<body bgcolor="#333333" text="#999999" link="#FFFFFF" vlink="#CCCCCC" alink="#6699CC"><br><br>Mazria Inc. was established in 1978 as Mazria Associates, Inc. Since its inception, our office has operated like a small design studio where innovation, experimentation and research is encouraged . Our expertise in building and site ecology and its design principles, technologies and applications is the result of this approach to architectural design. We are internationally recognized as a leader in the field of environmental design and daylighting in architecture. Our office is unique in that we apply these principles to all of our projects.<br><br>
SANTA
FE, NEW MEXICO</span></font></b><br>
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We began the Genoveva Chavez Community Center project by successfully
facilitating a series of workshops and focus groups with City and
County governments, City residents, neighborhood organizations, youth
and sports clubs, various interest groups and adjacent land owners
to generate a community-endorsed land purchase and annexation agreement,
master plan and facility program. <br>
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The program of the Genoveva Chavez Community Center emerged from the
workshops as a desire in Santa Fe to bring the community together
through shared activities. Our goal was to design a facility that
would reflect this desire and also express its unifying purpose by
physically integrating the building into the cityscape. <br>
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To express the Community Center's purpose as a community gath er ing
place, the three main activity areas, the Natatorium, Ice Arena and
Gym na si um are grouped around a multi-level atrium space which visually
connects all four acres of space in the Center. This transparency
fosters a sense of com mu ni ty within the build ing by allowing people
to sense and experience other activities while they are swimming,
ice skating, running, strength-training, dining or passing from one
area to another. <br>
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The relationship between the Santa Fe com mu ni ty and its unique
setting was also im por tant to us in the design of the facility.
The special quality and intensity of light in Santa Fe, which continually
changes through out the day and from season to season, animates the
main spaces in the building through clerestories, skylights and windows.
We created a visual connection to the sur round ing land scape and
mountains through large openings in the exterior walls, each opening
framing a distinct view. In addition to daylighting, passive solar
heating, passive cooling, water conservation and water harvesting
strategies were in corporated into the facility's design to support
Santa Fe's commitment to preserving its unique environment. <br>
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