School of Skilled Trades

The School of Skilled Trades at CNM is a design collaboration with Architekton from Phoenix, AZ and included an initial curriculum analysis that examined market and pedagogy trends in skilled trades education. The six-month intensive visioning and programming effort focused on the impact of industry on education and how we can establish a curriculum to enhance that partnership and reestablish trades careers as a lucrative and highly-respected career path.

The result of this process was a multi-phase, multibuilding project to create an interdisciplinary hub for skilled trades education that links everything from carpentry to welding in Phase I. Planning for Phase II included linking this infrastructure future programs such as architecture, surveying, and machine tooling. A significant part of this vision included the future of automotive trades education and focused on everything from diesel technologies to electric and driver-less vehicle maintenance.

The Phase I program (to be completed in 2024) consists of a 59,300 sf building to house 32,330 sf of labs, 10 classrooms, and academic support spaces, and office space. The labs are designed with the future in mind and are created with the infrastructure put in place so that they can adapt to evolving needs of program and curriculum. Large overhead doors allows for easy movement of large equipment and vehicles to outside yards and showcase spaces. Every lab has access to daylight and visibility for education and marketing of the trades.