Jemez Community Resource Center

Following the additions to the Pueblo of Jemez Health Center, Elizabeth Suina with her previous company CORE, Ltd began working on plans for a new community building which would act as a physical bridge between the Senior Center Programs and the Early Child Programs. 

The new facility was to be located immediately between the Senior Center and the Head Start.  The concept of the facility was for it to provide multi-generational interaction with a special consideration for having the elders teach the language to the younger children.  The Community Resource Center (CRC) was to be the middle ground where each of the two groups could convene.  A traditional adobe house was also designed into the project to provide a place of cultural arts education.  The plans developed for the center included a separate building for infant and toddler education, and even though the funds available to the project did not allow for the building to be constructed, infant/toddler space was included in the primary building. 

Construction costs rose dramatically during the period of the construction, and together with the contractor, we explored every option available to extending the project.  The solution developed was to modify a large work space within the main building to house the specific needs of the infant/toddler program.  This included installation of hand wash sinks, a laundry, a restroom, storage, and bottle preparation area.  This space has been named the “language nest”.