New Community

High Desert

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Land stewardship for Albuquerque

High Desert was planned from the ground up, taking a responsible stewardship approach to the land by respecting and integrating the existing features of arroyos and the juniper prairie. This sustainable community of 1000-acres honors low-impact design practices of water conservation, wildlife habitat restoration and native plantings to maintain 50% of the native landscape as open space and to use only 20% of its annual water allowance for landscape irrigation, which saves $300,000 per year. Because of its stewardship of the natural environment, High Desert changed water-conservation and landscape planting ordinances at city and state levels. It has become the model for sustainable new communities in the Southwest.

Services Provided: Master Planning, Landscape Architecture

Awards

  • Honor Award, ASLA New Mexico
  • Honor Award, ASLA Colorado
  • CSI Case Study, Landscape Performance Series, Landscape Architecture Foundation
  • Community Award of Excellence, City of Albuquerque Environmental Planning Commission

Client

High Desert Investment Corp.

Collaborators

Bohannan Huston Inc., SWCA, Ali Baudoin

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