Sandia View Elementary School - Corrales, New Mexico
By: Jennifer Walker - Journey
The community of Sandia View, located in the Albuquerque suburb of Rio Rancho, sits at an elevation of 1,600 meters and offers an exceptionally dark and transparent view of the night sky, making the state a favorite for astronomers.
With a population of about 75,000, Rio Rancho is one of the largest and fastest-growing cities in New Mexico. With growth comes the addition of new buildings and accommodations. But, when one of the community’s churches set out to build a school for its growing Christian school, it was met with some opposition from its Sandia View community neighbors.
“They were concerned about the noise, increased traffic, and lighting issues,” said Patrice Osborne, principal of Sandia View Elementary School.
It was valid concern. The quiet community nestled in a state with beautiful scenery both day and night went to great lengths to restore its night sky views. In 1999, the New Mexico Heritage Preservation Alliance (NMHPA) declared the New Mexico night sky as one of the state’s “most endangered” cultural resources and began advocating for its protection. Since then, the Night Sky Protection Act was signed into law, which regulates outdoor night lighting fixtures to preserve and enhance the state’s dark sky while promoting safety, conserving energy, and preserving the environment for astronomy.
Corrales SDA Church started Sandia View Elementary School, which began operation in the church’s multi-purpose rooms and later moved to rented classroom space at the nearby Sandia View Academy campus. It desperately needed its own school building, and Corrales SDA already had acreage on its own grounds on which to build it. The leadership’s vision was to create “a positive learning environment for all who enter its doors.” But there was opposition from neighbors, and school leadership did not take it lightly. Instead, they presented those concerns as a challenge to Stan M. Bell, an architect who had built churches and other projects in and around Albuquerque.
Bell’s firm is headquartered in Berrien Springs, Michigan, but Osborne was familiar with his work and believed he would understand the specific needs of a small Christian school.
The new, 24,000-square-foot, $2.4 million school building for pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade students would include six classrooms (two with small bathrooms), a library, two computer rooms, school office and reception space, principal’s office, staff work room, kitchen with pantry, gymnasium/lunchroom, gymnasium equipment storage, pre-school playground, and a sports area for baseball and other field games that would be available for use by the school, the church, and members of the community.
“The building committee had a clear vision of what they wanted and made clear to the project team their vision of a contemporary and state-of-the-art teaching facility that fits the Southwestern style of architecture while remaining within the available budget,” Bell said.
To control costs, the building was designed with pre-engineered steel framing and roofing, but the exterior was covered with stucco, using the Southwestern style of architecture to fit in with the regional architecture and suburban community.
“The building was designed to suggest it belongs in the 21st century but remembers the 20th century with use of curved entry canopies that lightly touch their supports,” Bell said.
Bell added personality to the building by designing a “heart” at the center crossing of the corridors with special clerestory windows. The high ceiling at the crossing brings in light and joy at the middle, or “heart,” of the building.
“The clerestory offers a place for parents to visit with each other before and after school,” said Osborne. “It provides a light and airy atmosphere in our hallways, and it is a great place for displaying student work.”
To address the issues that neighbors had, Bell added a circular driveway in front of the school to keep as much traffic off the street as possible. He also used down-cast lighting to minimize the amount of light given off to comply with New Mexico’s Night Sky Act and not interfere with neighbors’ star gazing.
About a year and a half after construction began, Sandia View Elementary School opened its doors to 150 students.
“The parents, staff, and students love the new building,” Osborne said. “And, in the passing years, the neighbors have come to enjoy the large playground/field area they have access to and have realized that the noise and traffic issues are not a problem. Our school is well thought of in the community both from an aesthetic and an educational point of view.”
Dr. Stanley M. Bell was a professor and dean of architecture at Andrews University School of Architecture for 20 years before founding a design firm with a focus on designing places for worship, including schools and office buildings for Christian organizations, www.stanbellarchitect.com.
