Spears Horn Architects was established in 1981 as a design firm focusing on residential design, commercial / institutional facilities, educational facilities, tribal design, , urban design, landscape architecture, and historic preservation. We continue to develop these areas of expertise and to blend them in many projects, creating a body of work architecturally rich and sensitive to its environment. The firm, run by principals James Horn, AIA and Beverley Spears, FAIA is a corporation consisting of professionals including architects, project designers, and highly skilled and experienced architectural graduates. Our architects on staff have all worked together for more than a decade. The firm has an excellent record of responsiveness to client needs, budget management, and timely performance of contract obligations. We have also championed the process of collaboration with our clients such that the final completed project seamlessly represents the design skills and dedication of Spears Horn Architects and the vision, insight, and experience of the client. We have been honored by our peers as a New Mexico Firm of the Year which recognizes a tradition of professional excellence by a firm of architects over at least a ten-year period.
Our involvement in institutional projects has given us an understanding of the technical challenges created by tight budget constraints, complex project programs and the economic and functional implications of project schedules. We are particularly proud of our ability to work with client “communities”, whether they be for houses, offices, schools, churches, or museum projects. Drawing from our experience with government and institutional projects, we recognize the sensitivity required to address the important needs of clients and are aware of the foresight necessary for successful design and construction.
Healthy Buildings
At Spears Horn Architects, we strive not only to craft meaningful places, but also connections to the larger context of the world in which we live. As we seek to relate a building to its surroundings through daylighting and connections to outdoor spaces, we also endeavor to bring people closer to the natural environment through the creation of sustainable buildings and places that respect that environment. Integral to this goal is the creation of places that are healthy for their occupants. We seek a holistic approach to green building, looking at all aspects of the project, from water catchment and re-use in our arid climate, to energy conservation, to our choice of sustainable materials such as adobe, strawbale, and Rastra (a composite structural block material made of recycled styrofoam and concrete).
We regularly build with adobe, and we have championed straw bale construction since 1992, helping establish and direct the New Mexico Straw Bale Construction Association, and taking an active role in testing, codifying and establishing procedures for State permitting of straw-bale structures. We have participated in straw bale workshops, have designed three straw bale house projects, and consulted on two other house projects. In addition to adobe and straw bale, we have also completed many cast pumice and Rastra (a composite structural block material made of recycled styrofoam and concrete) projects. When using wood we seek to use sustainable woods and engineered wood products such as parallams that help to decrease the demand for large and old-growth structural members. Other non-structural alternative materials that we have used include mud plasters and adobe floors. Our work with chemically sensitive clients, volunteer work in the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), and our implementation of the USGBC’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating system are just a few of the ways we integrate these ideals into the practice of architecture.
Spears Horn Architects 