Projects

“The Big I” Landscape

Albuquerque, New Mexico

“The Big I” is the popular name for the intersection of Interstate 25 and Interstate 40.  Located near downtown Albuquerque, NM, this 100 acre landscape is a combination of distinct layers rising steeply from the frontage roads to linear median spaces in I-40, transitioning to large sweeping planes along I-25.  This setting provides an ideal framework for the expression of three remarkable themes that have shaped Albuquerque’s identity. The landscapes of the Big I incorporate Albuquerque’s geologic setting, early agricultural heritage, and emergence as a modern community.

As a central feature of the Albuquerque landscape, the Big I plays a vital role in our awareness of a highly engineered vehicular landscape.  Xeric plant material juxtaposes the concrete transportation network, balancing Albuquerque’s ecology with its cultural and economic landscapes. Together they inform and expand our understanding of high desert sustainability.

The Big I Landscape design celebrates the sweeping forms of transportation infrastructure, reiterating the motion and balance created by the overpasses and translating these forms to the ground plane. The corresponding pattern of hardscape and softscape marry the soaring forms of the infrastructure to the human scale landscape. Visual corridors, both overt and subtle, generate frequent experiential discoveries. Every time we drive through the Big I, we see something new. 

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