2025 Southwest Best Projects
Award of Merit, Renovation/Restoration: The Gateway Center
The Gateway Center
Albuquerque
Award of Merit
Submitted by Mullen Heller Architecture
Owner City of Albuquerque
Lead Design Firm Mullen Heller Architecture
General Contractor Bradbury Stamm Construction
Structural Engineer Walla Engineering Ltd.
MEP Engineer RTM Engineering Consultants
Surveying Bohannan Huston
Transforming portions of a 500,000-sq-ft decommissioned hospital into a modern shelter for the homeless required innovative and collaborative thinking to address issues such as large, institutional floor plates that had limited access to daylight and outdated building systems.
With as-builts of the original hospital incomplete or nonexistent, the owner, architect and contractor regularly collaborated to find innovative, cost-effective and timely solutions to unexpected issues.
Outdated infrastructure required coordination with numerous subcontractors because every system was affected. The BIM model was continually updated as utilities were uncovered, with ducts, water and sewer lines and other infrastructure carefully revised to minimize additional structural and design changes.
Although a change in general contractors complicated the construction schedule, the new team worked efficiently to get the renovation back on track. All work was coordinated with the building’s existing health care tenants to minimize disruptions to their operations.
The result is a $32.1-million transformative hub of care that helps individuals move from crisis to stability, making a profound impact on the community. Features include a receiving area for individuals needing shelter, separate multibed housing navigation centers for men and women, a 50-bed medical respite center and a 50-bed sobering center.
