The New Mexico Court of Appeals Building on the UNM campus in Albuquerque is a sustainably designed, LEED certified building and landscape. The building exhibits pure functionality in its use of sustainable materials, water harvesting and a green roof.

Surprisingly, the facility also exhibits art. The justices who preside over the building are art collectors. They showcase their sizeable art collection inside. Sites Southwest’s landscape architects took the idea a step further by proposing the green roof’s landscape become a Sculpture Garden. The justices loved the idea.

The green roof is a walkable space intended to be seen from that grade, but also viewed from the rooms above it. The landscape both shows the art and is art itself. The green roof uses primarily native plants of different textures to draw focus to the art.