Architect Martina Lorey: El Paso’s Beloved Artist Designer

When Martina Lorey began her career as an architect in El Paso in the early 1970’s, she was the only female architect.  Times  have changed in her 25 years as a designer, with many more women entering the field.  In that time, Lorey has quietly and steadily built an impeccable reputation as one of El Paso’s finest architects.

“Had I been a trust fund baby, perhaps I would have become a visual artist,” Lorey muses. “Yet from a very young age, I think I knew what I wanted to do—I was always making things and putting them together. With architecture I can still be in the conversation of creating in the arts and have a steady way of supporting myself.”

Lorey sees it as the role of archtects and designers to raise the level of discourse on smart, sustainable  community planning and design.

“El Paso is a community where architects need to educate their clients on topics such as why it’s important to develop in the older parts of the city rather than spreading out. It’s an ongoing educational process.” Lorey sees female designers and decision-makers as having an essential perspective on the built environment.

“I think women tend to be very sensitive to issues such as family, and community neighborhoods, and understand how what we do impacts those individual and collective entities.”

The current project Lorey is most passionate about is the Anthony Youth Farm, a joint venture with In Situ Architecture.  The project  was developed by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) and will serve at-risk-youth.  It will integrate an organic farm with a farmer’s market, community center, and culinary arts program.  The design will feature adobe with tin roofs, open loggias, and trellised courtyards.

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