation to Villa Marquette, Architect (RMKM).
2010 - No Winner
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2009 Honorees -
Duranes Elementary School, Albuquerque, NMBaker Architecture & Design, Albuquerque, NM
Richmond Street Studios, Albuquerque, NMCalott + Gifford Architecture / Urban Design, Santa Fe, NM
Lot K, Albuquerque, NMKramer Woodard, k.e.w. Architects, Albuquerque, NM
Associate Professor UNM School of Architecture + Planning
2008 - No Winner
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2007 Inaugural Winner - Galisteo Residence, Galisteo, NMMorrow Bowden Architects, Santa Fe, NM
Suby Bowden and John D. Morrow, former architectural partners now heading their own Santa Fe-based firms, were awarded the inaugural Jeff Harnar Award for Contemporary Architecture for the Galisteo residence of Emily Fisher-Landau and Sheldon Landau. The residence sits in the middle of a 4,000-acre ranch. The landscape on which the home sits “is bold and almost barren,” the architects wrote in their concept statement, calling “for design solutions which bold references to American plains architecture.” Outdoor walls, patios and courtyards were “designed to differentiate between the domesticated and the wild landscape,” the architects said, “with shaded pathways (providing) gentle transition between buildings."
West-Baker, Pat. “Architecture award goes to Galisteo home.” Santa Fe New Mexican, October 2007