Southwestern architecture in New Mexico began taking shape more than 800 years ago, when the Anasazi were formulating many of the elements of what we now call Southwest style. The Anasazi—a Navajo term usually translated as “ancient ones” and applied to ancestors of the Pueblo Indians—fashioned thick walls from stone and mud and then skinned tree trunks and branches for vigas and latillas. The south-facing dwellings admitted the low winter sun for heat but blocked the intense rays of summer, making these pueblos pleasant refuges for all seasons.

The architecture worked. And it’s been working all these years, evolving and refining into more comfortable, modern structures over the centuries. The flat-roofed homes made of adobe, which mimics stone for its environmental qualities, are indelible images of the Southwestern landscape.

While the work of architect, builder, and developer Derald Polston honors traditional design references, his vision for the future of Southwest design incorporates a rich new architectural expression that resonates with

the past but also reflects contemporary culture and its technological capabilities. “We should be responsible, as architects, to create an architecture of our time, to be representative of our time,” he says.

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