For 40-plus years, Van Gilbert has combined his love for the topography, history and culture of New Mexico with an equally passionate dedication to designing not just structures, but buildings that help create communities.

“An architectural practice can make a broad contribution to society, a contribution that often extends beyond the building to support the complex needs and goals of communities and institutions,” says Gilbert, this year’s Southwest Legacy Award winner.

Jim King, chairman of Albuquerque-based Bradbury Stamm Construction, the state’s largest and oldest contractor, says, “From the beginning, Van was a true architect who believed in designing buildings of the highest quality with uncompromising attention to detail.” King was the 2019 Legacy Award winner.

His company has collaborated with Gilbert’s firm, Albuquerque-based VHGA, on 21 projects in New Mexico, including the 1997 design of the aquarium at ABQ BioPark in Albuquerque. “Building a Van Gilbert design has always been challenging and uncompromising,” King adds. “But his passion for the work brought out the very best in everyone on the team and led to wonderful results.”

School Design

A proponent of contemporary regionalism, Gilbert has designed hundreds of projects—more than 90% are education related, and most were done in New Mexico with in-state contractors—from K–12 schools to a wide variety of college-campus structures.

“He definitely will be remembered as one of the greats in K-12 design,” says Karen Alarid, executive director of capital construction and director of facilities design and construction for Albuquerque Public Schools. “He has touched so many APS campuses.”

One noteworthy example is the 9th Grade Academy at Rio Grande High School, which opened in 2016, hosting an underserved population. “Instead of a renovation of old facilities,” Gilbert says, “the new academy is open, bright, an energizing and inviting presence as the students approach it each day.”

At the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, Gilbert has completed six buildings, more than any other architect. To honor his accomplishment, the UNM School of Architecture + Planning named Gilbert a Distinguished Alumnus in 2005. Three additional projects are restorations of landmark buildings by John Gaw Meem IV (1894–1983), whose pueblo revival work has inspired Gilbert throughout his career. One of those projects is Meem’s 1938 masterpiece, UNM’s Zimmerman Library, which Gilbert expanded and restored in 1994.

在新墨西哥州立想多梅尼西建筑ty in Las Cruces combines two structures to create the Institute for Public Policy, which honors the late Sen. Pete Domenici for his six terms in the U.S. Senate. “With its red tile roofs, deep overhangs, tower elements and portals, the building design ties to NMSU’s historic California Mission design idiom,” Gilbert says.

Gilbert’s career also has included zoos and other wildlife-sensitive attractions and public-space commissions such as the 1988 band shell and lake at Albuquerque BioPark. “These are places,” he says, “where people of all ages come together to experience the common humanity we all share.”

批判关系

For every project, the architect must hear what the client is expressing and then intuit the goals, explains Gilbert. “When in the early programming and planning stages I’ve heard, ‘That’s what I was trying to say,’ I knew we were on track and could consistently go on to produce beyond what was envisioned.”

In the same way, successful projects require engaged relationships and collaborations. “I’ve always focused on the process as a team endeavor between owner, designer and contractor and am thankful for the firm’s good fortune of working with so many exceptional New Mexico contractors,” he says.

例如，阿尔伯克基水族馆的鲨鱼坦克墙壁需要缎面光滑的饰面，因为鲨鱼皮非常精致。吉尔伯特回忆说：“吉姆·金（Jim King）和他的布拉德伯里·斯塔姆（Bradbury Stamm）团队将他们的手伸到了表面的每一英寸，以确保他们取得了平稳的效果。”

In school designs, architectural goals coalesce with pedagogical ones. Through collaborations with environmental-design pioneer Anne Taylor, professor emeritus at the University of New Mexico, Gilbert integrated the concept of the classroom as a learning tool. “In this way,” he says, “each project enhances learning and strengthens the campus context.”

Buildings and Place

作为土著儿子，吉尔伯特（Gilbert）在新墨西哥州的地形，颜色，天空和光芒的早期受到影响。他说：“免受季节性元素的保护是一个不变的：寻找阴影，逃脱how叫的春风和隆起的夏季雨，然后被古代火山地层后面的地面和壮观的日落的美丽所吓了一跳。”

他补充说：“该地区最佳建筑的成就是与惊人的自然环境和充满挑战的气候的永恒和谐相处。”在阿尔伯克基山谷高中的时候，他遇到了一位终身导师，已故的唐·施莱格尔（Don Schlegel），UNM建筑与计划学院的长期主席兼教授。他说：“当他一生中要求我成为大学学生项目的一部分时，这始终是一种荣誉。”新利18备用网址吉尔伯特继续在大学和其他学校指导学生。

In the fall of 1958, Gilbert attended Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo., then transferred to the University of New Mexico, completing a bachelor’s degree in 1964. While there, he worked part time for an Albuquerque firm where noted architect Antoine Predock was beginning his career.

After a year with the Air National Guard, Gilbert returned to UNM to complete the architecture program. A one-year tour of duty in Vietnam with the Air National Guard followed. He completed his studies at UNM with a master’s degree in architecture in 1971.

然后，佩洛克（Predock）为年轻的吉尔伯特（Gilbert）提供了一份工作，他与建筑师合作了五年。他说：“我与安托万（Antoine）合作的时间在我身上揭露和加强，每个设计的起点是观察和评估该站点，确保设计是与该网站的设计，设计很强，但并没有压倒它。”。“虽然Meem解决了环境并承认了本地价值观，但Antoine涵盖了该站点，并创建了一种意想不到但完全和谐的设计解决方案。”

对于1976年VHGA的第一个项目，在阿尔伯克基动物园的猎物鸟展览中，吉尔伯特找到了适合容纳所观看物种和观看它们的物种的正确地方。“我在面对南方的展览中放置了展览，因此在冬季的几个月里，鸟类被温暖，并在夏天被长长的杨木树遮蔽。朝南的展览意味着太阳在游客的后面，不会阻碍观看体验。”

Indigenous cultures also have inspired Gilbert. He learned from the Pueblo people the importance of protected courtyards for gatherings and the covered portal, providing relief from the sun and protection in the rainy season. “They made buildings taller on the north side as a protective wall from the elements and lower buildings and larger openings on the south for maximum heat gain in winter,” he explains. For example, in 2004 the Santa Fe Indian School New Campus replaced the 1880s-era school, incorporating native design traditions, sustainable elements and contemporary technology. As with his K-12 schools, an enclosed courtyard hosts gathering functions, in addition to providing security. “The multi-story school building on the north buffers the wind and allows outdoor classroom and recreational activities for more school days,” Gilbert says.

His award-winning Sue Cleveland High School Campus for Rio Rancho Public Schools, completed in 2009 by the Jaynes Corp., exemplifies site sensitivity, sustainability and technology enrichment. The first phase of the LEED Gold campus focused on academic facilities; the second added an athletic complex and the performing arts center, named an ENR Southwest Best Project in 2011. “The buildings were accurately laid out to integrate the views of the Sandia Mountains throughout the campus,” Gilbert says.

Extending His Services

Roger Schluntz, tenured professor and dean from 1999 to 2010 of the UNM School of Architecture and Planning, asked Gilbert to help raise $3 million from private donors for the school’s Antoine Predock-designed George Pearl Hall. The approximately $22-million facility was completed in September 2007 by the Jaynes Corp. Gilbert was “extraordinarily helpful,” Schluntz says. “With the help of other professional leaders, we were able to exceed the goal that the university had imposed before construction could commence.”

吉尔伯特（Gilbert）希望被人们铭记为扩展社区的建筑师。“我希望人们记得我相信并创造了人们喜欢聚集的永恒的地方 - 与环境和谐相处，表达，运作效率和高效，具有成本效益和可持续性。”