WNMU Vocational Tech Center Masterplan
Western New Mexico University (WNMU) • Educational - Masterplan • Bayard, NM • 2018
SSA’s masterplan for WNMU’s Vocational Technical Center accounts for an ever progressing array of technical trades training programs that tie directly to employment opportunities in western New Mexico and the 4-cities region: Hurley, Bayard, Santa Clara, and Silver City.
A program that will likely progress over time, SSA’s design team strived to provide an economical, flexible facility that can adapt to multiple functions, ties into the efficiency and economy of New Mexico’s architectural vernacular, and is carbon-neutral. The $15M facility caters to trades such as welding and other skills valuable in the construction industry in addition to renewable energies, and disel repair with flexible shop spaces.
Our design and masterplan features classrooms which are physically separate from work/shop spaces that are observable from classrooms. Each classroom looks out into a landscape buffer zone and shop space as illustrated in the rendering to the right, allowing students to observe outdoor work area and shop spaces duing study sessions or lecture.
