Park Square

By Edith Cherry and James See – December 16, 2019

6565 Americas Parkway NE,  Albuquerque, NM  87110

Access:  Business hours

Park Square is considered one of Albuquerque’s purest examples of Modernism in a commercial high-rise. The building exhibits many Modernist design principles: expressed structure, a minimal palette of materials, consistency of façade design on a grid, and well-studied proportions.

Within that Modernist framework, the architects also managed to acknowledge the sense of place in Albuquerque. The site plan arranges the two towers and lower retail stores along a view axis aimed at the Sandia Mountains (see diagram, above left). This placement also allows the windows of the two towers to reflect one another and emphasize their relationship. The color of the textured-concrete structure is a light pink  that is similar to the color and texture of Sandia granite. The turquoise-colored window frames pay homage to the window-frame color of many traditional New Mexico homes.

The structural grid acknowledges that the weight of the building lessens as it goes up. The lower columns are larger than the columns of the top six floors. Another interesting feature is the indention of some corners on the entry-court side of the complex. These indentions provide more corner offices, choice locations in commercial space.

Completed:  1985
Architect:  Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) – Houston
Associate Architect:  Holmes & Narver, Architects
Landscape Architect:  seeking info*
Contractor:  seeking info*

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Architects: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill – SOM

12/16/19