Artistic Library Breaks Ground in Shiprock

The new Dine College Library combines community and culture for the Navajo Community.

Shiprock Library Building Begins

Architect DLR Group and general contractor Jaynes Corp. began construction on the new library for Dine College in Shiprock, N.M. The dramatic facility was designed to become a central gathering place for students and the Navajo Community at large.

The Dine College Library in Shiprock includes many unique design features that are intended to speak to the community and culture of the Navajo Nation. (Image courtesy DLR Group)

The 20,000-sq-ft library integrates the built form of the hogan and the curving representation of the Navajo world-view. Spaces created between the large curved forms direct the vision toward sacred landmarks and celestial relationships that surround and define the world of the Dine.

“We wanted to create a building environment that brings us closer to our sacred mountains by integrating natural and cosmic meaning to the building,” says Cliff Johns, Dine College project manager. Culturally relevant touches are located throughout the library ranging from framed views to incised narratives in floor and wall surfaces.

Other elements include rainbow color skylights that reflect onto white walls and lights and fiber optics in the ceiling that display the big dipper, northern star and other constellations important to the storytelling tradition. Completion is expected in fall 2010.

I-25 Breaks Ground from Tramway to Bernalillo

FNF Construction broke ground on a $28.4-million project that will extend the six-lane configuration on Interstate 25 from Tramway Boulevard to the N.M. 473 interchange in Bernalillo.

Work consists of roadway reconstruction and widening, drainage structure extension, construction of concrete box culverts in Sandia Pueblo and full replacement of the Sandia Wash Bridge.

The project will be phased so that two lanes northbound and two lanes southbound will be preserved for a majority of the construction.

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