The Legacy of La Luz

This history of La Luz, a planned development on Albuquerque, New Mexico’s near west side, that celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2018, presents it as a model for architectural and planned community design. Included on the New Mexico Register of Cultural Properties, La Luz exemplifies the spirit of ecosophy—ecological harmony—contributing to the spiritual and physical health of its residents. Featured are interviews with Ray A. Graham, III, its developer, renowned architect Antoine Predock, and others initially involved in this project. Included are descriptions of the community governance and the spirit of its residents with a look ahead to the challenges of sustaining this community in a changing environment.

Author Biography

Anne Taylor, PhD, is a University of New Mexico Regents professor and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) distinguished Professor Emerita. She was a professor at the School of Architecture and Planning, University of New Mexico, and is known internationally for her research on physical environments and their effects on learning and behavior, and the teaching of architecture and design to children. Taylor attended Wells College and Arizona State University where her research area was human factors and the effects of the physical environment on learning and behavior of four year olds and English language learners. Through the years she has worked with architects to program and design newer schools and has developed an integrated design education curriculum installed in many schools internationally for use with teachers and children P/K-12+. This curriculum has been translated from English into Japanese. Taylor is the author of many articles and six books, among which are “Linking Architecture and Education: Sustainable Design of Learning Environments” and “Southwestern Ornamentation and Design, The Architecture of John Gaw Meem” that can be used by teachers, architects and others to explore with their students symbolic architecture and design thinking in a unique part of the United States. Cynthia Lewiecki-Wilson, PhD, now retired, was a Professor of English at Miami University of Ohio, where she taught writing and rhetoric, literature, women’s studies, and disability studies courses. She directed a writing program as well as the Graduate Programs in English and founded the disability studies minor at Miami. She has published over thirty scholarly articles and chapters and is the author or co-editor of five books.