Ahead of the Curve

New Mexico Business Journal, Sept, 1997 by Rebecca Murphy

If you're a New Mexico resident, chances are good that you've been inside a building designed by Design Collaborative Southwest, Inc., the Albuquerque architectural firm. And chances are excellent that you stopped at some point, tilted your head way back and admired the expansive space and the all-encompassing light and color within the building where you stood.

The South Broadway Cultural Center in Albuquerque, city libraries, offices, townhouses, apartments, residences and post offices all bear the mark of DCSW, a firm that is deafly a leader in New Mexico design. DCSW has bid on and designed an impressive list of publicly funded buildings, including the upcoming 55,000 square-foot Anderson/Abruzzo International Balloon Museum and 358-acre Balloon Park.

The five principal architects that comprise the heart of DCSW continue to work intensively in hands-on design, putting in 60 to 70 hours each week in projects that range from a Northcast Heights post office to the massive 80,000 square-foot Theater Air Command & Control Simulation Facility at Kirtland Air Force Base. The 12-year old company pulls in $4 million a year in fees, placing it among the top three or four architectural firms in the state.

When the architects were awarded the bid to build the South Broadway Cultural Center, their intention was to go into a depressed area and build the "nicest library and cultural center in Albuquerque." Today, the 24,000 square-foot building stands at 1025 Broadway SE, in a marginal neighborhood. It is an impressive structure of tile, glass block and skylights that remains unmarred by neighborhood graffiti or vandalism.

Inside, the library atrium of marble is flanked by pillars and lit by a massive skylight that floods the entrance with light. The Cultural Center contains an art gallery, a 315-seat theater and a 12,000 square-foot library. The design of the Center changed the outlook on public-funded buildings, Marc Schiff, one of the firm's principals, said. "It set the stage for the Albuquerque Bio Park because it made a statement about public architecture in New Mexico that had never been made before," he said. "The South Broadway Cultural Center was a sumptuous public building. The game changed then, because people wouldn't accept anything less."

That statement is not only about how a building looks but how it functions. Schiff says that translates into a building design that is "more than the customer expects." DCSW has a reputation for delivering designs on time and under budget. "Good design does not cost more money," he said.

DCSW opened its doors in April, 1984 when Schiff and Robert Heiser founded the firm with the philosophy of producing a very high quality design product for the same budget or less than similar buildings. "We find out what is special in the requirements of the product and we try to go several steps beyond that," Schiff said.

Schiff and Heiser's new company was one of many in a state that has an astonishingly high number of architectural firms - upwards of 3,000. The tiny company do - designing custom homes and other private-sector, cost-drive projects in an attempt to gain a foothold in an increasingly competitive market.

The business grew, adding three new principals over the next 11 years. David Dixon in 1992, and Richard Braun in 1995. Today, DCSW employs a staff of 30 in its downtown office where design models crowd the hallways and giant photos of projects line the walls beside scores of awards the firm has garnered over the past 12 years. The firm's reach is wide, extending throughout New Mexico into Nevada, California, Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas and even Florida.

Schiff is adamant that his firm does not present any one "look" in the buildings bearing a DCSW design. "We are very client driven," he said. "The priority to us is whether a building has a good fit in the landscape and a respect for the climatic environment. Is it energy efficient? These are the questions we consider in development of the design."

Nevertheless, DCSW's buildings have helped lead the way in a new sort of look for Albuquerque buildings - a look that is beyond the cookie-cutter, shoebox building design found in cities throughout the nation.

"I think we had less to lose ten years ago," Schiff said. "We helped break open the box in Albuquerque. The good architectural firms are all headed in that direction now - project driven, client driven. The design environment is more creative now. The public perception of architecture is more enhanced."

There is increasing recognition of good architectural design, Schiff noted. 'A lot of our buildings are becoming meaningful to the public," he added. "And as the public becomes more aware of architecture there will be more investment in it - because it lasts."

The DCSW design leans heavily toward energy conservation. A prime example of the DCSW energy philosophy can be seen at the UNM Research Park where the Lockheed Martin Technical and Research Center employs extensive "daylighting" and passive solar heating to promote energy conservation and a people-friendly atmosphere. The 66,000 square-foot building was built in 1994 for a total cost of $5 million.