Exhibition at the Eugene and Clare Thaw Research and Education Center at the Edwin Brooks House
Designing and Preserving in Santa Fe: Towards an Authentic Architecture
An Exhibition and Programs featuring designs by AIA members
Opening Friday, October 24 at 5 PM
At the Thaw Education & Research Center in the Edwin Brooks House
553 Canyon Road, Santa Fe, NM 87501
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Designing and Preserving in Santa Fe: Towards an Authentic Architecture brings together the work of the members of the Santa Fe Chapter of The American Institute of Architects and other Architects that are practicing in our city today, highlighting how design and preservation intersect in a place defined by its architectural heritage. Santa Fe’s built environment is more than background; it is the fabric of civic life, shaped by centuries of cultural exchange, adaptation, and regulation.
The exhibition invites visitors to consider how architects work within this context—sometimes embracing traditional forms, sometimes extending them into contemporary expressions, and always responding to the specific challenges and opportunities of Santa Fe’s unique building culture. Projects on display range from preservation efforts that safeguard the city’s architectural identity to new designs that expand the conversation about what the “Santa Fe Style” might mean for future generations. This is not a static presentation but a work-in-progress: a collective effort to illuminate the role of architects in envisioning the city’s future. By bringing a plurality of perspectives into one room, the exhibition underscores that Santa Fe’s architectural story is not singular but shared— negotiated across time by architects, planners, craftspeople, residents, and visitors alike.
Through this gathering of projects, the Santa Fe Chapter seeks to broaden dialogue about design in the city and to affirm that the task of preserving Santa Fe’s identity is inseparable from the creative act of designing within it.Thaw Education Center,
About the Artists
AIA Santa Fe is the local chapter of The American Institute of Architects, representing licensed architects, emerging professionals, and allied members throughout northern New Mexico. The Chapter serves as a convener for dialogue on design, planning, and preservation in a region internationally recognized for its distinctive architectural traditions. Santa Fe’s architecture has always balanced continuity and change. For more than four centuries, builders here have negotiated the interplay of Indigenous, Spanish, Mexican, and Anglo-American traditions, weaving together regional materials and methods with evolving technologies and cultural expectations. The resulting urban fabric is both historic and dynamic, shaped by ongoing conversations about identity, authenticity, and innovation.
Today, as Santa Fe undertakes revisions to its Land Development Code and debates the role of the “Santa Fe Style” in shaping growth, AIA Santa Fe members contribute professional expertise to help the community make informed choices. Through exhibitions, lectures, tours, and advocacy, the Chapter highlights the complexity of designing and preserving in a city where architecture is both cultural legacy and living practice. By participating in this exhibition, AIA Santa Fe affirms its commitment to honoring tradition while fostering the creativity needed to sustain Santa Fe’s built environment for generations to come.
2024-2025 PAST EXHIBITIONS -
THAW EDUCATION AND RESEARCH CENTER
The launch of the programming started in 2024 with an exhibition celebrating the re-publication of Don Usner’s Sabino Map: Life in Chimayó's Old Plaza: Life in Chimayó's Old Plaza. HSFF displayed Usner’s photographs documenting the people and place of one of the oldest extant plazas in New Mexico. His portraits, landscapes, and still lifes prompted conversations and a series of lectures discussing life in a small town and its challenges with preservation in a contemporary context of growth and influx of new residents along with the exodus of the younger population.
The Last exhibition, running from June-October 2025 was Sharons Stewart’s Timeless Waters: Acequia Culture in New Mexico. This exhibition showcased photography documenting the role acequias play in life in Northern New Mexico.
2025 Grant Funding Cuts
In early 2025, HSFF planned to continue this series with funding from a New Mexico Humanities Council (NMHC) grant. We were among the many nonprofits whose grants would be pulled due to the federal cuts to the National Endowment for the Humanities. While NMHC is making a slow recovery, thanks to the Mellon Foundation and Federation of State Humanities Councils, we had to turn to private donors to continue with the educational programming at the Thaw Education and Research Center. We still require more funding to cover the production and staffing of the upcoming exhibition.
Donations for the exhibition can be made on the exhibition webpage: historicsantafe.org/timeless-waters. We appreciate your support for this educational programming.
Thanks to our donors for Timeless Waters: Acequia Culture in New Mexico
Dee Ann McIntyre
Ruthbeth Finerman & Ross Sackett
Greg & Patricia Walke
Michelle A. Dean
Historic Santa Fe Foundaiton is grateful to Tia Collection for their generous donation for the new hanging and lighting system in the Thaw Education and Research Center in the Edwin Brooks House, 553 Canyon Road.
With their support and others like them, we are able to supply mission-related educational programming to the public.