Los Alamos High School Principal Sandy Warnock with architects Sanjay Engineer, lead architect on the LAHS design project and Art Tatum of Fanning, Bard, Tatum Architects. Courtesy/LAPS
LAPS News:
It is now official. What the local community has known for the past year was validated with state awards that honored Los Alamos High School for its design and quality construction.
Simply stated, Los Alamos builds award winning schools.
The New Mexico Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors selected LAHS as its 2012 “Excellence in Construction Award” winner this past October. The National Association of Industrial Office Professionals presented LAHS with its 2012 “Educational Merit Award” for design.
LAHS Principal Sandy Warnock accepted the NAIOP Education Design Merit Award Friday, Dec. 7 at a luncheon at the Albuquerque Marriott. She shared how this new facility enhanced the learning of students as well as created new opportunities for staff to provide instruction in large and small group settings.
Los Alamos received the design award because of the special features of the school, which included a culinary arts center, a very functional foreign language lab, seminar rooms, a more accessible administrative wing and a Topper Theater that doubles as a dance studio. In addition, state-of-the-art classrooms were included in the design. The unique challenge of constructing a building while school was in session was also considered in the selection of LAHS for this award.
Sanjay Engineer, the lead architect on the project, stated he was most proud of how the new construction seamlessly joined with the existing high school. He also was pleased with how the new wing respected the tradition of the landscape that graces the front and back of the school.
The 2012 NAIOP Award can be seen in the high school office. Interestingly, recognition for the new high school connects LAHS, which was also recognized as a state-of-the-art school back in the 1950s, to its historical beginning.
