F O C U S on architecture
TheMan Plan by Kyle Marksteiner
ARCHITECT JOSE ZELAYA
was hired to design a building, but a background that also includes training in urban planning gave him the edge when it came to visualizing Artesia’s new library. He visualizes a city as a home, and the library plays a very special role in that picture. “It’s the living room of the city,” he noted.
investigative, preliminary work,” he noted.
Zelaya originally came from Honduras, where he obtained a graduate degree in architecture and urban planning. He’s lived in the United States since 1998, and he received a master’s degree in architecture from the University of New Mexico’s School of Architecture and Planning. He has also studied Urban Environmental Planning in Holland, and he worked in Minnesota before returning to New Mexico.
A total of 12 architectural firms submitted proposals for the library about three years ago. A committee narrowed it down to five interviews and ultimately selected Zelaya’s firm – JMZ Arquitectos, LLC. Albuquerque firm Jaynes Corp. handled construction and installation of the Peter Hurd mural.
Zelaya has worked a wide variety of projects in Artesia over the past ten years. But the library design was a dream come true. “When I heard about the interest to have a library, I started doing some
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FOCUS ON ARTESIA | FALL 2013
“At that time, my strongest point in the proposal was that I felt this would have to be a downtown library,” Zelaya said. “So much investment in the city has been downtown, and the library has to capitalize on that.” PHOTO LEFT: Jose Zelaya, Architect of the new Artesia Public Library. SKETCH BELOW: The initial conceptual design for the new library.