The New Mexico Court of Appeals Building on the Campus of the University of New Mexico will be a sustainability designed LEED certified building and landscape. However, beyond the pure functionality of using sustainably minded materials and ideas like harvesting water and use of a green roof for the project, the facility will also be a showcase for Art. The justices who preside over the building are art collectors and the interior spaces of the building are intended to also house a sizeable art collection. The landscape architects of Sites Southwest took the idea a step further and proposed using the landscape and the green roof specifically as a Sculpture Garden. The justices loved the idea and the project was moved forward utilizing both concepts. The green roof will be a walkable space intended to be seen from that grade but will also be viewable from the rooms above it; the landscape will at once show the art and be art itself. The green roof uses primarily native plants feathering the textures with finer leafed plants nearer the artwork and courser plant materials radiating outwards to focus the eye on the art. The project design is scheduled for completion in the spring of 2008.
