Visiting professor wins awards

Chris Calott, a UNM visiting architecture professor, has won four awards for his housing and artistic designs in the past 18 months.

Calott's most recent win came from a competition sponsored by the City of Albuquerque to re-design the intersection at 12th Street and Candelaria Road. Plans for the project, called "Los Candelarias," include adding a median and bike path to the intersection. He said the project, which was a team effort that included members from Tucson and Santa Fe, is still in its planning phase.

Calott, 40, said success comes from local participation.

"My biggest suggestion as a young architect is to get involved in the community and do good work," he said. "Opportunity will then come your way."

Calott said he specializes in revitalization projects that fill empty or underdeveloped lots with affordable housing. He recently won an award in the Trumbull Affordable Housing design competition in the Southeast Heights.

He also won an award from the American Institute of Architecture this year for a project he developed with students at Auburn University in Alabama. He said the project, called the Darden Oaks Affordable Housing Community, is a 42-unit housing complex located in Opelika, Ala.

Another one of Calott's projects, a modern metal house called the Wright Residence, sits on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River in Stockholm, Wis., and won an American Institute of Architects Design Award.

Calott said the inspiration for his work comes from his environment.

"All of my ideas come from the place around me," he said.

He won another award when the City of Albuquerque held a design competition last year to build a sculpture that would encompass a large patch of open space that passengers could see when arriving and departing on their flights.

Calott designed a land sculpture called "Sky Ladders," which consists of 17 ladders that extend about 25 feet from the slope of the hillside. He said the purpose of the ladders, which will cast shadows during the day and glow at night, is to draw viewers' eyes to New Mexican skies. The ladders will be similar in design to those found in traditional American Indian pueblos, and will be made of recycled aluminum.

Also on the hillside near the ladders will be 507 planes representing the average number of daily commercial take-offs and landings at the Sunport, he said. The purpose of the planes, he said, is to reflect flashes of sunlight. Calott said the project is still in its planning phase and is unsure when it will be built.

Before teaching at UNM in 1998, Calott was a visiting lecturer at the University of California at Berkley. He has previously worked in Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Auburn, Alabama, San Francisco and Mexico City. Calott said he hopes to remain at UNM after his stint as a visiting professor is complete.