Integrated into a 29-acre masterplan developed on the original site of the Bachechi Family Farm in Albuquerque’s North Valley, the Environmental Education Building designed by SSA reinforces the sustainable ethic represented in the landscape and functions as an extension of the site experience.

As part of an energy efficiency pilot project for Bernalillo County, the Education Building is also intended to be “on-display” where possible, with systems and material components noted and explained. Programmatic extensions of the Education Building include a shaded Outdoor Classroom, the Bachechi Family Memorial Rose Garden / Interpretive display, a County storage building and a Caretaker’s residence. Sited at the confluence of an existing acequia, wetland and pecan grove, the building is shaped to create an archetypal southwest-facing courtyard and to minimize development in the larger open part of the site.

The building is oriented to cardinal points and to frame views of the nearby wetland, fallow fi eld wildlife areas, a city pump station, the distant West Mesa Volcanoes and Sandia Mountains. An ‘aquarium’ view window in the classroom, also aimed at the acequia and wetlands visually connects visitors to the larger hydrological systems on site to enhance the education experience.